Parsha Topic
Bilaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams. (Bemidbar 23:1)
Bilaam said before Hashem, “Their forefathers built before You seven altars, and I set up as many as all of them put together.” (Rashi)
Bilaam’s “Holy” War
Bilaam was the very embodiment of all the impurity and evil in the world. He waged a “holy” war against the Jewish people. As is usually the case with wars, he did not direct all his efforts in just one direction. He tried every angle.
First of all, Chazal tell us that Bilaam knew how to determine the exact moment when Hakadosh Baruch Hu is angry. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu, in His great mercy, refrained from all anger during the whole time that Bilaam sought to curse the Jewish people.
Another thing he tried was to put an ayin hara on them, as it says וישא בלעם את עיניו – “Bilaam raised his eyes.” Rashi explains this to mean that he tried to put the evil eye on them.
Another thing he tried was mentioning Cheit Ha’eigel. He wanted to draw Hashem’s attention to the Jewish people’s sins.
But there was a certain powerful tactic that Bilaam employed, in addition to the above, and that is what I want to talk about.
Bilaam built a lot of altars and offered a lot of korbanos on them. Three times, he set up seven altars, and offered on them seven bulls and seven rams. The Torah elaborates on this point. It seems that this is where Bilaam put in his main energy, in the “holy” war he waged against the Jewish people. We need to understand what he wanted to gain by offering all these korbanos.
First, we will bring out a certain general point about korbanos.
What’s in a Korban?
Let’s talk about animal sacrifices. An animal is quite similar to a human being. True, it is not on the same level as a human, but it does have a nefesh similar to that of humans. An animal can thus be used to represent a human being. People have the quality of growth, and so do animals. And when an animal is burned, it returns to its source, which is Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because everything returns to its source when it is burned up.
A korban is thus taking an animal, which is similar to a human being, and burning it on the altar.
Now, a human being contains within him all the spiritual worlds, as R. Chayim Volozhiner explains in part one of Sefer Nefesh Hachayim. When we put an animal on the altar and burn it, this is like bringing the entire world, and everything in it, back to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
A korban properly offered is called reach nichoach, a “pleasing fragrance.” In other words, the korban ascends to Heaven and is accepted l’ratzon, willingly and graciously. So to speak, it enters the depth of Hashem’s Will. Hashem is pleased that we have brought His world back to him.
This makes korbanos greater than all other mitzvos. Every mitzvah accomplishes a certain specific thing, but offering a korban encompasses everything. All the 248 limbs and organs, and the 365 sinews and nerves.
This is such a sublime matter that the Vilna Gaon remarked that if we would bring one korban with proper kavanah, the world would reach its ultimate goal.
We see that korbanos express something very, very deep. It is a matter of bringing everything back to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So to speak, we say: Hashem, the entire world and everything in it is Yours!
Never Too Lofty
The world has a whole system of kefirah, of denying belief in Hashem. I am not talking about the modern iteration of kefirah, by which people deny the very existence of the Creator, because this is simply ridiculous and not even worthy of discussion. I am talking here about the kefirah of the ancient Greek philosophers. The Rambam addressed the issues they raised and wrote at length to refute them. Also the Rema wrote a special book about korbanos, called Sefer Toras Ha’olah, in which he refutes the arguments of the philosophers against our faith.
What did these philosophers of ancient times say?
Their argument basically went like this: G-d is so great and awesome, so infinitely above our world, so beyond human comprehension, that He really has no connection to the world He created. It is categorically impossible for G-d to relate to the physical world, to act upon it, to even care about what takes place there. That’s what they argued.
There were various levels to this kefirah. Some argued that Hashem doesn’t even know what is happening in the world. Others argued that G-d knows what people do in the world but doesn’t care.
This is actually the subject of Sefer Iyov. Iyov described G-d’s loftiness and greatness at great length, and argued that for this very reason, He doesn’t care about us.
What do we say? How do we answer this? We say that if G-d really was as great as the philosophers claimed He is, He would indeed be incapable of maintaining a relationship with something as small as the world of human beings. But G-d is much, much greater than that! He is way above anything the philosophers could even imagine. And for this very reason, He is capable of relating to even the smallest of things.
I will give you an example. Shlomo Hamelech was the wisest of men and knew the language of animals. When we encounter animals, we don’t understand what they are saying. To us, it is just noise. This is because our level is far above that of animals, so we can’t even relate to what they say. But Shlomo Hamelech was able to communicate with an animal. He understood its language.
