Chaired by Dr. Ellier Russ. This committee coordinates programs and classes to engage members in lifelong learning. Events include our yearly Scholar in Residence program, Talmud Study, and more. Guest speakers, online webinars and Shabbat morning discussions additionally provide congregants with opportunities to expand their knowledge of Judaism and living a Jewish life.

BALAK 5785: for love of money

Shabbat Shalom Weeklyby Rabbi Yitzchak Zweig  JULY 12, 2025
BALAK  NUMBERS (22:39-23:5) Triennial 3

GOOD MORNING! In the last year or two a very popular Hebrew song has come to symbolize the resilient attitude adopted by Israelis during the very trying times since October 7th. The title of this upbeat and catchy song is (loosely translated), “God continually loves me; everything is well and will only get better and better.” The lyrics were written by a well-known Hasidic rabbi – Rabbi Shalom Arush – and has been credited with lifting the spirits of many and drawing them nearer to the Almighty.

This crowd-pleasing song is spontaneously played at public events and is quite ubiquitous at all sorts of gatherings. Unsurprisingly, there has been some controversy over the accuracy of the lyrics; for example, “Does God really love me if I continually sin?” and “If I expect only good does that mean I will receive only good?” For the most part, this needless hand wringing is just silly and reflects a lack of understanding of basic Jewish philosophy.

We find in the Talmud (Brachos 60b) that just as one is obligated to bless and thank the Almighty when experiencing good, one must also bless Him and be thankful when things are painful or seem particularly dreary. This attitude of gratitude, no matter the circumstances, was embodied by a great sage of the first century, Rabbi Nachum. He was so famous for this attitude that people appended to his name the title “ish gam zu – this too (is for the good).” He was a teacher of the famous Rabbi Akiva who also adopted this attitude and said, “Whatever the Almighty does he does for the good.”

The Talmud (ad loc) relates that Rabbi Akiva was once traveling and he had with him a donkey, a candle, and a rooster. He came to a city to find lodging for the evening but was turned away. “Everything God does is for the best” he said. Having no choice, he went to spend the night in a field outside of the city. Suddenly, his candle blew out in the wind. “Everything God does is for the best,” he said once again. Then his rooster was mauled by a feral cat. “Everything God does is for the best,” he repeated. Then his donkey was carried off by a lion. Once again, Rabbi Akiva repeated his mantra, “Everything God does is for the best.”

When he awoke in the morning, he ventured into the city and realized that marauding bandits had attacked during the night and kidnapped many people. Had he found a place to stay, it’s quite likely that he too would have been taken. Had the bandits noticed a light in a field nearby or heard his donkey or rooster, he likely also would have been in trouble. Thus, his life was saved by all the “bad” things that happened to him.

The point is that with mankind’s particularly short-sighted perspective it is hard to know what is a true blessing and what is not. As we all know, just because something feels good does not mean it is good. We see a remarkable lesson regarding this principle in this week’s Torah portion.

This week’s Torah reading opens with the Israelites nearing the end of their forty-year odyssey of wandering in the wilderness. Their journey brings them to the plains of Moab, situated along the eastern border of the Land of Israel (present day Jordan). The Moabites, having witnessed the military prowess of the Israelites in their defeat of the armies of the two famous warrior kings Sichon and Og, are filled with fear and dread of the Jewish nation.

In one of the earliest known examples of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” two previously warring nations – Moab and Midian – set aside their differences and join forces to defend their territories from the perceived threat. In truth, neither had any cause to fear. Both the Midianites and Moabites were cousins of the Jews; Midian descended from Abraham’s second wife and Moab were descendants of Lot – Abraham’s nephew. They were all Semitic tribes (descendants of Noah’s son Shem), and the Israelites had no quarrel with them. Still, they feared that the Israelites would attack them and wanted to prepare for their arrival.

The Moabites knew that Moses had spent many years in Midian after escaping Pharaoh’s wrath (Exodus 2:15), so they wanted the Midianites advice on how to deal with him. In fact, they appoint Balak who was originally a Midianite, as king.

