BalakArtscroll p.856 | Haftarah p.1189Hertz p.668 | Haftarah p.682Soncino p.915 | Haftarah p.929

The Fast of 17 Tammuz is deferred to Sunday, starting in London at 2.23amand ending at 9.59pm

Volume 31No. 46

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In loving memory of Shmuel Nissim ben Yaacov

“The donkey said to Bilam, ‘Look, am I not your donkey that you have ridden on all your life untilthis day? Have I been accustomed to do such a thing to you?’ He said, ‘No’” (Bemidbar 22:30).

20 July 2019 17 Tammuz 5779

Shabbat ends London 10.06pmJerusalem 8.25pm

Sidrah Summary: Balak

United Synagogue Daf HashavuaProduced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United SynagogueEditor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial and Production Team: Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, Rabbi Michael Laitner, Joanna RoseAvailable also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United SynagogueTo sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Danielle Fox on 020 8343 6261, or dfox@theus.org.ukIf you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email rabbigross@theus.org.uk

1st Aliya (Kohen) – Bemidbar 22:2-12

Balak, the king of Moab, having seen that theIsraelites defeated the Emorites, is afraid that theywill plot against him. Balak sends emissaries toMidian, to Bilam the son of Be’or, asking him tocurse the Israelites. Bilam tells Balak’s emissaries tostay the night, to give him time to see how God willinstruct him. God appears to Bilam at night andwarns him not to travel to Moab to curse theIsraelites, who are a blessed nation (see p.5 article).

2nd Aliya (Levi) – 22:13-20

Bilam wakes up in the morning and tells Balak’sofficers that he is unable to go with them, due toGod’s warning. After they report back to Balak, hesends higher-ranking officers to persuade Bilam.Bilam repeats that he is bound by God’s word. Godagain appears to Bilam at night, telling him that hehas permission to go, but that he must do what Heinstructs him.

3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 22:21-38

Bilam saddles his donkey and travels with Balak’sofficers. God is angered by Bilam’s decision andsends an angel to impede him. The donkey sees theangel, who has a drawn sword in his hand. Shedeviates from the road to avoid the angel. Bilam,unable to see the angel, hits the donkey. The angelpositions himself between two parallel fences.When the donkey moves towards the wall, pressingBilam’s leg against it, Bilam again hits her. The angelthen places himself in a narrow part of the path,making it impossible for the donkey to circumventhim. She stops and crouches, causing Bilam to getangry and hit her again. God “opens the mouth ofthe donkey”, who defends her actions. God now“uncovers Bilam’s eyes” and he sees the angel (seep.3 and p.4 articles). The angel chastises Bilam,who admits his sin and suggests that he returnshome. The angel responds that he can continue hisjourney but must not say anything other than whatGod tells him. Balak goes out to greet Bilam on theborder of Arnon.

4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 22:39-23:12

Bilam and Balak go to a vantage point from where

Bilam can see the edge of the Israelite camp. Bilamtells Balak to build him seven altars and give himseven bulls and rams to sacrifice. Balak compliesand Bilam sacrifices the animals. God appears toBilam and tells him what to say. Against his will,Bilam actually blesses the Israelites. Balak isincensed, yet Bilam claims that he is unable to defyGod’s command.

Question: What was the name of the vantage pointthat Balak took Bilam to? (22:41) Answer on pg.6.

Point to Consider: How do we see Bilam trying toemulate the patriachs? (see Rashi to 23:4)

5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 23:13-26

Balak takes Bilam to a new location in the hope ofa better result. Once again, Bilam brings animalofferings. As before, God appears to Bilam, who canonly bless,not curse, the Israelites.

6th Aliya (Shishi) – 23:27-24:13

Balak and Bilam go to a third location. After bringingthe offerings to the altar, Bilam sees theencampments of the Israelites and “the spirit of Godrests upon him” so that he actually no longer wantsto curse them (Rashi). Again Bilam blesses Israel.Balak dismisses him.

