Balak (parsha)
Balak (בָּלָק — Hebrew for “Balak,” a name, the second word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 40th weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the seventh in the book of Numbers. It constitutes Numbers 22:2–25:9. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in late June or July.
The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying among years. In most years (for example, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 ), parshah Balak is read separately. In some years (for example, 2009, when the second day of Shavuot fell on a Sabbath in the Diaspora), parshah Balak is combined with the previous parshah, Chukat, to help achieve the appropriate number of weekly readings.
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[edit] Summary
[edit] Balak’s invitation to Balaam
Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, grew alarmed at the Israelites’ military victories among the Amorites. (Numbers 22:2–4.) He consulted with the elders of Midian and sent elders of Moab and Midian to the land by the Euphrates to invite the prophet Balaam to come and curse the Israelites for him. (Numbers 22:4–7.) Balaam told them: “Spend the night here, and I shall reply to you as the Lord may instruct me.” (Numbers 22:8.) God came to Balaam and said: “You must not curse that people, for they are blessed.” (Numbers 22:9–12.) In the morning, Balaam asked Balak’s dignitaries to leave, as God would not let him go with them, and they left and reported Balaam’s answer to Balak. (Numbers 22:13–14.) Then Balak sent more numerous and distinguished dignitaries, who offered Balaam rich rewards in return for damning the Israelites. (Numbers 22:15–17.) But Balaam replied: “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, big or little, contrary to the command of the Lord my God.” (Numbers 22:18.) Nonetheless, Balaam invited the dignitaries to stay overnight to let Balaam find out what else God might say to him, and that night God told Balaam: “If these men have come to invite you, you may go with them.” (Numbers 22:19–20.)
[edit] Balaam and the donkey
In the morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and departed with the dignitaries, but God was incensed at his going and placed an angel in Balaam’s way. (Numbers 22:21–22.) When the donkey saw the angel standing in the way holding his drawn sword, the donkey swerved from the road into the fields, and Balaam beat the ass to turn her back onto the road. (Numbers 22:23.) The angel then stationed himself in a lane with a fence on either side. (Numbers 22:24.) Seeing the angel, the donkey pressed herself and Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he beat her again. (Numbers 22:25.) The angel then stationed himself on a narrow spot that allowed no room to swerve right or left, and the donkey lay down under Balaam, and Balaam became furious and beat the ass with his stick. (Numbers 22:26–27.) Then God allowed the donkey to speak, and she complained to Balaam. (Numbers 22:28–30.) And then God allowed Balaam to see the angel, and Balaam bowed down to the ground. (Numbers 22:31.) The angel questioned Balaam for beating his donkey, noting that she had saved Balaam’s life. (Numbers 22:32–33.) Balaam admitted his error and offered to turn back if the angel still disapproved. (Numbers 22:34.) But the angel told Balaam: “Go with the men. But you must say nothing except what I tell you.” So Balaam went on. (Numbers 22:35.)
[edit] Balaam’s blessing
Balak went out to meet Balaam on the Arnon border, and asked him why he didn’t come earlier. (Numbers 22:36–37.) But Balaam told Balak that he could utter only the words that God put into his mouth. (Numbers 22:38.) They went together to Kiriath-huzoth, where Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and they ate. (Numbers 22:39–40.) In the morning, Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth-Baal, overlooking the Israelites. (Numbers 22:41.) Balaam had Balak build seven altars, and they offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. (Numbers 23:1–2.) Then Balaam asked Balak to wait while Balaam went off alone to see if God would grant him a manifestation. (Numbers 23:3.) God appeared to Balaam and told him what to say. (Numbers 23:4–5.)
Balaam returned and said: “How can I damn whom God has not damned, how doom when the Lord has not doomed? . . . Who can count the dust of Jacob, number the dust-cloud of Israel? May I die the death of the upright, may my fate be like theirs!” (Numbers 23:6–10.) Balak complained that he had brought Balaam to damn the Israelites, but instead Balaam blessed them. (Numbers 23:11.) Balaam replied that he could only repeat what God put in his mouth. (Numbers 23:12.)
Then Balak took Balaam to the summit of Pisgah, once offered a bull and a ram on each of seven altars, and once again Balaam asked Balak to wait while Balaam went off alone to seek a manifestation, and once again God told him what to say. (Numbers 23:13–16.) Balaam returned and told Balak: “My message was to bless: When He blesses, I cannot reverse it. No harm is in sight for Jacob, no woe in view for Israel. The Lord their God is with them.” (Numbers 23:17–21.) Then Balak told Balaam at least not to bless them, but Balaam replied that he had to do whatever God directed. (Numbers 23:25–26.)
Then Balak took Balaam to the peak of Peor, and once offered a bull and a ram on each of seven altars. (Numbers 23:27–30.) Balaam, seeing that it pleased God to bless Israel, immediately turned to the Israelites and blessed them: “How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! . . . They shall devour enemy nations, crush their bones, and smash their arrows. . . . Blessed are they who bless you, accursed they who curse you!” (Numbers 24:1–9.) Enraged, Balak complained and dismissed Balaam. (Numbers 24:10–11.) Balaam replied once again that he could not do contrary to God’s command, and blessed Israelites once again, saying: “A scepter comes forth from Israel; it smashes the brow of Moab.” (Numbers 24:11–24.) Then Balaam set out back home, and Balak went his way. (Numbers 24:25.)
[edit] The sin of Baal-peor
While the Israelites stayed at Shittim, the people went whoring with the Moabite women and worshiped their god Baal-peor, enraging God. (Numbers 25:1–3.) God told Moses to impale the ringleaders, and Moses directed Israel’s officials to slay those who had attached themselves to Baal-peor. (Numbers 25:4–5.) When one of the Israelites publicly brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, Phinehas son of Eleazar took a spear, followed the Israelite into the chamber, and stabbed the Israelite and the woman through the belly. (Numbers 25:6–8.) Then the plague against the Israelites was checked, having killed 24,000. (Numbers 25:8–9.)
[edit] In inner-Biblical interpretation
[edit] Numbers chapter 22
Micah 6:5 says that Balak consulted Balaam and Balaam advised him.
[edit] Numbers chapter 24
Psalm 1:3 interprets the words “cedars beside the waters” in Balaam’s blessing in Numbers 24:6. According to Psalm 1:3, “a tree planted by streams of water” is one “that brings forth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither.”
[edit] Numbers chapter 25
Numbers 31:16 reports that Balaam counseled the Israelites to break faith with God in the sin of Baal-Peor.
Joshua 13:22 states that the Israelites killed Balaam during war.
[edit] In classical rabbinic interpretation
[edit] Numbers chapter 22
Classical Rabbinic interpretation viewed Balaam unfavorably. The Mishnah taught that Balaam was one of four commoners who have no portion in the world to come, along with Doeg, Ahitophel, and Gehazi. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:2; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 90a.) Following the teaching of Rabbi Joshua, the Gemara deduced from the Mishnah’s statement that the gentile Balaam would not enter the world to come that other gentiles would do so. The Gemara read Balaam’s name to demonstrate that he was “without a people” (belo am). Alternatively, the Gemara read Balaam’s name to demonstrate that he “confused a people” (bilah am), namely the Israelites. Noting the similarity of Balaam’s father name Beor to the Aramaic word for “beast” (be’ir), the Gemara read the allusion to Balaam’s father in Numbers 22:5 to demonstrate that Balaam committed bestiality. A Tanna taught that Beor was the same person as Cushan-rishathaim and Laban. As rishathaim means “two evils,” the Tanna deduced from the name Cushan-rishathaim that Beor perpetrated two evils on Israel — one in pursuing Jacob in Genesis 31:23-29 and the other by oppressing the Jews in Judges 3:8. Noting that Numbers 22:5 calls Balaam “the son of Beor” while Numbers 24:3 says of Balaam “his son [was] Beor,” Rabbi Johanan deduced that Balaam’s father Beor was like his son (less able) in matters of prophecy. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
Interpreting the words, “And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed,” in Numbers 22:7 a Tanna taught that there never was peace between Midian and Moab, comparing them to two dogs in a kernel that always fought each other. Then a wolf attacked one, and the other concluded that if he did not help the first, then the wolf would attack the second tomorrow. So they joined to fight the wolf. And Rav Papa likened the cooperation of Moab and Midian to the saying: “The weasel and cat had a feast on the fat of the luckless.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
