{"id":47997,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-141\/"},"modified":"2022-08-18T11:38:48","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T08:38:48","slug":"wall-141","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-141\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Numbers-24"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"141","date":"20260315","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"48062","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Numbers 24 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Numbers 24 - Judy Hammond","slug":"numbers-24-judy-hammond","old_id":"48062","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":"141","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 24","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-24-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":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"107294","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Shetum Ha-Ayin: Was Balaam \u201cBlind\u201d, \u201cClear Sighted\u201d or Both!?","post_title":"Shetum Ha-Ayin: Was Balaam \u201cBlind\u201d, \u201cClear Sighted\u201d or Both!?","slug":"shetum-ha-ayin-was-balaam-blind-clear-sighted-or-both","old_id":"107294","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":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"On the interpretation of a particularly enigmatic phrase\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Our<\/span> chapter<\/span><\/a> preserves the third and fourth oracles of<\/span> Balaam<\/span><\/a>, the non-Israelite diviner summoned by Balak, King of Moab, to curse the approaching Israelites (see Num. ch. 22-24). Both oracles begin with a nearly identical introduction:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the spirit of God came upon him. Taking up his theme, he said: \u2018Word of Balaam son of Beor, Word of the man whose eye is true (<\/span>ne\u2019um ha-gever shetum ha-ayin<\/span><\/em>), Word of one who hears God\u2019s speech, Who beholds visions from the Almighty, prostrate, but with eyes unveiled.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Between these two final oracles, we find Balaam\u2019s famous<\/span> exclamation<\/span><\/a>: \u201cHow fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The expression \u201c<\/span>shetum ha-ayin<\/span><\/em>\u201d is found only here in the Hebrew Bible leading to various, and even antithetical, interpretations.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A late midrashic work, published by Solomon Buber,<\/span> Midrash Aggadah<\/span><\/a> explains both contradictory interpretations of this problematic expression.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201c<\/span>Ne\u2019um ha-gever shetum ha-ayin\u201d <\/span>\u2013 from here we learn that Balaam was blind in one eye, for we should not read <\/span>shetum<\/span><\/em>, but rather <\/span>setum<\/em> <\/span>(\u201cclosed\u201d). And why did God close one of Balaam\u2019s eyes? Because he<\/span> prophesied<\/span><\/a>: \u201cWho can count the dust of Jacob, Number the dust-cloud of Israel?\u201d This suggests that the Holy One, blessed be He, counts the offspring of Israel, saying, When will the time come that a righteous one will be born from among them? The wicked Balaam, who had an eye for evil, said, Should the Holy One, whose angelic hosts are also holy, pay attention to such a matter?! And when the Holy One, blessed be He, saw that Balaam had such an eye for evil, He sealed his eye and blinded it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But another interpretation of <\/span>shetum ha-ayin<\/em> <\/span>is that Balaam\u2019s eye was \u201copen\u201d, for he saw what was not seen by any of the other prophets. And the word <\/span>shetum<\/em> <\/span>can only mean \u201copen\u201d, for it says in the<\/span> Mishnah<\/span><\/a>: <\/span>\u201c\u2026he will open (<\/span>sheyishtom<\/span><\/em>) [a hole in a barrel of wine], and seal (<\/span>va-yistom<\/span><\/em>) [it again with plaster] and let it dry\u201d [compare<\/span> Rashi on Numbers 24:3<\/span><\/a> and the rabbinic sources cited there].<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Individual words in various languages that have two antithetical meanings are referred to by philologists as \u201c<\/span>contronyms, antagonyms, auto-antonyms or Janus words.<\/span>\u201d <\/span><\/a>In 1884, the German philologist, Karl Abel, published a pamphlet about this linguistic phenomenon. Sigmund Freud was so stimulated by this work that he wrote a review-essay titled, \u201cThe Antithetical Meaning of Primal Words.\u201d One of the examples cited is the word \u201cwithout,\u201d which incorporates both the idea of \u201cwith\u201d and the idea of \u201cout.\u201d Freud considered such words, particularly when found in ancient languages like Egyptian, to be \u201cprimal\u201d words, going back to the very origins of human speech and frequently occurring in the unconscious language of dreams.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the curious Biblical expression, <\/span>shetum ha-ayin<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> meaning both \u201cblind\u201d and \u201cclear sighted\u201d is such an ancient primal word that suggests something about the partially subconscious nature of prophecy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72030,"alt":"","title":"jer40-eye-1280141_1920","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","width":1584,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-248x300.jpg","medium-width":248,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-768x931.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":931,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-845x1024.jpg","large-width":845,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":1267,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":1584,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-990x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":990,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-347x420.jpg","home_baner-width":347,"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":"Shetum Ha-Ayin: Was Balaam \u201cBlind\u201d, \u201cClear Sighted\u201d or Both!?