A Bipolar World
The Mishna divides the world into two groups: the talmidim, disciples, of Bilaam Harasha and the talmidim of Avraham Avinu. They represent two extremes. This is difficult to understand. How do Bilaam and Avraham represent opposites? The fact that Avraham was a great tzaddik and Bilaam a great rasha isn’t enough to explain the contrast.
Bracha and Klallah
The answer is that Avraham represents all bracha, blessing in the world, and Bilaam represents all klallah in the world. The Torah says of Avraham veheye bracha, you shall be a bracha. All those who connect to you shall be blessed. Bilaam represents the opposite extreme of veheye klallah.
The Sefer Yetzira teaches that Hashem entered into two brisos, covenants, with Avraham: the bris hame’or which refers to bris mila and the bris halashon, the covenant of speech. The Raavad and other commentaries explain that the bris halashon refers to prophecy.
An individual can extend himself beyond his own person in two ways. He can perpetuate his own being through physical offspring by having children - which the bris mila reflects. He can also expand beyond his personal boundaries through producing talmidim. Chazal’s reveal that one who teaches his son’s friend Torah is as if he gave birth to him. Just as the bris mila involved a bris that related to Avraham and his progeny who would be bnei bris, in the same way the bris halashon would give rise to the birth of bnei bris to his talmidim. Avraham’s disciples would also be considered his children.
In his famous response to a question from a convert named Ovadia, the Rambam writes that this is so to the extent that a convert, the spiritual progeny of Avraham, can refer to the avos as “our forefathers” when he brings bikkurim. Other than in the case of a few limited exception, a convert is considered a child of the avos. Every bris involves crisa, the cutting of something. Each party much contribute something of himself to the bris.
The Dibbur of Avraham
Hashem gave the power of nevuah, prophecy, to Avraham and the Torah says of Avraham ki navi hu, for he is a prophet. The word navi (נביא) is associated with the root niv (ניב) meaning fruit, as used in the word tenuva (תנובה) meaning produce. Speech is called niv sfasayim, literally the fruit of the lips. A navi is someone who contains within him the niv as the power to produce offspring through his words.
Yeshayahu teaches that just as the rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return until they have quenched the ground, the same is true of Hashem’s words; lo yashuv eilai reikam they never return to Hashem empty and always come to fruition. Hashem’s words are like the rain and snow that has the power to make things grow and bear fruit. In the same way, the navi’s words bear fruit.
Avraham’s Distinct Lashon
This is the power of devarai asher samti beficha, My words which I have placed in your mouth, with respect to Avraham and it is the context of the bris halashon. Exactly as with bris mila, it involves severing something from one’s self and handing it over to the control of another. Avraham was so called in his being av hamon goyim, the father of many nations. But for us, he is av ram, the father who is lofty.
Veromamtanu mikol halshonos, Hashem raised us up above other tongues. Herein lies Avraham’s loftiness. The entire revelation of Avraham resides in his being distinguished from the Dor Hapalaga. Avraham separated himself from the prevailing lashon of the masses which was confused and mixed up and only he remained with the original pristine lashon of the world. Therein lies his power to give rise to offspring.
Hashem created another navi who represents the opposite extremes. The nations complained to Hashem that they did not have a prophet of their own. Hashem therefore gave them a navi who was on the highest of whatever the nations yearned. Yet the essence of that navi’s niv was not characterized by bearing fruit. Instead, its highest objective was to uproot from the source. Herein lies the root of the two extremes.
The Power of Bracha
Chazal reveal that a jewel hung from Avraham’s neck and all who saw it would be cured. The early commentaries explain that the jewel was Avraham’s power of dibbur. Avraham travelled, educated and taught people about Hashem, and the Rambam describes his efforts at length. That was the nature of Avraham’s bracha. Bilaam’s klallah exists on the opposite extreme.
One of the early commentaries makes a fantastic observation. Balak said to Bilaam asher tevarech baruch those you bless are blessed and ve’asher taor yuar and those you curse will be cursed. Bilaam had no power to bless; those he blessed were already baruch. He did, however, have the power to curse.
