Parashat Balak - What is Home?: Ma Tovu and our many Sacred Spaces

Parshat Balak  (Numbers 22:2-25.9)

In Parshat Balak we receive words of blessing from the non-Israelite prophet Balaam. The Torah, and subsequently the sages, see Balaam as a true prophet, one who has true communication with God.  Balaam is not a prophet on the same level or of the same stature as Moshe – no one is – but he’s up there. Not only that, but the words of this nonIsraelite prophet make their way into our morning liturgy. 

מַה־טֹּ֥בוּ אֹהָלֶ֖יךָ יַעֲקֹ֑ב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶ֖יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃   

How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!

Ma Tovu (Numbers 24:5) is but a simple blessing on the goodliness of Israel’s homes. But if COVID has shown us anything, it is that we can no longer take anything for granted. This includes the the meaning of אֹהָלֶ֖יךָ/ Ohalecha – your tents or מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶ֖יךָ/Mishkenatecha your dwellings or sanctuaries. 

So let’s parse this out – what is a home? 

As Ma Tovu is a 6 word blessing, here are 6 synonyms for the word home. The number 6 isn’t truly meaningful here, it just felt right. Though, when one thinks about it – God did create the world in 6 days. So perhaps in those 6 days we were given a variety of meanings and understandings of the word “home.”

1. Ohel – (tent) – ohel mohed, Tent of Meeting that housed the ark in the desert
2. Mishkan (dwelling place) term used for the portable Tabernacle
3. Bayit –(house) an intimate domestic space sheltering families from the element 
4. Heichal (palace) the abode of a king
5. M’on (refuge) where wild beasts seek safety from predators
6. Makom (place) my favorite meaning of all. It is one of the many names of the Omnipresent God in our lives and experiences BUT it also means just a space – of ANY kind that we decide we want to designate as “home.”

What did Balaam see when he went to curse the Israelites for Balak, King of the Moabites? 

According to Rashi, when Balaam looked out from Mt Peor over the Israelite camp, he saw the Israelites encamped in such a way as to  guarantees the privacy for each home. The tents/dwelling were placed such that they did not directly face one another, thereby ensuring that  one could not look into another’s private spaces or eavesdrop on each other’s  conversations.  To Rashi, this shows a people with great modesty and respect for each other; concepts that are foreign for Balaam who was raised in an idolatrous and immoral culture. 

Rabbi J.H. Hertz, who edited the Hertz Chumash, says Balaam was swept away in rapt admiration of the Israelite encampments and homes that were arranged so harmoniously and peacefully.  He goes on to define the word tents as the tents of Torah and dwellings as synagogues. He wrote, “There loomed up before Balaam’s mental vision the schoolhouses and synagogues that ever been the source and secret of Israel’s spiritual strength. “ (p678 Hertz Chumash)

Much later than the Torah, the Talmud in Bava Batra 60a uses Ma Tovu as the source of a ruling that one cannot build a door directly opposite the door of a neighbor or make a window in line with a neighbor’s window. This ensures privacy and respect of personal dignity and is in keeping with the value of modesty in behavior. The Talmud writes that when Balaam saw the tents aligned (or one could say "mis"aligned) in such a way  he said, "If this is the case, these people are worthy of having the Divine Presence rest on them."

There are so many cliches about homes:  Home is where the heart is. A man’s home is his castle. There's no place like home. ....  

I want to look a bit more closely at Ma Tovu and discerning a new meaning of home and the prayer based on my experiences during COVID. 

מַה־טֹּ֥בוּ אֹהָלֶ֖יךָ יַעֲקֹ֑ב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶ֖יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃  

How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!

Where ever, how ever, we gather in community to pray, learn, rejoice, mourn, comfort, kick back, relax, sing, talk, even argue – it becomes our home. This space of gathering becomes our tents and it becomes our sanctuaries.  

Where ever, and how ever, we gather becomes our sacred space. Of course we want to gather physically if we can. But have learned that even if we can’t, our virtual space can become our sacred space. 

There is an expression:  "When two or three people study Torah, God is present."  Studying Torah is not just about the words and concepts, it is about being together in such a way that godliness is present and the sacred nature of being in relationship shines.

We are blessedly – I hope- at the tail end of the tsunami that is COVID. I don’t know what will come next or when it will come. But one thing that I hope we have learned from all this is that our synagogues, our holy communities, and even our homes,  are more than just physical spaces. We can survive and actually thrive as a community in whatever way we are able to be together – simply because our being together highlights sacred community and creates sacred space. 

An end note: I’m not saying that we should get rid of our buildings and do everything on-line. Besides making us continually run around in halachic-circles, this would, in time impact the fabric of our communal life. Being a Jew in community is not an either-or prposition; it is not either meeting in-person or meeting virtually. Nor is it that meeting in person is superior and meeting virtually is a poor relation. (mixed metaphors here, sorry). 

