Strange Donkey
In this week’s Torah reading, Bilam the prophet decided to curse the Jews, despite God expressing disapproval of him doing so. On the way, God sent an angel to obstruct the road upon which he was traveling. The first time the donkey he was riding on saw the angel blocking its way, it veered off the path to circumvent the angel. Bilam, who was unaware of the angel’s presence, struck his donkey to direct it back on the road.
God sent the angel a second time, which forced the donkey to squeeze against a fence in order to circumvent the angel. But Bilam was undeterred, and continued on his way, until the angel came a third time, and did not allow the donkey to get past him. At that point, the donkey started talking to Bilam, and the angel was revealed to Bilam. The angel explained to Bilam why the donkey had acted strangely, and admonished him.
Don’t You See? It’s a Hint from Heaven!
When the angel confronted Bilam, Bilam answered (Bamidbar 22:34), “I have sinned, for I did not know you were standing in front of me.” This seems to be a bit perplexing. If Bilam was unaware of the presence of the angel, what was his sin? Being that he was unaware of the angel’s presence, why should he have been expected to refrain from hitting the donkey when it refused to advance? Striking an animal is the natural means used to mobilize it.
The Malbim gives a remarkable answer. Why was the angel sent to do this in the first place? Rashi says that it was an angel of mercy that was sent to dissuade Bilam from sinning, to spare him from spiritual disaster. Says the Malbim, it should have occurred to Bilam that Heaven is interfering with his progress! He should have realized that it’s not for naught that his faithful donkey is all of the sudden acting strangely until it came to a point where it uncharacteristically refused to move. He should have realized there was a message being sent to him from Heaven.
Not a Question – an Accusation
In the same vein, the Sforno explains the question the angel asked Bilam. The angel confronted Bilam and said (22:32), “Why did you hit your donkey?” Why did he ask this question? Isn’t the reason for hitting his donkey obvious? The Sforno explains that this wasn’t really a question, but actually an accusation. The angel was telling Bilam that instead of hitting the donkey in order to stubbornly continue on his way, he should have realized that it was a sign from Heaven to stop.
Yet, as Rabbeinu Bechaye points out, Bilam was so stubborn that even after the donkey started talking to him, he didn’t take the hint. Bilam should have been stunned by the fact that his donkey was talking to him, and should have realized that this miracle must be an obvious sign from Heaven to retract his decision. But instead, he just answered back to his donkey in a nonchalant manner, and remained unimpressed.
God is Obstructing Us from Sin
Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz (Da’at Torah, in the beginning of Parshat Beshalach) says that this is something God does all the time. When God sees someone going on a path to sin, God will often arrange for something unexpected to obstruct his pursuit. This obstruction is meant as a sign for a person to rethink the direction he is going in. While God grants man free will, God has mercy on us and attempts to dissuade us from sin.
Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein adds that if God changed the laws of nature by making a donkey talk, just to prevent the wicked Bilam from doing the wrong thing, we can be sure that God works very hard to steer us in the right direction as well. But ultimately, it is up to us to actually do it. If we ignore God’s signs, this itself is a sin. Being stubborn and ignoring the signs from Heaven is a sin on its own right, as we say in Viduy (the confession prayer), “We were stubborn.” The Chayei Adam writes (Part 2, chapter 143) that this refers to being stubborn by ignoring signs Heaven sends us to distance us from sin.
Kosher Money?
I once decided to venture into a certain practice which would save me money. From my understanding, it was technically permissible, albeit not ideal. While other people had no problem with this venture, I kept on running into problems. Finally, it hit me. God was sending me a message. He expected better from me. And from the time I came to that realization, I stopped pursuing it.
We cannot always identify when a signal is being sent to us from Heaven. But when we encounter obstacles in our pursuits, it is certainly an opportunity to reexamine our actions. If we realize that the pursuit in which we encountered an obstacle is less than ideal, we can be sure we understand why the deterrent was sent to us, and it’s our job to take the hint and let go of the pursuit.
By Rabbi Yitzchok Aryeh Strimber torah4every1@gmail.com
