• Table For Five

If all blessings come from God, what can we do to receive the maximum amount of good?

Table for Five: Balak

In partnership with the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles

Edited by Nina Litvak & Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist

Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them!” Num. 23:11

Rabbi Pinchas Winston
Thirtysix.org / Shaamun Productions

There are basically two types of people in God’s world, “mahchers” (Yiddish for “makers”), and the rest. The vernacular is, “Movers and Shakers,” people who make things happen. They don’t have to be famous, just capable of impacting history, for good or bad. Ambitious people usually become the mahchers, and people who accept their world as it is usually become their pawns, willingly or unwillingly. But the truth is, even a mahcher cannot go against the will of God, as Balak found out in this week’s parsha. “Many are the plans of man, but it is the will of God that prevails” (Mishlei 19:21). If so, do mahchers really exist? No, and yes. Strong or weak, all of us only do the will of God. But some people get to do the will of God to accomplish great things, and some get chosen to do the opposite. A mahcher is just someone who has a lot of ambition to accomplish something, which makes them ready to be plugged into God’s plan for Creation, in one capacity or the other. But the part they play will depend upon the role they are used to playing in life. But one of the ironies of history is how the roles we get chosen for can seem to be meant to accomplish one thing but end up accomplishing something different. But only if a person, unlike Balak, is good, will “different” will be better, and the “mahcher” will be pleased with the result.

Rabbi Ari Averbach
Temple Etz Chaim, Thousand Oaks

I’m spending my summer at Camp Alonim in Simi Valley. (To note: I have spent summers at several Jewish camps.) Every morning, I stand in awe as 400 kids silently watch the flags for Israel and the United States raised up the flag poles. Then they all sing (holler) Modeh Ani.

Judaism infuses this camp, as it does so many others. The most meaningful part of the week – for me – is Friday night. Campers and staff all wear white, and we walk through a tunnel of CITs (16-year-olds) singing Jewish songs before we start the ancient psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat. I’m a little embarrassed that I cry as I walk through this hallway of holiness. But only a little embarrassed – because it is so moving, especially now.

These kids come from all over – some internationally – to be their most authentic selves. They make Jewish art, learn Jewish culture, constantly dance to Israeli music and spend precious time with Israeli staff members. As the world has looked to curse us, their words have taken on a different effect. More now than any other time I recall, we are looking to Judaism. To learn its texts, to swim in its Torah, to connect with other Jews. People who had never before felt deeply Jewish are finding comfort in our peoplehood. As has happened before, they look to curse us, and so many of us find the blessing.

Rabbi Ilana Grinblat
Ahavat Torah

On June 20th, after an Iranian missile landed on a building in Haifa, Yona Yahav, the mayor of Haifa stood in front of a damaged building. He was overseeing the process of checking the building for people who might be trapped inside, clean-up, and then rebuilding. He was interviewed by CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson who told the mayor that he had met a young Arab who lives in Haifa. The young man had told him, “I don’t feel that this is my place, my country.” Nic asked: What’s your message to him?

In that moment, the mayor was put in the position of Balam, who was given a choice to either bless or curse someone from another group.

The Mayor replied, “I’m very sad that he said that, but I would like to meet him.”

When trying to persuade Balam to curse the Israelites, Balak urged Balam, “Come with me to another place from which you can see only a portion of them; not all of them—and curse them for me from there.” Like the Mayor, Balak understood that keeping distant can lead to cursing. Getting close leads to blessing. When we talk with a person from another group one on-one, rather than judging them from afar, we do God’s work in the world.

Rabbi David Cooper wrote a book entitled: God is a Verb. When we get to know each other, we are God-ding in this world. Like Balam and Mayor Yona, may we choose blessing.

Rabbi Tova Leibovic-Douglas
Founder and Director of The Ritual House, rabbitova.com

This prophetic verse feels as if it were written for us in this moment. We are living in a time shaped by binary thinking, where people are quickly placed into categories. Is this person an enemy? A friend? Across political lines, in our communities and throughout the world, many now believe that those we disagree with or those who support someone we oppose—are no longer worth engaging. But Torah offers another path. In this week’s portion, a prophet sets out to curse the Israelites and instead offers one of our tradition’s most beloved blessings: “Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov” — How good are your tents, O Jacob. What was meant to be a curse becomes a blessing. It was the blessing our ancestors needed and one that continues to sustain us. Perhaps it was also the blessing the prophet needed. This may be the message for us now. We are called to choose blessing over curse, love over hate. In a time filled with division and pain, this feels challenging. But it is also the only path forward: to look at another person and truly see the Divine spark within them. Balaam, who came expecting to see only the worst, was capable of transformation. If he could shift from curse to blessing, so can we. In choosing to see the good, we become part of the blessing ourselves. The time is now.

David Sacks
Happy Minyan of Los Angeles

Ever have one of those days?

Balaam did. Big time.

Didn’t he know that God promised Abraham that whoever curses the Jews is cursed? And whoever blesses us is blessed?

We don’t have to worry about people like Balaam, because the Jewish people are forever under the wings of God’s protection.

Which brings us to a bigger question.

If all blessing comes from God, what can we do to receive the maximum amount of good? The answer is simple: More mitzvahs!

But let’s go deeper. Everybody knows that there is a category of mitzvot that we cannot understand. The most famous example is the ashes of the Red Heifer. Rashi explains that the Satan and the nations of the world bother us by asking us what the reason for this mitzvah is.

The Ropshitzer Rebbe, one of the great Chassidic Masters from around 200 years ago, asks a wonderful question – of all the mitzvahs in the Torah *the Red Heifer is the one they want to know the reason for?* He explains that the nations of the world do this because they want us to ask God why we have to do things that we can’t understand. Their intention is to distance us from God so that we’ll only do things that we think are logical. But says the Rebbe, *tremendous blessing* comes to us when we serve God “beyond reason”. Do you know what happens then? God blesses us for no reason at all!

With thanks to Rabbi Pinchas Winston, Rabbi Ari Averbach, Rabbi Ilana Grinblat, Rabbi Tova Leibovic-Douglas and David Sacks.

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