The wicked Balaam. The donkey of Pinchas ben Yair. The concept of soul.

שו”ת › Category: general › The wicked Balaam. The donkey of Pinchas ben Yair. The concept of soul.

asked 3 years ago

Hello Rabbi Michi.
This is a question not about faith or law, but simply about legend. Because it was mentioned here once in one of the posts that you studied Kabbalistic thought a little. This is a theoretical question. That is, a question about your knowledge of the issue and not your opinion (which I assume, like the other topics related to these issues, you leave in “needs research”).
When I read a little of the commentary of the Holy Light of Life and its Mishnah, in the chapter of his commentary on Parashat Balak, if I am not mistaken about the verse “My soul shall die, the death of the righteous” of the wicked Balaam, he writes that there is no shell in the world (and I assume that shell in the language of the Kabbalists means a negative, evil force). That there is no holy spark in it. My soul. That will revive it. And that in fact Balaam was prophesied that his holy spark would undergo reincarnations and be corrected. And there would be a responsibility like him. Like the holy soul of the Israeli who killed him. And when it was reincarnated into the donkey of Pinchas ben Yair. Balaam’s spark. Returned to its purity. Also in one of the reference books of Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, it is written that “the light” demands that the verse be rejected by the wicked Balaam and the likes of wickedness of his kind. That is, he claims that even the worst wicked, wicked people have a good core. Which could be corrected at the end. Which reminded me a bit of the expression Reshimo of holiness. Which I first encountered with Rabbi Tzadok HaCohen. Who claimed that the greatest wicked man in Israel. Perhaps he. From his own perspective, has no part in the world to come. – But the impression of holiness in it. From the perspective of Israel, it is in it. – From this perspective, he has a part in the world to come.
The same legend about the reincarnation of the soul in Pinchas Yair’s donkey. I also heard about one of the Kabbalists who commented that in the bad part of his life, he reincarnated into that donkey and was corrected.

I am not here to be a clown or waste time, and in short, I asked:
In general, according to your knowledge of the writings of the Kabbalists, does the concept of a “divine spark” frequently exist among them? Or a holy spark that exists in every person? And is that spark, according to their system, separated from the personality of the evil person himself? (Perhaps a bit like the theoretical intellect in Aristotle, which is eternal, separated from the person himself? It reminded me of that very much.)

Is there a parallel between the concepts of “a spark in the shell” and the concept of “the virtue of Israel”?

And on another level, what is the opinion of the Kabbalists, most of them, according to your knowledge, on the whole issue of free choice? From a brief review of their writings, I often find a somewhat dramatic view.
If you had lectures on those topics, I would be happy to receive a link.
Thank you and good evening.

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מיכי Staff answered 3 years ago

Too general a question. There are many Kabbalists and Kabbalistic Mishnahs (most of which I am not familiar with), and each of them can have several interpretations. Your questions are also not defined. So I will just tell you a few things briefly. Such questions tend to focus on the lexical dimension. These are uninteresting questions. Substantive questions are not supposed to ask what the definition of a concept is, but rather to start from defined concepts and then ask what the relationship is between them. A question like whether there is a parallel between “a spark in the shell” and “the virtue of Israel” can be answered with many answers, all of which are correct (even within the same Kabbalistic mishnah). There are parallels and there are differences. You need to define these concepts and then you can ask about the relationship between them. The problem is that definitions for such concepts are as numerous as the number of people you ask them. And yet I say that, simply put, these are different concepts. The virtue of Israel is usually used to describe the unique dimension that Israel has in relation to the nations (a concept that, in my opinion, is not defined at all. It is empty of content). Perhaps there is a place to say that Israel among the nations is like a spark within a shell. But the virtue of Israel is the qualities of Israel, and this is not equivalent to sparks within shells. Of course, there is a certain parallel if you look at these qualities within the framework of the totality of qualities. But all these are unimportant word games. As far as I know, most Kabbalists believed in free will. Some speak in relation to this of divine knowledge and even determination (like Hashem in his “Nura Alila” doctrine), which in my opinion was logically contradictory. What is this spark in translation into human language is a question that can also be answered in all sorts of ways, and in the end it is a dictionary. In its simplest sense, it is what you understand on your own. There is something positive/spiritual within even a negative/material reality. Like light in vessels. In short, I think such general questions are neither useful nor interesting. If you want to produce something, you need to be much more concrete.

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ישי replied 3 years ago

While we're on the subject of Kabbalah, does Kabbalah actually answer your criticism of Jewish thought?
I'll explain my argument. You say that there is no such field as Jewish thought because it is a philosophy that has no connection to the Torah at all, but rather it is simply what people already think before and they introduce it into the Torah. In other words, it is just general thought and is not about the Torah in a nutshell.
Ostensibly, when you talk about Kabbalah, your criticism disappears. After all, Kabbalah does not speak in secular concepts and subjects, but has its own language and ideas that come only from the world of the Torah. Isn't that also considered Torah?
The question came out not very clear, I hope the question is understandable.

מיכי Staff replied 3 years ago

The question is completely understandable and it is a good one.
In my opinion, you will not find answers to philosophical questions in Kabbalah, but at most a Kabbalistic formulation of answers that can be translated into philosophy. In addition, there are claims there about the existence of metaphysical beings (assuming that Kabbalah is seen as a description of reality and not a parable). But this too is only a description of part of reality, and as such it is examined through a right or wrong way. If it is true, then it is true for all beings in the world, and if not - then neither for Jews. Just as it does not matter whether a Jew makes claims in physics or sociology.
In my understanding, most of Kabbalah is a collection of mystical intuitions, and they can also be found in other mysticisms in one form or another.
But I do think that there is a point in studying Kabbalah, just as there is a point in studying philosophy. This is in contrast to Jewish thought, the Bible, and Hasidism. There it is usually a waste of time.

נועם replied 3 years ago

I don't really understand why Bible study is a waste of time? In what respect?

מיכי replied 3 years ago

There have been many columns and answers and debates written here about this. Search