Parashat Balak

By R. Yitzhak Ariel

Parshat Balak, the Torah portion for this week, has something very interesting about it that makes it different than nearly every other Torah portion. Balak, the king of Moab, sees that the Jewish people cannot be defeated by the sword and therefore hires Bilaam to curse the Jews in an attempt to defeat them using their own weapon, the mouth. Every time Bilaam tried to curse Bnei Yisrael, Hashem preformed a miracle to save us from his curses and made words of blessing exit his mouth instead. The commentaries point out that normally the Torah describes what is happening directly to the Jewish nation. Be it the stories of our holy forefathers, the entrance into Egypt, the sufferings and hardships there or the exodus and rigorous journey through the desert, the camera has always been focused on Bnei Yisrael. In this week’s parsha, however, a story is being told of an event that the Jews had absolutely no idea was happening. The scene is shifted to an entirely different nation. It is clear that the Torah is trying to teach us something very important. The Torah here is displaying one of the most fundamental principals in Judaism, Hashgacha. Hashgacha is the reality that Hashem is constantly overseeing everything and is always watching over us. Many times Hashem does things for us to protect us from potential harm or danger and we will never even find out about it. The Torah is teaching us one of the biggest foundations in Emunah, the belief in Hashem. We must always know that whether or not we can detect it, Hashem is always there conducting everything and watching over each and every one of us, making sure to provide us with everything we need. Through this recognition we can awaken our love for Hashem and grow closer to Him.

Shabbat Shalom

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