“He sent messengers to Bilaam, son of Be’or, to Petor…” (Bamidbar 22:5)
The Medrash Tanchuma comments: This is as it says (Devarim 32:4), “Perfect is Hashem’s work, for all His paths are justice…” The Medrash relates that Hashem did not want the nations of the world to have an opportunity to complain in the future that they had not been treated like the Jewish Nation. Therefore, just as He established kings, prophets and sages among the Jewish People, Hashem likewise installed kings, prophets and sages among the nations of the world.
But how dissimilar they are in executing their charge. The Jewish prophets would warn the people not to transgress, as it says in Yechezkel (3:17). The prophets of the nations, however, were focused on causing the people to lose their world-to-come. Furthermore, the Jewish prophets were merciful, as it says (Yeshayahu 16:11), “My insides moan like a harp for Moav,” and here, Bilaam was prepared to eradicate a nation for no reason.
The Medrash concludes that this parsha was written to let us know the reason why there are no prophets among the nations of the world.
HaGaon HaRav Elyashiv writes that our sages tell us that the receiving of the Torah by the Jewish Nation was an awe-inspiring event. The other nations became anxious that they were going to be punished like the people of the Generation of the Flood. They ran to Bilaam, who reassured them that it would not happen, as it says, (Yeshayahu 54:9), “Just as I swore that the waters of Noach would never again pass over the earth… “
So they said to Bilaam that perhaps Hashem would bring a flood of fire. Bilaam hastened to assure them that it would not happen and explained that Hashem was giving the Jewish People the Torah. When they heard this, they all returned home.
Bilaam had been given an unbelievable opportunity in his position as a prophet for the nations of the world. The nations of the world had been moved by the revelation of the glory of Hashem and they were in awe. They came on their own to seek guidance and did not need to be reprimanded. Yet Bilaam ridiculed their apprehension when they witnessed the Torah being given amid the thunder and lightning.
Indeed, our sages tell us that the Torah was given in the wilderness so that all the world could witness the phenomenon. It was a public proclamation that just like the Wilderness was open to everyone, so too the Torah was available to all.
We learn (Shemos 19:16), “On the third day when it was morning, there was thunder and lightning and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the shofar was very powerful….” Rather than giving the Torah at night, or in secret, it was given to the Jewish People during the day. Lest people say they didn’t know about it, Hashem’s power and glory permeated pierced the air, as it says (Tehillim 29), “The voice of Hashem is upon the waters…comes in power…breaks the cedars…” This was all so that anyone who wished to participate could do so.
Then Bilaam discouraged the people who approached him. Bilaam didn’t want to talk about wrongdoing and immorality. He wanted all the abominations and evil to continue as they were. He had an Evil Eye that saw only evil. He felt it was his mission to curse the Jewish Nation and to wipe them out.
Every day, we pray to be saved from the Evil Eye. On Motzaei Shabbos, many are accustomed to say a collection of pesukim that begin and end with the letter nun to guard against the ayin hara. It is cited in the first section of the Sheilos U’Teshuvos of the Rashba that the great Tanna R’ Akiva was the one who instituted that these pesukim should be recited.
The great R’ Menachem Mendel of Riminov used to say that a potent segulah (protection) against the Evil Eye is to recite this pasuk three times: “As for me, may my prayer to You, Hashem, be at an opportune time; Hashem, in Your abundant kindness, answer me with the truth of Your salvation” (Tehillim 69:14).
Afterwards, one should say, “Master of the world, may all the holy names that come from this pasuk – from the beginning letters, and from the ending letters, and from those in the middle – remove from me any ayin hara,” and then one should say his own name.
It is also cited that one of the greatest shields from ayin hara is protecting one’s eyes from seeing any evil.
HaGaon R’ Zelig Reuven Bergas, as a young boy, was already recognized as a prodigy. Before his bar mitzvah, his parents wanted to send him to one of the major yeshivos, but they couldn’t decide to which one to send him – Mir or Volozhin.
His father told him: “You decide where you want to go. Don’t tell me your decision. When the day comes to leave to yeshiva, take your suitcase, go to the yeshiva, and I don’t want to know where you are going.
“Don’t write a letter the first three or four months. After a number of months, you can write a short letter because I don’t want you to waste even one moment from Torah study. In your letter you should write, ‘Baruch Hashem, I am here and learning well.’
“Don’t write where you are, because if you decide to go to Volozhin and my friends ask me where you disappeared to, I will have to tell them the truth – that you went to Volozhin. I am afraid of ayin hara – that a young child before his bar mitzvah traveled to Volozhin to learn. There are people with children this age who are not going anywhere. Even if there is no trace of ayin hara, they will nevertheless be jealous.
“In this way, if someone asks where my son went, I could tell him I don’t know with a clear conscience.”
