רבינו בחיי — הן עם לבדד ישכון

Q — Bilam says "הן עם לבדד ישכון" — but later Moshe says of the same nation "וישכן ישראל בטח בדד" (Devarim 33:28), without the *lamed*. Why the difference?

A — Rabbeinu Bachya catches the missing lamed and reads it as a covenant signature. Moshe says "בדד" — Israel will dwell *alone*, secure, separated from the nations. Bilam, against his own will, says "לבדד" — Israel dwells *to* the bdd, dedicated to the One — the same hashem בדד from "ה' בדד ינחנו". So the lamed locks two propositions into one: Israel dwells alone, AND Israel dwells dedicated to the One who likewise dwells alone ("אין כאל ישורון" — Hashem is unique among avodos zaros just as Israel is unique among nations). The structural parallel is exact and was Bilam's accidental gift to the people he was hired to curse: he could not bless Israel without simultaneously confessing the uniqueness of Israel's God. Two singularities sealed by one preposition.