The devout cowboy lost his favorite Bible while he was mending fences out on the range. Three weeks later, a donkey walked up to him carrying the Bible in its mouth. The cowboy couldn't believe his eyes. He took the precious book out of the donkey's mouth, raised his eyes heavenward and exclaimed, "It's a miracle!"
"Not really," said the donkey. "Your name is written inside the cover."
In this weeks Torah portion Balak. One aspect of the entire Bilaam story is mysterious. The donkey speaking is not the first or last miracle in the Torah. Yet all other miracles in the Tanach served a purpose, and the Torah clearly explains what that was. Ten plagues befall Egypt, to force Pharaoh and his nation to let the people go. The sea splits, to rescue the Jewish people and drown their oppressors. Manna descends from heaven, to feed a nation sojourning in the wilderness. A rock emits water to quench the thirst of the people. The earth swallows up Korach, Datan, and Aviram, to authenticate Moses’ prophecy and disprove the claim that he was a nepotist. The walls of Jericho sink into the earth, to allow the Jews to conquer and settle the Promised Land. Joshua halts sunset to be able to defeat his foes, etc.
There is one exception—in the entire Torah and Tanach: the talking of the donkey in this week’s portion! What purpose did it serve? What was it meant to achieve? All the donkey said was: “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” It is a funny story, but what was its goal?
At the end of the story, G-d anyhow has to “open Bilaam’s eyes” to behold the presence of the angel who was obstructing the path of his donkey. If so, the story could have developed in a simpler way: G-d sends an angel to obstruct the donkey’s path. Bilaam sees the angel and understands why the donkey can’t move further. What was the need for the extraordinary miracle of a donkey giving a sermon?!
What is more, the Rabbis have taught in Ethics of the Fathers that the donkey’s mouth was created at twilight of the first Friday of history, 2488 years before the story occurred. But for what purpose?
Bilaam was no simple idiot. He was a religious virtuoso, a sought-after psychic, spell-binder, and miracle worker. The king Balak says, on the basis of experience or reputation, “I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed”. Who was Bilaam?”
The Midrash says that “There was nothing in the world that G-d did not reveal to Bilaam, who surpassed even Moses in the wisdom of sorcery.”
Bilaam was a great soul and compared to Moses himself!
Yet the ultimate verdict on Bilaam is harsh. The man hated the Jewish people with a passion. He was eager to curse them.
G-d did not want to give up on Bilaam, just as He refuses to give up on any other soul. And He was ready to alter nature in order to save Bilaam from his ruin and self-destruction.
How can one transform Bilaam? G-d does not interfere with a human free choice; Bilaam had to realize himself where he has gone wrong. But G-d is always present to send a reminder, a twinkle, to help us wake up from our emotional slumber. So G-d’s sends an angel to obstruct the donkey, not once, but three times.
But to no avail. “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” Bilaam misses the point. He simply beats the donkey. He is unready to see a deeper sign.
G-d decides to shock Bilaam into reality. How? By doing that one thing which must surely freak him out and help him reinvent himself: He opens the mouth of his donkey! Imagine your puppy opened its mouth and starts telling you his thoughts! You would be overwhelmed, astounded, and surely shaken up.
This particular miracle provided yet a subtler message. Bilaam was a seasoned, renowned prophet, with a reputation of brilliance. How can one expect someone who lived his life in a certain way, cultivated certain patterns and embraced a certain ethic, to suddenly c hange himself into a new being?
So G-d was answering this question with his miracle. If a donkey can change its habit and begin talking, surely you can. If you can teach an old donkey new tricks, certainly a human person carved in the image of G-d can reinvent himself at any stage of his or her new life.
Rashi states that G-d sent the angel in order to save Bilaam from destroying himself. G-d craved to bring Bilaam back to the path of justice and morality. He was ready to “shake up nature” in order to arouse Bilaam from his own blindness.
G-d was sharing an extraordinary message and imparting an invaluable lesson: I was ready to change the world, to alter nature, just to save one man from the path toward self-destruction. So should you!
G-d wanted to teach humanity, and His people, for eternity, the infinite preciousness of saving one soul from ending up in an emotional, physical or spiritual abyss.
