Balak - Israel is Blessed

You're listening to the weekly para podcast with Ari Goldwag recorded with Hashem's never ending assistance in Ramish Israel 5785 2025. This week's para is para's bullock. Before we get into the para just want to bring to your attention a great occasion and that is that with the completion of para's bulock it's been 18 rounds 18 years Bashem of the para podcast which I'm very proud of and I know that so many people bashm benefit from this and I will mention I only do this once a year but there are sponsorship of uh sponsorships available for the para Some people have made use of that. I encourage it. Can go onto my website. You can either send me an email rwaggmail.com to sponsor a podcast or of course you can give any amount by donating on the donation page on my website argoldwag.com. 18 years. So much so much Torah we've learned together. So much insight we've had into the para and there's always more to learn. There's always something new to see in this week's para. So we have Bum is being hired conscripted by Bullock to curse the Jewish people to prevent them to stop them from their national destiny. The Jewish people's national destiny is to get to Israel to get to the land of Israel. and they feel threatened by that, the Moabitete people. And so the para describes the blessings that came out of the mouth of Bum. He wished and he tried to curse us, but he was thwarted. His plans were thwarted by Hashem. Instead, Hashem gave him blessings to say. But says in Hashem places his word, places a statement in the mouth of Bum. He says, "Go back to Balak and this is what I want you to say." So Bulock and all of the the his officers, all of the important dignitaries of of Moab, they were standing there. They had brought sacrifices thinking that they're going to get in God's good graces and be able to curse the Jewish people. But this is what Bum says. He lifts up his m his analogy. He he goes into a state of poetry. He talks about the Jewish people in poems and he says like this from I was placed we'll see what this means shortly the king of Moab from ancient mountains I was instructed to go and to curse the people of Jacob Israel, bring out God's anger upon the people of Israel. But says, "What can I curse that Hashem is not cursed?" What can I be angry at that Hashem is not angry at? I can't create any anger against Israel because Hashem is not angry at Israel. Eranu. They were standing looking at the Jewish people from from the mountain, looking down upon the Jewish people. He says, "I can see them from the highest heights and I can spy them from those high places." They're a nation that dwells alone. They're they're unique. They're special. The Jewish people are not counted amongst the nations. There's something different about them. There's something different about Israel is who can count the count the uncountable people of Yakov. The people of Jacob are considered like the dust of the earth. Just like you can't count the specks of dust, you can't count the Jewish people. I wish let my death come a righteous death. The death of those who have walked straightly with God. Let my end be like theirs. And Bock gets frustrated says, "What did you do to me? I've hired you to curse my enemies and you didn't. you bless them. And Bam says, "Look, I can't say anything other than what God puts in my mouth." There's a very interesting scene of two wicked people trying to bring about a a negative impact on ambu does not let it. It just can't happen. If Israel is doing what we're supposed to do, as we're going to see even when we're not doing what we're supposed to do, Hashem loves us. Hashem blesses us. And as we'll also see, Hashem blesses those who bless us. Hashem curses those who curse us. So that's the narrative that's that's written here of what happened between Bum and Balok. And I'd like to read to you from the Medish. The medish gives us an insight into all of these different statements and some of them seem almost contradictory to what it says in the pushup shot. But of course there's a deep lesson that the magish is trying to teach us as it always does. And before I even read what the me is about to say I just want to preface it with what we just read that bum is trying to curse. doesn't succeed and he himself says look when I die I want to be like them I don't know about now but I want to be like them in the end and that's a powerful statement from our enemy from our enemies who wish to destroy us really there's a begrudging respect hard to understand but there's a begrudging respect The first thing that he says is that I was directed by Aram. I was given instructions by Aram. Who's Aram? Aram was a little area where a group of people came from, namely the Jewish people. Arau was from Aram was the Aram. He came from that area. and Moav. Moav and Ammon, those two great nations, they were from Lot and they also came from that area. Lot was Aram's nephew. But the Medish understands it to mean something different. So wait, so let me just finish that