The Magician and the Sorcerer
Balak, son of Tzipor, saw all that Israel did to the Amorites. This parashah focuses on two principal characters, Balak and Balaam. Sha’ar HaPesukim, parashat Balak
I see fit to explain here the characters of Balak and Balaam, who were unrivaled magicians and sages. As our sages have said, in one respect Balak was inferior to Balaam, and in another Balaam was inferior to Balak. The Zohar also speaks at length about Balak and Balaam, noting that the former is called “Balak the son of Tzipor” because of his wisdom; he performed magic using a certain bird. Tzipor in Hebrew means “bird”; thus, “Balak the son of Tzipor” means “Balak, who owed his magical powers to a bird.” We note also their unbounded and unfounded hatred of the Jewish people. No other people exhibited such hatred save Amalek, who also hated the Jewish people greatly. I therefore wish to base the explanation of this matter on the statement of the Zohar that “King David said, ‘For behold, the wicked draw the bow; they aim their arrow….’ Even though this verse…. They said, Amalek means ‘The people [am] that lick [lak],’ i.e., the people that lick their sustenance from us…. Balak means ‘Come [ba] to lick [lak]’…. Balaam means ‘the non- [bal] people [am].’ What letters remain? Those that spell ‘depth’ [omek]. He confused their deep thoughts so that they could not rule, and they did not remain in the world….” Balaam is spelled beit-lamed-ayin-mem. Balak is spelled beit-lamed-kuf. Amalek is spelled ayin-mem-lamed-kuf. The Zohar here notes that the names Balaam, Balak, and Amalek are phonetically inter-related. The first
two letters of Balaam and Balak are the same; the last two letters of Balak and Amalek are the same; and the first two letters of Amalek are the same as the last two letters of Balaam. Furthermore, the letters of the names Balak and Balaam that are not common to both spell Amalek. These phenomena will be used later. Know that all these things are based on the transmigration of the souls of these nations and the significance of their origins. Amalek is the waste product of evil that was separated out of the soul of Cain, the son of Adam. As we will see, there was a good and an evil aspect to Cain’s soul. The evil was separated from the good and became the source of Amalek. This is one of the five types of spirituality embodied in the mixed multitude that became intermixed with the Jews. These five types were the Amalekites, the Refaim, etc., as mentioned in the Zohar that in the mixed multitude there was an admixture of the evil of the souls of both Cain and Abel. Therefore, Amalek hated Israel greatly, as it is stated further on in Scripture, that the Kenites follow the Amalekites. As far as I can tell, this refers to the fact that in Balaam’s prophecies concerning what will happen in the messianic future, his prophecy concerning the Kenites follows his prophecy concerning the Amalekites. The Kenites (Keini: kuf-yud-nun-yud) are evidently etymologically related to Cain (Kayin: kuf-yud-nun). For the good in Cain was separated out into Jethro, who is called “Chever the Kenite,” i.e., who was separated out of Cain, that is, from the evil of Cain, which then became Amalek. Spiritually, thus, Jethro derives from the good part of Cain while Amalek derives from the evil part of Cain. The fact that Jethro is called “Chever the Kenite” alludes to his spiritual descent from Cain, just as the juxtaposition of Amalek and the Kenites in Balaam’s prophecies alludes to the spiritual descent of Amalek from Cain. Balak and Balaam both comprised both evils: the evil of Cain and the evil of Abel. Therefore both their names contain the letters beit-lamed from Abel. As was explained previously, on the verse “And he saw the angel of G-d in the heart of (belabat) the fire within the bush,” the only part of Abel that was rectified was the first letter of his name, the hei, this being the last letter of the Name Havayah. It signifies the good of Abel, and it was given to Moses. We have seen previously that Moses was a reincarnation of Abel. We see here that it was specifically the hei of Abel’s name (Hevel) that became reincarnated in Moses. continued at |
No comments:
Post a Comment