Running Commentary on Torah 43 — Diburim

Beginner: **Know: the diburim of a rasha who is a bar da'as (an intellectually capable wicked person) generate ni'uf in the listener.** For **zivugim are drawn from da'as** — as it is written **"v'ha'adam yada es Chavah ishto"** (Bereshis 4:1, 'and the man knew Chavah his wife') and **"kol ishah yoda'as ish"** (Bamidbar 31:17, 'every woman who has known a man'). Zivug is **yedi'ah** — an act of knowing — so it flows from da'as. **Two kinds of zivug**: **(1) Zivug d'kedushah** = **hiskashrus (bonding) to tzaddikim, to Torah, and to Hashem yisbarach** — drawn from **da'as d'kedushah**. The paradigm marital union between husband-wife is itself a bechinah of this higher hiskashrus-to-the-source. **(2) Zivugim of aveirah** (ni'uf) = drawn from **da'as d'klipah**. **Dibbur is the hisgalus of da'as**: one cannot know what is in another's da'as **except through his dibbur**. Source: **"v'laylah l'laylah y'chaveh da'as"** (Tehillim 19:3) — 'and night to night **expresses** da'as' — where **"y'chaveh"** is language of dibbur (dibbur articulates what is in da'as). Thus **speech is the physical/audible manifestation of the speaker's interior da'as** — and **what the da'as holds is what the speech carries**. **Therefore**: when a rasha speaks and issues **havalim** (vapors/hot airs) from his mouth, he **generates arsi'im — venomous airs — of ni'uf**. The listener who **hears his words and draws breath** absorbs these airs into his body. This is the mechanism: rasha's da'as-klipah → dibbur → arsy'im of ni'uf → breathed in by hearer → ni'uf in listener's interior. **Bilam as paradigm case**: Bilam was **da'as d'klipah** par excellence — as Chazal derived from **"lo kam navi od b'Yisrael k'Moshe"** (Devarim 34:10): **"b'Yisrael lo kam, aval ba'umos kam — u'mi hu? Bilam"** (Sifrei Zos ha'Brachah; Zohar Shemos 21b; Zohar Balak 193b). Moshe is **da'as**; his generation is called **"dor dei'ah"** (Vayikra Rabbah 9; the 'generation of knowledge' because Moshe — the da'as — led them). Bilam is the mirror-opposite on the klipah side. **Moav's counsel from Midian**: when Moav took counsel from Midian about how to harm Israel, Midian said to them: **"ein kocho ella ba'peh"** — Moshe's power is only in his mouth, because **the peh is the hisgalus of da'as**. Moav replied: **"af anu navo aleihem b'adam she'kocho ba'peh"** — we too will come against them with a man whose power is in his mouth (= Bilam; cited in Rashi Bamidbar 22). The whole choice of Bilam is built on the da'as-through-peh doctrine. **"Es zeh l'umas zeh asah Elokim"** (Kohelet 7:14) — HKBH made 'this corresponding to that'; every kedushah has its klipah mirror, and Bilam is the mirror to Moshe in the da'as-speech axis. **"V'yodei'a da'as Elyon"** (Bamidbar 24:16) regarding Bilam: Chazal (Berachos 7a) explain he **knew the moment HKBH was angry**. How? Because **when da'as is not in yishuv** (composed), there is **ka'as** (anger) — and ka'as is the signature of da'as being disturbed. Chazal (Pesachim 66b): **"kol ha'ko'es, chochmaso mistaleikes mi'menu"** — the angry person's chochmah departs. So Bilam, who gazed into the mosros (overflow-sediments) of da'as Elyon, could detect the exact moment of disturbance upstream — i.e., when the upper da'as became ka'as. **The Moshe-Midian incident**: when Moshe got angry at the officers of the army returning from Midian (Bamidbar 31), **his da'as lifted** — and therefore **Elazar had to teach the halachos of tevilas keilim** in Moshe's place. Conversely, **shleimus da'as = no ka'as**: **"lo yarei'u v'lo yashchisu b'kol har kodshi, ki mal'ah ha'aretz dei'ah"** (Yeshayahu 11:9) — 'none shall injure nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of knowledge' — when da'as is complete (=shleimus), ka'as and its destructive consequences vanish. **The Midian episode's ni'uf**: the Midianite women brought zenus on Yisrael — this was **a direct consequence of Bilam's diburim**. Scripture testifies: **"va'yiktzof Moshe al pekudei ha'chayil... hen heinah hayu li'v'nei Yisrael bi'dvar Bilam li'mesor ma'al ba'Hashem"** (Bamidbar 31:14-16) — 'these were the ones who caused the children of Israel — **through the word of Bilam** — to betray against Hashem.' **"Bi'dvar"** — through the **dibbur** — dayka, because it was specifically via **his diburim** (the hisgalus of his klipah-da'as) that he bred the ni'uf in Midian. **The korban for hirhurim**: when the army returned from Midian, **"va'yikr'vu el Moshe rashei ha'pekudim... va'yomru: n'karev es korban Hashem... l'chaper al nafshoseinu lifnei Hashem"** (Bamidbar 31:48-50). Chazal (Shabbos 64a) explain: **"af al pi she'mi'yedei aveirah yatzanu, mi'yedei hirhur lo yatzanu"** — 'even though we left the actual transgression, we did not leave the hirhur (impure thoughts).' The hirhur = the **residue of the arsy'im-of-ni'uf** absorbed via Bilam's diburim — even without actual aveirah, the airs he'd breathed-in remained, requiring korban to scour. **The full structure**: da'as (Moshe) ↔ da'as d'klipah (Bilam); both act through peh; when the klipah-mouth speaks, its breath carries klipah-da'as as physical vapors that infect the hearer's body with ni'uf. The antidote is **strengthening da'as d'kedushah** via Torah and tzaddikim — which by the same mechanism transmits kedushah-da'as to the hearer and displaces the klipah-residue. Intermediate: **Diburim of rasha-bar-da'as generate ni'uf in listener**. Zivug from da'as (Ber 4:1; Bam 31:17). Two zivugim: **d'kedushah** (bonding tzaddikim/Torah/Hashem; da'as d'kedushah) + **aveirah** (da'as d'klipah). Dibbur=hisgalus da'as (Teh 19:3 **"y'chaveh da'as"**). Rasha's havalim→**arsy'im of ni'uf**→hearer breathes→enters body. **Bilam=da'as d'klipah** (Dev 34:10; Sifrei Zos ha'Brachah; Zohar Shem 21b, Balak 193b); **Moshe=da'as**; dor dei'ah (Vay"R 9). Moav from Midian: "ein kocho ella ba'peh" → Bilam. "Es zeh l'umas zeh" (Koh 7:14). **"V'yodei'a da'as Elyon"** (Bam 24:16; Ber 7a: knew moment of ka'as). Da'as not yishuv → ka'as; ka'as → chochmah mistaleikes (Pes 66b). Moshe-Midian: ka'as → Elazar taught tevilas keilim. Shleimus da'as → **"lo yarei'u v'lo yashchisu... ki mal'ah ha'aretz dei'ah"** (Yesh 11:9). Midian ni'uf: **"bi'dvar Bilam"** (Bam 31:16) dayka. Korban: **"mi'yedei hirhur lo yatzanu"** (Shab 64a).