Balak 1: The Character of Bilaam
Dust swirled in little sand-devils as Bilaam stood before the L-rd and opened his mouth to lie again. He parted his lips to speak, but a hamsin whipped up suddenly and coated his tongue with sand, fulfilling the Divine curse to the snake of Eden.
Bilaam coughed out the sand, which he knew plagued him for a reason, and on purpose. Earth itself—Maiden Nature—tried at all times to stop him, to show him the error of his warped and unnatural behaviors. But by the time he was forty, there was nothing left in his world but his own mind. Like all madmen, nothing but God could stop him. He ignored nature’s hint, took a long swig of water from his skein and tried to conjure again… as he would keep on trying from all angles, pushing all the buttons of heaven he knew of, searching in vain for a kink in God’s ironclad protection of Israel.
Bilaam was a formidable magician—perhaps the greatest ever. But what is magic, after all? It is simply the manipulation of perception, nothing more. Even “real” magic—not sleight of hand—is an attempt to harness the powers of nature through thought, speech, and deed. But magic can never create, because it is not holy. It takes energies that already exist, and twists them towards an unnatural purpose. Even if the intent is good, it is not the way of Nature, and therefore, against the Will of God.
The same triumvirate of thought, speech and action govern all mitzvot. But the exact opposite motivation from the Wizard. The experienced wizard unifies his will, tying all his thought into a word, and then driving that word/power deep into mother earth, jabbing his conjuring staff as hard as he can into the dirt, grounding himself in a violent way, discharging his own energies into the Adamah so as to have an effect on the Adam. Thus the Sages declare: "מְכַשֵּׁף מַפִּיל אֶת הַפַּלְטִין שֶׁל מַעְלָה"—"The sorcerer brings down the Heavenly Palace" (Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 7:13).
But the Jew who performs a mitzvah trains their individual will to become more like the Divine Will—aligning the spirit of the mitzvah-doer with the order of all creation. The human will, now bound up with the Divine, manifests its own innate divinity, and the human becomes “holy.”
This is the deeper meaning of the words “Who sanctifies us with His commandments,” and why it is so essential to have proper kavana when doing mitzvot. And the proper kavana is quite simple to understand, and easy to follow. It is practical. It is simply this: I hereby intend to fulfill commandment x because God wants me to. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything else—quite literally—is in God’s Hands. This is why the Sages teach: All is in the Hands of Heaven, except for the fear of Heaven.
The Sages tell us that Bilaam was as great as Moshe in prophecy. They meant it not as praise, but as indictment. If the nations would ever complain to God, “History was not fair to us! You gave the Hebrews a great prophet and leader in Moses, who went up to Heaven and brought down the Law... We never had such an opportunity!” God will answer them, I gave you Bilaam. He had that same potential.
Bilaam could have been THE spiritual light unto the Nations. Before Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha or Shiva. Bilaam. A true Prophet of God. And his Torah would have equaled Moshe’s (perhaps). At least it would have been exactly what the Nations who accepted it needed, tailor made for them.
The question has come up from time to time in my old classes: do I believe in extra-terrestrials? My answer is simple. We know there are Angels and Demons, we know there are other dimensions to our existence, both through scientific enquiry as well as Jewish mysticism (not that I study it in its original form, ever). So it stands to reason there might be life on other planets. But if there is, one thing is certain: somewhere, someone in those “alien” civilizations has a Torah, straight from God just like ours, and tailor made for them. Otherwise there would be no purpose for their existence.
But I digress.
Although Bilaam was supremely aware of spiritual reality, he used his knowledge not as wisdom to build, but just to have the “technological” advantage, so to speak. Bilaam had the ability to hack Heaven’s code.
Not to bless, but to curse.
Why one and not the other?
It is easy to curse, just as any toddler can knock down an exquisite sand castle at the beach in a fit of pique. But to build that same castle? That takes skill, wisdom, and patience.
For Bilaam to see the Hand of G-d so clearly, and still choose corruption? That is spiritual suicide. Bilaam chose power over truth. His mouth was used not to teach, but to consume nations. Hence his name Bilaam ben Beor translates literally as: Swallower of the Nation, son of the Destroyer. Where was Bilaam from? To whence did the messengers of Balak have to go, that it was so far... that Balak himself didn't bother?
It was the mountains that surround, protect, and overlook the Garden of Eden itself. With the trees of life and knowledge not only in full view, but if it weren't for the flaming, double-edged sword and the two huge Cherubim that stand vigil at the Garden Gate, Bilaam would have pilfered the fruits of both long ago.
וַיִּשָּׂ֥א מְשָׁל֖וֹ וַיֹּאמַ֑ר מִן־אֲ֠רָ֠ם יַנְחֵ֨נִי בָלָ֤ק מֶֽלֶךְ־מוֹאָב֙ מֵֽהַרְרֵי־קֶ֔דֶם לְכָה֙ אָֽרָה־לִּ֣י יַעֲקֹ֔ב וּלְכָ֖ה זֹעֲמָ֥ה יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
וַיְגָ֖רֶשׁ אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן֩ מִקֶּ֨דֶם לְגַן־עֵ֜דֶן אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִ֗ים וְאֵ֨ת לַ֤הַט הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת לִשְׁמֹ֕ר אֶת־דֶּ֖רֶךְ עֵ֥ץ הַֽחַיִּֽים׃
Still Bilaam sits in his dark meditations, like the Beatle's Fool on the Hill.
And forgive me, John, George, Ringo and Paul... but some things are too delicious to ignore:
Day after day, alone on a hill
The man with the spinning mind is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him, they can see that he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill sees his sun going down
And the eye in his head sees the world spinning around
Well on the way, head in a cloud
The man with a demon's voice is talking perfectly loud
But nobody hears him curse and the sound he appears to make
is replaced by God's dictation
And the fool on the hill sees his gold going down
And the ass in his bed sees his pants falling down
And nobody seems to like him, they can tell what he wants to do
And he cannot hide his feelings
But the fool on the hill sees his soul going down
And the staff in his hand digs his grave in rot'd ground
(oh oh oh)
'Down and 'Down and 'Down and 'Down and 'Down'
And he never listens to Him, he knows that he's gone for good
and
They don't seem to like him
But the fool on the hill sees his soul going down
And the roots of his mind splice
like sprouts from the ground
Flaming sword and spinning sword and spinning sword and flaming sword
Day after day the Trees on the Hill
give fruit from Hallowed Ground
yet keeping perfectly still
Where Abel still lies in rigor
And Cain with Mars in bed
He's the fool on the hill
Tattoo-d crown upon his head
and his hands splattered red
unmarked tomb his bedroom spread.
But we never listen to him,
we can tell that he's just a fool
cause we alive Imagine
that the fool on the hill
sees the Son gaining ground,
and the eyes in his head
settle down, settle down.
If we psychoanalyze Bilaam—as the Torah seems to invite by naming his father “The Destroyer”—we may imagine a boy raised in terror of a ferocious father.
As Bilaam grew from a child into an adult, he faced the classic dilemma of all teenagers who grow up with a despot: accept a corrupt path of tyranny and reap its rewards, or rebel against it entirely. Just like Moses.
Like Moses, Bilaam may have had no ego—but in the opposite direction.
Where Moses began with humility—“Send whom You will send”—and grew into a teacher of divine wisdom, Bilaam shrank into himself like Blake’s Urizen: ninefold upon ninefold, folded into darkness.
His powers grew, but his character withered. He became a sorcerer greater than Voldemort, greater than Sauron—equal to Moses in prophecy, and yet less than a donkey in personality.
In the end, the wicked die like the cowardly punks they are. Remember Hitler in his bunker?
Bilaam could have used his gifts to bring Torah to the nations. Instead, he went commercial. Power. Prestige. Wealth. What an ass.
The Sages say Bilaam had intercourse with his donkey. Difficult to imagine any donkey stooping so low. Where did they meet—Tinder-Ass?
But seriously: why a donkey, when he had the power to enslave humans?
On a deeper level the Maharal explains that the word for 'donkey' chamor, is identical to the word for matter. As in, atomic matter. Like the Ayatollahs, Bilaam sought to harness the power of the atom, but he did not need plutonium or rockets. Bilaam had the gift of gab.
His tongue was his weapon, and why he was the most formidable enemy we ever faced.
We are commanded never to forget the enemy Amalek. The entire raison detre' of Amalek is to destroy us identified Jews, the living soul of Israel. Amalek, the nation of humanoids but no humans, is our sworn enemy until the final battle is won.
And yet, the Sages wanted to include the entire Torah portion of Bilaam, the whole saga from beginning to end, and make it a part of Kriat Shema, to be said twice daily. It would have been to hard on most people, so they held back. But what was the intent? So that the Jewish People should always remember how much God loves them, and how He protected them from the Voldemorte of their time (the Swallower)... Sauron's all-seeing Eya (fallen with eyes open) holding the Ring (lifted his mashal and said...) is really in the end.... only the not so Great-and-Powerful-Oz cowering behind a curtain, the levers of his trickery exposed, and him, fallen with his one-seeing for once seeing Eyes Wide Open, that the Jews are only to be blessed, and not cursed. "How Goodly Are They Tents, O Jacob".
