Balak 5773 - English

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Comunidad Hebrea de Guadalajara

Planning vacations can turn out to be exhausting, but also extremely interesting.  There are those who choose to go always to the same place, while others prefer to visit places they have never been before.

Personally, both for Jessica and for me, we like to choose unknown geographies and, for the last couple of years, we have chosen mountain sceneries.  Perhaps because we both come from an absolutely flat city at sea level, we both enjoy resting after a nice walk, gazing at one of those spectacular views that mountains usually offer.

Who has not marveled some time with a vision such as these?  Who has not felt the need to thank God, for giving us such beautiful landscapes?  When I gaze at those picture-perfect settings, I generally come back to the words of the Psalm that say Ma gadlu ma’asecha Yah…, “How great are your works, Lord.”  And even if this sounds too biblical, I am sure that each one of you has a similar phrase with which you can connect to your own feelings and perceptions.

The advantage of having before our eyes a large number of kilometers to look down upon, is that we cover a lot of space with a simple glance.  The disadvantage, on the other hand, is that we lose definition and therefore, we usually overlook some differences in color and contrast, which go unnoticed among all that is there to see.

In this week’s Parashah, we find a man, the prophet Balaam, who climbs several mountains in order to see the Israel encampment.  Balaam, from a distance, is a man who can see and who, thrilled by what he can see, will end up saying, Ma Tovu Ohalecha Yaakov… “How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwellings, Israel.”

But just as Balaam can see and feel moved at a distance, he is incapable of looking up close, discovering what really surrounds him in his daily life.  That is why when he is on the path to the mountain; he cannot realize that a divine angel steps in his way.  Even more, the biblical text is very ironic about it:  that which Balaam, the sage and prophet, could not see, was something that even a donkey could perceive.

And I think that in this sense, there are times when we very much resemble Balaam.  It is not easy to perceive God’s presence and praise His work of creation when seen at a distance, but it is even more difficult to acknowledge His presence in our daily lives.  The good thing is that we can still escape the routine and go in search of those visions, which allow us to reconcile with the divine and coexist among us.  The bad thing is that we need that escape in order to react.

According to the Torah, when Balaam finally realizes the presence of the angel, he exclaims and says, Chatati ki lo yadati…, “I have sinned, for I did not know.”  Either for forgetfulness or for ignorance, we often do wrong by not recognizing that we are individually and continuously invited to pact again with the divine around us, and with the transcendental of which we are part.  Many times, we evade our responsibility as partners of God in His work of creation, withdrawing because we prefer to look from afar than to be in the middle of things.  Because looking from afar means to not be involved; because looking from afar implies no commitment.

That is why our tradition systematically invites us to commit and take action.  Because by doing, we create, and we discover once again the transcendental covenant that unites us with God.

We do by blessing the bread and the table, taking in blessing the work of our hands.

We do by participating in our institutions, because through our acts, we grow as a family and strengthen as a community.

We do by watching up close and recognizing the miracles that surround us, not falling into the temptation of taking for granted the bread we eat, the clothes we wear, the roof that shelters us, and the people who love us.

We do by opening our eyes and discovering ourselves in the other, who is nothing less than the image and likeness of the divine that lives in each one of us.  We do by acknowledging them, we do by embracing them, and we do by inviting them to make this world a better place.

Balaam was known as a great prophet, and even so he was unable to see beyond his own visions.  Our tradition invites us to not repeat this mistake, because even if we are no prophets, we are God’s partners in these lands.

Shabbat Shalom u’Meborah!