Matot Shabbat
July 26, 2008
I would like to thank Rabbi Michal Shekel for some of the citations in this Dvar Torah.
We have been told in many different ways, in many different places that there is nothing more important than a good name. Even when we have no other possessions, we can still be known by our good reputations. And when we leave the earth, it is our good name that will determine how long we stay in Gehinnom, the in between place, before we make our way to Heaven.
Two weeks ago we read about a prophet named Bilam who was forced to bless the Israelites even though he was hired to curse them. He was a model of a good prophet, listening to what God told him to do and doing it exactly in that way.
He is praised by some in our tradition. The prophet Micah mentions him in glowing terms: ‘My people, Remember what Balak king of Moav plotted against you, and how Bilam son of Beor responded to him (Micah 6:5).’ He is referring of course to Bilam blessing rather than cursing the Israelites.
We read even greater praise for Bilam from Midrash Rabbah ( Numbers 14:20): “When God spoke with Moshe, Moshe always stood and they spoke ‘mouth to mouth’ and ‘face to face.’ On the other hand, unlike Moshe, Bilam always knew that it was God speaking with him…and Bilam could initiate a dialogue whenever he pleased.” Here Bilam is certainly just as, and perhaps even more, powerfully connected to God than Moshe Rebbeinu.
But this week he is lumped in with the Midianites as the enemy of the Israelites. In fact we are told in Chapter 31, verse 8 that Bilam is killed along with the five Midianite kings. It’s hard to imagine that a person who blessed us three times just a few portions ago could suddenly become so hateful to the Israelites that he would be seen as our enemy and killed. We might wonder how Bilam lost his good name.
In Parashat Balak, right after Bilam blesses the Israelites, we read that the Midianite women come into the camp and seduced some of the Israelite men. In the first story Bilam is our hero while in the next one he is the instigator of an attempt to destroy us. We read in Chapter 31, Verse 16: ‘Behold, these [women who seduced the Israelite men] caused the people of Israel, through the counsel of Bilam, to commit trespass against Adonai in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of Adonai.’
What exactly did Bilam say to the Midianites? Rashi [citing Tractate
Sanhedrin (106b) and Midrash Sifre] explains that Bilam knew the Midianites could not conquer Israel with sheer numbers. In his commentary on Chapter 31, verse 16, Rashi imagines that Bilam says to the Midianites: ‘Are you more numerous than the Egyptians who had six hundred of the best chariots? Let me give you some advice. Their God abhors lascivious behavior.’ Bilam was giving them the idea that seducing the Israelite men would surely infuriate God who would then kill the Israelites Himself. And in fact that almost happened. God did bring a plague on the Israelites which stopped only when Pinchas killed the Israelite man and Midianite woman consorting in the Tent of Meeting.
And so Bilam falls to the lowest place possible in the estimation of our sages, In Pirkei Avot, Chapter 5, Mishna 19 we read: ‘The disciples of Bilam the Wicked possess an evil eye, a haughty spirit and an overambitious soul. …the disciples of Bilam the
Wicked inherit Gehinnom.’
Bilam teaches us once again that all of us are flawed. Regardless of how good our name is, all of us have the potential to follow our yetzer hara, our inclination to do evil. Bilam is a warning for us to be aware of our actions in the world. We need to take a heshbon ha-nefesh, an accounting of our soul as often as possible.
This is certainly the time of year, in getting ready for the High Holidays, that we begin to think about our actions throughout the last year. What have we done that we are proud of and for what do we have to do tshuvah, repentance?
Like Bilam we have great potential. We too know how to bless others and to be a blessing for them. But like Bilam, we also have the potential to lose our moral compass and act in ways that can damage our good name.
How can we maintain our bearings?
There is a 19th century Jewish teaching called Mussar, meaning ethics or morality. It teaches that our purpose in being alive is to try to achieve wholeness, Shleimut, perfect connection with God. At the same time, it teaches that we can never completely do this. But the very act of trying to achieve that connection keeps us examining what we are doing so that we do not as easily follow our yetzer hara, our inclination to act unethically.
Our good name is so important to us. In order to keep it, we need to examine our kavannot, our intentions for our actions. The more often we do this, the more likely it is that we will succeed in keeping our good name. Think about the last week. What actions did we make that followed our ethical underpinnings and which ones took us away from them?
As we approach the High Holidays it is never too soon to begin to look at our lives and decide which things we are doing that we want to continue and which ones we want to change. When Bilam blessed the Israelites, he was great and had great potential to continue in that way. Instead of experiencing his great success as humility, he tried to parley it into being a leader of the Midianites and bringing about the destruction of Israel. It didn’t work.
When we lose our way, forget to consult our moral compass, let’s remember the mistakes Bilam made and not repeat them as our mistakes. Let’s all carefully guard our good name because it’s the most important thing we have.