Kabbalah Library

173. Where was Balaam at that time? If in Midian, then it is written, “And now I am going to my people.” And if he went, who placed him in Midian? However, that wicked one, once he saw that 24,000 from Israel fell because of his advice to fornicate the daughters so they would fornicate with Israel, he was delayed there and wanted his reward from them. And while he was delayed there, Pinhas and the ministers of hosts came there.

174. When Balaam saw Pinhas, he flew in the air with his two sons, Yonos and Yombros. Did they not die in the incident with the calf, because they had made the calf? This is how it was, as it is written, “And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.” Did they not know that small calculation? After all, the text points out several other high and sublime and great calculations, and here it is written, “about three thousand men.” Can it be that he did not know exactly? However, they are Balaam’s sons, Yonos and Yombros, who were equal to about three thousand men.

175. That wicked one knew all the charms in the world. He even took the charms of his sons, with which they were proficient, and with them, he flew and fled. Pinhas saw him, that there was a man flying in the air and was vanishing from sight in the air. He raised his voice to his hosts and said, “There is someone who knows how to fly after that wicked one; it is Balaam.” They saw him, that he was flying away.

176. Tzalia, the son of the tribe of Dan, arose and took the control that controls the charms and flew after him. When that wicked one saw him, he took another route in the air, split five airs on that route and ascended and vanished from sight. At that time, Tzalia took a risk and was upset, not knowing what to do.

177. Pinhas raised his voice to him and said, “The shadow of the alligators lying on all the snakes, comb through your hair.” Tzalia immediately knew, he discovered that path and went into it. Balaam was revealed immediately, and they both descended before Pinhas.

The root of all the Sitra Achra and impurity is their adhesion to the left without right, and rejecting the correction of the middle line, which unites the left with the right, since all their vitality comes from GAR of the left from which Hochma is drawn from above downward, and the middle line diminishes these GAR through the force of the screen of Hirik. Hence, they resist it. Besides, anything there is in holiness, has its opposite in the Sitra Achra.

Since Balaam saw that Pinhas came to avenge the vengeance of the Creator against Midian, and understood that he would probably want to kill him, too, he flew in the air, ascended to GAR, called flying in the air, but on the left line of the air, as is his way in impurity. Moreover, he vanished from the eye of holiness since he ascended to GAR of the left, which are not present in holiness due to the diminution of the middle line.

When Balaam saw Pinhas, he flew in the air with his two sons, who continued to round the GAR of the left. It is written, “And that day about three thousand men of the people fell,” implying the extension of Yonos and Yombros from GAR of the left, implied as three-thousand, since Hochma is one-thousand. However, since the Hochma of impurity is concealed, as it is the evil eye, it is written “about three-thousand,” and not actually three-thousand.

We must remember that the middle line cannot diminish the GAR of the left, unless with the screen of the lock. However, once it has diminished it, it turns the lock into a key. You find that now, Tzalia had only the screen of the key.

Pinhas saw that one man was flying in the air, and was disappearing from the eye in the air, meaning rose to the GAR of the left, where the holy eye is not present, and departed from the eye of holiness.

Tzalia arose and took the control that controls the charms, and flew after him. Tzalia means the Tzel [shadow] of Yod-Hey [the Creator], GAR. Tzalia has the letters of Tzel Yod-Hey, the middle line of holiness, which diminishes the left line from GAR through the screen of the key. Since he is from the tribe of Dan, which is the rule of the left, this shadow is inscribed on his GAR, and he took the power of control of the middle line in him, by which he rules over the left line and diminishes it.

He arose and took the control that controls the charms, since the middle line of holiness rules over the GAR of the left, from which all the sorcerers and the Sitra Achra take their strength. He flew after him for he wanted to drop him through the power of the control of the middle line with the screen of the key.

When that wicked one saw him, he took another way in the air. In order to revoke the power of the screen of the key, he reawakened the diminution of GAR in the dot of Holam, the entry of Malchut to Bina, the key. By this, he breached five airs in that path, canceling all the GAR in the five phases KHB TM, which are present through the control of the middle line, since with the judgments in the dot of Holam, he breached each and every degree of these five phases into Keter and Hochma, and Bina and TM, as in Katnut [smallness/infancy] of holiness.

Afterwards, he reawakened the left line in his root, which is the exit of the Yod from the Avir [air], as in the dot of Shuruk, when the GAR of the left reawaken, and the force of the screen of the key of the middle line was canceled and returned and rose to GAR of the left, and vanished from the eye, where the eye of holiness does not reach. At that time, Tzalia took a risk. The shadow on his Yod-Hey took a risk of being revoked due to the revealing of the GAR of the left that Balaam did, since he was lacking the screen of the lock.

Pinhas raised his voice to him and said, “The shadow of the alligators lying on all the snakes,” implying to him to awaken the shadow of the alligators lying on all the snakes in the world, which is the shadow of the dot of the lock, whose power is strong enough to revoke all the snakes and sorcerers in the world, since where this dot touches, all the lights depart from there.

