The Brighter Choice - Balak

This week in camp I was reviewing this week's Parsha, and had a couple of questions. One of those times, you think that your question doesn't have an answer and then you see that Rashi asked it a few hundred years ago. It's good to think of questions though, because then the answer will clarify the idea at hand.

This week's parsha is Parshas Balak. In Parshas Balak, a common question in Rashi is as follows. Why would Hashem give a descendant of the tribe of moab a prophet? Aren't prophets of the holiest people? Another question is regarding when Hashem was talking to Bilaam and the visitors came. Why did Hashem ask him who those people who are here? Isn't Hashem the King of the Universe? Doesn't he already know who is there?

The answer to the first question in Rashi is that the Goyim complained it wouldn't be fair if just the Yidden had a prophet, so Hashem gave them one as well. The answer to the second question is that even though Hashem knew who was there, he wanted Bilaam to admit he was going to make a mistake and hopefully catch himself.

These were two simple questions I had on the Parsha, which you may have had as well. The point of this was to teach an important lesson. Each and every idea should be talked about and an answer to questions is what clarifies it. In the future, whoever you are, always ask. To push this idea further for the rest of the summer, I hope to include one question that someone wants to understand in these Divrei Torah. Let’s transform the world with understanding it, NOT by just blindly following!

Good Shabbos!

All the best!

Avroham Y Ross