thought. Moav, the king of Moab is Balok and he is sending an instruction to Bum to curse the Jewish people. So he is called from Aram cuz he's from Moav and Moav is from load and load is from Aram. Notice that we go back to the root. We see where things are from. Speak about that. We see where things are really from and Bum says I was directed by you the king of Moaf who comes from Arami. Medish takes the puk out of pushupshhat and he tells us something that's being alluded to in bum's statement that I believe that the permission so to speak to draw this illusion to see it is from what he said at the end which is that he says I want to be like the Jewish people but even in the beginning of a statement he's saying I came from or I was directed by what does that the word which is the name of a place also has the root of the word which means lofty and high. Bil is saying I started off on a high level. I actually had a great spiritual attainment and bull drew me down into the deepest pit which is all usually a reference to ganam to the fiery pits of hell which is where a person experiences the evil of all that he's done it cleans him off but he's saying that I am recognizing as he's speaking bum he's recognizing that I've been I've been dragged down by Bullock and his nefarious ways, his his plans to cause destruction to the Jewish people. I am being drawn down by that. And if you think about, it's very interesting. We look at Bum as like this kind of very wicked person. He's trying to really wants to curse them. But but if you look at theim, I mean, it doesn't really sound like that. It's not like he's just saying whatever God says, that's what I'm going to say, and that's what he does. But the mages understands something powerful here that saying the right things is not enough because if your intent is to do something wrong which was his intent because he was being hired by Balok as Bullock says to him I hired you to curse my enemies and if Bum goes along for the ride even if he doesn't succeed the negative intent is is destructive self-destructive and even Bum perhaps Not at a conscious level but at a subconscious level there's an acknowledgement of this. He's saying I was from a high place. I was from a ram and you drew and you threw me down. You you brought me down to a very low place by trying to get just trying to get me to curse the Jewish people. Word can also be read as I'm explain and are interchangeable. And that comes from the word. There's a concept of which means to to groan and to to have a woeful approach. Bak was saying look I've been I've become woeful. I've been brought down. As the says, there's a bringing down that's occurred. One aspect is a personal aspect. Bum originally was a great person. it sounds like from the magish and he was dro excuse me destroyed by following by being willing even though he didn't do it by being willing to curse the Jewish people but there's another aspect which is an outer aspect and that is that originally bum was very high he was very honored if you would have asked even maybe about bum he's a good guy but Allah caused him to lose his honor. Says an interesting analogy to somebody who's walking with the king and they saw that there was a a robber. He got excited. Oh man, I want to see what it's like to be with the robbers. What is it like to have those experiences, the excitement? you became one of the robbers. Now, this guy comes back to the king and he wants to get back into the king's good graces. And the king says, "You want to hang out with the with the wretched. You wanted to hang out with those who were wicked. Go hang out with them. I'm not interested in having you with me anymore. You've become like them. In a similar way, Bum originally was with the king. He had he had divine inspiration. It was real. And what happens says in the end he went back to being just a regular old magician. And the says in Yeshua refers to Bum as a as a magician. He was just into black magic. He had originally been in the space of Can you imagine that? He was a real He was really there. Hashem threw him out, right? So one is a personal thing. He was he was brought down. He's so inside of himself. He became he became nothing. He became he lost his spirituality and in another sense himself rejected him. Hashem himself said look he can't go in that direction and not be destroyed and he became just a regular old magician. He lost his superpowers. He lost his godly powers. And that's why he said, "I was originally so high, but I've been but I've been abandoned. I've been abandoned by another concept here is that means I understand where I came from. I came from Aram." Like we said before, Bollock was a king of Moab. Moave came from Lot. Lot was the nephew of of Arau and they were from Aram. It was the place that they were from recognition of where they were was lost. Where they were from. What does that mean? Bum says to Bak, "You have made us both by by asking me to curse the Jewish people. You've brought us both into a space which is the