Balak

Here's what comes up when one searches Balak in my blog.

There's a lot more in ParshaPost, also my me, this blog's sister.

Something sweet in the last hard 5 weeks: My dad has asked me on several different weeks what the Parsha is and what's in it.

Two ideas addressing the question of whether or not Bilam had power to curse us.

1. Maybe he had some magical mystical power. But even for the more rationally inclined (like Yechezkel Kaufman it's possible that the power he had was to mess with the Jewish People's mind. It's like today when someone who matters to you says something like "Drop dead," it's upsetting. Or today people do believe in mind readers, etc. - our heads can be manipulated, that in itself is a power.

2. Yosef Ibn Caspi says that Bilam had no power, but the Jews thought he did. the lesson here is that when you love someone you tend to their needs, you protect them from what they fear, despite whether it would matter to you on your own or not.