Parshas Balak - The sorcery of Bilaam

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah (Bamidbar 22:12)

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים אֶל בִּלְעָם לֹא תֵלֵךְ עִמָּהֶם לֹא תָאֹר אֶת הָעָם כִּי בָרוּךְ הוּא

And Hashem said to Bilaam, “You should not go with them, you should not curse the people, because they are blessed.”

Rashi comments

"לא תלך עמהם" - אמר לו א"כ אקללם במקומי אמר לו לא תאור את העם אמר לו א"כ אברכם אמר לו אינם צריכין לברכתך כי ברוך הוא משל אומרים לצרעה לא מדובשיך ולא מעוקציך

Bilaam said to Hashem, “If I am not allowed to go with the princes of Moav then at least let me curse them from here?”

Hashem replied, “You shall not curse the people [at all].”

Bilaam said, “If so, then at least let me bless them.”

Hashem replied, “They do not need your blessing because they are blessed.”

A parable: They say to the hornet, “We do not want either your honey or your sting.”

• Why did Bilaam ask Hashem that he should be allowed to bless the benei yisrael? If his purpose was to aid Balak in their defeat, how would this be accomplished by giving the benei yisrael a beracha?  

• In the parable, the hornet will sting you if you try and get its honey. But Bilaam did not suggest that he would hurt the benei yisrael, he only suggested that he would give them a beracha and nothing more?

The passuk relates that Yaakov said to Esav (Bereishis 32:6)

וַיְהִי לִי שׁוֹר וַחֲמוֹר צֹאן וְעֶבֶד וְשִׁפְחָה וָאֶשְׁלְחָה לְהַגִּיד לַאדֹנִי לִמְצֹא חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ.

And I have acquired oxen and donkeys and servants and maidservants and I have sent these to present myself to my master in order to find favour in your eyes.

Rashi explains

"ויהי לי שור וחמור" - אבא אמר לי מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ זו אינה לא מן השמים ולא מן הארץ

Father said to me you will receive a beracha from the dew of the heavens and from the fat of the land, however these do not come from the dew of the heavens and do not grow from the earth.

• Why did Yaakov negate the efficacy of Yitzchak’s beracha?

The Divrei Yoel explains as follows:

The Ramban says (Devarim 18:9)

ועתה דע והבן בעניני הכשפים כי הבורא יתברך כאשר ברא הכל מאין עשה העליונים מנהיגי התחתונים אשר למטה מהן ונתן כח הארץ וכל אשר עליה בכוכבים ובמזלות לפי הנהגתם ומבטם בהם כאשר הוא מנוסה בחכמת האיצטגנינות ועשה עוד על הכוכבים והמזלות מנהיגים מלאכים ושרים שהם נפש להם והנה הנהגתם מעת היותם עד לעולם ועד גזירת עליונים אשר שם להם.

אבל היה מנפלאותיו העצומות ששם בכח המנהיגים העליונים דרכי תמורות וכחות להמיר הנהגת אשר למטה מהם... וזה סוד הכשפים וכחם שאמרו בהם (חולין ז) שהם מכחישים פמלייא של מעלה לומר שהם היפך הכחות הפשוטים והם הכחשה לפמלייא בצד מהצדדין...

...יאמר הנה אסר לך השם המעשים האלה הנזכרים בעבור שהם תועבות לפניו ובגללם הוריש הגוים ההם מפניך ואסר לך הנחשים והקסמים בעבור שעשה לך מעלה גדולה לתתך עליון על כל גויי הארץ שיקים בקרבך נביא ויתן דבריו בפיו ואתה תשמע ממנו מה יפעל קל...

Now know and understand the matter of sorcery, for Hashem, when he created everything from nothing, he made the upper worlds sovereign over the lower worlds which are beneath them, and he gave power over the earth and all that is upon it to the heavenly bodies and constellations according to their lead and their consideration of the lower world, as is shown in the science of astrology. And further he made for each star and constellation malachim and princes which are as a neshama to them. And behold all these act from the moment of their creation and forever according to the decree of the upper influences which have been set for them.

However, it was among Hashem’s great wonders, that Hashem placed within the powers of the upper realms the ways of change, and the ability to change the governance of the realms beneath them… And this is the secret of witchcraft and their strengths concerning which the gemara says that they contradict the heavenly hosts which means to say that [power is given to man to change the way in which the upper spheres influence the lower spheres so that] they contradict the ordinary sequence whereby the world is conducted according to the heavenly influences (but not to say that this is a contradiction to Hashem’s will, because Hashem Himself placed within creation the ability for witchcraft to alter the supernal influences if a person would be so inclined to avail himself of this possibility)…

Therefore the passuk says that Hashem forbade you to do any of these actions because they are repulsive before Him and because of them he drove out those nations from before you. And he forbade witchcraft and necromancy because he created for you a great elevation to make you higher than all the nations of the land so that He would raise up in your midst a navi and He would place His word in His mouth and you will hear from him that which Hashem will do (according to your merits or demerits)…

According to the Ramban, witchcraft can be effected by altering the influences that the supernal spheres have over the lower realms, thus adjusting the distribution of plenty and sparsity in olam hazeh.