opposite of connection to it's it's the ingratitude lack of appreciation of where we come from Abraham without without Ara who would bull beak king of Moab Ara saved lot a because of his because of his merit lo was brought out of Saddam and he ended up having these two kids named Moav. Why? Because of Abraham, his merit. When Hashem was destroying those cities, Hashem remembered Abra and he sent out Lot. It was Hashem's memory, so to speak, of the greatness of Abrau that stood on behalf of Lot that he should be saved. I come from you come from. We're going to see where he comes from. But Baha comes from Lot. If not for Aram who's the grandfather of the Jewish people, where's your gratitude? Where would you be today? You wouldn't even exist. and bo and bum says about himself if not for Jacob himself a's grandson if not for Jacob I wouldn't be here as we soon see bum was the our kazal say he was one of the offspring of lot sorry not of lot of love we'll start with We find that before Jacob arrived, Lavan didn't have any sons. Says that the daughter of love and she had come. She was the shepherdess. Why was she the shepherdist? Where are the boys? If he would have had sons, it would have been the boys who were shephering. But then Lavan did have kids. He did have sons once Jacob got there. Part of the reason that loving became upset at Yakov was because he listened to the words of his sons. So he had sons. Where did they come from? They came in as close of Yakov. Which by the way means that wherever the spiritually ascendant person is, that person brings with them blessings. That's an important thing. When Israel comes somewhere, we bring with us blessings. That's part of what makes the nations of the world were jealous of us. We have a certain a certain power. We have a certain connection to Hashem. We have a certain goodness. We have a certain wish to accomplish and to do good for people around us. And that expresses itself in a spiritual sense. Yaku comes in loving has sons. He didn't have sons before. And who came from those sons? Bum. Did he also say I was able to to determine from looking at my magical means that the blessings that came into my house were because of you. So Bum is saying look by us trying to curse the offspring of Avam, the offspring of Yakov, what we're doing is we're showing our ingratitude. We're only here because of them, because of their great-grandfather. What's going on with us? We're so afraid. I'm adding this. It doesn't say this in the message, but we're so afraid of the destructive force of the Jewish people that were going to cut off the blessings of the Jewish people. Wherever the Jewish people go, they bring blessings. They brought blessings to us. We exist because of them. Why would I think that as they walk through our land, they're going to bring about destruction to us? That's just not what they're about. We're making a mistake when we try to curse them. What we need to do is bless them. Says the Balik had said to Bam, "Go and curse for me." The word lee can mean for me or can also mean to me. So bulock in a certain sense was saying bring the curses to me. Says that's what it means in the when a person curses the Jewish people they're bringing themselves a curse. Pik says those who curse am cursed. Those who curse Ara are cursed. If you look for the blessings in the Jewish people, you receive blessings. If you look for the curses, you receive curses. And that's what we get. We're coming here. We're trying to get curses for them, but we're just getting curses for ourselves. And where does it come from? Just before I keep reading, where does it come from? It comes from an ingratitude. That's what I wanted to I wanted to stress that if I don't realize where the good things come from, I can end up end up hurting the people around me. How often does it happen that a child doesn't recognize how much good that they get from their parents? They curse their parents. I don't mean literally with curse words, but they they have a negative view of their parents. They speak negatively of their parents. They think negatively of their parents. How often does it does that happen? Do we not appreciate I'm only here because of them. I'm only here because of my parents. How much gratitude do I owe them? And being in a space of ingratitude, it's self-destructive. That's what the measure is teaching us. Bum is self-destructing. He's going to end up being nothing more than a cheap magician. Used to be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Literally, it was magic. He had the magic and now he has to resort to tricks and slight of hand. He lost the power. Why? Because he became ungrateful. He didn't recognize who he was. He he lost his connection to and and we lose our connection to Hashem when we lose our connection to others around us and we lose our gratitude for the good that others have done for us. It's a powerful lesson. When we're when we're negative and we're walking around with curses, we end up with the curses. Heaven forbid. And when