Parashat Balak (Numbers: 22:2 - 25:10)

by Frank Dabba Smith, Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue

Summary:

The first section of the sidrah concerning Balak and Balaam doesn’t fit in with the chapters occurring before and afterwards.  The only apparent connection appears to be that the Israelites remain alongside the border of the Moabite kingdom.  Moreover, the story and the characters –Moabite King Balak, the sorcerer Balaam and his talking donkey-- don’t appear in any other way in the Torah. 

Briefly, King Balaak hires the sorcerer Balaam to place a curse on the Israelites so he can defeat them in war.  After much prevarication, Balaam eventually curses Moab and greatly praises Israel.  Another malicious king who stands in the way of Israelite freedom is destroyed by God. And the magician is humiliatingly outperformed by his donkey. 

Immediately after this story, however, the highly praised Israelites behave very badly as described in the episode at Baal-peor.  In some ways similar to the story of the golden calf, the Israelites, as urged by Moabite women, engage in debauched idolatry and an angry God kills the offenders. 

Commentary:

As a freelance pagan sorcerer engaged by a wicked king, Balaam is an unlikely source of praise for Israel.  Yet his words, ‘How goodly are your tents, O Jacob; your dwelling places, O Israel’ (24:5) grace the beginning of our services even today.  What was it that he was praising in particular?  Rashi, in reflecting the values of his time, suggested that it was how the tents were arranged in the Israelite encampment:  no entrances faced each other so privacy and modesty were ensured.  The Talmudic sages note that there were tents that served as houses of study and worship. 

But then comes the wanton idolatry at Baal-peor straight after all the gushing praise.  How could such a praiseworthy people descend to idolatry?  Perhaps Balaam’s viewpoint was a distant one.  He fell in love with the seeming order of it all as if it was an aerial view.  Down on the ground, the attractive and orderly patterns break up.  It’s all a matter of critical perspective.  A distant, surface view is insufficient when it comes to realising all the ambiguities and contradictions in human behaviour.   Balaam didn’t look under the surface of the visually attractive composition of the rows of tents.  Each time I hear ‘How goodly…’ at the beginning of a service, I should therefore be reminded of the acute dangers of being blinded by pride and complacency and not looking closely enough.  

Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith

Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue