{"id":47663,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-139\/"},"modified":"2022-08-17T09:01:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T06:01:41","slug":"wall-139","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-139\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Numbers-22"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"139","date":"20260311","book":"Numbers","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"139","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"47972","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Numbers 22 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Numbers 22 - Judy Hammond","slug":"numbers-22-judy-hammond","old_id":"47972","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Numbers 22","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/numbers-chapter-22-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"139","date":"20260311","wall_id":"139"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"107226","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Who Can Speak? ","post_title":"Who Can Speak?","slug":"who-can-speak","old_id":"107226","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":44967,"post_title":"Abe Mezrich","slug":"abe-mezrich","old_id":"44967","first_name":"Abe ","last_name":"Mezrich ","description":"Abe Mezrich wants to know what our sacred texts say about our world right now. Sometimes he writes down his answers to those questions. His second book, Between the Mountain and the Land Lies the Lesson, is available through Ben Yehuda Press. Learn more at www.abemezrich.com.","short_description":"Abe Mezrich wants to know what our sacred texts say about our world right now. Learn more at www.abemezrich.com.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":101452,"alt":"","title":"-61fd0e6c351e2--61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","width":1914,"height":1754,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-300x275.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":275,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-768x704.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":704,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-1024x938.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":938,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1408,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG.jpg","2048x2048-width":1914,"2048x2048-height":1754,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-1200x1100.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1100,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/12\/61fd0e6c351e2-61fd0e6c351e3Abe_Mezrich.JPG-458x420.jpg","home_baner-width":458,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"someone unquestioning in her vision \/ with a strong back \/ who knows only how to carry a load\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

1.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The prophet Balaam\u2019s donkey sees the angel of God.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Frightened animal,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>She crouches to keep distance.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Then God \u201copened the donkey\u2019s mouth\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and the donkey speaks.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Then Balaam, too, sees the angel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

2.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is someone unquestioning in her vision<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>a scared animal<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>with a strong back<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>who knows only how to carry a load<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and how to act on what she sees\u2014<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>who can do such precise work,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>such lifting,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>as to carry a holy vision to the world.<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is she<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>who can truly speak.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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","post_title":"Big Bad Balaam?","slug":"big-bad-balaam","old_id":"107233","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A deeper look at the character of this complex figure (part I)\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

According to the midrash, Balaam was a prophet almost on the level of Moses, for the other nations. Balaam is also universally regarded as a villain of the Torah on par with Laban in Genesis. But as with Laban, a careful reading of the text paints a different picture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The story opens with Balak, the king of Moab gathering his cousins in Amon to brainstorm how to defeat the Israelites after their recent resounding victories. They decide to try to hire Balaam to curse the Israelites. A delegation arrives and requests Balaam\u2019s assistance. Balaam responds: \u201cSpend the night here, and I shall reply to you as God tells me\u201d (verse 8). Asking God for advice before agreeing to the offer does not seem like something a villain would do. God appears to Balaam that night and instructs Balaam to decline the invitation. So what does the villain of the Torah do!? He listens to God and declines the invitation. \u201cGo back to your own country, for God will not let me go with you\u201d (verse 13).