The prescribed reading from our Torah for this Shabbat Balak in the third year of the Triennial Cycle brings us to an interesting opportunity to consider the uses of power. King Balak of Moab sees the Israelite people emigrating through his people’s self-determined territory, and is concerned:
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מוֹאָ֜ב אֶל־זִקְנֵ֣י מִדְיָ֗ן עַתָּ֞ה יְלַחֲכ֤וּ הַקָּהָל֙ אֶת־כׇּל־סְבִ֣יבֹתֵ֔ינוּ כִּלְחֹ֣ךְ הַשּׁ֔וֹר אֵ֖ת יֶ֣רֶק הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה
Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick clean all that is about us as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” (Numbers 22.4)
Fear of the stranger is multiplied by concern for available resources. For King Balak of Moab and his Midianite neighbors, these immigrants are dangerous simply because they have appeared in proximity to the settlements of the Moabites. Such fear – reasonable or not – is not the only possible response to the arrival of a large group of strangers, but it is the one we are dealing with, both in the Torah and, alas, in the U.S. in these days. The tired repetition of old fears and old hatreds is demoralizing to those of us who have learned that another, more peaceful and loving way, is possible and preferable.
In our part of the parashah, Balak has set up a traditional response to the perceived threat: he hires a consultant, the prophet Balaam. Balaam (associated with an ancient, now Jordanian, archaeological site) brings all the regular, reassuring power to the moment:
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר בִּלְעָם֙ אֶל־בָּלָ֔ק בְּנֵה־לִ֥י בָזֶ֖ה שִׁבְעָ֣ה מִזְבְּחֹ֑ת וְהָכֵ֥ן לִי֙ בָּזֶ֔ה שִׁבְעָ֥ה פָרִ֖ים וְשִׁבְעָ֥ה אֵילִֽים׃
Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here and have seven bulls and seven rams ready here for me.” (Numbers 23.1)
No doubt this approach is tried and true, and has worked before. But both Balak and Balaam are stymied by the results, which are opposite of their intended effect. The learning comes – or doesn’t – in their reaction, which is to try the same thing again, and then a third time. There is a definition of insanity which is to cling to a strategy even when it demonstrably is not working: doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
Ironically, though, seen in a different way, the strategy did work the first time; the outcome was a true one, even though it was not the intended one. And this is the real difficulty: how do we see the truth of our situation when it is not what we are looking for? Balak’s behavior is that of the privileged one who is used to having his way, reduced to holding his hands over his ears and pretending he can’t hear the reality in front of him.
Balak is echoing inside of each of us in our own way. Each of us, sooner or later, confronts a reality that is not in line with our hopes and dreams. For Jews and those who love them, these times are overwhelming: not only is the State of Israel acting in a way that alienates and betrays all our dreams for it, but the U.S. is suddenly and decisively showing what some would insist is its true face in its descent into fascism.
No matter where we turn, hopeful expectations are exploded, no less surely than buildings hit by Iranian missiles in Tel Aviv. Lives are destroyed by ICE in our own neighborhoods no less completely than in Gaza. This is so very different from what we thought life would look like!
King Balak of Moab used tried and true methods in his attempt to manipulate reality. He just wasn’t willing to accept the results as the truth. It was too far from everything he knew and trusted. It takes time to navigate the painful distance between our dreams and this harsh truth.
How much time?
The amount of time it takes is probably related to the amount of ground that has to be covered, carrying world-dissolving heartbreak, from where we were to where we are. There is an important difference, in my opinion, between the ethical response of a liberal Jew of a certain age to a human catastrophe anywhere in the world and the enervation, confusion, shock and agony of discovering what the State of Israel is capable of. Only Jews who treat each other with compassion, because we belong to the same community regardless of our feelings about Israel, will be able to maintain community and ahavat Yisrael.
For us Jews and those who travel with us, we have this much: the possibility that we can hold hands and face the twin catastrophes together. Don’t try this alone at home.
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 