Parashat Balak - First Aliyah
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
The shock of empires. Moav watches what happened to Sichon and Og, and trembles. Israel, which until recently wandered like nomads in the wilderness, defeated the kings of Transjordan and began to take its place, in territory and in consciousness.
“Vayar Balak ben Tzipor et kol asher asah Yisrael laEmori” (And Balak son of Tzipor saw all that Israel had done to the Emorite, verse 2). Balak, king of Moav, cannot remain indifferent. He feels threatened, not only geographically but existentially. “Vayagar Moav… Vayakatz Moav…” (Moav was terrified… Moav loathed…) fear and hatred mingle together.
The Moavites turn to the elders of Midian. Rashi on the verse brings the words of the Midrash: “When they saw Israel victorious in a way unlike the world’s custom, they said: their leader grew up in Midian. Let us inquire of them what his quality is. They told them: his power is only in his mouth. They said: we too will come against them with a man whose power is in his mouth” (Tanchuma). This is a precise strategy. If Israel’s power lies in the mouth of Moshe, they need another man whose power is in his mouth, to fight them on their own terrain. This time not with sword and not with army, but with sorcery, with witchcraft, with incantations.
So the delegation is sent to Bilam son of Be’or, a mysterious figure, an opening of spiritual hope for those who summon him, but also a morally ambiguous character.
Bilam is invited to sell his spiritual talent: “Lecha na arah li et ha’am hazeh… ki yadati et asher tevarech mevorach va’asher ta’or yu’ar” (Come now, curse this people for me… for I know that whom you bless is blessed and whom you curse is cursed, verse 6).
The aliyah closes with a nighttime scene. Bilam, the sorcerer, hesitates. The princes of Moav remain with him. He tells the messengers to wait: “Linu poh halaylah” (Lodge here tonight, verse 8). And in the night, “Vayavo Elohim el Bilam” (And God came to Bilam), a piercing divine question: “Mi ha’anashim ha’eleh imach” (Who are these men with you, verse 9).
This is a dramatic opening to Parashat Balak. Precisely after we overcame Og and Sichon, Bilam appears. Fear turns into action, but through words, curse, and the hidden.
And in this place, not only our strength is tested, but our identity.
More Questions on the Parsha
Why does the beauty of Israel reveal itself precisely through the eyes of an enemy?
One of the most beautiful sentences ever said about the people of Israel was not said by Moshe Rabbenu or by Aharon, but by Bilam, a man hired to curse. Parashat Balak uncovers a striking truth: there is beauty that a friend sees because he wants to see it, and there is beauty that an enemy is forced to see even when he tries to deny it. The second kind is stronger.
The verb 'vayar' (and he saw) repeats many times in Parashat Balak - what are the hidden meanings behind it?
In Parashat Balak the root 'to see' is not a technical act of seeing. It becomes a test: who truly sees, and what is he capable of seeing. Balak sees fear, the donkey sees an angel, Bilam at first sees nothing, and Pinchas sees and immediately rises. Four different kinds of seeing, four different kinds of soul.
What did Bilam really see in the camp of Israel that made him say a blessing instead of a curse?
The Torah does not say that Bilam only saw beautiful tents from the outside. It says that he saw an inner order. He was searching for a point of division, and found a camp with borders, families, tribes and identity. Bilam came to curse a crowd from the outside, and discovered from within a people that has form.
Does Parashat Balak teach that a person can be surrounded by enemies, and not know at all how much protection is over him from above?
Bilam climbs the mountain to curse, Moav is afraid, messengers are sent, and all that time the people of Israel below do not even know what is happening. Parashat Balak opens a window into what is behind the scenes: there is protection a person does not see, does not hear, and does not know to give thanks for in real time.