Are we noticing them?

 A talking donkey?  OK, we know that there have been great miracles, like the sea splitting and fire enclosed hail raining down over Egypt.  Each miracle had a purpose.  A principle of Torah is that Hashem wants us to live within nature and follow the laws of nature.  Miracles happen when necessary, to show that the laws of nature are in Hashem’s hands and can be changed at will, or for a specific purpose, but why the talking donkey?

 

You may know the story that we read in this week’s Parsha, Balak, of the anti-Semitic prophet Bilaam who was on his way to curse the Jews as they were about to enter the land of Israel.  His donkey sees an angel with a drawn sword standing in the way and turns away from the main road in fear.  Bilaam did not see the angel, and he hit his donkey.  The angel came again on a narrow pathway and the donkey, squeezing by to pass the angel, scraped Bilaam’s leg against a wall.  Bilaam hit the donkey again.  The angel came a third time to a place that the donkey could not squeeze by, and when the donkey just gave up and stopped, Bilaam hit it again.  Then Bilaam saw the angel.  The angel told him that he was on a bad path, and warned him not to curse the Jews, only to say what Hashem would tell him to say.  In the end Bilaam was forced to give the Jews some of the greatest blessings we ever received.

 

So the question begs itself.  Why on earth would Hashem make such a miracle happen that an animal should talk?  If the purpose is to have the angel deter Bilaam, why not just show him the angel in the first place?  This seems to be an unnecessary violation of the rules of nature?  There are many explanations for this question, and I will briefly discuss it on two levels.

 

Bilaam was not just an ordinary person.  He had a history of having his curses fulfilled, and in fact the very land the Jews were on had been successfully captured by King Sichon from the Moabites because of Bilaam’s curse.  Although Hashem had appeared to Bilaam in a dream and told him not to curse the Jews, his hatred was so great that he went to Moab with the intent to find a way to curse them anyway.  Bilaam was the epitome of an arrogant person, haughty and condescending, and proud of his (true) status of the greatest prophet among the nations.  Hashem humbled him and sent him a message that he was not so great after all.  Bilaam, the great prophet, was not able to see the angel that his donkey saw.  The power of words, and the ability to use them, are given by Hashem, and when Hashem willed it, his donkey was able to talk.  This was all in order to impress upon him the need for him to follow Hashem’s command that he use his mouth only to bless and not to curse. 

 

Another explanation of the talking donkey miracle teaches us a profound message.  If we look at the verses, we see that name “Elokim” is used for G-d.  Elokim appeared to Bilaam, etc.  Then when the angel appears to Bilaam, he is described as “malach Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay.” (We cannot write this name out except in Torah books, and we don’t pronounce it as written, so we use the term “Hashem – the Name.)  Each of these names represents a different attribute of G-d.  Elokim is the name as He is in judgment, and Hashem represents mercy.  When Hashem initially told Bilaam not to go, the name He uses is Elokim, but the fact that the name Hashem is used for the angel tells us that, as Rashi points out, this was an angel of mercy.  Hashem loves all His creations, even this lowest of the low, whom Hashem had endowed with great prophecy and he was using it for hatred and destruction.  Hashem was trying to spare him from continuing on a journey of evil and hatred.  He sent him three messages – first the donkey strayed off the path, then scraped his leg, and then just stopped moving.  Although he could not see the angel, these should have been clear messages to him that he was going in the wrong direction.  When he missed all three cues, even the miracle of his donkey talking, then the angel appeared to him, telling him that he could go ahead on his chosen path, but that he would not be able to harm the Jews.

 

In our own lives, Hashem is constantly sending us messages to help us follow a path of goodness and kindness.  If we sometimes stray, there are small events that happen that remind us and guide us toward the right path.  Are we noticing them?