Chassidut on the Torah

Chassidut Archives

Dedicated to Binyomin Avraham Pomper and his family, on the occasion of Avi's Bar Mitzvah, Mazal Tov! Overview Parshas Balak (Numbers 22:2-25:9) opens with Balak, king of Moav, hiring Bilaam, the gentile prophet, to curse the Jews. Despite Bilaam's numerous sacrifices and attempts to curse the Jews, all he succeeds in doing is blessing the Jews! When Bilaam and Balak realize trying to curse the Jews is futile, they then decide that to cause the Jews to sin and thus arouse G-d's anger toward them might be a more successful tactic. The parsha concludes telling how many of the Jews sinned with the Moabite women and worshipped their idolatry and were punished with a plague. One of the tribal princes even sinned publicly, but was killed by Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon, whose act of zealousness simultaneously staved the plague. Insights As Jews, what are the qualities that we look for in a leader? How do these values reflect on our personal behavior? The Rebbe discusses what a Jewish leader is supposed to be in connection with Parshas Balak. Last week's parsha ended with the victory over the kings, Sichon and Og; this week's opens with the apprehension of the King of Moav, Balak. "And Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Yisroel had done to the Emori…" The verses continue, "and Moav was afraid of Israel because of their numbers". It is clear from the verses that the Moabite nation was not appraised of the full danger facing them. Rashi explains how Balak's fear became transmitted to his people. "It those two great kings who we depended on could not stand up against them (Israel), all the more so us!" There was some political intrigue here. Until the war with Sichon and Og, Balak was not worried. He had a secret agreement with Sichon and Og that they would protect him from Israel. Only the kings knew about this. If the Jews had known, they wouldn't have asked permission to pass through Sichon's land on their way to the Holy Land, precipitating a war. With his protection removed, Balak had a problem. G-d commanded the Jews not to war with the people of Moav (Dvarim 2/9), and only request passing through their country on their way to Israel. Balak wrongly assumed that the real reason the Jews did not attack Moav, was because of the Jews' avoidance of war. Eisav's descendents-not Yaacov's (the Jews)-were the ones who were told to "live by the sword" (Breishis 27/4), so Balak was not afraid-until he saw the Jews' miraculous victory. When he realized that the adrenalin of victory over Sichon must be coursing through the Jews' veins, Balak lost his confidence. He had to do something drastic to protect himself and his people. All fine and good, but why did Balak have to make the people afraid too, especially when he was not looking for a military solution? Isn't the function of leadership to strengthen their people? The Sages wrote, "Evil people are controlled by their hearts" (Breishis Raba 34/10). When an evil person is afraid, his or her heart rejects logic allowing the fear to take control and become apparent, and spread to everyone he or she influences. So has it been with demagogues throughout history. Here we see the difference between Balak and Moshe. During the war with Sichon and Og, Moshe was also afraid. He knew that Og had once come to Avraham's aid, and maybe in that merit, Og and his nation would be granted the upper hand. Nevertheless, Moshe kept it to himself. He did not share his fears with the people, nor did those apprehensions affect his actions either. This quality exemplifies Jewish leadership throughout all generations. Even during times of danger, they work to strengthen the people, instilling them with confidence and faith. This is the secret of our success over our adversaries during this long exile and it is this confidence and faith that will eventually bring us the ultimate victory, the arrival of Moshiach. Shabbat Shalom, Shaul The Chatam Sofer exhibited another quality of leadership. He had many great students, some of whom were also great orators. He instructed one of them, " Permission is granted to give over my Torah in your name. Just do not give over your Torah in mine…".

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