Chukas Balak 2020

1The Mishna compares Bilam with Abraham:

2“If you have these three qualities you are a student of Abraham, “A good eye, a humble spirit, and lowly soul”. If you have these other three qualities you are a student of Bilam “a bad eye, a haughty spirit and an expansive appetite.” (Chapters of the Fathers 5:22)

3Why does the Mishna see Abraham as the antithesis of Bilam? And what is a good eye vs. a bad eye. I think the answer lies in the conversation with the donkey. Bilam saw nothing strange out of the ordinary that his animal spoke. He integrated the event immediately, considered it to be “Mikreh” or just another event. And he turned the experience into a negative immediately:

4“And the donkey said to Bilam, “What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? And Bilam responded “Because you have mocked me, if there were a sword in my hand I would have killed you”.

5Anyone else would have been amazed and shocked, not Bilam. This is in total contradistinction to Abraham who saw the entire creation as amazing, wondrous, and fascinating. Abraham saw Hashem in every blade of grass and in every living thing. I think that may be what the Mishna means when it uses the term “good eye vs. bad eye. The good eye sees wonder in all things the bad eye sees only negative. Bilam was an expert at finding the negatives. That is exactly why Balak hired him and why he was so good at conjuring curses. The Talmud teaches us that Bilam knew exactly the one moment of each day when G-d expressed the quality of “Harsh Judgment”. The remainder of the day Bilam was busy finding and exposing negative behaviors of his intended victims. Abraham took nothing for granted and saw the good in everything. He was the opposite of Bilam; hence the Mishna compares and contrasts these two people.