Parashat Balak 5784

On November 2nd, 2016 at around 3am, I came home from one of the worst nights of many of our lives, the night of the presidential election. Crawling into bed with my cat Yossi at the foot, I hoped to dream it all away, that I would wake up and learn it was all one horrible nightmare. “Yossi,” I said in my delusion, while weeping, “Trump won the election,” as if he needed to know. I then proceeded to do something kind of questionable for a rabbi and I said, “Yossi, Can you fix this? Please.” I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting. That maybe my cat, with his lofty name of Yossi Zalman Goldstein, would transform into a Rebbe, putting a special word into the Universe for me and for us? Or, maybe he would speak back with some sort of sage wisdom. Instead, without skipping a beat, my empathic kitty proceeded to vomit all over my bed. 

“Ugh, same.” I said. We were so connected. 

This week, unlike my cat, we have an animal that actually does speak. Out of fear of the Israelites who have just conquered the Emorites, the Moabite King Balak orders his magician Balaam to curse the Israelite people. On the way to his cursing spot atop a mountain, Balaam’s donkey would not move forward, seeing the angel that God had placed before them to stop them on their path. Balaam strikes the donkey, not seeing the angel on the path. God opens the mouth of the donkey, who says, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Balaam said to the donkey: “Because you have mocked me; would there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you.”The donkey said to Balaam, in a tender moment of connection, “Am not I your donkey, upon which you have ridden all your life to this day? Would I ever want to do so to you?” And he said, “No.” Then God opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed down his head and fell on his face.

When Balaam saw the angel standing before him, he instructed that he should indeed go, but that he could only say that which God put in his mouth. On three different mountains, in three different attempts to curse and fulfill the will of Balak, what instead flows from Balaam’s mouth are blessings and praises of the Israelite people, including a blessing we say every day 

ַמה־ּ֥טֹבּו אָֹהֶ֖לי יֲַע֑קֹב ִמ ְׁש ְּכנֶֹ֖תי יִ ְׂשָרֵאֽל׃ 

How fair are your tents, O Jacob. Your dwellings, O Israel! 

All of the whimsy and magic in our parsha seems to be pointing to the same place: that blessings, guidance and inspiration can come from the most unexpected places. That, if we tune in, open our eyes, and put down our weapons (literal or metaphorical), we will be able to see things that we are unable to see in our day-to-day tunnel vision and limited perspectives. 

In the spirit of this parsha, I tried to ask my cat what to say about current events this week and he weirdly didn’t have any answers (that I could hear, at least). 

But, as the world and the news continue to reflect doom and gloom, how can we continue to keep our minds fresh and open to new understandings and perspectives? 

This coming week, we will enter the Three Weeks, a time traditionally set aside for mourning and grief on our calendar. When I tell people that I feel excited for the Three Weeks this year, they look at me with confusion. Why would you be excited to work with grief and sorrow? To work your way down into the depths from the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av? Because, our tradition tells us that the most beautiful, hopeful, and expansive things come from the darkest places. We are told that Moshiach/the messianic age, will be birthed on Tisha b’Av, which is perhaps less of a literal prediction and more of a metaphorical encouragement to not be afraid of the dark. To dive in, to go deep, and to be curious and see what gems can be foraged there.

As we enter these three weeks, and this new political climate, may we be blessed with curiosity and presence. May we be blessed with the knowledge that we truly do not know, that there are endless possibilities and the ones that scare us the most are only a fraction of them. May we be blessed to receive blessings from the most unexpected places, and most importantly, may our human and animal friends remind us of the fact that we are not alone as we embark on this new path. 

Shabbat Shalom.