Humility Cleaving Versus Self Exaltation
במשנה מי שיש בו ג' דברים הללו מתלמידיו של א"א ע"ה עין טובה רוח נמוכה נפש שפלה כו' ולהיפוך בלעם הרשע כו' מה בין תלמידיו כו' תלמידי א"א אוכלין בעוה"ז ונוחלין לעוה"ב שנאמר להנחיל אוהבי יש ותלמידי בלעם הרשע יורשין גיהנם ויורדין לבאר שחת כו'
In the Mishnah (Avos 5:19) we learn: Whoever possesses these three traits is among the talmidim of Avraham Avinu, alav hashalom — a good eye, a humble spirit, and a lowly soul. And the opposite — a bad eye, a haughty spirit, and a broad soul — marks the talmidim of Bilaam the wicked. What is the difference between the talmidim of Avraham Avinu and the talmidim of Bilaam the wicked? The talmidim of Avraham Avinu eat in this world and inherit Olam Haba, as it says, "to bequeath substance to those who love Me" (Mishlei 8:21); while the talmidim of Bilaam the wicked inherit Gehinnom and descend to the pit of destruction.
The Sfas Emes opens with the Mishnah in Avos contrasting the talmidim of Avraham Avinu, who have good middos and merit both worlds, with the talmidim of Bilaam, who have bad middos and descend to Gehinnom.
ומהו שם תלמידי בלעם
And what is meant by calling them "the talmidim of Bilaam"?
He asks: why does the Mishnah call the wicked group "talmidim of Bilaam" specifically?
כי מה נלמד ממנו
For what is there to learn from him?
What is there that one would actually need to learn from Bilaam in order to acquire his traits?
ומדות רעות הללו עין רעה ורוח גבוהה כו' יוכל למצוא כל שוטה בלי לימוד
These evil traits — a bad eye and a haughty spirit — any fool can come by without any instruction at all.
His bad traits — a bad eye and a haughty spirit — require no teacher; any fool can fall into them naturally.
אך כי גם הרשעים מכניעים עצמם והרי אמר אם יתן לי כו' מלא ביתו כו' לא אוכל לעבור כו' ומזה עצמו נלמד שהי' נפש רחבה
However, even the wicked sometimes humble themselves; for behold, Bilaam himself said, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not transgress" (Bamidbar 22:18) — and from this very statement we learn that he possessed a broad soul.
He sharpens the question: even wicked people humble themselves at times, as Bilaam declared he could not transgress Hashem's word, which seems to show a generous, broad soul.
כי זה נחשב אצלו לחשיבות להקב"ה מה שהוא מכניע עצמו אף שהוא חשוב מאוד
For he reckoned it as a mark of importance before the Holy One, Blessed is He, that he humbles himself even though he is exceedingly important.
The answer begins: Bilaam viewed his own self-effacement as something impressive before Hashem, as if his importance made his humility a favor.
וכל ההכנעה שלו רק כדי לבוא למדריגה מה להתגאות אח"כ וז"ש נופל וגלוי עינים שע"י ההכנעה בא למדרגתו
And all of his humbling himself was only in order to arrive at some elevated level so as to be haughty afterward. This is the meaning of "fallen, yet with eyes uncovered" (Bamidbar 24:4) — that through the lowering he arrives at his exalted level.
His humility was merely a tactic — lowering himself to climb to a level from which he could later be arrogant; even "fallen with eyes uncovered" means he used the descent as a means to his exalted state.
אבל הצדיקים נפש שפלה שאין מבקשים רק להיות דבוק בחי החיים לידע תמיד שאין חיות לשום ברי' רק כח ה'
But the tzaddikim possess a lowly soul, for they seek nothing other than to be attached to the Source of all life — to know always that there is no vitality in any creature whatsoever except for the power of Hashem.
Tzaddikim, by contrast, have a genuinely lowly soul, wanting only to cleave to Hashem and to recognize that no creature has any life-force except Hashem's power.
כגרזן ביד החוצב
Like an axe in the hand of the one who chops with it.
He brings the image of an axe, which has no power of its own except in the hand of the one wielding it.
וכל פעולה יהי' דבוק בכח הפנימיות
And in every action one is attached to the inner power.
So too a person should remain attached to the inner Divine power in everything he does.
ומסיים מה בין תלמידיו כו' ופי' הבעש"ט אוכלין בעוה"ז ובזה עצמו נוחלין לעוה"ב מלשון נחל שממשיכין חיות השי"ת גם לעניני עוה"ז ע"ש
The Mishnah concludes, "What is the difference between his talmidim," and so on. And the Baal Shem Tov explained: "they eat in this world" — and through this very eating "they inherit Olam Haba" — from the root nachal, a flowing stream, for they draw down the vitality of Hashem Yisbarach even into the matters of this world; see there.
Quoting the Baal Shem Tov, he reads "inherit" (nochalin) from nachal, a stream: the tzaddikim eat in this world and through that very eating channel Hashem's vitality into worldly matters.
כי באמת עוה"ז דומה לפרוזדור כי עוה"ב למעלה מהשגה ואיך יוכל אדם לגשת לזה רק ע"י שמקרב עניני עוה"ז להקדושה זוכה שיתגלו לו עניני עוה"ב כי ב' אלו העולמות תלוין זה בזה
For in truth this world resembles an antechamber, since Olam Haba is beyond comprehension; and how can a person approach it? Only through bringing the matters of this world close to kedushah does he merit that the matters of Olam Haba be revealed to him — for these two worlds are bound up one with the other.
