{"id":649,"date":"2025-07-09T10:43:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T10:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/?p=649"},"modified":"2025-07-09T10:43:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T10:43:53","slug":"balak-%d7%91%d6%b8%d6%bc%d7%9c%d6%b8%d7%a7-torah-portion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/?p=649","title":{"rendered":"Balak \u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc\u05b8\u05e7 Torah Portion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/883821578779929685-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/883821578779929685-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/883821578779929685-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/883821578779929685-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/883821578779929685.png 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This short article was created with the help of AI tools and has been reviewed by a translator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WITH GOD&#8217;S HELP!<br>This week, 10 &#8211; 16 Tammuz 5785 (6 &#8211; 12 July 2025) the people of Israel read the weekly Torah portion: Balak &#8211; Bemidbar (Numbers) 22:2-25:9<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"40\" class=\"wp-block-list\"><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Parashat Balak<\/strong> tells the story of Balak, the king of Moab, who was terrified of the Israelites as they were approaching his territory. Here are some key points about this Parashat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Balak&#8217;s Fear<\/strong>: Balak, the king, sees the Israelite people as a threat and seeks to curse them. He sends messengers to Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet, to invite him to come and curse the Israelites.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Balaam&#8217;s Journey<\/strong>: Initially, God tells Balaam not to go with Balak&#8217;s messengers. However, when they return with a more prestigious offer, Balaam seeks God&#8217;s permission again. This leads to a fascinating episode where God allows him to go but sends an angel to stop him.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Talking Donkey<\/strong>: On the journey, Balaam&#8217;s donkey sees the angel of God and refuses to move forward, leading to a comedic yet profound moment where the donkey speaks to Balaam after being beaten. This event highlights Balaam&#8217;s spiritual blindness and foolishness.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Balaam&#8217;s Blessings<\/strong>: When Balaam eventually meets Balak, instead of cursing the Israelites, he blesses them three times, declaring their greatness and God&#8217;s favour upon them. Balaam&#8217;s blessings emphasize themes of divine protection and destiny.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Sin of the Israelites<\/strong>: The parashat concludes with an account of how the Israelites succumb to sin, leading to a plague among them, showing the consequences of turning away from God&#8217;s commandments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Themes in Parashat Balak<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Divine Intervention<\/strong>: God&#8217;s control over the events, emphasizing that blessings cannot be undone by human intentions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Power of Words<\/strong>: The significance of blessings and curses and their impact on people&#8217;s lives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Moral Lessons<\/strong>: The dangers of greed and the consequences of straying from righteousness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Parashat Balak is rich in narrative and lessons, serving as a reminder of faith and the importance of aligning oneself with God&#8217;s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This short article was created with the help of AI tools and has been reviewed by a translator. WITH GOD&#8217;S HELP!This week, 10 &#8211; 16 Tammuz 5785 (6 &#8211; 12 July 2025) the people&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[100],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-englisch","tag-torah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/international.beth-midrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}