BALAK 5773

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PARSHATBALAK

Shabbat begins - 9:03 Shabbat ends - 10:36

A rabbi approached a precocious six-year-old boy and started to ask him questionsabout the Parasha. Through theconversation he understood that theboy’s mother prayed for him every night. "That’s impressive! You tell me that yourmother says your prayers for you eachnight. That’s very commendable. Whatdoes she actually say?"The little boy replied with all honesty: “Shesays - Thank G-d, he's in bed!"Receiving a beracha from an importantperson is exciting.How many of us have queued outsidegreat people’s houses just to get theirblessings?

Our Sages have taught us that as theTsadikim are very highly placed inHashem’s Palace, they haveaccess to places our prayersmight not.Imagine a king whose mightygenerals have fought many wars

for him and can enter his palace at will.They have passed many trials andtribulations showing their loyalty andconviction towards the king. They areclose to him and he can confide in them.Whenever they have a request he is happyto hear from them.

Similarly in Hashem’s army there are thosethat are dedicated to the cause. Somefrom birth serve the Creator 24/7 with alltheir might. Others have found their waylater on in life, inserting extra vigour intheir service of the King of Kings. Eitherway they have shown their dedication andare close to Him. Their prayers are a sweetfragrance to Hashem.

The general populace might not have thatsame constant dedicated relationship andtherefore approach the Tsadik to bringtheir prayers in front of Hashem.

So what happens when a person that isnot a Tsadik gives us a blessing?Is the ability to bless only given to theTsadikim?The Tsadik’s blessing is certainly wellaccepted; however our Sages told us thatwe need to appreciate every person’sblessings: ‘Do not take the blessing of acommon man (hedyot) lightly.’[Berachot7a]

For example, if we are in synagogue andsomeone gives us a compliment or ablessing, we shouldn’t think that theydon’t have the ability to do so. Rather weshould accept it with happiness, sayingAmen to everyone’s blessing.Why?

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BLESSINgs IN DISGUISE

There are a few important factors whengiving a successful blessing.The words need to be right. The personreceiving needs to be worthy. The timecorrect and the person that blesses needsto have the clout to do so.Many times we judge other people as

‘normal’ when in fact in the eyes of Hashem,they are very cherished and specialindividuals. Each person has a story to telland we can never underestimate theirspiritual power. Hence, accept everyone’sblessing – you never know it could be theright words at the right time, coming fromthe right person.

So it comes as a surprise that in this week’sParasha when Bilam wants to bless thepeople - Hashem says NO!Rashi (22:12) explains that at first Bilam saidto Hashem, “I want to go and curse theBnei Yisrael.” Hashem said, “You can’t goand curse them.”Bilam persisted, “Then can I curse themfrom where I am?”

‘No’, replied Hashem.Bilam then asked something extraordinary-‘If so I will bless them!’Hashem responded emphatically – ‘Theydon’t need your blessing, for they areblessed.’

Why did Hashem not allow Bilam to blessthe people? Furthermore, we find later on

that Bilam did end up blessing them!Clearly Hashem wanted to convey animportant message to Bilam with thesewords.What was behind this message?

Rabbi Yossef Shwartz gives a fascinatinginsight.When Rivka married Yitzchak it took a whilefor them to have children; she was barren.Why was Rivka barren for so long?The Midrash answers that when Rivka lefther house to get married to Yitzchak, herbrother Lavan and the family gave her ablessing.Achoteinu At Hayi L’alfei Ravava VyirashZareich Et Shaar Sonav: (Bereishit 24:60)

'Our sister, may you be the mother ofthousands of ten thousands, and let yourseed possess the gate of those that hatethem.’Instead of being positively affected by thisblessing, Rivka became barren.Hashem didn’t want people to say that itwas through their blessing that Rivka gavebirth.We see from here that the blessings of aRasha are actually a curse.Bilam knew this and therefore tried tocloak his wickedness through a blessing.If he were to bless them, then the blessingswouldn’t come true, or at least would bedelayed.He asked Hashem that he bless them as hewanted to mimic the case of Rivka.

Bilam was wrong.There was one startling differencebetween the current case and that of Rivka.When Rivka left her house, she had not yetentered the house of Avraham and had notyet been directly blessed by Hashem. Theonly ‘blessing’ around was that given to herby her family.Hence, she became barren in order thatpeople would not say that the blessing ofher family (which worshiped idols) cametrue.Regarding the Bnei Yisrael they werealready blessed by Hashem. Thus, wereBilam even to bless them it would notmake any negative effect - Hashem hadblessed them already and people wouldconnect the Bnei Yisrael’s success toHashem’s beracha and not Bilaam’s.So Hashem said to Bilam, “Don’t botherblessing them with the intention of cursingbecause they are already blessed and yourbad ploy will not work.”Am Yisrael are Baruch – blessed, especiallywhen we stick to the traditions of ourforefathers.When we are connected to the previousgenerations and keep strong in ourcommitment to Hashem, we are constantlyprotected.When we are already blessed by Hashem,we need no other ‘blessings’.

