How many jars did I ask you to buy?" my mother asked Meir.
"Two," replied Meir, who was holding one jar.
"And where is the other one?" my mother asked.
"It's broken," the boy shrugged.
"How did it break?!" my mother wondered.
"That's it," Meir demonstrated, smashing the jar in his hand to the floor ...
After the donkey swerves off the road, presses Balaam's leg against the wall and lies under it – each time Bilam grabs her with a stick – God opens the donkey's mouth. Surprisingly, she speaks like a donkey: "What have I done to you because I have been struck by three legs"...
Wouldn't it have been appropriate that until a miracle happened and she was given the ability to speak from Heaven, that she should behave politely and apologize for having changed her course? To explain that something prevented her from continuing?!
Bilam, also a great sage, responds to her on an incredibly grave level: "Because you have abused me." Or in the language of children: you began...
האתון שוב שואלת: "הַהַסְכֵּן הִסְכַּנְתִּי לעשות לך כה?"
Balaam answers simply: "No."
Hunger bothered him and tormented his intestines. With no other choice, the starving bear decided to go to captivity at the zoo, where at least he would be provided with food every day.
"We don't need a bear," the kindergarten director replied, "but I'm currently missing a monkey of a certain species in one of the cages. Are you interested?"
"Monkey?" the bear shuddered, "Not for me. I have no idea what a monkey does."
"We will teach you everything," the principal promised. "You'll be a perfect monkey."
After days of practice and making a costume suitable for the bear's size, the bear entered the cage and began performing the stunts in front of the zoo visitors. But the diet for which he voluntarily went into captivity was nothing. A bear like him needs a lot of food. Bananas and peanuts, with all due respect, are not really enough.
One day, when it was dark at the zoo, the bear decided to go to the bear cage. Curious to see what their field of living looks like. To his surprise, he discovered huge amounts of food in the back of the cage. "Say," he turns to Dov, who is in the cage, "why don't you eat?"
"I'll tell you the truth," the bear replies, "I'm not a bear at all. I'm a monkey. I was hungry in the forest so I voluntarily went to the zoo to get food. The manager told me that the role of the monkey is already occupied, but if I want I am welcome to be a bear. But my body is small and I don't have room for all this food."
"What a strange world," the bear was astonished. "I'm a bear in a monkey cage and you're a monkey in a bear cage. Tomorrow morning we will go to the manager and ask him to switch between us. This is necessary."
The next morning, when the two of them were standing in the manager's office and raising the idea of a change, the manager interrupted the proposal sharply: "There's nothing to talk about! Everyone stays in their own cage."
"Mr. Principal," the bear apologized, "excuse me, but you talk like a donkey"...
"That's right," the director agreed, "when I was hungry in the forest I went to the zoo and asked to go into the donkeys' cage. The secretary said the cage was full. But if I want to, the manager's position is vacant."
Rabbi Azaria Figo, in his book Bina Le'atayim, explains by virtue of the perplexity with which we opened the strange conversation between Bilam and the donkey: The donkey actually acted wisely, when instead of apologizing, she tried to gently remark to Bilam, "What have I done to you that you have struck me?"
Why are you beating – the donkey inquired – because I'm not okay? After all, until today, everything has been excellent.
For the first time, I behave in a strange way, "it's three legs" in a row, and you, a donkey like you, instead of realizing that something happened, hit...
Why doesn't it occur to you that there is a special reason here ???
"Not suitable for you." "Anyway, but you?!"
We have probably heard or heard these words more than once.
Perhaps the miracle that the donkey opened its mouth was not for Balaam, but for generations: if someone is usually okay and behaves properly and suddenly we see a drastic change, if we check 'how did a jar fall for him?' he will simply answer 'like that.'
Instead of hitting him with a stick, instead of explaining to him how inappropriate it is, it may be worth finding out if he is getting the food he needs.
Maybe one donkey decided to feed him monkey food, and he's actually a bear...