How must we understand these two extreme powers within the power of dibbur? The same power which produces niv and gives rise to offspring can be used to curse, uproot, and grow thorns and thistles instead of produce.
The Power of Dibbur
Our starting point is an attempt to explore the depth of the power of dibbur. The entire notion of speech is puzzling. When a person senses something, he very quickly translates it into words. While we take this for granted, the speed at which this occurs is remarkable. The speed at which a person, once triggered, can unleash a harmful remark, is almost instantaneous even though one would expect it would take more time to formulate. From where does such a sophisticated power emanate?
Speech abounds in the world. There is an essential distinction between a person’s acts and his dibbur and they stem from two different sources. Dibbur is its own category and it isn’t some mere action that one engages in among others. Even things in the mineral and vegetable realm can act in various ways. Various forms of energy release can bring about physical actions.
Dibbur: An Expression of Life
Dibbur, however, is distinct and unique to humans. It doesn’t come about through the unleashing of energy but instead stems from life itself. Man’s being a nefesh chaya, living soul, is a reference to his power of dibbur. It is true that from a physical perspective, one uses energy to speak. However, dibbur itself is an expression of life and not energy. In the Torah’s depiction of Hashem’s creation of Man, the Torah says vayehi ha’adam lenefesh chaya, and Man was a living soul. Onkolos interprets the words nefesh chaya to mean ruach memalela, the spirit of speech – i.e. the power of dibbur. Man’s nefesh chaya expresses itself through dibbur.
On an essential level, chayim is something which percolates from within itself. It extracts additional life from within just as a spring, called mayim chayim, constantly brings forth fresh water. Dibbur, therefore, expresses the depth of a person’s life. Herein lies revelation of the essence of life itself.
The Maharal notes that the dead are called yordei duma, those who descend into silence. In contrast, life is associated with the ruach memalela, power of speech. A person is alive if he is manbia – if life percolates from within him.
Hashem created the world in a way that something which is associated with a concentrated nevia of life gives rise to progeny. That very power resides within dibbur. Hashem told Moshe that He would be with Moshe’s mouth vehoreisicha asher tidaber. While those words can literally mean “and I will teach you what to say” the word vehoreisicha (והוריתיך) is related to herayon (הריון), pregnancy. As a result, Moshe’s words would produce offspring.
Chazal allude to a particular insight. Hashem’s dibbur was first expressed through the luchos and afterwards the sefer Torah. The writing in the luchos was engraved onto the medium to the point that the words and luchos became a single entity. A sefer Torah, however, isn’t carved. Instead, it is written in ink on parchment – and must be so written.
Engraving the Dibbur of Torah
There are two ways through which one can reveal his thoughts: through writing or dibbur. The only dibbur that a person can express is his own self. One can’t pull some word from the dictionary and then find a way to pronounce it. Instead, a person’s dibbur is a revelation of his own self. Indeed, the nefesh is called luach libam, the tablet of their hearts.
Notably, the luchos depicted in shuls resembles the way one simplistically draws a picture of the heart. This is an intentional association of the luchos with the heart. And while the shape itself doesn’t come close to resembling an actual heart, it is incorporated because of the symbolic meaning it assumed. As practical matter, the luchos so drawn remind us of a heart (even more than the actual shape of a heart.)
All dibbur is engraved within the heart. The heart is considered essential life as the pasuk says mikol mishmar netzor libecha ki mimenu totzos chayim, guard your heart from all transgression, for life comes out of it. The Zohar refers to those carvings as glifin, the Aramaic word for the same, and it is those glifin which we express when we speak. It follows that rather than inventing dibbur, we instead express the dibbur within us. The seventy languages represent seventy means through life is outwardly revealed.
The Severity of Abusing Dibbur
It is here that things divide into two. All sins of dibbur are exceedingly severe because they represent deviations from chayim within. Chazal portray the abuse of dibbur as worse than the three cardinal sins of avoda zara, shfichas damim, and giluy arayos, together.