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"On the interpretation of a particularly enigmatic phrase","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72030,"alt":"","title":"jer40-eye-1280141_1920","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","width":1584,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-248x300.jpg","medium-width":248,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-768x931.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":931,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-845x1024.jpg","large-width":845,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":1267,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":1584,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-990x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":990,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer40-eye-1280141_1920-347x420.jpg","home_baner-width":347,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","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,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"361","name":"Hebrew language","old_id":"761"},{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"}]},{"order":3,"id":"107296","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Balaam and Laban","post_title":"Balaam and Laban","slug":"balaam-and-laban","old_id":"107296","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":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A close reading shows surprising traits among these \u201cenemies\u201d of Israel\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 24 opens with Balaam understanding that he no longer needs to seek God. He knows what God wants. Instead, he turns to see the Israelites and proclaims the famous line: \u201cHow goodly are your tents O Jacob, your dwelling places O Israel!\u201d (verse 5). This prophecy utilizes flora and fauna themes that will appear in prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Looking to paint Balaam as evil, many commentators focus on God telling Balaam what to say in previous chapters, implying that Balaam really wanted to say something else, but God had to change his words.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That reading does not fit with the beginning of this chapter. Balaam saw that God wanted to bless the people, and so he did. He completely disregarded the various attempts of Balak to try to make the curses work. Balak pounds his fists in fury, but Balaam has a response for him: \u201cThough Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not of my own accord do anything good or bad contrary to God\u2019s command\u201d (verse 13).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Back in Genesis, Laban twice makes a similar pronouncement: \u201cThen Laban and Bethuel answered, \u201cThe matter was decreed by God; we cannot speak to you bad or good\u201d (24:50), and \u201cI have it in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father\u00a0 said to me last night, \u2018Beware of attempting anything with Jacob, good or bad\u2019\u201d (31:29).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam then curses the people of Amon and Moab and foretells their destruction. Again, if Balaam was so evil and was forced to bless the people, why would he voluntarily curse his own people? He then turns toward Amalek and curses them and the Kenites as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The chapter ends with the two \u2018frenemies\u2019 parting ways: \u201cThen Balaam set out and returned homeward; and Balak also went on his way\u201d (verse 25). This final verse of the story mimics the final verse of the Laban saga- \u201cthen Laban set out and returned homeward, Jacob went on his way... (Genesis 32:1-2).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The link between the two figures is interesting as both are considered major enemies of the Israelites, yet the text itself paints them as more sympathetic characters, with Laban protective of his family, and Balaam faithful to God\u2019s command. Commentators would argue that the Torah links them to show that both have a second layer beyond the plain reading. But if these two figures were so bad, why wasn\u2019t the text clear?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the stories of Laban and Balaam are meant to juxtapose the main characters with the stories around them. Laban was fiercely protective of his family yet listened to the word of God even if it meant substantial loss. Jacob notoriously has trouble protecting and keeping control of his own family. Balaam is someone who was loyal to God even in the face of great reward, unlike the Israelites who constantly complained to God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102993,"alt":"","title":"-62303d0e9dd1d--62303d0e9dd1egen29-old man 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Balaam, a non-Israelite diviner, has been commissioned by the King of Moab to curse the Israelites. Balaam looks out at the Israelites from a mountain, ready to deliver a curse. Instead, something shifts and he can only utter a blessing. This transformation happens after Numbers 24:2 where we read, \u201cBalaam lifted up his eyes and he saw Israel dwelling tribe by tribe, and the spirit of God rested upon them.\u201d So why is this the turning point for Balaam?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Hebrew used in this verse is a formula that is repeated in the Torah during important moments of conflict. This formula leads the character out of that moment and into a space of openness, awareness, and peace. The formula is this: \u201c____ lifted up his eyes and saw ____.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We see it during a fight that Lot picks with his uncle Abraham about ownership of territory. Abraham does not want to fight and tells Lot that he can settle anywhere he likes. After this, \u201cLot lifted up his eyes and saw\u201d the place that he wanted to settle in, and there was no more fighting to be had.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We see this Hebraic formula during the binding of Isaac. An angel calls out to Abraham, stopping him from slaying his son. The angel\u2019s voice is a clarion call, underscored by the verse that comes right after it which reads, \u201cAbraham lifted up his eyes and saw a ram.