(בלק כב, יח)אִ ם־יִ תֶּ ן־לִ ֥ י בָ לָ ֛ק מְ לֹ֥ א בֵ ית֖ וֹ כֶּ ֣סֶ ף וְ זָ הָ ֑ב
“Even if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold...” (Numbers 22:18)
Second Reading: Balaam’s Three Traits
In the fifth chapter of the tractate of Avot, the sages compare Balaam to Abraham:
Whoever possesses these three traits, he is of the disciples of Abraham, our father; and [whoever possesses] three other traits, he is of the disciples of Balaam, the wicked: a good eye, a humble spirit, and a lowly appetite [psyche]—he is of the disciples of Abraham, our father. An evil eye, a haughty spirit, and a boundless appetite [psyche]—he is of the disciples of Balaam, the wicked.
It is written in the Sefat Emet, that these three attributes of Abraham correspond to the three pilgrimage festivals:
- A humble spirit represents the negation of desires and corresponds to the "bread of affliction" or “bread of poverty” (י נ ם ע ח ל) of the festival of Passover.
- A lowly spirit, humility, corresponds to Shavu’ot when we commemorate receiving the Torah. The Torah is likened to water that descends from a high place to a low place, and to merit receiving the Torah on Shavu’ot, one needs a lowly spirit.
- The festival of Sukkot is “the time of our joy” and corresponds to a good eye. It is on Sukkot that we look favorably upon the nations of the world. We have a good eye towards all of humanity, towards the entire world, and therefore we draw abundance for everyone by sacrificing the 70 oxen, one for each of the nations, thereby drawing physical abundance for all the world. We can add to this that the word for “eye” in Hebrew is the name of the letter ayin (ע), whose value of 70. Thus “a good eye” alludes to “goodness for all 70 [nations].”
Even today, there is this mindset, that we want to bestow physical goodness to everyone, even to any non-Jew who needs it. It is said that this is the first attribute of our forefather Abraham, a good eye, and it is mainly revealed at the time of our joy, the festival of Sukkot.
ThE gOOD EyE aTTRaCTS CONvERTS
A good eye is thus something very Messianic—to bestow goodness to everyone, and consequently, by doing so, to also elevate and bring all the sparks of holiness closer. By doing so, we encourage whoever is worthy to become a convert. The worthy converts are awakened and come to take shelter under the wings of the Divine Presence.
If we look at the order of these three traits, they are a good eye, then a humble spirit, and finally a lowly appetite or psyche. This order corresponds to the order of the soul’s three lower levels: “a good eye” corresponds to the soul (נשמה). Then we have a humble spirit (רוח). Finally, there is the lowly appetite or psyche (נפש). This correspondence is upheld by all the commentators, not just the Sefat Emet, even Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin in his commentary Ruach Chaim on Avot, also explains simply that these three attributes are soul-spirit-soul. In relation to the “good eye” and the festival of Sukkot, this correspondence reveals that joy depends on the soul, and indeed the level of the soul corresponds to the sefirah of understanding whose inner experience is one of joy.
WhaT iS ThE DiffERENCE?
From here we move on to the famous interpretation by the Ba’al Shem Tov to this mishnah from Avot. The Ba’al Shem Tov relies on the next sentence in the mishnah:
What is the difference between the disciples of Abraham the patriarch and the disciples of Balaam the wicked?
The Baal Shem Tov asks how it is possible to ask, "What is the difference between them?" It should be clear that there is nothing similar.
This is actually a very typical question coming from the Ba’al Shem Tov who foresees that there will be a time—particularly in our generation, the tenth generation from the Ba’al Shem Tov—when the good and the evil will be indistinguishable from one another.
The Ba’al Shem Tov answers that the reason it has hard to tell them apart is because both groups of disciples use all three traits and their opposites. The disciples of Abraham use the negative traits of Balaam the wicked for the service of God, and the the disciples of Balaam the wicked use all the good traits of Abraham our father to commit transgressions and justify their behavior. When you look at their behavior from the exterior, you cannot tell the difference. The entire difference is—in the words of the Ba’al Shem Tov—between material and spiritual.
For example, if Balaam's disciples have a boundless appetite materially, then Abraham's disciples should have a boundless appetite for the spiritual. Regarding a boundless appetite, he quotes the sages’ expression, “no one dies with even half of his appetite fulfilled.” If it concerns the disciples of Balaam the wicked, the desire is material; he has a hundred, and he wants two hundred, he has no satisfaction.
For the righteous, the dissatisfaction is with the spiritual. The Lubavitcher Rebbe often writes that being content with one’s lot is a good trait only materially, but it is negative regarding the spiritual. Clearly the explicit source for the Rebbe’s approach is this teaching of the Ba’al Shem Tov.
The same applies to an evil eye. Abraham views himself with an evil eye spiritually, feeling that he is worth nothing and has not achieved everything.
The same applies to a haughty spirit, which becomes important in situations when the evil inclination comes and tells Abraham and his disciples that the task they want to undertake is too big. To combat this argument, you need to have a haughty spirit that is not afraid of taking on a big spiritual task.
There is a similar explanation regarding the red heifer. The evil inclination comes and says to you, "This act is too much for you, it will never work, you will never succeed,” whenever you are about to perform a holy action. Against the inclination that wants you to lower your head when it comes to holiness, you need a haughty spirit.
Thus, says the Ba’al Shem Tov, the righteous person needs to know how to use all the traits of the disciples of Balaam the wicked when it comes to spiritual matters.
The reverse is also true. All the good traits of Abraham regarding the material are used by Balaam the wicked and his disciples regarding the spiritual. First, Balaam is pleased with himself; he is content when it comes to the spiritual. He does not need more at all. On the contrary, he always has enough, the opposite of what we said earlier.
Balaam has a lowly appetite with respect to spiritual matters. He will never initiate something significant in the service of God because he is lowly in what his spirit desires. Likewise, with respect to a humble spirit; when it comes to spirituality, he has no desires at all, he has a humble spirit.
Thus, says the Ba’al Shem Tov, spiritually the wicked person has and uses all the good traits of Pirkei Avot, and spiritually the righteous person has all the bad traits of the wicked. This is why we can easily mistake them for one another.
(from a class given on the 20th of Shevat 5751)