As Maharal explains (and I illustrate), Bilaam was no conjurer of tricks alone. He knew the craft of black magic, the secret chabers of the Divine Palace, more than any human being before or since, except of course, for Moshe Rabainu, Moses Our Teacher of Blessed Memory.
But... and I don't want to get gross...but the Sages started it... perhaps there is another reason they said he made sweet nookie with his donkey.
Perhaps because even a slave requires some minimal engagement. A human demands presence. A donkey, facing the wrong way, so to speak, let him indulge his darkest desires without ever giving anything. Until God made it speak up.
Bilaam hears God—but does not want to listen. He wants to “do his own thing.” Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Back and forth, like a snake biting down on dust.
He had some success in harming the Israelites, as we’ll explore in a more textual follow-up. But in the end, Bilaam—who, tradition says, appears in multiple generations—is slain by Pinchas the Zealot. A literal aerial battle follows: Bilaam using incantations, Pinchas invoking the Divine Name.
Targum Yonatan recounts:
"When Bilaam the wicked saw Pinchas the priest pursuing him, he performed a magical feat and flew in the air. Immediately, Pinchas pronounced the Great and Holy Name and flew after him, grasped him by the head, and brought him down. As he was about to slay him, Bilaam opened his mouth with words of supplication and said to Pinchas: 'If you let me live, I swear to you that as long as I live, I will not curse your nation.' Pinchas responded: 'Are you not Lavan the Aramean who wished to destroy our forefather Yaakov? You descended to Egypt to destroy his descendants. After they left Egypt, you incited Amalek against them and sought to curse them. When that failed, you advised Balak to send his daughter to lead them astray, causing the death of 24,000 Israelites. Because of this, it is not possible to spare your life.'"
Thus Bilaam is undone by the very methods he used—seduction, sorcery, and spiritual sabotage. He is brought down by Divine Justice: measure for measure.
Bilaam coughed out the sand, which he knew plagued him for a reason, and on purpose. Earth itself—Maiden Nature—tried at all times to stop him, to show him the error of his warped and unnatural behaviors. But by the time he was forty, there was nothing left in his world but his own mind. Like all madmen, nothing but God could stop him. He ignored nature’s hint, took a long swig of water from his skein and tried to conjure again… as he would keep on trying from all angles, pushing all the buttons of heaven he knew of, searching in vain for a kink in God’s ironclad protection of Israel.
Bilaam was a formidable magician—perhaps the greatest ever. But what is magic, after all? It is simply the manipulation of perception, nothing more. Even “real” magic—not sleight of hand—is an attempt to harness the powers of nature through thought, speech, and deed. But magic can never create, because it is not holy. It takes energies that already exist, and twists them towards an unnatural purpose. Even if the intent is good, it is not the way of Nature, and therefore, against the Will of God.
The same triumvirate of thought, speech and action govern all mitzvot. But the exact opposite motivation from the Wizard. The experienced wizard unifies his will, tying all his thought into a word, and then driving that word/power deep into mother earth, jabbing his conjuring staff as hard as he can into the dirt, grounding himself in a violent way, discharging his own energies into the Adamah so as to have an effect on the Adam. Thus the Sages declare: "מְכַשֵּׁף מַפִּיל אֶת הַפַּלְטִין שֶׁל מַעְלָה"—"The sorcerer brings down the Heavenly Palace" (Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 7:13).
But the Jew who performs a mitzvah trains their individual will to become more like the Divine Will—aligning the spirit of the mitzvah-doer with the order of all creation. The human will, now bound up with the Divine, manifests its own innate divinity, and the human becomes “holy.”
This is the deeper meaning of the words “Who sanctifies us with His commandments,” and why it is so essential to have proper kavana when doing mitzvot. And the proper kavana is quite simple to understand, and easy to follow. It is practical. It is simply this: I hereby intend to fulfill commandment x because God wants me to. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything else—quite literally—is in God’s Hands. This is why the Sages teach: All is in the Hands of Heaven, except for the fear of Heaven.
