The Secret of Jewish Continuity . . . (adapted from Rabbi N. Silberberg)
Each year millions of dollars, and thousands of hours are invested by Jewish foundations, hoping to ensure the continuous growth of the Jewish People and fight the wave of assimilation and intermarriage. Programs ranging from youth trips to Israel and holocaust curriculums to innovative outreach centers and advanced educational seminars are all an important part of this noble and G‑dly endeavor.
The section of the Torah we read this week gives us, perhaps, the most potent prescription through which each of us can .
A man named Balaam is hired by a Moabite King to curse the Jewish People. Yet instead of curses, the following words leave his mouth:
“How shall I curse those whom G‑d has not cursed? How can I invoke wrath when G‑d isn't angry?"
Why was this nation immune from G‑d's curses and wrath? Balaam continues:
"Because from their beginning, I see them as mountain peaks, and I behold them as hills. It is a nation that will dwell alone, and does not reckon with the nations."
As is the nature of poetic prose, these words are (also) allegoric. Our sages tell us that "mountain peaks" are an allusion to our Patriarchs and the “hills” refer to our Matriarchs.
The secret of our nation's survival and our ability to withstand the “influence and schemes” of the Balaam's of the generations, is our Patriarchs and Matriarchs, Jewish fathers and mothers who instill within their children the sense that they are a nation whose destiny is to dwell alone. Parents who teach their children that "a nation who dwells alone" is not a curse; it's not a blight which we must try to overcome. It is a blessing.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick