Shabbos Parashas Balak - 5779

Shabbos Parashas Balak - 5779

Rabbi Hal Miller

For there is no sign-reading in Yaakov and no divination in Yisrael. [Bamidbar 23:23]

Is there any validity to astrology and horoscopes? In the sense of planets and stars having

powers of their own, clearly there is not, as that would be idolatrous, where people would

come to worship as gods any entities other than God Himself. But is there something else?

Our verse implies that there is something, just not for Jews, and this is, in fact, what

Jewish philosophers have concluded. God works in ways we cannot fathom, and uses

tools in ways we do not understand. It is entirely possible that He has placed capabilities

in celestial beings to govern the lives of mankind, but has exempted Israel from them as

we deal directly with Him.

But that could have been made clear to us in a straightforward statement. What does

our verse add?

Rashi's opinion is that the verse is stating a fact--Jews do not practice sorcery since they

attribute all power to God, thus the verse is a tribute to Israel as a people. But this leaves

open a door: if Jews decided to practice sorcery, does that mean the stars would in fact

have impact upon us?

Onkelos thinks the verse relates that diviners and sorcerers out there are all like Bilaam,

all hate Israel and want it destroyed. No sign-readers are for Israel, only against.

Torah Temimah explains that those who practice magic are pursued by magic, midah

k'neged midah, and Israel chose not to put themselves in such a position.

Rashbam says that this is the reason God places His Presence amongst the Jewish

people. They chose Him, and have no need to resort to attempts to read the future.

Ramban understands this verse as the basis of Bilaam's hesitance to do what Balak asked.

He knew there was no way for his magic tricks to defeat Israel.

Malbim looks closely at the text. "For there is no nachash (occultism) against Yaakov, nor

kesem (wizardry) against Yisrael." He understands this to mean that although pre-revelation

Yaakov could have been influenced by the constellations, Yisrael is immune to wizardry.

Yaakov could have been affected by heavenly bodies just as non-Jews are, and there was

a danger of the family falling into cultism. But once he and his family became Israel, the

occult was no longer relevant, and they were immune even to wizardry, which is stronger.

Jews do not need to read the future. We need instead to trust that God will provide all the

right happenings in the future whether we understand them or not, and we need to do our

part so that it looks as though those happenings are natural as they occur. Black arts is

not in our makeup, we don't need it. We only need God.