How did Shlomo Hamelech do it? Was it because he was closer to the level of an animal? Not at all. He was far above our level of intellect, and surely far above that of animals. And for this very reason, he was able to understand them and communicate with them.
Who is like Hashem our G-d, Who dwells so high?
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is very, very lofty. And for this very reason:
He lowers Himself to see in heavens and earth.
Because He is very high, He can reach very low.
It’s Not an Aquarium
Emunah means believing that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is connected to the world and relates to it. Kefirah means not believing that G-d is connected to the world.
Someone who doesn’t even believe that the world has a Creator is not called a kofer. He is just an idiot. He is like someone who sees a table and thinks that the table came to be on its own. It just happened. This is how the modern world thinks, and it is nonsensical. The kofrim of ancient times believed that the world has a Creator, but they didn’t believe that He continues to run the world.
All religions believe in G-d and believe that G-d is connected to His world. So what is special about Judaism? We believe not just that Hashem knows what happens in the world, and not just that He runs and oversees everything in the world, but that He has a personal connection to us. He loves and cares personally about each one of His children.
And this is a very powerful love.
Let’s say a person has an aquarium. He looks with interest at all the pretty, decorative fish swimming around in there, and gives them food. Despite the distance between them, if there is a fish that doesn’t eat, he tries to find a solution. However, it doesn’t worry him overly much, because he doesn’t love the fish personally. The distance between them is too great for that.
That’s not how Hashem loves us.
Let’s say there is a very devoted preschool teacher, who loves little Saraleh dearly. The teacher is dedicated to all the children, and of course to Saraleh, and does everything for them. But it’s still not like the love that the mother has for her little Saraleh. A parent’s love is something else altogether.
Hashem, due to His immense desire to bestow goodness upon us, does not just know us and pay attention to us and watch over us. He is הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה – He “lovingly chooses His people Yisrael.”
The first word that Hashem spoke to the Jewish people was אנוכי ה’ אלקיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים – “I am Hashem your G-d, Who took you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” He did not say that He merely created us, but that He went down into Mitzrayim to take us out of there. He took care of us and carried us on eagles’ wings. He has a personal relationship with us. He loves us in the fullest sense of the word.
This is what the whole Torah is about. It is as Shlomo Hamelech describes, in his great wisdom, the Giving of the Torah: ישקני מנשיקות פיהו – “May He kiss me with the kisses of His mouth.”
And when we speak of Torah in davening, the words are overflowing with expressions of love: אהבה רבה אהבתנו וגו’ חמלה גדולה ויתירה חמלת עלינו וגו’.
The Deepest Love of All
Bilaam knew that Hashem loves the Jewish people. But he thought that there is a place where this love comes to an end. Deep down, there is a place where Hashem says, so to speak: I do love the Jews, but after all, I am the Creator, and they are just creatures. The distance between us is infinite.
This is the place that Bilaam wanted to tap, to access. And how do you access the deepest depths of Hashem’s holy Will? By korbanos.
Bilaam decided to offer one korban after another until he brought as many sacrifices as all the Avos did. He thereby sought to do away with the whole world, to nullify everything, and get to the place where there is only G-d Himself, the One and Only. A place where there is no world and no Jewish people and no anything.
And when Bilaam gets to this place where G-d’s connection to the Jewish people comes to an end, this is where he will mention Cheit Ha’eigel. He will say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu: You don’t truly care about the Jewish people. And they sinned before you by worshipping a golden calf. How low! Why don’t You just get rid of them altogether?
What did Hashem answer Bilaam?
You are so foolish. You are trying to present to Me the sins of My children? That’s like presenting a father with the bad deeds of his child. Do you think the father will stop loving his child because of that?
Hashem’s love for the Jewish people is deeper than deep. That very place, deeper than deep, is where Hashem’s love for the Jewish people is. That is where it emanates from.
Bilaam didn’t understand this. He was a classic kofer. He tried to dig deeper and deeper because he thought there must be a point where G-d’s relationship with the Jewish people comes to an end.
But Bilaam was utterly wrong, and Hashem showed this by refraining from all anger during that whole period. By doing so, He was expressing how His relationship with His children, the Jewish people, is infinitely deep. It is a relationship of infinite love. No matter how deep you go, it never stops.
