Balak It's Not a Zero-Sum Game

Hi, this is Rabbi Dov with the Parsha in 5, where in 5 minutes I try to give you a little insight into the Parsha. And this is Parshas Balak. Parshas Balak, of course, tells us about Balak, the king of Moab, who sends for the prophet Balaam who wants to curse the Jewish people out of existence. Now, come on. Come on, Balaam, you're a smart guy. He comes to Korach Balak and says, "There's these people that came out of Egypt and they're threatening Moab and I want to curse them out of existence." And Hashem's like, "Who do you think brought them out of Moab? W- What are you talking about? What do you mean there's these people that came out? What do you mean they came out by themselves? You know I've been working with them the whole time. How could you How could you for a moment think that that this was just an accident? You know I'm involved in this story." Well, Balaam doesn't give up. Balaam didn't give up, even though his donkey right? has to run away from the Malach three times connected Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Nonetheless, he comes and he tells Balak, "We're going to bring 14 korbanos connected all the korbanos that Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov brought together. I'm going to cancel out the korbanos of the forefathers." And he does this three times. Did he really think this was going to work? That that God is going to allow him to destroy the Jewish people? If you read the book, God seems to be seriously invested in Klal Yisrael. You know, he's like he's spent a lot of time with them, he's got all these miracles and stuff, and you think now because of you and your 14 korbanos he's going to let you destroy Klal Yisrael? Balaam was playing a card. The card he was playing is the following. I could have borrowed who you've invested a lot of time in class Israel and I get you that. And when you came to our Sinai you went to every nation of the world and said, "Do you want the Torah?" And everybody turned it down. Except for class Israel. And that's true. But I'm going to make you an offer. If you let me get rid of class Israel, I will give you all 70 nations of the world. Because I have Balak over here and I'm going to get together all of the kings cuz they all came to Balak as we see in the Gamoran and Sabakim. They all come to Balak to ask him. And he says, "I'll bring everybody to come face to face with him. Just it's a simple numbers game. Would you trade one for 70?" It's uh it's always a difficult decision that people have to make. What am I willing to do to why sacrifice the one for the many? Uh Was that Roger Carlton, I think it was in Tale of Two Cities? The needs of the many are greater than the needs of the one. And that's what he was offering. And I could have borrowed who says, "Yeah, that's not going to happen. Class Israel is going to go into Israel and they're going to build the base of Migdash and it's going to light up the world and they're going to change the world. I'm not killing anybody in order to do it. This is not a zero-sum game. You know, it's not a binary choice. Either I get the 70 nations of the world or I get one. That's not how it works. I'm going to get everybody. And class Israel is going to be the catalyst for that. And that's why every time you wanted to curse the Jewish people, it turned into a bracha. And the last one was ma tovu alecha Yaakov mishkenotecha Yisrael. Their homes become a Beit Hamikdash and the Beit Hamikdash is the light that lights up the world. Klal Yisrael has the ability to be able to change the world and bring everybody around without having to have destruction. Without having to destroy. We're going to inspire, we're going to lead, and they're going to be an am mamlechet kohanim. A holy nation. A nation of kohanim that's going to service the world and they will bring everybody back. That Hashem Baruch Hu Yisbarach Hashem, we should see it in our days. Shabbat.