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How could God be angry at Bilaam for going when He had just given permission? Bilaam's behavior reveals his true motivation: he slept well (hatred seeks escape through sleep) then saddled his own donkey (hatred corrupts proper conduct). Love energizes and prevents sleep, while hatred causes pain that makes people seek escape through sleep and destruction.
Rabbi Zweig begins by addressing a famous question on Parshas Balak: How could God be angry at Bilaam for going with the Moabite princes when He had just given him permission to go? The Vilna Gaon's well-known answer focuses on the linguistic difference between "itam" (with them separately) and "im" (joined with them) - God said go "itam" but Bilaam went "im," joining their cause rather than going for his own reasons. However, Rabbi Zweig finds this explanation problematic because it relies on internal motivations that are difficult to verify objectively. Rabbi Zweig proposes a different approach based on Bilaam's observable behavior. When the Torah (תורה) states that Bilaam got up in the morning and saddled his own donkey, Rashi (רש"י) comments that "hatred corrupts proper conduct" (sina mekalkeles es hashurah), causing people to act beneath their dignity. This parallels Avrohom's behavior when he saddled his own donkey for the Akeidah, where Rashi says "love corrupts proper conduct" (ahava mekalkeles hashurah). Both love and hatred can drive people to act irrationally and out of control.
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Parshas Balak 22:20-22
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