Overcoming hate with love
Parashá "Balak"
Bamidbar-Numbers 22.2 - 25.9)
"Overcoming hate with love"
The Sefer HaJinuch tells us that in this Parasha the Torah does not command any precept, however it is full of wonderful teachings. And although we already know, that we can always find a lot to learn, since with each letter, the Torah can teach us important lessons for our lives ...
Balaam supposed that the Creator would agree to curse the Jewish people if he "reminded" him of how promptly and frequently they had rebelled against Him during their forty years in the desert.
"Bilam got up in the morning and saddled his donkey" (Numbers 22:21)
Bilam passionately hated the Creator and his emissaries, the Jewish people. Early in the morning he sought to undertake his evil mission: he turned to the Creator to "remind" Him how quickly the Jews had rebelled against Him.
If it was like this with Bilam, the more and more for each one of us, that is why when the person feels that the bad inclination tries to defeat him and lead him to evil, they have to strengthen themselves, trusting with Emuna, then surely from Heaven it will they will help to win!
To this, the Eternal replied that this speed had been preceded by that of the patriarch Abraham: Abraham had gotten up early in the morning to fulfill with love and devotion the order that He gave him to sacrifice his son Isaac . The merit of Abraham's love for the Creator outweighed Balaam's hatred. The Jewish people inherited the love of Abraham; his rebellions in the desert were only temporary raptures in his inherent and eternal devotion to the Blessed Creator.
Similarly, every time we try to repair the damage that we may have caused by deliberately disregarding the will of the Creator, the surest way to compensate for such sins is by strengthening our love for Him!
This love will in turn transform the sins of the past into motivation to do good deeds. Just as the Creator transformed Balaam's curses into blessings, we too can always transform “curses” into blessings.
"An angel of HaShem appeared on the road to divert him"
(22:22)
Rabbi Aharon Zakay Shlita in his book "Torat Haperasha" takes the
words of the Midrash and explains that it was the angel of mercy who wanted to save Bilam so that he would not sin. Here we can learn then how great is the Mercy of Hashem who sent an angel especially to protect him from sin, giving him the opportunity for him to desist from doing bad deeds. Although Bilam was not a simple man who sinned unintentionally, he was rather someone very great and he knew perfectly well the evil that he was about to commit anyway Hashem had mercy on him and gave him an opportunity not to fall into sin.
(22:22)
Rabbi Aharon Zakay Shlita in his book "Torat Haperasha" takes the
words of the Midrash and explains that it was the angel of mercy who wanted to save Bilam so that he would not sin. Here we can learn then how great is the Mercy of Hashem who sent an angel especially to protect him from sin, giving him the opportunity for him to desist from doing bad deeds. Although Bilam was not a simple man who sinned unintentionally, he was rather someone very great and he knew perfectly well the evil that he was about to commit anyway Hashem had mercy on him and gave him an opportunity not to fall into sin.
If it was like this with Bilam, the more and more for each one of us, that is why when the person feels that the bad inclination tries to defeat him and lead him to evil, they have to strengthen themselves, trusting with Emuna, then surely from Heaven it will they will help to win!
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