Noting that Numbers 22:8 makes no mention of the princes of Midian, the Gemara deduced that they despaired as soon as Balaam told them (in Numbers 22:8) that he would listen to God’s instructions, for they reasoned that God would not curse Israel any more than a father would hate his son. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
Noting that in Numbers 22:12 God told Balaam, “You shall not go with them,” yet in Numbers 22:20, after Balaam impudently asked God a second time, God told Balaam, “Rise up and go with them,” Rav Nachman concluded that impudence, even in the face of Heaven, sometimes brings results. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
A midrash taught that the words of Numbers 22:20 “And God came to Balaam at night,” indicated God’s distance from Balaam. Rabbi Leazar taught that the words of Proverbs 15:29, “The Lord is far from the wicked,” refer to the prophets of other nations. But the continuation of Proverbs 15:29, “He hears the prayer of the righteous,” refers to the prophets of Israel. God appears to nations other that Israel only as one who comes from a distance, as Isaiah 39:3 says, “They came from a far country to me.” But in connection with the prophets of Israel, Genesis 18:1 says, “And the Lord appeared,” and Leviticus 1:1 says, “And the Lord called,” implying from the immediate vicinity. Rabbi Haninah compared the difference between the prophets of Israel and the prophets of other nations to a king who was with his friend in a chamber (separated by a curtain). Whenever the king desired to speak to his friend, he folded up the curtain and spoke to him. (But God speaks to the prophets of other nations without folding back the curtain.) The Rabbis compared it to a king who has a wife and a concubine; to his wife he goes openly, but to his concubine he repairs with stealth. Similarly, God appears to non-Jews only at night, as Numbers 22:20 says, “And God came to Balaam at night,” and Genesis 31:24 says, “And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night.” (Genesis Rabbah 52:5.)
A Tanna taught in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar that intense love and hate can cause one to disregard the perquisites of one’s social position. The Tanna deduced that love may do so from Abraham, for Genesis 22:3 reports that “Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey,” rather than allow his servant to do so. Similarly, the Tanna deduced that hate may do so from Balaam, for Numbers 22:21 reports that “Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey,” rather than allow his servant to do so. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105b.)
The Mishnah taught that the mouth of the donkey that miraculously spoke to Balaam in Numbers 22:28–30 was one of ten things that God created on the eve of the first Sabbath at twilight. (Mishnah Avot 5:6.)
Expanding on Numbers 22:30, the Gemara reported a conversation among Balak’s emissaries, Balaam, and Balaam’s donkey. Balak’s emissaries asked Balaam, “Why didn’t you ride your horse?”
Balaam replied, “I have put it out to pasture.”
But Balaam’s donkey asked Balaam (in the words of Numbers 22:30), “Am I not your donkey?”
Balaam replied, “Merely for carrying loads.”
Balaam’s donkey said (in the words of Numbers 22:30), “Upon which you have ridden.”
Balaam replied, “That was only by chance.”
Balaam’s donkey insisted (in the words of Numbers 22:30), “Ever since I was yours until this day.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105b.)
[edit] Numbers chapter 23
Rabbi Johanan deduced from the words “and he walked haltingly” in Numbers 23:3 that Balaam was disabled in one leg. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
Rabbi Johanan interpreted the words "And the Lord put a word (or 'a thing') in Balaam's mouth" in Numbers 23:5 to indicate that God put a hook in Balaam's mouth, playing Balaam like a fish. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105b.) Similarly, a midrash taught that God controlled Balaam's mouth as a person who puts a bit into the mouth of a beast and makes it go in the direction the person pleases. (Numbers Rabbah 20:20.)
Rabbi Samuel bar Nahmani interpreted the words “that the Lord your God shall keep for you” in Deuteronomy 7:12, teaching that all the good that Israel enjoys in this world results from the blessings with which Balaam blessed Israel, but the blessings with which the Patriarchs blessed Israel are reserved for the time to come, as signified by the words, “that the Lord your God shall keep for you.” (Deuteronomy Rabbah 3:4.)
