There is an anomaly in this blessing when compared to the other blessings of requests. Most blessings begin with a request and then assert G-d as the One who is capable of bestowing that request. As an example in the blessing of Forgiveness we first appeal, Forgive us our Father for we have made mistakes, Pardon us our King for we have sinned intentionally, and then we affirm, for You are the One that pardons and forgives.

In the blessing of Wisdom we reverse this order. We first establish G-d as the provider of wisdom, You generously give man wisdom, and teach insight to human beings, and only after that declaration we ask, grant us generously from Your wisdom, insight and understanding.

What is behind this subtle distinction?

Bilaam arrogantly professes that he is a,(במדבר כד טז)  ידע דעת עליון, one who ‘perceives the thoughts of the Most High’. The Talmud questions this proclamation since if Bilaam couldn’t even read the mind of his donkey how could he possibly fathom the depth of G-d’s thoughts. The Talmud goes on to explain that Bilaam merely knew the fleeting moment that G-d gets incensed each day and hoped to provoke His ire against the Jews at that opportune moment.

We are taught that the length of that instant is the amount of time it takes to say the three letter Hebrew word for ‘moment’, רגע, Rega.

Tosafos wonders what effective words could Bilaam have possibly uttered during that very brief time that could have stoked G-d’s wrath. He answers that he would use a two syllable word consisting of three Hebrew letters similar to the length of the word rega, the word, כלם, kaleim, which means, destroy them.

Tosafos adds that indeed Bilaam attempted exactly that but was foiled by G-d when He reversed those same three letters, כ-ל-ם transforming it into the word מ-ל-ך, meaning ‘king’ alluding to the verse that attests to our special bond with the King, ותרועת מלך בו (שם כג כא), and he has the King's friendship.

The Holy Rizhiner reveals that in these words lies the secret to accurately grasping G-d’s understanding and wisdom.

There are three components in the progression from intellect to reaction. מוח, is the seat of wisdom, the brain. לב, the center of emotion, our heart. כבד, the liver, which in mystical tradition is the source of reactive anger and frustration.

The key is to define our emotions through true understanding and accurate knowledge. From there one may then emote healthily and react either by stifling misplaced anger or at times measuredly displaying appropriate anger.

The problem with Bilaam, and his disciples, is that they operate in the reverse. Their frustrations fuels their emotions disallowing for any clear and unbiased thinking.

That the difference between מ-ל-ך, מוח, ordered ‘thought’, that prods a healthy לב, emotion, resulting in a calm liver,כבד. In that mode we are assured G-d’s friendly allegiance and acceptance, and one who initiates perforce one’s כבד, angry liver.

When we reverse the order that is when havoc rules with confused thinking and poisonously reactive and misdirected emotions.

There is a famous Midrash where Abba Kohen Bardela exclaims, “Woe is to us from the day of judgment. Woe is to us from the day of reproach. Bilaam, the wisest of the gentiles, could not stand before the rebuke of his donkey. Yosef was the youngest of the tribes. Yet, his brothers could not stand before him. How much more so, when Hashem will come and reproach everyone according to what he is, will we not be able to tolerate this rebuke.” 

Abba Kohen Bardela in focusing on these two specific episodes is seeking to open our eyes to the follies we often succumb to in making mistaken assumptions.

As Bilaam, we frequently think we know better and ‘understand’ people, their situations, their motivations, judging them through bias and a misguided sense of intellectual supremacy.

As in the case of Yosef we overreact to those who are much more inexperienced and perhaps even more naïve, and yet we refuse to give them the extra leeway they deserve before being judged.

Bilaam the ‘wisest’, and Yosef the ‘youngest’, epitomize these two vulnerabilities that so often delude us into unfair judgments.

The great Gaon and Rav of Brisk, and subsequently of Jerusalem, Harav Yehoshua Leib Diskin, popularly known as the Maharil Diskin, reveals a most fascinating insight in explaining how a prophet like Bilaam could distort the message of G-d.

A prophet is not simply a receptor of a message from G-d. The prophet must interpret the prophecy through the lens of his own soul. Upon reaching a level of intense devotion and heightened awareness the prophet comprehends that what he sees in light of the ‘clarity’ of his own soul. The Talmud teaches us that no two prophets’ prophecy identically, for each prophet is unique to the level of his own personal spiritual development. He compares the comprehension of prophecy to viewing an item through colored glass. If the hue is blue everything observed through it will have a blue tinge. In the same vein, depending on the degree of personal perfection will a prophet see things with accuracy. Based on the prophet’s perception will the prophecy be realized and fulfilled. The prophet in fact determines the outcome of his unique ‘vision’. This he explains is the meaning of  the distinguishing between the prophecy of Moshe and all other prophets in terms of a אספקלריא המאירה; a clear unfiltered glass, and אספקלריא שאינה מאירה; a dimmed lens. Moshe possessed a level of selflessness that upon seeing the ‘word of G-d’ saw it clear and unclouded, as through clear glass,  exactly as G-d depicted and expressed it, without deviation whatsoever. The other Prophets however had a ‘tinted’ and subjective perception that was limited in its accuracy but nevertheless valid and implemented accordingly. It was with this knowledge that Balak sought to tempt Bilaam into viewing the words of G-d through his sullied and selfish soul, thereby allowing for his skewered interpretation to ‘hopefully’ result in a curse upon the Jewish nation. G-d however stifled this feeble attempt by permitting Bilaam, undeservedly, to see the word of G-d through the אספקלריא המאירה; the pristine lens, disallowing him from the ability to translate the message other than the clear blessings that they represented and were intended as.

Our entire world and the interactions and events we experience are all messages from G-d that are laden with opportunity if we read them correctly. How we perceive them determines how healthily we live our spiritual lives. How we interpret them determines the implementation of our goals.

When looking at life through colored windows, the darker the color of the glass the more obscured is that which stands behind the glass. In proportion to the opaqueness of the glass is how much more likely it is that we will we see ‘our own’ reflection in the glass, thus blotting out the person or situation which awaits us behind the partition, leaving us engrossed in our own ‘image’. Bilaam saw the world through a lens of selfishness, thus crippling himself from utilizing the magnificent talents he was endowed him for the betterment of humanity.

When we view the world and the people around us and see only ourselves we are guilty of being the disciples of Bilaam who lived by the narcissistic credo of the evil eye, an arrogant spirit and a greedy soul.

Our ability to read our responsibilities correctly is contingent on purifying our own selves enabling us to see those around us through a pristine and unadulterated lens.

We begin all requests with an affirmation that all wisdom, perception, insight stem from Him. We must shed at first any notion of ‘self’ so that we may see others as well as our own needs without taint or bias. Before we ask, we submit that His wisdom shall be the sole determinant of one’s needs.

May we be blessed to see the world around us with the visual acuity that will enable us to fulfill His will, wholly untainted by our personal biases and predilections.

באהבה,

צבי טייכמאן