{"id":449,"date":"2014-02-27T23:47:30","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T23:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=449"},"modified":"2014-02-27T23:47:30","modified_gmt":"2014-02-27T23:47:30","slug":"balak-5767-2007","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=449","title":{"rendered":"Balak 5767 (2007)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Drash for Balak (5767)<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n

Given the ease with which \u00a0God manipulated Pharoh’s \u00a0mind, the<\/span><\/p>\n

story of Balaam and his animal is quite remarkable. God<\/p>\n

intervenes twice in this episode: first to give the animal<\/p>\n

speech (v 28) and then to give Balaam revelatory<\/p>\n

sight (v 31).\u00a0 So, there must be important<\/p>\n

things for us to learn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

God did not have to give the animal revelatory<\/p>\n

sight \u2013 only speech. Rashi tells us that God has given animals<\/p>\n

the permission to see more than people can see \u2013<\/p>\n

and that if we could see all that animals see our<\/p>\n

minds would become scrambled.\u00a0 Animals<\/p>\n

are generally able too see both harmful<\/p>\n

spirits and benevolent angels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This has led to long discussions about whether animals have souls.<\/p>\n

The general conclusion is that they do not have souls as we<\/p>\n

do, but it is clear that they have a presence \u2013 a force.<\/p>\n

Anyone who has ever come home to a house after<\/p>\n

a pet of long-standing has died can sense the absence of the force in the house.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Second, notice how Balaam responds when the ass turns aside<\/p>\n

from the angel \u2013 he gets angry and hits the animal.\u00a0 The<\/p>\n

midrash teaches us the we should learn from this<\/p>\n

example that when we become irritated at<\/p>\n

someone else for going against our wishes,<\/p>\n

we should use it as a cue that we might<\/p>\n

be going against HaShem\u2019s<\/p>\n

wishes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In this way, we can use otherwise irritating situations as opportunities for self-improvement and for building a dwelling place for God in this world.<\/p>\n

The Midrash especially emphasizes that we go against God\u2019s<\/p>\n

wishes when we shout at\u00a0 another person for not listening to<\/p>\n

us.\u00a0 If we listen to God\u2019s wishes about how to treat<\/p>\n

another rperson, we will always talk politely and<\/p>\n

respectfully.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our behavior creates the dwelling place for God in this world. And<\/p>\n

the end of the haftorah gives us as good a guide as any:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat HaShem seeks from you:\u00a0 only the performance<\/p>\n

of justice, the love and kindness and walking<\/p>\n

humbly with your God\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May we all do this.<\/p>\n

Shabbat shalom<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Drash for Balak (5767) by Marc Mangel Given the ease with which \u00a0God manipulated Pharoh’s \u00a0mind, the story of Balaam and his animal is quite remarkable. God intervenes twice in this episode: first to give the animal speech (v 28) and then to give Balaam revelatory sight (v 31).\u00a0 So, there must be important … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-449","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/449\/revisions\/450"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}