Every Grain Awaits Yisrael
במדרש ג' רגלים רמז לו שביקש לעקור אומה החוגגת ג' רגלים
In the Midrash it is taught that the 'three regalim' were a hint to Balak that he sought to uproot a nation that celebrates the three pilgrimage festivals (the three regalim).
The Midrash reads the unusual phrase about Balak hosting Bilam 'three regalim' as alluding to the three pilgrimage festivals, signaling that Balak's true aim was to destroy the nation that keeps them.
ולמה דוקא מצוה זו
But why specifically did the hint come through this mitzvah?
The Sfas Emes asks why the festivals in particular were chosen as the vehicle for this allusion.
אך דהג' רגלים שעלו בנ"י לרגל הי' עדות שהמה מיוחדים לירושת הארץ וביהמ"ק כדכ' יראה כל זכורך כו' במקום אשר יבחר
However, the three regalim, upon which Bnei Yisrael ascended to Yerushalayim for the festival, were testimony that they are uniquely designated for inheriting the Land and the Beis HaMikdash, as it is written, 'Three times a year all your males shall appear... in the place that He shall choose' (Devarim 16:16).
He answers that the aliyah la'regel itself testified that Bnei Yisrael alone are bound to the Land and the Beis HaMikdash, since the mitzvah is tied specifically to 'the place that He shall choose.'
וכ' ששם עלו שבטים כו' עדות לישראל
And it is written, 'For there the tribes ascended... a testimony to Yisrael' (Tehillim 122:4).
He brings a second verse showing the festivals are a 'testimony to Yisrael,' reinforcing this bond.
וכן אמר אותו רשע כי מראש צורים אראנו ומגבעות אשורנו
And so too did that wicked one, Bilam, say, 'For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him' (Bamidbar 23:9).
Bilam's own prophecy, where he beholds Yisrael from the rocks and hills, is cited as further proof of this designation.
לפי פשוטו שראה בנבואה כי כל צור וגבעה בא"י מיוחד לבנ"י
According to its plain meaning, he saw through prophecy that every rock and every hill in Eretz Yisrael is uniquely designated for Bnei Yisrael.
Read plainly, Bilam perceived that every rock and hill of the Land is reserved for Bnei Yisrael alone.
וארץ ישראל אשר הנחיל השי"ת לאבותינו ולנו אינו במקרה רק כשברא העולם והי' יסוד העולם ארץ ישראל וביהמ"ק
And Eretz Yisrael, which Hashem gave as an inheritance to our forefathers and to us, is not by happenstance; rather, when Hashem created the world, the very foundation of the world was Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash.
The Sfas Emes establishes that Eretz Yisrael was not given by chance, but was the foundation laid at the very creation of the world.
כמו כן בנ"י יסוד הנפשות וכל הציור של א"י וביהמ"ק הוא מכוון לציור של בנ"י דאיתא ישראל קנין אחד כו' שמים וארץ כו' ביהמ"ק כו' וכל אלה הקנינים שייכים זה לזה
Likewise, Bnei Yisrael are the foundation of all neshamos, and the entire form of Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash is aligned with the form of Bnei Yisrael, for it is taught that 'Yisrael is one acquisition (kinyan)...,' 'heaven and earth...,' 'the Beis HaMikdash...,' and all these acquisitions of Hashem are bound up one with another.
Just as the Land is the world's foundation, Bnei Yisrael are the foundation of all neshamos, and the Land and Beis HaMikdash are shaped to correspond to them, since these are all interlinked acquisitions of Hashem.
ולאשר אמר ואגרשנו מן הארץ הראה לו הקב"ה כי הארץ מיוחד להם
And in response to what Bilam said, 'And I shall drive him out from the Land' (Bamidbar 22:11), the Holy One, Blessed is He, showed him that the Land is uniquely designated for them.
When Bilam boasted he would drive Yisrael out of the Land, Hashem showed him that the Land is theirs by intrinsic designation and cannot be taken from them.
וכ' מי מנה עפר יעקב מצות שעושין בעפר
And it is written, 'Who can count the dust of Yaakov' (Bamidbar 23:10) — this refers to the mitzvos that are performed with the dust, the earth.
The verse 'Who can count the dust of Yaakov' is read as a reference to the land-dependent mitzvos performed with the soil.
פי' מצות שהם חובת קרקע ונוהגין בארץ כי הם תקונים השייכים לא"י ואין מי שיתקן זאת רק בנ"י
The meaning is the mitzvos that are an obligation of the land and apply only in Eretz Yisrael, for they are tikkunim, rectifications, that belong to Eretz Yisrael, and there is none who can effect this rectification except Bnei Yisrael.
These are the agricultural mitzvos that apply only in Eretz Yisrael; they are rectifications belonging to the Land, and only Bnei Yisrael can carry them out.
וכ' והי' זרעך כעפר הארץ ומי שאמר והי' העולם הכין עפר הארץ לזרע יעקב
And it is written, 'And your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth' (Bereishis 28:14); the One who spoke and the world came into being prepared the dust of the earth for the offspring of Yaakov.
The verse comparing Yaakov's offspring to the dust teaches that Hashem prepared the very earth of the Land for Yaakov's children from the time of creation.
וכמו שנתן מדה ומנין לעפר הארץ כדכ' מי מדד כו' וכל בשליש עפר הארץ כן מי מנה עפר יעקב ולכל גרגורי עפר מארץ ישראל מיוחדים נפשות פרטיות מישראל:
And just as He set a measure and a number to the dust of the earth, as it is written, 'Who measured... and comprised in a measure the dust of the earth' (Yeshayahu 40:12), so too 'Who can count the dust of Yaakov,' for to every single grain of dust from Eretz Yisrael there are designated individual neshamos from Yisrael.
Finally, just as Hashem assigned a precise measure to the dust of the earth, He assigned to each grain of Eretz Yisrael's soil a particular neshamah of Yisrael, completing the correspondence between the Land and the nation.
Summary: The Sfas Emes explains why the Midrash hints, through the 'three regalim,' that Balak sought to uproot the nation that keeps the festivals: the aliyah la'regel itself is testimony that Bnei Yisrael alone are bound to Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash, designated 'in the place that He shall choose.' He grounds this in creation itself, where the Land and the Beis HaMikdash are the foundation of the world, just as Bnei Yisrael are the foundation of all neshamos, all of them interlinked acquisitions of Hashem. When Bilam boasted that he would drive Yisrael from the Land, Hashem showed him that the Land is intrinsically theirs. Reading 'Who can count the dust of Yaakov' as the land-dependent mitzvos that only Bnei Yisrael can fulfill, the Sfas Emes concludes that just as Hashem measured the dust of the earth, He assigned to every grain of Eretz Yisrael's soil a particular neshamah of Yisrael.