Behold, a people that rises like a lioness

(Numbers 23:24)

Tammuz 16, 5778/June 29, 2018

There was a certain sense of deja vu this week as Britian's Prince William ascended the Temple Mount in the company of the Muslim Mufti. We've all been through this before, some four thousand years ago, plus/minus, when the evil Balak, king of Moav led the Midianite prophet Bilaam from high place to high place, trying desperately to elicit from him a curse against the nation of Israel. It is a loose analogy, to be sure - Prince William is no Bilaam. But the intentions of the Mufti of Jerusalem were no doubt identical to those of Balak, a spiritual body blow to be delivered to the Israelite tribes.

"The ties between the United Kingdom and Israel have never been stronger"the Prince declared this week in Jerusalem, and his words most certainly ring true. The Jews were twice expelled from England, and Britain's managing of Mandatory Palestine was bungling at best and, more often than not, fatally hostile to the very Jewish people whose benefit it was intended to serve. "HaShem, his G-d, is with him, and he has the King's friendship" (Numbers 23:21) Bilaam said of Israel, and no doubt he meant it. After all, Bilaam made it clear to Balak repeatedly that he could only utter the words that HaShem would place in his mouth.

Bilaam's intentions are unclear throughout the story. Why did he agree to go to Balak when G-d told him no? Did he do it for profit, despite his vehement denial? Was he a prophet for hire? At best, like Prince William, he was just a man trying his level-headed best to tiptoe unharmed through a political minefield, giving every side what he assumed they wanted to hear. He went the entire nine yards with Balak, dutifully trudging from high place to high place, yet when he opened his mouth, "How goodly are your tents, O Yaakov, your dwelling places, O Israel!" (ibid 24:5) is what came out.

Balak, however, was a different story. His intentions were crystal clear. Even though Israel posed no mortal threat to his people, he was determined to keep Israel from entering the promised land of Canaan and establishing a world order-shaking Torah based society, with G-d in its midst and the Holy Temple as its beating heart. So too are the intentions of the Mufti and the 'people' he represents. His chiefest goal is to block in every way possible Israel's sovereignty on the Temple Mount and the building of the Holy Temple. Like Balak, he too sees the failed military campaigns waged by the neighboring nations against the children of Israel. And like Balak, in his desperation, has turned to the perceived power of words and optics. Sometimes referred to as public opinion, it is a no-holds-barred war of egregious lies and vile propaganda, or in the language of Balak, the thunderbolt like weapon of the curse: words so damaging to a nation's international standing and self confidence that the result can be deadly, even to a genocidal degree.

What a splendid opportunity was afforded the Mufti of Jerusalem by Prince William's visit to the Temple Mount! What better high place to escort him through in order to manipulate some form of a curse out of William's presence on the Mount in the company of Muslim Waqf dignitaries! But, alas, Prince William only said nice things about Israel, and after his visit, William, like "Bilaam arose, went, and returned home, and Balak went on his way," (ibid 24:25) but not before William uttered a Bilaam-like end of days prophecy, similarly saying to his Israel interlocutors that he is "also looking forward to a much more hopeful future." A future that includes a rebuilt Holy Temple, no doubt, although that remained unspoken.

Curiously, the Torah reading all about the heathen prophet Bilaam is not named after Bilaam. Despite his unchallenged intellectual prowess or his access to prophecy, Bilaam is not granted the honor of a parasha being named after him. That honor goes to Balak. And that tells a lot. Balak was a basic nothing. Based on Torah's unusual wording that "Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moav at that time," our sages teach us that Balak was not even entitled to the monarchy. Kingship, for the moment, fell into his lap, but he left no legacy, no visible mark on history other than his woebegone attempt to direct G-d's anger at Israel by hiring a mercenary wordsmith and spin master. He was no more than what former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis would call his wannabe vanquishers, a member of the "Bum of the Month Club," just one of many hapless adversaries who have arisen throughout the millennia determined to stop Israel dead in her tracks, and by doing so, keeping the world safe for tyrants and free from G-d's dominion.

Bilaam, on the other hand, was a man invested with tremendous potential for good. Our sages tell us that he could have been a contender for Moshe's role as deliverer of Israel from Egypt, instead of the bum which he was. Despite his brilliant mind, he treated his conscience as a dumb ass upon which he could ride in any direction he pleased, and beat it with a stick when it dared to raise a doubt in its master's heart. How shocked he must have been when his she-ass opened its mouth and Bilaam saw before him an angel of G-d, blocking his path. Unfortunately for him he didn't arise and return home at that very moment.

Israel, the intended victim of Bilaam's silver-tongued eloquence, originally earned its name "because you have commanding power with G-d and with men, and you have prevailed." (Genesis 32:29) The incidental Balaks and Bilaams, the losers that litter our history are no match for the perennial champions of Israel, the Yehoshuas and Calevs and Pinchases who rise up to lead the nation of Israel from high place to high place. Theirs are the names to remember. "Behold, a people that rises like a lioness and raises itself like a lion." (Numbers 23:24) Long live Israel!

-The Temple Institute