In this week’s Parsha we learn the story about Bilam and his donkey. Our sages teach us that Hashem killed Bilam’s donkey to spare Bilam from embarrassment, as Rashi comments (22:33): So that [people] should not say, “This is the one that dismissed Bilam with its rebuke, and he was not able to respond,” for the Hashem is considerate of people’s dignity.
In Sefer Aleinu L’Shabei’ach Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein shlita asks: Everyone knows that a donkey cannot speak, and it was abundantly clear that the donkey’s ability to speak was an open miracle from Hashem. If so, people would surely recognize that the donkey’s words were coming from Hashem, not from the donkey itself. What sort of diminishment of Bilam’s honor was this?
Rav Zilberstein answers that perhaps we can say that the Torah is teaching us how careful we have to be with the honor of every human being, no matter who he is. Bilam was a Rasha in his personal life and was determined to curse the Jewish people, as well. Nevertheless, Hashem was concerned that he should not be embarrassed, and if there was any chance that people would see the donkey on the street and say that it was the cause of Bilam’s humiliation, that was reason enough to kill the donkey and remove it from the world. Human intelligence cannot fathom the great honor that every person deserves. If Bilam was deserving of this level of honor, how much more careful do we have to be with the honor of every Jew, who is a child of Hashem the King of all kings!
I would like to share with you a story brought down in Lilmod Ulelamed about Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt”l which shows how far Rav Nosson Tzvi went to spare the embarrassment of a fellow man. On one occasion when Rav Nosson Tzvi was leading the congregation in prayer, Rav Nosson Tzvi stumbled repeatedly on the pronunciation of the words. The people there were shocked since Rav Nosson Tzvi always pronounced each word precisely.
Those present soon understood the reason for Rav Nosson Tzvi’s uncharacteristic difficulty. There was a mourner in shul, who had difficulty reading Hebrew when he said the Kaddish, and whenever he read out loud from the Siddur, people unfortunately laughed or smiled. In order to lessen this mourner’s embarrassment, Rav Nosson Tzvi acted as though he could not read any better!
