The Weekly Shtikle - Balak

Wednesday, 14 Tammuz, was the 35^th yahrzeit of R' Yaakov Yitzchack (ben Yehuda Leib HaLevi) Ruderman, zt"l, the first Rosh HaYeshivah of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel. 

 

Yesterday, 15 Tammuz, was the 19^th yahrtzeit of my wife's grandmother, Mrs. Shirley Yeres, Chaya Shaindel bas Alexander HaLevi.

  

Tomorrow, 17 Tammuz, is the 23^rd yahrzeit of R' Shmuel Yaakov

(ben Yitzchok Matisyahu) Weinberg, zt"l, Rosh HaYeshiva of Ner Yisroel.

 

Tomorrow is the 1^st yahrtzeit of my dear father, Reuven Pinchas ben Chaim Yaakov, a"h. The shul will be hosting a special online, Pirkei Avos learning session on Sunday morning to commemorate the yahrtzeit. You can register by clicking here. Additionally, I have attached a beautiful article written by my nephew, Nochum Aharon Shonek, which appeared in this week's edition of Hamodia.

 

The shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmasam.

 

When inquired as to the identity of his visitors, Bilam responds (22:10) "Balak ben Tzipor, the king of Moav sent them to me." Rashi delves into the motivation behind Bilam's statement. His intent was, "even though I am not dignified in Your eyes, I am dignified in the eyes of kings." R' Ruderman, zt"l, points out that this is a perplexingly ridiculous statement for Bilam to make. Why should it matter one bit to HaShem what the kings think of Bilam? What could he possibly have intended to accomplish with this?

 

The Rosh HaYeshivah answers that Bilam's intention was to incriminate B'nei Yisrael. His claim was as follows: "HaShem, You know that I am really not significant whatsoever. Nevertheless, I am significant in the eyes of kings. However, even though Moshe is held so highly in Your eyes, he is so gravely mistreated by Bnei Yisrael!" Therefore, when HaShem finally lets Bilam go along to Moav, he instructs Bilam (22:20) "go with them, but only do that which I tell you to do". This is meant as a rebuttal of his charge against B'nei Yisrael. "The reason why you are revered by kings is because you tell them what they want to hear. Moshe tells B'nei Yisrael what I tell him to say. That is why his popularity is not always so high. Now you go to the kings and tell them what I tell you, and see how they treat you now." Sure enough, this proved to be quite a lesson for Bilam.

 

Being a shul rabbi certainly brings these challenges to the fore. With no person in history every having accomplished the daunting feat of pleasing all of the people all of the time, combined with not having been Divinely appointed, there is the constant challenge of striking this delicate balance. One of my father's many virtuous traits was managing to say what needed to be said in a way that people were willing to hear.

Yehi zichro baruch.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: I say Yericho, You Say Yereicho

Dikdukian: The Dead of the Plague

Al Pi Cheshbon: Counting the Judges

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