Walk Through the Parsha by Rabbi David Walk

O Say Can You See
Balak - 5769
July 1, 2009

Phew! With this article both of my Homelands are back on the same Torah reading schedule. So, my loyal readers in the Diaspora will get two articles this week, one for each of the two parshiyot in this week's double reading. And that second parsha is definitely worth our attention. It contains all the great elements of marvelous narrative, compelling characters, dramatic tension and memorable lines. Some of the quotes are among the greatest in world literature and endure to this day: How Goodly are your tents, O Jacob; Who can number the dust of Jacob; God is not man to be capricious. Not only are there many more, but they’re even better in Hebrew. However, we know that great stories are only as good as the dramatis personae. Our situation is only improved when one of those unforgettable characters just happens to be a donkey (Hey, Frances the talking mule only helped Ronald Reagan’s career.). According to most observers the most compelling character is Balaam, the gentile prophet, but I’d like to focus instead on his employer, Balak, King of Moab. After all he does get top billing.

So, who is this Balak, and what is his problem with the Jews? Balak’s importance can’t be ignored, because he descends from Avraham’s nephew Lot and is, perhaps, an ancestor of King David through Ruth. The reading begins with him observing the Jews, and he was terrified, concluding that the Jewish nation is a threat to him and his nation. The verse records, ‘and Balak saw.’ So, the Midrash wants to know, ‘What did he see?’ Midrash Raba provides two answers, representing two differing philosophic position on Anti-Semitism. The first Midrash explains that Balak saw God and Divine perfection (Deuteronomy 32:4) and that God is absolutely fair, giving land, blessings and prophets to gentile as well as Jew. He then reasonably assumed that he can get his prophet and have a chance against God's chosen people led by God's prophet Moshe. This position denies a special place for the Jewish nation in God's affection and plan. The second idea is that Balak saw that in the future that Jews would be oppressed by other nations. So, why can't he be the first successful oppressor of the Jews? In other words, he believed that cruelty to the Jews was God's design and he would only be an agent for the Creator. Anti-Semitism is either rooted in an attitude of we're as good as the Jews or a mind-set that we're better than the Jews. 

The Ohr Hachayim Hakadosh (Reb Chayim Attar, 1696-1743) approaches the problem from another angle. This famous mystic wants to know why the verse records what he saw and not what he heard. Remember, we have another Torah reading named for a famed gentile, Yitro (Jethro) and there (Exodus 18:1) we are told that he came to visit the Jews because of what he heard. What’s the difference between seeing and hearing? He suggests that that we can understand what and how he saw through his name. He is identified as Balak ben Zipor. A zipor is a bird, and the holy rabbi explains that Balak saw the future through conjuring by means of bird parts. His evil is revealed through this heinous practice which the Torah condemns numerous times. To tell you the truth I didn’t like Rabbi Attar’s answer. I’m more enamored of what I think is the literal meaning of the name. If the name Son of a Bird (Birdson or just the last name Bird, go Larry.) is a description rather than a patronymic, then I would suggest that he behaved like a bird.

Birds (at least the predators, like eagles and hawks) have extremely keen eyesight. However, these observations are superficial and distant. This scrutiny may be fine for military purposes, but can't tell the real nature of a nation. He assumed that the Jews' intentions were nefarious, because he didn't know better. This is the real difference between seeing and hearing. Hearing requires an understanding of the other's position. When our Sages discuss our moving daily declaration of Shma Yisrael, many translate it as understand, rather than hear. Yitro heard what happened to the Jewish nation, and was moved by the magnitude of the miracles. Balak saw this huge assemblage of people and made wrong assumptions. This is why the verse tells us that Balak was terrified. Ignorance is not bliss; ignorance is dread. 

This critical point that external observation of the Jews can't give you the real picture can be gleaned from a careful reading of the text itself. In Balaam's second blessing of the Jews he states: One does not observe evil in Jacob, and has seen no perversity in Israel; the Lord, his God, is with him, and he has the King's friendship (Numbers 23:21). In this poetical blessing Balaam is teaching Balak, that his cursory glance at the nation doesn't begin to give the true picture. Many observers throughout history have mistakenly concluded that the Jews are God's forsaken because of our often precarious situations. Closer inspection reveals a profound spirituality and unbreakable bond with the Cosmic Director. Even though the parsha is filled with expressions of looking and observing, only at the end of the blessings does Bilaam understand and states that he is the man whose eye has been opened (24:15).

Clearly there are many lessons to be gleaned from this material. The obvious is that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and superficial observations tend to be wrong. This idea is of critical importance to Jew and gentile alike. We should do our best to refrain from being judgmental at all, for who really can see the truth. 

However for the Tribe, there is another message, and this one carries a warning. We are eternally under the world's scrutiny, and we have to be continually vigilant as a result. When we read the exquisite and eloquent observations of Balaam, we should initially be much moved. Then we must turn a mirror upon ourselves and ask if we live up to these remarks. Good luck, because someone's watching.