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balak is upset. He resends the delegation this time offering a big reward. With money on the table Balaam\u2026declines again. \u201cThough Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, big or little, contrary to the command of my God\u201d (verse 18). God appears to him yet again. This time God tells Balaam that he can go with the delegation, but he must follow God\u2019s command. Balaam listens to God and agrees to travel with the delegation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The commentators try to parse every word in this opening section to show that Balaam was bad. Pointing out that Balaam does not outright say no, or that after the delegation came the second time and offered money, Balaam tried to ask God a second time even though God had said no, or that Balaam hitched his own donkey to follow the delegation because he was excited to be able to curse the Israelites. Verse 22 may be the source of the desire to add on to what the plain text indicates: \u201cBut God was incensed at his going\u201d (verse 22). If God was so angry that Balaam went, then clearly Balaam did something wrong.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The better question though is why was God angry at Balaam for going when God just told him to go? The answer is unclear, but after the \u201ctalking donkey\u201d portion of the story, Balaam again defers to God. \u201cI erred because I did not know that you were standing in my way. If you still disapprove, I will turn back\u201d (verse 34). Not only does Balaam defer to God, but he apologizes to God thinking that he had misunderstood what God wanted! God allows him to proceed, reminding him again that he can only say what God allows. Balaam repeats this to Balak when Balak when the two meet. Again, Balaam defers to what God commands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To be continued\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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We learn about the inner struggles.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam doesn\u2019t reply to King Balak\u2019s messengers immediately. \u00a0Instead he tells them to stay the night, and he waits to hear from God in his dream. \u00a0When he wakes, he faithfully tells them that he cannot curse the Israelites, for they are blessed by God. King Balak does not give up. He doubles his efforts of temptation, sending more distinguished men and more money. Again Balaam doesn\u2019t answer immediately and waits to hear from God in his sleep. This time, however, it is obvious that Balaam knows the answer, since he is aware of the Divine will. \u00a0Still he is hoping for God to validate his personal desires by providing a different answer. This is the Yetzer, the inner powers of desire that are tempting Balaam, forcing him to struggle between what he knows is right, and what he wants. It is at this point that God gets angry and sends His angel to deal with Balaam and the donkey. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe angel of the Lord said to him, \"Why have you beaten your she-donkey these three times? Behold, I have came out to thwart you, for you have (<\/span>yarat) <\/span><\/i>hastened against Me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It seems from this verse that the reason God sends the angel hinges upon Balaam hastening, and in Hebrew, <\/span>yarat<\/span><\/em> (\u05d9.\u05e8.\u05d8)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi offers multiple interpretations of this word <\/span>yarat<\/span><\/em> - hastened. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. Perhaps it is an acronym \u201cShe feared (y<\/em><\/span>arah<\/span><\/em>) <\/span><\/i>, she saw (r<\/em><\/span>a\u2019ata<\/span><\/em>), she turned aside (<\/span>nat'ta<\/span><\/em>)\u201d emphasizing how even the donkey knew, but you didn\u2019t. You should have, instead you provoked me.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Literally it means hurried: Balaam was hurrying on his way in order to anger God.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. It could also mean desire: Balaam was desiring to go against God.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    Why is Rashi so keen on painting Balaam so negatively?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The Netziv explains: When a person is far from sin, the sin does does not dance before him, but when one intentionally brings oneself close, it is very difficult to overcome the yetzer, and one is quick to go through with the sin.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    We portray Balaam in a negative light because he knew the right thing to do and nonetheless went the other way. \u00a0He tempted himself by trying again, by asking again, hoping for a way to fulfill his personal desires of making lots of money. \u00a0Balaam puts up no fight, shows no signs of resistance against his inner desires. 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Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Satire descends into farce as the desire to curse turns into unforgettable blessings","post_main_content_content":"

    The best way of understanding the Torah\u2019s approach to human self-pretension is through examples. The obvious case is Balaam. Balaam is the archetype of the shaman, the wonder-worker who uses religion in a way the Torah regards as blasphemous, as a means of enlisting supernatural powers to human ends. As Balak, King of Moab says to him: \u201cNow come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed\u201d (22:6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Balaam goes through the usual formalities. He cannot, he says, do anything against God\u2019s will. He must first find out whether the mission is acceptable. This turns out however to be mere show because when a second attempt is made to persuade him, promising him more honor and reward, he consults with God again, proving that he believes that God, like man, can change His mind, be bribed and so on. God is angry, though the text does not tell us this yet. The form His anger takes is that He gives permission to Balaam to go. Since Balaam has shown he only half-accepts the answer \u201cNo,\u201d God gives him the answer \u201cYes.