we're looking for blessings, I'm trying to bless others. I get blessed. And the measure says something even deeper. Says, "Look, I'm trying to curse the people of Jacob, the people of Israel. Now if I would have tried to curse the people of Aram or the the people of Yitzk that might have been a different story. We know that Aram had a son named Ishmael who was most of his life not not righteous. Had a son named who was wicked. But the people of Israel, you know, you have a king, another marshall to a king. You have a king and the king chooses a group of people to be his officers. He recognizes the greatness in them. He sees the potential in them and he chooses them to be his officers. and someone comes and says, "Oh, those guys are terrible. They're not they're not uh good officers. They're not so smart. You think that the king is going to allow that person to live?" You speak negatively of my chosen officers. Is Hashem's inheritance. Hashem loves the Jewish people. They are his special special nation. They're his chosen people. says in the portion of Hashem is his nation. Jacob is the literally the rope of his inheritance which means they're the ones that are always connected to him is referred to as a as a special chosen nation. He's not going to get away with it. You can't curse God's special chosen people. imagine the king puts a beautiful crown on his head be decked with jewels and diamonds, silver, gold, and someone comes along and says, "Ah, that's from a thrift store. It's a piece of junk." You think that person will live in about Hashem loves us. This is the nation of Israel who I I I take splendor from them. They're my crown. And someone's going to come and try to speak negatively of them shalom. And then comes the final point which I'd like to share with you. What can I curse that God is not cursed? says had had chances to be cursed. They done things wrong did not curse us wants to get the blessings from his father and he comes in he disguises himself as his older brother. The father says, "Who are you?" He lies and he says, "I'm your oldest son." Is saying a lie. He's tricking his father to get the blessings. He should be cursed. But what does the tell us? Not only wasn't he cursed, he was blessed. Yitzk acknowledges that although he took the the blessings in a an underhanded way. Nevertheless, he would be blessed. Those blessings would take effect. How can I curse him? Says bum. God has not cursed them. Hashem had an opportunity had a chance. He could have cursed YaKob, but he didn't. They were blessed even though they he done something on the service which seemed wrong. similar idea, the exact same idea. When let's say you have a legion of the army who who rebelss against the king, they should they they're liable for death. Israel did the same thing. We denied God. We rebelled against government. We said about the golden camp, this is your God that took you out of Egypt. Doesn't get worse than that. Shouldn't Hashem have destroyed them? Even at that time, Hashem did not stop loving them. He loves Am Israel. Hashem loves the Jewish people dearly. You cannot take away that love. Even if we do have done something so terrible, we've denied Hashem. We've said, "This is the one who took me out of Egypt." Right in front of Hashem's face. This continues to give them the miraculous mana continues to give them the miraculous water from the the well of Miriam continues to give them the the clouds of glory which protected them every single moment in the in the terrible thing but you didn't destroy them. Bam says, "How could I possibly curse them?" Is so loved by the love is so deep and so real that no matter what they do, Hashem won't curse them. How could I curse them? I can't do it. So, Bum is like stuck in this kind of limbo place. He wishes to do bad to him. He's like, I can't. I just can't do it. and he wishes that he could be like them, but he couldn't do it himself. He he had already taken that path and he didn't recognize that there's always a path back. He didn't go back to the root and the source which is the sat the remembering where it comes from who why am I here today? Bum was only there because of a Yakov. Bulock was only there because of an Ara. They couldn't bring themselves to that recognition to go back to the root. But in what they couldn't do, we see what we can do. We have this tendency. We're human. We judge in our minds sometimes outwardly. But we can reverse that. We can look for blessings. We can look to bring goodness and love to others. Rahul doesn't have to force us like he did to Bum. Bum didn't manage to get get out of being forced and come out the other end with a connection with Hashem. But as long as he was connected and as long as we are the to the effect to the degree that we are able to connect and to bless and to look past the negative things, we're connecting to the truth which is that Hashem loves us no matter what. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabas. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this,