Deafened by Fear
Parshat Balak
July 22, 2016
Parsha background: Balak the king of Moab is very fearful of the Israelites camped just outside his land. The Israelites have already destroyed many of Moab's neighbors and Balak fears, correctly, that his tribe will be next. Balak sends for the prophet Bilam to come and curse the Israelites. Bilam first refuses, than accepts; then his donkey nearly kills him saving him from an angry angel of God, telling him he cannot curse the Israelites. He then proceeds to bless the Israelites three times, as Balak keeps asking him for curses by showing him a different view. Ultimately he prophesies that Balak and his supporters will be the cursed ones wiped out by Israel.
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Growing up this was one of my favorite passages of Torah. We often read it at my summer camp (OSRUI) and there was a talking donkey and an evil plan foiled by God. What’s not to love? Today reading it, I’m honestly stumped. Is Bilam good or bad? He sets out to curse the Israelites even after God tells him not to; he beats his donkey, who has always served him well, rather than thinking perhaps the donkey knows something he does not. What the donkey knows is that there is an angel of God with a flaming sword standing in the way; the donkey saves Bilam's life. On the other hand, God kind of plays with Bilam, God says don’t go, then go. Then threatens to kill him with the angel. Yes Bilam always tell Balak he can only speak what God wants; he will not curse if it isn’t God’s will. So too I even feel badly for Balak. He keeps trying to get his curse only to have the Israelites praised at each turn. Why does he keep trying, why not find a different prophet instead of Bilam, why is he so stubborn? But while Balak is clearly the bad guy of the story, what is it he’s doing? He is fearful for his kingdom that the Israelites will conquer them, and guess what? That is what the Israelites have been doing for the last 2 chapters. Balak has every right to be afraid. So I move from my childhood memories of a heroic story about speaking truth to power, to an adult understanding full of grey, full of not fully good, not fully evil. Here I cannot judge the Israelites, they are hardly mentioned in the story, and they seem wholly guided by God in any nation destruction they cause. This is a God I’m uncomfortable with, a God who conquers and destroys enemies (even women and children).
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So what is the lesson for today? On the one hand I think the Torah is teaching that the Israelite people with God behind them are really unstoppable. Balak shouldn’t even try. On the other hand I feel that there is a lesson about leading from fear. Balak is so fearful of the Israelites he cannot even hear the truth Bilam speaks, repeatedly. His fear may be legitimate, the Israelites have already conquered his neighbors, but that fear becomes so deafening that he becomes his own worst enemy. He doesn’t hear Bilam when he needs to “read between the lines” as Bilam says, “I can only say what God wills.” He doesn’t hear Bilam when Bilam actually doesn’t curse the people. He asks Bilam to try again from a different view. And ultimately his deafness to truth in the grips of his fear leads Bilam to bless the Israelites and curse Balak's kingdom. So what should we learn?
In politics today, you have a lot of people choosing out of fear, and leaders using fear to gain popularity (I will remind you that fear mongering is nothing new). And you have other groups making signs saying, choose love, not hate; which while nice, doesn’t validate real fears.
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Is there nothing to fear? Balak was correct in fearing the Israelite people. I think there are in fact MANY things to fear in the world of 2016. Hardly a week goes by without some tragedy, a mass shooting, a terrorist attack, a coup, an earthquake or hurricane, a flood or major fire…. With our 24 hour news cycle and globalized cares, right here feels dangerous, even if IT happened thousands of miles away. There is real fear, and I think asking people not to consider their fears when voting is unrealistic. So what do we do with those real fears, how can we acknowledge them, give them consideration in our decision making and not be ruled by them or even deaf to reality because of the?. Balak could have taken no for an answer; he could have found a different prophet; he could have picked up his weapons or he could have let the Israelites walk through his land and hoped they would leave him alone because of his hospitality. Balak had choices, but couldn’t even see them from the haze of his fear. I don’t know which of those choices would have been better for Moab. After all it is OUR Torah and we get to be the conquering heroes with God at our side.
But our story is not yet finished. We each get to decide, are the fears unfounded, or are they real? If they are real do we have the power to do something about it? Do we have power over ourselves to be controlled by fear or instead control it? Even when there is nothing you can do, you can still control how you respond. Do you cower and let the fear take over, or stand up and make a difference? Do you pick up a gun, or march in the streets? Do you build bridges with people of differing faiths or seek out only likeminded information, and likeminded associates? Do you choose hope that the world can be different: more fair, more just, more safe, with less cause for fear than there is today; or fear that it will only get worse?
Bilam’s blessing includes the words Ma Tovu Ohalech Ya’akov—how beautiful are your tents of Jacob
Song: How Good and Lovely (Rita Glassman)