Shabbat Parashat Balak - 5781

Shabbat Parashat Balak - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? [Bamidbar 22:28]

In verses 22:23,25 and 27, Bilaam strikes his donkey. After that, but not before, the

donkey complains. What is the significance of the number three here? We could say

that the donkey did not have the ability to complain until this point when God 'opened' her

mouth, but our question would survive. In 22:32, "The angel of Hashem said to him, 'for

what reason did you strike your she-donkey these three times?'" Although our sages

write that Bilaam was not accustomed to striking the donkey from before, there is still

here a reference to "these three times".

Sforno asks, "How could you remain obstinant in light of three successive warnings?"

He does not seem to be considering whether these three in particular had a special

meaning, rather merely three warnings being some kind of threshhold. Although it is

not applicable in the Torah warnings of a sin in order to merit punishment, perhaps

there is some lesson about multiple warnings being appropriate for "bad behavior"

that is not somehow at the level of a Torah violation. Food for thought.

Rashi gives us two ideas. First he cites Tanchuma 9, that the donkey was saying, in

effect, "You seek to uproot a nation which celebrates three festivals a year." But if

Rashi's intent is that the donkey was warning him about cursing Israel, it could have

just as easily been seven (which appears in the parsha for other purposes) to allude

to the days of the week/Shabbat or to the lights of the Menorah. Or it could have been

twelve, alluding to the tribes, etc. Why three? Rashi then notes a Mishnah that cites

words from the parsha, "she feared", "she saw", "she turned away", but this again is

more in response to the three strikings than it is a reason for the three.

Talelei Oros tries to support Rashi's first idea. "Why was the three pilgrimage issue

selected as the mitzvah that held out special merit to Israel? This one highlights the

basic differences between Israel and the other nations. Other nations are not ready to

sacrifice the pleasures of this world. Israel is different, willing to abandon all the

pleasures of the world, wealth, and property, to enjoy the Presence."

Malbim points out that this is a pattern of increasing stages, first turning aside,

second crushing Bilaam's foot, then laying down on top of him. He also compares

the three instances to the donkey increasing its own subservience to the angel rather

than to Bilaam, a lesson lost upon Bilaam. This could be likened to the subject of

tzara'at, and there are probably lessons to be drawn from such a comparison.

Kol Dodi, Rav Dovid Feinstein, looks at the word used here for 'times' in our verse.

It is not based on zman, nor on pa'am, both of which would be more commonly

applied, but uses regalim. We know those last two words, shalosh regalim, as

"three festivals". Here, rather than regel, which means foot, Rav Dovid says it is

related to ragil, which means habitual or regular. The three festivals are supposed

to be, despite potential hardship, a habitual occurrence for Jews, thus the

connection. But why would it apply here? Perhaps we can say that it is connected

to our understanding of chazakah, where the law is that if we do something three

times in a row, we consider it a 'rule' or custom and cannot then break it. Bilaam's

donkey is telling us to become habituated to performing this mitzvah!