Lead Tidbit
A really different sedra
Most sedras contain mitzvot from among the 613 mitzvot of the Torah. 37 of the 54 sedras, to be specific, contain mitzvot. Most of the 17 sedras that have no mitzvot per se, do have moral and educational teachings. We basically spend a lifetime studying the Torah and learning its mitzvot and its lessons... and doing them. Living by them. What's with Parshat Balak?

Balak is a relatively simple sedra. It contains two "stories". The first is a long, 95-pasuk parsha that tells us about Balak and Bil'am teaming up to destroy the Jewish People. We were not met with an army of sword-wielding Emorites or an attacking force of Amalakites. Actually, we were conducting our everyday lives on the plains of Moav, totally oblivious to what was taking place on a hilltop with a view of the encampment of the People of Israel. Sacrifices were offered and Bil'am's attempts, with Balak's encouragement, to wage "unconventional" warfare against repeatedly failed. Or, more correctly put, repeatedly thwarted by G-d. The entire episode of Bil'am and Balak took place without our involvement or knowledge. Of course, it's nice to know that G-d protects His people, even when we had angered Him, so to speak, over and over again. It's not just nice to know, it is important that we should know.

Perhaps one of the lessons from Balak is that our enemies cannot touch us... because of G-d's protection, and unless G-d allows them to. And the end of the sedra, the second "story", the short 9-pasuk parsha, shows us what can happen when G-d allows us to be attacked. In this case, it was a plague that took a toll of 24,000 people until Pinchas's action in defense of G-d's honor put a stop to the plague.

We don't know clearly how G-d works, but we do have a rough, partial idea. And we certainly know what He expects and demands of us, as individuals and as a nation. We have His promises, but they are often conditional.