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Parsha insights

The name of our Parasha, Balak, is surpris-ing considering the main figure is actuallyBilam.

The Gemara in Sanhedrin 106b speaks ofthose who have no place in Olam Habathat we should not learn too much aboutthem: "Don't learn too much about evil,but for the evil of Bilam." Chazal agree andconclude that it's a mitzva to speak andlearn a lot about the evil of Bilam.

The only prophecy in the Torah thatdoesn't come from a Jew is the prophecyof Bilam.

The passuk in Devarim 34:10 says: "Andthere never rose again a prophet in Israellike Moshe"

The Midrash Rabba of Bemidbar   14:34expands on this passuk and says that thismeans that in Israel there didn't rise, butamongst the non-Jews there did rise aprophet like Moshe and who is thisperson....? Bilam

The comparison of Moshe's prophecy toBilam’s is troubling as Moshe merited tospeak to Hashem face to face and he'sbeing compared to Bilam, who was evil.

Furthermore, in Bilam’s prophecies we seethe future of Am Yisrael until the end ofdays.

Bilam is not only a person gifted with superspiritual powers that can see the future,and has the ability to see the whole hiddenside of the creation, but he's also a proph-et with a "direct" connection to Hashem.

In the Gemara Sotah 11a we read about thethree advisors of Paroh; Iyov, Yitro andBilam, who had a direct connection toHashem.

In Pirkei Avot  5:22  Chazal compare theschool of Avraham with the school ofBilam. Bilam’s world was egocentric, filledwith evil eye, haughty spirit and a greedysoul. Avraham’s world was built on selfnullification; a good eye, humble spirit andgentle soul. This is the difference betweenholiness and impurity.

This is the difference between a worshiperof Hashem who is always searchingHashem and Bilam who is always searchingbut not for Hashem. In a philosophicalmanner, his aim is not G-dliness.

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Stories ofChachamim

Rabbi Yitzhak Taieb had incredible talentsthat expressed themselves on each pageof his written works.

The son of the Gaon Rabbi Haim Faladjirecounts that while Rabbi Yitzhak Taiebsat on the rabbinic court and was listeningto everyone’s arguments, at the same timehe also taught and responded to questionsthat slipped through to him. He also actedin this way while writing decisions them-selves, without even having to stop givingresponses to questions that he was beingasked.

Some people objected to him, askingthemselves how a man could be capable ofdoing two things at once. However, whenthey saw his judicial verdicts along withthe responses he gave at the same time todiverse questions addressed to him,people could see that both were perfectlyrelevant. His genius, scholarship, andsharpness of mind could be felt in theresponses he gave. And the Halachicdecisions that he rendered at exactly thesame time were clear and worthy ofappearing in the Shulchan Aruch.

One of the greats of his generation appliedthe following verse to him: “The mouth ofthe righteous man utters wisdom, and histongue speaks justice” (Psalms 37:30). He

merits that at the moment his tonguespeaks of justice, his mouth expresses thewisdom of Halachah to respondappropriately.

Rabbi Yitzhak Taieb was great not just inthe eyes of his community, but also in theeyes of non-Jews.

The following story confirms this fact morethan 100 witnesses ever could. Two Arabneighbours had plots of land thatbordered one another, separated only by arow of fruit trees. Once, one of the twomen left town to deal with some businessmatter, not returning for several weeks.When he did come back, he discovered tohis great surprise that during his absencethe fruit trees had been uprooted and thathis neighbour had encroached upon alarge part of his land. When he asked himthe meaning of this, the other man deniedeverything, saying that he knew nothing ofany uprooted trees. And as for the land inquestion, according to his neighbour it hadalways belonged to him!

A violent conflict erupted between the twomen, until finally they presented theirgrievances to a judge. The judge himself,not knowing what verdict to render, sentthe case to a higher court, which itself wasnot able to reach a verdict. In the end, thecase was presented before the king. Yet he

too was perplexed, deciding that only thegreat Rav of the Jews, Rabbi Yitzhak Taieb,could resolve such a complicated matter.

The king summoned him and explained thesituation. The Rav asked the neighbourwho had been wronged if he had in hispossession … a mule.

He responded in the affirmative.

Rav Yitzhak Taieb took the mule and wentinto the field with the Arab, and there hemade the mule run freely. As we know, thistype of animal does not go into a field thatit doesn’t recognize or that doesn’t belongto its master. Now the mule, to the shameof the second Arab, began to run about inthe field that he claimed as his own. Theroots of the trees (which had been therebefore being ripped out of the ground, andwhich formed the neighbours’ border)were found as well. The first Arab (whowas then given back everything that hadbeen stolen from him) was very impressed,and on that very day he presented himselfto the Rav and brought him a particularlyimpressive gift.

