S.A.L.T. - Friday

When Balak and Bilam make their first attempt to place a curse on Benei Yisrael, Balak took Bilam to place from where they could see only "a portion of the people" (22:40). The Kotzker Rebbe explains Balak's rationale in this regard: one can find faults only with a portion of Benei Yisrael. As even Balak and Bilam knew, the possibility of placing a curse upon Benei Yisrael rests in the ability to isolate a given portion of the nation. The people in its entirety, however, is inherently pure, beyond the grasp of Bilam's efforts.

Along similar lines, some have understood "ketzei ha-am" ("a portion of the people") as a specific reference to the "eirev rav," the foreigners who joined Benei Yisrael upon their departure from Egypt. The Midrash blames this group for precipitating the incident of the golden calf as well as other infamous chapters in the nation's journey through the wilderness. Balak and Bilam hoped that by seeing only a portion of Benei Yisrael, and specifically a portion experienced in iniquity, they would succeed in their quest to curse the perceived foes.

Bilam's blessing contains God's response to this effort: "I see them from the mountain tops, gaze on them from the heights… " Rashi explains this as a reference to Am Yisrael's origins: the sacred patriarchs and matriarchs, who forged the spiritual backbone of the nation (perhaps that even the "eirev rav" shared??). The attempt to focus on a mere segment of the people failed; Bilam was compelled to consider the common denominator of all sectors within Benei Yisrael's population: its inherent, sacred quality.

Balak then tries again. This time, he emphasizes, "Come with me to another place from which you can see them - you will see only a portion of them; you will not see all of them - and curse them from there" (23:13). Balak hopes that Bilam could this time make a point of isolating a portion of the nation for his purposes. Needless to say, this attempt failed, as well.

This principle, that all segments of the Jewish people ultimately belong to a single, organic whole, transcends centuries and millennia. Not only does every Jew share the same destiny and responsibilities as another Jew at the opposite end of the earth and of an entirely different background and culture, so does he share this commonality with all Jews past and present. This Sunday begins the three-week period of mourning over the exile and destruction of the Beit Ha-mikdash. However unfortunate the necessity for this observance, it underscores the remarkable, intergenerational quality of Benei Yisrael. The entity known as the Jewish people has risen above time; we conduct a collective lamentation for events that transpired millennia ago. The contemporary struggle for Eretz Yisrael further emphasizes this point: Am Yisrael remains determined to fight for its right to a land from which it was exiled centuries ago.

Balak and subsequent enemies have tried, one way or another, to isolate one group or one generation from the indivisible entity of Am Yisrael. Our survival has been made possible, ironically enough, by our stubborn adherence to a dictum formulated by Bilam himself: "There is a people that dwells apart, not reckoned among the nations" (23:9).

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