The Gemara interpreted the words “knowing the mind of the most High” in Numbers 24:16 to mean that Balaam knew how to tell the exact moment when God was angry. The Gemara taught that this was related to what Micah meant (in Micah 6:5, in the haftarah for the parshah) when he told the Israelites (quoting God): “O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; . . . that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” The Gemara taught that by the words “that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord,” God meant to say to the Israelites, “You should know how many acts of charity I performed for you, in that I did not become angry all that time, in the days of wicked Balaam; for had I become angry at that time, no Israelite would have remained alive or been spared.” And the Gemara indicated that this is why Balaam told Balak in Numbers 23:8, “How can I curse whom God has not cursed? or how shall I become angry, when the Lord has not become angry?” For Balaam knew that God was not angry at the Israelites. The Gemara thus concluded that for all of the time of the Balaam story, God had not been angry. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105b; see also Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 7a (attributing the interpretation of Micah 6:5 to Rabbi Eleazar.))
The Gemara interpreted Balaam’s words, “Let me die the death of the righteous,” in Numbers 23:10 to foretell that he would not enter the world to come. The Gemara interpreted those words to mean that if Balaam died a natural death like the righteous, then his end would be like that of the Jewish people, but if he died a violent death, then he would go to the same fate as the wicked. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
[edit] Numbers chapter 24
The Gemara deduced from the words “the man whose eye is open” in Numbers 24:3, which refer to only one open eye, that Balaam was blind in one eye. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 105a.)
[edit] Numbers chapter 25
Rabbi Johanan taught that wherever Scripture uses the term “And he abode” (vayeshev), as it does in Numbers 25:1, it presages trouble. Thus in Numbers 25:1, “And Israel abode in Shittim” is followed by “and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.” In Genesis 37:1, “And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan,” is followed by Genesis 37:3, “and Joseph brought to his father their evil report.” In Genesis 47:27, “And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen,” is followed by Genesis 47:29, “And the time drew near that Israel must die.” In 1 Kings 5:5, “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree,” is followed by 1 Kings 11:14, “And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was the king’s seed in Edom.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 106a.)
A midrash taught that God heals with the very thing with which God wounds. Thus, Israel sinned in Shittim (so called because of its many acacia trees), as Numbers 25:1 says, “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab” (and also worshipped the Baal of Peor). But it was also through Shittim wood, or acacia-wood, that God healed the Israelites, for as Exodus 37:1 reports, “Bezalel made the Ark of acacia-wood.” (Exodus Rabbah 50:3.)
Rabbah bar bar Hana said in Rabbi Johanan's name that had Zimri withdrawn from Cozbi and Phinehas still killed him, Phinehas would have been liable to execution for murder, and had Zimri killed Phinehas in self-defense, he would not have been liable to execution for murder, as Phinehas was a pursuer seeking to take Zimri’s life. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 82a.)
The Gemara related what took place after, as Numbers 25:5 reports, “Moses said to the judges of Israel: ‘Slay everyone his men who have joined themselves to the Baal of Peor.’” The tribe of Simeon went to Zimri complaining that capital punishment was being meted out while he sat silently. So Zimri assembled 24,000 Israelites and went to Cozbi and demanded that she surrender herself to him. She replied that she was a king’s daughter and her father had instructed her not to submit to any but to the greatest of men. Zimri replied that he was the prince of a tribe and that his tribe was greater than that of Moses, for Simeon was second in birth, while Levi was third. Zimri then seized Cozbi by her hair and brought her before Moses. Zimri demanded that Moses rule whether Cozbi was forbidden or permitted to Zimri. Zimri continued that if Moses were to say that Cozbi was forbidden to Zimri, then who permitted Moses to marry the Midianite woman Zipporah? At that moment, Moses forgot the law governing intimacy with an idolatrous woman, and all the people burst into tears, as Numbers 25:6 reports when it says, “they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 82a.)
Interpreting the words, “And Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it,” in Numbers 25:6, the Gemara asked what Phineas saw. Rav said that Phineas saw what was happening and remembered the law governing intimacy with an idolatrous woman, and asked Moses whether he had not taught that zealots may punish one who cohabits with an idolatrous woman. Moses replied that he who reads the letter should be the agent to carry out its instructions. Alternatively, Samuel said that Phineas saw that (in the words of Proverbs 21:30) “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord,” which he interpreted to mean that whenever the Divine Name is being profaned, one may relax the general principle that one must defer to one's teacher — the giver of wisdom — and go ahead to make a legal decision in the presence of one’s teacher. Rabbi Isaac said in Rabbi Eleazar's name that Phineas saw the Angel of Death wreaking destruction among the people, and (in the words of Numbers 25:6) “he rose up out of the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand.” Thus, Phineas must not have had his spear when he sat among the congregation, and from this we learn that one may not enter a house of learning with weapons. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 82a.)
The Gemara taught that Phineas then removed the point of the spear and hid it in his clothes, and went along leaning upon the shaft of the spear as a walking stick. When he reached the tribe of Simeon, he asked why the tribe of Levi should not have the moral standards of the tribe of Simeon. Thereupon the Simeonites allowed him to pass through, saying that he had come to satisfy his lust. The Simeonites concluded that even the abstainers had then declared cohabiting wit Midianite women permissible. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 82a–b.)
Rabbi Johanan taught that Phinehas was able to accomplish his act of zealotry only because God performed six miracles: First, upon hearing Phinehas’s warning, Zimri should have withdrawn from Cozbi and ended his transgression, but he did not. Second, Zimri should have cried out for help from his fellow Simeonites, but he did not. Third, Phinheas was able to drive his spear exactly through the sexual organs of Zimri and Cozbi as they were engaged in the act. Fourth, Zimri and Cozbi did not slip off the spear, but remained fixed so that others could witness their transgression. Fifth, an angel came and lifted up the lintel so that Phinheas could exit holding the spear. And sixth, an angel came and sowed destruction among the people, distracting the Simeonites from killing Phinheas. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 82b.)
The interpreters of Scripture by symbol taught that the deeds of Phinehas explained why Deuteronomy 18:3 directed that the priests were to receive the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach of sacrifices. The foreleg represented the hand of Phinehas, as Numbers 25:7 reports that Phinehas “took a spear in his hand.” The cheeks’ represent the prayer of Phinehas, as Psalm 106:30 reports, “Then Phinehas stood up and prayed, and so the plague was stayed.” The stomach was to be taken in its literal sense, for Numbers 25:8 reports that Phinehas “thrust . . . the woman through her belly.” (Babylonian Talmud Chullin 134b.)
The Gemara asked whether the words in Exodus 6:25, “And Eleazar Aaron’s son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife” did not convey that Eleazar’s son Phinehas descended from Jethro, who fattened (piteim) calves for idol worship. The Gemara then provided an alternative explanation: Exodus 6:25 could mean that Phinehas descended from Joseph, who conquered (pitpeit) his passions (resisting Potiphar’s wife, as reported in Genesis 39). But the Gemara asked, did not the tribes sneer at Phinehas and (as reported in Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 82b and Sotah 43a) question how a youth (Phinehas) whose mother’s father crammed calves for idol-worship could kill the head of a tribe in Israel — Zimri, Prince of Simeon — as reported in Numbers 25:14. The Gemara explained that the real explanation was that Phinehas descended from both Joseph and Jethro. If Phinehas’s mother’s father descended from Joseph, then Phinehas’s mother’s mother descended from Jethro. And if Phinehas’s mother’s father descended from Jethro, then Phinehas’s mother’s mother descended from Joseph. The Gemara explained that Exodus 6:25 implies this dual explanation of “Putiel” when it says, “of the daughters of Putiel,” because the plural “daughters” implies two lines of ancestry (from both Joseph and Jethro). (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 109b–10a; see also Exodus Rabbah 7:5.)
[edit] Commandments
According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are no commandments in the parshah. (Maimonides. Mishneh Torah. Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 4:171. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1988. ISBN 0-87306-457-7.)
[edit] Haftarah
The haftarah for the parshah is Micah 5:6–6:8. When parshah Balak is combined with parshah Chukat, the haftarah remains the haftarah for Balak.
In the haftarah in Micah 6:5, Micah quotes God’s admonition to the Israelites to recall the events of the parshah, to “remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him.” The verb that the haftarah uses for “answer” (‘anah) in Micah 6:5 is a variation of the same verb that the parshah uses to describe Balaam’s “answer” (vaya‘an) to Balaak in the parshah in Numbers 22:18 and 23:12. And the first words of Balaam’s blessing of Israel in Numbers 24:5, “how goodly” (ma tovu), are echoed in the haftarah’s admonition in Micah 6:8 of “what is good” (ma tov) in God’s sight, namely “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
[edit] In the liturgy
Some Jews read about how the donkey opened its mouth to speak to Balam in Numbers 22:28 as they study Pirkei Avot chapter 5 on a Sabbath between Passover and Rosh Hashanah. (Menachem Davis. The Schottenstein Edition Siddur for the Sabbath and Festivals with an Interlinear Translation, 571. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-57819-697-3.)
The Passover Haggadah, in the concluding nirtzah section of the Seder, quotes the words “who can count them” from Numbers 23:10 to invoke blessing on the Jewish people. (Menachem Davis. The Interlinear Haggadah: The Passover Haggadah, with an Interlinear Translation, Instructions and Comments, 107. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-57819-064-9.)
Balaam’s blessing of Israel in Numbers 24:5 constitutes the first line of the Ma Tovu prayer often said upon entering a synagogue or at the beginning of morning services. These words are the only prayer in the siddur attributed to a non-Jew. (Reuven Hammer. Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 61. New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2003. ISBN 0-916219-20-8. See also Davis, Siddur for the Sabbath and Festivals, at 192. Menachem Davis. The Schottenstein Edition Siddur for Weekdays with an Interlinear Translation, 14. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-57819-686-8.)
[edit] The Weekly Maqam
In the Weekly Maqam, Sephardi Jews each week base the songs of the services on the content of that week's parshah. For parshah Balak, Sephardi Jews apply Maqam Mahour, the maqam that portrays emotional instability and anger. This maqam is similar to Maqam Rast in tune, except that it is higher in key. It is appropriate, because in this parshah, Balak became angered as the curses of Balaam were turning into blessings.
[edit] Further reading
The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:
[edit] Ancient
- Gildas Hamel, The Deir 'Alla Inscription. See also Jo Ann Hackett, Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla. Chico, Cal.: Scholars Press, 1984. And see also J. Hoftijzer & G. van der Kooij, The Balaam Text from Deir `Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21–24 August 1989. New York: E.J. Brill, 1991.
[edit] Biblical
- Genesis 3:1–14 (talking animal); 22:3 (rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him).
- Exodus 32:1–35 (sacrifices to another god; zealots kill apostates; zealots rewarded with priestly standing; plague as punishment; leader makes atonement); 34:15–16 (foreign women and apostasy).
- Numbers 31:6–18 (Balaam; Phinehas, war with Midian).
- Deuteronomy 4:3 (Baal Peor); 23:4–7 (Balaam).
- Joshua 13:22 (Balaam the son of Beor the sorcerer); 22:16–18 (Baal Peor); 24:9–10.
- Jeremiah 30:18 (tents, dwellings).
- Hosea 9:10 (Baal Peor).
- Micah 6:5 (Balaam).
- Nehemiah 13:1–2.
- Psalms 1:3 (like a tree planted); 31:19 (lying lips be dumb); 33:10–11 (God brings the counsel of the nations to nothing); 49:17–18 (disregard for the wealth of this world); 78:2 (speaking a parable); 98:6 (shout); 106:28–31 (Baal Peor); 110:2 (rod out of Zion); 116:15 (precious to God the death of God’s servants).
[edit] Early nonrabbinic
- 1 Maccabees chs. 1–16. (parallel to Phinehas).
- 4 Maccabees 18:12.
- Instruction for Catechumens, and A Prayer of Praise of God for His Greatness, and for His Appointment of Leaders for His People. In “Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers,” in James H. Charlesworth. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2:687–88. New York: Doubleday, 1985. ISBN 0-385-18813-7.
- Pseudo-Philo 18:1–14; 28:1–4.
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 6:1–7. Circa 93–94. Reprinted in, e.g., The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition. Translated by William Whiston, 108–10. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8.
- Matthew 2:1–12. (See also R.E. Brown, “The Balaam Narrative,” The Birth of the Messiah, 190–96. Garden City, N.Y., 1977.)
- 2 Peter 2:15 (Balaam).
- Jude 1:11 (Balaam).
- Revelation 2:14 (Balaam).
[edit] Classical rabbinic
- Mishnah: Sanhedrin 9:6; 10:2; Avot 5:6, 19. Land of Israel, circa 200 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 604, 686, 689. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4.
- Jerusalem Talmud: Maaser Sheni 44b; Beitzah 45a. Land of Israel, circa 400 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Yerushalmi. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vols. 10, 23. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2006–2011.
