|
INFO LINE:
877-ANSHE-EMes
877-267-4336
Get
the
EMESSARIES
and
LOS ANGELES
JEWISH EVENTS
e-newsletters
Visit the
Los Angeles Jewish Events
(LAJE)
archives:
Get this week's Parsha
Notes
on your PDA!
as featured on
www.PilotYid.com!
Works with both AvantGo
and Plucker.
Los Angeles Painting Contractor Alan Silverstein, Inc.
10% of your purchase $$$
will go to Anshe Emes
Click to visit
American Plaque
Ezras Torah Luach
Design/Consulting:
www.grossweb.com
Hosting:
www.anshe.org
This Anshe Emes
website was ranked as
one of the top
3
Jewish web sites
in
Los Angeles by
the Jewish Journal
Anshe
Emes was
listed as one of 6 top
shuls in the country
by The
Forward
31 Aug 2001
Help support the
congregants who support Anshe Emes:
Life Insurance Quotes
auto insurance
Annuity
life insurance
Diversity Training
Encino CPA
Los Angeles hardwood flooring
Los Angeles CPA
Los Angeles Assisted Living
Los Angeles Retirement
earthquake insurance
refinance
appliance reviews
internet safety
unlock blackberry
internet security consultant
California Workers Compensation Insurance
California Work Comp
Annuities
mortgage refinance
appliances
unlock blackberry bold
Los Angeles Alzheimer's
Los Angeles hardwood floors
bicycle blog
california earthquake insurance
Los Angeles wood flooring
Diversity Education
home equity
Life Insurance
Los Angeles Assisted Living
unlock blackberry 8800
work comp
moving
Los Angeles floor installation
philip rosenthal
tech talk
moving boxes
tour de france
assisted living
los angeles marriage counseling
beverly hills marriage counseling
alzheimer's facility
jewish los angeles
alzheimer's care
bride
life insurance
hardwood flooring
retirement in los angeles
refinancing
bicycle
remodeling
best price
health insurance
remodel
encino counseling
vanity 800 number
los angeles synagogue
maternity
appliance news
home loans
workers compensation insurance
Los Angeles Alzheimers
home equity
california workers compensation insurance
Los Angeles assisted living
flooring
appliance
encino therapy
cycling blog
california earthquake insurance
auto insurance
auto parts
encino couples therapy
auto repair
bestprice
movers
dental care
homeowners insurance
los angeles jewish
home equity loan
mortgage calculator
encino couples therapy
car insurance
kosher road trip
.
|
Parsha Page
by Fred Toczek
A survey of parsha thoughts from Gedolei
Yisroel compiled by Fred Toczek. Perfect for printing and
use at your Shabbos tisch.
BALAK 5757
NEXT PARSHA:
PINCHAS
I. SUMMARY
A. Balak approaches Bilam. Balak, king of Moav, viewed
with dismay the Israelites' victory over Emori. Dreading
an invasion of his own country, he formed an alliance
with his former enemies, the Midianites. Balak then sent
messengers to ask Balam, a noted sorcerer, to curse the
Israelites. Balam asked the delegation to stay with him
overnight so that he could ask Hashem whether he could
comply with their request. During the night, he was
warned not to go with the men, so he sent them away.
B. A Second Delegation Is Sent To Bilam.
Thinking that a
more tempting offer would prove effective, Balak sent a
second delegation, a larger and more prestigious one,
offering Bilam great honors and rewards if he would
cooperate. Bilam, obviously motivated by personal greed,
asked them to remain until he could again receive
guidance from Hashem. This time he was permitted to go,
but was told to speak only as Hashem directed him.
C. Bilam's Donkey. During the journey to Balak, Bilam's
donkey saw an angel with a sword obstructing the path and
so it turned aside. The impatient Bilam struck the animal
several times in an attempt to make it proceed. After the
donkey protested this undeserved cruelty, Bilam finally
saw for himself the angel and was told that he was at
fault by inwardly wanting to accept Balak's offer. Bilam
offered to return home, but was told to continue on his
trip and to speak exactly as Hashem ordered him.