\u201d The sages described this as the rule that \u201cWhere you want to go, that is where you\u00a0<\/span>will be led\u201d (Makkot 10b). The next morning Balaam sets out, and the famous scene with the ass takes place. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    A joke is being played on Balaam. His ass sees an angel that Balaam, the greatest seer of his age, cannot see. The ass speaks, proving what God told Moses at the burning bush: \u201cWho gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?\u201d (Ex.4:11). Balaam has the hubris to think he\u00a0<\/span>is the master of God\u2019s word, that he can decide who will be blessed and cursed. God shows him that even an ass can see and speak if God wills it. Balaam cannot see an angel with a drawn sword even when it is directly in front of him, and far from cursing the Israelites finds himself losing a moral argument with a talking donkey. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Satire descends into farce as the man Balak has offered a fortune to curse the Israelites proceeds to bestow on them some of the most unforgettable blessings in the entire Torah. This happens because Balak and Balaam believe that blessings and curses are for sale and that divine powers can be exploited for human ends.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Excerpted from the <\/span>Koren Pesach Machzor<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>p.103<\/span><\/p>\r\n

     <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107238,"alt":"","title":"-62fc7ae57544a--62fc7ae57544cnum22-statue headless 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Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"504","name":"Blessing","old_id":"904"},{"term_id":"506","name":"Prophecy","old_id":"906"}]},{"order":7,"id":"47948","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Baalam\u2019s She-Ass \u2013 Then and Now ","post_title":"Baalam\u2019s She-Ass \u2013 Then And Now","slug":"baalams-she-ass-then-and-now","old_id":"47948","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Exemplar of a feeling animal","post_main_content_content":"

    In our chapter, Balak, King of Moab, terrified by the oncoming Israelites, seeks to hire the gentile prophet Balaam \u00a0to curse Israel (22:1-21). Despite the fact that on a second attempt, God tells Balaam to go with Balak\u2019s messengers, God is angry at Balaam and sends an angel to block his way (verse 22). Balaam\u2019s she-ass (aton<\/em>), seeing the angel still invisible to Balaam, turns aside causing Balaam to strike her. When the she-ass crushes Balaam\u2019s foot against the wall, he strikes her again. And when she then lies down under him he strikes her yet a third time, now with his staff (verses 23-27). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u201cThen the Lord opened the ass\u2019s mouth, and she said to Balaam, \u2018What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?\u2019 Balaam said to the ass, \u2018You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I\u2019d kill you.\u2019 The ass said to Balaam, \u2018Look, I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?\u2019 And he answered, \u2018No\u2019\u201d (verses 28-30).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Balaam\u2019s talking she-ass is remarkable in at least one very special way according to the Rabbinic Sages. Her mouth (pi ha-aton<\/em>) was one of the ten extraordinary handiworks of God created at the very end of the six days of creation (Mishnah Avot 5:6). Not only was Balaam\u2019s she-ass able to speak, she spoke in perfect biblical Hebrew. And Balaam, though he was not a Hebrew, spoke in that same language though imperfectly. When he accused his ass of mocking him (hit\u2019alalt bi<\/em>) (verse 29), he unwittingly accused her of abusing him sexually (see Judges 19:25; Tanhuma Buber, Balaq 13). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The angel\u2019s challenging question to Balaam: \u201c\u2019Why have you beaten your ass these three times?\u201d is the basis for Maimonides\u2019 ruling that the prohibition of cruelty to animals is of biblical origin (Guide for the Perplexed 3:17). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The German-Jewish philosopher Salomon Maimon (1753- 1800), in his autobiography, tells of how he acted on the view of the French philosopher Descartes (1596-1650) who claimed that animals feel no pain, but are mere automatons, whose cries are like the sound of a drum when struck (see Yael Shemesh, Bar-Ilan Daf Shevui 504<\/em>). Indeed, exclamations coming from the mouth of Balaam\u2019s she-ass continue to be heard to this day on the pages of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem\u2019s student newspaper, appropriately named Pi Ha-Aton<\/em> (\u201cThe Mouth of the She-Ass\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    image:\u00a0meunierd \/ Shutterstock.com<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47991,"alt":"","title":"num22-donkey","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","width":929,"height":613,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-300x198.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-768x507.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":507,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","large-width":929,"large-height":613,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","1536x1536-width":929,"1536x1536-height":613,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","2048x2048-width":929,"2048x2048-height":613,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","post_full_size-width":929,"post_full_size-height":613,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-637x420.png","home_baner-width":637,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Baalam\u2019s She-Ass \u2013 Then And Now","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Exemplar of a feeling animal","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47991,"alt":"","title":"num22-donkey","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","width":929,"height":613,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-300x198.