Our young lions
In Parshat Balak, the theme of animals keeps popping up:
Balak, the king of Moav’s father was named Bird (Tzipor).
Bilam, the sorcerer rode a she donkey (aton).
Bilam asked Balak to prepare seven altars where they sacrificed a bull (par) and ram (ayil) on each altar.
In Bilam’s poetic blessings, which God puts into his mouth, we find imagery connected to animals and nature:
In Bilam’s second blessing, he mentions different animals. In his third blessing he makes references to nature.
In Bilam’s second blessing, Bamidbar 23:22 we read about the antelope: “God who freed them from Egypt is like an antelope’s (re’em) proud horn for them.” In 23:23, we see two references to lions: “Behold! The people will arise like a lion cub (lavi) and raise itself like a lion (ari); it will not lie down until it consumes prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
In Bilam’s third blessing Bamidbar 24:6-7, we see a reference to nature: “Stretching out like brooks, like gardens by a river, like aloes planted by God, like cedars by water. Water shall flow from his wells, and his seed shall be by abundant waters…”
In the Haftara (Micha 5:6-8) we also see imagery of nature and animals:
And the remnant of Yaakov will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from God, like raindrops upon grass, which is not hoped for from man and not awaited from a human being. And the remnant of Yaakov will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion (aryeh) among the forest animals, like a lion cub (kfir) among the flocks of sheep (tzon), who, when he passes by tramples and tears apart, and there is no rescuer. Your hand shall be raised over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut down.
Rav Yosef Nobel explains:
Bilam, the non Jewish prophet, shows B’nai Yisrael’s power and strength by comparing them to wild animals. When he correlates them to things that grow, he is blessing them with an abundance of water.
The Jewish prophet, Micha, changes the order. He first speaks about things that grow and only after that speaks about the animals. He shows that from the inner strength and renewal (which can be compared to dew) emerges the strength to conquer.
The name of the twelve day war against Iran which we fought just a few weeks ago was called “Am K’Lavi” “The nation is like a lion cub.” Just as our enemies in the past wanted to curse and destroy us yet we prevailed, so too in this war as well. Our air force rose like a lion during the war against Iran.
Sadly, this week we lost a group of five soldiers in Gaza who were part of part of the Kfir (young lion) Brigade.
May our soldiers have the inner strength to rise like a lion in Gaza as well, finish up the job and bring our hostages home.
