Educating the Extraordinary

On the way to “bless” the Benei Yisroel, Bilam’s donkey saw Hashem’s angel with a drawn sword in its hand. Fearing for its life and the life of its master, the donkey tried to prevent Bilam from proceeding with his journey. At first the donkey strayed from the path, then, when passing through a narrow passage, the donkey leaned into the wall, crushing Bilam’s foot. Finally, the donkey sat down on the road and refused to continue traveling.

Not having seen the angel himself, Bilam thought that the donkey was being disobedient. He reacted the way any master would when addressing a disobedient animal; he hit the donkey each of the three times it deviated from what he wanted it to do.

In the end, Hashem opened Bilam’s eyes, and he saw the angel who then criticized Bilam, “Why did you hit your donkey three times…?”

To which Bilam answered, “I have sinned, I did not know that you stood in front of me, in my path…”

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Why did Bilam say that he sinned? He was not wrong for hitting his donkey, since he did not know (see) the reason for its straying from the path. Surely his actions were justified!

The Malbim explains that Bilam’s statement "I have sinned" was not a misplaced confession for his not seeing the angel. Bilam was confessing for a much greater sin - the manner in which he chose to address his donkey's "disobedience".

Having known his donkey for so many years, Bilam should have understood that such a blatant and obvious deviation in the donkey’s behavior was unusual and the result of extraordinary circumstances. He should have understood that such a strange behavior was not normal, and he should not have responded with the usual protocol, rather, he should have investigated the cause of the misbehavior and address it accordingly.

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As parents and educators, we learn the patterns and “seasons” of our children’s behavior. And, as life presents our children with different experiences and challenges, we learn our children's manner of reacting to them, and address each situation accordingly.

Needless to say, extraordinary challenges or experiences cause extraordinary reactions in our children.

We ask Hashem to help us recognize and distinguish between usual and unusual behavior, and for Divine inspiration on how to address the causes of their behavior in the best possible way.

Let us learn from Bilam how not to address unusual behavior…

And from his humility in recognizing when he could have done better.