Meanwhile… Back at the Ranch…
The Torah is not written in chronological order, at least according to Rashi.
Therefore, when we read about stories of our ancestors, we need to keep in mind that some events can be happening at the same time.
A prime example of this is that Moshe rabbeinu was on Har Sinai, receiving and transcribing the Torah word-for-word from HaShem while Bnei Yisrael, panicked, made an egel zahav, a golden calf, per the instructions of Aharon.
You can almost hear the crescendo of Moshe’s smashing the luchot ha’brit and the reverberation of his rebuke of the People.
In Massechet Rosh HaShana we learn the concept of trei kali lo mishtamaee, that a person cannot hear two sounds at once. How much more-so, can this can be applied to the written word.
Sefer Bamidbar takes a detour, if you will.
King Balak sees what Bnei Yisrael did to the Emori nation with the help of HaShem.
Similar to a previous evil king who had preceded him, Pharaoh, who wants to outsmart Bnei Yisrael, for he fears that they would gang up with Egypt’s enemies to overthrow him (Exodus:1:10), King Balak also wants to get rid of Bnei Yisrael and send them from the land (Numbers: 22:5-6).
Balak recruits Bilam the sorcerer to curse Bnei Yisrael. Divine intervention thwarts their attempt.
Mind you, this is before they have even gotten to the Land. Right now, Bnei Yisrael are merely traveling to their destination.
I think that we also probably overestimate how quickly Bnai Yisrael was moving. We know from previous parshiyot (and I personally, know from a very special teacher whom I had in sixth grade), that Bnei Yisrael’s men who could go to war numbered 623,550.
Imagine a shul kiddush with that many people crowding… Nobody would ever get any kugel.
We all know the rest of the story: Balak asks Bilam to curse Bnai Yisrael. When Bilam agrees to the mission despite HaShem’s opposition, HaShem sends an angel to block Bilam’s path. After the ensuing humiliating incident involving Bilam’s talking donkey, the angel reiterates that Bilam may only speak the words HaShem Speaks to him. Bilam continues on his way and meets up with Balak.
The thing is, that each time that Balak wants Bilam to curse Bnei Yisrael, try as he might, the vitriol that he wants to bestow upon the Jews will not leave his lips.
HaShem sifatai tiftach, u’phi yagid tehillatecha.
HaShem, You should open up my lips, and they will only sing Your praise.
We do this every day, three times a day.
We turn to HaShem in prayer when we have nowhere else to turn.
My family and I turn to HaShem every single day, in ways big and small.
He Doesn’t Answer.
Not in the ways we think anyway.
There is a fund going around to help my family…
People are trying to raise money to help my family members who all have Juvenile Onset ALS as I wrote last week. Yet, anyone who knows me well… Or knows me at all, knows that despite the challenges we face, I’m an eternal optimist.
I’m always finding a light at the end of the tunnel, a road in a wood.
My family and I are some the only ones on Earth who traverse this road of Juvenile Onset ALS that manifests itself in this way.
That leaves us traveling the road not by walking, but in motorized wheelchairs.
That feels lonely because there are very few other people on Earth who have this disease.
That people don’t understand it in an intimate way that it is incredibly expensive to keep up with the disease and its ripple effects.
Anyone who knows me and my family knows that we would rather be on the giving than the receiving end.
But that’s also part of the lesson here… that the bracha that Balak gave us, albeit not purposely, says something along the lines of “mah tovu ohalecha…” what is a better Jewish state of being together than when houses are in good shape?
When the houses are together, and when they have what they need.
When the people in them are secure.
https://thechesedfund.com/hopeinaction/herzfeld-family-fund