\u201d Abraham becomes aware of what he\u2019s doing and sacrifices the ram instead of Isaac.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This formula is used again when Jacob and Esau are reunited for the first time after Jacob stole Esau\u2019s blessing, and it\u2019s used when Joseph meets his brother Benjamin for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now Balaam, too, lifts up his eyes and sees the Israelite people. Once he has seen them, he cannot curse them. Instead, he offers them a blessing: \u201cMah tovu ohalecha Yaakov, Mishkenotecha Yisrael<\/em>\u201d -- \u201cOh how good are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel!\u201d Balaam, like Lot and Abraham, Esau and Joseph, lifted up his eyes to see beyond himself and the job that he has been commissioned to do.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Seeing beyond our own narrow perspectives can be difficult to do and takes a great deal of work. But once we do, we can find an awareness of self. We can see the beauty in others. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Good to get an \u201cobjective assessment,\u201d \u00a0but should our self worth be coming from outside sources?","post_main_content_content":"

An old joke tells about two old Jews sitting on a bench, reading their newspapers, when one notices that his friend is reading the bulletin of the Nazi party. \u2018What on earth are you reading?\u2019 \u2018And what should I read?? This is the best news ever\u2019, replies the friend, \u2018We are the largest, most powerful, most successful nation in the world!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A magician, a speaking she-donkey, curses that turn into blessings\u2026 Numbers 23 and 24 tell us a fantastic colorful story that leaves many questions. For example, if Balaam is so powerful, why not hire him to bless the Moabites, instead of curse the Children of Israel? Turns out, that sometimes, people (we) get so involved in our desire to destroy someone else, that we focus on that, instead \u2013 and often at the expense of \u2013 our own well-being.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another question is about the famous \u201cma tovu\u201d, the words that decorate many synagogues throughout the world and open our morning prayers, although they are taken straight from Balaam\u2019s speech (Numbers 21:5). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why pick the words of a non-Jewish magician who set to destroy us, as those that adorn our shuls and start our day?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The MaHaRaL (1520-1609) teaches that these words are true, davka<\/em> because they come from an \u201coutsider.\u201d We know from the Talmud that witnesses must be completely not related to the matter over which they testify, or it seems false because they are \u2014- <\/span>noge\u2019a bedavar,<\/span><\/em> related to the matter. In order for something to credible, it should come from an impartial source. So it is with ma tovu<\/em>: had we praised our own tents, camp, overall fabulousness, it might come from \u2013 and create \u2013 a feeling of haughtiness and pride, the same feeling that might have led to the transgression in the next chapter. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the other hand, should all our self worth be coming from outside sources?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nothing much has changed since: we still struggle how to take compliments: Is an \u201cobjective observation\u201d best? Or a kind word from a close friend?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Mah Tovu Ohaleicha Yaakov: Moshe Kastel<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48152,"alt":"","title":"Num24-mah tovu","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","width":1024,"height":751,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-300x220.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-768x563.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":563,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-1024x751.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":751,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":751,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":751,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":751,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-573x420.jpg","home_baner-width":573,"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":"From Magician\u2019s Blessing To Daily Prayer","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Good to get an \u201cobjective assessment,\u201d \u00a0but should our self worth be coming from outside sources?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48152,"alt":"","title":"Num24-mah tovu","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","width":1024,"height":751,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-300x220.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-768x563.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":563,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-1024x751.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":751,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":751,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":751,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":751,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-mah-tovu-573x420.jpg","home_baner-width":573,"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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"},{"term_id":"463","name":"Truth","old_id":"863"},{"term_id":"587","name":"Dignity","old_id":"987"}]},{"order":7,"id":"48143","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"The Rogue\u2019s Speech ","post_title":"The Rogue\u2019s Speech","slug":"the-rogues-speech","old_id":"48143","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36423,"post_title":"Ari Hoffman","slug":"ari-hoffman","old_id":"36423","first_name":"Ari ","last_name":"Hoffman","description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Balaam as modern artist: speaking recondite, revelatory, and contemptuous truths","post_main_content_content":"

