Dear Friends;

I hope you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah:

” Parsha in a nutshell “

Balak, the King of Moab, summons the prophet Bilaam to curse the people of Israel. On the way, Bilaam is seemed to be betrayed by his donkey, who sees the angel that G-d sends to block their way before Bilaam does.
Three times, from three different vantage points, Bilaam attempts to pronounce his curses; each time, blessings are issue instead. Bilaam also prophecies on the end of the days.

The people fall prey to the charms of the daughters of Moab and are enticed to worship the idol Peor. When a high-ranking Israelite official publicly takes a Midianite princess into a tent, Pinchas kills them both, stopping the plague raging among the people.

” Dvar Torah “

This week’s Parsha, Balak, is named after a foreign king of the land of Moav. The Chachamim say that a person should have a “zechut” for a Parsha to be named after him. For example, a parsha was named after “Yitro”, Moshe’s father-in-law, since he introduced the judiciary system to the Jewish nation. Balak on the other hand, hired a gentile prophet Bilaam to curse the Jews! So, what on earth did he do right that he had the merit for a Parsha to be named after him? The answer is, unlike the Amalek, Balak feared G-d. That’s why he hired Bilaam to curse the Jews because he knew that he had no chance to beat the Jews, militarily, since G-d is on their side.

Bilaam was considered to be a great prophet, too. The Chachamim say that his vision of prophecy was as equal, if not greater than Moshe. He was a very powerful man. His strength was not in his arms, but rather, it was in his mouth. He had a tremendous power of speech; whoever he blessed was blessed, and whoever he cursed was cursed. But he was a wicked prophet since his destiny was to die by the sword of the Jews. The Chachamim say that he was also very greedy and he longed for fame, fortune and glory. But why do they say that? The only place which mentions fortune and glory in this week’s parsha is when Bilaam said to Balak’s officers, “if Balak will give me his household full of silver and gold, I cannot transgress the word of Hashem, my G-d.” Although, many commentators derive from this verse that Bilaam loved silver and gold, but to me, it doesnot justify his greed for money. But Rabbi Berel Wein says that there are other parts of the parsha that clearly shows Bilaam’s greed for money. So, let’s recap the story.

Balak sends messengers to Bilaam to invite him over to come and curse the Jews. Bilaam asked the messengers to stay overnight, so that he can ask Hashem what to do, in his dream. G-d told Bilaam, “Do not go with them; do not curse the people, for they are Blessed”. Bilaam relayed that message to Balak’s messengers.

When Balak heard that Bilaam would not come, he assumed that the reason was because the proposed reward was inadequate — that he had tried to get away too cheap. Therefore, Balak sent a more prestigious delegation promising Bilaam a great reward and granting him his every wish.

Bilaam, tells the new delegation that “Even if Balak will give me his entire treasury filled with silver and gold, my hands are tied — I can only do what G-d permits me to do.” Again, they went through the whole scenario of waiting overnight. This time, Hashem tells him that he can go, but only the words that He puts in his mouth shall he speak.

The next morning, Bilaam wakes up early, prepares his donkey, and heads back to Moav together with the messengers. Along the way, a miracle happens. An angel holding a sword, who is seen only by Billam’s donkey, blocks the path. The animal had no choice but to move sideways rather than forward, crushing Bilaam’s leg against the wall by the side of the road. During this time, Bilaam, unaware of the supernatural circumstances that made a change in donkey’s behavior, is furious. He strikes the animal three times. Another miracle occurs! The donkey begins to talk. He carries on a brief conversation with his Master.

“Why did you hit me three times?” asks the donkey.

Bilaam replies: “Because you mocked me! If only there were a sword in my hand I would kill you!”

Wow! Bilaam’s reaction is fascinating! A donkey starts to talk, and all Bilaam wanted to do was to kill him?? The last time an animal spoke was about 2000 years before when the serpent spoke to Eve. This is a big miracle. Even if Bilaam was a great prophet and was used to seeing miracles; this wasn’t an everyday kind of a miracle! It occurred as often as the splitting of the red sea!!! Why isn’t Bilaam surprised at all?? A simple “WOW” would have been sufficient!!!

Rabbi Wein gives the following explanation: Bilaam was so eager to reach his destination, to reach to his place of fortune, glory and fame, that he completely missed the miracle. His greed for money was so much, that a talking donkey did not surprise him! All he was thinking about, was all the fortune that he is going to get when he gets to his destination. When his donkey deviated from her path, he didn’t stop to see what’s wrong and why is she doing this. He just kept hitting her, to get her back on the path as fast as possible! Bilaam’s wickedness was not because he hated the Jews, but rather, it was the greed that he had for money and fortune, that blinded him from seeing the miracles happening around him. Some Chachamim even put Bilaam’s donkey at a higher spiritual level than Bilaam himself, since when the donkey saw a supernatural phenomena, like seeing an angel, she understood that she cannot continue on her usual path– she needs to change her way! But when Bilaam saw a once in a life time miracle, a talking donkey, he just wanted to continue going on his usual path, as if nothing has happened!

Yes my friends, how easy is it for us to criticize Bilaam, but are we any different ourselves? Most of us are so busy with making money and accumulating wealth, that we miss the miracles surrounding us. We might not see a talking donkey nor splitting of the sea, but we are surrounded with the miracle of life, with the miracle of having a family, with the miracle of health and many more. Do we take anytime off to acknowledge these miracles and be thankful to Hashem? When, suddenly, we are face with a problem in our lives and things are not going right, do we see it as a sign from G-d, or do just see it as bad luck? Do we think of maybe changing our ways to be a better Jew, or do we just hit our donkey so to speak, and want to get back on the path of life as if nothing has happened! Unfortunately, most of us don’t see the hand of G-d in our lives, and we keep missing the miracles and the signs from Hashem.

So my friends, we see that we can even learn from a donkey, who is one of the most unintelligent animal, to see the miracles around us and to respond to them accordingly. So, keep in mind that you can learn from anybody and not just the wise!

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin.