BalakOne EyeFrom a teaching of Rabbi Schneur
Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe Deuteronomy 23:5-6: “…he hired against you Balaam son
of Beor, of Pethor, Aram Naharaim, but G‑d did not wish to listen to Balaam
and He reversed the curse to a blessing for you because G‑d your G‑d
loves you.” It seems that if not for G-d’s refusal to listen to Balaam’s curses
the Israelites would have suffered their effect. This essay explores the source
of Balaam’s power and the dynamics through which this power is neutralized. he Torah’s
depiction of G‑d’s
“vision” is inconsistent. King David speaks of the Eye of G‑d—in
the singular. Other verses in the Torah speak of G‑d’s eyes, in the
plural: In Jeremiah’s words
G‑d’s eyes are open upon on all the ways of man. Zachariah, similarly,
sees G‑d’s eyes roving over all the earth. Kabbalah explains that the two
eyes of G‑d refers to the Divine manifestation on the level of what is called
Z”A. On this level there are two eyes, one of Chesed and one of Gevurah, kindness
and judgement. This is the level referred to as daas tachton, or
“lower mind,” where the same situation can be judged in two opposite ways. On the human level, for example,
a person can judge his own act to be noble while considering a similar act committed
by his enemy to be criminal. The difference in view stems from a subconscious
motivation: his personal bias caused by his self-love causes his mind to lean
towards Chesed in one case, to Gevurah in the other. (The Talmud tells of certain sages
who refused to preside over court-cases where one of the disputants had accorded
them even the smallest favor for fear that their judgement would be biased. Bribery
is not only prohibited when the judge is persuaded to cheat for his patron;
it is even forbidden in cases such as those recounted in the Talmud where the
favor accorded the judge may cause his daas to unwittingly lean
in one particular direction.) So the Divine “lower mind” in its
manifestation in Z”A contains within it the potential for Chesed and Gevurah.
That daas contains Chesed
and Gevurah can be seen in the mitzvah of Tefillin. The four passages of Torah
written on the scrolls placed in the Tefillin—all four on one scroll in the arm
tefilah and four scrolls for the head tefilah— correspond to the
“four brains”: The passages entitled Kadesh and Vihaya ki
yiviacha correspond to Chochmah and Binah, while Shema and Vihaya
correspond to Chesed and Gevurah. This is because daas is the intermediary
between Chochmah and Binah and Chesed and Gevurah. Generally the mind is divided into
three: Chochmah, Binah, and Daas. Chochmah is the initial, unarticulated flash
of insight; Binah is the development and articulation of the insight; and Daas
is the bridge between intellect and emotion, where the insight goes from an abstract
thought towards an emotional feeling. The emotional feeling can be either positive
or negative, love or rejection. Thus Daas includes within it four elements: Chochmah
and Binah, its “parents,” and Chesed and Gevurah, its “children.” There is, however, a deeper level
called daas elyon, “higher mind.” This level stands beyond the division
of Chesed and Gevurah. Daas elyon is pure kindness. This is the level of
One Eye referred to by King David. Of this level it is written in the Zohar,
“there is no left side (judgement) in this atika.” Balaam Balaam son of Beor introduces himself
as the man “with an open eye.” The
Talmud derives from this self-description that Balaam had only one open
eye: the other was blind. His
one-dimensional view was the view of Gevurah alone, strict judgement. Similarly,
in Pirkei Avot, the students of Balaam are described as having “an evil
eye,” while the students of Abraham possess “a good eye.” Whereas Abraham saw everything from
the point of view of kindness, Balaam saw only Gevurah. And it was this view that
he wished to invoke upon the Israelites in the desert. (A similar phenomenon occurs every
Rosh Hashanah when the “children of Elokim [judgement] come to stand upon
Havayah [kindness].” This
refers to the argument of Satan, whose power stems from finding the sins of man
and demanding the implementation of the attribute of judgement, Elokim. Satan
obviously has no power of his own, it is merely his function to be the mouthpiece
for judgement. Chesed and Gevurah are conceived
of as right and left. Thus the right side is always given precedence in Judaism.
(The right hand is used to hold the object of a mitzvah, such as the kiddush cup
or the coin being given to tzedakah, or any food upon which a blessing is being
made; the Mezuzah is placed on the right side of the doorway, etc. [Chasidic custom
goes so far as to mandate that even men’s clothing should button right over left.]
Indeed those mitzvot that take place on the left side, such as tefillin and menorah,
reflect a unique sublimity that allows them to thrive even in the realm of the
left.) So when the Torah speaks of the
uplifting of the right hand of G‑d that
means that Chesed is overpowering Gevurah. Where does Chesed derive the strength
to overpower Gevurah, its equal? —from the “one eye,” from the place that is beyond
division and is all kindness, daas elyon. According to the Zohar, this
is the level of Moses. Moses is identified with the phrase
“one with a good eye shall be blessed.” This
is different than the eye of goodness (ayin tovah) attributed to Abraham,
which is the counterpart of Balaam’s eye of evil. The kindness represented by
Abraham is within the realm of kindness and judgement. Moses, by contrast, is
called “good eye” (tov ayin), referring to the One Eye, which is beyond
the division of Chesed and Gevurah. When this level is evoked, as it was in the case of Balaam,
G‑d’s right arm is raised and Chesed rules. © Chabad of MAlibu
Maamarei
Admur Hazaken, parshiyot hatorah 1:124.
See also Maamarei Admur Haemtzai Bereishit p. 199
ff.; Torat Chaim 1:108d ff.
|