Balak

A Tiny Part of the Picture

The majority are good. The minority are evil. Stay away from the "Bilams" and "Bilamism"; get closer to Moses our Teacher.

My Personal Revelation

We generally relate to a ‘revelation of Eliyahu' as a profound moment in which Eliyahu the Prophet himself appears to us with a message. But is this really so? What is the personal and communal revelation of Eliyahu to all Jews of the world?

The Curse of Loneliness

The battle against antisemitism can be won, but it will not be if Jews believe that we are destined to be alone. That is Bilaam’s curse, not God’s blessing.

Extras In Our Own Epic

There’s something unusual about Parshat Balak. It’s the only parsha in the Torah where the Jewish People, the “stars of the show” seem to only have a “walk-on” part. We see Bilam and Balak close up as they plot to destroy the Jewish People, but Israel is only seen in the background – almost off-camera. Why is this?

A Prophet for the Nations

From Siach Shaul p. 425-6

As far as spiritual power, Bilam was a giant. Chazal derive that in prophecy he was on par with Moshe. Yet, there was a huge chasm between them.

Enemy's Compliments

This week's Torah reading abounds in compliments given to the Jewish people by the leading prophet of the non-Jewish world, Bilaam.

Leadership and Loyalty

Is leadership a set of skills, the ability to summon and command power? Or does it have an essentially moral dimension also? Can a bad person be a good leader, or will their badness compromise their leadership?

You Better Think

If you look at this Parsha in a Sefer Torah, you will immediately notice that Bilaam’s narrative is written in “block form” without the usual open spaces (parsha “breaks”) that are found in most Parshiyot.