Parashat Balak descends from the
heights of prophetic poetry to the depths of sin, failed leadership, and
punishment.
The story begins when Balak, king
of Moab, is horrified at the sight of tens of thousands of Israelites massed
along his border. He attempts to hire Balaam’s services to curse them and remove
the threat. Balaam initially rejects his request, at the command of God, who
clearly states, “Do not go with them. You must not curse that people, for they
are blessed.” (Numbers 22:12; translation: RJPS, except as noted). But the
messengers do not report Balaam’s complete answer to the king. Balak, for his
part, mistakenly thinks that his offer was not generous enough and sends a more
respectable delegation. Surprisingly, God seems to change God’s position, “If
the men have come to invite you, you may go with them.” But only with regards
to the journey. Regarding the content, God stands firm “But whatever I command
you, that you shall do” (Num. 22:20).
Balaam is please and departs with Balak’s
delegation. When the embarrassing scene with the jenny (i.e., female donkey) makes
it clear that God is using him as an example, Balaam can no longer turn back. In
real time, the many sacrifices and changes of locale have no effect. Balaam
blesses: “How can I damn whom God has not damned? How doom when God has not doomed? …. Who can count the
dust of Jacob, number the dust-cloud of Israel?”
Balak is furious, “What have you done to me?” (Num.23:8, 10, 11). Repeatedly.
From
the perspective of Balak and Balaam, the mission failed. The people were
blessed and the principle was established: “God is not human to be capricious,
or mortal to have a change of heart”(Num. 23:19) or, in the simpler words of Deuteronomy (10:17): “For the Eternal your God… takes no bribe.”
But
we must be careful, loyalty to the covenant does not nullify divine morality or
our accountability. Quite the contrary. The prophet Amos leaves no room for
doubt, “You alone have I singled out of all the families of the earth—that is
why I will call you to account for all your iniquities” (3:2).
It
turns out that Balaam knows that. He can’t curse Israel but — angry and
frustrated — he can make them stumble.
It is no coincidence that after
Balak and Balaam part ways that “While Israel was staying at Shittim, the
people profaned themselves by whoring with the Moabite women, who invited the
people to the sacrifices for their god. The people partook of them and
worshiped that god. Thus Israel attached
itself to Baal-peor, and GOD was incensed with Israel.” (Num. 25:1-2).
A new low. Even when they sinned with the golden calf, the Israelites did not
worship other gods. Rather, they imagined that a statue could represent their
true God. In other rebellions, they expressed fears and weak faith or doubted
the leaders, but did not descend to prostitution and idolatry.
The
causation is not explicit in this chapter but later, in Numbers 31:16, we learn
that Balaam exacted his revenge by advising the women of Moab to seduce the
Israelites. His exact words do not appear in the Torah, but Rabbis reveal his
logic: “The God of these hates lewdness, and they desire linen good. Let me
give you some advice: Set up pavilions in the marketplace, and place
prostitutes in them...” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 106a; my
translation). In another version, he advices them offer food because “they have
nothing but manna to eat” (Avot de-Rabbi Natan, version A, 1:4; my
translation). Was this the first time that our enemies learned our weaknesses
and used them against us? It certainly wasn’t the last.
Balak’s advice succeeded and God
brings a plague upon the Israelites.
Despite God’s command, Moses and
the leaders of the people are weak and unresponsive. Chaos rages until Pinchas
takes a spear in his hand and the portion ends with bloody violence and 24,000
dead.
Shocking.
But not all is lost. The covenant remains
in force. In the haftara, the prophet Micah shows us the way. After explicitly
mentioning Balak, Balaam, and the deeds of Shittim, the prophet clarifies again
that God cannot be ameliorated with sacrifices, but rather
“You have been told,
O mortal, what is good, and what God
requires of you: only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk modestly
with your God” (Micah 6:8).
God’s mercy can be aroused and God’s anger softened not with ritual through justice
and kindness.
 |
Micah's words on the Torah Ark
of Hod veHadar |
Do justice by conducting our personal and public lives
according to principles of fairness and justice that do not give preference to
the wealthy and powerful, and that distribute resources so that the basic needs
of all are met.
Loving goodness is more than a pleasant inner feeling. It
calls for active love: aiding the needy and weak in society with concrete
assistance, feeding the hungry, providing for the homeless and clothing the
naked; and being a supportive presence for people in vulnerable situations: the
sick and injured, lonely and bereaved.
Walk modestly with your God, without calling attention to ourselves and
our acts, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote: “The greatest beauty grows at
the greatest distance from the ego” (God in Search of Man, p. 404).
What is true on the national level, is also
true on the personal level. (Bride and groom), you are entering a covenant of marriage
under a chuppah that symbolizes a home that is open to the world. May you be
wise enough to build your home on foundations of kindness, to each other, to those around you, and to the world as
whole. As the psalmist wrote,
“The world is built on kindness” (Ps. 89:3, my
translation).
