16 Jul PARASHAT BALAK: THE STORY OF BILAM AS A LESSON IN EMUNA

Parashat Balak tells
the famous story of the
attempt made by Balak,
the king of Moav, to
annihilate Am Yisrael
by hiring a gentile prophet, Bilam, to place a
curse on them. G-d intervened and protected
Beneh Yisrael by forcing Bilam to bless them,
instead.
The Gemara in Masechet Berachot (12b)
makes a startling statement, telling us that
the Rabbis considered including this section
of the Torah as part of our daily Shema text.
They thought that this story is so vitally
important that it should be read each and
every day, as one of the paragraphs of Shema.
The only reason why they did not include it,
the Gemara tells, is because it is quite lengthy,
and would inconvenience people to have them
recite it each day.
The obvious question arises, why would
this section have been selected for the daily
Shema recitation? What is it about the story
of Bilam that warranted its daily recitation as
part of the text of Shema?
Rav Pinchas Friedman (contemporary) finds
the answer in the connection between Bilam
and another evil man who sought to destroy

our nation – Lavan, the uncle and father-in-
law of Yaakov Avinu. As we read in Parashat

Vayeseh (Bereshit 31:23-24), Lavan pursued
Yaakov, and just before he caught up to him,
G-d appeared to Lavan and warned him not to
“speak with Yaakov good or bad” – implying
that, like Bilam, Lavan sought to kill Yaakov
and his family with speech, by placing a
curse on them. The Arizal (Rav Yishak Luria,
1534-1572) taught that Lavan was Bilam’s
grandfather – and, moreover, that Lavan’s
soul was reincarnated in Bilam. This explains
several aspects of the story of Bilam, including
the incident when an angel obstructed his path
as he traveled, and the donkey veered to the
side and crushed Bilam’s leg against the wall
(22:25). Targum Yonatan Ben Uziel writes
that this wall was the heap of stones prepared
by Lavan and Yaakov as a symbol of the truce
that they eventually made (Bereshit 31:46-
53). They pledged that neither would cross
this collection of stones to inflict harm upon
the other. Bilam – a reincarnation of Lavan
– violated this truce when he crossed these
stones on his way to curse Beneh Yisrael, and
so his leg was injured by these very stones.
One of the points of connection between
Lavan and Bilam is the fact that they both
despised Beneh Yisrael, but ended up helping
our nation. As much as Lavan despised
Yaakov and everything he stood for, he ended
up giving Yaakov four wives with whom he

produced the twelve tribes. In
essence, Lavan – who hated Am
Yisrael – inadvertently built the
foundations of the Jewish Nation.
Bilam, too, set out to destroy
Beneh Yisrael by cursing them, but
G-d transformed these curses into
beautiful blessings, some of which
are used even to this day.
We can now understand why the
story of Bilam was deemed worthy
of being included in the text of
Shema, when we reaffirm our faith
in G-d. Shema begins with the
proclamation, “Hashem Elokenu
Hashem Ehad” – that G-d is one,
that He is the only fully independent
power in the world. Nothing else in the world
has any independent control or authority; the
sun rises each morning only because G-d has
it rise. The greatest – or at least one of the
greatest – manifestations of G-d’s exclusive
power is the way He manipulates the wicked
to achieve the precise opposite of what they
set out to accomplish. The story of Bilam
shows us how even when an exceedingly
powerful or talented enemy sets out to destroy
Am Yisrael, he not only fails, but ends up
making Am Yisrael better and stronger. This
is why the Rabbis considered including this

story as part of Shema – because it serves as
a powerful lesson in Emuna, teaching us that
nobody and nothing has any power besides
G-d.
Learning this story, then, should reinforce
our faith in Hashem, and remind us that no
matter what kind of problem we face, no
matter what difficulties we struggle with,
G-d, who exercises full, unlimited control
over the world, can assist us. We never need
to experience fear or anxiety, because, as the
story of Bilam reminds us, G-d has the power
to transform any situation – no matter how
difficult – into a source of great blessing.