- Babylonian Talmud: Berakhot 7a, 12b, 16a, 38a; Shabbat 64a, 105a; Pesachim 54a, 111a; Rosh Hashanah 11a, 32b; Taanit 20a; Chagigah 2a; Nedarim 32a, 81a; Nazir 23b; Sotah 10a, 11a, 14a, 41b, 43a, 46b, 47a; Gittin 68b; Kiddushin 4a; Bava Kamma 38a; Bava Batra 14b, 60a, 109b; Sanhedrin 34b–35a, 39b, 40b, 44a, 56a, 64a, 82a, 92a, 93b, 105a–06a; Makkot 10b; Avodah Zarah 4b, 25a, 44b; Horayot 10b; Menachot 66b; Chullin 19b, 35b, 134b; Bekhorot 5b; Keritot 22a; Niddah 19b, 31a, 55b. Babylonia, 6th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Bavli. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.
[edit] Medieval
- Solomon ibn Gabirol. A Crown for the King, 36:493. Spain, 11th century. Translated by David R. Slavitt, 66–67. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-511962-2.
- Rashi. Commentary. Numbers 22–25. Troyes, France, late 11th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 4:269–317. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997. ISBN 0-89906-029-3.
- Judah Halevi. Kuzari. 1:115. Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. Reprinted in, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel. Intro. by Henry Slonimsky, 80. New York: Schocken, 1964. ISBN 0-8052-0075-4.
- Numbers Rabbah 20:1–25. 12th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Numbers. Translated by Judah J. Slotki. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
- Zohar 3:184b–212b. Spain, late 13th century. Reprinted in, e.g., The Zohar. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1934.
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[edit] Modern
- Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, Review & Conclusion. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, 723–24. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0140431950.
- Abraham Isaac Kook. The Lights of Penitence, 15:11. 1925. Reprinted in Abraham Isaac Kook: the Lights of Penitence, the Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letters, and Poems. Translated by Ben Zion Bokser, 118. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press 1978. ISBN 0-8091-2159-X.
- Adin Steinsaltz. The Thirteen Petalled Rose: A Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence And Belief. Translated by Yehuda Hanegbi, 12–13. New York: Basic Books, 1980. ISBN 0-465-08560-1.
- Ira Clark. “Balaam’s Ass: Suture or Structure.” In Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives: Volume II. Edited by Kenneth R.R. Gros Louis, with James S. Ackerman, 137–44. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1982. ISBN 0-687-22132-3.
- André Lemaire. “Fragments from the Book of Balaam Found at Deir Alla: Text foretells cosmic disaster.” Biblical Archaeology Review, 11:05. Sept./Oct. 1985.
- Jacob Milgrom. The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation, 185–215, 467–80. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990. ISBN 0-8276-0329-0.
- Mary Douglas. In the Wilderness: The Doctrine of Defilement in the Book of Numbers, xix, 86–87, 100, 121, 123, 136, 188, 191, 200–01, 211, 214, 216–18, 220–24. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Reprinted 2004. ISBN 0-19-924541-X.
- Aaron Wildavsky. Assimilation versus Separation: Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel, 31. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993. ISBN 1-56000-081-3.
- Baruch A. Levine. Numbers 21–36, 4A:135–303. New York: Anchor Bible, 2000. ISBN 0-385-41256-8.
- Aaron Wildavsky. Moses as Political Leader, 50–55. Jerusalem: Shalem Press, 2005. ISBN 965-7052-31-9.
- Suzanne A. Brody. “Ma Tovu.” In Dancing in the White Spaces: The Yearly Torah Cycle and More Poems, 99. Shelbyville, Kentucky: Wasteland Press, 2007. ISBN 1-60047-112-9.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Texts
[edit] Commentaries
- Academy for Jewish Religion, California
- Academy for Jewish Religion, New York
- Aish.com
- American Jewish University
- Anshe Emes Synagogue, Los Angeles
- Bar-Ilan University
- Chabad.org
- eparsha.com
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- Jewish Agency for Israel
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- 613.org Jewish Torah Audio
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- TorahVort.com
- Union for Reform Judaism
- United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth
- United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
- What’s Bothering Rashi?
- Yeshiva University
- Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
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