Parashat Balak

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Please learn in the zekhut of the Refuah Shelema Bekarov of Sarah bat Morvarid and Shahin Shemuel Chai ben Hadassah. Thank you! Tizku lemissvot rabot!

Parashat Balak opens with the episode where Balak, the king of Moab requests of Bilaam, a renowned prophet, to curse Benei Yisrael because he believed them to be a threat to his nation. Three times does Bilaam attempt to curse Benei Yisrael, and three times does HaKadosh Barukh Hu put only blessings in Bilaam’s mouth. It came to a point where Bilaam and his donkey were stopped on the way by an angel holding a sword, threatening to kill them. Bilaam’s donkey even began to speak, chastising him.

My question here, and it is a fundamental one, is why did HaShem give the other nations the power of prophecy? Why would Bilaam even have the power to bless and curse in the first place? HaKadosh Barukh Hu, in His infinite wisdom, donned the privilege of prophecy on a representative of the goyim so that they may serve Him. How so? When the other nations see that Benei Yisrael have prophets, they may justify not doing the missvot  (the seven that they have) by the fact that they do not have a prophetic leader, giving the excuse that Benei Yisrael follow the missvot through the connection they have with HaShem; a Navi, a prophet. When Bilaam was given this privilage, he abused it. If HaKadoh Barukh Hu gave him this G-dly right, they should he not have used it to serve the very G-d that gave it to him? Instead, he used it to curse. What he did not realize is that, if HaShem gave him this power, then of course, the same HaShem can control it! When Bilaam tried to curse Am Yisrael, it only turned into a sweet blessing.

Sometimes, we tend to utilize our G-dly gifts for the wrong things. If we understand where our talents, opportunities and our potential come from, we will realize what to use them for. HaKadosh gives us every single tool and faculty we need in order to serve Him. We just need to identify them. Once we do, we are able to maximize our potential and turn any seeming curses into absolute blessing by connecting to our ultimate Creator. Every single person is gifted with a separate set of ‘tools’. This is why we are all so different. This is also why one should never want what his fellow has. Sometimes, we forget who we are and try so hard to be somebody else. But we do not realize that in attempting to do so we will not be successful at being either one. Be good at what you are, excel in your own dominion,For the moment you give up the essence of who you are, you will forget who you used to be. And when you need very much so to access your inner self, to recall facilities entitled to only you, you will find that as much as you search, as loud as you scream, you will never find what you call for; you simply left nobody there inside to listen. We must embrace wholly who we are and work only to strengthen the gifts that we have been blessed with. Be’ezrat HaShem we should all have the koah and clarity to identify what our G-d given gifts are and to use them for all the right reasons bringing only blessings onto our lives and the lives of those around us.

Wishing everybody a Shabbat Shalom u’Mevorakh! I hope it is special, just like you are!

Ariella Samimi