Balak
The book of the mouth continues.
Last week’s parasha ended with the Israelite nation engaging in successful wars against the Amorite kings Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashanץ These areas are east and mostly north of the Dead Sea, including the areas of the Gil’ad and the Golan Heights. Just south of the Amorite territory is the land of Moav.
The story and the role of Moav in the Tanach is complex. Moav is descended from Lot, Avraham’s nephew, through an incestuous encounter with his older daughter. One could say that Lot was not at fault: it was his daughter’s plot to get pregnant from him, she believing that they were the last remnants of humanity left alive by Hashem. She was willing to sacrifice herself to preserve humanity. Later, in D’varim (Deuteronomy), we learn that Moabite may never be allowed to become members of the Jewish people. While one might think this is because of a genetic corruption, in fact the Torah states that it’s because of a corruption in values: they did not greet you in the desert with bread and water. AND because they hired Bil’am, the son of Be’or to curse you, but I, Hashem turned his curse into a blessing, because I love you.
The truth is though that we never see this in the book of Bamidbar (Numbers), at least, not with Moav. The Israelites do ask permission from Edom (descended from Esav, Ya’akov’s twin brother) to transverse their kingdom, promising to stay on the interstate the whole time. Edom refuses, and when we ask again, proposing to pay for any water we might drink along the way, Edom comes out with a strong army to keep us off his land.
No mention of Moav.
In fact, Edomites and Egyptians are allowed to become Jews after three generations, and we are adjured not to detest either of them: Esav for he is our brother, and the Egyptians, as we were strangers in his land.
Moabites can never become Jews.
One can understand the Edomites not wanting to admit the rather large Israelite camp to travel through their land. Who knows what kind of mischief they might cause once inside one’s borders? But in fact, Hashem cautions Moshe from threatening either the Edomites or the Moabites, for each has their own inheritance and it is not land designated for the Jewish people (D’varim 2).
But nonetheless, Barak king of Moav does feel threatened by the Israelites and, hearing of their military successes against the mighty Amorites, would like the Jews to disappear. Not trusting the utility his own army by itself, he rents a prophet, Bil’am to curse the Israelites, so that he might succeed in overcoming them.
Bil’am is certainly one of the most ambiguous characters in the Torah. Certainly, one must look with askance at one who is willing to sell their spiritual profundity for cash (personally, when I hear of “rabbis” who give blessings for a “donation,” I get a bit hot under the collar). Yet, Bil’am seems to know on which side his bread is buttered. The ability to curse or to bless is not in his hands, but in the hands of Hashem, and he makes this clear to the delegations sent to him by Balak.
Yet, it seems like the promise of material reward that overcomes his doubts about this mission. Hashem’s second reply leaves the decision in Bil’am’s hands, and those hands are itchy.
Well, I do hope you read the next section for yourself and don’t rely on me. Bil’am saddles his donkey and is off for Moav, but an angel of Hashem is in his way. Yet, he doesn’t see it, only his donkey sees it, and three times delays Bil’am in order to avoid the sword-wielding specter. Bil’am smacks his donkey each time, until (you guessed it) Hashem opens the donkey’s mouth and lets her speak of Bil’am’s insensitive injustice. It is mouth time:
Then Hashem opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Bil’am, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” Bil’am said to the ass, “You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I’d kill you.”
The ass said to Bil’am, “Look, I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?” And he answered, “No.”
Then Hashem uncovered Bil’am’s eyes, and he saw the messenger of Hashem standing in the way, his drawn sword in his hand; thereupon he bowed right down to the ground.
The messenger of Hashem said to him, “Why have you beaten your ass these three times? It is I who came out as an adversary, for the errand is obnoxious to me. And when the ass saw me, she shied away because of me those three times. If she had not shied away from me, you are the one I should have killed, while sparing her.”
Well, take THAT Bil’am. And he does. He apologizes to the angel and says that if this mission is odious to Hashem, he’ll go right back home. No, the angel says, continue on your way, but be sure to only say that which Hashem tells you to say.
Really, Bil’am is a little over-eager for the goodies but he knows not to cross Hashem. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy, just a little… greedy. Aren’t we all.
Bil’am arrives in Moav and Barak takes him from vantage point to vantage point so that Bil’am might curse the Israelite camp, but each time Hashem puts a blessing in his mouth. It’s not that Hashem takes over Bil’am’s mouth but it is as if….. Hashem takes over Bil’am’s mouth: “and Hashem appeared to Bil’am and put a message in his mouth.” Bil’am is a faithful messenger and repeats what he’s been told to say, as far as we know.
