Balak (parsha)

Balak (בלק — Hebrew for “Balak,” a name, the second word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 40th weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the seventh in the book of Numbers. It constitutes Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in late June or July.
The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying among years. In most years (for example, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 ), parshah Balak is read separately. In some years (for example, 2009), parshah Balak is combined with the previous parshah, Chukat, to help achieve the appropriate number of weekly readings.
==Summary==
===Balak’s invitation to Balaam===
Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, grew alarmed at the Israelites’ military victories among the Amorites. () He consulted with the elders of Midian and sent elders of Moab and Midian to the land by the Euphrates to invite the prophet Balaam to come and curse the Israelites for him. () Balaam told them: “Spend the night here, and I shall reply to you as the Lord may instruct me.” () God came to Balaam and said: “You must not curse that people, for they are blessed.” () In the morning, Balaam asked Balak's dignitaries to leave, as God would not let him go with them, and they left and reported Balaam's answer to Balak. () Then Balak sent more numerous and distinguished dignitaries, who offered Balaam rich rewards in return for damning the Israelites. () But Balaam replied: “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, big or little, contrary to the command of the Lord my God.” () But Balaam invited the dignitaries to stay overnight to let Balaam find out what else God might say to him, and that night God told Balaam: “If these men have come to invite you, you may go with them.” () 
===Balaam and the donkey===
In the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and departed with the dignitaries, but God was incensed at his going and placed an angel in Balaam's way. () When the donkey saw the angel standing in the way holding his drawn sword, the donkey swerved from the road into the fields, and Balaam beat the ass to turn her back onto the road. () The angel then stationed himself in a lane with a fence on either side. () Seeing the angel, the donkey pressed herself and Balaam's foot against the wall, so he beat her again. () The angel then stationed himself on a narrow spot that allowed no room to swerve right or left, and the donkey lay down under Balaam, and Balaam became furious and beat the ass with his stick. () Then God allowed the donkey to speak, and she complained to Balaam. () And then God allowed Balaam to see the angel, and Balaam bowed down to the ground. () The angel questioned Balaam for beating his donkey, noting that she had saved Balaam's life. () Balaam admitted his error and offered to turn back if the angel still disapproved. () But the angel told Balaam: “Go with the men. But you must say nothing except what I tell you.” So Balaam went on. ()
===Balaam’s blessing===
Balak went out to meet Balaam on the Arnon border, and asked him why he didn’t come earlier. () But Balaam told Balak that he could utter only the words that God put into his mouth. () They went together to Kiriath-huzoth, where Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and they ate. () In the morning, Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth-Baal, overlooking the Israelites. () Balaam had Balak build seven altars, and they offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. () Then Balaam asked Balak to wait while Balaam went off alone to see if God would grant him a manifestation. () God appeared to Balaam and told him what to say. () 
Balaam returned and said: “How can I damn whom God has not damned, how doom when the Lord has not doomed? . . . Who can count the dust of Jacob, number the dust-cloud of Israel? May I die the death of the upright, may my fate be like theirs!” () Balak complained that he had brought Balaam to damn the Israelites, but instead Balaam blessed them. () Balaam replied that he could only repeat what God put in his mouth. () 
Then Balak took Balaam to the summit of Pisgah, once offered a bull and a ram on each of seven altars, and once again Balaam asked Balak to wait while Balaam went off alone to seek a manifestation, and once again God told him what to say. () Balaam returned and told Balak: “My message was to bless: When He blesses, I cannot reverse it. No harm is in sight for Jacob, no woe in view for Israel. The Lord their God is with them.” () Then Balak told Balaam at least not to bless them, but Balaam replied that he had to do whatever God directed. () 
Then Balak took Balaam to the peak of Peor, and once offered a bull and a ram on each of seven altars. () Balaam, seeing that it pleased God to bless Israel, immediately turned to the Israelites and blessed them: “How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! . . . They shall devour enemy nations, crush their bones, and smash their arrows. . . . Blessed are they who bless you, accursed they who curse you!” () Enraged, Balak complained and dismissed Balaam. () Balaam replied once again that he could not do contrary to God's command, and blessed Israelites once again, saying: “A scepter comes forth from Israel; it smashes the brow of Moab.” () Then Balaam set out back home, and Balak went his way. () 
===The sin of Baal-peor===
While the Israelites stayed at Shittim, the people went whoring with the Moabite women and worshiped their god Baal-peor, enraging God. () God told Moses to impale the ringleaders, and Moses directed Israel's officials to slay those who had attached themselves to Baal-peor. () When one of the Israelites publicly brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, Phinehas son of Eleazar took a spear, followed the Israelite into the chamber, and stabbed the Israelite and the woman through the belly. () Then the plague against the Israelites was checked, having killed 24,000. ()
