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    BALAK: HASHEM’S MODE OF COMMUNICATION

    People communicate
    with words, but
    Hashem has other
    forms of
    communication. For
    example, Hashem told
    Eliyahu HaNavi (I
    Malachim 17:9)
    “Arise, go to Tzarfat
    which belongs to
    Tzidon and sojourn
    there. Behold, I have
    commanded a widow
    there to feed you.” The
    Chofetz Chaim zt’l (Shem Olam, Shaar
    Shmiras Shabbos 3) says that this woman
    from Tzarfat wasn’t a neviah; when did
    Hashem tell her to support Eliyahu? The
    answer is that Hashem placed in her the
    desire to help Eliyahu. The feeling in her
    heart was Hashem’s message to her. She
    thought they were her own thoughts, but
    it was Hashem’s way of speaking to her.
    The Meor Einayin (Likutim) writes,
    “Sometimes a rasha wants to commit an

    aveirah, but something comes up that
    prevents him from doing so. This is also
    from Hashem. Hashem…is hoping the
    person will repent.” This is another way
    that Hashem speaks to a person. When
    one wants to do an aveirah, and he isn’t
    able to, it is like Hashem is telling him to
    refrain. The Meor Einayim concludes,
    “Nevertheless, it is up to man to utilize his
    free choice.” When he can’t do an aveirah,
    Hashem is telling him to back off and not
    try again. Nevertheless, the person has
    free choice to recognize the message or to
    ignore it.
    This occurred in this week’s parashah.
    Bilaam was going to curse the Jewish
    nation and was prevented three times. The
    malach stood in the way, and the donkey
    couldn’t travel on. Rashi (22:22) writes,
    “It was a malach of compassion, sent to
    prevent Bilaam from sinning.”
    It states ten times in the parashah malach
    Hashem, and the Vilna Gaon zt’l says that
    the malach tried to stop Bilaam ten times.
    This was Hashem’s way of speaking to

    Bilaam. The inability to travel was a
    message to Bilaam to reconsider
    and return home, but Bilaam didn’t
    get the message.
    When the malach revealed itself to
    Bilaam, Bilaam replied “I have
    sinned for I didn’t know that you
    were standing opposite me on the
    road.”
    The Shlah asks about how the
    words of this pasuk contradict
    themselves. Bilaam said that he
    sinned for he didn’t know. But if he
    didn’t know, why did he sin?
    As the Sefer Chasidim (153) asks,
    wouldn’t everyone beat their donkey
    when it stops for seemingly no reason?
    The Sefer Chassidim answers, “Bilaam
    should have understood that Hakadosh
    Baruch Hu doesn’t want him to curse the
    Yidden.” The disturbances on the road
    should have prompted him to reconsider
    his path.
    The Kedushas Levi writes, “When

    something surprising happens to those
    who fear Hashem, they understand that
    Hashem is telling them how to proceed. If
    they are in the middle of doing an act and
    suddenly something unusual occurs, they
    realize that Hashem is telling them to
    stop. When Bilaam encountered
    something unusual —his donkey sitting
    down on the road, something it never did
    before – he should have stopped to think.
    Had he done so, he would have realized
    Hashem wants him to return.”