Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

In Song: Balak

‘Bileam und der Engel’ by Gustav Jaeger, 1836

Each week The Arty Semite connects the Torah reading — however tenuously — with a classic work of rock and roll.

In this week’s parsha, Balak, the king of Moab, having heard about Israel’s overwhelming military successes, is concerned for his people and his land. He hires a local prophet, Balaam, to curse the Israelites.

Balaam’s internal conflict between his desire to curse Israel and also to profit by it, and his limitation that he can only do what God wishes, comes out in the interplay between himself and his donkey.

After the attempts to curse Israel, which result in him actually blessing them, Balak and Balaam give up and fall out. But not before Balaam gives Balak some advice as to Israel’s weakness. Moab and Midian then send women to tempt the people into idol worship, resulting in God’s anger and punishment, resulting in 24,000 dead.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.