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A FEW PRE-SHABBAT WORDS FROM RABBI AARON  - FOR SHABBAT, JULY 4, 2009

Ancient Tale of God, Balaam, and Balak - What's the Take-Home?

Within tomorrow's double-parasha we find the strange tragic-comic tale of king Balak, who hires Balaam the Oracle to curse the Israelites. The story is built in many layers. On the surface, Balaam knows a thing or two about sacred rituals: you need the right words and gestures, you strive for the best setting, and you seek out the optimal timing. The Bible writer picks Balaam apart. While Balaam thinks he can get God's green light to curse the Israelites, God makes it abundantly clear that a prophet can speak only those words which God chooses. For all his self-important vanity, Balaam's ass sees God's sword-wielding angel, while Balaam is blind to the events in front of him. Three attempts at cursing Israel turn into three beautiful blessings. The Oracle goes home without his paycheck; the king fumes in humiliation. God reigns supreme, and we score with a marvelous Ma Tovu poem as a souvenir. 

Surely, there is a lot more for us to unravel. A straightforward take on Balaam casts him as a poster child for arrogance and greed. The Dvar Torah from a Breslov (one of many Chassidic families) website portrays Balaam as a Biblical Madoff. The writer reminds us that while it's easy (and justified) to condemn dishonesty, thievery, and the abuse of people's trust, we should remember that not too many people have 100% clean hands. Temptation is powerful.

I want to focus on a few words of praise uttered by Balaam: "I see him and from the hills I view him. Behold, the people shall dwell apart, and will not reckon itself among the nations" (Numbers 23:9). This short verse sounds pretty enough, but it bears serious scrutiny because the implications are tremendous, as will see. First, let's check in with Rashi, whose responses are powerful reflections of his time and place.  Regarding the phrase "Behold, the people shall dwell apart,” he writes:  this dwelling apart is what the Israelites inherited from their ancestors, the prerogative to dwell in the world alone.

Rubinstein's take 1

Rashi's comment is troubling and poignant. This reading of Jewish isolation, marginalization over the centuries plays up the virtue our separateness. While the self-righteous tone is not blatantly out front, Rashi's intellectual heirs draw the obvious conclusions about Jews being morally and ethically a cut above the rest. The next two comments from Rashi on this verse should drive the point home. 

1.       Regarding the phrase "...and will not reckon itself among the nations", Rashi, quoting another source [the targum], writes: The Israelites will not be exterminated with the other nations, as it said [Jeremiah 30:112] “For I will make a full end of all the nations...but I will not make a full end of you.”

2.       Regarding "...and will not reckon itself among the nations,”  he continues: When the Israelites rejoice, no other nation rejoices with them.

How isolated and painful! As a 21st century American Jew wrestling with the complex dynamics of embracing tradition and text while partaking of (and being shaped by) modernity, how shall I weigh Rashi's medieval comments? Here's one way. There's a scene within Fiddler on the Roof where one of the few villagers who can read the newspaper is reading a story aloud to his fellow villagers. Like many newspaper stories (even now!) it's a tale of gloom, and it's about goings-on in the Big City. Most of the listeners wave off the story - who cares what happens with the goyim over there? They don't have anything to do with us, we have no reason to consider the events over there! Perchik, the college boy, admonishes them - Do you really think you can ignore the rest of the world? What's going on over there will surely come here even if we close our eyes and ears to it.

Rubinstein's take 2

If the insular Jewish orientation were simply a relic of the past or some holdover limited to a few communities that choose to live in the bubble, the toxic runoff from Numbers 23:9 would be limited. Unfortunately, the disease is virulent as well as malignant. Check out the words of the current Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Atias (yesterday),  warning against the spread of Arab population into various parts of Israel, saying that preventing this phenomenon was no less than a national responsibility.  "I see it as a national duty to prevent the spread of a population that, to say the least, does not love the state of Israel," Atias told a conference of the Israel Bar Association, which focused on a reforming Israel's Land Administration. 

The Shas minister referred to Harish, a housing project built for the Haredi community in northern Israel, saying that the Arab population from the nearby Wadi Ara was spreading into the Harish area. Atias went on to address the issue of the Galilee, saying that "if we go on like we have until now, we will lose the Galilee. Populations that should not mix are spreading there. I don't think that it is appropriate for them to live together." 

"Look at what happened in Acre," Atias continued, referring to violent protests that broke out on the Eve of Yom Kippur last year over Jewish-Arab tensions in the mixed town. Atias argued that lands should be marketed to each sector separately, in order to create segregation, not just between Jews and Arabs but also between other sectors, such as ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews. "There is a severe housing crisis among the young ultra-Orthodox couples, and in the general population. I, as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, don't think that religious Jews should have to live in the same neighborhood as secular couples, so as to avoid unnecessary friction. And since some 5,000 to 6,000 religious couples get married every year, a problem arises because they require a certain kind of community life that goes along with their lifestyle."

I’ve shared this excerpted article from Haaretz in order to suggest that an intensely separatist understanding of “a nation dwelling apart” is not limited to a fringe element within our kehilla.  Housing Minister Atias represents the Israeli Government.  Here not only the challenges posed by her hostile and aggrieved neighbors, but also the complex mix of Israel’s Jews will make their mark on Israel’s journey forward.  That certainly gives me pause. How about you?

Beyond the outdoor festivities, the grill, the refreshments, how do we as American Jews understand the meaning of July 4 as it relates to What America is About? How does separate but equal sound when the speaker is one of ours? We get angry when Israel is pigeon-holed as a racist outpost of apartheid - who wouldn't? But the Housing Minister is not a lone voice. Many Jews, Israeli and American, resonate with his position. His words should remind us that Numbers 23:9 presents a real challenge for anyone who takes their Judaism – and their modern identity – seriously.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Aaron