Shabbat Parashat Balak - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Balak - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller

For from the top of rocks I see it, and from hills I look at it. Behold, it is a

nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the nations.

[Bamidbar 23:9]

What is the meaning of "dwell in solitude" and "not be reckoned among the

nations"? The verse refers to Israel, so these things somehow describe us.

A few verses prior to ours, God "put an utterance in Bilaam's mouth" and

told him to go back to Balak and speak it over. Our verse is early in the

parable Bilaam related to Balak. We do not have the text of the "utterance"

itself, so it is hard to tell whether this verse is Bilaam paraphrasing what God

told him to say as he understands things, or is a relating of God's actual words.

Perhaps we can find meanings for both possibilities.

Rashi explains the verse as a single unit. The "rocks" are the roots of the nation,

meaning the patriarchs and matriarchs. Dwelling in solitude is what the ancestors

earned for the nation. Rashi then cites Onkelos regarding reckoning, that Israel

will not be held accountable and destroyed with the other nations. Onkelos gives a

second opinion, that "they (Israel) do not count themselves among the nations

involved in immoral and pagan practices." Targum Yonatan writes similarly, they do

not mix with or follow the other nations. Ramban also understands that this is Bilaam

relating the vision he saw about Israel's future being separate from the other nations.

Onkelos also cites Devarim [32:12], saying "God will guide them in solitude" which

he infers means that God will guide Israel to be in solitude, although Bamidbar

Rabbah reads the verse to mean that the 'solitude' actually refers to God rather than

Israel, that "God alone will guide them".

Rav Hirsch understands the solitude as Israel living more or less insulated, that we

are to be a good example to the nations, but not one of them. He notes that when

other nations wish to lead, they do it from within and above the rest of the world, but

that Israel will not do either of those, rather will stay separate and apart. Kol Dodi

writes that the additional 606 mitzvot separate us. Netziv says it is actually the other

nations who insist on our being separated, for if we are separate from them and keep

the Torah they will respect us but if we are assimilated among them they will hate us.

Rav Soloveitchik agrees with Netziv, that when we are separate, we are a unified

congregation. The Hebrew word for that is eidah, which stems from eid, meaning witness.

Thus the reckoning is for us to understand and fulfill our role in God's plan.

Midrash Tanchuma has a different approach to the reckoning. When people do good, God

will reward them. If the person is good overall, most of their reward is in the World to Come

but if evil overall their reward is in this world instead. Tanchuma says that any goodness that

Israel receives among the nations now will not be reckoned against their account for the

World to Come, that they will still gain their full measure in addition to whatever He rewards

all people with in this world.

The simple meaning of our verse is that Bilaam reported the tactical situation. But Bilaam

is a seer, so he would have some vision beyond that. By referring to Israel in the future, he

is telling Balak in his own understanding of the physical, that a war against them cannot be

won. Not being reckoned among the nations means there is something about them that Balak,

and Bilaam himself, cannot defeat. With the same words, Bilaam is telling over God's point

that Israel is special from a spiritual stance, that Balak and the world in general need to follow

Israel instead of follow their own lusts and desires.