Shabbos Table

In Parsha Balak, we see that Balak, the King of Moab, is afraid of the Jews attacking. This is after Moshe miraculously defeated Sichon and Og, the two countries Balak paid to protect them.

We also see what happens to those who try to hurt G-ds people in this Parsha.

How to Defeat G-d’s Chosen

The Moabites decided to go to the land where Moshe lived, Midian, to find out what his weak spots of the Moshe might be.
If you ever had someone weaponize something you told them in confidence and faith about you, you might appreciate this. People tend to take a jab at you using things they know would hurt you. The Moabites knew that their advantage of winning against the Jews meant they had to find their weak spot and hit them there.

The Midianites tell the Moabites that Moshe’s power came from the mouth, which meant prayer. The Moabites decided that to fight against Moshe’s leadership, they had to find someone with similar beliefs as Moshe.
So, they decided to enlist the help of a wicked Prophet, Bilaam, to curse the Jews. They knew that if G-d listens to his servant Moshe, he must also listen to his Prophets.

The messengers of Balak go to Billiam and promises to pay him handsomely with gold. Still, Bilaam is a worker of G-d, and there is no way he could do anything without consulting with G-d first.
Billam hates the Jews and wants to curse them, but he works for G-d, so he tells the messengers that he needs to check in with Hashem. They can stay the night, and, in the morning, he will have a chat with G-d and get back to them. He didn’t want to tell them he couldn’t go with them if Hashem didn’t okay it, so he told them Hashem may want him to go with more important people.

Hashem tells Bilaam he cannot go to curse the Jews.
Bilaam says, “Fine, I will curse them from here.
Hashems says, “Don’t curse them.”
Bilaam says, “Okay, so, I will bless them.”
Hashem says, “They don’t need your blessing. They are blessed.”

But Bilaam is arrogant. He doesn’t want to tell the messengers Hashem didn’t approve his travel request, and Hashem is not okay with cursing the Jews.
Instead, he says, “Go home,” implying that Hashem wasn’t granting their request because they were not important enough messengers.

More Gold

The messengers return to Balak with the news, and he sends them back with the promise of even more wealth. Bilaam is now forced to admit that it didn’t matter how much Balak gave him; he would not be able to go because Hashem isn’t going to give permission.

You see, often, we don’t know how G-d works in the background to keep us safe from those who try to harm us. And after seeing G-ds hand and work in our lives, everyone around us realizes that we are protected by Hashem. How the enemy tries don’t matter; they cannot get to us. When we are faithful to Hashem, we can have faith that He’s always looking out for us.

Bilaam told the messengers they could stay the night. Bilaam intended to ask and persuade Hashem to let him curse the Jews.
Hashem tells Bilaam that he can go if he feels he will get more money, but he can only say what Hashem tells him to.

Bilaam is so eager to curse the Jews that he gets up early and ready’s his donkey. But on his way to Moav, Hashem sends an angel with a sword to block the road. The donkey sees the Angel and gets frightened, so he walks off the road. Bilaam is angry at his donkey and hits it. The Angel appears two more times. The second time the donkey tries to avoid the Angel. Bilaam gets hurt as his foot grazes against a fence. The donkey gets a whacking for it. The third time the Angel blocks the entire path, the donkey stops and lays down. Poor donkey gets a whacking for it. But this time, the donkey speaks up.

“Why have you hit me these three times,” the donkey asks.

“If I had a sword, I would kill you.”

Then Bilaam sees the Angel, who asks, “Why do you hit your donkey? He saw me and turned away. If it had kept going, I would have killed you.”

Often times we don’t see the danger in the paths we choose to take. When things stop us, our arrogance and ego get in the way, and sometimes we are willing to hurt others to get what we want.
I’ve been on a spiritual path to achieve something for the longest time. I’ve done everything I could to get this thing that I wanted. It was only until I grew exhausted and almost broken that I realized that maybe Hashem doesn’t think this is the right path for me. Maybe Hashem wants to position me somewhere else. Maybe Hashem has plans for me, and I’m wasting my time in a process that won’t bring Him glory.
After I decided to be guided by Hashem, doors began opening up. It’s not in the direction I would have taken, but my faith that Hashem knows what is ahead makes me trust him to always watch out for me. I couldn’t see the Angel of death stopping me. And because I beat the donkey to keep going, I got bruised by many fences.
Now, my arrogance and ego are at bay, and G-d’s leading the way.

Bilaam admits he had sinned and tells the Angel he will turn back. The Angel tells him he can carry on to Moav but warns him to tell Balak only what Hashem says.

So often, we let our insecurity and jealousy darken our thoughts. We think by doing evil to others, we will gain something. And when we feel like G-d (our parent) favors someone else (a sibling), we can be tempted to get nasty and curse them. Perhaps we need to remember that G-d, like every parent, loves us all, but also, G-d, like every parent, knows that every child has a unique strength.
Bilaam had nothing to be jealous of. Hashem was chosen to be a prophet. Like Moshe, G-d spoke directly to the Prophets and the people through Moshe and the Prophets. The only difference between how G-d communicated between Moshe and the Prophets is that G-d showed Himself to Moshe (sort of).

7 Sacrifices

The next day, Bilaam tells Balak to build seven altars for seven sacrifices. Seven bulls and seven rams are sacrificed. Hashem gets annoyed and asks Bilaam what he is doing and sends him back to tell Balak what He had already told him to say.

Bilaam returns to Balak, and instead of curing the people, Bilaam delivers a poetic message from Hashem that blesses the people. Balak is furious. But Bilaam tells him cursing the Jews is out of his hands.

Balak suggests that maybe they can curse the Jews from a different place. From this new location, they can see part of the Jewish camp.
Another sacrifice, similar to the one before is made, and Balak is asked to step away.

Hashem tells Bilaam to say another blessing.

When Bilaam returned, Balak asked him what Hashem said. He was mocking Bilaam for not being in control, which insulted Bilaam.
Bilaam delivers another blessing, and Balak is furious. And I’m guessing rightfully so as it may seem like Bilaam is playing with him.

A very long time ago, I was in a relationship with someone. I gave my best. I showed up as I promised. They made me believe they would reciprocate, but they never delivered. I was angry, and I felt so betrayed. But in all fairness, that person said more than once that they couldn’t give me what I needed. I was so desperate and afraid, like Balak was, that I didn’t want to hear the truth, so I kept trying.

And like me, Balak won’t take no for an answer. He takes Billam to another place where he can see the entire camp. But after the sacrifice was brought, Bilaam saw the tents and decided not to curse the Jews.

Instead, Bilaam goes back and blesses the Jews a third time. He blesses them with prosperity, strength, growth, success, peace and security, and power for generations to come.

Now, I see this with people who felt cheated on as I’m a heartbreak coach. The person who was betrayed gets hurt and upset when their partner deflects like Bilaam did when he said, I can’t curse the Jews. But it’s even more painful when that partner speaks highly and wishes the best for the new person.

Balak gets so angry that this blessing the Jews receive from Balian that he kicks him out, as a jaded partner would. Bilaam reminds him that he cannot go against what Hashem says to do anything small or significant.

Imagine trying to convince your partner to do something that will make you happy, and they say, “Sorry, but daddy says I can’t do that.”

But before Bilaam leaves, he tells Balak he can defeat the Jews by making them sin (go against G-d) by marrying non-Jews. If they sinned, as they had freedom of choice, the Jews would lose Hashem’s protection. He also tells Balak about all that would happen to the Jews in the times of the Mashiach, which could have been a hint that Hashem won’t wipe out the Jews.

It happened in the marketplace.

The Moabites and Midianites set up a marketplace close to where the Jews encamped. When the men went to buy, the women convinced them to marry them, but before they could get married, they convinced the man to worship the idol, Pe’or.

Punished

Hashem gets angry and sends a plague to wipe out the Jews. Hashem tells Moshe that for the plague to be lifted, he would have to go to the leaders of every shevet (camp) to judge the people so that those who sinned could be put to death.
Hashem caused the sun to shine on the sinners’ faces to know who sinned.

The Reward for Defending Hashem’s Honor

Later in the Parsha, we learn the story of Pinchas.

Moshe went to work to fulfill Hashem’s commandment of punishing the sinners. The people of Shevet Shimon were unhappy when they heard about the punishment coming their way. They went to their Nasi (prince), Zimre, and told him of the punishment. They wanted Zimre to stop Moshe, and Zimre decided that he would stand up to Moshe.
He went to Cozbi, whose father was the Prince of Midian, and asked Cozbi to marry him, but Cozbi told him her father wanted her to marry Moshe.

This upsets Zimre. He fussed that he was a leader too and insisted he was greater than Moshe. Then he stood with Cozbi in front of Moshe and the Jews. He demanded to know if he was not permitted to marry Cozbi and, if not, why.
He challenged Moshe to answer, asking what made it different for Moshe to marry Tziporah, a Midianite. Knowing that Zimre would marry Cozbi regardless of what he said, Moshe did nothing.

Aaron’s grandson, Elazar’s son, Pinchas, remembered a law Moshe had taught them. It said that any man who publicly takes a no- Jewish woman can be killed to defend Hashem’s honor. He goes to Moshe to confirm this law, and Moshe tells Pinchas that he should carry out the law since he knows it so well.
Pinchas picked up a spear and killed both Zimre and Cozbi. But not everyone was happy with this. Shift Shimon was upset their leader was dead, and Pinchas found himself surrounded by a mob.
But they started to die until Pinchas began to pray for them. By then, 24,000 had died.

If Pincas didn’t act, more people would have thought it was okay to defy Moshe and Hashem. More would have gotten married to non-Jews, and more would have committed idolatry by moving further away from Hashem.

In a way, Pinchas was one of the many who saved the Jewish people by his act to honor Hashem.

Coming from a Buddhist background and practicing mediation, I experience the benefits of being in constant prayer, which allows me continuous connection with Hashem.
When Hashem is at the forefront of thought, we remember the laws to be kind to each other. When we keep the laws, we free ourselves from being attached to new-age idols and false gods like social media, drugs, people, and things. These are the things that promises us happiness in the instant gratification they provide but harm our health, finances, and relationships when they become the thing we worship.
And we realize that we work with the most powerful partner possible; we relinquish control of outcomes. We can just be and do what brings us and others joy because we know Hashem will provide the best for us when he thinks it’s best for us.

Shabbat Shalom

Shoshannah

Fun fact

Moshe was able to marry a Midianite woman because the laws were not given at Sinai as yet.

Balak’s reward for bringing that many sacrifices (korbanos) are his granddaughter, Ruth, who would convert to Judaism. She was a great-grandmother of David. Through David’s lineage, the Mashiach would come. This means that Balak’s decedents were the kings of Jews.

Ironic, isn’t it.

In Bilaam’s third blessing, he said, “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov; where you live, Yisrael.

Every day, we begin our morning tiffilos with the words, Mah tovu ohalecha, Yaakov. How good are your tents (children of) Yaakov?”