Parashat Balak recounts the attempt of Balak, the king of Moav, to hire the heathen prophet Balaam to curse the nation of Israel. Balak was terrified that his country would be overrun by Israel when they entered the Land of Israel. Balaam, despite his wanting to curse the Jews, was coerced by the Almighty to bless them instead. In fact, some of the most beautiful and descriptive blessings in the Torah come from the mouth of Balaam. He also prophesied regarding what would occur in the Messianic, “end of days,”[1] reminiscent of what later Jewish prophets prophesied as well. Maimonides, in his influential treatment of traditions regarding the Mashiach, also quotes from the prophesies of Balaam.[2]
Attaining Prophetic Powers
The idea that an idolatrous prophet could attain such prophetic powers raises many deep questions regarding how a person as impure and morally base as Balaam could achieve such a level of consciousness. In order to answer this question, we must probe various ideas and traditions regarding prophecy and Divine inspiration.
We begin with the Ramchal who writes extensively about the entire realm of prophecy in his classic work, Derech Hashem.[3] He discusses at length the influence that negative and evil forces can exert when an individual delves into higher powers of consciousness. Since imagination, according to all the commentaries, especially Maimonides,[4] plays a fundamental role in the prophetic experience; it can be tainted by all sorts of false ideas and fantasies if it is not purified. In one case, a person may unwittingly experience a false vision due to these unconscious influences. In other cases, a person may become totally corrupted by these forces and knowingly mislead people as to his true nature and the validity of his prophecies. The psychic power released when contacting higher forces of consciousness unfortunately can, like other temptations and powerful energetic experiences, lead a person astray. The phrase, “power corrupts – absolute power corrupts absolutely,” regretfully may also apply to spiritual or supernatural matters, as it does to the material desire for riches, power, glory, fame and control.
On a deeper level, we may apply the well-known formula, which works equally in both the physical and spiritual worlds, that states: every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Thus, the possibility of true prophecy carries along with it the equal possibility of error, falsehood, lack of understanding and even misuse. This idea is put forward to explain how Balaam, who was considered by the sages to be an immoral, unsavory character, could reach such heights of prophecy. The Midrash relates that the nations said to God: ‘If we had a prophet the likes of Moses we too would serve You.’ Thus, God gave them Balaam, who in potential was Moses’ equal in prophecy, but whose nature was corrupt and under the influence of his own inner evil.[5]
It is interesting to note that according to tradition, Balaam was a master of all sorts of witchcraft, yet he also was able to receive visions and messages directly from God, as attested to many times in parashat Balak. This phenomenon parallels the juxtaposition in the Torah of warnings against forbidden magical practices and witchcraft, which are then followed directly by instructions regarding prophecy.[6] Both witchcraft and prophecy are in a sense tuning into the same paranormal energies. The differences lie in the spiritual level of the person seeking this wisdom. This dynamic can be expressed using Kabbalistic terminology: the quality of the light revealed is dependent upon the integrity of the vessel which receives it. When unbridled ego, pride, lust and uncontrolled passion mix with these spiritual energies, the results are illusory at best and dangerous at worst. This is exactly what happened to Balaam.
Walking with God Simple-heartedly
Between the sections in the Torah of forbidden magical practices and prophecy is a very important transitional verse: “Be simple hearted with Havayah, your God”.[7] Rashi comments: “Walk with Him simple-heartedly and look forward to what He has in store. Do not probe the future, but rather accept whatever happens to you simple-heartedly. Then, you will be with Him and His inheritance.” Rashi is articulating the psychological nature of the prohibition against magical forms of fortune telling because, as his comments indicate, a Jew should not seek to know the future through divination, but rather should have simple faith in Divine Providence.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, proposes that Rashi’s explanation may even indicate that some of the forbidden practices could be effective, but, nonetheless the Torah forbids them as they are deemed counterproductive to being “simple hearted with God.” We see this, for example, in the Book of Samuel when King Saul consults a fortune-teller out of desperation, in order to raise the deceased spirit of the prophet Samuel, with whom he wanted to consult about the future. The fortune-teller is actually successful and the spirit of Samuel speaks to Saul.[8]
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that Nachmanides, on the other hand, felt that the prohibition against fortune telling was because only God knows the future; therefore, these magical attempts to reveal the future are inherently false and unreliable. It therefore follows that prophecy is meant to be a true and Divinely-sanctioned alternative to those who practiced magic and witchcraft in order to foresee the future.
