Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Our Torah reading (Numbers 22:2-25:9) this week opens with the Israelites encamped on the steppes of Moab, on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Thay are poised to enter the Land of Canaan. Balak, King of Moab, has heard of the military victories of the Israelites and offers the prophet, Ballam, treasures without measure to curse the Israelites. But Ballam replies that the God of the Israelites, YHVH [Adonai] is also his God, [even though Ballam is not an Israelite.] God comes to Ballam in a dream and tells him that he may go to the Israelite encampment, but he must not curse them, “for they are blessed”.

On the way, Ballam’s donkey swerves off the road and into a field, then back on the road and into a wall, squeezing Ballam’s foot. When the donkey returns to the road, she stops completely and lays down. All the while, Ballam is furiously beating the donkey with his stick.

The donkey turns her head toward Ballam and begins to speak! “What have I done to deserve this?” “If I had a sword, I would have killed you!” replies Ballam. Then “God uncovered Ballam’s eyes” and Ballam sees what his donkey had seen all along. An angel of God, a sword in his hand, had been blocking Ballam’s way.

I always thought that this story was designed to mock Ballam. This “visionary” cannot even see what his donkey can see! The animal sees the obstacle in her way, while Ballam is unaware of the danger. The donkey is more perceptive than the prophet!

The midrash gives another view. It notes that the donkey “saw” the angel, whereas Ballam’s “eyes were uncovered by God” and then he saw the angel. Ballam needed help to see what the donkey saw naturally. This is because, according to the midrash, animals can sense things that people cannot. Animals can see angels wherever they are. Unless the angel is threatening, like the one in our story, the animal goes about his or her life unperturbed. But God, in God’s mercy, keeps humans from seeing angels, because we would not be able to handle seeing a divine being. We would be so terrified we would lose our minds.

The idea that animals “see” things that humans do not is borne out by modern science. Some animals, like bats and dolphins, use echolocation to map out their surroundings. Others, like sharks and bees, use electroreception to sense electrical fields created by nerve and muscle movements. Salmon and bullfrogs can feel infrared light. Deer, red foxes and sea turtles have magnetoreceptors that can help them see the earth’s magnetic field. Polarized light vision provides still other animals with an extra dimension of vision.

Science has yet to prove the existence of angels. But if and when it does, it may very well come through research in animal perception.

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