7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 24:14-25:9

Before leaving, Bilam tells Balak that the Israelitescould be vulnerable to licentious behaviour (Rashi).He then prophesies about future stages of theirhistory. Bilam and Balak go their separate ways.

The Israelites settle in Shittim where the men areattracted to Moabite women, as well as towardsworshipping the idol Pe’or. Pinchas, a grandson ofAharon, sees a public display of licentious behaviourand kills the culprit, Zimri from the tribe of Shimon,along with Kozbi, the Midianite princess.

Haftarah

The prophet Micha describes the Messianic timesthat the ‘remnant of Yaakov’ will experience. He alsorecalls how God looked after the nation in the desertafter the Exodus from Egypt, including His thwartingof the evil plans of Balak and Bilam.

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3In memory of Chaim ben Moshe Bentzion

Swords of Mercyby Rabbi Daniel Fine, Community Rabbi, Stanmore and Canons Park UnitedSynagogue

There was a particular tribein the Japanese hills whowere found worshippingeffigies of aeroplanes. Uponseeing the Allied Forcesairdrop provisions in the laterstages of World War II, thistribe mistakenly interpreted

these planes to be gods, their packages being“gifts from above” to mankind. It is an interestingphenomenon that people can zoom in on a smallpart of a bigger picture and develop wrongconclusions due to lack of context.

This week’s sidrah relates Bilam’s failed attempt to curse the Israelites. As he set off on his journey, Bilam was blocked by a sword-wielding angel (Bemidbar 22:22). Rashi (1040-1105) writes that this angel was an “angel ofmercy, who was sent to prevent Bilam sinning”.Rabbi Yissocher Frand (of Baltimore, USA) asks that it seems incongruous for an angel ofmercy to be brandishing a sword. Furthermore,the very presence of an angel would have surelystunned Bilam and his donkey, without anyaccompanying weapon.

Rabbi Frand’s answer to these questions is thatBilam was being taught a lesson: that humanperception is limited and sometimes eveninverted. What we may see as difficult, astruggle, and even perhaps a forceful attempt atpreventing someone from doing something (asrepresented by the sword) can sometimesactually be an act of mercy. Bilam needed to betaught this lesson, as he had assumed that hisplan, to curse the Israelites, was more correctthan the Divine plan that they should be blessed.

The Chatam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer 1762-1839) adds that, even though the Israelites wereaware of the other events of the Torah as theywere happening, they were not aware of Bilam’sattempted curses until the Torah was completed

and read at Moshe’s death. The Torah later saysthat the Israelite army subsequently killed Bilamwith a sword in the war with Midian. Rashi(Bemidbar 31:8) explains the significance of this:Bilam tried to use our area of strength (themouth) against the Israelites, therefore theIsraelites killed him with the traditional weaponof Midian (the sword).

Someone listening to the Torah at the end ofMoshe’s life would have been amazed to hearthat there was a person called Bilam who tried to curse the Jews but was thwarted by God.They would have been further moved whenhearing that Bilam was killed by the sword,understanding the Divine measure-for-measure.

We can all look back at key decisions we havemade, happy at the direction that they havetaken us in. Yet often when we made these keydecisions, we were only privy to part of thepicture – we did not know how far-reachingthese decisions would be, the extent of theirimpact on our later lives. The profound chasm ofdifference between human and Divineperspectives is obvious – human sight is limitedto the picture in front of us, Divine vision is all-encompassing.

4In memory of Harav Yisrael ben Harav Uriah

Seeing the Positives by Rebbetzen Emma Taylor, Ma’ayan

We have probably all metpeople who view everythingpositively, as if the glass isalways half full. They look ateven the most challengingtimes with rose-colouredspectacles, looking for thebest in every given situation.

How do they do it?

In Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of our Fathers 5:22 –see green siddur, p.560) the Mishnah states: “The disciples of our father Avraham have agenerous eye, a modest demeanour and a humble soul… The disciples of the wickedBilam have an evil eye, an arrogant demeanourand an insatiable soul”.

