Bilaam went with Balak and they came to Kiryat Chutzos. (22:39)
Rashi explains: Kiryas Chutzos – a city full of marketplaces, with men, women, and children in its plazas, as if to say, “See, and have mercy, so that these should not be uprooted.”
It is told in the Gemara (Shabbat 31a): A certain gentile came before Shammai. He said to him, “Convert me on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.” Shammai pushed him away with the builder’s measuring rod in his hand. He came before Hillel, and Hillel converted him. He said to him, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. This is the entire Torah; the rest is its explanation—go and learn it.” End quote of the Gemara.
This Gemara raises several questions:
- What was the gentile intending when he made such a strange request? Did he not realize on his own that such a thing is impossible?! After all, the Torah is longer than the land and includes 613 commandments, each filled with many details. Did he truly intend to learn all this in the amount of time he could stand on one foot?!
- Why did Shammai push the gentile away with the builder’s rod? It is true that the gentile asked for something unattainable, but this still does not fall into the category of “wickedness” that would warrant such rejection and humiliation.
- How could Hillel convert him in the end? Was it really so that by saying, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow,” he had taught him the entire Torah?!
It may be said that this gentile greatly yearned to convert and to live his life as a Jew. For this purpose, he had already studied the entire Torah so that he would be able to fulfill the commandments immediately upon conversion. But before completing his conversion, he reflected to himself and considered what he was about to do. He reached the conclusion that conversion was like “a rose with a thorn.” It is true that through it, one merits to join the holy nation and enter beneath the wings of the Shechinah, but on the other hand, one becomes obligated in 613 commandments and might, Heaven forbid, anger the Creator Baruch Hu if he transgresses them.
Therefore, he came before Shammai to ask for a short piece of advice—how to live as a Jew without stumbling into sin. This is what he meant when he said, “Teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot,” meaning: Give me brief guidance that will teach me how to safeguard and fulfill the Torah properly.
Before continuing to explain Shammai’s actions, let us clarify Hillel’s intent in responding with, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” What advice was Hillel attempting to give? To understand this, we must recall what was often said by the righteous Gaon Rabbi Yisrael Yaakov Fisher zt”l, Av Beis Din of Yerushalayim:
The main suffering that afflicts a person is due to sins between man and his fellow. For sins between man and the Omnipresent, Teshuva is effective. Most Jews, after doing improper acts, are stirred with feelings of regret. In addition, every person experiences Yom Kippur once a year, and the very essence of the day atones for them. But for sins between man and his fellow, we have learned (Yoma 85b): “Transgressions between man and his fellow are not atoned for by Yom Kippur until he appeases his fellow.” So long as the fellow has not forgiven him, the sins weigh on him and cause him to suffer. This is because one does not always remember whom he wronged, and even if he knows, those harmed do not always forgive so quickly...
From the words of the Av Beis Din, we learn that the primary obstacle preventing a person from being pleasing to his Creator are the sins between man and his fellow. This is what Hillel was saying to the convert: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow!” That is, if you wish to be a proper and pleasing Jew, be especially careful regarding sins between people, for atonement for them is not in your control. Therefore, beware of doing things that others find unpleasant or hurtful.
Now let us return to the actions of Shammai. Shammai the Elder also knew that this was the proper advice for that convert. However, he was unsure whether the gentile standing before him was capable of understanding it, and whether he was even worthy of converting.
You must understand that this advice reveals the very distinction between a Jew and a gentile. For while among Jews such a concept is an obvious foundation, a gentile is not naturally capable of absorbing it.
As Chazal tell us (see Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer, among others), before the giving of the Torah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu went to each of the nations and asked whether they wanted to receive the Torah. Each nation asked what was written in it, and HaKadosh Baruch hu answered with one of the commandments between man and his fellow. To one nation He said, “Do not murder,” to another, “Do not steal.” Although they understood that these mitzvos would be good for them, since they would promote peace among them, they nonetheless refused to accept them, saying that their entire way of life depended on those very sins...
From here we see that the concept of considering the feelings of another is not genuinely present among the nations. However, within every nation there were also a few souls that did long to receive the Torah, and those souls were surely not comfortable with the corruption of moral traits. But since the entire nation did not choose the Torah, those souls were also prevented from receiving it at that time. Only in later generations could they be clarified and separated from their nations and join the chosen nation.
Thus, when that gentile came before Shammai the Elder, Shammai wanted to test him—to determine whether he was from among those souls worthy of conversion. For that purpose, he wanted to examine whether the concept of “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” resonated with him. So he struck him with the measuring rod, to see how he would react. If he were to express amazement at the blow, it would show that he was from the souls of true converts, since he would not understand how one could cause distress to another; for indeed, it is not proper for a person to do to someone else what he would not want done to him. But if he would leave without saying a word, that would indicate he was not from among those souls, because a gentile is not amazed when he sees someone strike another for no reason—he understands that if one feels like hitting, he hits...
And since the gentile did not say anything in response to Shammai, Shammai concluded that he was not fit for conversion and left him.
However, when he came before Hillel, he shared his pain—that Shammai had pushed him for no reason using the builder’s rod. It then became clear that the reason he had not expressed amazement before Shammai was not due to indifference, but rather due to humility and reverence toward the sages of the generation. Hillel then understood that he was indeed worthy of entering beneath the wings of the Shechinah. Therefore, he gave him that same advice, which was also an indirect answer to explain the intent of Shammai’s action with the builder’s rod.
An illustration of this idea is seen in Rashi’s commentary before us. Rashi explains why Balak brought Bilaam to Kiryat Chutzos—it was to arouse Bilaam’s compassion upon the Moabite nation. And what did he want Bilaam to do with that compassion? To curse someone else! And that, even before Balak knew whether Israel intended to harm him at all. It is possible that Israel even tried to inform him that they had no such intention, since Hashem commanded Moshe accordingly, as it says (Devarim 2:9): ‘‘ אלי אל תצר את מואב ואל תתגרויאמר ה בם מלחמה’ - “And the Lord said to me: Do not distress Moav and do not provoke them to war.” And even if, as the leader of his nation, he did not believe them, the matter was still uncertain. If he had been an upright king, he would have requested only that Bilaam bless his nation, that any enemies who seek their harm would not succeed against them. That blessing alone would have sufficed to remove his fear of Israel. There was no need at all to curse those who had not even intended harm toward him. Especially when he declared that compassion was rooted within him and asked Bilaam to arouse compassion as well. If you are compassionate, why do you not extend compassion to others?
But this is the essence of a gentile: for himself, he indeed has compassion. But to recognize that there is someone else in the world and that one must take his suffering into consideration—this, no. On the contrary, he desires to see others humiliated and distressed...
Fortunate are we—how good is our portion, how pleasant our lot—that we are counted among the people of Hashem, and that He has not made our portion like theirs, nor our destiny like all their multitudes.
