In this week’s parashah, the Moabite king, Balak, hires the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. However, once the prophet reaches the Israelites, he issues several blessings. This week, we’ll examine the enduring meaning of those blessings.How fair are your tents, Jacob,Your dwellings, Israel!Like palms they stretch forth,Like gardens upon the river bank,Like aloes planted by Adonai,Like cedars upon the water,Their boughs drip with moistureTheir roots sit in abundant water…- Numbers 24:5-7Balaam’s third blessing describes the Israelite desert encampment as a lush oasis and begins with a verse of praise for their dwellings. This first verse has since been incorporated into the daily liturgy as the Mah Tovu prayer, which is to be recited when worshippers first enter the prayer space in the morning. Thus, we have come to understand this verse as an indication of our connection to the spiritual realm.However, as the next verse reveals, the initial implication of the [...]

In this week’s parashah, the Moabite king, Balak, hires the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. However, once the prophet reaches the Israelites, he issues several blessings. This week, we’ll examine the enduring meaning of those blessings. For there is no augury in Jacob No sorcery in Israel. Rather, Jacob is told at once Israel, what God intends. Numbers 23:23 Balaam’s second blessing references God’s relationship with Israel, as well as their compliance with proscriptions, found throughout the Torah, against divination rituals such as consulting oracles and spirits, or reading omens and entrails. The 11th Century French Sage Rabbi Solomon Isaaci, known also as Rashi, teaches that the two go hand in hand. By abiding by the proscription against divination, the scholar suggests, the Israelites merit direct revelation. Rashi’s interpretation invokes Balaam’s first blessing which refers to  the Israelites as,“a people that dwells apart.” By calling  their distinctiveness (their [...]

In this week’s parashah, the Moabite king, Balak, hires the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. However, once the prophet reaches the Israelites, he issues several blessings. This week, we’ll examine the enduring meaning of those blessings.From the tops of the cliffs, I spy them.From the hills I observe them.They are a people that dwells apart,And the nations make no designs for them.Numbers 23:9In many ways, Balaam’s first blessing articulates an eternal desire of the Jewish people – to remain distinct in our Jewish character and values while simultaneously escaping the scheming, scapegoating, and savagery that has followed that distinctiveness for millennia.Throughout history, countless Jews have sought to avoid the malicious designs of other nations by abandoning their Jewish distinctiveness and fully integrating into other nations. Similarly, many among our people have tried throughout the millennia to fully separate ourselves from the world, hoping that in our isolation we could [...]