D'var Torah

If you like stories, this week’s double Torah portion (Chukat and Balak [Numbers 19:1-25:9]) is a whopper! In Chukat, Moses finds out that he will not be allowed into the Land of Israel because he disobeyed God by striking the rock to get water for the Israelites, instead of speaking to the rock. And then in Balak, we have the bad guy: King Balak, who hates the Israelites and his sorcerer, Balaam, who has a talking donkey, who sets out to convince Balaam that while Balak wants him to curse the Israelites; what will happen is he will bless them instead. Who can imagine a talking donkey, an evil King, and the good guy Moses who gets a punishment not befit for his crime… all in one week’s Torah reading?

I want to focus on the second portion, Balak, this week and what it means for us. Balak, King of Moab, did not like the Israelites. In fact, he was afraid of them. He heard the stories of how the Israelites conquered land after land on their trek through the wilderness since Sinai, and now they were approaching Moab. When the Israelites set up camp in a territory that had once been Moabite land, Balak had had enough and set out to conquer the people. So, Balak summoned a prophet, Balaam, to curse God’s people. But, Balaam, even though not a Jewish prophet, actually had a relationship to the God of the Jewish people and went to him for guidance before Balaam agreed to Balak’s plan. God convinced Balaam not to do it, so he returned to to Balak and told the King he wouldn’t curse the Israelites. The King was not deterred and sweetened the deal, eventually getting Balaam to agree. God couldn’t talk Balaam out of it, but he wound up talking to Balaam via Balaam’s (talking) donkey, convincing the sorcerer not to curse the Israelites.

When Balaam stood over the encampment (three times) of the Israelites and saw the beauty of the Jewish people before him, the words that came out of his mouth were indeed a blessing: “Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov, mishkenotecha Yisraeil.” ("How beautiful are your dwelling places Jacob, your tents, O Israel.”) And with those words, the Israelites were blessed.

Each Shabbat morning, Jews begin the services with those words of blessing, reminding ourselves that we see the world through blessing, not cursing. That’s the beauty of being Jewish and helps us understand the difference in theology between Jews and Christians; Christians are born with original sin and therefore need to get in God’s good graces in order to atone for their sins. But Jews are not born that way. Jews are born with a clean slate and don’t need to thank God to get into God’s graces: we’re already there. Instead, we say words of praise (Baruch Atah Adonai…) praising God as the Source of blessing.

When we look at the world through the eyes of blessing, we bring blessing to others. What a beautiful way to approach life instead of through the eyes of curse and hatred.

Because these words of blessing, Mah Tovu, have been set to all kinds of music, let me share with you my most favorite setting of Mah Tovu. This melody, by Louis Lewandowski (mid-1800s), evokes majesty, blessing and perfection in a world that needs all the blessing it can get. When the American Conference of Cantors sat in our sanctuary in 2001 during their Washington, DC convention, we all sang this melody in multi-part improvised harmony, which for Rabbi Schwartzman and me, was a true moment of blessing that washed over us. May it be a reminder for you, too, about the blessings that are in your life.

Link to Song: https://rodef.box.com/s/klegos0qqiv6d2igqrk84vli2c650iof

Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Michael Shochet