Numbers Cycle Four Balak 22:2 to 25:9

The beauty of the parasha Balak is very much concealed and pierces beyond all perspectives and levels of our reality. In short after many chapters about the Israelites…about us…we cut to a whole parasha about the Moabites and the Midianites. There’s a certain relief to this. After so much of our story (almost four whole books) is told from our eyes it’s nice to hear the story of others, people who aren’t us. It’s nice to see their vision of us. It’s nice to gain some equanimity. But equanimity has a price. We need to dive deep beyond our expectations, our normal every day grasp on this world, that which (we like to think) keeps us safe and sane. We need to allow ourselves to witness the pieces of our soul pulled to the very edge. And then we need to honor the vision of our God, of ourselves as reflections of God…from that edge. Oh…we think… if we are seen as so beautiful from there, from that place of darkness…from that very distant place where Balak leads Balaam…then how blindingly beautiful we must be from up close, from right here, from within our sacred tents. How luscious and palpable and cosmic and breathtaking and dangerously golden we must be if Balaam’s vision is simply a hint, a whisper of the truth from a distant place.

The irony is that even to access Balaam’s vision we need to go on quite a journey.

Yes… here we are in Torah and we stop our flow in mid-plot, mid-way in our enlightenment. Yes, we are in process and then suddenly it’s as if we’re sitting on that mountain raising up sparks and a whole tirade of enemy thoughts comes from seemingly nowhere. The straight and direct pillar of light has been hi-jacked (it seems) by a jealous King (Balaak) and his many attending officers, by his need to scream across the river to Balaam (according to the Zohar an evil wizard-like snake-carving mule-fornicating false prophet) the sweet talking mule, three sacrifices of rams and bulls in three different places, vivid imagery of lions, men and oxes…but no eagle…and curses that revolve around blessings and blessings around curses. And these aren’t our blessings nor our curses nor our mule nor our King. They belong to others. We have pushed out Korach and witnessed the budding staff of Aaron and his death and the madness from our own fear…and this is our vision and Balam is merely the visionary within the vision. You could call this new twist in our enlightenment process a deep dive to dark corners within which hide all kinds of manipulative actions…those that might cut us off forever. But you could also turn it and call it an opportunity for us to see how far and how deep we can propel the light of God…. at what distance and at what vibration we can shine our love and show it and heal the world. And given the antics of both Balaam and Balaak…we certainly propel it far.

The Zohar says this: Come and see what is written. He (Balaam) saw Israel encamped, tribe by tribe…he saw Shechinah sheltering them, brooding them, adorned by twelve tribes beneath her….He said, how can I prevail against them? For look Supernal Holy Spirit broods them, sheltering them with her wings! As it is written…”He crouches, lies down like a lion, like a lioness…who can rouse him?” (Matt translation, 1:68b).

The Zohar also says this: Come and see: Supreme radiance, so this light would glow, and from that radiance, delight to all…the right, by which gravings of engravings are wreathed. This has been said, as it is written: “How abundant is Your goodness that You have hidden away for those in awe of You.” (Psalms31:20) This is the primordial light treasured away by the blessed Holy One for the righteous, as we have said. (1:46a).

Yes, Israel is beautiful and it is with the right…our chesed…that we can illuminate the world birth after birth soul after soul step after step with vibrations so high they are hidden…even from ourselves. What Balaam sees from a distance is what can be revealed. But oh…let us move within the tents unseen and well protected and revel in the viscous flowing boundary of pain/joy….there in the openings to God.

How to be here now with this parasha? Welcome people to see you, to know you, to befriend you. Find value in all perspectives since we all create that which is holy. Understand and accept that there’s a light we can emanate that is beyond our very human ability to perceive. Know also when and how to regulate that flow.

In Meditation? Find joy. Let yourself go. Let each moment crash through the boundaries of the letters, of any blessing or curse into the concealed core radiance. See yourself accessing it and reaching far into dark corners and being seen from those corners. Bring high vibrations to places (and people) that clearly need it. Know that these vibrations can hurt like a sword while healing. Prepare yourself. Know who you are.