Thursday, July 5, 2012

Parshas Balak


Watch that Naughty Tongue!
This week’s parsha, Balak, commences with Balak being appointed king over Moav. As the Jewish people make their way around the outskirts of the land, Balak thought that his country would be plundered as his allies were (in last week’s parsha, Sichon and Og were destroyed). The Moavites knew that the Israelites posed no threat to them, seeing that Hashem had forbidden them to wage war against them; nonetheless, they still feared that they would be destroyed.

In order to conquer the Jews, Balak was advised to combat the Jews the very same way the Jews combat all other nations, through prayer.  Furthermore, Balak appointed Bilam, a man who used the impure forces of the universe, to pronounce a curse against the Jewish people. Bilam was a powerful magician, dream interpreter, and profound philosopher who was capable of manipulating the powers of tumah- impurity- in this world for his own personal benefit.

Balak’s main argument was that the Jews defeated many nations, with the power of their speech—through crying out to Hashem in prayer. Moreover, he wanted Bilam to defeat the Jews through his power of speech, by cursing them.

Incredibly enough, we can see from this week's parsha how even the nations that wish to curse us recognize the power given to us by our tongue. We can use it for elevating ourselves and becoming closer to our G-d, or we can denigrate ourselves through speaking evil.

Unfortunately today, we live in a society that uses the beautiful words Hashem has given us to speak evil. The secret to overcoming this impulsive behavior of gossiping and disrespecting others is through recognizing that we are in control of what comes out of our mouths. Once we come to terms with the fact that we control our bodies, and that our bodies don’t control us, we will become empowered to think twice before we speak, and this will get us to understand that the ramification induced by our impulsive tongue are in fact fruitless.

TORAH FOR YOUR TABLE! The Road Less Traveled...


Which path should I take?
As the parsha continues, with Bilam journeying to curse the Jews, he constantly finds himself encountering Hashem. During the night, Bilam dreamt that Hashem rebuked him for plotting against the Jews. Regardless of how many signs Hashem threw in Bilam’s way, he was determined to curse the Jews.

In our lives, we can sometimes become so insistent on a certain path that we start to believe that that is where we are meant to actualize our potential in this world. However, we should constantly be looking to Hashem for guidance about which path to follow. Rather than being persistent about taking a certain path in life, we should be persistent in requesting guidance and clarity from above. When we are sincere about our desire to find the proper path in life, which will allow us to maximize our personal potentials in this world, Hashem will give us all the tools we need to make that potential a reality.

Quotes that matter- "Fake it til you make it!"


Although Hashem had warned Bilam numerous times that he was forbidden to curse the Jews, Bilam thought he could coax Hashem. So to, Bilam told Balak to build seven alters which he would make sacrifices to Hashem on. Ironically, Hashem accepted his sacrifices! WHAT?  Despite the fact that Bilam offered the sacrifices to Hashem with impure intentions, Hashem nevertheless accepted them, and even rewarded Bilam and Balak (Ruth-the meshiach is from her dynasty- is a descendant of Balak and Bilam ends up blessing the Jews instead).


From this strange turn of events, we learn that although Bilam and Balak were performing a mitzvah with evil motivations, they nonetheless performed the deed. The idea behind this concludes that perhaps one day, their motivation would lead to sanctifying Hashem’s name.


Although at times, we may not feel as connected to Hashem and Judaism as we wish to be, especially during the toughest of times when we feel the most disconnected, those are the times that our mitzvot shine the brightest. It is easy to be a committed Jew when you are feeling inspired. The challenge however is following Hashem’s mitzvot when you feel completely disconnected. Surprising enough, this recognition can shed much light to your own observance and it can even push you to become re-inspired! The trick is recognizing that Hashem puts us all through many challenges and tests to see if our trust in Him is more powerful than letting our personal distress run our lives. Although we may feel we are 'faking it' at times when we push ourselves to observe Hashem's commandments when we fill completely disconnected, in actuality we are developing ourselves and we are strengthening our connection to Hashem.