How goodly are your tents, O Ya'akov, your dwelling places, O Israel!

(Numbers 24:5)

Tammuz 13, 5777/July 7, 2017

"He said to him, I won't go, for I will go to my land and to my birthplace."(Numbers 10:30)

"Bilaam arose, went, and returned to his place, and Balak went on his way." (ibid 24:25)

The first verse quoted above records the words of Yitro, the Midianite priest, one of the most beloved figures in Torah. The second verse quoted reflects the actions of Bilaam, the heathen prophet of Midian, among Torah's most reviled characters, and the equally pathetic Balak, king of Moav.

Balak "went on his way." Surely of a king Torah should state that Balak returned to his throne or to his people. But we have already been informed by Torah that "Balak the son of Tzippor was king of Moav at that time." (ibid 22:4) That is, Balakusurped the throne. He wasn't the legitimate king of Moav. He was a pretender, who picked a fight with a people, Israel, who had done him no harm. He saw that "they were numerous, and... became disgusted because of the children of Israel." (ibid 22:3) so Balak hired Bilaam, the mercenary prophet, the velvet tongued gun-for-hire, to curse Israel. Having failed to deliver on his money-back guaranteed curse, Bilaam, we are told, "returned to his place."

Bilaam and Yitro were two of Midian's finest. They were both world renowned experts in the field of idolatrous practices. In fact, Midrash informs us, they once worked side by side in the court of Pharaoh, who consulted with them as to how to solve the problem of the Israelites, whom, he perceived, as did Balak, as being too numerous for comfort. They parted ways as a direct result of Pharaoh's insistence that they provide a 'solution' to the Israelite 'problem.' And the underlying reason behind their parting of the ways can be detected in the two verses quoted above. Yitro, who took Moshe into his house, and wed him to his daughter, and blessed him when G-d told Moshe to return to his people enslaved in Egypt, and met Moshe in Sinai where he praised G-d for the miracles He performed for Israel, returned "to my land and to my birthplace." Yitro had a deep understanding and respect for the concept of peoplehood, the idea that a nation bound together through a covenant with G-d and a sacred purpose in life, is of far greater value and far greater benefit to mankind than a convenient gathering of individualists, each looking out for number one, and coalescing into a unified whole only when personal gain beckons. Yitro fell in love with the nation of Israel because he fell in love with what he understood to be the highest expression of human fraternity: a people within whose midst dwells G-d.

Bilaam, who "returned to his place," was a devoted individualist. All the great heights he acheived in his life, and there were many, were based on his number one philosophical principle: Me. And Bilaam is proof positive of how far one can rise in the esteem of others based on the prinicple of 'Me.' He took full advantage of the incredible intellect that G-d bequeathed to him, as He bequeathes to all man. And he was able to attach himself to G-d via the strength of his intellect, which he developed and honed and fine tuned over a lifetme, as a bodybuilder pumps and primes his body. But unlike Yitro, who saw and savored the unifying and healing power of G-d's loving kindness, Bilaamsought to inflame G-d's anger against His creation. Bilaam was the ultimate loner. What did he care if the world went to hell, and all the better if he had something to do with making that happen.

The name Bilaam can be understood in Hebrew as bli-am, that is, 'without a people!' Bilaam possessed the beautiful gift of prophecy, but without a people to direct G-d's message to in a caring and responsible manner, his prophecy became a vehicle of polarizing hatred and destruction. The Bilaamphenomenon, based on the disparagement of peoplehood, is making a comeback in the world today. Many western leaders have embraced the notion that peoplehood is an ugly expression of ethnocentricity and ill-willed particularism. The individual is supreme and society, in their eyes, is nothing more than a shared expression of self aggrandizement, a common arena of Me. Look around. These are the very same leaders that castigate Israel day and night. Like Balak, they are kings for a day and like Balak, they are "disgusted because of the children of Israel."

Bilaam's was a wasted life, and his gift of prophecy was a wasted gift. Ironically, he will be remembered forever by the words G-d placed in his mouth in his only real prophetic experience, when he tried to curse, but ultimately blessed Israel. Perhaps overwhelmed by the sheer nearness of the people of Israel, and daunted by the power of their unity, Bilaam was unable to play the 'Me' card that had always worked for him in the past. G-d overcame Bilaam's emnity toward Israel and placed in his mouth the words the people of Israel recite to this day, every morning upon waking: "How goodly are your tents, O Ya'akov, your dwelling places, O Israel!" (ibid 24:5)

-The Temple Institute