Parsha Illuminated - Balak: What Was Bilaam Thinking?

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Hillel Shaps’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

So para illuminated for paras Balak. Paras Balak deals with the story of Balak coming or sending messengers really to Bum to hire him to curse the Jewish people. Bum of course ends up blessing the Jewish people, praising them and blessing them and uh and then in the middle of that as he's on his way we have the excitement with Bom and his donkey where the donkey Bom and his donkey where the donkey begins to speak and uh that's the quick quick summary version of Parasa's Bal. Now mania pointing out that had the Torah not told us this story we never would have known that this had happened as theam writes in response that everything else in the Torah somebody was there to witness it says even in a certain sense the creation of the world at least creation of man Adam first man he he was creation of man Adam first man he he was created he looked around he knew that there was nobody who he came from and and uh and he was kind of witness to his own creation. Um and from there on every single story in the Torah, we we as a people either or at least you know Adam and Noah and and uh etc. Abraham Jacob all the way till the end of the Torah there's we were there in a certain sense us or our ancestors were there to witness it. the story of Balak

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1. 0:03So para illuminated for paras Balak. Paras Balak deals with the story of Balak coming or…
2. 4:18and and he he uh he goes um let's see he says uh they come back…
3. 8:59but uh but the mariel discin or bish discin takes a different approach to this and…
4. 13:37other prophets received a vision of sorts of an angel or something else, a metaphor, a…
5. 18:19that would stand permanently like the prophecy of Moshe amongst the Jewish people because nobody else…
6. 23:00curse. But instead, Hashem gives him a specar, clear words, exact words to tell over. No…
7. 27:02back. Of course, Bum doesn't turn back and one has to wonder why not. Why didn't…
8. 31:47talking about and and houses of but rather personal dwellings. The Mishna it's actually in a…
9. 36:36presence into our into our lives and uh and our places and our holy places and…
10. 41:20commentaries explain what why did the people go wrong? Why did they create a golden calf?…

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