Bittul Unlocks Prophetic Dveikus

במדרש זש"ה הצור תמים פעלו כו'

In the Midrash, this is the meaning of the verse, "The Rock, His work is perfect" (Devarim 32:4), and so on.

The piece opens by citing the Midrash's anchor verse, "The Rock, His work is perfect," which it will use to explain how Hashem's creation is perfectly ordered.

הענין הוא כי הקב"ה ברא העולם להיות נתלה מדריגה במדריגה עד שיוכל להיות דביקות לכל ברי' כפי הביטול שלה למדריגה שקודם לה כענין ד' בחי' דצח"ם והדומם יש לו התקשרות בצומח והצומח בחי והחי במדבר והמדבר בבנ"י שלהם עיקר הדיבור והוא באמת בחי' הנבואה ששייך לבנ"י בפרט שהיו מוכנים בהר סיני להיות כולם נביאים וכן יהי' לעתיד כמ"ש ונבאו בניכם ובנותיכם

The matter is as follows: The Holy One, Blessed is He, created the world to be suspended level upon level, until there could be dveikus for every creature according to its bittul to the level that precedes it. This is along the lines of the four categories of inanimate matter, plant, animal, and speaker (domem, tzomeiach, chai, medaber): the inanimate has a connection to the plant, the plant to the animal, the animal to the speaker, and the speaker is Bnei Yisrael, in whom the power of speech is essential. And in truth this is the aspect of nevuah, which belongs to Bnei Yisrael in particular, for they were prepared at Har Sinai for all of them to be prophets; and so it will be in time to come, as it is written, "And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (Yoel 3:1).

Hashem built creation as a ladder of levels, where each rung connects to the one above it through bittul. The four categories culminate in Bnei Yisrael, the "speakers," whose true power of speech is nevuah, for which they were readied at Har Sinai and which will fully return in the future.

והוא שלימות הדיבור כדכתיב בורא ניב שפתים

And this is the completeness of speech, as it is written, "He creates the speech of the lips" (Yeshayahu 57:19).

The full perfection of speech is itself a creation of Hashem, as the verse states.

וכמו שהי' עיקר הבריאה ויפח באפיו כו' ויהי כו' לנפש חי' לרוח ממללא וזה הכח נשאר בבני ישראל שנק' אדם אתם כו'

And just as the essence of creation was "And He blew into his nostrils ... and man became a living soul" (Bereishis 2:7) — which Targum renders "a speaking spirit" — so this power remained within Bnei Yisrael, who are called "You are adam" (Yechezkel 34:31).

Just as man's original life-force was the gift of speech breathed into him, that same power lives on specifically in Bnei Yisrael, who alone are called "adam."

ויש בחי' ממוצעת בין כל המדריגות כידוע

And there is an intermediate aspect that stands between all the levels, as is known.

Between every two levels there exists a connecting, intermediate rung that allows a lower level to attach to a higher one.

ולכן נמצאו חסידי אומות העולם שיהי' יכולת להיות להם דביקות אם היו מבטלין עצמם לבנ"י וכן בלעם הרשע אם הי' מכיר את מקומו לבטל עצמו לבנ"י הי' לו דביקות בנבואה של אמת

Therefore there are to be found chassidei umos haolam, the pious among the nations, who would have had the capacity to attain dveikus had they nullified themselves to Bnei Yisrael. And so too the wicked Bilaam — had he recognized his place and nullified himself to Bnei Yisrael, he would have had dveikus in true nevuah.

Because of this connecting rung, even righteous gentiles could reach dveikus by nullifying themselves to Bnei Yisrael; Bilaam too could have attained true nevuah had he humbled himself to them.

אך הרשעים ממאנים לשמוע ולקבל האמת ולכן כאשר הרגישו הארת הקדושה נעשו עוד שונאים לבנ"י

But the wicked refuse to listen and to accept the emes, and therefore when they sensed the radiance of kedushah, they became even greater enemies of Bnei Yisrael.

But wicked people refuse the emes, so the moment they feel the light of kedushah, instead of attaching to it they grow more hateful toward Bnei Yisrael.

כמ"ש במ"א שיש לבנ"י ב' המדריגות יעקב וישראל

As it is written elsewhere, that Bnei Yisrael possess the two levels of Yaakov and Yisrael.

Bnei Yisrael carry two distinct modes, named Yaakov and Yisrael.

