Ramban (22:20) tackles a classical question. There are three pesukim, and they sort-of seem to contradict each other, and need to be explained. One pasuk says that Hashem told Bilam not to go with the men that were sent. Another pasuk says that Hashem tells him he could go.  And, then another pasuk says that Hashem was angry at Bilam for going. You may not have realized this when reading the pesukim, because Rashi has spoiled us and given us all the p’shat, but that’s what Rashi is bothered by.

Rashi answers that Hashem said: Don’t go. That was God’s decision. Bilam kept pushing and pushing, and so, finally, Hashem said you could go, but you’re not going to be able to say anything other than whatever I tell you that you could say which is to give a beracha to Klal Yisrael. Then Bilam went, and he had the intention to try to curse, to try to outsmart Hashem, and, therefore, Hashem was upset with him.

Ibn Ezra: Messengers

Ibn Ezra says a different p’shat, which is probably going to rub us all and make us take a step back for a second. He says: Originally, Hashem said: Don’t go because the people were not a respectable delegation.  Then, Hashem finally said: You can go because the new people sent for you were more respectable. Finally, Hashem was angry at him because I told you: You can’t curse them, yet Bilam implied that he has the power to do so against God’s will.

Rashi and the Baalei Mussar

Now, Rashi and all the ba’alei mussar do not accept Ibn Ezra’s p’shat. In fact, they say that it was Bilam’s ga’avah at play here. The way he phrased it was to say to the first group of messagners, “Hashem said that I can’t go with YOU (because this is not a respectable enough group or because you’re not offering me enough money). The reality was that Hashem had said, “You cannot GO with them.”

Ramban: “Habah l’tamei poschin lo”

Ramban says: We know that Hashem helps us do what’s right, if a person wants to do what’s right.  “Habah l’taheir missayin oso.”  Hashem helps us out.  But, we also know that “habah l’tamei,” if someone comes to do something wrong, then “poschin lo”, Hashem opens up a gate and says: go ahead. Hashem advised Bilam not to go. But Bilam still had free will, and he was baah litameh and demended that Hashem let him go. To which case Hashem replied, “you can go, but know that I am not happy with you and you cannot curse anyone without my allowance.”  

Says the Ramban, this is the exact same thing that happened regarding the meraglim. Hashem says: Shelach licha anashim. He commanded the sending of the spies. Yet, Hashem was upset that they were sent? The answer is because the Rebono Shel Olam said: You don’t need meraglim. The Jews kept pushing and pushing, “we want it; we need it.’ So Hashem allowed them to do so: Send them, but it is not with my blessing. Hashem says: I will let you go the way you want to go.

So too here Hashem said: Bilam, if you want to fight me, you want to go, you’re not going to have any power to do anything that I won’t allow you to do, but, allowing you to go with them is something that I will grant. Just as the meraglim were allowed, but it was a disaster, so too, here this was a disaster, and, ultimately, Bilam was killed at the end of this whole episode for all that he did against the Jews, although he did admit that he couldn’t express anything except for a blessing and that he had no power outside of what Hashem gave him.

Daas Torah

This Ramban can unify Rashi and the Ibn Ezra. Bilam heard what he wanted to hear and got Hashem to agree to let him go. Bilam wanted to hear  that G-d doesn’t want me to go with this delegation because they’re not respectful enough. That was where Bilam’s own mind was and with his free will, he manipulated the reality.

This teaches us the importance of accountability and da’as Torah. Rav Asher Zelig Rubenstein, zt”l, my rebbe, hammered this lesson home into us. So many of our great Torah leaders are always teaching us this that we need to be in touch with emes, and we need to make sure that we are accountable to emes. Sometimes, we can manipulate things and make it look like or feel like or sound like it’s in our best interest or it’s even being done for righteous reasons, but we could be totally off, and carrying out the message of Bilam.  That’s not at all what we want to be doing in life. 

2) Short Lasting Prophet

Ramban (Bamidbar 22:31) makes his comment on the verse “Vayagel Hashem es einei Bilam”.  At that moment Hashem opened up Bilam’s eyes, and so, the Ramban says that from that expression I understand that this was the only time that Hashem opened up his eyes because he was not a prophet or his eyes would have been opened up before now, and, so therefore, this was the time that he was  a navi, not before and not after, and was only in order to bring out this episode, and this lesson which this is sort of a powerful lesson. 

The gemara in Berachos said that they almost were gozer that a person should read this parsha every single day, and there’s a lot of reasons for this.  The mefarshim talk about it.  But, one of the reasons is that you see clearly that you can’t fight G-d.  You can’t go against Hashem, and this is an important lesson in all of life for us.

