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         This Dvar Torah should merit a Refuah Shelima             for Gershon Avraham Ben Devorah Bryna

In previous messages I’ve written about the significance of numbers within Jewish lore. Whether mystical or practical, certain numbers come up time and time again. Specific numbers often recur in Torah literature or sometimes connect to events and people. Without going into a discussion of the ‘other’ numbers, I would like to focus on the number three. Visually, the number three is unique; folded down, it becomes the shape of zero, when it’s flipped it over, and it remains a three. The third point is amongst the 10 Most Popular Digits in The New Prime, Number #3 ranked at the top – placing first: Three — 1,745,603 occurrences! It’s clear that the number three is very popular*.

We know in Jewish law that the number three, or the performance of doing something three times, creates a chazaka - a strength to the matter. But besides the chazaka element, we come across three partners involved in different areas of life: tzedakah, a baby and lashon hora. When an individual comes to collect on behalf of an organization, a Torah institution, or even for an individual or family, there are three people affected by the act: the solicitor, the giver and the recipients of the gift. We are taught that there are three partners in creating a child: the mother, the father, and God. Some participation is required from all three to be successful. The third example is when lashon hora is spoken, there are three people being afflicted: the speaker, the listener, and the person about whom the bad words were spoken. It is interesting to note that in all three instances if one of the three is missing, it will hamper that which is desired. Particularly with regard to lashon hora, if the listener refuses to hear it, the speaker will stop talking about the person because he has no audience to tell it to.

338903. coming Tuesday is the fast of the seventeenth of Tammuz, beginning the “Three Weeks”. It is known as the weeks of trouble between the day the walls of Yerushalayim were breached leading up to Tish’a B’Av: the day both Batei Mikdashim Temples were destroyed. We know that on the ninth of Av both the first and the second Temples were destroyed, but the walls Jerusalem were breached on the 17^th of Tammuz only during the time preceding the destruction of the second Temple. During the first Temple the walls were breached on the 9^th of Tammuz. Nevertheless, the Rabbis saw fit to only mourn the breaching of the walls of Yerushalayim before the destruction of the second Temple, combining both tragedies into one day. There could be many reasons offered, but at the end this decision kept it to the number three, as in the three weeks.

In this week’s parsha there are two interrelated stories that share something happening three times. Balak, king of Moav, summons Bilaam, the non-Jewish prophet, to curse the Jewish people. (Please read the portion if you aren’t familiar with the story). As Bilaam travels to Moav to try to fulfill the request of Balak, his famous donkey stops on the path because it sees an angel of God in the middle of the road. The donkey tries to go around the angel but pinches Bilaam’s legs against the brush. As it states in Bamidbar 22:28 “Vayiftach Hashem Es Pi Ha’Ason, Vatomer L’Bilaam Meh Asisi L’cha Ki Hikisani Zeh Shalosh Regalim”. To set the donkey straight, Bilaam strikes his donkey none other than (you guessed it) three times, at which time the donkey speaks, questioning his master why he was hitting him these three ‘Regalim’ like legs or walking three times. Finally, upon Bilaam’s arrival, he and Balak set out to curse the Jews. Seven altars were erected and sacrifices were offered. Bilaam wandered off meditating and then tried to curse the Jewish people. Fortunately, just as Hashem had told Bilaam when he acquiesced to his request to go, Hashem said, “You may only say the things I tell you to say.” Hence, a blessing and not a curse emerged from Bilaam’s lips. This experiment was attempted (once again) three times, and each time the results were the same if not greater and better for Am Yisrael. As bad as the curses were meant to be, the Brachos that were given were great in their own way. As it states in Bamidbar 24:10: “Vayichar Af Balak El Bilaam Vayispoke Es Kapav, Vayomer Balak El Bilaam Lakov Oiyvai Krasicha V’Hineh Berachta Bareich Zeh Shalosh P’amim”. “Furious at Bilaam, Balak struck his hands together stating, ‘I brought you to curse my enemies, but you blessed them these three times.”

Even though both references mention three times, one pertaining to hitting the donkey and the other regarding Bilaam blessing the Jews three times, the ‘re’ is a slight nuance in the Hebrew. The first time it uses the ‘regalim’ and the second ‘p’amim’. Both are loosely translated as times, but Rashi points out the specific and intentional wording by the hitting. Rashi’s famous comment on the word ‘regalim’ is a hint that the donkey said to Bilaam “the nation that will eventually perform the mitzva of Aliyah L’Regel and celebrate the festivals three times a year cannot be harmed by you trying to curse them.” The Sifsei Chachamim asks, ‘why was this mitzva chosen to defend the Jews more so than any other Mitzva?” He answers that this Mitzva fits and is a little more unique than other mitzvos. Later in Devarim at the end of parshas R’ay, the Torah states in 16:16: “Three times a year all your males shall thus be seen in the presence of God your Lord in the place that He will choose.” The passuk states that the men will be seen by Hashem. It is not only because the Jews are going to celebrate and fulfill the mitzvos of the Shalosh Regalim of Pesach, Sukkos, and Shavuos. It is that Hashem will have the opportunity to see His children visiting him, and therefore the donkey exclaims, “How can your curses work on a people that God wants to see!” It will be impossible to annihilate and destroy the Jews because Hashem wants and needs us to be around. Therefore, this hint was offered as the connector between hitting the donkey three times and Bilaam blessing the Jews three times.

13031. three participating elements are represented in the Parsha’s cases. Regarding Bilaam, it his him, his donkey, and the desire to curse the Jews. The second scenario is Bilaam, Balak and the desire to curse the Jews. The significance of three is both the odd number and the third part which sways the vote to either side. Let us find the opportunity to be the positive third side – the influence for something positive and the nay say when we voice our opposition to something that is wrong. If we have Hashem on our side, then the other sides will follow suit.

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky

* There's a new prime number on the block and everyone is itching to get to know it. Even though the text file came in at a whopping 25 megabytes, the number of instances was counted in the newest identified Prime. Coming in at a mighty 17,425,170 digits, it wasn't an easy task. Still, the most popular number will surprise you. [As for methodology, numbers were loaded into 10 different browser tabs, and then Control+F'd each digit to get a count of how many times it occurred.]