Parshas Balak
Our Achilles' Heel
Bilaam's advice to Balak that the way to defeat Israel was through
weakening its moral fiber and not necessarily by war and public curses was
shrewd and telling and effective. The enemies of Israel in the desert -
the Canaanites, Amalek, Sichon and the Emorites, and Og the king of
Bashan - all tried war against the Jewish nation and were ultimately
defeated. Balak tries to destroy Israel through Bilaam's mouth - a public
relations, media blitz to demonize the Jews. God foils this plan and
Bilaam's mouth spouts blessings and compliments upon Israel. There seems
no way to really overcome the members of the Jewish people. They are great
warriors and the Lord is on their side. But they have an achilles heel
that God will not come to protect. They are capable of self-destruction in
a major way. And that weakness lies in the temptations of foreign
cultures, of a sophisticated idolatry, in a way of sexually immoral
lifestyle and illicit behavior. The women of Moav and Midian seduce many
of the Jews - especially the tribe of Shimon - into accepting their
culture and their mores as a quid pro quo for their bodies. The tribe of
Shimon is decimated by a plague that befalls them shortly thereafter. The
tribe of Shimon is permanently crippled in Jewish history by this failure
of moral will. And, at least temporarily, Bilaam and Balak smirk over
their consequences of Jewish self-destruction.
In our time the Jewish people have survived, Holocaust, war, terror,
persecution and unending hatred and bigotry. We have been subjected to a
withering and unrepentant badly biased and skewed media portrayal of
ourselves and of the State of Israel particularly. Everyone loves to curse
us - the EU, the UN, CNN, BBC and the rest of the world's sanctimoniously
hypocritical "good guys." But the Lord apparently does not read the
editorial page of the New York Times and therefore even this unending
bombardment of negativity has in reality had little effect upon us and our
situation. However, the seduction of Western culture, of the modern
licentiousness of body and spirit, of assimilation and marrying the
daughters of Midian and Moav, has weakened us. It has made us smaller in
number and weaker in resolve and spirit. Adopting universalistic values
that change constantly over basic Jewish values and traditions has
crippled us in our struggle to survive and prosper. This behavior and
attitude, fostered by secular Jewry, and to a great extent, non-Orthodox
Jewish leaders as well, has destroyed our self-identity and self-worth. We
are no longer unique and special, with a Godly mission to fulfill but we
are like everyone else. And that is our weakness that if not recognized
and corrected can lead to disaster and sadness.
Shabat Shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
Visit www.rabbiwein.com for a complete selection of Rabbi Wein's books and tapes.
