ומה אזעום לא זעם ה'. שלא כעס הקב"ה בכל אותן הימים והיינו דקאמר ליה נביא לישראל עמי זכר נא מה יעץ וגו'. כדאיתא במס' ברכות. ואמרינן התם וכמה הוי זעמו רגע וכמה רגע כמימריה ותימ' היאך יכול לקללם באותו זמן מועט וי"ל שהיה יכול לו' כלם. וזש"ה ויהפוך ה' אלהיך לך את הקללה לברכה שאמר ותרועת מלך בו. הוא הפך כלם. ומיהו קשיא מדאמרינן התם ההוא מינא דהוה בשיבבותיה דר' יהושע בן לוי דהוה קא מצער ליה טובא כו' כי מטא ההיא שעתא איתנמנם אמר ש"מ לאו אורח ארעא למעבד הכי דכתיב גם ענוש לצדיק לא טוב ואפילו למינאי והיאך היה יכול לקללו באותו רגע ואי זו קללה היה יכול לומר בשעה מועטת כזאת וצ"ל דאין הדבר תלוי כי אם להתחיל הקללה בשעת הזעם וכן נמי מוכח התם דמסיק אמר ר"י מברכותיו של אותו רשע אתה למד מה הי' בלבו בקש לו' לא יהיה להם בתי כנסיות כמו שאפרש בסמוך וכל אלו הקללות לא היה יכול לומר באותו רגע אלא ש"מ דבהתחלה תליא מילתא: 'ומה אזעום לא זעם ה, “how could I successfully curse someone whom Hashem has not cursed?” Bileam, who specialised in timing G–d’s “moods,” knew that at that time G–d had not had any reason to be angry at His people. If you were to quote the prophet Micah in Micah 6,5, who refers to Bileam having detected that G–d did display anger at Israel at the time, (as interpreted by the Talmud, tractate B’rachot 7,) that anger lasted but a moment and did not enable Bileam to pinpoint accurately. At least Bileam did not have time enough to curse all the Israelites before the curse was turned into a blessing as we know from what Moses said in Deuteronomy 23,6 where he describes G–d as interfering in Bileam’s attempt immediately He had become aware of it. If Bileam had cursed them with the single word: כלם, “make an end of them” he would have had time enough. According to the Talmud the words ותרועת מלך בו, “and the King’s shofar blast is active on their behalf,” (in verse 21 of our chapter) hints at how G–d annuls Bileam’s attempt at cursing the Jewish people. The word מלך, “King,” consisting of the same letters as the word כלם,” destroy them,” shows how G–d interfered with Bileam’s curse. Our author raises an objection to this methodology of turning curses into blessings by quoting the Talmud on the same folio where it reports Rabbi Yoshua ben Levi being harassed by a member of the Tz’doki sect, raising what he considered contradictory verses in the Torah. One day the Rabbi took a cockerel, positioned him at the bottom of his bed, and looked at that bird intently, intending that as soon as the time when G–d is briefly angry would arrive, he would curse that Tz’doki. By the time that hour arrived, the Rabbi had fallen asleep, (and missed his chance). When he awoke, he realised that he had been saved from committing a sin by having fallen asleep at the crucial time, and he interpreted Proverbs 17,26: גם ענוש לצדיק לא טוב, “it is also not good to punish the righteous,” to mean that one must not deliberately become the instrument by which G–d punishes the wicked. Our author questions how Rabbi Joshua ben Levi could have succeeded to successfully curse that Tz’doki at the precise moment of G–d’s anger, as it would have taken too long, according to what we just learned? He therefore comes to the conclusion that what is critical is only if the beginning of one’s curse coincides with the precise moment at which G–d is angry. He supports his theory by pointing to the Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin folio 105 where Rabbi Yochanan is quoted as having said that the very wording of Bileam’s blessings hinted already at the fact that they had been meant to be curses which G–d had reversed. When he had meant to say that he wished that the Israelites would lack synagogues and Torah academies he commenced with the words: ”how goodly are your tents, etc?” [The word אהל for “tent” in which to study G–d’ Torah occurs frequently, commencing with Yaakov in Genesis 25,27. Ed.] He quotes some other “blessings” of Bileam there as similarly revealing what his curse would have sounded like had he been permitted to pronounce it. Clearly, he would not have had time enough to pronounce all these curses in the minute time span G–d remains angry. This proves that the very beginning of uttering what was in his mind is what is critical.