Parashat Balak 5785

by Rabbi Margie Cella

This week we read of the prophet Balaam, who was solicited by the Moabite King Balak to curse the nation of Israel. Though God gave him permission to go with Balak’s men, God was angry with Balaam for doing so. An angel was dispatched to block Balaam’s path. He did not see the angel, but his donkey did, reacting three times in fright, first by leaving the path, then crushing Balaam’s foot against a wall, and finally falling down under him. Each time he struck the animal in anger. Finally, she spoke to him: “Meh asiti lecha . . . ?”—“What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” (Numbers 22:28) Finally seeing the angel, Balaam became repentant. The angel instructed that he would only be able say what God told him to say. Meeting up with Balak, they went to a vantage point from which Balaam could see the nation of Israel. He opened his mouth to curse them but instead uttered words of praise. Reacting angrily, Balak said to Balaam, “Meh asita li . . . ?”—“What have you done to me . . . ?” Twice more they tried, but the result was always the same: Balaam was only able to bless, rather than curse, the people of Israel. Finally, Balak sent him home without reward, but not before Balaam prophesied that in the future he and his people would be subdued by Israel.

The questions that the donkey and Balak ask Balaam are very similar, yet profoundly different in meaning. By asking, “What have I done?” the donkey opens the discussion, asking Balaam if she has done anything that he could find fault with, and forcing him to examine his own (re)actions. By asking, “What have you done?” Balak lashes out accusingly at Balaam, not really expecting an answer, shutting down the discussion. One encourages open communication; one shuts it down. Our words—and the way we say them—matter. Oseh Shalom, Maker of peace, help us to make peace through open and honest communication.