What Anti-Semites Fail to Appreciate

And God opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam: “What have I done to you that you have hit me these three times?”                                                    Numbers 22:28 “These three times” hinted to him that he wishes to uproot the nation which celebrates (the pilgrimage festivals) three times per year.                  Rashi, based upon Midrash Tanḥuma

                Based upon Rashi’s comment, Kli Yakar suggests that the three venues where God’s angel stood to obstruct Balaam’s donkey correspond to the three pilgrimage festivals.

            The field [verse 27] represents Sukkot, the holiday of gathering the agricultural yield from the fields. The message (which, of course, Balaam failed to understand) was “you seek to uproot the nation which celebrates the harvest festival, which depends on the fields,” yet even more, during this holiday, Israel offers sacrifices on behalf of the seventy nations of the world, “and ending these sacrifices risks ending the nations.”

            The “narrow path through the vineyards” [v. 24] hints at Passover, the time of the exodus from Egypt, since the nation of Israel is compared to a grape vine, as the Sweet Singer of Israel wrote: “You brought a vine out of Egypt…” [Psalms 80:9]  Further, the vine hints at the four cups of wine drunk at the Passover seder, which correspond to the four redemptions of Israel from Egyptian servitude. Once again, there is  a message which eluded the one who claimed to “understand the Most High’s knowledge” [Numbers 24:16]: “it is fitting to uproot the weeds and thorns and plant vines in their place, yet you, Balaam, want to do the opposite; uproot the vine to allow thorns to grow in its place.” The point is strengthened in light of our Sages’ teaching that against the four cups of the seder, God is destined to cause the nations to drink the “cup of wrath,” [Breishit Rabba 88:5] thus the plan to uproot the vine will exact a price from the nations of the world.

            The third place where God’s angel stood to obstruct Balaam, “in a narrow place, where there was no room to turn to the right or to the left” [v.26] symbolizes Shavuot, the time of giving the Torah’ of which the verse says: “Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.” [Proverbs 3:16] Here as well, there was a message lost on he who purported to “hear the words of God” [Numbers 24:4’16]: “Had Israel not accepted Torah, the world would have returned to chaos and disorder.” [Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 88a]

            Balaam, whose goal was to uproot the nation which celebrates three times per year failed to understand that this would negatively impact all nations and the entire cosmos. As a true anti-Semite, Balaam failed to appreciate how much the world and he gain from the presence of Jews.