Friedrich Nietzsche famously remarked that \u201cthat for which we find words is something already dead in our hearts. There is always a kind of contempt in the act of speaking.\u201d Hamlet, snared on the threshold before action, lamented the necessity that \u201clike a whore\u201d he must \u201cunpack his heats with words.\u201d The pungent language with which both the German philosopher and the Danish Prince express their distaste with speaking strikes at what a complicated thing communication can be. Words create and destroy. They sing the authentic and purr falsehoods. Sometimes we want to speak endlessly, and other times even croaking out a few syllables seems beyond our grasp. Torrent or trickle; our words cut to the vein of who we are, and the quick of who we pretend to be.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam\u2019s monologues in today\u2019s chapter traverse the whole range of speech. He aspires to curse and extravagantly blesses, twinning metaphor with prophecy in soaring flights of rhetoric proclaimed through gritted teeth and clenched jaw. If Pharaoh\u2019s heart is hardened, Balaam\u2019s tongue is commandeered, with the resulting verbal ventriloquism. Still, we get a clear view of Balaam, and he is one of the most enduringly strange figures in the Bible. A brilliant mercenary, peddling maledictions to the insecure lords of the ancient Near East, he is a source of sublimity unmoored and unbound, set adrift in the high-end prophet market. Rather than covenant, he performs for contract, and his blessings are an aesthetic windfall but a breach of performance.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam is an artifact of a world of alchemists and wizards, purveyors of the lucrative intangible that would have been a coin of the realm. By seeing ourselves through his eyes, we grasp a broader horizon of war and witchcraft, blessing and curses hurled as arrows and spears. But in his offering of eloquence to the highest bidder, his struggle with what he means to say and what he says, he is nothing so much as a model for the modern artist, speaking recondite, revelatory, and contemptuous truths.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: By Philip De Vere. <\/a><\/span>from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations at St. George\u2019s Court, Kidderminster, England.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48144,"alt":"","title":"Num24-Balak and Balaam","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam.jpg","width":1280,"height":903,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-768x542.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":542,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-1024x722.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":722,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":903,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":903,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-1200x847.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":847,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"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 Rogue\u2019s Speech","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Balaam as modern artist: speaking recondite, revelatory, and contemptuous truths","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48144,"alt":"","title":"Num24-Balak and Balaam","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam.jpg","width":1280,"height":903,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-768x542.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":542,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-1024x722.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":722,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":903,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":903,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-1200x847.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":847,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num24-Balak-and-Balaam-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"377","name":"Speech\/words","old_id":"777"},{"term_id":"525","name":"Communication","old_id":"925"}]},{"order":8,"id":"48154","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"\u201cPledge\u201d of Allegiance ","post_title":"\u201cPledge\u201d Of Allegiance","slug":"pledge-of-allegiance","old_id":"48154","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":45298,"post_title":"Stu Halpern","slug":"stu-halpern","old_id":"45298","first_name":"Stu ","last_name":"Halpern ","description":"Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern is Senior Advisor to the Provost of Yeshiva University and is responsible for developing interdisciplinary educational and communal initiatives. 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In commenting on the phrase in Balaam\u2019s blessing \u201cHow goodly are your tents O Jacob, your dwelling places O Israel,\u201d Rashi, the 11<\/span>th<\/span> century commentator, offers a rather surprising interpretation. He explains that the Hebrew word for dwelling place, \u201c<\/span>m<\/span><\/i>ishkenotekha<\/span><\/em>,\u201d refers to a pledge (mashkon<\/em>), more specifically, God\u2019s commitment that in the future, hundreds of years after Balaam first delivered these words, He will take out His anger on the Jewish people by destroying the Temple as opposed to destroying the Jewish people themselves - and this destruction of the Temple will serve as a means of atonement for the Jewish people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The authoritative biographer of Rashi, Prof. Avraham Grossman, professor Emeritus of Jewish History at the Hebrew University, suggests that what prompted Rashi to propose such a far-fetched interpretation was his commitment to being both an educator and inspiration to the Jews of his time, the era of the Crusades. In order to combat the Christian claim that God\u2019s destruction of the Temple meant He had given up on his relationship with the Jews, Rashi, through an interpretation of the non-Israelite Balaam\u2019s words, reassured his contemporary kinsmen that God had laid waste to the Temple in order to take his anger out on a building, and not His people, who He remains ever loyal to and did not abandon.