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-768x507.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":507,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","large-width":929,"large-height":613,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","1536x1536-width":929,"1536x1536-height":613,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","2048x2048-width":929,"2048x2048-height":613,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","post_full_size-width":929,"post_full_size-height":613,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-637x420.png","home_baner-width":637,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"139","date":"20260311","wall_id":"139"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"660","name":"Animals","old_id":"1060"}]},{"order":8,"id":"47952","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Embodying Envy ","post_title":"Embodying Envy","slug":"embodying-envy","old_id":"47952","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34004,"post_title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","slug":"avivah-gottlieb-zornberg","old_id":"34004","first_name":"Avivah Gottlieb","last_name":"Zornberg","description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives in Jerusalem where she has been lecturing on Torah since 1980. She reads biblical narratives through the prism of midrash, literature, philosophy and particularly psychoanalysis.\r\nShe was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, where her father was a Rabbi and the head of the Rabbinical Court. She studied Torah with him from childhood. Her PhD in English Literature is from Cambridge University, England. She taught English literature at the Hebrew University before turning to teaching Torah. She now teaches throughout the Jewish world, at synagogues, universities, and psychoanalytic institutes.\r\nShe is the author of five critically acclaimed books. Her latest book, Moses: A Human Life, was published by Yale University Press.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives and lectures on Torah in Jerusalem. She is the author of five critically acclaimed books. ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34006,"alt":"","title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","width":454,"height":359,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-300x237.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":237,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","medium_large-width":454,"medium_large-height":359,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","large-width":454,"large-height":359,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":454,"1536x1536-height":359,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":454,"2048x2048-height":359,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":454,"post_full_size-height":359,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","home_baner-width":454,"home_baner-height":359}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Balaam prefers God\u2019s word to God\u2019s will","post_main_content_content":"

    Following the innocuous description of Balaam saddling his own ass (Num. 22:21), Rashi comments:\u201dFrom here we learn that hatred disrupts order, so that Balaam saddled his own ass. God said, You wicked one, Abraham already preceded you, as it is said, \u201cAnd he rose early in the morning and saddled his ass\u201d (Gen. 22:3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Two men, across a gap of centuries, saddle their own asses: the gesture expresses impulsive desire, impatience with social decorums. But one man is considered to be consumed with love, the other with hatred. How does one read the passion in the gesture? It is as though the gesture of that particular body in that particular situation would have spoken more powerfully than words.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    In an arresting passage, Proust muses on the unconscious eloquence of the body and its gestures. The narrator of<\/span> In Search of Lost Time<\/span><\/i>, Marcel, contemplates a pregnant kitchen maid. He is reminded of Giotto\u2019s allegorical figures, associating the maid with the figure of Charity. Marcel then muses on the figure of Envy, who \u201c<\/span>should have had some look of envy on her face<\/span><\/em>\u201d (emphasis added); but who is depicted with a snake filling her mouth, so that \u201cthe muscles of her face are strained and contorted... and her attention - and ours too for that matter - is so utterly concentrated on the activity of her lips as to leave little time to spare for envious thoughts\u201d (Marcel Proust, <\/span>Swan\u2019s Way<\/span><\/i>, 1989, 87).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The figure of Envy embodies the reality of envy. Marcel remarks on the \u201c<\/span>\u00e9tranget\u00e9 saisissante<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i>\u201d the arresting strangeness of these figures. They have an allegorical force, which verges on the vulgar. As the literary scholar Gabriel Josipovici puts it, they are figures that \u201cdraw us in to reality\u201d: Charity does not look charitable, nor Envy envious. We see Charity in action, Envy in action; \u201cGiotto has compressed into one image a whole state of being\u201d (<\/span>Trust<\/span><\/i>, 1999, 182). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    I suggest that the midrashic view of Balaam bears some similarity to Giotto\u2019s and Proust\u2019s way of seizing character in action. Balaam, too, is Envy, struggling with the snake in his mouth. From the beginning, he ignores the will of God, so clearly expressed in his first encounter: \u201cYou shall not go with them\u201d (Num. 22:12). He prefers to take up the license of God\u2019s later words: \u201cRise up and go with them\u201d (22:20). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    He prefers God\u2019s word to His will. A kind of docile formalism masks the true passion of his whole being, which turns toward Balak, not toward God; to envy, not love.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Excerpted from: \u00a0Bewilderments<\/em>, Schocken Books, 2017<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47950,"alt":"","title":"num22-balaam and god's 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Envy","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Balaam prefers God\u2019s word to God\u2019s will","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47950,"alt":"","title":"num22-balaam and god's 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In Imperfection ","post_title":"Holiness In Imperfection","slug":"holiness-in-imperfection","old_id":"50378","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What a talking donkey can teach us about sainthood and villainy","post_main_content_content":"

    The story of Balaam, the famed gentile seer hired to curse Israel, is complex and elusive. What kind of man is Balaam\u2014a villain, a saint, or something in between? What are the three long chapters dedicated to his story (Numbers 22-24) intended to teach us? And what, readers often wonder, is the purpose of the talking donkey?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Read the story of Balaam and skip over the donkey episode and you might well come away with the impression that Balaam is a good, upstanding man, perhaps even a righteous one. The Moabite king Balak offers him great financial reward for cursing Israel, but Balaam repeatedly insists that he will not defy God, not even for \u201ca house full of silver and gold\u201d (22:8,18,38).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    And yet a crucial part of the story is the episode with the donkey, in which Balaam is brutally lampooned. Balaam claims prophetic sight (24:4,17), but he cannot even see what his donkey sees clearly (three times!); he proudly declares that God places words in his mouth (22:38, 23:5, 16), yet God does the same for his donkey (22:28), and so on.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    As Bible scholar Gordon Wenham astutely notes, Balaam is to Balak as Balaam\u2019s donkey is to Balaam: Just as Balaam drives his donkey to do his bidding until the latter is brought up short by the angel of God, so also Balak drives Balaam to do his bidding until he, too, is stopped by an encounter with God.<\/span> \u201cIn truth,\u201d Bible scholar Jacob Milgrom writes, \u201cBalaam is depicted on a level lower than his ass: More unseeing in his inability to detect the angel, more stupid in being defeated verbally by his ass, and more beastly in subduing it with his stick whereas it responds with tempered speech.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    What are we to learn from God\u2019s utilization of the complex, deeply imperfect figure of Balaam to bless Israel? Perhaps the Torah wants us to know that one can be inspired, and can even be a prophet, without necessarily being a blameless saint. More, the Torah wants us to internalize the reality that God can make use even of people who are deeply flawed to achieve significant and holy ends. This is neither a trite claim nor a truism; on the contrary, it is the reality that makes covenant possible, since we are all fragile, broken, and sometimes corrupt. God uses (only!) imperfect people to achieve God\u2019s ends in the world.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":101664,"alt":"","title":"-6201044ff2166--6201044ff2167gen2-crack 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In Imperfection","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What a talking donkey can teach us about sainthood and villainy","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":101664,"alt":"","title":"-6201044ff2166--6201044ff2167gen2-crack 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Irony of Balaam\u2019s Blindness ","post_title":"The Irony Of Balaam\u2019s Blindness","slug":"the-irony-of-balaams-blindness","old_id":"47955","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39525,"post_title":"Erica Brown","slug":"erica-brown","old_id":"39525","first_name":"Erica ","last_name":"Brown","description":"Dr. Erica Brown is associate professor at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University and director of its Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership. She is the author of 12 books. Her forthcoming book is The Book of Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile (Maggid\/OU).","short_description":"Dr. Erica Brown is Director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership at The George Washington University.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39526,"alt":"","title":"erica brown","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","width":154,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","medium-width":154,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","medium_large-width":154,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","large-width":154,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","1536x1536-width":154,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","2048x2048-width":154,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","post_full_size-width":154,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","home_baner-width":154,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Donkeys who can speak are less of a surprise than a Seer who cannot see.","post_main_content_content":"