How can speak lashon hora about someone be worse than killing him? The damage dibbur can wreak isn’t part of the classic system of damages. Rav Saadya Gaon in his commentary on Sefer Yetzira explains that the word lashon (לשון) derives from the root lash (לש) which means to knead. The act of speech involves joining all of the distinct particles and kneading them into a single dough. Lashon has the power to join people together and make them into a community.
When one sins with respect to dibbur, he isn’t merely damaging his friend. Instead, he attacks the core chayim which gives rise to dibbur. When it comes to the subject of chayim, all of mankind is together.
Uniting the World
The Mishna Brura cites the Magen Avraham who mentions the Arizal’s Shaar Hakavanos in describing the proper concentration while saying uvanu bachartz mikol am velashon, and you chose us from among all nations and languages. One should remember Maamad Har Sinai at that moment. When saying vekeiravtanu malkeinu leshimcha hagadol, and you our King have brought us close to Your great name, one should concentrate on destroying Amalek. Hashem’s name is curtailed and is only two letters instead of four on account of Amalek’s continued existence. When we say lehodos lecha, to thank You, we are required to remember the incident of Miriam. This is because the lashon was created to thank and to thereby bond instead of to deny which severs and disconnects.
When one of two parties involved in dispute is modeh, admits, to the other, that admission concludes the disagreement. And when everyone is modeh, they all join to a single central point and that is what makes them into a tzibbur. One who denies separates himself from the tzibbur and one who admits joins to the tzibbur. When one is modeh and joins together with a greater whole, he can proceed to leyachedcha be’ahava, to make you One with love.
Shma Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. The word shema itself is a word used to indicate gathering things together as in the word vayeshama (וישמע). Proclaiming Hashem Elokeinu as echad is what bonds us together. The Arizal therefore explains that it is specifically here – in the context of the need to be modeh, that we must remember Miriam and the impact of dibbur which divides instead of unites.
Dibbur that Hashem Intended
Avraham merited the great praise of “achos lanu ketana.” Chazal explain that those words describe Avraham who was meacheh, united, the entire world with Hashem like someone who knows how to connect to parts together which have been ripped apart. Of Avraham, Hashem said ki echad karasiv, for I called him one. Avraham joined everyone to Hashem just as a person unites two things that have been torn apart. Herein lies the power of dibbur in its highest expression. It is dibbur as it was given by Hashem to Man.
The Torah tells us “these are the offspring of heaven and earth behibaram (בהבראם), when they were created.” Chazal explain that the same letters spell beAvraham (באברהם) indicating that Hashem created the world in his merit – for the type of person that Avraham was. Hashem created the entire world with dibbur. Bedvar Hashem shomayim na’asu, the heavens were created with Hashem’s word, uvruach piv kol tzev’am, and all their hosts were created with the wind of His Mouth. Avraham represented the dibbur Hashem intended in the world. It is dibbur which is entirely creation, life, and good – dibbur which is entirely unified. It is dibbur which emanates from the luach lev onto which the Aseres Hadibros are engraved.
All of Torah flows outward from such a heart. From where did Avraham learn Torah? He learned it from the luchos. Rashi explains that all 613 mitzvos are alluded to in the luchos. Avraham learned Torah from his own heart onto which the Aseres Hadibros were already engraved.
At the opposite extreme there exists dibbur which denies instead of admitting and thanking.
Bavel and Amalek
Chazal in the Zohar allude to the fact that joining the names Balak and Bilaam creates Bavel and Amalek. When we view Amalek as a compound word, comprised of am (עם) from Bilaam (בלעם), and lak (לק) from Balak (בלק), the remaining letters of Bilaam and Balak spell Bavel. Amalek on one hand and Bavel on the other represent two types of existential threats to Bnei Yisroel.
The joinder of Bilaam and Balak results in Amalek. Bilaam represented this in dibbur and Balak in maaseh. The word am is like an ember which is burning out and which isn’t fully lit. Chazal describe Amalek as an am (עם), nation, lack (לק) which seeks to lick the blood of the Jews like a dog. In its spiritual root it is the fading ember and in the physical world it is expressed as a desire to lick.
The joinder of Bilaam and Balak also yields Bavel. In addition to Bavel’s destroying the Beis Hamikdash, Bavel sought to impose avoda zara and uproot us but he was thwarted by Chananya Mishael and Azarya. Together, Bilaam and Balak represent the will to uproot the Jewish people from the world. Hashem tells us that he presents us with life and good, death and evil. Avraham represents the side of bracha, life and good. Bilaam represents klallah, uprooting life and evil. In the words of Rashi Bilaam came to “uproot” a nation which celebrates three festivals.
Bilaam’s Dibbur Today
One need not search far for the power of dibbur which stems from Bilaam Harasha. It is a power of dibbur which is entirely about churban. It is characterized by ayin ra, an inability to tolerate when things flourish and are good; ruach gvohah, a haughty demeanor; and nefesh rechava, a preponderance of material desire. These are the signs of Bilaam’s talmidim. And Bilaam’s dibbur is the opposite of Avraham’s; anyone who would gaze upon the “jewel” of Bilaam’s dibbur would become ill.
Parshas Parah at the End of Bamidbar
Last week we remained with unanswered question. If the first parah aduma occurred far earlier, why does the Torah only relate the parsha of parah aduma some forty years later? The answer is that parah aduma follows the sins of dibbur that characterize the book of Bamidbar, including the story of Miriam and mei Meriva which occurred because dibbur was not as it should have been and there was a need to act instead of speaking. The parsha of nedarim similarly is a tikkun, correction, for all the sins of dibbur.
The tikkun of Chukas involves engraving Torah on the luach of our hearts. It is a revelation of the depth of the chuka that determines our entire identity. And when the heart is so engraved, the dibbur that emanates from it is entirely different. When one’s dibbur expresses bracha and life, he is a disciple of Avraham. And when one’s dibbur expresses klalla, it reveals that his life emanates from a place of death.
The luchos were broken on the Seventeenth of Tamuz. When that happened, there was a shattering and disconnection that ensued. Matan Torah restored Bnei Yisroel to the immortality with which Hashem created Adam and removed the stigma of his sin. The Chet Ha’Egel and the breaking of the luchos restored our mortality and we once again became subject to death. But Parshas Chukas involves engraving life back onto our hearts and enabling us once again to live forever.
Losing our connection to life involved losing dibbur that emanates from real life – the dibbur of the jewel on Avraham’s neck. But through engraving the dibbur of Torah on our hearts, we can reconnect to the dibbur which bears fruit.
Clinging to Real Dibbur
A few hundred years ago, there were talmidim who served their rabbis and derived their entire lives from them. While they may have only heard a small amount, it was the dibbur of vehoreisicha that was embedded within them and which bore fruit. Chazal say that a talmid only understands his rebbi forty years later, and throughout that period the dibbur continues to bear more and more fruit. This is the nature of dibbur which emanates from the right mouth and which falls upon fitting ears.
We need to realize that any other dibbur is bereft of bracha. In fact, it is klalla itself. We need to connect to that subtle string of dibbur transmitted from teacher to student, person to person, and live that dibbur. All else is the dibbur which is far worse than the three cardinal sins.
The power of dibbur is the subtlest and most sensitive of things in the world. One who guards it will merit at least once to actually hear something. Every churban that befell us – without exception – lies here. Yirmiyah relates the churban through Eicha which changes the order of the aleph beis. All churban is dibbur gone awry. Bein Hametzarim are the days of churban and that churban remains with us to this day. Anyone who returns on some level to the proper grasp of dibbur, the perception of reality called zos chukas hatorah and who reads the letters which are truly engraved into the heart, will then start to speak in a different way. This is the one and only means to escape the embarrassing, downtrodden and lowly state in which we find ourselves. We need to lift ourselves just a little higher and to hear dibbur which is just a bit loftier.
The Mishna concludes by asking what the difference is between the talmidim of Bilaam and of Avraham. It answers that Bilaam’s talmidim descend into a pit of destruction while Avraham’s talmidim inherit this world – and the next.
