|
From the Rabbi:
Parashat Balak is something of an enigma. Unique in the Torah in that it primarily focuses on something completely outside the experience of the Jewish people. Rather the focus is primarily on Balaam, a non-Jewish prophet hired to curse the Jewish people by Balak, king of Moab. We see for the first time how we are seen from the outside.
Despite going hundreds of miles out of our way last week so as (Deut. 2:9) "not to harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle," we are seen by Balak as a moral and military terror, killing entire populations and taking their land. It doesn't matter that Sichon and Og attacked us. We are feared, hated and NOT seen as Godly. Sound Familiar?
In this week's haftarah, we see the Prophet Micah address the preposterous ethical condescension of a morally and spiritually bankrupt Moabite nation. And the language used by scripture couldn't be more clear in also directly addressing our situation today. (Micah 6:11) "shall I count myself pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights? For its rich men are full of hamas (violence), and its inhabitants have been telling lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth."
The true measure of righteousness is not the consensus of the ungodly masses. We don't need to participate in the manipulation of narrative to paint our enemies as evil. God sees all and knows the difference between true virtue and virtue signaling. As it says just a few verses earlier, (6:8) "...what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love benevolence, and to walk humbly with thy God." We don't need to be loved by the wicked. Why should we want that anyway? We need only to be our truest, justest, most Godly Jewish selves.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shlomo
| 