D. Balak meets Bilam. Balak met Bilam at the border of
the Arnon River and brought him to a nearby city for a
feast in his honor. The next day, he took Bilam to a hill
(sacred to the worshipers of Ba'al) from where he could
see the Israelite camp. After Bilam and Balak sacrificed
a ram and a bullock on each of seven altars, Bilam took
Balak to stay near the burnt offerings while he withdraw
to inquire of Hashem. On his return, he delivered his
first speech: "How can I curse the ones that Hashem
has not cursed?," he asked. "Behold, it is a
people that lives apart and is not included among other
nations." Angered at Bilam's unexpected praise for
the Israelites, Balak took him to the top of Mount
Pisgah, hoping for different results. However, Bilam once
again disappointed Balak, declaring that Hashem would not
break his promise of blessing Israel and that no magic
could prevail against them. In response, Balak asked
Bilam to desist from either blessing or cursing the
Israelites. Before departing, though, Bilam foretold
Israel's sovereignty and the doom of Moav, Edom and
Amalek and other enemies of Israel.
E. The Sin Of The Israelites. The Israelites then
encamped at Shittim. Here, the women of Moav, advised by
Bilam, tempted the Israelites to join in the worship of
Ba'al Peor and to participate in idolatry and immorality.
Moshe sentenced the sinners to death and a plague
developed among the assembly. Pinchas, the son of Elazar
the Kohein Gadol, witnessed a flagrant act of immorality
between a Midianite woman and an Israelite. Zealously
defending Hashem's laws, he executed the evildoers. The
plague subsided, but only after 24,000 of the
congregation had perished.
II. DIVREI TORAH
A. Lil'Mode U'lilamed (Rabbi Mordechai Katz)
1. Bilam's duplicity and greed. Why is this Parsha named
after Balak, a man who set out to destroy the Israelites?
If anything, the Parsha might have at least borne the
name of Bilam, who at least communicated with Hashem and
who blessed the Jews. Chazal teach that for all of
Balak's wickedness, he possessed at least one good
attribute -- honesty. He made no attempt to conceal his
hatred of the Israelites. At least everyone knew where he
stood. Bilam, however, did not possess even this
attribute. He pretended to be a holy man and to aspire to
fulfill only Hashem's desires. Yet, his actions proved
how hypocritical he was. When Balak's messengers came and
offered him wealth and honors in exchange for his curing
the Israelites, he didn't flatly refuse them. Rather, he
told them to lodge with him overnight to await Hashem's
verdict, hoping that Hashem would give him permission to
comply. The permission was denied, but when the
messengers returned with offers of even greater wealth
and honors, Bilam again welcomed them into his house. He
hadn't learned his lesson and remained hopeful that he
might be allowed to fulfill their wishes. How could he
turn down all those riches, even if it required cursing
Hashem's chosen people? And when Hashem did grant him
permission this time, he left to fulfill his mission with
astonishing swiftness. Nothing could stop him now. His
mask of holiness and his greed came through.
Unfortunately, there are many who have adopted Bilam's
tactics of pretending to have high moral values and then
throwing them aside at the first chance to earn money.
They mobilize all of their efforts in an attempt to
become wealthy and forget that wealth is a means with
which to benefit mankind.
2. The Jewish Family. "How goodly are your tents,
Oh Yaakov; your dwelling places, Oh Israel." This
was the blessing that came from Bilam's lips when he saw
the Israelites' camp. This same blessing -- the "Ma
Tovu" -- is recited daily by Jews throughout the
world. Its great importance lies in the fact that it
offers appreciation for the foundation of Judaism -- the
Jewish family. The interaction between family members
provides the structure on which Judaism needs to thrive.
It is the Jewish family that provides one with love and a
sense of worth, and that passes down Hashem's traditions
from generation-to-generation. It is the Jewish family
that makes the individual feel part of a group and part
of the Jewish nation. The Jewish people are, in reality,
one big family and we should emphasize our similarities.
This cohesiveness has enabled the Jewish people to
survive throughout the hardest of times. It has been the
Jewish family that inspired this cohesiveness and
tradition.
B. Reflections on the Sedra (Rabbi Zalman Posner)
A Blessing or a Curse? Balam's above blessing (i.e.,
the "Ma Tovu") can also be viewed as a curse.
The tone of the Judaism is growth -- the constant
advancement of spirit, Torah learning and
self-development. Self-satisfaction and contentment with
past achievement lead to stagnation. The goodness of
Yaakov's tent is to held up as a goal. In spiritual (if
not all) affairs, a goal to strive towards gives one a
vantage point from where to see more enticing horizons
ahead. The higher the attainment, the greater the
awareness of the task uncompleted, the greater the
appreciation of challenges still faced. Bilam was telling
Israel that they were good enough already; that there was
no need to be any better. He wished to vitiate the Jews'
urge to strive and improve, since he knew that the soul
never stagnates. We are not the same as we were yesterday
-- either we go up or we go down. Bilam wanted Israel to
believe that they had reached the summit. We must
remember this potential curse in all realms of our lives
and must always be striving to improve.
