Parsha Balak: Numbers 22:2-25:9
By Barrett Holman Leak
SAN DIEGO — Recently, a friend announced that she and her husband are expecting a baby at the end of the year. Due to our private conversations, I know how deeply special this baby’s existence will be.
Someone else is improving housing properties that he owns, making a neighborhood more livable.
I have been busy researching and creating course content on epigenetics – the study of intergenerational trauma, so I can better help our Jewish community. Every day I take long walks in sunshine that elevate my mood and help me draw out my creativity.
On the other hand, as we live with the daily chaos that surrounds us, it is easy to go down rabbit holes, get drawn into tangents, lose focus, become obsessive, bully people who disagree with us, get sucked into a dangerous collapsing hole of WhatsApp social media conversations, and even find yourself talking to an ass. Balak certainly did.
The Torah portion, read in synagogues this morning, unfolds in the book of Numbers, a narrative rich with unexpected turns, divine intervention, and profound lessons for our lives. We find ourselves at the heart of this ancient drama, where a Moabite king, Balak, gripped by fear of the burgeoning Israelite nation, seeks to harness the power of a renowned prophet, Balaam, to curse them.
Balak, driven by earthly concerns of power and territory, believed that with the right incantation, he could turn the tide of history and be victorious. So, he sent for Balaam, a man whose blessings and curses were known to be potent. Yes, Balaam was a master of what in the African American community is known as “the dozens.”
What came out of his mouth was a combination of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Irish author Oscar Wilde and American gangster Al Capone. He could severely whip and condemn you with only words, leaving you crushed and cursed. But what Balak failed to grasp, and what Balaam himself struggled to fully comprehend, was the ultimate dominion of a higher power.
The narrative takes a dramatic turn when Balaam, on his way to fulfill Balak’s request, encountered an unseen obstacle. An angel of God stood in his path, visible only to his faithful donkey. Three times the donkey veered off course, three times Balaam beat it, until, in a moment that shatters the boundaries of his perception, the donkey speaks. Imagine actor/comedian Eddie Murphy’s voice when he says in high-voiced outrage, “What have I done to you that you are beating on me!?” (Numbers 22:28).
This was a moment of radical disruption, a divine intervention that speaks volumes about the nature of perception and spiritual awareness. And it is here that we turn to the profound insights of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
Heschel, in his timeless work God in Search of Man, speaks of “radical amazement.” This is not merely curiosity or intellectual wonder, but a profound, almost spiritual shock at the sheer givenness of being, at the mystery that underlies all existence. It is the ability to be overwhelmed, to be truly moved, by the extraordinary within the ordinary.
Consider Balaam in this moment. He is a prophet, a man supposedly attuned to the divine. Yet, he is so consumed by his mission, so obsessed by his own agenda, by the mundane inconvenience of his journey being interrupted, that he fails to see the angel before him. More astonishingly, when his donkey, a creature of habit and instinct, speaks to him in human tongue, Balaam’s initial reaction is not awe, not radical amazement, but irritation. He actually argues with an ass! He is blind to the miracle unfolding before his very eyes. He is, as one commentary puts it, looking but not seeing. He does not stop and say to himself, ‘Here I am, talking to an ass, and yet I am not realizing God may be talking to me through it.’
We must ask ourselves: How often are we like Balaam? How often do we rush through life, caught in our routines, our fears and anxieties, our arrogant self-importance, that we fail to perceive the miracles unfolding around us? How often do we wear ourselves out mentally, spiritually and physically because we refuse to hear anything but our own voice? The sun rising each morning, the laughter of a child, the gorgeous ocean beside us, the quiet strength of enduring love, the intricate dance of nature—these are all avenues for radical amazement, if only we open our eyes and our hearts.
Balaam, despite his prophetic gift, initially lacks the humility and the openness to truly receive the divine message. He is focused on his task, on his reputation, on a human ruler’s command, and on all the damage he intends to do. It is only when God finally “uncovers Balaam’s eyes” (Numbers 22:31) that he sees the angel with the drawn sword. He finally understands the peril he was in and finally grasps the divine hand guiding his every step.
And what happens once his eyes are opened? Balaam cannot curse. Despite Balak’s pleas and manipulations, moving him from one vantage point to another, Balaam can only utter blessings. His most famous declaration, “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel!” (Numbers 24:5), has become a cornerstone of our daily liturgy, the “Mah Tovu.” It is a testament to God’s unwavering protection and the inherent blessedness of the Jewish people.
Through Balaam’s journey, we learn a profound lesson about the nature of blessing and curse. It is not within human power, ultimately, to curse that which God has blessed. But beyond this, it is a call for us to cultivate a Heschelian sense of radical amazement in our own lives.
Are we truly seeing? Are we listening? Or are we, like Balaam before his eyes were opened, so focused on our earthly burdens that we miss the profound beauty, the subtle whispers, and the outright miracles that God places in our path?
Let us reflect on our own capacity for wonder. Let us strive to see with new eyes, to hear with new ears, and to respond to the divine presence that permeates our world. Let us not take for granted the blessings that surround us, but rather cultivate a spirit of radical amazement, allowing ourselves to be truly moved by the magnificent gift of life, and the enduring presence of the Divine within it.
May we all be blessed to truly see, to truly hear, and to live lives filled with wonder and gratitude.
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Barrett Holman Leak is a freelance writer based in San Diego.