CHASSIDIC PEARLS BY RABBI LAZER BRODY PARSHAS PINCHAS

For they oppressed you through their conspiracy" (Bamidbar 23:9). In the beginning of this week's portion the Torah relates Hashem's command to Moshe (Moses) to kill the Midianites, since they sent their women to entice Israel to debauchery. In light of Western concepts of justice, one may ask, why kill all the Midianites? Is that justice? Why not execute the guilty women only? The Torah answers these questions with Hashem's explanation to Moshe, "For they oppressed you through their conspiracy" (Bamidbar 23:9). Worse than the Midianite women's enticement of Jewish men was the conspiracy that was behind this misfortunate breakdown of holiness and Jewish morality. The Midianite men eagerly adopted the wicked advice of the heinous Bilaam, and gladly sent their women on a mission of wanton licentiousness that led to the death of 24,000 Jews. The Midianite men are therefore more than mere accomplices of the crime; they are instigators who – by the Hashem's own testimony – are guilty of conspiracy. For that, they deserve to die. The pyramid of conspiracy leads to Bilaam. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev explains that Bilaam is the epitome of all evil and the embodiment of the seventy nations of the world (see Likutei Moharan I: 36b). My esteemed teacher, the Melitzer Rebbe shlit"a, explains Rebbe Nachman's concept as follows: There are seventy different types of evil in the world, such as murder, theft, treachery, dishonesty, and so forth. Each of the seventy nations is rooted in one special type of evil; for example, one nation is known for its murderers, another for its dishonesty, a third for its treachery, and so on. Whenever Israel commits a sin that's rooted in one of the seventy types of evil, then the nation that corresponds to that particular evil characteristic gains the upper hand over Israel. In this fact, our own sins create and empower our oppressors. All the nations conspire against the Jewish people, each nation with its own weapon. But Bilaam, the snake or evil inclination, is the apex of the pyramid of conspiracy. Spiritually, since he's the embodiment of all evil; each of the seventy nations derives its unique power of evil from him. As such, Bilaam – the snake – is the "general evil". This general evil, explains Rebbe Nachman (ibid. 19) is the ruination of the holy covenant, in other words, licentiousness. The only way to overcome the general evil, which conspires to destroy each Jew as well as the nation of Israel as a whole, heaven forbid, is by "Tikkun Klali" (see ibid., 29), the general correction of the soul that is intrinsic in our efforts to strive for holiness and the strict observance of our brit kodesh, our holy covenant with Hashem. When a Jew strengthens his or her modesty and sanctity of thoughts, speech, and deeds, then Bilaam – the chief conspirator – is destroyed. This is no joke, explains the Melitzer Rebbe, for either Bilaam kills the Jew or the Jew kills Bilaam – in every generation, it's a spiritual fight to the death.