Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bamidbar
- Balak
What is going on here?
Until now, throughout the book of Bamidbar, Bnei Yisrael has gone from crisis to crisis, all the while incurring the wrath of G-d. We complained incessantly about water, about the lack of meat, about the Mahn. We rallied around the Meraglim & their rejection of Hashem’s promise to bring us into Israel. We even had the audacity to react angrily to Korach’s demise. On more than one occasion, Hashem threatened to wipe us out, & was deterred only by Moshe’s spirited intervention on our behalf.
Imagine how low our self-esteem must have dropped! Our psyches battered & bruised, we must have thought that we were not a Royal, Loyal nation, but rather an insolent, inferior bunch. What could possibly be done to restore our morale & our majesty?
Enter Bilam. Though he is no lover of Am Yisrael (indeed, the last two letters of the names "Bilam" & "Balak" combine to spell "Amalek!"), & though he is paid to curse us, Bilam ends up bestowing the most glorious, complimentary blessings upon us, blessings that live on throughout our history. One of them, "Mah Tovu" even begins our daily Tefilot!
While we Jews are very adept at giving ourselves a well-earned pat on the back, there is something quite dramatic & powerful when those of another faith sing our praises. Not only is it a Kiddush Hashem that has a heightened effect on the world at large, it also reinforces our own faith in who we are & what we do. When Bilam – a complete outsider, with no bias whatsoever in our favor - speaks about our modesty, our courage, our destiny to live eternally & outlast all other civilizations, he is affirming truths that verify & validate our mission in this world.
And so Bilam takes center-stage in this Sedra while Moshe retreats to the sidelines. It is Hashem’s way of massaging our damaged ego, trying to re-inject that missing sense of self & status that we need to fulfill our mission in this world. We will be tested time & time again – as we are at the end of this very same Sedra – but there will always be heroes, from among us & from the world at large, who will remind us of our path to glory.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
