Torah Thoughts – Balak

Sometimes the hardest thing to hear is not a complaint, but a compliment. Over the years as a rabbi, I have learned to really pause and take it all in (most of the time J). When someone comes over to me after a service to tell me how much they enjoyed my sermon, I want to make sure to let them know how much that means to me. We, as human beings, are so conditioned to only hear the bad, and rarely can fully focus on the good. This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Balak, is a reminder to all of us of how invaluable a well-placed compliment can be, especially when its least expected.

In the portion, a non-Israelite prophet named Balaam is hired to curse the Israelites by a Moabite king named Balak. However, after consulting with God, he ends up showering blessings upon our people instead. The most famous of these blessings is in Numbers 24 verse 5, “How goodly are your tents O’ Jacob, Your dwelling places O’ Israel,” or in Hebrew, “Mah Tovu Ohalechah Ya’akov, Mishkantechah Israel.” This has become a treasured verse for our people, often used to set the tone at the beginning of one of our prayer services. Why? Because for the first time in Torah someone outside of our ranks recognized the beauty we held inside. For a people wandering in the wilderness for forty years, life was difficult and filled with many trials and travails. And, yet Balaam could see beyond the struggle and see the heart of what we had created together. In his honor let us use this week as an opportunity to offer and receive blessings. May you have many of both.