Other Rishonim differ with Ramban and consider Bilam to have been a prophet both before and after this episode.

3) Visual Influence

The question is why did Bilam have to go see the Jews in person in order to curse them.  He stood at a high mountain, the pasuk says, and he looked, and he saw the entire nation.  So, says the Ramban (23:41) that when we look at something we actually have an influence on it.  When we look at something we connect with it. This is from the kochos hanefesh that Hashem put in the natural world that we can connect through seeing in a way that is very, very profound.  And, so if Bilam was trying to damage the nation, he had to look at them.

Our External Impact

I have two points to share here. One is that we know that there is something called ayin tovah, a good eye.  The way we look at someone with generosity and care makes a tremendous impact and is something that we can build someone with the way we look at them or we could, G-d forbid, destroy them with the way we look at them.  We should always make sure that when we look at someone, we are looking at them in a positive way, in a way that builds them.

Our Internal Impact

Secondly, Chazal tell us that it’s a mitzvah to look at tzaddikim because they have an influence on us.  “V’hayu einecha ro’os es morecha.”  You should see those that teach you how to fear G-d, and that’s a very important thing.  I know of some great people that have put pictures of gedolim inside their children’s cribs in order that they should see this.  Or, certainly, in their house, so that they should see the gedolim, and look up to them and respect them and know that this is what’s important in life.  On the flip side, Chazal tell us: Asur l’histakeil b’fnei rasha.  One is prohibited to look at the face of a rasha because, once again, when we look at something, we make eye contact with something, it has an influence on us.  So, let us use this for the positive to build people.  Let us use it to make connections by looking at people and connecting with healthy, happy people.

4) Bilaam’s Moment of Clarity

Bilam had a moment of clarity.  He was jealous of the Jewish people, and he said: Tamus nafshee mos yesharim (Bamidbar 23:10). I should die like the righteous ones, like the straight ones, like the avos.  “Vatihi achreesi kamohu.”  I should have it like them.  And, at that exact moment, says the Ramban, that he was longing for Gan Eden because he recognized that life is ephemeral and short and fleeting.  And, what is it all worth?  And, at that moment, he had a recognition.  He didn’t do anything with that recognition, but he had a recognition.  And, we, as Jews, “kol Yisrael yeish lahem cheilek l’olam habah”, we have an opportunity to use our life properly and to always think about how our life is bringing us closer to the Rebono Shel Olam in everything that we do.  What an amazing thing.

As stated above, when we look at something, it has an impact on us. Perhaps it was Bilaam’s visualization of the Jews that let him to this powerful, albeit fleeting, recognition.

5) Mashiach Star

“Darach kochav m’Yaakov.” (Bamidbar 24:17) What Bilam is talking about the future that a star from Yaakov will trample all enemies, and he’s referring to Mashiach, says the Ramban, and he will gather all the Jews.  Why is he called a kochav, a star?  The answer is because a star is up high in the Heaven, but it is able to be seen from all places on Earth, so too, this person that will redeem us will have a tremendous influence and will be able to take over the world and guide the world.  

Bar Kochva, who had the possibility of being Mashiach, he was called “the son of the star”.  Kochav.  Because he was able to unify the entire nation with his strengths.  Unfortunately, he didn’t fulfill his mission, as Rabbi Akiva later expressed clearly, and was not the messiah, and did not save the Jewish people, but that potential was there.

Seeing Potential Greatness

There’s a beautiful p’shat about the kochavim.  The gemara says that the tzaddikim and the great teachers of the Jewish people will shine like stars in the future.  What’s the p’shat?  So, the velt says the p’shat, a lot of people have said this, and Rav Pesach Krohn has made it very famous, and that is that just like a star, really to our eye looks very small, but the truth is, if you think about it, it’s huge.  Stars are very, very large.  Some of them are even bigger than the Earth.  They’re huge.  So, too, a mechneich, a great teacher, looks at a student and might see a small, small student there, but sees that he’s really a star.  Literally, a galaxy and world of his own, and could nurture that world.  So, middah k’neged middah, Hashem rewards them that they will shine like that star because they brought out the star in everyone.  It kind of reminds you of the star student that they used to give out in school.  That’s the idea.  To be able to see that star.  The Mashiach will be someone that could appreciate the greatness of each person.  And, that is what brings Mashiach.

Let us look around, and respect others and see the greatness of other people, especially our children, especially the people that we have an influence on, the people that we interact with because we could build them and we will shine as well, like them, middah k’neged middah for our beautiful way of looking at them.

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Rabbi Yosef Tropper is a rav and psychotherapist. Learn more and subscribe at ParshaThemes.com