Chelek 13, Balak 01- Rabbi Ari Shishler

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Sicha Women Shiur - Project Likkutei Sichos’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Parshas Balak has one of the most incredible moments in Jewish history where our arch-enemy, the gentile prophet Bilam, lands up not only blessing the Jewish people but forecasting the coming of Mashiach and giving us one of our daily prayers. That's actually what we're going to focus on today. Ma tovu where he is at awe in awe of the greatness of the Jewish camp. We're going to see what Rashi has to say about that and there are two perspectives on how to understand what he intended when he said your tents are so beautiful. We'll look at both of them understand why Rashi gives us both angles and then of course have a beautiful take home message. Al apas Ma tovu o y'all Yaakov u'mishk'nosecha Yisrael quoting that verse where Bilam says famously "How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, and your dwellings, Israel." Perush Rashi, Rashi explains as follows. Ma tovu o y'all Yaakov, "How goodly are your tents?" Al shero pischayhem she'aynum muchvanim zeh mul zeh. Rashi initially explains that what what Bilam saw that was so amazing to him was that the camp, the Jewish camp, was set out in such a way that nobody's tent opened looking into the neighbor's tent. And then he continues mishk'nosai'cha chanoyoisai'cha k'targumoi. Then he explains that the second word mishk'nosai'cha means your campaignings and he references the translation of Unkelos who translates the Torah into Aramaic who says a similar thing. That's Rashi's first interpretation that Bilam was overawed by the nature and layout of the Jewish camp and that's what prompted him to comment. Davar acher, then Rashi gives us a second possible explanation. Ma tovu o y'all Yaakov, what's it referring to when he says "How goodly are your tents. Matovu oil Shiloh how magnificent are the tents of Shiloh which was the location of the Mishkan

Jump to a moment

1. 0:00Parshas Balak has one of the most incredible moments in Jewish history where our arch-enemy, the…
2. 4:54felt that he had a need to teach people about God. So, question one, why does…
3. 9:37And then because Hashem is there, you bring the sacrifices. Why does Rashi emphasize the sacrifices…
4. 15:03it says Bilam noticed they were dwelling in their tribes, well, if you notice something, that…
5. 19:52somebody else's space. also influenced Balaam to choose not to curse the Jewish people because he…
6. 25:13Very obvious question. Logic says that first you set out the camp and then you get…
7. 30:04Mishkan Ohel Yisrael, he says, "We're not going to talk about new places. It's the same…
8. 34:51have a way to hey, trap the Jews. They've done certain sins and they deserve to…
9. 40:15or even more compelling, through the destruction of the base hamikdash. Sava Gama appears to kasha.…
10. 45:06property is not a fundamental part of modesty. The fundamental issues of modesty are to make…

Every second of this shiur plays inside Lehallel — a filtered YouTube library where each video was reviewed against one written standard before it could appear. No ads, no comments, no autoplay into anything unapproved.