[Avodah] Balak "Who's the Real Jackass"

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Sat, Jul 01, 2017 at 10:03:51PM -0400, Cantor Wolberg via Avodah wrote:
: 2) Both Abraham and Balaam arise early and mount their donkeys.
: However, Abraham's donkey is referred to as "chamor," while Balaam's is
: called an "aton."
: Why the difference? Rabbi Ari Kahn points out that "chamor" (physical)
: suggests that Abraham transcends and harnesses the donkey - a symbol of
: the physical.
: But Balaam is seen no better than his donkey...

Thus the root "aleph-tav", meaning together with (eg "ito bateivah").

The Gra makes this point about riding a chamor being mastery of one's
chomer vs being together with one's ason. I bet RAK cites him.

He lurks here, but I took the liberty of CC-ing RAK so as to get his
attention.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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Micha Berger             Brains to the lazy
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