Musar sobre Números 22:5

The Tziyoni explains it thus: Numbers 22,24, describes the she-ass of Bileam being hemmed in through גדר מזה וגדר מזה, "a fence on one side and a fence on the other side." Rashi describes these fences as ordinary fences. The Kabbalists, however, believe that the wicked also experience migration of their souls, re-incarnations, etc. They base this on both Jacob and Laban building a גל, stone heap, when they part from one another the last time in Genesis 31,52. The word עד used there is an allusion to עדות השם נאמנה, that the testimony of G–d is true, and that יד העדים תהיה בו בראשונה that "the witnesses have to be the first to carry out the judgment by their own hands" (Deut. 17,7). We have the example of the weasel and the pit in Taanit 8.[The story about the weasel and the pit: A young man had rescued a maiden from a pit, and they had promised to be married to each other, and had selected witnesses to confirm their agreement, namely the pit, and a weasel which happened to be passing at that moment. After a while, the young man forgot about his promise and married another woman and had children by her. His oldest son died by falling into a pit, whereas the second one was torn to shreds by a weasel. At that point the young man realized why this tragedy had befallen him and he returned to the girl whom he had promised to wed.] So far the Tziyoni. He means to say that Jacob and Laban concluded a covenant not to cross that pile of stones with hostile intentions towards the other, and that they would consider that pile of stones as witness to their covenant. The stone fence that the she-ass became aware of, was that very יגר שהדותא, as Laban had called that stone-heap in Genesis 31,47. The she-ass squeezed the leg of Bileam, the re-incarnation of Laban, since the "hands of the witnesses have to be the first ones to execute the judgment" if someone violated the covenant. According to Sanhedrin 105a, בעור, Bileam's father is not really Bileam's father but "בן" in that context means that he was also identical with כושן רשעתיים, who in turn is identical with לבן הארמי. Incidentally, the first letters of these names spell כלב, dog. בעור, is supposed to allude to the fact that that man בא על הבעיר, had sexual relations with a beast. He was also called כושן רשעתיים, to indicate he had committed two wrongs against Israel; one in the time of Jacob, the other during the reign of the Judges. What was his real name? לבן הארמי. So far the quote from Sanhedrin 105a. The Talmud then considers Bileam identical with (or rather a re-incarnation of) Laban. The other comments all pertain to the characteristics of Bileam, who had been accused on the same folio of having used his she-ass as his sexual outlet. When Rashi writes on that folio that the word בעור refers to Bileam's father, this is clearly some printer's error, since the same line of Rashi concludes by calling כושן רשעתיים as identical with Laban. The Targum Yonathan also hints in Deut.26,5: ארמי אובד אבי וירד מצרימה, "my father was a wandering Arami who descended to Egypt," that the meaning is that Bileam and Laban were identical, i.e. one was the re-incarnation of the other. It means that because of two wrongs committed by Laban, Jacob, i.e. the Jewish people, wound up in exile in Egypt. The two wrongs were that at first Laban tried to destroy Jacob and his family; later, having moved to Egypt, he became an advisor to Pharaoh advising him on how to harm the Jewish people. Sanhedrin there explains that Pharaoh had three such advisors, namely Yitro, Bileam and Job. Bileam was the one who advised killing Moses outright as a baby, since one could not be sure he would not be the saviour of the Jews. The Targum Yonathan spells this out on Numbers 22,5. From all the foregoing, we see that the entire family of Jacob originated with Bileam (the latter having been Laban the father of all of Jacob's wives). This lineage was reinforced further through Balak who as king of Moab was also the ancestor of Ruth who became the great grandmother of King David, who embodies everything that Israel is proud of and looks up to including the Messiah.

So you see that the impure art of sorcery is intimately tied up with the impure institution of idolatry. It follows that whoever pursues and engages in sorcery cannot possibly be a servant of the Holy One Blessed is He. Rather, he is a servant of the Sitrah Acharah. Woe to him and woe to his soul! The crime is no less severe if he does not engage in the sorcery himself but asks another to do so on his behalf. For the sorcerer must approach the Sitrah Acharah and the demons appointed over magic and say to them, “So-and-so sent me to you to act as his agent, who is the same as himself. I stand in his place and offer his submission to you, placing him under your dominion to be your slave. He accepts and agrees to whatever you do, as long as you agree to do him this favor — for his livelihood or some other matter has taken a turn for the worse and he requests that you inform him of the cause and the remedy.” Sometimes the sorcerer must make a feast including the blood of a black raven and the liver and heart of a raven, a cruel source of food. To this feast he invites the impure forces and the chief of the demons gather there. At that time he must stand before them and request on behalf of the one that sought his services whatever deed the person wished for. Concerning this it is written in the Zohar (Parashas Balak 192a): “And Balak sent messengers to Bilaam ben Be’or to Pesor” (Bamidbar 22:5). This means that [those who come to inquire of the impure forces] must set a table before them (pesora — “to Pesor” — can also mean “table” in Aramaic) and offer up to them a kind of incense. Then all the destructive spirits come and inform them of what they wish to know.