I have a much longer title for this week’s parsha post:

The Paradox of Global Opposition: Bilaam, the United Nations, and the Architecture of Divine Protection

Every year, as we read Parashas Balak, which is doubled in chu”l this year as Hukas-Balak, we are introduced to a character who is as structurally complex as he is spiritually corrupt. Bilaam is not a simple villain. He does not approach his task with the blunt force of Pharaoh’s chariots or the raw physical hatred of Amalek. Instead, Bilaam operates in the realm of diplomacy, metaphysics, and international alignment. He seeks to build a global consensus against the Jewish people. When we look at the contemporary geopolitical landscape, it is impossible not to experience a profound sense of *déjà vu*. We observe international bodies—most notably the United Nations—where diverse countries, often with zero common values, bitter territorial disputes, and opposing ideologies, seamlessly unite for one singular cause: the condemnation and isolation of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. How does a fractured world find such effortless unanimity when targeting Israel?

The blueprint for this bizarre phenomenon is found explicitly in our parsha encoded within an exchange between Bilaam and Hashem regarding the construction of altars. By analyzing a precise linguistic anomaly noted by Rashi, and unpacking its deep metaphysical reality through the Maharal of Prague in his Gur Aryeh, we can uncover a paradigm that explains not only what Bilaam was attempting to accomplish, but precisely why the global forums of today are designed, by Divine Providence, to host this very same struggle.

The Torah describes Bilaam’s preparation for his intended curses by noting his sacrifice:

וַיִּקָּר אֱלֹקִים אֶל בִּלְעָם וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֶת שִׁבְעַת הַmִּזְבְּחֹת עָרַכְתִּי וָאַעַל פָּר וָאַיִל בַּmִּזְבֵּעַ—*“And God met Bilaam, and he said to Him: ‘I have set in order the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar’”* (Bamidbar 23:4).

Rashi, acutely sensitive to the placement of the definitive article, stops us immediately. The text does not say, *Shiva mizbechot arachti* (“I have built seven altars”). It says, *Et shivat ha-mizbechot* (“**The** seven altars”). Rashi explains the psychological and historical argument Bilaam was presenting to the Almighty: > אָמַר לְפָנָיו אֲבוֹתֵיהֶם שֶׁל אֵלּוּ בָּנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ שִׁבְעָה מִזְבְּחוֹת וַאֲנִי עָרַכְתִּי כְּנֶגֶד כֻּלָּן > *“He said to Him: The ancestors of these people together built before Thee seven altars, but I alone have built altars equal to all of them.”* > Rashi goes on to itemize them: Abraham built four, Isaac built one, and Jacob built two. Collectively, they built seven.

Bilaam is engaging in a spiritual ledger-balancing act. He is telling Hashem that the cumulative historical merit of the Jewish Patriarchs, which spans three generations and accounts for seven distinct instances of altar-building, has just been........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)