And what type of soul? Bilaam. He was a mean anti-Semite, a deeply flawed character. You might think: Let him drop dead and become fodder for the warms. Who cares for a Bilaam?
But G-d has a different approach. I want even a Bilaam to return to Me. I want to save him too. Especially, a man with such talent and skill, if he is elevated, he can help scores of people, and transform many others.
So G-d was ready to “turn over the world” just to bring a Bilaam back to the path of justice, compassion, truth, integrity, and morality. Donkeys will open their mouths, angels will appear to Bilaam in the middle of the day, just to try, and help Bilaam repent.
G-d created the world in six days. The first Shabbat is about to descend on the horizon. The universe, in all its grandeur and beauty, has been completed. But G-d says, wait! The world will be incomplete until I do not create one last thing: a donkey’s mouth. Why? So that in 2488 years, a gentile, a Jew-hater, may do teshuvah, and mend his ways. Let’s create something which may be able to have a positive and transformative impact on him.
G-d wanted to teach us a lesson. Do not write off any soul! Do not spare any effort to kindle a heart, ignite a spark, embrace a person, and try bringing him or her back to their truest Divine self. So G-d says: never! I tried communicating the message three times, but it did not help, so I went on to make the donkey speak! And 2500 years earlier, I created this mouth, with the hope of bringing back one person to teshuvah!
If this is true with a non-Jew Bilaam, how much more so is this true when it comes to a Jewish soul, which is a “fragment of G-d,” and contains infinite Divine treasures.
Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz one related this personal experience.
I had the chutzpah--in the worst sense of the word—to write an arrogant letter to the Rebbe, I had read in the newspaper that the Lubavitch movement was honoring Jesse Helms, and there was no man in America I despised more than Jesse Helms. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he absolutely stood for everything that I was opposed to in those days, including being strongly anti-Israel.
I wrote a letter saying, in essence, "How can you honor a man who stands for everything that is opposed to Jewish values in America?" And I received a letter back from the Rebbe, a very, very respectful letter; a letter that I cherish for its content. And he lectured me, but in the nicest way, telling me that you never give up on anybody. Today Jesse Helms may be against Israel, but tomorrow, if we know how to approach him and speak to him, maybe he will turn out to be a champion of Israel. And I have to tell you, I had my doubts about it, but as they say, the rest is history. Although I still disagree with Jesse Helms on many issues, when it comes to Israel, he has become our champion. Helmes is one of Israel’s best friends in the world!
I believe that he became a champion of Israel because the Rebbe understood something that most of us didn't understand: how to communicate with people of different backgrounds and cultures and how to explain to them the true meaning of justice.
Reb Chaim Weintraub, an outreach worker in Kiryat Shmuel in Israel 3-year-old son, a few days after celebrating first haircutting, felt unwell at school, the teacher says lie down to rest on the cot. When she came to check on the boy he was no longer with us...
During shivah, a group of Israeli street youth came He used to visit their hangouts and talk to them... They told Rabbi Weintraub in the merit of his son they would keep one Shabbat No smoking, no driving, no cell phones or TV.
When they left someone expressed cynicism... big deal!? It's ultimately meaningless - as soon as Shabbat would end they'd revert back to their normal lives. At least if they would have accepted more than one Shabbat…
"No - he said. “You don't understand how precious a gift this is.”
Do you have any idea how much I would be prepared to give up just to have my little son back with us for just one Shabbat? I would sell everything I own, my apartment, my assets, even my clothing, just to have my precious boy back even for just one Shabbat. There is no price too high for the chance to sing Shabbat melodies with him on my lap, or walk to shul holding his little angelic hand in mine; to throw him up to the air Friday night after the meal; to tuck him into his blanket for his Shabbat afternoon nap; to see his smile as he gets his special Shabbat treat…
And now, our Father in Heaven is going to have eight of his precious children back with Him for one Shabbat... Do you grasp how awesome that is? How happy G-d will be!"
Each of these kids is a child of G-d, forever connected and one with Him. Just like my child is forever linked with me. Notwithstanding anything they did or will do, the essential oneness is never compromised. When they return for even one Shabbat, you can’t imagine the depth of the celebration in heaven.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky
Tom Peacock wrote...