What I’m saying is that God is in the space in-between. Sacredness exists where we recognize it - be it in synagogue or at home or in a myriad of other dimensions. We are very blessed to recognize that that is the case. 

Thus my new understanding of Ma Tovu is as follows:  

מַה־טֹּ֥בוּ אֹהָלֶ֖יךָ יַעֲקֹ֑ב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶ֖יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃  

 How goodly are your homes O Israel that their sacredness can exist wherever it is intentionally invoked. 

Shabbat Shalom

Originally given at Tikvat Israel Congregation,  6/26/21

Parshat Balak: Second Chances

Parshat Balak: Second Chances

Numbers 22:2-25:9

  (This dvar Torah will appear in the Washington Jewish Week on July 3, 2014)

        

            In this week’s parsha we meet two of the more interesting characters in the Tanach, Balaam and his donkey. We meet Balaam son of Peor, a non-Jewish prophet, in the beginning of chapter 22.  Balak, King of the Moabites, reaches out to Balaam for help in cursing the Israelites. We meet Balaam’s donkey several verses later in Numbers 22:21: “Va’ yakom Balaam ba’boker, vayachavosh at atono…” “In the morning Balaam arose, and saddled his she-donkey….”

            This sentence is worth delving into because of its use of the expressions “arose” (va’ yakom) and “in the morning” (ba’boker) in the same sentence.  It seems redundant to use both expressions when just “arose” would do. Also, in biblical times, the early rising and saddling of one’s own animal was quite unusual for men of stature, the norm was to have servants carry out menial tasks. What is this verse trying to tell us?

            Talmud brings in a verse from Genesis (22:3) to help us understand. The verse states that, “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey...” Again we see the seeming redundancy of wording - rising early and in the morning. The Sages explained that Abraham rose early in his haste to perform a commandment (going to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son Isaac) and he saddled his own donkey because “Love [of God] disregards the rule of dignified conduct.” (Pesachim 4a, BR 55:8).

            Interestingly, the rabbis reacted quite differently to Balaam and noted that he shouldn’t try to pattern himself after the righteous Abraham. Rashi wrote, “From here [we learn] that hate causes a disregard for the standard of dignified conduct, for he saddled it himself. The Holy One, blessed is He, said, “Wicked one, their father Abraham has already preceded you…” (Mid. Tanchuma Balak 8). Balaam may act as if he were rushing to do God’s will, but he knew that he was doing something wrong in going with the Moabite dignitaries. This is where Balaam’s donkey comes in.

             Balaam’s donkey is an intriguing character.  She not only talks, but she speaks words of wisdom and in doing so becomes the hero of our parsha. The Torah utilizes one of the least intelligent of animals to out maneuver the wisest of men.  Where did this ability to speak and reason come from? To show the uniqueness of this animal, we are taught in Pirke Avot 5:9 that ten things were created at twilight between the end of the sixth day of Creation and Shabbat eve. Many of these are mystical items have seemingly magical properties and among these are the mouth of Balaam's donkey. Surely a donkey’s mouth created at this mystical time was intended for a specific purpose.

            There is one last tale that needs to be told.  There is a midrash that tells us that Balaam was one of three advisors to Pharaoh at the time our ancestors were slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh had a bad dream and called on advisors to help him interpret it. Balaam was one of those advisors. Before he went to advise Pharaoh, our forefather Jacob gave this wondrous donkey as a gift to Balaam. The purpose of the gift was to convince Balaam not to give evil counsel to Pharaoh concerning Jacob’s children. When the time came, Balaam either advised Pharaoh to throw all Israelite male children into the Nile (Sanhedrin 106a) or to force the Israelites to make bricks (Midrash Aggada Numbers 22:21). In this midrash, it is clear that Jacob’s gift did not do the trick. The donkey might have been able to influence Balaam but we will never know for she kept silent; she did not speak and the Israelites were not spared. 

            This week’s parsha seems to bring the story of Balaam and his donkey full circle. Both Balaam and his donkey are involved with Jacob and the Israelites in Egypt. As Balaam actively works to bring evil upon the Israelites, the donkey passively and quietly stands by and says nothing. Fast forward to our parsha and both Balaam and the donkey have a chance to redeem themselves. Balaam was known as a prophet with a connection to God; the donkey’s mouth itself was specially created by God. Although Balaam actively tried to continue on his path to bring evil upon the Israelites, the donkey chose to use this opportunity to redeem herself. She spoke up, used words of wisdom and logic, and tried to save both Balaam and the Israelites. 

