A prophet and a donkey — again (Balak)-by Devorah Schoenfeld

At the end of Deutronomy, we reach the end of Moses’ life and we see the great mourning of the people at this immesurable loss. In this context, the Torah tells us:

וְלֹֽא־קָ֨ם נָבִ֥יא ע֛וֹד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל כְּמֹשֶׁ֑ה אֲשֶׁר֙ יְדָע֣וֹ ה’ פָּנִ֖ים אֶל־פָּנִֽים׃

Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses — whom the LORD singled out, face to face. (Deuteronomy 34:10)

On this tragic verse, Sifrei Deuteronomy (357) comments that while there was never a prophet like Moses in Israel, there was in fact one among the nations:

And there shall not arise in Israel again a prophet such as Moses”: But among the nations, there did arise. And who was he? Balaam the son of Beor. But there is a difference between the prophecy of Moses and the prophecy of Balaam. Moses did not know who was speaking to him, and Balaam did know, viz. (Numbers 24:16) “The speech of the hearer (Balaam) of the words of the Almighty.” Moses did not know when He would speak to him until He did so. Balaam did know, viz. “and the knower of the knowledge of the Most High.” Moses did not speak with Him unless he was standing, viz. (Deut. 5:28) “And you, here, stand with Me.” And Balaam spoke with Him when he was fallen, viz. (Num. 24:4) “The vision of the Almighty shall he see, fallen and his eyes uncovered.

Read the full article on The Times of Israel