Numbers - Cycle One - 2202-2509 - Balak

As we read Balak (and receive the message brought to him by Balam) we learn that God’s light shines though a myriad of perspectives; that we, in our bodily forms, are each made of a million prisms, many beyond what Moses can learn from God. As Balam infers, the divine shines through these prisms within prisms to our core and at the merging point there is a purity of strength, a wholeness. With clean vision, this wholeness makes us great. We can be victorious in the lines of battle and share our victory with no reason to fight. That’s because, as warriors of light, our purpose, divine consciousness, is already satisfied. What keeps us from this knowledge is not our human form but our lack of faith.

First, how does Balak begin? Well, with Balak of course. Not with…and God told Moses. But wait… this is a wake-up call. It reminds me of Leviticus, Emor, 24:10. There, after a steady flow of decrees, we also change perspective, cut to the intimate story of the blasphemer, the importance of our purity of vision. In Balak, we see that Moses can take a coffee break, that Torah is more than, well, Torah. As in Emor, the purity of a greater vision is emphasized. Certainly no matter how great one prism, it is never the truth, and as ego, it only serves to disconnect. So, we see how important it is that the story of the Israelites belongs to Everyman. The man Balak is simply a different angle, a new prism and one that demands exploration.

But now, here’s a question. Why is this portion named Balak and not Balaam? I believe it’s to emphasize our responsibility to both hear and see. Logically, we know Balam better. We cheer him on. Like Moses, he knows God’s voice. In that case, so does the donkey. But Balak isn’t a bad guy. Balak isn’t swallowed up by the earth like Korach, the rebel who confronts Aaron and Moses in Korach 16:3. Korach clings to his own prism and challenges the merging of all other reflections, challenges God. Balak is simply being Balak, a necessary antagonist, a reflection that helps to create Torah, that is necessary so Balam can deliver his message, inter-dependant on many prisms, that goes beyond ego or any definition. So there’s no reason to belittle a being despite his mixed purpose in the big story. He just needs to accept the story. As for ourselves, we want to be in all reflections.

So, Balam finally meets with Balak and tells him to sacrifice seven rams and seven bulls on seven altars. In Leviticus, Behar 25:8 (the jubilee) the number 7 refers to infinite increase. So, here we learn that even infinite sacrifice can not change the myriad of prisms, the wholeness, or the mind, of God. In any case, these sacrifices happen three times, each symbolizing a failed attempt on the part of Balak to convince Balam to join with him in an alliance to fight us, the Israelites. We see that light (passing through prisms) has a power that precedes sacrifice and therefore prayer. That’s because the former is God while the latter is connection with God. Given the jubilee, the repetition of 7 also shows, in my opinion, that the prism of time, as light rushes through it, is one moment.

I’d like to move ahead to Balam’s prophetic words. God is not human that he should be false, not mortal that he should change his mind. Observe the many visions of Israel. Through the eyes of Balam we see the peaceful Israel, the Israel that is forgiven, despite the sins of Jacob, the strong Israel, led out of Egypt. We get the conscious Israel only concerned with how God is acting, in which the tabernacles (the force of light) stretch out like streams. We get the lion that eats its prey and drinks the blood of its kill. Finally, there is the Israel that overflows with abundance, the future as a force of divine consciousness. So many different prisms through which we see one nation, one world, one person, each of us. While it’s lovely to believe this prophecy literally, the meaning refers to the many faces of God, the millions of reflections, like a diamond, and our struggle to see all . Only then, can the light of the faces merge; do we get a glimpse of the divine.

Now let’s turn to the question of faith. The donkey shows that while doubt can shut the path to enlightenment, the faith of others can open it. Balam wants to go to Balak. When Balam seems too eager to deliver God’s message, too in his ego, God places an angel with a sword before him three times. Three times the donkey (Balam is riding) turns away, scared, and three times Balam beats it. This isn’t the first time an angel appears during a lack of faith. In Genesis Jacob wrestles with an angel, perhaps the lack of faith within himself. Jacob is important in this portion, mentioned by Balam more than once. Finally, when the donkey, with God’s voice, speaks of its love for Balam (you have ridden me for years…why beat me?) Balam can move forward. The donkey has faith in Balam. Now Balam can be the messenger for Balak and therefore for us. Faith can be seen as the glue that connects all prisms, that brings so many swords of radiance to one perfect point of enlightenment.

The sad irony is that despite the sacrifices, Balams words, Balak’s experience, and the scene with the donkey, the Israelites lose direction. So, in Balak, we cut from the story of the Israelites to Balak to learn to be greater Israelites and what happens? The Israelites (we) fall apart. The danger here is that in traveling to great sight on one level we can lose touch with others.

So, as we explore the prisms of humanity, nation, of our personal forms let us have faith that we are in myriads of prisms at the same moment, that time merges in all visions, that we can expand without losing hold on our previous sight, that we can be in grief while there is strength, know confusion and surety, love in the present/future, love in the past, know not only our own but others’ experiences with family, separation, illness, life, death, struggle, pain, joy, see Torah as one great prism among several, see one man’s words as a small prism among billions, see all prisms as equal. At the center, where light has passed through all, we are one moment, one great face, all faces merged, with the strength to let our tabernacle (our light) flow like rivers; let us have the faith to not just see the value of divinity but to be divine.