Miriam Subdues Balak and Bilaam — The Daily Lesson from Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a
The daily lesson from The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a — Balak and Bilaam exist in every generation
Monday, 5 Tammuz 5782 — a lesson delivered after the Ma’ariv prayerBack then, no one knew—this was a secret. No one knew that Balak and Bilaam were cursing. Who knew about it? He goes up to the peak, he goes up… who knew about it?
No one knew! Moshe revealed it on 7 Adar, before his passing, so that we would know what had happened.
Balak–Bilaam has the exact same gematria as Rachel–Leah: precisely 274. At night they draw nourishment from Leah’s “heels.” Balak and Bilaam draw nourishment from Leah’s heels, and Leah’s heels enter into the Kesser of Rachel. When they enter into the Kesser of Rachel, the nourishment of Balak and Bilaam is nullified. Their whole strategy is to create separation between Rachel and Leah—because then Balak and Bilaam have a place to draw nourishment from.
Because in every generation—Balak and Bilaam are found in every generation. It can’t be the very same Balak, the very same Bilaam, yet he can, with the mouth alone, destroy six million—nine million! They exist in every single generation, and only Miriam the Prophetess can subdue them. It is impossible to subdue Miriam the Prophetess! For the king said that he would kill her: “Know this—next time I will kill you; that will be your end! Why don’t you kill them?! Why don’t you strangle the children?! You’re not doing what I told you!” Because already three years earlier—three years and four months before Moshe was born—the astrologers said: “Know that the one who is about to be born—we do not know if he will be a Jew or a non-Jew—will bring down your crown. He will bring down your peyos and your beard—he will bring it all down for you!”
The king panicked. He was in a dilemma. He said, “Every son that is born—throw him into the Nile.” All the boys were to be thrown straight into the Nile. Before that, he had said to strangle them at birth. You can strangle at the time of birth, but how much can you strangle at the time of birth—six hundred thousand children…? Six hundred thousand children were born! All of them were at Matan Torah. Miriam said: “So he’ll kill me—what does it change?” Just like Queen Esther said to the king: “Kill me if you want; hang me if you want. I only want to save Am Yisrael. I will not give you rest—not by day and not by night!”
“And Esther continued, and spoke before the king.”
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