תורה 36

2. And know! encompassing all the seventy languages, [all] these evil traits of theirs, is the desire for adultery. breaks this desire can then easily break all the desires.

This is why Moshe Rabbeinu, being the embodiment of Torah revelation—he is an aspect of daat (holy knowledge), for the Torah is called “the beginning of daat” (Proverbs 1:7) ; and MoSheH RaBbeINU has the same numerical value as TaRYaG, which encompasses the entire Torah—accordingly had to separate himself entirely, as is written (Deuteronomy 5:28), “but you remain here with Me.”

But Bilaam—who is Moshe’s parallel within the forces of evil, as is written (Numbers 24:16), “who knows the Daat of the Most High”; and also the letters BiLAaM hint that he is the Torah’s parallel within the evil forces, for the Bet is the beginning of the Torah, the Lamed is the end of the Torah, the Ayin stands for the ayin (70) faces, and the Mem stands for the mem (40) days in which the Torah was given—because he was within the forces of evil, he was therefore exceedingly immersed in this desire, as is written (Numbers 22:30), “Have I been in the habit?”

Yosef, too, before he could have a revelation in Torah—i.e., Chokhmah and Binah, as is written, “The beginning of wisdom” (Psalms 111:10), for “If you call to understanding” (Proverbs 2:3) —had to be tested, refined within the above mentioned all-encompassing desire of the seventy languages. By withstanding the test and breaking the shell that preceded the fruit, he merited the fruit—i.e., the revelation of the Torah, which is Chokhmah and Binah, as is written (Genesis 41:39), “there can be no one with as much understanding and wisdom as you.”

This is the reason our Sages (Berakhot 12b) expounded the verse “after your hearts…” (Numbers 15:39). {“After your hearts” is heresy; “after your eyes” is adultery.} Shimshon, too, went after his eyes. Likewise, Bilaam was called “one whose eye is open” (ibid. 24:3), because he is the all-encompassing evil trait of the evil traits of the seventy languages.