However it is evident from the Yerushalmi (Chagigah 2:2) that some types of witchcraft can only be effected by having an unwholesome connection to the earth:

מיד עמד שמעון בן שטח ביום סגריר ונסב עימיה תומנין גוברין בחורין, ויהב בידיהון תומניי לבושין נקיים, ויהבנין גו קידרין חדתין וכפינון על רישיהון, אמר לון אין צפרית חד זמן לבשון לבושיכון, ואין צפרית זמן תניין עולין כולכון כחדא, וכיון דאתון עללין כל חד וחד מינכון יגוף חדא ויטלטליניה מן ארעא, דעיסקיה דהדין חרשא טלטלתניה מן ארעא לא יכול עבד כלום. אזל וקם ליה על תרעא דמערתא, א"ל אוייס ואיים פתחון לי דמן דיכן אנא, אמרון ליה היך אתית להכא בהדין יומא, אמר לון ביני טיפייא הוינא מהלך, אמרון ליה ומה אתיתא הכא מיעבד, אמר מילף ומילפא כל מטי יעביד מה דהוא חכם, והוות כל חדא מינהון אמרה מה דהיא אמרה ומייתי פיתא, וחדא אמרה מה דהיא אמרה ומייתיא קופד... אמר לון אית בי צפר תרין צפרין ומייתי לכון תמנין גוברין בחירין הווי עמכון חדיי ומחדיי לכון, אמרון ליה כן אנן בעיי, צפר חדא זמן ולבשון לבושיהן, צפר זמן תינינן ועלו כולהון כחדא אמר כל דמטי יחכום זוגי, וטענונון ואזלון וצלבונון...

Shimon ben Shetach arose on a rainy day and he took with him 80 young men, and he gave each a fresh change of clothes and they placed them in new earthenware pots and they placed them over their heads (so they should not become wet). He said to them, “If I call out once, get dressed in the clothes. And if I call out again, then all of you should come in at once. And when you come into the cave, each one of you should grab one witch and left her off the ground, because once witches are lifted off the ground they are not able to do anything.”

He went and stood at the entrance to the cave and said, “Open up! Because I am a wizard like you.”

…They said, “What do you want here?” He said, “I have come to learn and to teach. Each one should do what they are good at and we will learn from each other.”

One said something and created bread, the other said something and created meat. He said, “I can make two sounds and will magic 80 young men who will make merry with you.”

He called out twice and the eighty young men appeared, he said, “Everyone should choose a match.”

They picked them up (and rendered the witches helpless) and they went and they hung them.

Furthermore, the gemara in Sanhedrin (105a) says that Bilaam was a son of Lavan:

תנא הוא בעור הוא כושן רשעתים הוא לבן הארמי

Be’or (the father of Bilaam) is Cushan who is Lavan.

The Ibn Ezra (Bereishis 36:32) explains that chazal draw a connection between Lavan and Bilaam because

ויתכן שדרך הדרש בעבור היותו מנחש כמוהו

Lavan was as great a sorcerer as Bilaam.

According to this, we can understand that when Yaakov said to Esav “Father said to me you will receive a beracha from the dew of the heavens and from the fat of the land, however these are not from the heavens and they are not from the earth,” he meant that had Yaakov only acquired things that rely on the dew of the heavens or that show the richness of the land, then Esav could have accused him of siding with the witchcraft of Lavan, since using witchcraft it is possible to draw the dew of the heavens (using the Ramban’s type of witchcraft) and it is possible to extract sustenance from the earth (using witchcraft such as that of the witches of Ashkelon).

However cattle and donkeys could not be produced by either type of witchcraft, and therefore it was evident that whatever Yaakov had had been given to him fairly by Hashem in the merit of his keeping the תרי"ג מצות and that he had not gained an unfair advantage by receiving the berachos from Yitzchak.

Similarly, had Bilaam given the benei yisrael a berachah, this would not have been a beneficial berachah given by a tzaddik which would have caused Hashem to look favourably on the benei yisrael, for Bilaam was not a tzaddik. Rather this would have been an unnatural berachah given using the power of Bilaam’s sorcery. Had the benei yisrael come to rely on the beneficialness of Bilaam’s berachah, then they would have fallen under the power of Bilaam and he would have been able to harm them as well.

That is why Bilaam asked Hashem permission to give a berachah to the benei yisrael, and Hashem replied לא מדובשיך ולא מעוקציך – the benei yisrael require neither your honey or your sting.