==In classical rabbinic interpretation==
===Numbers chapter 22===
Classical Rabbinic interpretation viewed Balaam unfavorably. The Mishnah taught that Balaam was one of four commoners who have no portion in the world to come, along with Doeg, Ahitophel, and Gehazi. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:2; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 90a.) Following the teaching of Rabbi Joshua, the Gemara deduced from the Mishnah's statement that the gentile Balaam would not enter the world to come that other gentiles would do so. The Gemara read Balaam's name to demonstrate that he was “without a people” (belo am). Alternatively, the Gemara read Balaam's name to demonstrate that he “confused a people” (bilah am), namely the Israelites. Noting the similarity of Balaam's father name Beor to the Aramaic word for “beast” (be’ir), the Gemara read the allusion to Balaam's father in to demonstrate that Balaam committed bestiality. A Tanna taught that Beor was the same person as Cushan-rishathaim and Laban. As rishathaim means “two evils,” the Tanna deduced from the name Cushan-rishathaim that Beor perpetrated two evils on Israel — one in pursuing Jacob in Genesis and the other by oppressing the Jews in Judges . Noting that calls Balaam “the son of Beor” while says of Balaam “his son [was] Beor,” Rabbi Johanan deduced that Balaam's father Beor was like his son (less able) in matters of prophecy. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
Interpreting the words, “And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed,” in a Tanna taught that there never was peace between Midian and Moab, comparing them to two dogs in a kernel that always fought each other. Then a wolf attacked one, and the other concluded that if he did not help the first, then the wolf would attack the second tomorrow. So they joined to fight the wolf. And Rav Papa likened the cooperation of Moab and Midian to the saying: “The weasel and cat had a feast on the fat of the luckless.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
Noting that makes no mention of the princes of Midian, the Gemara deduced that they despaired as soon as Balaam told them (in ) that he would listen to God's instructions, for they reasoned that God would not curse Israel any more than a father would hate his son. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
Noting that in God told Balaam, “You shall not go with them,” yet in after Balaam impudently asked God a second time, God told Balaam, “Rise up and go with them,” Rav Nachman concluded that impudence, even in the face of Heaven, sometimes brings results. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
A Tanna taught in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar that intense love and hate can cause one to disregard the perquisites of one's social position. The Tanna deduced that love may do so from Abraham, for reports that “Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey,” rather than allow his servant to do so. Similarly, the Tanna deduced that hate may do so from Balaam, for reports that “Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey,” rather than allow his servant to do so. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105b.)
Expanding on the Gemara reported a conversation among Balak's emissaries, Balaam, and Balaam's donkey. Balak's emissaries asked Balaam, “Why didn’t you ride your horse?”
Balaam replied, “I have put it out to pasture.”
But Balaam's donkey asked Balaam (in the words of ), “Am I not your donkey?”
Balaam replied, “Merely for carrying loads.”
Balaam's donkey said (in the words of ), “Upon which you have ridden.”
Balaam replied, “That was only by chance.”
Balaam's donkey insisted (in the words of ), “Ever since I was yours until this day.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105b.)
===Numbers chapter 23===
Rabbi Johanan deduced from the words “and he walked haltingly” in that Balaam was disabled in one leg. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
Rabbi Johanan interpreted the words "And the Lord put a word (or 'a thing') in Balaam's mouth" in to indicate that God put a hook in Balaam's mouth, playing Balaam like a fish. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105b.) Similarly, a midrash taught that God controlled Balaam's mouth as a person who puts a bit into the mouth of a beast and makes it go in the direction the person pleases. (Numbers Rabbah 20:20.)
Rabbi Samuel bar Nahmani interpreted the words “that the Lord your God shall keep for you” in Deuteronomy teaching that all the good that Israel enjoys in this world results from the blessings with which Balaam blessed Israel, but the blessings with which the Patriarchs blessed Israel are reserved for the time to come, as signified by the words, “that the Lord your God shall keep for you.” (Deuteronomy Rabbah 3:4.)
The Gemara interpreted the words “knowing the mind of the most High” in to mean that Balaam knew how to tell the exact moment when God was angry. The Gemara taught that this was related to what Micah meant (in Micah in the haftarah for the parshah) when he told the Israelites (quoting God): “O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; . . . that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” The Gemara taught that by the words “that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord,” God meant to say to the Israelites, “You should know how many acts of charity I performed for you, in that I did not become angry all that time, in the days of wicked Balaam; for had I become angry at that time, no Israelite would have remained alive or been spared.” And the Gemara indicated that this is why Balaam told Balak in “How can I curse whom God has not cursed? or how shall I become angry, when the Lord has not become angry?” For Balaam knew that God was not angry at the Israelites. The Gemara thus concluded that for all of the time of the Balaam story, God had not been angry. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105b.) 
