Monday, July 07, 2008

Balak 5632 Second Ma'amar

Part of Bil’am’s blessing to the nation of Israel was, “יִזַּל־מַיִם מִדָּלְיָו .../Water will flow from his dipper …” (Bamidbar 24:7) Chazal translate this pasuk homiletically as, “Torah will come from the children of poor families.”[1] They understand this because water is a metaphor for Torah and דְלִי/dipper has the same root as דַל/poor. Why, though, will Torah come from the children of poor families?

The Sfas Emes explains that in order to receive the Torah, one must subordinate himself to God. The dipper represents subordination because it is lowered into a well. Only by lowering ourselves like the dipper, can we access the Torah, the water of life. In fact, elsewhere Chazal explicitly compare the Torah to water because just as water flows to the lowest place, Torah can only be sustained in someone who is humble. Chazal are teaching us that the poor are more apt to be worthy of receiving the Torah because they are generally more humble than the wealthy.



[1] Nedarim 81a

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just heard an amazing story The Sfas Emes son Went to see Reb Kook Reb Kook Told Him I became a Chossid of your Father after I saw Your Fathers Piece on Parshas Balak
Tuf Reish Mem Ches where he says And Rav Kook Quoted the whole Piece By heart Strangely the SFas Emes AL Hatorah was On the table so his son pulled it out and opened it to the Piece But it was completely illegible as Rav Kook had Shed many tears over it. The main point was this Quote:
ולכל גרגירי עפר מארץ ישראל - מיוחדים נפשות פרטיות מישראל
I think You would do a great service translating this Piece for the "Rov Am". I am Told That Rav Kook's Sfas Emes can actually be seen In Merkaz Harav Libary so I suggest "PUK CHAZI"(strangely in the Newer Print I cant seem to find this Piece I am unsure if there is a Mistake in my Print or if the Piece was removed but if you want to see someone quoting it here is a link
www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/doc/doc35/kl_largl.doc

Moshe David Tokayer said...

Great story. Thanks!

It's the second ma'amar in 5648. The quote that you bring is at the very end of the ma'amar.

Anonymous said...

I heard it from the Tolna Rebbe in his Shiur on this weeks Parsha on Kol Haloshon . I cant post the Link directly to it if you want But the Shiur is In Yiddish.

Anonymous said...

I meant can.

Anonymous said...

Are You going to Do the Piece?

Anonymous said...

The Tolna added to the story this Year by Melave Malka. He said that The Kanoim in Yerushlayim once put up signs saying abou Rav Kook that he is
עפרא לפומא which essentially meant he should be in the ground when he saw it he remarked if it is the Dust of eretz yisroel i alredy am.

Moshe David Tokayer said...

Here is the link to the ma'amar:

http://sfasemes.blogspot.co.il/2008/07/balak-5648-second-maamar.html