What was it about Bilam, whom we read about inthis week’s sidrah, that caused him to have anevil eye, to view everything around him in anegative light, compared to our patriarchAvraham, who saw the good in every situation?

The sidrah includes the episode of Bilam and hisdonkey, where the blissfully-unaware masterwas unable to see or even feel the presence ofthe angel, something his lowly donkey was ableto do: “And Bilam said to the angel of God, ‘I have sinned because I did not know that youstood in the way against me’” (Bemidbar 22:34).

Bilam is accused in the Mishnah of having “aninsatiable soul”, meaning that nothing was evergood enough for him. Never satisfied, heconstantly felt that he deserved more. He lackedthe qualities of Avraham, who saw God’s handin everything and who realised that everysituation in life, however challenging, camedirectly from his loving Master. He was a servantwhose job it was to serve his Creator. Bilam, on the other hand, was unable to see God’shand, even when His angel was directly in frontof him and blocked the way of his donkey.

Shmuel Yosef Agnon won the Nobel Prize forLiterature in 1966. He was thrust into thelimelight, as the Israeli media clamoured to get aglimpse of this literary giant. The cameramenwanted a picture of him writing, so he sat downin his small flat in Jerusalem and penned asentence. Everyone then left, aside from aperceptive journalist who asked what Agnon hadwritten on the paper.

He wrote five words in Hebrew, taken from theHigh Holiday liturgy: “rpil vpvsv rpim vdvsy Mda”,meaning ‘Man, his essence is from dust and hisend is to the dust’.

Agnon learned the lesson that propelledAvraham to greatness. Agnon understood that,having reached such success he could haveeasily fallen into the ‘Bilam’ trap, constantlylooking for more to quench his unsatiated soul. He consciously chose the opposite,understanding that in order to look at life as if the glass is half full, we have to know wherethe water in our glass is coming from.

Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1966)

5In memory of Chaya Rachel bat Moshe Ben-tzion

The Pianist & The Music of Human Dignityby Rabbi Pinchas Hackenbroch, Senior Rabbi, Woodside Park United Synagogue

The autobiography ThePianist: The ExtraordinaryStory of One Man's Survivalin Warsaw is the remarkabletrue story of the pianistWladyslaw Szpilman. Halfcrazed and half starved,having lived through the

unspeakable horrors of the Nazi occupation, in1944 Szpilman was facing the ominous prospectof being sent to a extermination camp to be killedlike the rest of his family. He crawled into a housein Warsaw, where he expected to die. Yet hissalvation came from a most unlikely source. WilmHosenfeld, bearer of the Iron Cross for gallantryin the First World War, was a Nazi officer who, inthat shell-pocked house, forgot the Fuehrer heonce idolised and the regime he promised toserve faithfully until his death. Discovering thetalented pianist, Hosenfeld rediscovered hishumanity and concern for the dignity of mankind.He hid and fed Szpilman, thus saving his life.

This week’s sidrah records the audaciousnessdisplayed by the non-Jewish prophet Bilam, whoflagrantly disregarding the clear advice offered byGod not to attempt to curse His people(Bemidbar 22:12). Why did God attempt todissuade the wicked Bilam from attempting tocurse the Israelites? Surely He knew that Hewould later intervene to turn those attemptedcurses into blessings!

Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar (known as the OhrHachaim, d.1743) avers that despite Bilamclearly choosing a path of evil against the DivineWill and casting himself as the enemy of Hispeople, God nevertheless remained concernedfor Bilam’s human dignity. This was why Godtried to initially dissuade Bilam, even though, hadBilam been dissuaded, the blessings that heoffered the Israelites would never have been said.

God’s concern for Bilam’s dignity emerges againlater in the sidrah. God rebuked Bilam throughthe wonders of his talking donkey. This was amiraculous display of Divine will. A less known

postscript to the story is detailed by Rashi(d.1105). He relates a Midrash that, whilst Bilamsurvived this encounter, the donkey was actuallykilled by the angel, lest people see the donkeyand be prompted to mock Bilam, saying “this isthe she-donkey that overcame Bilam” (ibid.22:33).