The Gemara interpreted Balaam's words, “Let me die the death of the righteous,” in to foretell that he would not enter the world to come. The Gemara interpreted those words to mean that if Balaam died a natural death like the righteous, then his end would be like that of the Jewish people, but if he died a violent death, then he would go to the same fate as the wicked. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
===Numbers chapter 24===
The Gemara deduced from the words “the man whose eye is open” in which refer to only one open eye, that Balaam was blind in one eye. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.) 
===Numbers chapter 25===
Rabbi Johanan taught that wherever Scripture uses the term “And he abode” (vayeshev), as it does in it presages trouble. Thus in “And Israel abode in Shittim” is followed by “and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.” In “And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan,” is followed by “and Joseph brought to his father their evil report.” In “And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen,” is followed by “And the time drew near that Israel must die.” In 1 Kings “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree,” is followed by “And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was the king’s seed in Edom.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 106a.)
Rabbi Johanan taught that Phinehas was able to accomplish his act of zealotry only because God performed six miracles: First, upon hearing Phinehas's warning, Zimri should have withdrawn from Cozbi and ended his transgression, but he did not. Second, Zimri should have cried out for help from his fellow Simeonites, but he did not. Third, Phinheas was able to drive his spear exactly through the sexual organs of Zimri and Cozbi as they were engaged in the act. Fourth, Zimri and Cozbi did not slip off the spear, but remained fixed so that others could witness their transgression. Fifth, an angel came and lifted up the lintel so that Phinheas could exit holding the spear. And sixth, an angel came and sowed destruction among the people, distracting the Simeonites from killing Phinheas. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 82b.)
==Commandments==
According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are no commandments in the parshah. (Maimonides. Mishneh Torah. Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 4:171. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1988. ISBN 0-87306-457-7.)
==Haftarah==
The haftarah for the parshah is When parshah Balak is combined with parshah Chukat, the haftarah remains the haftarah for Balak.
In the haftarah in Micah quotes God's admonition to the Israelites to recall the events of the parshah, to “remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him.” The verb that the haftarah uses for “answer” (‘anah) in is a variation of the same verb that the parshah uses to describe Balaam’s “answer” (vaya‘an) to Balaak in the parshah in and And the first words of Balaam’s blessing of Israel in “how goodly” (ma tovu), are echoed in the haftarah’s admonition in of “what is good” (ma tov) in God’s sight, namely “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
==In the liturgy==
 
The Passover Haggadah, in the concluding nirtzah section of the Seder, quotes the words “who can count them” from to invoke blessing on the Jewish people. (Menachem Davis. The Interlinear Haggadah: The Passover Haggadah, with an Interlinear Translation, Instructions and Comments, 107. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-57819-064-9.)
Balaam’s blessing of Israel in constitutes the first line of the Ma Tovu prayer often said upon entering a synagogue or at the beginning of morning services. These words are the only prayer in the siddur attributed to a non-Jew. (Reuven Hammer. Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 61. New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2003. ISBN 0-916219-20-8. See also Menachem Davis. The Schottenstein Edition Siddur for Weekdays with an Interlinear Translation, 14. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-57819-686-8.)
==The Weekly Maqam==
In the Weekly Maqam, Sephardi Jews each week base the songs of the services on the content of that week's parshah. For parshah Balak, Sephardi Jews apply Maqam Mahour, the maqam that portrays emotional instability and anger. This maqam is similar to Maqam Rast in tune, except that it is higher in key. It is appropriate, because in this parshah, Balak became angered as the curses of Balaam were turning into blessings.
==Further reading==
The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:
===Ancient===
*Gildas Hamel, The Deir 'Alla Inscription. See also Jo Ann Hackett, Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla. Chico, Cal.: Scholars Press, 1984. And see also J. Hoftijzer & G. van der Kooij, The Balaam Text from Deir `Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21-24 August 1989. New York: E.J. Brill, 1991.
===Biblical===
* (talking animal); (rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him).
*Exodus (sacrifices to another god; zealots kill apostates; zealots rewarded with priestly standing; plague as punishment; leader makes atonement); (foreign women and apostasy).
* (Balaam; Phinehas, war with Midian).
* (Baal Peor); (Balaam).
*Joshua (Balaam the son of Beor the sorcerer); (Baal Peor); 
*Jeremiah (tents, dwellings).
*Hosea (Baal Peor).
* (Balaam).
*Nehemiah 
*Psalms (like a tree planted); (lying lips be dumb); (God brings the counsel of the nations to nothing); (disregard for the wealth of this world); (speaking a parable); (shout); (Baal Peor); (rod out of Zion); (precious to God the death of God’s servants).
