When I read Parshat Balak, I remained fascinated by the dissonance between God’s actions in this week’s parasha and the Israelites’ overall conduct in Sefer Bemidbar. While God thwarts Balaam’s attempts at cursing the Israelites in a variety of way, one wonders as to why God chose to stand up to a people who had a rebelled against Moses at some point in the previous sections of the Torah.
In an essay entitled, “Beginning to Teach,” Herbert Kohl writes that building an enduring educational relationship requires a long-term commitment on the part of the teacher for the student. He writes:
“Of course, people are not buildings and that’s what makes observing their growth so interesting. Buildings do not build themselves, but people do. Understanding the complex relationships between self-growth and nurturing growth is essential to becoming a good teacher. Further, the love of nurturing and observing growth in others is essential to sustaining a life of teaching. This implies that no matter what you teach or how you present yourself to your students, you have to be on the learners’ side and to believe that they can and will grow during the time you are together. I am not sure of how that belief develops, yet it is characteristic of every fine teacher I’ve known” (Herbert Kohl, The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching, pages 16-17).
According to Kohl, good teaching requires that teachers commit themselves to growing along with the learner, and recognizing that an enduring relationship requires that both parties commit to one another, in spite of whatever twists and turns may take place over time. Similarly, when we read Parshat Balak in the context of the other rebellions and complaints the Israelites brought against God and Moses, it is interesting to note the parallel nature of the relationship between God and the Jewish people, and the ideal relationship between teacher and student.
For my final Dvar Torah of the year, I would like to share three rabbinic commentaries on Parshat Balak that view the story of Balaam through the prism of God’s relationship with the Jewish people. First, when Balaam saddles his soon-to-be famous donkey, Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotzk, the great Hasidic Master, notices a parallel between Balaam’s journey and Abraham’s journey in the Akedah:
“How can we compare Abraham our Father to Balaam? God said: “Abraham arose early in the morning and saddled his own donkey in order to fulfill God’s will, and nothing came of it, for I did not allow him to sacrifice Isaac, since I want this nation to exist. Do you think that your [Balaam’s] desire to harm the children of Israel will not be disturbed by Me!?!?” (Menahem Mendel of Kotzk on Bemidbar 22:21, Torah Gems- Bamidbar, 210).
This commentary notes that both Balaam and Abraham saddle a donkey to begin a journey to fulfill a morally questionable mission, yet in each case, ultimately God knew that he would cause these journeys to take twists and turns for the purpose of protecting the divine partnership with the Jewish people. In each case, God needs the character to make this journey, yet the journey itself re-affirms God’s commitment to protect his people.
Second, Joseph Ibn Kaspi, a medieval grammarian and philosopher from France, argues that God demonstrated his love of the Jewish people not only by prohibiting Balaam from cursing them, but by turning the intended curse into a blessing. Kaspi writes:
“A true friend will save his colleague any pain, even if he knows that no danger will ensure. Similarly the Almighty, out of the abundance of His love for Israel, prevented Balaam from cursing them them, though He was aware that his curses were impotent. But the Almighty did not rest content with this. He went so far as to make Balaam bless the people to give them pleasure...” (Joseph Ibn Kaspi, Tirat Kesef).
In this text, Kaspi recognizes that any curse offered by Balaam is, to some extent, moot, since God would never allow someone to curse the Jewish people. Instead, the story of Balaam teaches us about God’s commitment to the Jewish people by way of the fact that an intended curse became a blessing.
Finally, a midrash from Bemidbar Rabbah notes that Balaam’s blessing itself is an acknowledgment of the enduring relationship between God and the Jewish people. The midrash states:
“Balaam too looked at them and his eye came out as he gazed upon them; for he could not touch them, as it is stated: “And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel”--implying their standards. He began to say: Who can harm such people? They know their ancestry and their families (their family life is pure), as it is stated: “Dwelling according to his tribes.” From here we understand that the standards were a source of greatness and protection to Israel (from promiscuity, since the standards implied a recognition of their family identity)” (Bemidbar Rabbah 2:3).
To provide some background, when Balaam sees how the Israelites organized themselves in their tents, which allowed each family to live in modesty and privacy, leading Balaam to praise the beauty of Israel’s tents, later made famous in the liturgical passage, “Ma tovu ohalekha Yaakov mishkenotekha Yisrael.” However, what is unique about this midrash is that recognizes that when Balaam saw the tents, he recognized that the tents themselves embodied the Israelites’ commitment to God, and the way God affected the Israelites.
In each case, our commentaries recognize the connection between the stumbling blocks that prevented Balaam from cursing Israel, and the power of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. While Sefer Bemidbar is filled with moments that tried God and Moses’ patience, Parshat Balak reminds us that the covenant between God and the Jewish people endures because the relationship is deemed important. As we close another year at Schechter, we must remind ourselves of the same lesson from our parasha, recognizing how the relationships that our students form with their teachers, one another, and with the broader Schechter community do not simply disappear with the passing of each year, but remain embedded in their consciousness and affect them for the rest of their lives. We all merit for the power of that idea.
In closing, this Dvar Torah will be my last one for the 2012-2013, as Schechter Torah takes a summer break. Our new website received almost 9000 visits in the first year, and I cannot wait for us to expand what we offer in the fall. May this summer be one of countless learning moments, where we take the time to think about what is most important, and how we might grow and develop in the coming year. All the rest is commentary...go and study.
Shabbat Shalom!
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