One doesn’t get the sense that Bil’am has any horse (donkey) in this race except perhaps the material reward he probably senses is evaporating with every word he says, but he doesn’t seem to begrudge blessing Yisrael.
It seems, in a sense, that there is a transmogrification between Bil’am and Balak, through the agency of our declamatory donkey (bloviating burro?). Certainly, Bil’am and Barak seem entangled, their names having a similar sound and cadence: Balak ben Tzipor, Bil’am ben Be-or. And each of them are frustrated thrice by their seemingly disobedient conveyance - for Bil’am, the donkey that won’t keep his path, and for Balak, a seer under contract. Both Bil’am and Barak violently show their displeasure with not getting their way: Bil’am beats his donkey and Balak clapped his hands to say “Enough of this!” Both the donkey and Bil’am utter words put in their mouths, each also has vision not granted to their master.
Eventually Barak loses patience and sends Bil’am a-packing without even covering expenses.
So it seems.
Yet…after this scene, Balak in fact does undermine the strength of the Israelite camp. To quote the text once again:
While Israel was staying at Shittim, the menfolk profaned themselves by whoring with the Moabite women, who invited the menfolk to the sacrifices for their god. The menfolk partook of them and worshiped that god.
Thus Israel attached itself to Baal-peor, and Hashem was incensed with Israel.
Hashem said to Moses, “Take all the ringleaders and have them publicly impaled before Hashem, so that Hashem’s wrath may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to Israel’s officials, “Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Baal-peor.”
Just then a certain Israelite man came and brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, in the sight of Moses and of the whole Israelite community who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
When Pinhas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a spear in his hand, he followed the Israelite man into the chamber and stabbed both of them, the Israelite man and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites was checked.
Those who died of the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.
This is the most deadly plague that afflicted Israel during the 40 years in the desert. If you divide the 600,000 men by 40, you find that every year, 15,000 army-aged men died. This one plague was equal to a year and a half of deaths.
We find in the next parasha that Hashem commands Israel to take vengeance on the Midianites, who incited the Israelite men to sin. During that war, Bil’am is put to the sword by the Israelite soldiers. The Midianite women who are captured are put to the sword by command of Moshe. Midian, specially Bil’am , is targeted as the mastermind behind this plot.
The strategy of weakening Yisrael by sex and seduction seems to have been a Plan B for Bil’am. Understanding that the people was blessed by Hashem and too strong for Moav, he suggested an alternative strategy: find a way to help the Jews defeat themselves.
He should have been paid well for this insight (incite).
Yes, the pathway is open for me to talk about the threat to Jews in the world where other nations have welcomed Jewish integration into their societies. America, it has been said, is a wonderland for Jews but deadly for Judaism. That, it seems, is changing.
Many of the sages delve into the language that Bil’am uses to bless the Israelites, and try to show that in fact these are curses and not blessings. But these words are the words that Hashem put in Bil’am’s mouth. It could have been that his intent was evil, but many of the words point to deep Ideas.
“Am livadod yishkon” - they are a people who dwell apart. The word for dwell, yishkon, is the same root or the word mishkan, the Tabernacle, the center of holiness in the Israelite camp. Their holiness is manifest when they live apart. Many of my students believe that Jews living in the Galut (exile, but we call it the Diaspora) is a positive thing. These Jews are ambassadors of understanding and catalysts for warm interfaith and interethnic relations.
I’m not sneering at this idea, though i think it should be thought out again. I think we are most absent when we are most connected to the Diaspora. We are attracted to those Midianite women (and men), to the culture of Baal Pe-or (who, I should point out parenthetically, conduct their worship by defecating on their own gods, which seems to have become an accepted pastime in woke America). How we can be ambassadors and catalysts when we have lost our voices as Jews is hard to fathom.
The unique character of the Jewish people shines more brightly when we are assembled as one people in our homeland. National life is not perfect here, of course, but if you stay off the roads and ignore politics, you tend to see the love and appreciation Israelis have for each other. For every difficulty here, there are dozens of holy fires that light our country. Israel creates a unique environment for holy things to happen. And they happen, my friends, they happen. It is here, living on our land, doing Jewish things and leading Jewish lives that we best influence the world, not as ambassadors of understanding but as examples of the values that the world still measures itself by, an example of a nation that lives in a passionate dialogue with Hashem, history, and life.
Am levadad yishkon.
My people! Remember what Balak the king of Moav counseled and what Bil’am ben Be-or answered him from the Shittim…so that you should know the generosity of Hashem….Let it be known to you what is good and what Hashem requires of you, if not to do justly, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God
Micha 6:8 (this week’s haftarah)