    Balaam\u2019s donkey not only refused to cross the angel\u2019s path, she began to speak, protesting Balaam\u2019s harsh treatment. Balaam retorts that had he possessed a sword he would kill the animal. There is irony in this response; the prophet set to destroy an entire nation with words could not control one relatively harmless animal. It is the angel in the story who possesses the sword, and it is the angel who poses a threat.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    In 1626, Rembrandt painted Balaam and his donkey in all of its violence and force. One of his earliest paintings, Rembrandt\u2019s colors are brighter than in his later works. By choosing a vertical composition, the artist brings the characters nearer each other and closer, in perception, to the viewer, creating greater dynamism and tension. Our eyes travel from the left hand corner with the angel\u2019s blunt sword to the golden hue of Balaam\u2019s left foot. The donkey is not looking at the angel but staring with pleading eyes at his cruel and blind master. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Balaam\u2019s raised arm is tensed and muscular as his right hand tightens the reins on his poor, suffering beast. Enhancing the vertical flow, Balaam pulls the stick from a satchel holding maps. This, too, adds a touch of irony. The donkey knows his way and should be his guide, but Balaam did not trust the donkey. He needed maps which remain unopened and useless in the current circumstances. In the background we find Moabite delegates staring blankly at the events unfolding before them. What was a royal mission has turned into a dangerous confrontation. The animal\u2019s front leg is again bent unnaturally - in contrast to the calm horse and rider behind Balaam who do not know what was happening - but this time it is to stop his master. The donkey\u2019s mouth is open and he is about to speak, in the painting as well as in the text.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Balaam wears the regalia that we have come to expect of one of Rembrandt\u2019s biblical characters. His clothing is aflame in gold and crimson, the colors of his fiery anger. The dark sockets of his eyes give the impression of blindness and in this painting the vision is amiss. No one looks at another. No one makes eye contact. The eyes of all are still veiled. Rembrandt\u2019s message is clear. Donkeys who can speak are less of a surprise than a Seer who cannot see.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    image: by Rembrandt - Mbzt, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=23551459<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47956,"alt":"","title":"Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122.jpg","width":800,"height":1087,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-221x300.jpg","medium-width":221,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-754x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":754,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-754x1024.jpg","large-width":754,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1087,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1087,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1087,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-309x420.jpg","home_baner-width":309,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Irony Of Balaam\u2019s Blindness","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Donkeys who can speak are less of a surprise than a Seer who cannot see","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47956,"alt":"","title":"Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122.jpg","width":800,"height":1087,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-221x300.jpg","medium-width":221,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-754x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":754,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-754x1024.jpg","large-width":754,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1087,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1087,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1087,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_122-309x420.jpg","home_baner-width":309,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"139","date":"20260311","wall_id":"139"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"},{"term_id":"821","name":"Rembrandt","old_id":"1221"}]},{"order":11,"id":"47961","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Balak: How Fair Are Your Tents! ","post_title":"Balak: How Fair Are Your Tents!","slug":"balak-how-fair-are-your-tents","old_id":"47961","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46171,"post_title":"Avner Moriah","slug":"avner-moriah","old_id":"46171","first_name":"Avner ","last_name":"Moriah ","description":"Avner Moriah is a prolific Israel artist who has addressed a wide range of Jewish and Israeli themes during the four decades of his artistic journey. Currently, Avner is completing a singular artistic and spiritual feat of illuminating the entire Chumash. 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    Illustration for Chapter 22:<\/p>\r\n

    Balak king of Moab fearing defeat at the hands of the Israelites asked Balaam, a heathen prophet, to curse them. God appeared before Balaam, warning him against doing so, and Balaam refused to go. But Balak persisted and after his third approach: \u201c[Balaam] saddled his ass and departed with the Moabite dignitaries. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    But God was incensed at his going so an angel of the Lord placed himself in his way as adversary. He was riding on his she-ass when the ass caught sight of the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand. The ass swerved from the road and \u201cBalaam was furious and beat the ass with his stick\u201d (22:27). At the third stroke the ass opened her mouth and cried out to Balaam, and then God \u201cuncovered\" his eyes and he was able to see the angel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Why did the angel appear to the ass before Balaam could see him? Why was the ass given the miraculous ability to speak?