[Avodah] Vayisa m'shalo vayomar

[Akiva Miller]

.
R' Michael Poppers suggested:
> perhaps the ba'al-mashal (or, to use a term from Seifer B'reishis,
> the sar-hamosh'lim) is the one who can/does speak to rulers?

Etymologically, that is an interesting idea. But at best it is a very
partial explanation.

First off, Bil'am's mashal was not when he spoke TO Balak; it refers to the
cursing/blessing that he did FOR Balak. I could argue that Bereshis
42:14-20 is similar, when Yosef threatened his brothers in Paro's name. Yet
we don't find any mashal there. (Now that I think of it, I see an
interesting parallel between Yosef and Bil'am, who both wielded a great
deal of power and prestige, purely by the favor of their kingly employers.)

One doesn't need a degree in Literature to see that Bil'am had two distinct
styles of speech. There were times when he spoke with Balak about his terms
of employment, and he was very plain and clear about it. But when he is
actually on the job, the Torah tells us that "Vayisa m'shalo vayomar," and
Bil'am launches into his poetic oratory. Similarly, Moshe Rabenu was
plainspoken every time he spoke to Paro, and the poetry came afterward, but
in that case it was a Shir.

Perhaps my question might be rephrased: What is the difference between a
shir and a mashal? Neither is plain prose; in both, the ikar is between the
lines, and it needs to be parsed and darshened in order to be understood
properly.

Akiva Miller
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