In Parshat Balak, Bilam is hired by Balak to curse the Jewish people, which he tries to do three times, and fails every time. Instead, Bilam ends up blessing the people, which angers Balak. As a parting gift, Bilam offers Balak some advice on how to defeat the Jewish people, suggesting that Balak entice them with improper relationships with Midianite women (24:14, 31:16). In the very next Perek (chapter), we see that his plan immediately works, causing the death of 24,000 people (25:1-9). How did Bilam know his plan would work, and why did it work?

Rabbi Dov Weinberger submits that Bilam’s plan worked because his blessings for the Jewish people were sinister and intended to engender a false sense of security and confidence among the people. This complacency let the people’s guard down such that they thought they were immune to temptations and thus faltered.  While it’s important to feel pride and satisfaction with our moral achievements, it’s equally vital that we protect ourselves from outside influences and internal complacency.  If morality makes us virtuous, our moral integrity will keep us that way.

When Bilam is commissioned to curse the Jewish people, he gets up the next morning to saddle his donkey and begin his task. Rashi points out that Bilam wakes up early to convey his commitment and enthusiasm for his mission, noting the parallel when Avraham did the exact same thing many years prior when he traveled to sacrifice his son Yitzchak. Why is it relevant that Bima’s tactic had been previously used?

Rav Moshe Feinstein (Darash Moshe) suggests that Bilam’s evil ploy didn’t work precisely because Avraham had used that tactic for a good cause many years prior. Had Avraham not done so, Bilam’s enthusiasm might have given him an advantage in our episode. This mention is meant to highlight the importance of countering evil with positivity. When we see someone fighting for an evil cause, we can learn to mimic the passion and transpose a sinister cause with a positive one. If we extract something from the good and the bad, we’ll be twice as likely to succeed in life.

In Parshat Balak, Bilaam is hired by Balak to curse the Jewish people, which he tries to do three times, and fails. Instead, Bilaam ends up blessing the people, which angers Balak. As a parting gift, Bilaam offers Balak some advice on how to defeat the Jewish people, suggesting that Balak entice them with improper relationships with Midianite women (24:14, 31:16). In the very next Perek (chapter), we see that his plan immediately works, causing the death of 24,000 people (25:1-9). How did Bilaam know his plan would work, and why did it work?

Rabbi Dov Weinberger submits that Bilaam’s plan worked because his blessings for the Jewish people were sinister, intended to engender a sense of security and confidence among the people. This complacency let the people’s guard down such that they thought they were immune to temptations and thus faltered.

While it’s important to feel pride and satisfaction with our moral achievements, it’s equally vital that we protect our moral integrity from outside influences and internal complacency.  If morality makes us virtuous, moral integrity will make us stay that way.

When Balak’s first attempt to have Bilam curse the Jews failed, he suggested trying again from a different location (23:13). When that failed as well, he suggested again to move to another location (23:27). Why would he think moving locations would help, and what can we learn from this?

Rav Meir Tzvi Bergman explains that Balak arrogantly thought that the curses depended on his or Bilam’s location, rather than on the content of the request or situation. In contrast, when Avraham davened (prayed) for Sedom, it was from the same location (Genesis 19:27). Avraham’s approach was that if the prayer wasn’t answered the first time, he needed to either improve himself or improve the request. This introspective approach is what’s needed to achieve success. On the other hand, blaming locations and blaming others will only lead to failure, as Balak aptly demonstrated for us this week.

This week’s Parsha tells us a story about Balak, who commissioned Bilam to curse the Jews, since he was known to have abilities equal to those of Moshe. The twist in the story is that G-d tells Bilam that he shouldn’t travel to curse the Jews, and even if he decides to go, he mustn’t curse them, but must instead repeat whatever he’s told. On the way to curse the Jews (yes, he decided to proceed anyway), Bilam’s donkey was confronted by an angel who was sent to remind him that he shouldn’t be going, and that even once he arrived at his destination his words would be limited. Several times the donkey saw the angel and moved out of the way, only to be hit by Bilam for straying. Finally, the donkey miraculously spoke, rebuking Bilam for hitting him.

In this story there are several glaring difficulties: 1) If Bilam wanted to curse the Jews, why was he asking G-d for permission? Further, once he was told that he shouldn’t and couldn’t curse, why did he go? 2) Why was it necessary for Bilam’s donkey to begin speaking? If G-d had a message to give Bilam, why couldn’t He just tell it to him, as He had done in the past?

As the Birchat Peretz helps to explain, the answer lies in the way we interpret things, and our motives behind them. On one hand, Bilam really wanted the power and wealth that would have come with cursing the Jews, so that when G-d gave him permission to travel to the Jews, he was hoping it would grant him permission to curse them too. On the other hand, the donkey which didn’t have personal desires influencing him, was able to rebuke Bilam with honest, straightforward arguments, not tainted with personal agendas. Bilam justified what he wanted to do based on things he thought he heard or understood. It’s frightening to consider that one of the wisest people in that generation could let his heart dictate what he hears, and confuse what he knows is right.

So the next time we find ourselves trying to justify our position when we know we’re probably stretching the truth, all we have to do is ask: Would an honest donkey agree with the way we’re thinking? And if we feel a tinge of doubt, consider ourselves rebuked, and think again.

After a whole ordeal trying to curse the Jews, Bilam finally ends up blessing the Jews instead. So what does a person whose power lies in his word utter, after so much suspense? He says “How good are your tents, O Yaakov, your dwelling places, Israel” (24:5). Is it Yaakov or Israel? Is it the tents or the dwelling places (assuming they’re different) that are good? It’s a pretty ambiguous statement for someone presumably articulate.

