It is a story all about the Jews, yet the Jews play no role in it. It contains some of the most common phrases in Jewish life, yet they are not the words of any Jew. This week’s Parasha tells the fascinating story of Balak and Bilaam. Balak, King of Moav, sees the Jews camped at his borders, and is consumed by sickly fear. The Jewish People have recently defeated two local military superpowers. They have reached their final stop before crossing into their promised land. They pose Balak no danger, but he feels threatened. Cannily, he observes that military means will not succeed against the Jews, so he tries an alternative method. He engages the services of Bilaam to curse the people. Bilaam’s spiritual prowess is known; his blessings and his curses work. After a series of delays, two dreams and one talking donkey, Bilaam arrives, desperate to curse the Jews, but with no Divine mandate to do so. He tries and fails three times: he blesses the people he was hired to curse.

There are two questions we must ask: First, why? Why is this story even included in the Torah? Were it not mentioned, the Jews would not have even been aware of it. How would they know that on a distant hill there were two men trying and failing to curse them? It is safe to assume that over the long and rocky course of Jewish history there have been numerous attempts to inflict harm upon the Jews that we will never know about. Why are we told of this one? Secondly, why now? This tale acts as a strange interlude in the middle of Sefer Bamidbar. The stories before and after........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)