This world is an antechamber; Olam Haba is beyond grasp, and the only way to reach it is by drawing this-worldly matters close to kedushah, since the two worlds are linked.
עוה"ז נעלם הקדושה ע"י התאוות וקליפות
In this world the kedushah is concealed by means of the desires and the kelipos.
In this world, holiness is hidden behind physical desires and the kelipos.
ועוה"ב נעלם ע"י שמאין תמצא ונעלמת מכל
And Olam Haba is concealed in that "from where shall it be found" (Iyov 28:12) — it is hidden from all.
Olam Haba is hidden in a different way — it is so lofty that it cannot be "found," concealed from all comprehension.
אך מי שמוציא הארה הגנוזה בתוך ההעלם שבעוה"ז
But one who draws forth the hidden illumination from within the concealment of this world —
Whoever extracts the hidden light buried within the concealment of this world —
זוכה שיתגלה לו ההעלם שבעוה"ב ג"כ
merits that the concealment of Olam Haba be revealed to him as well.
thereby merits that the hidden light of Olam Haba is also revealed to him.
וז"ש להנחיל אוהבי יש שזוכה לראות בבחי' אין כאילו הי' ממשות [וזה כל ענין הבריאה יש מאין שמקודם הי' רק אין
And this is the meaning of "to bequeath substance to those who love Me" (Mishlei 8:21) — that he merits to perceive within the dimension of "ayin" (nothingness) as though it had tangible substance. [And this is the entire matter of creation, yesh from ayin — being from nothingness — for beforehand there was only ayin,
"To bequeath substance to those who love Me" means he merits to perceive the Divine "ayin" as if it were tangible reality; this is the secret of creation, yesh from ayin, since originally there was only ayin.
והש"י ע"י העשרה מאמרות שבתורה ברא העולם
and Hashem Yisbarach, by means of the Ten Utterances that are in the Torah, created the world,
Hashem created the world through the Ten Utterances contained in the Torah.
באורייתא ברא קוב"ה עלמא
"With the Torah did the Holy One, Blessed is He, create the world" (Zohar) —
As the Zohar states, the Holy One created the world by means of the Torah.
שפנימיות העולם הוא בחי' אין באמת כנ"ל] וזהו שעוה"ז כפרוזדור כו'
for the inner essence of the world is truly the dimension of ayin, as above.] And this is why this world is like an antechamber, and so on.
The inner essence of the world is truly ayin — which is why this world is only an antechamber to the true reality.
וזה לימוד אאע"ה להמשיך כל העשי' אחר חיות הפנימיות וממילא עין טובה כו' כיון שהכל כח הש"י בלבד
And this is the teaching of Avraham Avinu, alav hashalom: to draw all of one's actions after the inner vitality, and then automatically one has a good eye and so on, since everything is solely the power of Hashem Yisbarach.
This is Avraham Avinu's teaching: subordinate all action to the inner vitality, and a good eye and the other good middos follow naturally, since all is only Hashem's power.
ולהיפוך לימוד בלעם הרשע שאף הכנעה לצורך גיאות
And the opposite is the teaching of Bilaam the wicked, that even his humility was for the sake of haughtiness.
Bilaam's teaching is the inverse: even his humility was a means toward arrogance.
וז"ש לגרמייהו עבדין להיות לו מדרגה והתנשאות
This is the meaning of "they act for their own sake" — to gain for himself an elevated level and self-exaltation.
"They act for their own sake" — his goal in lowering himself was self-promotion and self-exaltation.
ועי"ז יורש גיהנם ג"כ היפוך הנ"ל שאף שהי' לו קצת מדרגה בקדושה שהרי הי' נביא
And through this he inherits Gehinnom as well — the opposite of the above — for although he possessed some measure of a level in kedushah, since he was in fact a navi,
He therefore inherits Gehinnom, the inverse of inheriting Olam Haba; though he had attained some level in kedushah, being a navi,
רק ע"י שהמשיך החטאים בתוך קצת מעש"ט שהיו לו
yet by drawing the sins into the small measure of good deeds that he possessed,
by drawing his sins into the bit of good deeds he had,
עי"ז הכניס הרע לתוך הטוב ויורש גיהנם כנ"ל:
thereby he introduced the evil into the good, and he inherits Gehinnom, as above.
he mixed evil into the good and thereby earns Gehinnom.
Summary: The Sfas Emes contrasts the talmidim of Avraham Avinu with the talmidim of Bilaam, asking what one could possibly learn from Bilaam, since bad middos require no teacher. He answers that even Bilaam humbled himself, but his humility was a calculated step toward later arrogance, treating his own self-effacement as a favor to Hashem. The tzaddik, by contrast, has a truly lowly soul: he seeks only to cleave to Hashem, recognizing that no creature has any vitality except Hashem's power, like an axe in the hand of the one who wields it. Citing the Baal Shem Tov, he explains that the tzaddikim "inherit" (nochalin) Olam Haba like a flowing stream (nachal), drawing Hashem's vitality even into worldly matters and thereby uncovering the hidden light of both worlds, since this world is but an antechamber whose inner essence is ayin. Bilaam represents the inverse — humility harnessed for self-exaltation, drawing his sins into the little good he had, which is why he inherits Gehinnom.