Rav Yitzhak Taieb told him, “If I acceptgifts from a man, I will no longer be able toarrive at verdicts that are the very essenceof the truth.”

difficulties that occurred in Avraham’s life,he kept an unbroken connection toHashem. A true worshiper of Hashem isnever disconnected from Hashem.

In philosophy there is a completeseparation between the higher moralvalues and virtues and the philosopher’sprivate world. This separation is acomplete disconnection of obligationbetween the spiritual and private life. Thispoint is highlighted by Chazal on thebackground of Bilam’s lowly and impureprivate life.

The Kotzker Rebbe teaches that from itscreation until the end of days Am Yisrael isbusy connecting higher worlds to lowerworlds, between the physical and spiritualand through living according to Torah,mitzvot and holiness.

Bilam can have some grasp of G-dliness likeMoshe of Am Yisrael, but he lives in animpure state of existence with noconnection between the upper and lowerworlds, physical and spiritual which arecreated by selflessness and doing Torahand mitzvot as an immediate obligation.

This is how Chazal distinguish between theextreme difference of Moshe and Bilam.

Bilam’s demise carries a special learning initself.

Whoever saw Mashiach Tzidkenu, likeBilam did in his prophecy, left this worldwith the title "Soothsayer" as we read inYehoshua 13:22 "and Bilam, son of Beor thesoothsayer, the Children of Israel killed bythe sword".

In spite of his great spiritual powers Bilamwas nothing more than a soothsayersusceptible to the sword.

"We (the Jewish nation) have nothing morethan the words of the son of Amram",meaning the holy Torah.

With the power of our holy Torah and ourdaily dedication to keep the mitzvot andwith a holy life we will connect the spiritualand physical worlds until the realisation ofthe purpose for Am Yisrael’s creation; tocreate for Hashem a dwelling place downbelow - “Ma tovu ohelecha mishkanotechaYisrael”Only through this we will merit thecomplete and ultimate redemption withMashiach Tzidkenu at the head, Amen!

Rabbi dov levyHALACHA challah

Yona bat Esther Rivka bat Chana Sarah bat Ezat Tsila bat Muzli Ariella Leah bat ShoshanaSara bat Keren Channah Dvorah bat Yareyach Sarah bat Emilie Sara bat Gittel SharaRephael David ben Masouda Michel Meir ben Fibi

REFUAH SHELEMA

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ParshaQuiz1. Why did Moav consult specifically with Midian

regarding their strategy against the Jews?

22:4 - Since Moshe grew up in Midian, the Moabites thought

the Midianites might know wherein lay Moshe's power.

2. What was Balak's status before becoming Moav's king?

22:4 - He was a prince of Midian.

3. Why did G-d grant prophecy to the evil Bilaam?

22:5 - So the other nations couldn't say, "If we had had

prophets, we also would have become righteous."

4. Why did Balak think Bilaam's curse would work?

22:6 - Because Bilaam's curse had helped Sichon defeat Moav.

5. When did Bilaam receive his prophecies?

22:8 - Only at night.(All references are to Rashi’s commentary unless otherwise stated) (Reprinted with permission from Ohr Somayach Institutions www.ohr.edu)

I'm making a thin dough, should Itake Challah?No, challah only applies to a thick dough. Ifits runny so it can be poured it doesn'tneed Challah taking.

I want to fry the dough, do I take Challah?Essentially Challah only applied to a doughyou're going to baked. However if youintend to bake any small amount of thedough, the whole dough then

needs Challah taking from itas if it's all going to be baked.

Printed with permission of Sichos in English

MAZAL TOV to: Shmuli Bendahan & Michal Abraham

on their Marriage

"And Balak saw." (22:2)

QUESTION: The names of the three parshiot,Korach, Chukat and Balak each contain theletter kuf. Of what significance is the factthat in Korah the kuf  is at thebeginning (Korach), in Chukat it is in themiddle (Chukat), and in Balak it is at theend (Balak)?

ANSWER: The letter kuf is the first letter ofthe word kedushah — holiness. The kuf’s atthe beginning, middle and end representpast, present and future.

Korach's attachment to holiness was athing of the past. His genealogy is traced toYaakov. When one is defiled he is detachedfrom holiness. Through being sprinkledwith the ashes of the red heifer

he now  becomes cleansed of hisdefilement and thus regains his sanctity.Balak's attachment to holiness was amatter of the future. Among his futurewould be his granddaughter Ruth, whowas the ancestor to King David andMashiach.

Pics of the WeekAnshei Shalom’s 10th Annual Dinner

TAL WISHES ANSHEI SHALOM & RABBI FHIMA MAZAL TOV ON THEIR TEN YEARANNIVERSARY - MECHAYIL EL CHAYIL!