Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles

To my knowledge (and after checking with AI), there are only two instances of heroic talking donkeys known in western literature: One of them, Donkey in the movie Shrek who was, of course, fictional, and the other, Balaam’s donkey, who plays a heroic role in Parshat Balak. Balaam, the “prophet” – sorcerer, was hired by King Balak to curse the children of Israel, a nation he saw as a dangerous threat to his nation. Balaam accedes to this mission after warnings from God not to go. After much cajoling on Balaam’s part, God finally concedes, warning Balaam that he will only prophesy what God grants him to say. Balaam then sets off on his mission, riding upon his loyal donkey.

Now, Balaam was renowned for his tried-and-true abilities as a conjurer and prophet. This, of course, is where Balaam’s donkey was to play a critical role in the story. In ancient lore, donkeys were not known as symbols of wisdom. They were seen as stubborn and not particularly smart. And this is what makes Balaam’s donkey all the more remarkable and a tremendous foil to the arrogant Balaam:

And God’s anger flared because he was going with them, and the Lord’s messenger stationed himself in the road as an adversary to him, and he was riding on his ass… And the ass saw the Lord’s messenger stationed in the road, his sword unsheathed in his hand, and the ass swerved from the road and went into the field, and Balaam struck the ass to steer her back to the road. And the Lord’s messenger stood in the footpath through the vineyards, as fence on one side and a fence on the other. And the ass saw the Lord’s messenger and was pressed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s leg against the wall. And once more he struck her. And the Lord’s messenger crossed over and stood in a narrow place in which there was no way to swerve right or left. And the ass saw Balaam’s messenger and crouched down under Balaam and Balaam’s anger flared up and he struck the ass with the stick. And the Lord opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam: ‘What have I done to you, that you should have struck me three times?’ ‘Because you have toyed with me, Had I a sword in my hand, I would have killed you.’ The ass said to Balaam, “Look, I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” And he answered, “No.” And the Lord unveiled Balaam’s eyes and he saw the Lord’s messenger stationed in the road, his sword unsheathed in his hand, and he prostrated himself and he bowed down…. (Numbers 22:21-35)

The irony and humor in this story are not lost on anyone. Balaam, the famed prophet, is seconded by his lowly donkey, whose prophetic vision supersedes that of her master, marking Balaam’s folly and making a mockery of him and his mission!

Balaam’s talking donkey also served as a source of inquiry into the significance of extraordinary phenomena. Were they part of the natural order, or were they miraculous because they transcended the natural. Before I examine this question, it is important to note an important caveat. One cannot give definitive answers to questions about the approach of biblical or rabbinic Judaism because its sources have different voices over the course of an extended period of time, like one often hears from contemporary rabbis who claim the mantle of Jewish truth. It is as if to say that for Jews the truth of any matter is in asking and challenging.

Here, I want to present one source from the Mishnah which offered an answer to this question:

Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs. (Avot 5:9)

This Mishnah expresses the idea that what we perceive as miraculous events were not disruptions of the natural order; instead, they were embedded within it, created at the twilight of the sixth day, just before the onset of the Shabbat. By doing so, the Mishnah offers a theological solution to the problem of miracles: rather than being supernatural intrusions, these phenomena were built into creation itself from the outset. This framing reflects a broader debate in rabbinic thought, whether miracles represent a suspension of the natural order, or whether they are part of a deeper, divinely preordained natural structure.

Of course, in our time, we might not pose the question in quite the same way. We may frame it instead as a matter of perspective—whether we approach the world through an empirical lens or through the eyes of a poet. In either case, what matters most for us, both as Jews and as human beings, is that we never abandon the search.