How the Sages Viewed their Role

In Pirkei Avot we are adjured to be of the students of Abraham, our forefather, and not the evil Balaam. The contrast between the two personages is pronounced in rabbinic literature, and presumably rooted in the character traits demonstrated in the text of the Torah. For example, both woke up early to prepare their donkeys for the monumental journeys they would take; for one, it was in contravention of God's command, the other in keeping with it. Similarly, both designated elevated places to look out and see what had come, or would come, of God's children; for Abraham, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Balaam what would befall the victims of his curses, the Jewish people.

And yet, there seems to be a tendency in the Midrash, or biblical exposition, to portray an ever more extreme contrast, something that seems to be in keeping with an educational philosophy on the part of our sages to create very black and white character types, or even typecasts where certain historical figures represent the very epitome of certain traits. The historical Yoav was not only kind, but was kind to the extreme, his home like the "desert," in the words of the prophets (Kings 1, Ch. 2: 34), meaning people could come and go to his tent as they pleased, eating as much as they wanted, staying for as long as they wanted, feeling perfectly at home. The word "desert" is indeed unique and requires explanation – "He was buried in his home in the desert" – but it could also mean that as opposed to his coastal villa it was in the desert that he was buried. With that said, it would seem that the viewpoint taken by the Midrash as a whole is to enrich our understanding of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings by singling out certain words that bear interesting resonances and extrapolating and expounding upon them to highlight formative messages that could inform our own lives.

And so it is with Balaam, who the Midrash states, try to imbue his ass with the greatest of impurity so that he himself can reach the lowest level of impurity needed to cast opprobrium and anger on the part of God towards His beloved people, us. Balaam, the Midrash states slept with his donkey day in and day out to be able to reach such a level. And among the Midianite sorcerers who asked him why he had not come riding on a gallant horse, he is forced into a very embarrassing situation – shares the Midrash – where the ass tells all of the princes in the royal entourage the ins and outs of their sexual intercourse, its regularity, quirks, habits and mores.

In other words, the Midrash, which is in essence a compilation of the houses of learning at the type of the Gemara, seeks on the one hand to rivet the students by creating the most visually scintillating and vivacious picture of historical events, but even more importantly frame ideas, characters, events in a context that leaves no room for obfuscation or confusion. One who errs so egregiously in proclaiming that he will seek only to perform God's will but is so blatantly oblivious to the writing on the wall, has essentially reached the lowest level of impurity and the greatest lack of understanding imaginable, which is pointed out so beautifully in other rabbinic expositions on the Torah portion: "You are coming," the princes tell Balaam, "to curse a whole nation (the very apple of God's eye), and you tell your ass that you can't punish him adequately for his insolence because you don't have a sword on hand!" Balaam is someone who inures himself to the grandeur and beauty of the relationship that the Jewish people share with their father in heaven, and the only way to achieve that ignominious feat is by reaching the depths of impurity.