Balak: 5783 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld: The prophet Micah says, "Remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of Hashem." What…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please. Let’s start with a joke. Someone once asked his rabbi, “How can there be a Torah portion named after a wicked person? It says, ‘The name of the wicked shall rot.’ We don’t find a portion named after the Patriarchs, the tribes, or Moshe and Aharon. But Balak, who was wicked, has one named after him!” The rabbi answered, “Do you know why? Because Balak is an acronym for ‘You shall love your fellow as yourself.’” The man said, “Wait, but the letters don’t quite fit.” “That’s exactly the point. Even when it doesn’t fit for you, you still have to fulfill ‘You shall love your fellow as yourself.’ That’s true Ahavas Yisroel.” The letters don’t quite fit. In the haftorah we read what we heard earlier, when the prophet Micah says: “My people, remember, please, what Balak, king of Moav, planned, and what Bilam son of Beor answered him, from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteous acts of Hashem.” What does “from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteous acts of Hashem” mean? I heard a beautiful explanation from Rabbi Yitzchak zt”l, the rabbi of Jerusalem. He explained that Balak and Bilam were looking for some sin the Jewish people had committed. If they brought up that sin, their curse could take effect. They realized that while the Jewish people were in the desert, they had not circumcised their sons. It says that because the north wind did not blow for them, it was dangerous, so they did not circumcise their sons. Balak and Bilam decided to bring up that sin, and then their curse against the Jewish people could take effect. But what did Hakadosh Boruch Hu do? This is what the prophet Micah is saying. It says that if someone wants to perform a mitzvah but is prevented from doing so, Hakadosh Boruch Hu credits him

02:24 Speaker 1 as though he had fulfilled the mitzvah. Since they were unable to fulfill the mitzvah and were prevented from doing so, Hakadosh Boruch Hu credited them as though they had fulfilled it. But when does He credit someone as though he fulfilled the mitzvah? Only if he fulfills it as soon as he has the opportunity. If he has the opportunity and still doesn’t fulfill it, he can’t be credited as though he did. Now you have the opportunity, and the fact is that you’re not fulfilling the mitzvah. This is what the prophet Micah means by “from Shittim to Gilgal”: from the time of Bilam and Shittim until Gilgal, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu told Yehoshua, “Make yourself flint knives and circumcise the Jewish people again.” And Yehoshua did so. The place is called the Hill of Foreskins. In other words, as soon as they could, they fulfilled the mitzvah. So although they had not fulfilled it earlier, Hakadosh Boruch Hu counted it as though they had. That is “so that you may know the righteous acts of Hashem”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed them kindness by crediting them as though they had fulfilled it. And this is what Bilam says: “From the top of the rocks I see them.” What are “the rocks”? “Make yourself flint knives.” “And from the hills I behold them” refers to the Hill of Foreskins. They fulfilled the mitzvah of circumcision, and therefore the curse could not take effect against them. Shabbos shalom, everyone.

03:52 Speaker 2 Shabbos shalom.