שבחי' יעקב הוא להתערב בין האומות ולהוציא בלעם מפיהם ולקרב את אשר רוצה להתקרב

The aspect of Yaakov is to mix among the nations, to draw forth the "Bilaam" from their mouths, and to bring near whoever wishes to draw close.

The Yaakov mode is the outward-facing one: engaging the nations, extracting the holy sparks (the "Bilaam") from them, and drawing near those who genuinely seek closeness.

אבל בחי' ישראל הוא מקום שאין שום מגע נכרי כלל

But the aspect of Yisrael is a place where there is no foreign contact at all.

The Yisrael mode is the inward, sealed place that no foreign element can touch at all.

ודורות הראשונים הבינו תמיד העת לקרב ולרחק

And the earlier generations always understood the proper time to bring near and the time to keep at a distance.

The earlier generations had the wisdom to know when to engage outsiders and when to withdraw from them.

ובודאי הרשעים בלק ובלעם ראו שיכולין להרע לבנ"י כפי מה שראו הארת הקדושה כדכ' וירא בלק

And certainly the wicked Balak and Bilaam saw that they could harm Bnei Yisrael in accordance with the radiance of kedushah that they perceived, as it is written, "And Balak saw" (Bamidbar 22:2).

Balak and Bilaam perceived this radiance of kedushah and reckoned they could exploit it to harm Bnei Yisrael, as the verse "And Balak saw" indicates.

אכן מיד כשחזרו בנ"י וברחו למקומם הנעלם לא עלתה בידם להרע להם מאומה כמ"ש במ"א ע"פ לך עמי בוא בחדריך כו'

Yet immediately, once Bnei Yisrael returned and fled back to their hidden place, the wicked ones did not succeed in harming them in the least, as is written elsewhere on the verse "Go, My people, enter your chambers" (Yeshayahu 26:20).

But as soon as Bnei Yisrael withdrew into their hidden, sealed level, the wicked could do them no harm, echoing the verse calling them to enter their inner chambers.

וזה עצמו הרמז שפתח ה' פי האתון

And this itself is the hint in "Hashem opened the mouth of the donkey" (Bamidbar 22:28).

The opening of the donkey's mouth is itself a hint to this whole idea.

לומר שהגם שנמצא בו הנבואה ידע בנפשו כי אינו מוכן לזה בעצם

It is to say that although nevuah was found within him, he knew in his own soul that he was not intrinsically fit for it.

It teaches that even though Bilaam possessed nevuah, he himself knew he was not essentially worthy of it.

וכמו שנפתח פי האתון להיות מדבר לפי צורך השעה

And just as the mouth of the donkey was opened to speak according to the need of the hour,

The donkey was given speech only momentarily, solely to meet the need of that particular moment.

כמו כן בחי' הנבואה שהי' באותו רשע לאיזה צורך ולטובת בנ"י

so too the aspect of nevuah that was found in that wicked man was for some particular need and for the benefit of Bnei Yisrael.

In the same way, the nevuah lodged in that wicked man was only a temporary gift for a specific purpose and for the good of Bnei Yisrael.

אבל לא הי' מוכן לזה בעצם כנ"ל:

But he was not intrinsically fit for it, as explained above.

He was never intrinsically fit to be a navi, just as the donkey was not intrinsically a speaking creature.

Summary: The Sfas Emes explains that Hashem ordered creation as a chain of levels, each one attaching to the one above through bittul, with Bnei Yisrael at the summit as the "speakers" whose essential power of speech is nevuah, prepared at Har Sinai. An intermediate, connecting rung exists between the levels, which is why even righteous gentiles could reach dveikus by nullifying themselves to Bnei Yisrael; Bilaam too could have earned true nevuah had he humbled himself, but the wicked reject the emes and instead grow more hateful when they sense kedushah. Bnei Yisrael themselves carry two modes: Yaakov, which engages the nations to draw out their sparks and bring near those who seek closeness, and Yisrael, a sealed inner place no foreign element can touch. Balak and Bilaam imagined they could exploit the radiance of kedushah to harm Bnei Yisrael, but once Bnei Yisrael withdrew into their hidden level, the wicked were powerless. The opening of the donkey's mouth is the hint to it all: just as the donkey was given speech only momentarily for the need of the hour, Bilaam's nevuah was only a temporary gift for a specific purpose and for the benefit of Bnei Yisrael, for he was never intrinsically fit to be a navi.