[Avodah] TWO CHIDDUSHIM Chukas & Balak

[Richard Wolberg]

   "You won’t go broke if you follow the chok, but if you don’t keep trying, you’ll keep on dying."

Regarding the mystery of the para aduma whereby the ashes purify the defiled and defile the pure, I have given the following analogy
to my classes. If in the 17th century doctors were told there was a machine that gives off invisible rays and if you stand in front of it
for any length of time, it will kill you, the doctors would have you committed to a mental hospital. Well, fast forward...such a machine
indeed exists. X-Rays are invisible. For a sick people who have cancer, the invisible rays can save their lives. For healthy people, the
invisible rays can kill. Very interesting parallel to the mystery of the para aduma.  



We see in this week's portion that Bil'am strikes his donkey three times, until God gives the power of speech to the donkey, 															                   who castigates Bil'am for his evil. Then God opens the eyes of Bil'am allowing him to see the angel, and Bil'am confesses his iniquity. 														           I can't help but notice an amazing parallel to the previous sidra Chukas. [Moshe also strikes the first rock once (Shmos:17:6) 														               and this time twice (Bamidbar 20:11) making a total of three times].  Moshe is supposed to speak to the rock but instead, 																                he strikes it and then the water pours forth. Bil'am strikes the donkey three times and (as Moshe was supposed to have spoken 															             to the rock), the donkey speaks to Bil'am. One of the main reasons given for Moshe's sin was that had he spoken to the rock as 														                God commanded, it would have been a much greater Kiddush HaShem. Also, we get more with words (reasoning and communication) 													                      than with violence (striking). So as it turns out in the Sidra Balak, the donkey is the one who sanctifies God and teaches us the power of speech.        										               This is one animal that's far from dumb!
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