[Avodah] THE TALKING DONKEY

[Richard Wolberg]

Rb'n Toby asked: I haven't looked at the meforshim but does anybody comment on how strange  
it was for Bil'am to engage in conversation with his donkey? 

A very cogent response is given by Prof. Yitzhak Levine in a lecture he gave in 1999 on Parashat Balak
entitled: Did Balaam's Ass Speak to Him? Prof. Levine says: The assumption that the story of Balaam 
and his ass was experienced in a dream, a prophetic dream of Balaam's, is consonant with Maimonides' 
view on this event as set forth in Guide for the Perplexed, especially Part III, ch. 52. Maimonides' opinion 
follows from his consistent assumption that alprophecy and all visions of angels and the like that are recounted 
to us by Scripture were experienced in a dream and were not things that actually took place in the external waking 
hours of reality, save for the prophecy of Moses. This argument is based first and foremost on an analysis of what 
is said in Numbers, chapter 12, and on his philosophical analysis of the essence of prophecy and the definition of 
the concept of an angel.

There are those who would consider this interpretation as near heresy. However, I believe we have much documentation
to the contrary and it is said that just because one doesn't subscribe to this interpretation is reason to attack an opinion
contrary. 

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