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Home -> 5771 -> Balak

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Balak, 5771

Pinchas saw… and he stood up from amid the assembly, and took a spear in his hand. (25:7)

Pinchas saw Zimri acting in a morally aberrational manner. He immediately grabbed a spear and put an end to the mutinous repugnancy that was taking place. Everyone else stood around wondering what to do. Pinchas saw and acted. Why does the Torah emphasize that Pinchas went to secure a spear and then used it to slay the two sinners? Could it not simply have said that Pinchas saw what was occurring, and he responded accordingly? Why did the Torah underscore that he took a spear? The Tolna Rebbe, Shlita, offers a practical, but powerful, response. The Torah is teaching us…

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Home -> 5771 -> Balak

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Balak, 5771

“He perceived no iniquity in Yaakov, and saw no perversity in Yisrael. Hashem, his G-d is with him.” (23:21)

Bilaam tried hard to find something iniquitous about the Jewish People – to no avail. This pasuk is the Scriptural exhortation to look for the positive in every person. While it is clearly the right thing to do, it is often difficult to ferret out the positive when there is so much negativity staring us in the face. The Admor m’Mishkoltz, Shlita, interprets this pasuk in a novel manner: (If) “he perceives no iniquity” – if he looks for a justifiable rationale for a behavior which appears nefarious, then he will ultimately discover that “his G-d is with him.” Every…

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Home -> 5771 -> Balak

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Balak, 5771

“May my soul die the death of the upright, and may my end be like his.” (23:10)

It is the old story. The wicked want to live a life of abandon, yet, they want to die as the righteous and upright. The Chafetz Chaim, zl, explains that Bilaam did not want to live like a Jew. After all, Torah Judaism makes “difficult” demands on a person. Morality, ethicality, spiritual integrity: these are not simple qualities to which someone like Bilaam is able to adhere. He wants to have his cake and eat it too. For a Jew, on the other hand, it is much simpler to deal with death than life. The Jew views death as a…

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Home -> 5771 -> Balak

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Balak, 5771

Balak saw… all that Yisrael had done to the Emori (22:2). Pinchas saw… and he stood up from amid the assembly. (25:7)

Our Parsha begins with one re’iyah, observation, and closes with another re’iyah. Balak opens the Parsha with Va’yaar Balak ben Tzippor, “And Balak ben Tzippor saw.” Pinchas, heir to the Priestly throne of his grandfather Aharon HaKohen, concludes the Parsha with his re’iyah – Vayaar Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen va’yakom mitoch ha’eidah, va’yikach romach b’yado, “And Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen saw, and he stood up from amid the assembly and took a spear in his hand” (25:7).We understand that whenever the Torah states that someone “saw,” it is important to explain what in particular caught his…

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