The Sages tell us that Bilaam was as great as Moshe in prophecy. They meant it not as praise, but as indictment. If the nations would ever complain to God, “History was not fair to us! You gave the Hebrews a great prophet and leader in Moses, who went up to Heaven and brought down the Law... We never had such an opportunity!” God will answer them, I gave you Bilaam. He had that same potential.
Bilaam could have been THE spiritual light unto the Nations. Before Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha or Shiva. Bilaam. A true Prophet of God. And his Torah would have equaled Moshe’s (perhaps). At least it would have been exactly what the Nations who accepted it needed, tailor made for them.
The question has come up from time to time in my old classes: do I believe in extra-terrestrials? My answer is simple. We know there are Angels and Demons, we know there are other dimensions to our existence, both through scientific enquiry as well as Jewish mysticism (not that I study it in its original form, ever). So it stands to reason there might be life on other planets. But if there is, one thing is certain: somewhere, someone in those “alien” civilizations has a Torah, straight from God just like ours, and tailor made for them. Otherwise there would be no purpose for their existence.
But I digress.
Although Bilaam was supremely aware of spiritual reality, he used his knowledge not as wisdom to build, but just to have the “technological” advantage, so to speak. Bilaam had the ability to hack Heaven’s code.
Not to bless, but to curse.
Why one and not the other?
It is easy to curse, just as any toddler can knock down an exquisite sand castle at the beach in a fit of pique. But to build that same castle? That takes skill, wisdom, and patience.
For Bilaam to see the Hand of G-d so clearly, and still choose corruption? That is spiritual suicide. Bilaam chose power over truth. His mouth was used not to teach, but to consume nations. Hence his name Bilaam ben Beor translates literally as: Swallower of the Nation, son of the Destroyer. Where was Bilaam from? To whence did the messengers of Balak have to go, that it was so far... that Balak himself didn't bother?
It was the mountains that surround, protect, and overlook the Garden of Eden itself. With the trees of life and knowledge not only in full view, but if it weren't for the flaming, double-edged sword and the two huge Cherubim that stand vigil at the Garden Gate, Bilaam would have pilfered the fruits of both long ago.
וַיִּשָּׂ֥א מְשָׁל֖וֹ וַיֹּאמַ֑ר מִן־אֲ֠רָ֠ם יַנְחֵ֨נִי בָלָ֤ק מֶֽלֶךְ־מוֹאָב֙ מֵֽהַרְרֵי־קֶ֔דֶם לְכָה֙ אָֽרָה־לִּ֣י יַעֲקֹ֔ב וּלְכָ֖ה זֹעֲמָ֥ה יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
וַיְגָ֖רֶשׁ אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן֩ מִקֶּ֨דֶם לְגַן־עֵ֜דֶן אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִ֗ים וְאֵ֨ת לַ֤הַט הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת לִשְׁמֹ֕ר אֶת־דֶּ֖רֶךְ עֵ֥ץ הַֽחַיִּֽים׃
Still Bilaam sits in his dark meditations, like the Beatle's Fool on the Hill.
And forgive me, John, George, Ringo and Paul... but some things are too delicious to ignore:
Day after day, alone on a hill
The man with the spinning mind is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him, they can see that he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill sees his sun going down
And the eye in his head sees the world spinning around
Well on the way, head in a cloud
The man with a demon's voice is talking perfectly loud
But nobody hears him curse and the sound he appears to make
is replaced by God's dictation
And the fool on the hill sees his gold going down
And the ass in his bed sees his pants falling down
And nobody seems to like him, they can tell what he wants to do
And he cannot hide his feelings
But the fool on the hill sees his soul going down
And the staff in his hand digs his grave in rot'd ground
(oh oh oh)
'Down and 'Down and 'Down and 'Down and 'Down'
And he never listens to Him, he knows that he's gone for good
and
They don't seem to like him
But the fool on the hill sees his soul going down
And the roots of his mind splice
like sprouts from the ground
Flaming sword and spinning sword and spinning sword and flaming sword
Day after day the Trees on the Hill
give fruit from Hallowed Ground
yet keeping perfectly still
Where Abel still lies in rigor
And Cain with Mars in bed
He's the fool on the hill
Tattoo-d crown upon his head
and his hands splattered red
unmarked tomb his bedroom spread.
But we never listen to him,
we can tell that he's just a fool
cause we alive Imagine
that the fool on the hill
sees the Son gaining ground,
and the eyes in his head
settle down, settle down.
If we psychoanalyze Bilaam—as the Torah seems to invite by naming his father “The Destroyer”—we may imagine a boy raised in terror of a ferocious father.
