Balak 5785

Episode 3 – Balak: Blessings or Curses for a People That Dwells Apart |This week, we unpack Parshat Balak, and the story of attempted curses turned into unexpected blessings. Why does the Moabite king hire Bilam, a foreign prophet with unclear loyalties, to curse Israel with words? And why does the Torah choose him to utter some of its most poetic visions of the Jewish people? |We explore:• Why does Balak fight the Israelites with speech instead of substance?• What does it mean that the Torah’s greatest blessings come from outside the "tribe"?• What is the torah and contemporary meaning of a “rising lion/ess”?• Why does Balak, of all people, get a parsha named after him?• How does Bilam compare to Moshe and Avraham—and what makes a prophet legitimate?• What does it mean to be a “people that dwells apart”?| Parshat Balak 5785 Torah: Numbers 22:2–25:9 | Haftarah: Micah 5:6–6:8 |https://miko284.com/2025/07/10/balak-the-1st-operation-rising-lion/