.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶך–הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסק בְּדִבְרֵי-תורָה Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei torah. Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Sovereign of time and space, who has sanctified us with commandments, and commanded us to study words of Torah.
About This Parsha
Numbers 22:2 - 25:9
https://www.sefaria.org/Numbers.22.2?lang=bi&aliyot=1 (link to parsha text on Sefaria; click on any line to read commentary and double click any Hebrew word to see the dictionary definition)
Quick Summary:
Balak, the Moabite king, hires the prophet Balaam to curse the people of Yisrael, but instead he winds up blessing them.
Summary Details:
Balak the king is worried by the recent military victories of the people of Yisrael, so he sends representatives to Balaam requesting that he curse the people. The representatives stay with Balaam overnight while he decides whether to agree, but God tells Balaam not to curse the people.
Balak the king sends more representatives promising a handsome payment for curing the people of Yisrael. Again Balaam allows them to stay overnight while he confers with God. This time, God tells him to go with the men.
Along the way, an angel stands guard to block Balaam’s path. Balaam doesn’t see the angel, but his donkey does. The donkey stops, and Balaam hits the donkey. This happens three times before God lets the donkey speak and lets Balaam see the angel. The angel tells Balaam to go forward with the men but only to say what God tells him to say.
Balak and Balaam go to a special location to make sacrifices before Balaam is to curse the Israelites. Instead, he blesses them. This happens three times. The last time, Balaam says “How great are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel,”. Balak the king finally dismisses him.
The end of the parsha tells us that the people of Yisrael were engaging in sexual activities with Moabite women and worship the Moabite god, Baal-Peor. God tells Moshe to impale the ringleaders. Then, when one Israelite man brings a Moabite woman home, the son of the high priest Eleazar (and grandson of Aaron), Pinchas, follows them and impales them both. This stops a plague that was affecting the community.
Glossary
בָּלָק balak; Balak, lit. “destroyer.” בִּלְעָם bil’am; Balaam, lit. “not of the people” or “without a people.” קֶסֶם kesem; magic, divination. יְשִׁימוֹן y’shimun; wasteland. This is where the people of Yisrael are camped when Balaam looks out over their tents. זָנָה zanah; to fornicate, act as a sex worker, commit adultery. בַּעַל פְּעוֹר ba’al pe’or; Baal-peor. This is the name of the particular local god of Peor which the people of Yisrael start to worship in this parsha. It’s not a clear reference to a historically accurate ancient deity, but it uses the title “Ba’al” which is a central Canaanite god and common title for God in the Torah. In other contexts, the word "ba'al" means master or husband.
Topics to Look Out For (while you read):
God’s relationships with other people groups and prophets
The Moabite king Balak’s perspective
Balaam’s perspective
Questions/Considerations (reflecting after you read):
What is the intended purpose or job of Balaam’s donkey? What purpose does the donkey end up serving Balaam? Is the donkey a prophet too (why or why not)? What does it mean to be a prophet?
Why does Balak, the Moabite king, want to curse the people of Yisrael? Do you think his fears are justified, and is his reaction (calling upon Balaam) a good one?
The Talmud seems pretty convinced that the prophet Balaam is not a friend to the people of Yisrael, but he refers to Adonai and “my God” throughout this parsha. What do you think: is Balaam a good guy, bad guy, or somewhere in between? What do you think his motives are? What changes in this story if we assume that Balaam hates (or is politically opposed to) the people of Yisrael? What if we assume he’s simply a prophet following God’s instructions?
The end of this parsha seems to indicate that the leaders of these people groups are far more concerned with mixing than the people are themselves; the leaders are waging actual war as well as spiritual warfare while the people are having parties and mingling together. What do you think this parsha has to say about tribalism/racism, class, and power?
Commentary & Supplemental Texts (translations via Chabad.org “Parshat Balak In-Depth”):
Balaam arose in the morning and saddled his donkey (22:21) From here we see how hatred causes a person to break from convention. Balaam had many servants at his disposal; yet in his eagerness to go curse Israel, he saddled his donkey himself. Said the Almighty: “Evil one! Their father Abraham has already preempted you when, to fulfill My will, he ‘rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey’ (Genesis 22:3).” (Rashi)
The donkey saw the angel of G‑d (22:23) But Balaam did not see it, for G‑d has enabled the animal to see more than man. Because man has greater understanding, he would go insane if he were able to see the forces of destruction. (Rashi)
[Balak] went out to meet him . . . on [Moab’s] utmost border (22:36) Why did he greet him at the border? He said to him: “These boundaries, which have been established since the days of Noah with the understanding that one nation does not violate the boundaries of the other—these people are coming to uproot! Come and curse them!” And he showed him how they broke through and crossed the boundaries of Sichon and Og. (Midrash Tanchuma)
G‑d happened upon Balaam (23:4) Regarding G‑d’s appearances to Moses the Torah uses the word vayikra (“and He called”), which is an expression of closeness and love; whilst to the prophets of the idolatrous nations the word used is vayikar (“and He happened upon”)—an expression that connotes temporality and promiscuity. (Midrash Rabbah; Rashi)
The dust of Jacob (23:10) Everyone treads upon the dust, but in the end, the dust triumphs over them all. . . . So it is with the Jewish people. (Midrash Rabbah)
How goodly are your tents, O Jacob (24:5) He saw that they pitch their tents so the doorways should not be opposite each other (respecting each other’s privacy). (Rashi)
Pinchas saw (25:7) He saw what was happening and remembered the law, and said to Moses, “Great-uncle! Did you not teach us this on your descent from Mount Sinai: ‘He who cohabits with a heathen woman is punished by zealots’?” Moses replied, “He who reads the letter, let him be the agent.” (Talmud, Sanhedrin 82b)