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Despite Rashi\u2019s explanation stretching our usual inclinations to interpret a verse within its immediate context, we can very much appreciate what he was doing \u2013 as one contemporary scholar, R. W. L. Moberly has put it, \u201cOriginal meaning and continuing significance are not identical, but they are in important ways inseparable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While on the level of <\/span>peshat<\/span><\/em>, Rashi, the master teacher of Jews throughout the ages, knew \u201c<\/span>mishkenotekha<\/span><\/em>\u201d meant \u201cdwelling places,\u201d he offered the alternative explanation of \u201cpledge\u201d to remind the Jews of his time that despite the constant attacks, both polemical and physical, by their enemies, despite the Crusades, God had not abandoned the Jewish people and our relationship with Him was secure.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":79446,"alt":"","title":"zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez.jpg","width":800,"height":591,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez-300x222.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":222,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez-768x567.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":567,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":591,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":591,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":591,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech7-temple-Francesco_Hayez-569x420.jpg","home_baner-width":569,"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":"\u201cPledge\u201d 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Before our journey ends we find new ways of seeing ourselves, the nations, God. The vantage points of the enemy king, the foreign prophet, the mystic animal; of the overlook where you see our tents from afar; of nations and their fates at the end of days.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We cannot arrive until we learn to see as the world sees.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Shira Hecht-Koller<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48184,"alt":"","title":"shk-39","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","width":640,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":640,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":640,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39-420x420.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":"","tile_main_caption":"Where to Look","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We cannot arrive until we learn to see as the world sees","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48184,"alt":"","title":"shk-39","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","width":640,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":640,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":640,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shk-39-420x420.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":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"442","name":"Journey","old_id":"842"},{"term_id":"443","name":"See\/hear","old_id":"843"}]},{"order":10,"id":"48149","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Blessed When We Bless; Cursed When We Curse ","post_title":"Blessed When We Bless; Cursed When We Curse","slug":"blessed-when-we-bless-cursed-when-we-curse","old_id":"48149","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How we treat the outcast, the marginalized, the despised will come back to us","post_main_content_content":"

As the pagan prophet winds down his whirlwind tour, hired by Balak to survey and curse the Children of Israel, he offers a few final observations on his way out. Gazing at the Israelite camp below, he is filled with God\u2019s spirit, and in that trance, he enunciates one of humanity\u2019s most bizarre and unlikely ideas. He tells the Israelites, \u201cBlessed are they who bless you; Accursed they who curse you! (24:9).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Imagine if a minute and obscure Semitic tribe were a cosmic fulcrum: blessing and curse were the consequence of one\u2019s relationship with that particular people. How arrogant to claim that kind of centrality in the drama of human affairs, and how unlikely. History is a series of cause and effect, best explained by sociological, economic, political, military, or even ideological forces. But surely not as a barometer of how nations relate to the Jews.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So it must seem, dear reader, astounding to note that Balaam\u2019s weird declaration is one of the Bible\u2019s most literally true claims. The Egypt of the Pharaoh\u2019s is no more, the Syrian Greek empire collapsed, as did the Roman Empire. In our own time, the Nazis and the Soviets trotted to the dustbin of history, and what all these failed societies share is the extent of their focus on the Jews as objects of hate, ridicule, and brutality. And the nations that bless their Jewish residents: well, the Golden Age of Spain was a time of relative interfaith cooperation, blessing not only the Jews but the Christians and Muslims as well. Think of the Prophet Mohammed in Medina \u2013 another Golden Age of interfaith cooperation. Think of the United States in the Twentieth Century.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Apparently, Balaam was on to something: Jews are the canary in the coal mine, and one way to assess the social health and potential of a nation or community is to assess its relationship to the Jews: bless them, and harvest blessing. Curse them and suffer in turn. That much is the consistent lesson of history.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What we don\u2019t know, though, is: does the blessing emerge from the creating a habit of generosity and blessing, or is the blessing that follows specific to the treatment of Jews? Can we broaden this Biblical anomaly to include others: how we treat the outcast, the marginalized, the despised will come back to us, will be visited on us? