The verb 'vayar' (and he saw) repeats many times in Parashat Balak - what are the hidden meanings behind it?
In Parashat Balak the root ‘to see’ is not only a technical act of seeing. It becomes a test: who truly sees? And what is he capable of seeing?
The parasha opens with the words: “Vayar Balak ben Tzipor et kol asher asah Yisrael la’Emori” (And Balak son of Tzipor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorite, Numbers 22:2). Balak sees. But what does he see? He sees power, threat, danger. Immediately afterward it is said that Moav was very afraid. This is a seeing that gives birth to anxiety. Balak does not really see Israel. He sees his own fears through Israel.
Then comes the second stage: Balak tries to control what Bilam will see. He takes him to the place from which it is said: “Vayar misham k’tzei ha’am” (And he saw from there the edge of the people, Numbers 22:41). This is striking: Balak does not let Bilam see the entire picture, only an edge. A midrashic idea: one who wants to curse usually does not look at the whole. He searches for an edge, a corner, an isolated detail, and from there he builds an indictment against everything.
Then Balak continues in the same method and says to Bilam: “Efes katzehu tireh v’chulo lo tireh” (Only the edge of it you shall see, but you shall not see all of it, Numbers 23:13). This is perhaps one of the deepest definitions of an evil eye: to see a little, and to decide about everything.
But in the middle of the parasha the Torah overturns the whole game. Who sees the truth? Not Balak. Not Bilam. The donkey. She sees the angel of the Lord on the road, and Bilam does not see. That is, the Torah is as if saying: a person can be great, possessed of spiritual powers, and still be completely blind to what stands before him. The problem is not in the eyes, but in the inner attachment. Whoever follows honor, self-will, and interest can lose the ability to see.
And then comes the climax: “Vayar Bilam ki tov b’einei Hashem l’varech et Yisrael” (And Bilam saw that it was good in the eyes of the Lord to bless Israel, Numbers 24:1). Here Bilam begins to see not what Balak wants him to see, but what is good in the eyes of God. This is the turning point.
And immediately afterward: “Vayisa Bilam et einav vayar et Yisrael shochen lishvatav vat’hi alav ruach Elohim” (And Bilam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel dwelling tribe by tribe, and the spirit of God came upon him, Numbers 24:2). Here he no longer sees “the edge of the people”. He sees Israel as their tribes, as order, as a whole structure. And then the blessing comes out: “Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov mishknotecha Yisrael” (How goodly are your tents, O Ya’akov, your dwellings, O Yisrael, Numbers 24:5).
And this is the astonishing point: the whole of Parashat Balak is a war over the angle of seeing.
Balak sees fear. The donkey sees an angel. Bilam at first sees nothing. Balak tries to make him see only an edge. The Holy One forces him to see Israel in fullness. And the moment he sees fullness, the curse turns into blessing.
So the hidden meaning of ‘vayar’ in the parasha is not only “he looked”. It is: from what place in the soul did he look?
There is a seeing that takes apart, that sees only flaws. There is a seeing that is afraid, that sees a threat in everything. There is a self-interested seeing, that sees only what it wants to find. And there is a divine seeing, that sees the inner order, the entire camp, the blessing hidden beyond the details.
And what about “Vayar Pinchas” at the end of the parasha?
This is a powerful completion of what was said. If until now we saw all kinds of seeing, at the end of the parasha a completely new kind appears: a seeing that leads to action.
The verse says: “Vayar Pinchas ben El’azar ben Aharon haKohen vayakom mitoch ha’edah vayikach romach b’yado” (And Pinchas, son of El’azar, son of Aharon the Kohen, saw, and rose from amid the congregation, and took a spear in his hand, Numbers 25:7).
Notice the structure: Balak sees and is alarmed. The donkey sees and stops. Bilam sees and blesses. Pinchas sees and rises.
There is a deep midrashic idea here: not everyone who sees, rises. There is one who sees and is alarmed. There is one who sees and speaks. And there is one who sees and understands that this moment demands of him to rise out of the congregation.
And this is precise in the verse. It does not say only that he saw. It says immediately: “and he rose from amid the congregation”. Pinchas did not remain a spectator on the side. He goes out from a state of a weeping and confused crowd, into an act of decision. The verse before describes that the thing was done “L’einei Moshe u’l’einei kol adat b’nei Yisrael” (Before the eyes of Moshe and before the eyes of all the congregation of the children of Israel, Numbers 25:6), and they are weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Everyone sees. But Pinchas is the one whose seeing turns into rising.
So Balak saw Israel from the outside, and saw danger. Bilam saw Israel from above, and saw blessing. Pinchas saw the crisis from within, and saw responsibility.
“Vayar Pinchas” is not just another appearance of the root ‘to see’. It is the closing of the entire circle. The Torah teaches that true seeing does not end in admiration, in fear, or even in blessing. Sometimes true seeing demands of a person to ask: what does the Holy One want from me at this very moment?
Parashat Balak begins with a man who sees evil where there is blessing. It continues with a man who is forced to see blessing where he wanted to curse. And it ends with a man who sees corruption, and does not agree to be blind in the name of comfort.
The most rectified eye in the parasha is not only the eye that sees good. It is the eye that knows when the good demands rising.
More articles in the series on seeing in Parashat Balak:
- Why does the beauty of Israel reveal itself precisely through the eyes of an enemy?
- What did Bilam really see in the camp of Israel that made him say a blessing instead of a curse?