Yet, according to Rashi, prophecy itself might be considered problematic, as it too predicts the future. Similarly, the Lubavitcher Rebbe asks: how does Rashi understand the practice of consulting with the High Priest, who wore his breastplate, which included the mysterious Urim and Tumim that were used as divination devices, as prescribed in the Torah. He answers these formidable questions by pointing out that Rashi stresses in his above comment that not probing the future means not intensively investigating one’s personal destiny, while the Torah does permit consulting a prophet, or the breastplate, if this will assist one in their service of God and personal growth, as long as it does not contradict the injunction to be simple-hearted and to ultimately trust God above all else.[9]
Accessing the Paranormal
With all of this in mind, we now return to the connection between prophecy, Divine inspiration and various practitioners of the occult, like Balaam. Although a vast majority of people claiming to possess special healing powers or paranormal abilities to foretell the future are certainly charlatans, there are those who do in fact have these powers. How do these individuals tap into these psychic forces?[10]
Firstly, it should be stated that Divine inspiration is open to any person regardless of gender, race or nationality. This tradition comes from no less than Elijah the Prophet who exclaimed: "I call heaven and earth to witness, that any individual, man or woman, Jew or gentile, freeman or slave, can have ruach hakodesh (“Divine inspiration”) come upon him. It all depends on his deeds.”[11] Similarly, Moses, the greatest of the prophets, pronounced his fervent hope: “Would it be that all God’s people were prophets and that God would put His spirit upon them!”[12]
Therefore, certain individuals are able to access information in a paranormal manner by tapping into a more expansive level of consciousness, which then unlocks certain concealed layers of information. However, the problem is that those who are born with these abilities, or who practice certain types of meditative disciplines without the hard work of character refinement, are often psychologically unstable and unprepared for such an immense and sudden download. Since these powers tend to amplify any unrealistic or overblown egocentric self-image, this is an easy trap to fall into.[13] This explains the Talmudic teaching that states that when the era of the prophets ended, prophecy was given over to seriously unstable characters and children.[14] Additionally, these powers, when misused, can have a negative influence on others or, in many cases, may even be truly dangerous.
Three Garments of the Soul
According to Chasidut, the psyche has three garments: thought, speech and action. When a person develops and refines these garments through hard spiritual work, he or she may merit an experience of Divine inspiration, although that is not the specific goal. Those who possess these abilities without having gone through the proper course of soul development are considered to have “holes” in their garments, which then allow powerful lights and information to seep into their unprepared consciousness. These “holes” reveal a certain nakedness of soul, similar to one wearing tattered clothing. In this sense, they reveal a certain soul blemish despite whatever clairvoyant powers they may attain.[15]
There have been many righteous people who were gifted with clairvoyant powers from birth or were even granted these abilities as the result of a long and arduous spiritual process of refinement, but, once they experienced the burden of such knowledge, they actually prayed for these powers to be taken away, as they considered them to be an impediment to their spiritual service, which was predicated on being simple-hearted with God. Other righteous people maintained these powers but were ever aware of the true Divine source of their inspiration and made sure to only use them for positive and holy purposes.[16] Balaam, on the other hand, is a prime example of one who attained real prophetic powers, but due to his unrectified soul, descended into immoral behavior, witchcraft, sexual aberrations and became a prophet for hire who thrived on his reputation as one who could curse and it would have that effect. Yet, God had other plans and turned his desire to curse into blessings, and his evil intent into good, as the Ba’al Shem stated: evil is the throne of good,[17] and the ultimate good is God.
[1]. Numbers 24:15-24.
[2]. Hilchot Melachim chs. 11-12.
[3]. Chapter 3:3-5.
[4]. Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, chs. 7-10 and The Guide to the Perplexed.
[5]. Bamidbar Rabbah 14:20. For more on the spiritual relationship between Moses and Balaam see Sha’ashuim Yom Yom, Balak.
[6]. Deuteronomy 18:9-22.
[7]. Ibid 18:13. For an in-depth study of this verse see Mivchar Shiurei Hitbonenut, vols. 14, 15, 17, 18, and 20.
[8]. 1 Samuel ch. 28.
[9]. Likkutei Sichot vol. 14, p. 64ff.
[10]. A Sense of the Supernatural, Letter 3.
[11]. Tana DeBei Eliyahu 9.
[12]. Numbers 11:29.
[13]. A Sense of the Supernatural, Letter 3.
[14]. Bava Batra 12b.
[15]. A Sense of the Supernatural, Letter 3.
[16]. Ibid.
[17]. Keter Shem Tov 70. Ba’al Shem al HaTorah, Bereishit §45.