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why risk it? Instead, lets double down on loving our neighbor, loving the stranger, and then wait for the bounty that will flow from that love and welcome.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":63174,"alt":"","title":"blessingorcurse","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","width":800,"height":533,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":533,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":533,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":533,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":533,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"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":"Blessed When We Bless; Cursed When We Curse","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How we treat the outcast, the marginalized, the despised will come back to us","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":63174,"alt":"","title":"blessingorcurse","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","width":800,"height":533,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":533,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":533,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":533,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":533,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blessingorcurse-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"},{"term_id":"458","name":"Nations","old_id":"858"},{"term_id":"667","name":"Judaism","old_id":"1067"}]},{"order":11,"id":"48156","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Circumcision: Becoming Whole ","post_title":"Circumcision: Becoming Whole","slug":"circumcision-becoming-whole","old_id":"48156","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":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A midrash on Balaam\u2019s excess, and his insufficiency","post_main_content_content":"

The Balaam story, in the midrashic perspective, brings forward the question of circumcision and language. A form of circumcision, of opening and rebirth into the world of relationship with others, is central to the inner history of Moses, who describes himself so graphically as \u201cof uncircumcised lips.\u201d The arc of Moses\u2019 \u201cto-be-circumcised\u201d life is strangely mirrored in the figure of Balaam.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam introduces his third and most significant blessing by describing himself, the speaker, as one who \u201csees the vision of the Almighty, <\/span>fallen with open eyes<\/span><\/em>\u201d (Num. 24:4). Rashi cites the midrash: \u201cWhen God was revealed to him, he had no strength to stand on his legs: he fell forward onto his face, because he was uncircumcised and unfit to stand upright in God\u2019s presence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam becomes the type of the uncircumcised man who must collapse in the presence of God. What brings him down is an excess, which is, at the same time, an <\/span>insufficiency<\/span><\/i>: he has not the strength to stand in this state before God. A similar collapse is narrated about Abraham: \u201cAnd Abram fell on his face\u201d (Gen. 17:3). God has just told him, \u201cWalk before Me and become whole!\u201d God then speaks of the brit<\/em>, the Covenant between Abraham and Himself, focusing on the commandment of circumcision. Rashi reads: \u201cHe fell down out of awe of God\u2019s presence: till he circumcised himself, he had no strength to stand upright before the Holy Spirit.... That is what is written about Balaam, \u2018fallen with open eyes.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi\u2019s source, <\/span>Pirkei d\u2019Rabbi Eliezer<\/span><\/i>, 29, focuses on the \u201cpower of circumcision.\u201d The paradoxes of this notion are fascinating. To circumcise is to cut away part of the male organ of sexual potency. It is at the least a symbolic gesture of castration. And yet, it is a source of power. Both Balaam and Abraham, the outsider and the quintessential insider, are, paradoxically, weakened by their uncircumcised state. Because they have not diminished themselves in this way, their knees buckle, they fall over to cover the undiminished organ. The Hebrew word <\/span>arel<\/span><\/em>- uncircumcised- is a positive adjective describing a natural but unevolved state.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is circumcision that gives one the strength to confront God. The paradox of becoming whole by cutting off a part of oneself does not escape midrashic notice. For instance, Midrash Tanchuma has Abraham wonder: \u201cUp to now, I have been whole; if I circumcise myself, I shall become defective.\u201d God answers, \u201cWhat do you think? That you are perfectly whole?\u201d <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102075,"alt":"","title":"-620ba1a4863c4--620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim covenant 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Becoming Whole","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A midrash on Balaam\u2019s excess, and his insufficiency","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":102075,"alt":"","title":"-620ba1a4863c4--620ba1a4863c5gen9-milim covenant 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Tovu\u201d Then and Now \u00a0 ","post_title":"\u201cMah Tovu\u201d Then And Now \u00a0","slug":"mah-tovu-then-and-now","old_id":"48180","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. 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At the beginning of our chapter, Balaam faces the Wilderness, sees the tribes of Israel spread out before him and, is possessed by the Spirit of the God. With a sense of wonder, he blesses Israel: \u201c\u2026How goodly are your tents, O Jacob (Mah Tovu Ohalekha Yaakov<\/em>), your dwellings, O Israel!\u201d (Numbers 24:5). