Hagaon
Rav Yehuda
Loewe (Maharal) zt”l on Parshat Balak
(from
Gur Aryeh on Bemidbar )
"The
Donkey's Words"
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When Bilam's donkey opens his mouth and speaks,
he says, "What have I done to you that you hit me
these three times." The Hebrew expression used for
"three times" is "shalosh regalim". Why is the standard
term for "times", "pe'amim" not used? Rashi quotes
the Sages' comment, "The donkey hinted to Bilam,
'You attempt to uproot a nation that celebrates
the three pilgrimage holidays ('shalosh regalim')
every year?!'" The expression "shalosh regalim"
alludes to the three festivals.
The Gur Aryeh asks why the donkey picked this particular
mitzva when he hinted to Bilam to turn back. Why
not mezuza or kashrut or Shabbat or some other one?
To answer he presents a number of his views on time
and the holidays. History, and time in general,
has a beginning, a middle, and an end. In this respect,
time is in line with other aspects of the physical
world.
The three pilgrimage holidays likewise take place
in the beginning, middle, and end of the year. [The
holidays only take place during the warm period
of the year that begins with spring and ends before
winter. See the Maharal and Rav Hartman's comment
#122 about winter in his edition of the Gur Aryeh.]
Pesach is at the beginning of the warm season, Shavuot
at its height, and Sukkot at its end.
Each one of these three festivals corresponds, says
the Maharal, to a period of history - Pesach to
its beginning, Shavuot to its middle, and Sukkot
to its end.
Joy goes along with existence, completion and fullness.
Mourning, on the other hand, is triggered by non-existence
and loss, by death. The Jewish people's joy is also
related to our existence. Because we exist in the
beginning, middle, and end of history, we are joyous
during the beginning, middle, and end of the year,
during the three festivals. This is the joy of the
festivals, "simchat yom tov".
Bilam's donkey was trying to convince him to turn
back. This pilgrimage to curse and destroy the Jewish
people, said the donkey, is a futile enterprise.
Despite all of the attempts to destroy them, the
Jewish people will continue to exist until the end
of history. The Jews' joy during the three pilgrimage
festivals is the expression of the indestructibility
of the Jewish people, for, as the Maharal explained,
joy only goes along with existence. The nation that
exists throughout history celebrates the three festivals,
for they are joyous about persisting through the
beginning, middle, and end of time.
[prepared
by Eliezer Kwass]
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