Parashat Balak - Fifth Aliyah

Balak does not give up. After Bilam has already blessed Israel, he tries again from a different angle, a different place, a different consciousness: “Lechah na iti el makom acher… vekavno li misham” (Come, please, with me to another place… and curse them for me from there, verse 23:13). Perhaps if we do not look at the whole nation, but only at its edge, we will manage to see it in a negative light.

But again, the plan fails. Bilam builds seven altars, offers sacrifices, but again the speech comes from the mouth of God: “Lo ish El vichazev” (God is not a man that He should lie, verse 23:19). It is not possible to change the essence of the divine through ritual means. What has been decreed is not undone. If a blessing has been spoken, the blessing remains. It is not in the hand of man to change this.

In a lofty prophetic passage, Bilam declares: “Hineh varech lakachti uverech velo ashivenah” (Behold, I have received a command to bless, and He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it, verse 23:20). Not only is it impossible to curse, but blessing itself is a foundational reality.

And here come especially deep verses: “Lo hibit aven beYa’akov velo ra’ah amal beYisrael” (He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen trouble in Israel, verse 23:21). God does not seek out the sins, but sees the potential, the divine presence: “Adonai Elohav imo utru’at melech bo” (Adonai his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in him).

Then comes a resonant verse quoted across the generations: “Ki lo nachash beYa’akov velo kesem beYisrael” (For there is no divination in Jacob, nor sorcery in Israel, verse 23:23). There is no need for magic, sorcery, or tricks. Israel acts out of direct connection with the Creator. And so, when the world will ask, it will be said: “Mah pa’al El” (What has God done).

And the verse that follows: “Hen am kelavi yakum vecha’ari yitnasa” (Behold, a people that rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion, verse 23:24). Rashi on the verse explains the image not only as physical strength, but as spiritual strength of daily rising to serve God: “When they arise from their sleep in the morning, they overpower like a lioness and a lion to snatch the commandments, to don a tallit, to recite the Shema, and to put on tefillin.”

Balak’s reaction is almost bewildered: “Gam kov lo tikovenu gam barech lo tevarachenu” (Neither curse it at all, nor bless it at all, verse 23:25). As if he is begging for silence. But Bilam answers consistently: “Kol asher yedaber Adonai oto e’eseh” (All that Adonai speaks, that I will do, verse 23:26).

The central idea in this aliyah is inner steadiness. It is not possible to twist the word of God. Not with money, honor, or manipulations. Israel is not subject to the whims of the moment or to random spellcraft, but to an ongoing covenant and an eternal bond with its God.

And in our own lives, how comforting this is: even when there are those who wish us ill, no curse can penetrate if the divine blessing truly accompanies us. The spiritual life does not depend on angle of view, but on the truth behind it.

How do we rise in the morning? Do we lift ourselves toward the day like a lioness, in a sense of mission and strength? Or do we drift into sleep, heaviness, and confusion? Bilam saw a “lioness that rises,” and was stirred. We too can rise this way.