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 105b) understands Israel\u2019s \u201ctents\u201d and \u201cdwellings\u201d as the many synagogues and study houses that characterized Jewish life in Rabbinic times. Since the early medieval period, the earliest written Jewish prayer books contain a prayer to be said on entering the synagogue that begins with the first line of Balaam\u2019s blessing of Israel and continues with four additional verses from Psalms appropriate for coming into a synagogue: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! (Numbers 24:5). <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>As for me, through Your abundant grace, I will come into your house to bow down to the Palace of Your Holiness in awe of You. (Psalms 5:8). <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I love the House where You reside, and the place where Your Honor dwells (Psalms 26:8). <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I shall prostrate myself and bow; I shall kneel before the Lord my Maker (Psalms 95:6). <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To You, Eternal One, goes my prayer. May this be a time of Your favor. In Your abundant love, O God, answer me with the Truth of Your salvation (Psalms 69:14). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Indeed, Balaam\u2019s blessing continues to endure until our day in the many synagogues and study houses that still characterize Jewish life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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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":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Complacency and self-satisfaction have no place in the spiritual life","post_main_content_content":"

Balaam and Micah offer dramatically different assessments of the Israelites. The vast chasm between the two reveals a deep truth about Jewish theology and spirituality: We live, always, in a world of \u201cnot yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Three times the gentile seer Balaam sets out to curse the Israelites, and each time his designs are thwarted: Again and again, God turns his curses into blessings. On the third occasion, Balaam declares: \u201cHow fair (<\/span>mah tovu<\/span><\/em>) are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel!\u201d (Numbers 24:2,5). Modern interpreter Nehama Leibowitz goes further, insisting that \u201cthe plain meaning of the term [\u2018<\/span>tovu<\/span><\/em>,\u2019 fair] is perfection in all respects\u2014beauty and charm, simplicity and purity.\u201d On Leibowitz\u2019 account, then, Balaam looks out at the Israelites and sees perfection in all forms. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The haftarah assigned to parashat Balak provides a subtle but striking contrast to Balaam\u2019s words. God brings a lawsuit against Israel, accusing it of having breached the covenant. The Israelites do not defend themselves against God\u2019s charges; on the contrary, they immediately acknowledge their wrongdoing and begin to ask, almost frantically,<\/span> how they can make restitution: \u201cWith what shall I approach the Lord,\u201d they ask, \u201cpay homage to God on high?\u201d (6:6-7). But the people focus exclusively on progressively more dramatic and excessive sacrificial offerings, never considering the possibility that what God desires is covenantal obedience and concern for the weak and vulnerable. The Israelite community is in fact light years away from the perfection Balaam attributes to it. Micah tells them: \u201cHe has told you, O mortal, what is good (<\/span>mah tov<\/span><\/em>), and what the Lord requires of you...\u201d (Micah 6:8). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam and Micah utilize the phrase \u201c<\/span>mah tov<\/span><\/em>\u201d in radically different ways: Whereas Balaam declares that Israel is <\/span>already<\/em> <\/span>good, Micah emphasizes what Israel must do to <\/span>become<\/em> <\/span>good. Whereas Balaam speaks in the indicative, Micah speaks in the imperative. Juxtaposed with Balaam\u2019s, Micah\u2019s words serve as a powerful reminder that a deep sense of \u201cnot yet\u201d ought to pervade our spiritual lives. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The world is not yet as it could be, not yet as God intends it to be; and we, too, are not yet who we could be, who we are summoned by God to become. Complacency and self-satisfaction have no place in the spiritual life. There is still a commandment to fulfill, a road to travel, and a hope that will not die. This commitment to an ethos of \u201cnot yet\u201d is central to Judaism\u2019s vision of how we ought to live and serve God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Michal Ben Hamu<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48160,"alt":"","title":"num24-Ben Hamu","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","width":900,"height":386,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu-300x129.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":129,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu-768x329.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":329,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":386,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":386,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":386,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":386,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","home_baner-width":900,"home_baner-height":386}},"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":"A World Of Not Yet","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Complacency and self-satisfaction have no place in the spiritual life","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48160,"alt":"","title":"num24-Ben Hamu","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","width":900,"height":386,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu-300x129.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":129,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu-768x329.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":329,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":386,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":386,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":386,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":386,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num24-Ben-Hamu.jpg","home_baner-width":900,"home_baner-height":386}},"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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"442","name":"Journey","old_id":"842"},{"term_id":"652","name":"Commandments","old_id":"1052"}]},{"order":14,"id":"48074","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Bible in the Beacon Hotel: God - or Fate? 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\"I see it, but not now, I behold it, but not soon \u2026.\" (Numbers 24:17)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"<\/span>I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; although he tarries, nonetheless, I wait for him day by day<\/span>.\" <\/span><\/em>