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The painting visualizes the very instant that the she-ass was about to go down under her rider, when, turning her head toward him, she began to talk, saying: \u201cLook I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you\u2026\u201d (22:30). Balaam was about to strike her yet again when God allowed him to see the angel, shown here dressed in white with white wings, a drawn sword in his hand pointed at the ass. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The angel told Balaam that God was not pleased with his journey but would allow him to continue on if he would speak only the words that God put in his mouth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Clearly everything that occurred in this episode happened by God\u2019s will. Balaam had to come to realize that the God of Israel has sovereignty over the entire world. In proof, the ass saw God\u2019s angel before he, Balaam, was aware of him and God made the \u00a0ass open her mouth and speak. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u201cIn the morning Balak took Balaam up to Ramoth. From there he could see a portion of the people\u201d (23:31). Here we come to the upper scene in the painting. From the top of the brown-colored hills , the two men could see the Israelite camp with its round-topped tents arranged around the Tabernacle, whereupon Balaam exclaimed: \u201cAs I see them from the mountain tops, gaze on them from the heights, there is a people that dwells apart, not reckoned among the nations (23:9). And later: \u201cHow fair are your tents, O Israel, Your dwelling, O Israel\u201d (24:5). Seeing God\u2019s cloud above the Tabernacle against a pink dream-like sky, Balaam declared: \u201cNo harm is in sight for Jacob, no woe in view for Israel. The Lord their God is with them\u201d (23:21).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Artwork by: Avner Moriah, by courtesy of the artist<\/p>\r\n

    Text by: Dr. Shulamit Laderman, who holds a\u00a0<\/span>PhD in Art History and has published extensively on Jewish and Christian influences on biblical interpretive illustration.<\/p>\r\n

    For the entire weekly portion series, please visit: <\/span>https:\/\/avnermoriahprints.com\/collections\/parasha<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47962,"alt":"","title":"Num22-Balak","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak.jpg","width":2013,"height":2500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-242x300.jpg","medium-width":242,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-768x954.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":954,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-825x1024.jpg","large-width":825,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak.jpg","1536x1536-width":1237,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak.jpg","2048x2048-width":1649,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-966x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":966,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-338x420.jpg","home_baner-width":338,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Chapter Illustrated","tile_main_caption":"Balak: How Fair Are Your Tents!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"No Harm In Sight For Israel","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47962,"alt":"","title":"Num22-Balak","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak.jpg","width":2013,"height":2500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-242x300.jpg","medium-width":242,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-768x954.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":954,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-825x1024.jpg","large-width":825,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak.jpg","1536x1536-width":1237,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak.jpg","2048x2048-width":1649,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-966x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":966,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num22-Balak-338x420.jpg","home_baner-width":338,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"139","date":"20260311","wall_id":"139"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":12,"id":"47940","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Walking With, Not Behind God ","post_title":"Walking With, Not Behind God","slug":"walking-with-not-behind-god","old_id":"47940","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. 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","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God wants our encounter to always be with the fullness of our being","post_main_content_content":"

    Why does Balaam get such a bum rap?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    He is an archetype of evil in rabbinic literature, the antithesis of Abraham. But chapter 22 seems to paint the picture of a faithful servant of God, who repeatedly insists that, no matter what, he can only say what God wants him to say. Follow the text carefully- Balaam never does a single thing against God's will.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    And yet, God gets angry with him. Apparently the negative treatment of Balaam doesn't start with the rabbinic midrashim. But why? What did he do to deserve this divine anger?