Drash Cards Balak (5785)
by Marc Mangel
Last week – with Moshe hitting the rock – we learned that anger keeps you from the promised land. This week’s portion has another message for us about anger, and it is exactly what we read.
It is an amazing part of the Torah. The King Balak has hired the sorcerer Bilaam to curse the Jews. God tells Bilaam in many ways NOT to do it, but Bilaam persists in working for Balak.
About this portion, in his book on ethics and the weekly Torah portion, Jonathan Sacks writes that the “hardest word to hear in any language is ‘no’”.
It is a long story and we pick up in the middle, when Bilam is riding on his she donkey to do his job of cursing the Israelites and an angel of God blocks the way a number of times. The animal stops and Bilaam beats it; this is repeated. The rest will come in the Torah reading.
Given the ease with which God manipulated Pharoh’s mind, the story of Balaam and his animal is remarkable.
God intervenes twice in this episode: first giving Bilaam’s donkey human speech (v 28 read outloud)
Translation: Then יהוה opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”
God then gives Balaam a remarkable sight (v 31 read outloud).
Translation: “Then יהוה uncovered Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the messenger of יהוה standing in the way, his drawn sword in his hand; thereupon he bowed right down to the ground.”
There must be important things for us to learn!
First, Rashi tells us that God has generally given animals the permission to see more than people can see – because if we could see all that animals see our minds would become scrambled. Animals are generally able to see both harmful spirits and benevolent angels.
This led to long discussions about whether animals have souls. The general conclusion is that they do not have souls as we do, but it is clear that they have a presence – a force.
Anyone who has ever come home to a house after a pet of long-standing has died can sense the absence of the force in the house.
Second, regarding Bilaam getting angry and hitting the animal: The midrash teaches us the we should learn from this example that when we become irritated at someone else for going against our wishes, we should use it as a cue that we might be going against God’s wishes.
That is, we can use otherwise irritating situations as opportunities for self-improvement and for building a dwelling place for God in this world. The Midrash especially emphasizes that we go against God’s wishes when we shout at another person for not listening to us. If we listen to God’s wishes about how to treat another person, we will always talk politely and respectfully.
[Sachs Lubavitcher story about Shulchan Aruch from ethics book for last week’s portion.]
Our behavior creates a dwelling place for God in this world. And the end of the haftorah gives us as good a guide as any about how to proceed: “This is what HaShem seeks from you: only the performance of justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with your God”.
May we all do this.
Shabbat shalom