Rabbi's Message

This week’s Torah portion, Balak, contains the entertaining story of the evil prophet Bilaam’s quest to curse Israel. Having witnessed the Israelites triumph over every hardship, surviving internal dissent, the harshness of the desert, and military attacks, Balak, the King of the Moabites, hires Bilaam, a renowned sorcerer, to go and curse them.  As Bilaam sets out on his journey, an obstacle stands in his way.  Bilaam may not see the angel with a sword drawn standing in his path, but his donkey does.  As a result, the donkey refuses to move forward.  This enrages Bilaam and leads to him striking the donkey three times.  To his great surprise, the donkey responds with words of rebuke. Then the Torah says: “vayigal HaShem et einei Bilaam- God opens Bilaam’s eyes,” and he sees the angel and understands.  By the end of the story, Bilaam ends up blessing the Israelites rather than cursing them.

I have been thinking about this Shrek-like narrative a lot this week, especially in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump last Saturday.  We live in a proud democracy where disagreements and difficult conversations are part of the political landscape but must never lead to physical violence. That was violated last Saturday. Some things should be more obvious to us than they seem.  All human beings are created in the image of God.  And even a donkey knows what is not the right way to go.  We must allow ourselves to open our eyes and understand the limits of civil behavior.  We must understand and see the divides that surround us and work to mend those divides, but even more, work to ensure that despite the divides, human dignity and respect are never compromised.  Even a donkey can see that.

The family members of the hostages have designated this week a Week of Goodness. They have called on all of us to turn to acts of kindness to “surge goodness in the world” as we push to redeem the hostages and bring them home. This week, we are doubling down on goodness. This does not mean giving up on our political principles and values. But it does mean that we cannot lose our sense of goodness and humanity through them.

May we open our eyes and see the work that needs to be done, the values that must be maintained, and the Divine Image in everyone, even those we disagree with.  And when others open their eyes, may they see just a little more goodness around them, thanks to the work of our hands and the strivings of our hearts.

Shabbat Shalom.