To understand this, we need to analyze the context of the three blessings he imparted in the following Pessukim (verses): 1) You should stay near water (reference to Torah), 2) G-d will help you crush your oppressors, and 3) Those that bless you will be blessed, and those that curse you will be cursed. It seems that there is a natural progression throughout these blessings: If we 1) stay close to the Torah, 2) G-d will help us defeat our enemies, and 3)we will be blessed upon blessings. That’s why the blessings start with the statement that it’s all because of our homes (tents), that leads to our communities (dwellings), from Yaakov as an individual to Israel as a nation. Conclusion: If we introduce the Torah in our own controlled-environment homes, it will not only help us and our communities, it will also lead to the many blessings that follow.

After a whole ordeal trying to curse the Jews, Bilam finally ends up blessing the Jews instead. So what does a person whose power lies in his word utter, after so much suspense? He says “How good are your tents, O Yaakov, your dwelling places, Israel” (24:5). Is it Yaakov or Israel? Is it the tents or the dwelling places (assuming they’re different) that are good? It’s a pretty ambiguous statement for someone presumably articulate.

To understand this, we need to analyze the context of the three blessings he imparted in the following Pessukim (verses): 1) You should stay near water (reference to Torah), 2) G-d will help you crush your oppressors, and 3) Those that bless you will be blessed, and those that curse you will be cursed. It seems that there is a natural progression throughout these blessings: If we 1) stay close to the Torah, 2) G-d will help us defeat our enemies, and 3)we will be blessed upon blessings. That’s why the blessings start with the statement that it’s all because of our homes (tents), that leads to our communities (dwellings), from Yaakov as an individual to Israel as a nation. Conclusion: If we introduce the Torah in our own controlled-environment homes, it will not only help us and our communities, it will also lead to the many blessings that follow.

After a whole ordeal trying to curse the Jews, Bilam finally ends up blessing the Jews instead. So what does a person whose power lies in his word utter, after so much suspense? He says “How good are your tents, O Yaakov, your dwelling places, Israel” (24:5). Is it Yaakov or Israel? Is it the tents or the dwelling places (assuming they’re different) that are good? It’s an ambiguous statement from someone presumably articulate.

To understand this, we need to analyze the context of the three blessings he imparted in the following Pessukim (verses): 1) You should stay near water (reference to Torah), 2) G-d will help you crush your oppressors, and 3) Those that bless you will be blessed, and those that curse you will be cursed. It seems that there is a natural progression throughout these blessings: If we 1) stay close to the Torah, 2) G-d will help us defeat our enemies, and 3)we will be blessed upon blessings. That’s why the blessings start with the statement that it’s all because of our homes (tents), that leads to our communities (dwellings), from Yaakov as an individual to Israel as a nation. Conclusion: If we introduce the Torah in our own controlled-environment homes, it will not only help us and our
communities, it will also lead to the many blessings that follow.

Aliya Summary: Before leaving, Bilaam prophesies about the end of days: “I see it, but not now; I behold it, but not soon. A star has gone forth from Jacob, and a staff will arise from Israel which will crush the princes of Moab and uproot all the sons of Seth…” He also speaks about the eventual destruction of Esav, Amalek and Assyria. Following Bilaam’s unsuccessful attempt to curse the Jewish nation, Moabite and Midianite women seduce many Jewish men. In the course of their seduction, they also entice the Jewish man to worship the Baal Peor deity. G‑d commands Mohss to execute the guilty people, and simultaneously a lethal plague erupts amongst the Jews. A Jewish leader, Zimri, publicly displays the Midianite princess with whom he was consorting. Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, kills them both, and the plague is halted.

Passuk (verse) 14 says “I’m leaving… but I’ll advise you of what will happen to your people” (they’ll be destroyed). Telling Balak that his people will be destroyed doesn’t seem like advice at all. What he could have been telling him was that although you’re ultimately doomed to fail and lose, if you want to succeed temporarily, baiting the Jews into immorality would work, and it did. Why tell him he’s doomed to fail? I think Passuk 25 tells it all: “Bilaam got up, left, went home, and Balak went on his way”. Balak going on his way sounds like he continued on his original path of attempting to destroy the Jews, regardless of his previous and now FUTURE failures. Truly a lost cause.

Aliya Summary: The entire process repeats itself once again, Balak takes Bilaam to another place, hoping that Bilaam can curse the Jews from there. For a third time they build altars and bring offerings, and for a third time, only blessings issue from Bilaam’s mouth: “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel! … G‑d, who has brought them out of Egypt with the strength of His loftiness He shall consume the nations which are his adversaries … Those who bless [them] shall be blessed, and those who curse [them] shall be cursed.” At this point, Balak despairs of accomplishing his goal, and sends Bilaam on his way.

Two important concepts are demonstrated in this Aliya. First, the persistence of these two people to accomplish their goals is admirable, even if their goal itself isn’t. Second, whereas when they first started the attempts it was Bilaam building the alters and trying to find a way to curse the Jews, now it is Balak trying different tactics to get it done. The two men strengthen each other’s resolve to accomplish their goal, a concept very much a part of Judaism. We focus on community and gatherings, many of the Mitzvot (commandments) focusing on helping each other, and that’s what not only makes each of us stronger by being around others, but it makes the collective “us” much greater than the sum of its parts.