Musar על במדבר 23:21

And when we reflect but a little upon this awesome thing, we understand immediately why the Holy One Blessed be He is more severe with this sin than with all others, to the point that He refuses to associate with the man of lashon hara at all to rescue him from his troubles, as will be adduced, please G-d, below in the name of the Sifrei, and as is written in the Zohar, Parshath Shelach: "R. Shimon said: 'The Holy One Blessed be He pardoned all, except lashon hara.'" For it is known that the love of the Holy One Blessed be He for His people, Israel, is exceedingly great, as Scripture states (Jeremiah 31:19): "Is not Ephraim a dear son to me, or a child that I dandle, etc.?" When a man has a dear son or a child that he dandles, and he sees that he is not acting properly, still, he "covers up" for him in his great love for him. And even though he chastises him at times, it will be with compassion and pity. But if some men come to him once or twice and tell him about his sons' waywardness, how he argues and wrangles with people for nothing, how he shames and insults everyone, then certainly he will grow angry with him and beat him and shame him for this. And who caused all this? The teller. The same is true in our case. The Holy One Blessed be He, in His great love for Israel, even though He knows all that is done in secret and in the open (as it is written [Jeremiah 23:24]: "Will a man hide himself, etc.?"), still He will not arouse Himself against them to do them evil, as it is written (Numbers 23:21): "He has seen no iniquity in Jacob" [see Rashi there]. But, if the accuser comes to Him and tells Him of this, He must give him some kind of answer [just as "the kingdom of the earth" must respond when someone cries out before them over some injustice done to him.] For thus has the King of the world established it, that a man's affairs are mediated through defenders and prosecutors.

[And, in my view, this is the intent of the verse (Bamidbar 23:21): "He does not see iniquity in Jacob … the L-rd his G-d is with him": When does He not see iniquity in Jacob? When the L-rd his G-d is with him. But when there is, G-d forbid, lashon hara in Israel, which leads to departure of the Shechinah, as stated in Midrash Rabbah, Parshath Shoftim, then, G-d forbid, He does probe their deeds.]

לא הביט און ביעקב . This is a reminder that even improper thoughts that have not surfaced, i.e. are "within Jacob," have not yet been translated into deeds, are frowned upon. We have elaborated elsewhere on this subject when we discussed the ten directives employed by G–d in creating the universe.

The "winds" mentioned in the Midrash are references to the dispersal of Israel among the nations. We know this from Zecharyah 2,10: "For I have scattered you like the four winds." Rashi on Genesis 25,21, explains the word ויעתר to mean repeating, multiplying; he cites Proverbs 27,26: "the kisses of the enemy are profuse," in support of this. We already said that this verse in Proverbs alludes to the curses turning into blessings, i.e. the "enemy" showers you with kisses. Another thoroughly treacherous aspect of Bileam comparing Israel to cedars prior to adding the words עלי מים, is that the ארזים are always a symbol for the Patriarchs. The merit of the Patriarchs has always stood by Israel and saved it from destruction. Bileam wanted them to rely on that merit, thus make them feel they did not have to repent while in exile. This is why he emphasizes "there is no harm in sight for Jacob, no woe in view for Israel" (23,21). By lulling Israel into complacency with these flattering comments he hoped to prevent Israel from returning to G–d in penitence. If someone truly loves a person, has his real interests at heart, he will reprove him rather than flatter him, and will draw attention to any blemish such a person may suffer from. The word ארזים, cedars, also has a connotation of stubbornness as we know from Taanit 20b, that "a person should strive to be soft as a reed and not hard like a cedar. The remedy to such hardness lies in one's humbling oneself." Words of Torah are compared to water, since just as water starts in a high place and flows downwards, i.e. water is content to "lower" itself, so words of Torah which originate in high places cannot be fulfilled except by people who are first prepared to humble themselves (Taanit 7a). In light of the foregoing, the comparison to "cedars" is a great blessing indeed. It means that we ourselves are now comparable to the Patriarchs who in turn had been compared to the "cedars of Lebanon."

When David says in verse 12 הפכת מספדי למחול לי, "You have turned my lament into dancing," he refers to the רגע באפו, "G–d's brief moment of anger" (verse 6). The curse is now to become a blessing instead. Berachot 7a discusses the brief span of G–d's anger based on Bileam's comment in Numbers 23,8 that he, the expert at timing G–d's "moods," had been unable (because of G–d's anger at the time) to find the opening to make a curse effective. Tosafot ask what good it would have done Bileam to pinpoint that anger, seeing it only lasts a רגע, moment (the length of time it takes to utter the word רגע); they answer that all Bileam had to say was "כלם," "destroy them!" By reversing that word כלם into מלך, king, the curse was converted into a blessing. This is the secret of the expression ותרועת מלך בו (Numbers 23,21), of which Bileam speaks. David also alludes to the repentance which we will perform when we experience persecution. According to the Arizal, the letters in the word תשובה, repentance, are the first letters of the words: תענית, שק, ואפר, בכיה, הספד. One can recognize a person's penitence by observing these five manifestations of remorse. In our Psalm the same idea is alluded to by the words: היודך עפר, הפכת מספדי, פתחת שקי, בערב ילין בכי. The תענית is alluded to by the words: ותאזרני שמחה, "You girded me with joy," parallel to Kohelet 9,7: אכול בשמחה לחמך, "Eat your bread [reversal of fasting. Ed.] joyfully."