Serving God From Love Rather Than Fear and the Failure of Balaam

...out of love. How so? Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, loves Israel and loves the Torah scholars most of all, as it says (Deuteronomy 7): "Not because you were more numerous than all the peoples did the LORD desire you and choose you... but because the LORD loved you," and it says (Malachi 1): "I have loved you, says the LORD" - so let a person love Israel and love the Torah scholars most of all. Whence the love of a person for the Omnipresent? The love of a person for the Omnipresent is a weighty commandment of the Torah, for the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven is written beside love, as it says (Deuteronomy 6): "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." From here they said: whoever recites the Shema and makes his voice heard to his own ears is praiseworthy, and whoever prays and makes his voice heard to his own ears, this one bears false witness; and some say he is lacking in faith. Another interpretation (Deuteronomy 6): "And you shall love the LORD your God" - that you should make the name of Heaven beloved among the creatures: that you should know words of Torah and read and learn words of Torah, and that your dealings with people should be in good faith, so that people who see you will say: Happy is so-and-so who learned Torah; how pleasant are his deeds, how fine are his ways! Woe to the one who did not learn Torah. By the Temple service, we too shall learn Torah and teach our children Torah, and the name of Heaven is found sanctified through him; and of him Scripture says (Isaiah 49): "And He said to me, You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." But when a person reads and learns words of Torah and his dealings are not gentle with people and his business is not in good faith, they say of him: See so-and-so who learned Torah; how evil are his deeds, how repulsive are his ways! By the Temple service, we will not learn Torah nor teach our children Torah; and the name of Heaven is found profaned through him; and of him Scripture says (Ezekiel 36): "And they profaned My holy name when it was said of them, These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave His land." The Torah was given only in order to sanctify His great name. From here they said: let a person keep himself far from robbery, whether from a Jew or from an idolater; and moreover, because whoever steals from an idolater will in the end steal from a Jew, and if he swears falsely to an idolater he will in the end swear falsely to a Jew, and if he deceives an idolater he will in the end deceive a Jew, and if he sheds blood of an idolater he will in the end shed blood of a Jew. And the Torah was given only to sanctify His great name, as it says (Isaiah 66): "And I will set a sign among them and send from them survivors... and they shall declare My glory among the nations." What is the difference between one who serves the Holy One out of love and one who serves out of fear? They told a parable. To what may this be compared? To a king of flesh and blood who had to go overseas and sought to entrust his son to a wicked guardian. His friends and attendants said to him: Do not entrust him to his hand. But the king disregarded the words of his friends and attendants and entrusted his son to the wicked guardian. The guardian had two servants: one of them loved the king and feared the king, and one of them feared the king but did not love the king. The one who loved the king and feared him went and planted gardens and orchards and all kinds of delicacies; but the one who feared the king and did not love him did nothing. In time a letter came to them from the king by the hand of a messenger, that the king would come within a short while to see their work and their labor. When the one who loved entered his house and saw the figs and grapes and all kinds of delicacies, his mind was at ease toward the joy of the king, that the king would rejoice with him over his good work. But the one who feared the king and did nothing, when he entered his house and saw all kinds of ruin, was shaken before the sorrow and anger of the king against him. Therefore it says (Psalms 111): "He has given food to those who fear Him" - this is the attribute of justice; but of the one who fears and does Torah and commandments out of fear it says (Psalms 111): "He remembers His covenant forever" - this is the world to come, with Torah; and what is written before it? "He has made a memorial for His wonders; gracious and merciful is the LORD" - this is this world, with Torah; this is the reward of the one who fears. But the reward of the one who loves, whence? Scripture says, "You shall have no other gods..." (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). From this you learn that the reward of the one who loves is two portions, and the reward of the one who fears is one portion. Therefore the idolaters did not merit to enjoy anything but this world alone, but Israel merited to enjoy two worlds, this world and the world to come. But the sages taught in the Mishnah: Rabbi Elazar of Modiin says: One who profanes the holy things, and despises the festivals, and shames his fellow in public, and breaks the covenant of Abraham our father, and reveals faces of Torah not according to the law - even though he has Torah and good deeds, he has no portion in the world to come. Master of the world, I am the atonement of Israel in all their dwelling places. It is revealed and known before You that Israel circumcise their sons and read and learn and enter the covenant only because of their love for their Father in Heaven; therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Even if all the idolaters stood and gave all their silver and gold and all their good treasures and said, Give us the crown of the house of Aaron and the crown of the house of David, I would not give them even one thing from the spoil of the Torah, as it says (Song of Songs 8): "Many waters cannot quench love... if a man gave all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned." And the sages taught in the Mishnah: every love that depends on a thing, when the thing ceases the love ceases; and one that does not depend on a thing never ceases. Which is the love that depends on a thing? This is the love of Balaam and