{"id":47948,"date":"2019-01-22T21:08:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T19:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47948"},"modified":"2022-08-17T08:25:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T05:25:24","slug":"baalams-she-ass-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/baalams-she-ass-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Baalam\u2019s She-Ass \u2013 Then And Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[660,363],"acf":{"old_id":"47948","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Exemplar of a feeling animal","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our chapter, Balak, King of Moab, terrified by the oncoming Israelites, seeks to hire the gentile prophet Balaam \u00a0to curse Israel (22:1-21). Despite the fact that on a second attempt, God tells Balaam to go with Balak\u2019s messengers, God is angry at Balaam and sends an angel to block his way (verse 22). Balaam\u2019s she-ass (<em>aton<\/em>), seeing the angel still invisible to Balaam, turns aside causing Balaam to strike her. When the she-ass crushes Balaam\u2019s foot against the wall, he strikes her again. And when she then lies down under him he strikes her yet a third time, now with his staff (verses 23-27). <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThen the Lord opened the ass\u2019s mouth, and she said to Balaam, \u2018What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?\u2019 Balaam said to the ass, \u2018You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I\u2019d kill you.\u2019 The ass said to Balaam, \u2018Look, I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?\u2019 And he answered, \u2018No\u2019\u201d (verses 28-30).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Balaam\u2019s talking she-ass is remarkable in at least one very special way according to the Rabbinic Sages. Her mouth (<em>pi ha-aton<\/em>) was one of the ten extraordinary handiworks of God created at the very end of the six days of creation (Mishnah Avot 5:6). Not only was Balaam\u2019s she-ass able to speak, she spoke in perfect biblical Hebrew. And Balaam, though he was not a Hebrew, spoke in that same language though imperfectly. When he accused his ass of mocking him (<em>hit\u2019alalt bi<\/em>) (verse 29), he unwittingly accused her of abusing him sexually (see Judges 19:25; Tanhuma Buber, Balaq 13). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The angel\u2019s challenging question to Balaam: \u201c\u2019Why have you beaten your ass these three times?\u201d is the basis for Maimonides\u2019 ruling that the prohibition of cruelty to animals is of biblical origin (Guide for the Perplexed 3:17). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The German-Jewish philosopher Salomon Maimon (1753- 1800), in his autobiography, tells of how he acted on the view of the French philosopher Descartes (1596-1650) who claimed that animals feel no pain, but are mere automatons, whose cries are like the sound of a drum when struck (see Yael Shemesh, <em>Bar-Ilan Daf Shevui 504<\/em>). Indeed, exclamations coming from the mouth of Balaam\u2019s she-ass continue to be heard to this day on the pages of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem\u2019s student newspaper, appropriately named <em>Pi Ha-Aton<\/em> (\u201cThe Mouth of the She-Ass\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image:\u00a0meunierd \/ Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":47991,"id":47991,"title":"num22-donkey","filename":"num22-donkey.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/baalams-she-ass-then-and-now\/num22-donkey\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num22-donkey","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":47948,"date":"2019-01-23 09:30:30","modified":"2019-10-23 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