16 Jul 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.”