CHOCHMAS NASHIM: BALAK: DESTRUCTIVE ANGER
By: Suri Davis
In this week’s torah portion, Balak, the Moab king was frightened at the growing Jewish population, so he asked Balaam to curse the Jews. Balaam said he needed some time to answer, and in that time Balaam asked G-d what he should do, and G-d told him not to curse the Jews.
Balak tried over and over again to convince Balaam to curse the Jews, and Balaam replied that he cannot curse those whom G-d does not want to curse.
Sanhedrin 105b:7 sets forth the terms under which Balaam would have succeeded in cursing the Jews, and that is if he had found some anger in G-d towards the Jews, this would have made the Jews open and vulnerable to being cursed.
It is surprising that after so many incidents of Jews sinning and rebelling against G-d in the desert, so oft G-d had wanted to destroy the entire nation, but for Moshe’s intervention, yet there was no remnant of anger by G-d for all the sins the Jews had committed. This is a foundation of the 13 attributes of mercy G-d has for the Jews, among them Erech apayim/G-d has forbearance and permits one to repent.
This Shabbos is the 17th of Tamuz, on which day we usually fast to commemorate the beginning of the three-week period of the destruction of the holy temple in Jerusalem. Because it comes out on Shabbos this year, it is pushed off to Sunday.
During this three-week period, we are vulnerable. As we remember the destruction of the temple, G-d remembers our acts which forced G-d to destroy the temple. It is a time of tikkun/spiritual repair, a time to bend over backward to contemplate our relationship with G-d and reflect on our relationship with each other. We don’t want to give G-d any reason to punish us further with extended periods of exile. When we sin, especially against others, we open the gates of anger, which permit other nations to curse us and bring evil upon us.
As we know, after the temple was destroyed, all gates of heaven were sealed off to man, all except the gate of tears, of sincere repentance.
Our job during this period of time is to find favor in G-d’s eyes, and to open the flood gates of G-d with sincere repentance, in hopes that G-d prevents other nations from harming us, and we find enough favor in G-d’s eyes that he bring the complete redemption quickly in our time.
Shabbat shalom.
Easy fast.
-Suri