13 Jan VAERA: LISTEN TO YOUR MESSAGES

The plague of Hail is
foretold in this week’s
parsha with the
following words:
“Behold at this time
tomorrow I shall rain a
very heavy hail, such
as there has never been
in Egypt, from the day it was founded until
now. And now, send forth; gather in your
livestock and everything you have in the field.
All the people and animals that are found in the
field and will not be gathered into the house –
the hail shall descend upon them and they shall
die.” [Shemos 9:18-19]
The Torah testifies in the very next two
pasukim: “Whoever among the servants of
Pharaoh feared the word of Hashem made his
servants and his livestock flee to the houses.
And whoever did not take the word of G-d to
heart – he left his servants and livestock in the
field.”
In the Medrash, Chazal state that the expression
“whoever feared the word of Hashem” refers
to Iyov and the expression “whoever did not
take the word of G-d to heart” refers to Bilaam
(both of whom — we learn elsewhere — were
advisors to Pharaoh).
We previously mentioned that the pasuk “and
whoever did not take the word of G-d to
heart…” provides a fundamental insight into

the personality of Bilaam. Hail was already the
seventh plague. By this time, one would have
to be very obtuse in order to not understand
that Hashem means what He says. If Moshe
Rabbeinu threatened a catastrophic hailstorm
that would kill all animals and livestock left
out in the open, one could bank on that storm
coming. After six previous plagues, how could
anyone, at this point, doubt that what Moshe
predicted was certain to occur?
The answer lies in the words “did not take the
word of G-d to heart”. There is a capacity
among humans to be totally immune to stimuli.
People can totally shut themselves out from
messages that are constantly occurring. A
person has the ability to be so insensitive to
obvious facts that if someone banged him over
the head with a baseball bat, he still would not
get it! He simply does not take the words of
G-d to heart.
If Bilaam is the personification of this type of
individual who just does not get it no matter
what he sees, Moshe Rabbeinu is at the
opposite end of the spectrum.
The Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yakov Weinberg, zt”l,
once noted the following: From Parshas
Shemos through Parshas Zos HaBracha (which
is the bulk of Chumash), the Torah’s main
narrative centers around the personality of
Moshe Rabbeinu. With the exception of
Parshas Tezaveh (as is discussed by the

commentators) Moshe’s name appears
prominently in each of the parshios of the last
4 books of Torah. However, there are very
scant details in the pasukim of the Torah that
introduce this central figure in our religion. In
fact, we are told very few details of the first 80
years of his life! Therefore, said Rav Weinberg,
every time the Torah DOES tell us some detail
about Moshe’s life and about how he became
who he was, the detail must be significant.
One of the first times the Torah mentions
anything about Moshe is at the Burning Bush.
After describing the phenomenon of the thorn
bush which was burning without being
consumed, the Torah states: “And Moshe said:
“Let me go and investigate this great sight –
why will the bush not be burned?” [Shemos
3:3]. Rav Weinberg said that we see from this
incident that part of what made Moshe
Rabbeinu the great person who he was, was his
sensitivity to stimuli that are constantly
occurring. Moshe Rabbeinu stands in stark
contradistinction to Bilaam. Moshe was always
seeking out messages from G-d. Whenever a
noteworthy event took place, Moshe was
certain to investigate, analyze and see what
meaning and interpretation he could draw from
that event.
The Chofetz Chaim once pointed out something
unique about Parshas Balak, which is really the
story of the wicked Bilaam. There is not a

single “break point”
(indicated by a Samech
[“closed break”] or a Pay
[“open break”]) in the entire narrative from the
time Balak invites Bilaam until the time
Bilaam leaves and returns home.
Uncharacteristically, approximately four
consecutive columns of Torah script do not
contain a single “break” in the flow of the text.
The Chofetz Chaim explained that the
“Samechs” and “Pays” in the Torah mark the
places where Moshe was given time to reflect
when the Torah was transmitted to him on Har
Sinai. Moshe needed time between sections to
reflect and introspect, to pause and digest the
material just covered. Moshe Rabbeinu – the
personification of “let me investigate what this
(burning bush) is telling me – needs pauses in
the text. Bilaam, who is so obtuse that he is
characterized by the expression “the one who
does not take to heart” (in connection with the
plague of Hail), Bilaam who is so insensitive to
Divine messages that he can have his donkey
talk to him and still not react to it, does not
need pauses in the text. Regardless of whether
pauses were present or not, Bilaam would run
right through them without pausing to reflect
and introspect.
This is what the Torah is trying to teach us
here. A person must be open to stimuli. He has
to listen to his messages.