The Power of Words

Hi Everyone! This past week has been good. We went on a tiyul (field trip) on Wednesday to take a look at some of the water tunnels that the Jews used in the time of the Second Temple and took a "stroll" through one of the maintenance tunnels. It was very interesting to me especially since I thought I had already gone through all of these types of tunnels. Again, it was a new appreciation for Israel for me not to assume I've seen everything, but there is plenty more for me to discover. Thursday we had a test in class and I was very happy with how I did.

I am going to try something new today (and every Friday in the future). I'd like to add in a small d'var Torah every week. Let me know what y'all think!

Parshat Balak

This week's Parsha is called Balak and it focus on to main characters, Balak and Balaam. Balak was a King of Moab who saw the Jewish people growing in numbers and becoming stronger. Balaam was a wizard who was known for either giving out blessings (Mevrachim) or curses (Ra'aot) and hsi words were able to predict who would succeed or fail. Balak seeks out Balaam to send a curse to Bnai Yisrael so that he was able to Gerush (separate) them from this land (we will be returning to this word later). Balak sends many of his top dignitaries to recruit Balaam to come work for their King and Balaam is not swayed. Every night God comes to Balaam and tells him to stay until finally after three nights and Balak himself coming to see Balaam, Balaam concedes and joins the King (after God had told him to). God's final words to Balaam before he left were "You will speak whatever words I put in your mouth". This is also the condition that Balaam explains to Balak. Balak repeatedly tells him to what to say, and Balaam responds with simply "I will say the words that God puts in my mouth).
The most famous part of this parsha is of course Balaam's talking donkey. On the way to join Balak, God sends down an angel to communicate with Balaam. The angel stands in the middle of the road and at first only Balaam's donkey can see it, so the donkey stops. Balaam gets very angry with the donkey so he strikes it three times. Lo and behold, the donkey turns around and asks very simply "What have I done to you that you would hit me three times?". My favorite part is the fact that Balaam responds very matter of factly and doesn't think twice about the fact that his donkey is talking to him. After the conversation with the donkey, the angel reveals itself to Balaam and conveys God's thoughts to the wizard.
Once Balaam arrives to Balak he requests to an altar to be erected and for an ox and a bull to be sacrificed. He goes up on the hill where he can see all of B'nai Yisrael and gets ready to concoct the nastiest curse he can think of opens his mouth and lets out words of....praise? Wait a minute, that's not how it's supposed to work. Balak gets very angry with Balaam, asking him why he was paid to curse Bnai Yisrael and he says a blessing. Balaam simply responds with the phrase "I say the world that God puts in my mouth". Balak decides to try again but from a different spot and they go through the same routine of putting up an altar and Balaam gets ready to curse Bnai Yisrael and again a blessing comes out. They try it one more time for a different spot with the same result. Finally Balak gives up and returns to Moab, and Balaam returns to his home.
The end of the parsha is very interesting because until now there has been no mention of anything Bnai Yisrael has done. Finally at the end it says that God was angry with the people because they were mixing with Midianite women. God ordered that anyone who transgressed to be hung in the sunlight. In the end says that 24,000 people were killed because of their acts.

There are many aspects to focus on from this Parsha but for the sake of time and my computer battery I am going to focus on only one, the power of our words and how we decide to use them. In Masechet Brachot, Rabbi Meir explains how we have a certain amount of words that are alloted to use in our lives. The more we waste our words the less good we are able to do and the more of our lives our wasted. I love this explanation and it is my favorite way to look at lashon hara (literally evil tongue, but more specficially gossip or propaganda). We are all given the opportunity to do much good in our lives. We do not have the same privilege that Balaam was granted by being able to say "I say the words that God puts in my mouth". Balaam's intention was to give curses to Bnai Yisrael but that was changed by God. The responsibility is on all of us to share the words that we to say, and not words that we think are expected of us. It is always easier to trash someone for their shortcomings or mistakes, but it is much more respectable to see where that person is coming from and think about if you were in their position. My challenge for all of you is to take into thought how you are viewed by those around you. Are you seen as someone who will throw your friend under the bus so that evreyone else can think more highly of you, or do you take into regard what your words are doing to that person and how you can use your words to help them.

Shabbat Shalom and I hope to hear from everyone soon