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Tag Archive for: Balak

Balak – בָּלָק (Numbers 22:2−25:9)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Balak – בָּלָק (Numbers 22:2−25:9)

“How fair are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwellings, O Israel!” (Numbers 24:5)

This is the way we open our morning prayer. This was the blessing that Balak the Moabite magician who was ordered to curse Israel and ended up blessing us.

The Midrash explains, that even though we lived for 40 years in the wilderness in tents, meaning had no privacy at all, God made sure that every tent had full privacy. We were all together when needed and at the same time, we enjoy being alone and having our privacy.

Parsha Balak – בָּלָק Torah Summary:

Balak, the king of Moab, persuades the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites so that he can defeat them and drive them out of the region. However, Balaam blesses the Children of Israel instead and prophesies that Israel’s enemies will be defeated. (22:2-24:25) God punishes the Israelites with a plague for consorting with the Moabite women and their god. The plague is stayed after Pinchas kills an Israelite man and his Midianite woman. (25:1-9) Balak – בָּלָק

Balak (Numbers 22:2−25:9)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Balak – בָּלָק (Numbers 22:2−25:9)

“God has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
   And what does Adonai require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
   and to walk humbly with your God”.

Micah 6:8 is part of the Haftara to our portion, it is also the moto of the tapestry outside our Chapel, dedicated to our beloved Rabbi Diamond (celebrating his 85 birthday this week) and in many ways it is the Judaism that Rabbi Diamond walked and practiced all his life!

Parsha Balak Torah Summary:

Balak, the king of Moab, persuades the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites so that he can defeat them and drive them out of the region. However, Balaam blesses the Children of Israel instead and prophesies that Israel’s enemies will be defeated. (22:2-24:25) God punishes the Israelites with a plague for consorting with the Moabite women and their god. The plague is stayed after Pinchas kills an Israelite man and his Midianite woman. (25:1-9) Balak “God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does Adonai require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. Micah 6:8 is part of the Haftara to our portion, it is also the moto of the tapestry outside our Chapel, dedicated to our beloved Rabbi Diamond (celebrating his 85 birthday this week) and in many ways it is the Judaism that Rabbi Diamond walked and practiced all his life! Balak

Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9)
Horses were cherished in Biblical society, but not so the donkey. At best the “aton”, or she-ass, was a steady beast of burden. The word “aton” appears 34 times in the Hebrew Bible, 14 of which occur within the context of our Parashah, Balak. The 20 other references are considerably less positive. Donkeys were commonly portrayed in ancient literature as foolish, stubborn, wicked or servile at best, and generally represented the lowest classes of society.

Here in our Torah portion the famous seer Bilaam cannot see the angel which God has placed in his path, but his donkey can. There are three confrontations with the invisible messenger of the Lord, each one increasingly difficult to ignore. Even a dumb animal can see that Bilaam is acting against God’s plan, even though the great “seer” cannot. The question for our Torah portion is, can this great seer raise himself to the level of a she-ass and see what is right and what God requires of him? The question for us to answer is – can we?

BALAK SUMMARY:

SUMMARY:
Balak, the king of Moab, persuades the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites so that he can defeat them and drive them out of the region. However, Balaam blesses the Children of Israel instead and prophesies that Israel’s enemies will be defeated. (22:2-24:25)
God punishes the Israelites with a plague for consorting with the Moabite women and their god. The plague is stayed after Pinchas kills an Israelite man and his Midianite woman. (25:1-9)