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 issued instead. Bilaam also prophecies on the end of the days.

The people fall prey to the charms of the daughters of Moav 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 “

For the first time in the Torah, the whole Parsha is dedicated to the lives of a foreign king and a gentile prophet. The king being Balak, the king of Moav and Bilaam being the prophet, who although not Jewish, feared G-d. According to the Moabites, Bilaam was a very powerful man. His strength was not in his arms, but rather in his mouth. He had tremendous power of speech. Whoever he blessed was blessed; and whoever he cursed was cursed. Some Chachamim say that his vision of prophecy was in the same level, if not greater than Moshe. But the Chachamim say that he was a very wicked man. He was greedy and a fortune-lover. But how do they know that? As you read through the plain text, it seems that he followed Hashem’s orders every step of the way?! He even blessed the Israelites a few times! So how can we prove his wickedness and his greed?

Rabbi Berel Wein says that the answer can be found in the Parsha itself. So this is what happened in the Parsha:   Balak, the king of Moav, after seeing the devastating defeat of the Amorite kings against Benei Israel, he realized that Moav would not stand a chance confronting them military. Therefore, he decided to use a secret weapon; to curse the Israelites rather than to fight them. And he chose Bilaam who supposedly had the power to curse.

So, 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 tells me to do.” But still he asked them to stay overnight to see if G-d would let him to go on this mission. This time, however, 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 to get him back on the path. Another miracle occurs! The donkey begins to talk. He carries on a brief conversation with his Master.

“Why did you hit me these 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! That was a fascinating reaction by Bilaam! 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 was big miracle 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 every 2000 years!!! So, why wasn’t Bilaam surprised at all?? Even a simple “WOW” would have been sufficient!!!

Rabbi Wein explains that Bilaam was so eager to reach his destination, to reach to his place of fame, fortune and glory that he completely missed the miracle. His greed for money was so much, that a talking donkey did not surprise him at all! All he was thinking about was the fortune that he is going to accumulate once he completes his mission. When his donkey deviated from her path, he didn’t even stop to see what’s wrong with her. He just kept hitting her, to get her back on the path as fast as possible! Bilaam’s wickedness was not just his hatred towards the Jews, but rather, it was the greed and the love he had for fame and fortune, that blinded him from seeing the miracles around him.

Some Chachamim even put Bilaam’s donkey at a higher intellectual 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 lifetime miracle, a talking donkey, he just wanted to continue to go on his path, as if nothing has happened!

Yes my friends, it’s very easy to criticize others, but are we any different ourselves? I think there is a little bit of Bilaam in all of us. We all want to be rich and famous! We all have a little greed for fortune and glory! But with being so, we shouldn’t miss the miracles around us. In Judaism, miracle is not just a supernatural event that takes place, but rather, any act of G-d that we benefit from is a miracle! For example, every morning when we wake up and we are alive and healthy and we see our wife and children being healthy too, is a miracle. But do we spend sometime with our family to appreciate this, or all we think about is to go to work as fast as we can and make more money?! Do we dedicate anytime praying to Hashem each morning and thanking him for what he has given us, or the urge to accumulate more wealth doesn’t allow us to do so?! Miracles happen around us all the time. All we need to do is to open our eyes and appreciate them!

It’s sad but it’s true. A donkey who is known for lacking in intelligence, takes notice of a miracle and stops…….. But us human beings, the most intelligent creatures on the face of the earth, don’t see the miracles and continue on our journey of life in the fast lane!

 

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin