Bilaam, not Balak
Which Rabbi or other source is responsible for naming the Parashiot? - for I would like to ask the person why he named this week’s Parashat after a morally bad example like Balak? Names like Yitro, Noah, Chayeh Sarah, or next week’s Pinchas are easier to understand - these are persons to look up to. The rest of the Parashiot’s names are ‘lazy’ names, often the first word or meaning of the Parasha. So it is possibly nothing to be really concerned about, but still, naming this week’s Parasha after Balak, is just undeserved.
Balak is nothing but an orchestrator who’s plan goes mostly wrong. In this story, he’s a bit player, not the name on the marquee. It is Bilaam who steals the show proven by the endless renderings, etchings and paintings of him over the centuries, including Rembrandt’s rendition simply called: Balaam and the Ass, - (1626) which hangs proudly in the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris. Balak is an orchestrator, by today’s standards; a politician. He knows whom to hire for the job. The Israelites are getting too powerful, so let’s hire a really well-known goyische prophet to curse them. Bilaam, is gifted, no doubt and he has something that is as dear and special as Moshe Rabbenu has: The direct voice (and ear) to HaShem. This greatest of all gifts prevents Am Israel to be cursed by him, since HaShem ‘puts words into his mouth’.
Three times does Bilaam try and three times does he fail. Not at Bamoth-Baal, not at Pisgah nor Peor. Strange actually, because Bilaam knows that the ‘Lord of the Israelites is not angry upon his own peoples’ and tells Balak so over and over in the words: ‘My message was to bless: When He blesses, I cannot reverse it. No harm is in sight for Jacob, no woe in view for Israel. The Lord their God is with them’. Let’s not try to feel pity for Bilaam though, he’s without doubt a crooked prophet. On one hand he’s highly susceptible to bribes and the money that Balak promises him, thus proving that his direct contact with HaShem is highly undeserved. On the other hand, he confesses to the greatness of HaShem by warning Balak how he cannot curse the Israelites. For two reasons; One, and this is the greatest moral point the Parasha makes; Bilaam knows that the Lord of the Israelites is not angry at His people and therefore a mere prophet cannot and should not curse them. By cursing the Israelites, he would pass the powers that are greater to him; namely the Lord Himself. And of course reason two; He simply cannot for physical reasons. HaShem places words into his mouth. But Bilaam also displays utter stupidity. After all, a donkey proves to be wiser than he is. And not only that, the donkey speaks! At first the donkey warns him by pushing him against a wall and by refusing to move further. Unfortunately, a donkey is known to be stubborn and maybe Bilaam confuses a sign of normal donkey-like behavior with that of a sign of divinity. Still the donkey knows faster than Bilaam how truly divine the moment is. This makes Bilaam and Balak as well, both men of false emotions. Bilaam is blinded by ego and greed, Balak by fear and panic.
Now as these mishaps happen high above the heads of the advancing Israelite armies, we can assume that down below in the camps no one really knows about curses turning into blessings. For it is the tribes that curse themselves. The exposure to promiscuous Midianite women is enough for the Israelite to lose his ways. He is weak. After all that Balak and Bilaam tried and failed to do high above them, it only takes the lifting of a skirt to strike them down. After all that HaShem did for them, weakness wins. At least one man appears and knows right from wrong and strikes mercilessly. He is next week’s hero in the Parasha that has a much more honorable name than this week’s Parashat; Pinchas.
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