Shabbat July 20, 10AM

Turning now to this week, please join us on July 20 at 10 a.m. for another intimate and interactive TBE Shabbat morning service.

Last week’s portion, Hukkat, brought the Israelites to the steppes of Moab, just across the Jordan River from Jericho and therefore tantalizingly close to the Land of Israel. Left thus in suspense as to when they will in fact enter the Promised Land (spoiler alert: it’s gonna take a whole other book of Torah!), we focus in this week’s parasha, Balak, on the impact of the Israelite arrival in that region upon the locals, especially the eponymous King Balak of Moab. What follows is a narrative in which nothing works quite as it should:

–The prophet Balaam refuses the king’s initial summons and generous offer of remuneration.

–After God tells Balaam to go Balak, He then punishes him for doing so.

–When that punishment comes, it is his donkey who understands what’s happening; the prophet, by contrast, is clueless.

–The king’s requests for curses upon Israel lead only to blessings.

–And, finally, after hearing how great the Israelites are, we finally zoom in on them at the parasha’s close to learn (surprise), that they are actually not so great after all.

The point of it all seems to be: God alone is great and true; human affairs are inevitably messy and inscrutable. In a way reminiscent of the Book of Jonah, in which the people of Ninveh (who had recently destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel) are held up as a model of teshuvah or repentance, here the non-Jewish prophet Balaam is for the most part (for the most part, because there are some inevitable inconsistencies in a narrative composed of different textual strands) shown to be a decent, God-fearing man (pay attention, Israelites!). It is, after all, to him that we owe those beautiful words with which we open our synagogue services: Mah tovu ohalekha Ya’akov, mishkenotekha Yisrael! (“How fair are your tents, O Jacob; Your dwellings, O Israel!”)

Light candles on Friday evening at 9:19; havdalah on Saturday night can be made beginning at 8:18.

Looking forward to seeing some of you on this week’s Shabbat.

Our services in August will be on August 10th and 24th.

Daniel