            Second chances are rare and precious gifts. When we are presented with the gift of a second chance, we have to decide if we will be like the wise donkey and take advantage of the opportunity or the evil Balaam and let it all slip away.

Food for Thought:

Wisdom often comes to us from the most surprising places. Can you think of a time when you were taken off guard by the source of a piece of wisdom or good advice? Did you ever disregard good advice because of its source?

Take a look at the parsha, particularly chapter 22, verses 21-33. What do you think of the relationship between Balaam and his donkey? If you have a pet, does this remind you in any way of the relationship that you have with your animal? What do you think your animal would say if it could speak?

This Dvar Torah is dedicated to the memories of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Sha'ar and Naftali Frankel, the three teens who were kidnapped while on their way home from school in Gush Etzion and whose bodies were found yesterday. May their memories be for a blessing. 

My Complete Lovely Day

Hello from the Conservative Yeshiva (CY) in Jerusalem!

My intention had been to write a daily blog about my learning and teaching at the CY during my 6 weeks here - but classes started on Sunday and this is my first post. Something about this visit seems different than my previous visits but I don't know what it is.

I've been in J'slem a week now and have yet to wander about the city or go to the Old City/Western Wall at night. That's very unusual for me.  Also, the Yeshiva feels different to me - or perhaps it's that I've been feeling different at the Yeshiva. It might be because it's my first time there as a proper rabbi - whatever that is.   But also, I had really looked forward to doing my favorite thing - learning in the Beit Midrash and until today, my learning has been very flat.  Even my daily writing has been flat. But today that all changed.

Today was a near perfect day. I woke early and was at the Yeshiva before 7. I was able to spend a good 20 minutes meditating in the sunshine before anyone else arrived. This was very important for me as I teach a Learner's Minyan* (LM) each morning so I only get to daven 3 out of the 5 days of classes. I LOVE teaching the LM but I didn't realize how much I'd miss the structure that actualizing my daily personal spiritual practice provides me. The meditating this morning grounded me and I will continue to do it from now on.

*(Learner's Minyan - a class teaching the hows and whys and structure of daily prayer)

It's interesting - in the LM I made a point of telling the students in LM that our studying together each morning - with the occasional chant and prayer - is a form of prayer. And I stand by that. We are gathering together as an intentional community to study and learn liturgy and to learn/practice ways to increase our connection to the Awesome One. That is prayer. But even though I am totally energized by teaching this class of wonderful, thoughtful, interested people, my daily spiritual needs are not being met. So now they will be with the meditation. Thus the wonderful day began.

My intention is to spend the mornings writing - high holiday sermons, other divrei torah, curriculum, etc. To date I have not gotten very far. Today I was researching a dvar torah on parashat Balak and had an incredibly productive morning. Amazing how much there is to learn about Balaam's ass!

Afternoon learning was a class called "Shema, Tefilla and Bracha" taught by my friend and favorite teacher Rabbi Joel Levy, the Director of the CY.  A class with such a title has great promise as it focusses on my favorite topics (how egocentric I am!).  In this class we are looking at how the rabbis tried to create an infrastructure for spirituality and Jewish identity in order to sustain Jewish life in the diaspora.

In the first two classes we studied the mishna on the Shema and the parameters of when one is allowed to say the evening and morning Shema.

The message of this chapter, according to Rabbi Joel, is to provide a look at how the rhythms of our life are reflected through text and liturgy. The rhythms of our life are the rhythms of the Jewish people - and the story being told is how our individual stories and rhythms interweave with the rhythms of our people.

It reminds me of one of my favorite concepts - the idea of being one in a minyan. (I've written about this before).  Exercising the status and obligation of being one of ten people in a minyan is a powerful action. One makes a statement of belonging, believing and of peoplehood. One also is meshing or interweaving one's individual story and rhythm with the rhythm of our people. To participate in a minyan is to an individual that is part of group but also to be part of a group that is made up of individuals.  It proves that there is a way to be a member of a group, to be obligated and to fulfill that obligation without giving up one's individuality. For it is that very individuality that enables the group to exist and act on its purpose.

What does this have to do with the Shema class? Everything and a bit of nothing. But the point is the class got me thinking, B"H. And I'm pleased. My inner nerd is ecstatic. My inner yeshiva girl is dancing about and grinning widely.

I finished my day at the yeshiva doing more research on Balaam. Did you know that midrash has it that he buggered his ass b/c his affection for her was as if she were his wife? Scary, right?

Evening was spent getting a massage and then finishing the day with a group meditation session. The day was well rounded; I was grounded and centered; I got to teach; I was blessed with interesting learning both on my own and with a fantastic teacher. And I walked around Jerusalem a bit in the dark - one of my favorite activities.

Truly a complete and lovely day!