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The Torah seems to be teaching us a significant lesson about the nature of moral action and choice. According to some schools of religious thinking, Balaam would seem to be embody the ideal knight of faith, a person who divests himself of any personal opinion, and completely submits himself to whatever God decides. Balaam claims complete neutrality- he is the UN of prophets. The Midrash plays on the name Balaam and says that he was, indeed, '<\/span>bli am'<\/span><\/i>- he was nationless. He had no allegiance, no personal stake. All he had was the word of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    This makes God angry. It's not what God wants from his prophets, or from his people. God is not interested in a person's worship divorced from their own personhood, a bifurcated worship where religious service stands alone and separate from a person's identity and commitments. God wants our encounter with Him to always be with the fullness of our being. That's the encounter of Abraham, of \"<\/span>Hineni<\/span><\/i>\". Here <\/span>I<\/span> am. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Sometimes it means that Abraham agrees and sometimes it means that he struggles with God's word and even argues with God, and this is exactly the relationship God is looking for. The reason that God gives for revealing his plans for destroying Sodom to Abraham is because he knows that Abraham is committed to guarding the path of God, to teach his children righteousness and justice. Abraham does not submit this sense of justice to God's decree, rather, it brings him to challenge God. This is what it means to walk <\/span>with<\/b> God, rather than to hide behind God\u2019s word.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107248,"alt":"","title":"-62fc84271bcd2--62fc84271bcd3num22-footprints sand 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    \u201cAnd the Lord opened the donkey\u2019s mouth; she said to Balaam, \u2018What have I done to you that caused you to beat me these three times?\u201d \u00a0(Numbers 22:28)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    You think I'm only a donkey,<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Awkward, smelly, full of flies and fleas;<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>But inside of me, an imprisoned butterfly<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Seeking to worm her way out of a caterpillar's body<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Is poised to fly. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    You think I'm only a donkey,<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Fit only for carrying burdens in silence,<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Plodding along slowly on four left feet without complaint;<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>But inside of me, a ballerina dances,<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Ready to perform a pirouette. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    You think I'm only a donkey,<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Knowing only how to bray, or shut up;<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>But inside of me, a warbler<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>With a nightingale merges and emerges,<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Waiting impatiently to sing a soprano's aria. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    You think I'm only a donkey that knows no love, no faith, no God.<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>But inside of me, a third eye envisions angels;<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>God's finger, stroking my throat, releases the detained Word<\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>And I \u2014 the real I \u2014 <\/span>
    \r\n<\/span>Am 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    \u201cSeeing is Knowing\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Ariel Milan-Polisar: What does sight represent in Biblical texts?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u201cBalaam: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Rabbi Alex Kress: Who is this mysterious figure? <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Numbers 22","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Click to get links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"139","date":"20260311","wall_id":"139"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":17,"id":"107216","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Numbers 22 ","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Numbers 22","slug":"points-to-ponder-numbers-22","old_id":"107216","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

      \r\n\t
    1. Live images<\/em>. These are the images that express the terror that strikes Moab when faced with Israel: \u201cNow this horde will lick clean all that is about us as an ox licks up the grass of the field\u201d (verse 4), and \u201cThere is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view\u201d (verse 5) - which calls up the image of a swarm of locusts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
    2. Conversation among friends<\/em>. Note the discussion between the donkey and Balaam in verses 29-30, which - surprisingly - doesn\u2019t surprise Balaam. Especially noteworthy is the plain logic in the words of the donkey.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
    3. A literary moment<\/em>. The story of Balaam\u2019s donkey both makes fun of the prophet, who is unable to see what a mere donkey does, and also provides a window into Balaam\u2019s soul. The donkey \u201cserves two masters,\u201d and finds itself between the hammer and the anvil. Or more literally, between the stick and the sword, between the angel and Balaam. The donkey, in trying to maneuver between the two, symbolizes Balaam\u2019s conflict, who is torn between his desire to receive honors from Balak, the king of Moab, and his subservience to God.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
    4. Balaam<\/em>. He really existed - see the findings from Dir Ala.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Numbers 22","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"139","date":"20260311","wall_id":"139"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/47663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}