===Early nonrabbinic===
*1 Maccabees chs. 1–16. (parallel to Phinehas).
*4 Maccabees 18:12.
*Instruction for Catechumens, and A Prayer of Praise of God for His Greatness, and for His Appointment of Leaders for His People. In “Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers,” in James H. Charlesworth. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2:687–88. New York: Doubleday, 1985. ISBN 0-385-18813-7.
*Pseudo-Philo 18:1–14; 28:1–4.
*Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 6:1–7. Circa 93–94. Reprinted in, e.g., The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition. Translated by William Whiston, 108–10. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8.
*Matthew 2:1–12. (See also R.E. Brown, “The Balaam Narrative,” The Birth of the Messiah, 190–96. Garden City, N.Y., 1977.)
*2 Peter 2:15 (Balaam).
*Jude 1:11 (Balaam).
*Revelation 2:14 (Balaam).
===Classical rabbinic===
*Mishnah: Sanhedrin 9:6; 10:2; Avot 5:6, 19. Land of Israel, circa 200 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 604, 686, 689. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4.
*Jerusalem Talmud: Maaser Sheni 44b. Land of Israel, circa 400 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Yerushalmi. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vol. 10. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006–2009.
*Babylonian Talmud: Berakhot 7a, 12b, 16a, 38a; Shabbat 64a, 105a; Pesachim 54a, 111a; Rosh Hashanah 11a, 32b; Taanit 20a; Chagigah 2a; Nedarim 32a, 81a; Nazir 23b; Sotah 10a, 11a, 14a, 41b, 43a, 46b, 47a; Gittin 68b; Kiddushin 4a; Bava Kamma 38a; Bava Batra 14b, 60a, 109b; Sanhedrin 34b–35a, 39b, 40b, 44a, 56a, 64a, 82a, 92a, 93b, 105a–06a; Makkot 10b; Avodah Zarah 4b, 25a, 44b; Horayot 10b; Menachot 66b; Chullin 19b, 35b, 134b; Bekhorot 5b; Keritot 22a; Niddah 19b, 31a, 55b. Babylonia, 6th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Bavli. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.
===Medieval===
*Solomon ibn Gabirol. A Crown for the King, 36:493. Spain, 11th Century. Translated by David R. Slavitt, 66–67. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-511962-2.
*Rashi. Commentary. Numbers 22–25. Troyes, France, late 11th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi's Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 4:269–317. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997. ISBN 0-89906-029-3.
*Judah Halevi. Kuzari. 1:115. Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. Reprinted in, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel. Intro. by Henry Slonimsky, 80. New York: Schocken, 1964. ISBN 0-8052-0075-4.
*Numbers Rabbah 20:1–25. 12th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Numbers. Translated by Judah J. Slotki. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
*Zohar 3:184b–212b. Spain, late 13th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., The Zohar. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1934.
===Modern===
*Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, Review & Conclusion. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, 723–24. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0140431950.
*Abraham Isaac Kook. The Lights of Penitence, 15:11. 1925. Reprinted in Abraham Isaac Kook: the Lights of Penitence, the Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letters, and Poems. Translated by Ben Zion Bokser, 118. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press 1978. ISBN 0-8091-2159-X.
*Adin Steinsaltz. The Thirteen Petalled Rose: A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence And Belief. Translated by Yehuda Hanegbi, 12–13. New York: Basic Books, 1980. ISBN 0-465-08560-1.
*Ira Clark. “Balaam’s Ass: Suture or Structure.” In Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives: Volume II. Edited by Kenneth R.R. Gros Louis, with James S. Ackerman, 137–44. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1982. ISBN 0-687-22132-3.
*André Lemaire. “Fragments from the Book of Balaam Found at Deir Alla: Text foretells cosmic disaster.” Biblical Archaeology Review, 11:05. Sept./Oct. 1985.
*Jacob Milgrom. The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation, 185–215, 467–80. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990. ISBN 0-8276-0329-0.
*Mary Douglas. In the Wilderness: The Doctrine of Defilement in the Book of Numbers, xix, 86–87, 100, 121, 123, 136, 188, 191, 200–01, 211, 214, 216–18, 220–24. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Reprinted 2004. ISBN 0-19-924541-X.
*Aaron Wildavsky. Assimilation versus Separation: Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel, 31. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993. ISBN 1-56000-081-3.
*Baruch A. Levine. Numbers 21–36, 4A:135–303. New York: Anchor Bible, 2000. ISBN 0-385-41256-8.
==See also==
*Balaam in Hellenistic literature
*Islamic view of Balaam
==External links==
*Masoretic text and 1917 JPS translation
*Hear the parshah chanted
Category:Weekly Torah readings
fr:Balak (parasha)
he:פרשת בלק