As Bilaam grew from a child into an adult, he faced the classic dilemma of all teenagers who grow up with a despot: accept a corrupt path of tyranny and reap its rewards, or rebel against it entirely. Just like Moses.
Like Moses, Bilaam may have had no ego—but in the opposite direction.
Where Moses began with humility—“Send whom You will send”—and grew into a teacher of divine wisdom, Bilaam shrank into himself like Blake’s Urizen: ninefold upon ninefold, folded into darkness.
His powers grew, but his character withered. He became a sorcerer greater than Voldemort, greater than Sauron—equal to Moses in prophecy, and yet less than a donkey in personality.
In the end, the wicked die like the cowardly punks they are. Remember Hitler in his bunker?
Bilaam could have used his gifts to bring Torah to the nations. Instead, he went commercial. Power. Prestige. Wealth. What an ass.
The Sages say Bilaam had intercourse with his donkey. Difficult to imagine any donkey stooping so low. Where did they meet—Tinder-Ass?
But seriously: why a donkey, when he had the power to enslave humans?
On a deeper level the Maharal explains that the word for 'donkey' chamor, is identical to the word for matter. As in, atomic matter. Like the Ayatollahs, Bilaam sought to harness the power of the atom, but he did not need plutonium or rockets. Bilaam had the gift of gab.
His tongue was his weapon, and why he was the most formidable enemy we ever faced.
We are commanded never to forget the enemy Amalek. The entire raison detre' of Amalek is to destroy us identified Jews, the living soul of Israel. Amalek, the nation of humanoids but no humans, is our sworn enemy until the final battle is won.
And yet, the Sages wanted to include the entire Torah portion of Bilaam, the whole saga from beginning to end, and make it a part of Kriat Shema, to be said twice daily. It would have been to hard on most people, so they held back. But what was the intent? So that the Jewish People should always remember how much God loves them, and how He protected them from the Voldemorte of their time (the Swallower)... Sauron's all-seeing Eya (fallen with eyes open) holding the Ring (lifted his mashal and said...) is really in the end.... only the not so Great-and-Powerful-Oz cowering behind a curtain, the levers of his trickery exposed, and him, fallen with his one-seeing for once seeing Eyes Wide Open, that the Jews are only to be blessed, and not cursed. "How Goodly Are They Tents, O Jacob".
As Maharal explains (and I illustrate), Bilaam was no conjurer of tricks alone. He knew the craft of black magic, the secret chabers of the Divine Palace, more than any human being before or since, except of course, for Moshe Rabainu, Moses Our Teacher of Blessed Memory.
But... and I don't want to get gross...but the Sages started it... perhaps there is another reason they said he made sweet nookie with his donkey.
Perhaps because even a slave requires some minimal engagement. A human demands presence. A donkey, facing the wrong way, so to speak, let him indulge his darkest desires without ever giving anything. Until God made it speak up.
Bilaam hears God—but does not want to listen. He wants to “do his own thing.” Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Back and forth, like a snake biting down on dust.
He had some success in harming the Israelites, as we’ll explore in a more textual follow-up. But in the end, Bilaam—who, tradition says, appears in multiple generations—is slain by Pinchas the Zealot. A literal aerial battle follows: Bilaam using incantations, Pinchas invoking the Divine Name.
Targum Yonatan recounts:
"When Bilaam the wicked saw Pinchas the priest pursuing him, he performed a magical feat and flew in the air. Immediately, Pinchas pronounced the Great and Holy Name and flew after him, grasped him by the head, and brought him down. As he was about to slay him, Bilaam opened his mouth with words of supplication and said to Pinchas: 'If you let me live, I swear to you that as long as I live, I will not curse your nation.' Pinchas responded: 'Are you not Lavan the Aramean who wished to destroy our forefather Yaakov? You descended to Egypt to destroy his descendants. After they left Egypt, you incited Amalek against them and sought to curse them. When that failed, you advised Balak to send his daughter to lead them astray, causing the death of 24,000 Israelites. Because of this, it is not possible to spare your life.'"
Thus Bilaam is undone by the very methods he used—seduction, sorcery, and spiritual sabotage. He is brought down by Divine Justice: measure for measure.
Takeaway: Bilaam’s story teaches us that knowledge without humility is poison. Power without purpose is rot. Only by aligning our gifts with righteousness can we avoid self-destruction.
Discussion Question: How do we ensure our talents uplift others—rather than just aggrandize ourselves?
Discussion Question: How do we ensure our talents uplift others—rather than just aggrandize ourselves?