For Bilam’s donkey to have remained alive wouldhave constituted a tremendous Kiddush Hashem(sanctification of God’s Name). It would havebeen living testimony to God’s creation andcontrol of the universe. The humiliation that Bilamwould have suffered would itself be honouringGod’s Name. Yet, the dignity of a human being,even of the wicked, is so valuable that Godpreferred His own honour being set aside ratherthan a human being suffering degradation andhumiliation.

Upon discovering Szpilman, Hosenfeldtransformed into an unlikely hero; he went on tosave countless Jews. Hearing Szpilman playChopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp minor hadrekindled Hosenfeld’s own humanity, care andconcern for the dignity of others.

Both Bilam’s story and the example of Hosenfeld are timely reminders that we areenjoined to emulate God in all of His ways,including a genuine concern and sensitivity for the wellbeing of humanity as a whole. Theconcern for human dignity transcends bordersand divisions, and behoves us to attempt to prevent the unwarranted humiliation of friend andfoe alike.

Wladyslaw Szpilman

The ‘Three Weeks’ is anannual communal mourningperiod between the fasts ofTammuz and Av inclusive.During this time, we mournthe destruction of the HolyTemples in Jerusalem, alongwith associated tragedies, as

well as reflecting on our continuing lack ofredemption. The most intense part of this periodis the ‘Nine Days’, from Rosh Chodesh Av (thestart of the month of Av) until Tisha B’Av itselfinclusive.

The Talmudic and subsequent rabbis instituted anumber of ‘mourning’ practices during the threeweeks to help us focus on the lessons andramifications of this time of year on Jewishhistory.

In Ashkenazi communities, the practice is toabstain from haircuts, shaving, listening to music,saying the ‘shehecheyanu’ blessing, celebratingjoyous occasions such as weddings or buyingexpensive new items (unless for a mitzvah or ifthe clothes will not be available subsequently orif you will miss a major sale) for the whole of thethree weeks.

The Fast of Tammuz primarily commemoratesthe breach of the walls of Jerusalem before thedestruction of the Second Temple in 70CE. Itfalls on the 17th day of the Hebrew month ofTammuz, unless that date falls on Shabbat whenit is deferred to Sunday, as is the case this year.

Like other minor fasts (i.e not Yom Kippur orTisha B’Av) this fast begins at dawn (first light)and ends at nightfall (full dark).

Other significant events in Jewish historyassociated with 17 Tammuz include:

• Moshe breaking the tablets at Mount Sinai

• The cessation, due to siege, of the supply ofanimals for offerings prior to the destructionof the First Temple

• The placing of an idol in the Temple andburning of Torah scrolls by Roman soldiers

• Attacks on Jewish communities in Toledo andPrague as well as the liquidation of the KovnoGhetto

We abstain from food and drink during this fast,as well as from celebrating joyous occasions. Noteating or drinking demonstrates the seriousnessof the day. It also helps us to ‘feel’ some of thetragedy which the day represents and to reflecton its lessons, physically not just intellectually.

As 17 Tammuz is one of the ‘minor fasts’, thosewho need to eat or drink for medical reasons can do so. This also includes pregnant andnursing mothers. If you have any questions aboutfasting, please consult your doctor and rabbi.Those who do need to eat on 17 Tammuz shouldstick to simple meals, as long as their conditionpermits this.

We recite the fast day prayers as found in thesiddur, which set out the history and meaningsof the day.

We also recommend reading books or watchingfilms about Jerusalem and relevant elements of Jewish history to deepen understanding of this fast.

6In memory of Harav Binyamin ben Harav Shalom

The Fast of 17 Tammuz and the Three Weeksby Rabbi Michael Laitner, Jewish Living Division Rabbi; Assistant Rabbi, Finchley United Synagogue

Bamot Ba'al

Depiction of spoils taken from the Second Temple (Arch of Titus, Rome)