The Midianites conclude that the strength of Moses lay in his power of speech (i.e. prayer), so they decide to look for a solution that transcends mere human strength. To this end, Balak devises a strategy that is both clever and desperate; if Israel cannot be defeated by conventional means, perhaps they can be cursed into defeat. He sends emissaries to Balaam (Bilam), a renowned sorcerer and prophet living in Pethor, near the Euphrates River. Balaam’s reputation for effective blessings and curses had reached far and wide.

Balak’s envoys arrive and deliver the king’s message: “A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the earth and are settled next to me. Now come, please curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land” (Numbers 22:5-6). Balak’s request is simple: use your spiritual power to turn the tide in our favor.

But hiring Bilaam proves tougher than Balak thought. Bilaam sends away the first delegation as being insufficient to persuade him. However, Balak is no fool, he immediately understands that Bilaam is looking for a larger payday than was initially proposed. So, he sends an even more prestigious delegation and, as Rashi explains, Balak promises to give him more than his usual asking price (see Rashi ibid 22:17). Eventually, Bilaam relents with the following cryptic remark:

“If Balak were to give me his houseful of silver and gold, I am unable to transgress the word of Hashem, my God, to do anything small or great” (Ibid 22:18).

Rashi (ad loc) explains Bilaam’s reasoning. “In reality Balak should really agree to give me all of his silver and gold. Balak’s only other option would be to hire an army of mercenaries and even then there is no guarantee that these mercenaries would be able to defeat the Israelites. But if Balak hires me I will certainly be victorious.”

Yet this is difficult to understand. Bilaam first states that he will absolutely guarantee his own success, but then, in the same breath, he says that he cannot go against the word of God, “great or small.” This sounds like the ranting of a schizophrenic personality. How can he guarantee success yet at the same time have to yield to whatever the Almighty desires?

This difficulty is compounded later in the story. When he finally does travel to meet with Balak, he is taken to several locations from which the Jewish nation can be seen with the intention of cursing them. Yet at each place his plans go awry and he ends up giving them the most felicitous blessings. Of course, Balak begins to lose his mind, but Bilaam reminds him that he had to listen to the Almighty.

How does Bilaam, an avowed hater of the Jews, change from cursing the Israelites (what he was hired to do) to blessing them? While he did receive a message from God to bless them, he still had free will. Bilaam had previously transgressed many of God’s commandments; why does he suddenly start listening now?

Bilaam was actually brilliant. While it is true that a curse can be very painful as well as extremely difficult to overcome, too many blessings, especially on someone who cannot handle them, can be much more devastating.

The best example of this is too much money. King Solomon – “wisest of all men” – says that the test of being wealthy is much harder than the test of being poor (Proverbs 30:9). Why? A poor person has to contend with the desire to steal to improve his circumstances, but a very wealthy person has a much more profound test; he may feel that he is the center of the universe and deny the active involvement of God in his life.

Almost everybody desires to become fabulously wealthy, and most would consider it a wonderful blessing. Yet, too much money can be very challenging. It can affect one’s character and can make one impossible to live with. People can become so self-involved that their children are raised by nannies and maids. This naturally leads to feelings of inadequacy that parents try to ameliorate by plying their children with “things” in place of a real relationship. Thus, these children become “spoiled,” which often leads to life-long personal and relationship issues. This illness has been termed “affluenza.”

This holds true for most blessings; if one has more blessings than he can handle, these “blessings” can quite literally ruin his life. That is what Bilaam accomplished by blessing the Jewish nation.

Of course, it would have been more pleasurable for him (and Balak) to watch the Jewish people suffer his curses. But he knew that even if God forced him to bless the Jewish people, he could still achieve his goal. Giving them more blessings than they could handle practically guaranteed that he would succeed in destroying them: Because being a runaway success is a much bigger challenge to someone than being a failure. In fact, Bilaam was right; the Talmud (Sanhedrin 105b) explains that in the end, except for one, all of Bilaam’s “blessings” turned to curses.

TORAH PORTION: BALAK
JULY 12,  2025   16 TAMMUZ 5785
Torah   NUMBERS 22:39-23:5 Triennial  3
  Haftorah: MICAH 5:6-6:8

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