He told him, “Comb through your hair,” since the lock was incorporated in the hair, except it was concealed. He told him to comb through and search through his own hair, from the words “Delve in it and delve in it, for everything is in it,” and the power of the dot of the lock will be present there. And then, “He will drop it on the head of the wicked one.”

Promptly, Tzalia knew and revealed that path, for the dot of the lock canceled his path, which he made for the GAR of the left, and was revealed below, since he fell and came out from the GAR of the left. Promptly, Balaam was revealed and they both descended before Pinhas, since they both descended from GAR, for even Tzalia had lost the GAR of holiness due to the disclosure of the lock he had awakened in his hair.

178. It is written about that wicked one, “And he went to a bare height.” This is his highest degree, a male serpent. Tzalia took two, male and female, and by this controlled him, since he took the control that controlled them and they surrendered before him. That was as it is written, “a serpent in the way,” in that way that that wicked one had made. It is written, “Dan shall be a serpent in the way”; this is Samson. “A serpent in the way” is Tzalia.

There are two shells, male and female. The male is from the male judgments, which are extended by the disclosure of GAR of the left. The female is from the female judgments, the force of the lock, which are revealed from Malchut concerning “not rewarded, it is bad.” “And he went to a bare height” is his highest degree, a male serpent. Since it is adhered to GAR of the left, it was placed in the authority of the male serpent of the shell, male judgments. That was the highest of all his degrees, GAR of the left.

Tzalia, who wanted to revoke him, took two, male and female, awakening the shell of the female, too, the force of the lock, and by this he controlled her, since by the force of the lock, he lowered him from his degree and dropped him before Pinhas. You find that Balaam went with one serpent, a male serpent, and Tzalia went with two kinds of serpents, a male serpent and a female serpent, as it is written, “A serpent in the way” is Tzalia, since a serpent indicates two kinds of his serpents, male and female.

179. “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that his rider falls backwards.” Biting the heels of the horse is Ira, who was with David. He came from Dan, and thanks to him, he attributed his might to David, as it is written, “And David hamstrung all the chariot horses.”

The rider falling backwards is Sharia, who is destined to come with Messiah son of Ephraim, and he comes from the tribe of Dan. He is destined to take vengeance and wars against the rest of the nations. When he rises, then wait for Israel’s redemption, as it is written, “I wait for your salvation, O Lord.”

180. When that wicked one came down before Pinhas, he told him: “Wicked one, how many evil cycles have you done on the holy nation?” He said to Tzalia, “Arise and kill him. And not in the name, since it is inappropriate for you to mention the upper holiness in regard to him, so that his soul does not come out and becomes incorporated in matters of the holy degrees, for then what he said, ‘Let my soul die the death of the upright,’ will come true in him.”

181. At that time, he performed on him several kinds of death, but he did not die until he took a sword on which a serpent was engraved on one side, and a serpent on the other side. Pinhas told him, “Kill him with his own and he will die.” Then he killed him and overcame him, for such are the ways of that side, one who follows it will die in it, and in it, his soul will go out, and in it, his soul will be incorporated, and this is how Balaam died.

He is judged in the judgments of that world, and was never buried, and all his bones rotted and became several filthy snakes that are harmful to the rest of the people. Even the worms that ate his flesh became snakes.

182. In the book of Ashmedai [Asmodeus], which he gave to King Solomon, you find that anyone who wants to perform powerful spells that are hidden from the eye, if the rock knows that Balaam had fallen there, he will find there of those snakes that had been made from the bones of that wicked one. If he should kill one of those snakes by its head, he will perform high charms, other spells in its body, and other spells in its tale. There are three kinds of spells in each one.

183. When the queen of Sheba came to Solomon, one of the things she asked Solomon was “A serpent’s bone that has three spells in it, how is it caught?” Immediately, it is written, “There was nothing hidden from the king that he did not tell her.” She asked about it and needed those serpents, but she could not catch one of them. What did he reply to her about the things that were on her heart? It is written, “She spoke with him about all that was in her heart.”

This is what he told her, as it is written, “And Solomon answered all her questions.” He said “Those serpents, all the people in the world cannot prevail over them, except for one secret, which is a boiling layer of semen.

184. And who can? When a person ejects that layer of semen, when he is in passion, and ejects it for the purpose of that serpent, with the desire of the passion, when it emerges boiling. It is taken right away in a certain garment, and that garment is thrown to the serpent.

Promptly, it lowers its head and it is caught, just as one catches a domestic rooster. Even if all the weapons of war go against one of them, they will not defeat it. When one does this, he does not need weapons of war or anything else, and does not need to guard from them, for they all surrender to him. Then those words clung to the queen of Sheba’s heart, and she desired it.

185. From here on, the Creator did what He did with that wicked one, Balaam. These hidden secrets should not be revealed, but in order for the friends here to know the hidden matters in the world, I have revealed to you. There are several hidden laws in the world, which people do not know, and they are great and sublime hidden wonders. We read about Balaam and those like him, “The name of the wicked will rot.” Happy are the true righteous; it is written about them, “Only righteous will give thanks to Your name.”