Looking Past the Opinions

I know it has been a while since posting... Rabbinic life has been busy!  There are too many situations around us for which there have been no words.  So, I felt compelled to post once again - we'll see if this becomes a regular habit... For now, here are the words of Torah that I sent to my congregation this week.

            There are a lot of words flying around at us these days. It can be difficult to discern truth amid the itchy blanket of opinions that has been thrown over us. How are we supposed to know what and who to believe?

            

In this week’s Torah portion, the foreign prophet, Balaam, struggles with a similar dilemma. The Moabite King, Balak, commissions him to put a curse on the Israelites. Despite pledging that he will only say the truth that God puts in his mouth, Balaam attempts to override his prophetic methods and listen to the opinions of Balak. He first sets out and must be reminded by a talking donkey that there is such a thing as truth. Attempting to chart his own course and ignoring all that he had learned to that point, Balaam almost ran into his own demise. His trusty donkey saved his life by stopping right before an angel of God, ready to smite Balaam in the midst of his rebellion. And how did Balaam thank the donkey? By beating him. Only then, did this animal speak, reminding Balaam, “How long have I been your steed? Have I ever done anything like this before?”

            

This donkey made Balaam take a step back and think. He reconnected with his core values instead of allowing himself to get swept up in the rhetorical pressures of the king with a nefarious agenda. It was only then that Balaam could remember what allowed him to find truth in the first place – not by imposing it upon the world, but by paying attention and noticing, by using evidence and assessment. So it was, despite setting out to fulfill Balak’s request, even after the donkey and angel incident, that Balaam opened his mouth to speak. And as the rabbis teach, when he saw the Israelites’ tents – how they were arranged to allow for respect for one another and equality – he found the truth that existed and shined brighter than the opinions that were being thrust at him. He instead said the words, “Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov? Mishk’nothecha, Yisrael?”  How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob? Your dwelling places, O Israel?

            

These words have become a source of blessing for us, still today, as they make up a traditional morning prayer recited daily. This beautiful prayer only came because Balaam was able to put aside the pressure-laden, judgmental opinions being thrust upon him by a king with an agenda. Balaam used his own eyes, his own thoughts, and most importantly, his own core values to assess the situation and see what truly lay before him.

        

May we each find the strength to open our own eyes and see beyond the partisan, agenda-filled rhetoric that has filled our lives these days. May we find ways to see goodness, may we continue to respect the lives of all people in our society, and may we attempt to fill the world with a light so bright that it shines greater than the voices that have been tearing the fabric of our society apart.