C. Growth Through Torah (Rabbi Zelig Pliskin)
1. Bias blinds a person from fulfilling Hashem's will.
Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz commented that any unbiased
person who heard Hashem tell Bialm not to go with Balak's
messengers would understand that Hashem didn't want him
to curse the Jews. We see here the power of bias to blind
one from seeing what an unbiased person could see. What
did Bilam report back to the messengers? That Hashem
considered him so distinguished that Hashem would not
allow him to go with them. It is quite possible that
Bilam did not merely lie to them. Rather, his own
arrogance led him to fool himself as to Hashem's true
intentions. A person hears what he wants to hear. By
being aware of our natural tendency to hear what we want
to hear, we can avoid many pitfalls.
2. Nothing stands in the way of a strong will. The
Talmud notes that while Hashem first instructs Bilam not
to go with Balak's messengers, He later says, "if
these people came to call you, rise and go with
them." From here, the Talmud derives the principle
"in the way a man wishes to go he is led." If
he wishes to do evil, he will be able to do so (although
he will pay a heavy price for the successful completion
of his evil desires). Conversely, one who wishes to
fulfill Hashem's Will will be successful. When you wish
to pursue a certain path in life, you will be Divinely
assisted. "Nothing stands in the way of strong
will." There are many things we wish for
half-heartedly, but when you strongly set your mind to
something you will have the abilities necessary to meet
that goal. What a person truly wants in life he will
usually obtain.
3. True compassion is based upon seeing the entire
picture. "And Hashem was angry that Bilam went and
an angel of Hashem stood in the way for an adversary
against him." Rashi explains that this angel was an
angel of mercy who desired to prevent Bilam from
transgressing so that he would not be lost. We learn that
the angel had a drawn sword. Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin
commented that at times an angel of mercy who is trying
to save a person will appear to him as an adversary who
is out to harm him. True compassion is based upon seeing
the entire picture. For example, a parent who allows his
child to do whatever the child wants just because he
doesn't want his child to cry might allow him to do
things that are destructive, both physically and
spiritually. When you really care about someone, you will
not want him to harm himself and will have to be forceful
at times to help protect him from his own ignorance or
foolishness. Like the angel of mercy, circumstances and
friends who appear to be "adversaries" may in
fact be doing so for our own good.
4. Be sincere when you reject that you have done wrong.
"And Bilam said to the angel, I have sinned for I
did not know that you were standing before me in the
road. And now, if it is bad in your eyes, I shall
return.'" The Midrash comments that Bilam was an
cunning and evil person who realized that he had to admit
that he was wrong in order to be saved. That is, Bilam
was insincere in saying that he made a mistake. True
repentance is when a person sincerely rejects a wrong he
has done and resolves to correct the situation in the
future.
D. Love Thy Neighbor (Rabbi Zelig Pliskin)
We must respect others' privacy. When Bilam saw that
the tents of the Israelites were set up so that the
entrance of one did not face the entrance of another, he
said the "Ma Tovu" verse. (Rashi). People are
naturally curious about the comings and goings of their
neighbors. This is exactly why our forefathers and
foremothers in the desert encamped in such a manner that
would ensure the greatest level of privacy. We, too, have
an obligation to respect our privacy.
E. Parsha Parables (Rabbi Moshe Kamenetsky)
The "Ma Tovu" Prayer. While the words of
this prayer are elegant, they come from a repulsive
source, Bilam, renowned for his cursing abilities. With
so many other beautiful words and prayers, why did the
Sages choose these words to open up the daily prayers?
They wanted to teach us a lesson -- first thing in the
morning, every day. How? Bilam, accompanied by Balak, set
out to find a good vantage point from which to curse the
Jews. As they traveled, they thought about the supposedly
horrible character of the Jews. The two aroused their
evil spirits for the worst curse of all time. But, when
they looked what the two saw startled them. The tents of
Israel were positioned so as to conform to the highest
standard of morality: not one tent opening faced another.
Those tents epitomized modesty. Bilam, a very spiritual
person, was dumbfounded, and his curse would not work.
The sight of these tents (and, of course, Hashem's
intervention, left him not a detractor but a advocate for
Israel). Every day as we enter shul we say the words of
the "Ma Tovu" and remind ourselves that all
eyes are upon eyes -- what we say, what we do are
observed. We are not only on this earth to see -- we are
also hear to be seen. Our daily actions can transform the
curses of our detractors into blessings.
NEXT PARSHA:
PINCHAS |
