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The Jewish Home | JULY 14, 2022
From the Fire Parshas Balak
Toras Moshe vs. Parshas Bilaam By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
W
hereas in many other parshios we focus on deriving lessons from the subtleties of various psukim, the whole Parshas Balak is difficult to understand. Adding to the mystery, the Gemara (Bava Basra 14b) says, “Moshe wrote his book [the Torah], Parshas Bilaam, and Iyov.” Rashi explains that “Parshas Bilaam” refers to “his prophecy and parables, even though these do not serve the needs of Moshe, his Torah, and the events of his life.” This is very difficult to understand. Moshe wrote the whole Torah, including “Parshas Bilaam” within Parshas Balak according to G-d’s command. Why does Rashi explain the nature of “Parshas Bilaam” in a way that implies it was not part of the Torah at all? The Torah also includes Sefer Bereishis, which took place before Moshe was born and cer-
tainly does not include “the events of his life.” So why is Bereishis considered part of “Toras Moshe”? In order to understand what Rashi teaches us, we must first define “Toras Moshe.” Rashi on the Gemara (Chulin 137a) explains that the word Torah comes from the root word horaah, “teaching,” so that the essence of the Torah is that it is a “teaching for all generations.” The Maharal at the beginning of Gur Aryeh explains along the lines of the following words of the Ramban that “the Torah includes the stories from the beginning of Bereishis because this teaches people the path of emunah.” All parts of the Torah which teach the Jewish people what they need to know to live as Jews are considered part of “Toras Moshe.” This seems to imply that Rashi teaches us that “Parshas Bilaam” has nothing to teach the Jewish people.
How can we understand this idea? The Midrash (Sifri on Devarim 34:10) says, “‘No other prophet has arisen among the Jewish people like Moshe’; among the Jewish people there has arisen no prophet like Moshe, but there has arisen [a prophet like Moshe] among the nations of the world. Who? This refers to Bilaam.” How could the Midrash compare this sorcerer’s “prophecy” to Moshe, the master of all prophets? The Ramban explains that Bilaam was not a prophet at all and was certainly not even on the level of regular prophets, much less Moshe. What, then, was the similarity? He explains that it was in the clarity of the message. When Moshe opened his mouth, the Divine presence spoke. Similarly, Hashem placed His words directly into Bilaam’s mouth without any room for interpretation. All other prophets
received visions which required interpretation through their own human, albeit lofty, understanding. But Bilaam’s prophetic message was perfectly clear because it came straight from Hashem. Why did Hashem give Bilaam such a clear prophetic message? The Ramban explains that He did so in order to deprive the nations of the world of the ability to claim, “If only we had a prophet like Moshe, we would serve Hashem, too.” He explains (commenting on Bamidbar 22:31) that Bilaam was merely a sorcerer, not a prophet, and that Hashem only gave him the ability to prophesize in order to increase the honor of the Jewish people, “because it was Hashem’s will that the Jewish people be blessed through the mouth of a prophet of the nations.” If so, who was the primary beneficiary of Bilaam’s prophecy? The Jewish people or the nations of the world?