\r\n<\/span>-from the \"<\/span>Ani Ma'amin<\/span><\/i>\" (\"I Believe\"), a formulation written in the fifteenth century of the Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith, according to R. Moses Maimonides (1135-1204)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Although he tarries, leaving us to grieve<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Our brother's death and dig our sister's grave<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>With broken shovels in a darkened cave,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The Messiah will come one day, I believe.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Will eyes detect his shadow, ears perceive<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The echo of his name? \u00a0Will mourners shave<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Their beards one day, believing he can save<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Adam's daughters and all the sons of Eve?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Soon the Messiah will arrive \u2014 he must! \u2014<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And when he does, he'll teach us how to play<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>With hissing snakes whose fangs no longer bite,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>With serpents that have ceased to eat the dust<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Of sin; in faithfulness he'll bring, one day,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Fresh fruit from Eden's tree of life and light.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":67011,"alt":"","title":"is39-messiah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","width":800,"height":948,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah-253x300.jpg","medium-width":253,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah-768x910.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":910,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":948,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":948,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":948,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":948,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah-354x420.jpg","home_baner-width":354,"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":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Ani Ma\u2019amin","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Do we believe he can save Adam's daughters and all the sons of Eve?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":67011,"alt":"","title":"is39-messiah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","width":800,"height":948,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah-253x300.jpg","medium-width":253,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah-768x910.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":910,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":948,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":948,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":948,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":948,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah-354x420.jpg","home_baner-width":354,"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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":16,"id":"48068","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Numbers 24 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Numbers 24","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-numbers-24","old_id":"48068","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. 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\u201cSomething Wicked This Way Comes: The Halacha of Witchcraft\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Ora Damelin: Jewish sources on sorcery.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWho and What is Amalek?\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Gary Shapiro: Sources on an ancient enemy. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/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 24","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":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":18,"id":"107292","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Numbers 24 ","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Numbers 24","slug":"points-to-ponder-numbers-24","old_id":"107292","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"141","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. \u201cShtum ha\u2019ayin\u201d<\/em> This phrase, translated as one \u201cwhose eye is true,\u201d could also be referring to some physical impairment. But despite any external infirmity, he claims he has inner sight: \u201cWho beholds visions from the Almighty, Prostrate, but with eyes unveiled\u201d (verse 4).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Family togetherness.<\/em> Balaam sees Israel as \u201cencamped tribe by tribe\u201d and says \u201cHow fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!\u201d (verse 5). Many have understood this not as an aesthetic evaluation of the Israelite campsite, but as an appreciation of the strong family structure of the Israelite \/ Jewish community.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. A star is born<\/em>. (verse 17) \u201cA star rises from Jacob, \u05e9 scepter comes forth from Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Historical anchors?<\/em> Look in verse 7. <\/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 24","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":"24","chapter_main_number":"141","date":"20260315","wall_id":"141"},"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\/47997"}],"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=47997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}