Balak. And which is the love that does not depend on a thing? Such as the love of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who love the Holy One, and the Holy One loves them and their children and their children's children until the end of all generations. When Noah and his sons came into the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Shem son of Noah: Shem My beloved, had My Torah been among the first ten generations, you would say I had already destroyed My world because of them; now that all the nations have been created, I will see whether they accept My Torah upon themselves; go and prophesy to them. Then Shem son of Noah prophesied to the nations four hundred years, and the nations did not accept from him. From then on there prophesied to the nations Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, Job from the land of Uz, Beor the father of Balaam, and Balaam, who was the last of them all. And the Holy One, blessed be He, left nothing in the world that He did not reveal to Balaam. And why? Because it was revealed and known before Him, may His name be blessed, that all the nations who deny the Torah would one day say before Him, may His name be blessed, on the day of judgment: Master of the world, had You given us a prophet like Moses, we would have accepted Your Torah. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them Balaam, who was loftier in wisdom than Moses. Moses exceeded Balaam in one matter, and Balaam exceeded Moses in one matter. Moses exceeded Balaam in one matter: of Moses it says (Leviticus 1), "And He called to Moses," but of Balaam it is written (Numbers 23), "And God chanced upon Balaam"; of Moses it says (Deuteronomy 5), "And you, stand here with Me," but of Balaam it says (Numbers 24), "fallen down, with eyes uncovered." And Balaam exceeded Moses in one matter: of Moses it says (Exodus 33), "Show me now Your ways," but of Balaam it says (Numbers 24), "and knows the knowledge of the Most High"; of Moses it says (Exodus 33), "Show me now Your glory," but of Balaam it says, "who sees the vision of the Almighty." See what is written concerning Balaam (Micah 6): "My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him." Balaam came to Balak only to curse Israel. Go and learn from his first words that Balaam spoke when Balak sent messengers to Balaam, as it says (Numbers 22): "And he sent messengers to Balaam... and now come, curse for me this people." Balaam should have said to Balak's messengers that he did not wish to curse Israel; but he did not do so. Rather, he rejoiced greatly to curse Israel more than Balak sought, and sleep did not come upon him all that night, as it says (Numbers 22): "And he said to them, Lodge here tonight... and God came to Balaam." And when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Balaam that he should go with them, as it says (Numbers 22), "If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them," he should have said: Master of the world, You are not a man that You should lie, nor a son of man that You should loathe the work of Your hands; these beloved ones, the children of Your beloved, are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who did Your will in Your Torah. But he did not do so; rather, he rejoiced greatly and rose early to go at once, as it says (Numbers 22), "And Balaam rose in the morning." What is written afterward? "And the anger of God was kindled because he was going." The Holy One, blessed be He, said to His retinue: See this one who knows that I recognize all the thoughts in the heart of each and every one, and now he goes to curse Israel; therefore it says, "And the anger of God was kindled." When Balaam came to Balak, Balaam should have said to Balak: Why do you concern yourself with these matters, to make war with Israel, that you may find through them great blows and perish from the world? But he did not do so; rather he said to Balak: Shem son of Noah prophesied four hundred years to all the nations and they did not accept from him; from then on prophesied Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, Job from the land of Uz, my father Beor, and I, the last of them all; and I tell you what their fathers did. Each one of them arose and built an altar and offered upon it three times each year, each a bull and each a ram. But you, "build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams" (Numbers 23). At that hour the Holy One, blessed be He, sat and laughed at him; therefore it says, "My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab counseled, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him." What is written afterward? "With what shall I come before the LORD and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams?... He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: only to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." And if you should say, such is the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, that if He asks for food and drink none can stand before Him - is it not said (Numbers 28), "The one lamb you shall offer in the morning"? And is there hunger before Him? Is it not already said (Psalms 50): "Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, and your burnt offerings are continually before Me; I will take no bull from your house... If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine and its fullness. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving." If so, why did the Holy One, blessed be He, ordain two lambs, one in the morning and one toward evening? Only so that they would set a remembrance of us and a remembrance of our fathers before Him. And thus the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My beloved children, have I lacked anything that I should ask of you? And what do I ask of you? Only that you love one another and honor one another and fear one another, and that there be found in you no transgression and robbery and repulsive matter, so that you never come to disqualification. Therefore it says, "He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: only to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." Do not read "and to walk humbly with your God" but "and walk humbly, your God is with you": as long as you walk with Him in modesty, He too will be with you in modesty. Therefore it says, "and to walk humbly with your God."