Comentario sobre Números 24:6

כנחלים נטיו AS THE BROOKS THAT WIND — which lengthen and draw themselves out so that they extend (נטיו) into the distance. — Our Rabbis said: From the blessings uttered by that wicked man we may learn what was in his heart as regards cursing them, when he thought to set his face towards the wilderness (cf. v. 1). When the Omnipresent turned the words of his mouth he uttered blessings corresponding to the contents of those curses which he had wished to pronounce as it is related in the chapter beginning with the word חלק Sanhedrin 105a.

כנחלים נטיו, for indeed Torah academies and synagogues are for the multitude what the brooks carrying water to irrigate their fields are as a material blessing. People spend their times in Torah academies and synagogues will receive for their souls what their fields receive from the waters of the brooks Bileam describes. This is why he used the simile כגנות עלי נהר, “as the gardens alongside a river.” These gardens never fail to deliver the fruit expected of them. Our sages paraphrase this when they said that the covenant of the 13 attributes of G’d He made with Moses means that he who invokes them in his prayer will be assured that he will have at least part of his prayer granted. (Rosh Hashanah 17)

כנחלים נטיו, "As valleys stretched out, etc." Our sages in Sanhedrin 105 offer many interpretations on this verse. I believe we may do well to explain the verse in the following manner. Bileam speaks of four different groups of righteous people amongst the Jewish nation. One category is similar to the prophet Samuel who used to tour the whole land of Israel year after year in order to spread Torah knowledge (Shabbat 56). The second group of righteous men are the ones who made their headquarters on the Temple Mount near the Sanctuary teaching and judging. Actually, this group is not basically different from people such as the prophet Samuel except that people wishing to hear the word of G'd had to come there instead of the word of G'd coming to them. The group of people who emulate the prophet Samuel are superior to this group as they bring the word of G'd to all parts of the country. The third category of righteous people is the group who study Torah for its own sake, i.e. without ulterior motives. The group mentioned previously is superior in that it not only studies but also teaches. The fourth category of the righteous are the ones who provide the financial backing for those who study by going out to earn the money necessary to support both themselves and the people studying Torah.

כנחלים נטיו, brooks which run in a straight course.

כנחלים נטיו, “stretching like brooks;” Our verse uses four separate expressions describing the dwellings of the Jewish people. The four expressions correspond to the four flags of each of the four camps of the people in the desert. Each expression symbolizes another type of enjoyment, delight. Our sages in Taanit 20 consider the curse with which the prophet Achiah Hashiloni cursed Israel as better than the blessing bestowed on the Jewish people by Bileam [Compare Kings I 14,15: “The Lord will strike Israel (the ten tribes) until it sways like a reed in water.”] You will note that reeds have a habit of bending with the wind without breaking, not being uprooted by the most powerful winds, whereas the cedars which Bileam used as similes for Israel in his blessings are prone to being uprooted by the wind. When that happens the trunk will not rehabilitate itself.

They stretch forth like streams. This refers to the tents of the women. This matter, as is known (Taanis 23b), is that the benefit women bestow upon the poor is close at hand, such as through their acts of charity and kindness. Charity (צדקה) is compared to a flowing river; charity is seeking to bestow goodness to others, as a river. The ultimate kindness performed by the Jewish women is when, through it, others are brought to Torah and serving Hashem. For women, on their own, do not possess holiness of Torah and serving Hashem. Rather, they are like a purifying mikveh for Yisroel, which brings about holiness. For this reason, the well of water in the desert was provided in the merit of Miriam, and when she died, it left.

How goodly. The reason Bil'am did not want them to possess synagogues and academies of Torah study was in order to separate, God forbid, the spirit of Hashem from Yisroel. For all the while they possess synagogues and academies of Torah study, the spirit of Hashem is among them. Furthermore, because of (Bereishis 27:22), The voice is the voice of Yaakov; through their synagogues and academies of Torah study, the enemies of Yisroel have no effect on them and are unable to harm them.

כאהלים — Understand this as the Targum does (“as aromatic plants”), — taking it in the same meaning as in (Psalms 45:9) “Myrrh and aloes (אהלים).

כאהלים, similar to the same word in Song of Songs 4,14 מר ואהלות, “myrrh and aloes.” The vowels patch under the letters כ in the words כאהלים and כארזים are justified as they substitute for the semi vowel sheva which could not be used twice in a row. Seeing the next letter had a chataf patach. We find similar construction in Isaiah 44,4 כערבים על יבלי מים,

Bileam had something to say with regard to each of these four groups of righteous Jews. He compared the members of the category who model themselves after the prophet Samuel by describing them as "brooks which stretch out," to describe the way they reach out spreading their Torah knowledge. He complimented these people for being like drawers of water enabling others to drink. He described the second category of the righteous, the ones who study and dispense knowledge and justice on the Temple Mount as "gardens along the river;" a garden has been planted as a fixture and anyone who wishes can come and avail himself of what it has to offer. The fruits of this garden eventually reach all corners of the country when the people who had come there take the fruit with them. This is what the prophet Isaiah had in mind when he said (Isaiah 2,3) that "Torah emanates from Zion and the word of G'd from Jerusalem." The third category of the righteous, the ones who isolate themselves in study for study's sake but who do not interact much with the community they live in, Bileam compared to aloes "planted by G'd;" they are similar to Jacob whom the Torah described as a loner, "a man living in his tent" i.e. devoting his life to study. [The author uses the letters of the word aholim in the text as if they had been vocalised oholim "tents." Ed.] The reason Bileam used the word נטיעה, "planted" in this context is that the older these plants (aloes) become the more roots they develop i.e. their souls become ever more deeply rooted in Torah values. Finally, concerning the fourth category of the righteous the ones who provide the material wherewithal for those who study and/or disseminate Torah, Bileam describes them as towering cedars. This is hyperbole for the men of physical and spiritual stature of this world. Although they possess all these attributes they do not yield fruit as they have not studied Torah themselves.

נטע ה' (LIKE THE ALOES] WHICH THE LORD HATH PLANTED in the Garden of Eden. - Another explanation: כאהלים נטע ה׳ LIKE TENTS WHICH THE LORD HATH PLANTED — i.e., like the heavens which are stretched forth as a tent (cf. Isaiah 40:22: וימתחם כאהל לשבת).

I have written repeatedly about the fact that the only true "fruit" is the fruit resulting from Torah study. It behooves us to study what the Zohar volume 3 page 202 has written on Deut. 20,19: "do not destroy its trees." The author understands the trees mentioned in that verse as a reference to Torah scholars, whose Torah knowledge is considered as the fruit they yield. Bileam adds the words עלי מים, that these cedars grow near sources of water to explain the reason why they endure. Water is a simile for the Torah which stands by people who study it, just as water is an indispensable part of physical life. People who enable the Torah scholars to keep on studying by providing their physical needs share fully in the rewards of these scholars, as we have documented repeatedly. The entire blessing is meant to describe all of the Israelites as deeply rooted in sanctity, even the section of the population which devotes itself to the pursuit of material goals in order to share the results with the Torah students.

נטע ה׳ [LIKE TENTS] WHICH THE LORD HAS PLANTED — We can speak of planting a tent for we find the expression “planting” in connection with tents, as it is said, (Daniel 11:45) “And he shall plant (ויטע) the tents of his palace”.