«Крыша, поехала» Балак 5785

How fair are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwellings, O Israel!
Like palm-groves that stretch out,
Like gardens beside a river,
Like aloes planted by יהוה,
Like cedars beside the water;
Their boughs drip with moisture,
Their roots have abundant water.
Their ruler shall rise above Agag,
Their sovereignty shall be exalted.

וירם מאגג מלכו AND HIS KING SHALL BE HIGHER THAN AGAG — Their first king will conquer Agag king of the Amalakites.

ותנשא מלכתו AND HIS KINGDOM SHALL BE EXALTED — i.e. the kingdom of Jacob (the Israelitish people) shall be exalted more and more, because the powerful monarchs David and Solomon will succeed him (their first king).

He saw Amalek and, taking up his theme, he said:
A leading nation is Amalek;
But its fate is to perish forever.

וירא את עמלק AND HE SAW AMALEK — i.e. He perceived the retribution destined to befall Amalek.

ראשית גוים עמלק AMALEK WAS THE BEGINNING OF NATIONS — he was the first of them all to war against Israel; thus, too, does Onkelos translate it. ואחריתו BUT HIS LATTER END will be to be destroyed by their hands, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 25:19) “Thou shalt blot out the memory of Amalek”.

We find that Bileam announced four separate prophecies. 1) The first prophecy described the Jewish people as part of G’d and His heritage; they would dwell in splendid isolation and not be considered as part of the community of nations. 2) He foretold that the Israelites would conquer the land of Canaan and kill the mighty kings of that country. This was the meaning of verse 24 that they are a people who arise like a lion and do not rest until they have devoured their prey. 3) In the third of his prophecies Bileam saw a vision of the Jewish people firmly established in their homeland dwelling in security and having a king who would vanquish their first adversary after the Exodus, the Amalekites under the kingship of Agag. He foresaw King David rising to a still more powerful position than Sha-ul, and he knew that G’d had already planned for David to become king. David himself testifies to this in Samuel II 5,12. 4) In his fourth vision Bileam concentrated on the messianic future of the Jewish people, a period which he introduced with the words: “I see it but it will not happen now, I can foresee it but it will not come to pass in the near future” (verse 17). During all his previous prophecies Bileam had not tempered them by relegating them to the distant future. The true knowledge that G’d had given him concerned the messianic period.

AND HIS KING SHALL BE HIGHER THAN AGAG. This is a prophecy regarding Saul, Israel’s first king, for prior to Saul there were judges but no kings.

Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one GOD sent to anoint you king over Israel—God’s people. Therefore, listen to GOD’s command! “Thus said GOD of Hosts: I am exacting the penalty for what Amalek did to Israel, for the assault he made upon them on the road, on their way up from Egypt. Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys!”

and the troops took from the spoil some sheep and oxen—the best of what had been proscribed—to sacrifice to the ETERNAL your God at Gilgal.” But Samuel said:
“Does GOD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As much as in obedience to GOD’s command?
Surely, obedience is better than sacrifice,Compliance than the fat of rams.For rebellion is like the sin of divination,Defiance, like the iniquity of oracle idols.Because you rejected GOD’s command,
[God] has rejected you as king.”
Saul said to Samuel, “I did wrong to transgress GOD’s command and your instructions; but I was afraid of the troops and I yielded to them. Please, forgive my offense and come back with me, and I will bow low to GOD.” But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you; for you have rejected GOD’s command, and GOD has rejected you as king over Israel.”

They then descended from the shrine to the town, and [Samuel] talked with Saul on the roof. Early, at the break of day, Samuel called to Saul on the roof. He said, “Get up, and I will send you off.” Saul arose, and the two of them, Samuel and he, went outside. As they were walking toward the end of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to walk ahead of us”—and he walked ahead—“but you stop here a moment and I will make known to you the word of God.”

AND HIS KING SHALL BE HIGHER THAN AGAG. “Their first king [Saul] will conquer Agag king of the Amalekites. Agag is here called by his name before he was born.
...It is possible that every king of the Amalekite people was called Agag, because the first king whom they set up over them was so called [Agag], and thus all his descendants who occupied his throne were called by his name, as are most kings even nowadays, who are called by the name of those who [originally] seized the kingdom. So also Haman the Agagite [was so called] because he was a descendant of that royal family. For it is unlikely that the prophet [Balaam] would cite the name of a wicked man [Agag] even before he was formed in the womb. So also [the name] Gog was one by which all the princes of Magog were called.

Therefore, when your God יהוה grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that your God יהוה is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

The Sages said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: Young students came today to the study hall and said things the likes of which were not said even in the days of Joshua bin Nun. These children who only knew the Hebrew alphabet interpreted the letters homiletically.
Alef beit means learn [elaf] the wisdom [bina] of the Torah.
Gimmel dalet means give to the poor [gemol dalim]. Why is the leg of the gimmel extended toward the dalet? Because it is the manner of one who bestows loving-kindness to pursue the poor. And why is the leg of the dalet extended toward the gimmel? It is so that a poor person will make himself available to him who wants to give him charity.