Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on July 6, 2025 by Carole Daman
This Shabbos will be the 21st Yahrzeit of my father, Isidor Goldberg, Simcha Yisroel ben Shmuel z”l. My dad had a strong sense of Jewish peoplehood and the importance of the State of Israel. I remember when he independently started an initiative to distribute JNF blue boxes to neighbors, friends and family. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of Hillel and BBYO because he was concerned about Jewish continuity.
My father always took pleasure in my love of learning Torah and was thrilled that my children were attending Hebrew Day School. After he retired at the age of 74, he took classes to improve his spoken Hebrew so that he could keep up with his grandchildren.
My father had the three qualities of the students of Avraham described in Pirkei Avot 5:22- an eye which sees the good in people and wishes the best for them, a humble spirit and an unassuming disposition. These are contrasted by the sages with the characteristics of the students of Balaam who have an evil eye, an arrogant spirit and a greedy character.
Since my father’s yahrzeit this year falls on the Shabbos we read Parshat Balak, I have been studying that parsha in his memory.
One of the fascinating facts that I have learned is that we have archaeological evidence of Balaam’s existence and fame. In 1967, at Tell Deir Alla in the middle of the Jordan Valley, plaster fragments from a collapsed wall contained an inscription referring to “the book of Balaam son of Beor, the man who was a seer of the gods.” The inscription goes on to describe a dream Balaam had about an upcoming disaster.
There are many references to Balaam in the Talmud and in the Midrash. The one that intrigued and puzzled me the most was a section of the Babylonian Talmud on Berachot 12b. There we learn that the sages considered making Parshat Balak the third paragraph of the Shema but they didn’t because it was too long and would be a burden on the congregation. “But why was it considered at all?” the Gemara asks. Two possible reasons are given. The first is that the parsha mentions the Exodus from Egypt. However, this explanation is refuted because many other sections of the Torah mention the Exodus. Then Rabbi Yossi Bar Avin offers a second rationale. He says the parsha was considered because of the verse “He crouched, He lay down like a lion and a lioness: who can stand him up?” The significance of the verse according to Rashi is that it is a metaphor for the nation of Israel lying down and getting up using the same verbs as in the first two paragraphs of Shema Uvashachbicha uvkumecha. “So why wasn’t this verse alone included in Shema,” the Gemarra asks. The answer given is that “any portion that Moses did not divide, we do not divide.” The Gemara then continues to explain how the passage of Tzitzit, which was chosen, is particularly appropriate.
Reading this Gemara, the whole idea seemed absurd to me. I recognized that the praises of Israel by a non-Jew, who in his heart actually hated the Israelites, might be worth repeating, but not as part of the very heart of our liturgy!
Even the single verse cited, from Balaam’s 3rd speech, does not seem to fit in the Shema. The vision of the Jewish people as a sleeping lion that no one dares to disturb is surely one to which we currently aspire. Indeed the operation against Iran was named Am K’Lavi or the Rising Lion based on the phrase in Balam’s second speech describing the lion attacking his prey.
But how is that in consonance with the core principles of the Shema? An article by Rabbi Chanan Morrison based on Rav Kook’s sefer Ein Eyah provided an answer. Rav Kook believed that the sages saw a connection between Parshat Balak and the Shema. The Mishna on Berachot 13a states that in the first paragraph of Shema we accept Ol Malchut Shamayim, the Yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, and in the second paragraph we accept Ol Mitzvot, the yoke of Commandedness. The Jewish people were chosen to introduce these concepts to the world. The image of the sleeping lion, according to Rav Kook, represents the power of the Jewish people even when they are in exile and their Temple is destroyed. As Morrison writes, “The survival of the Jewish people throughout the generations, despite all odds, and in violation of all laws of history, enables them to persist in their mission of proclaiming God’s unity. Their indestructible nature is in itself a sanctification of God’s name.”
However, Morrison adds, including the verse by itself would place value on the eternal existence of the Jewish people apart from its mission to proclaim God’s name to the world.
My father instilled in me a pride in being a member of the Jewish people and a recognition of the need to pass that pride on to future generations. According to Moshe in Devarim 23:6, God turned Balaam’s curses into blessings because of God’s love for Israel. My father’s love for me gave me the sense of security that enhanced my Emunah in Hashem.
May Hashem protect His nation, and may we soon see the ultimate redemption.
