Perception and Reality
Welcome to Venturing Into the Parsha, a weekly(ish) e-mail intended to provide insights from the Jewish holidays and weekly Torah portions that impact and uplift our roles as investors, founders, and operators. These are intended to be ~5 paragraphs and intentionally brief. Questions or comments are always welcome in response.
This week’s VITP is dedicated as a prayer for the speedy and safe return of our 100+ hostages being held in Gaza and the thousands of soldiers spending Shabbat and Passover keeping the land of Israel safe.
This week’s parsha, Balak, is a fan favorite, enhanced by the addition of new prophet — Bilaam — disappearing angels, talking donkeys, and a fairly comedic series of conversations and events.
But before the fun hijinks, the parsha opens with an attempt to destroy the Jewish people as Balak, the king of the country of Moab, hires a world renowned prophet, Bilaam, to curse the Jewish people, and, consequently, destroy them once and for all.
Why did he Balak want to destroy the Jewish people? The opening verse tells us: “Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorite. The country of Moab was very frightened of the people, because it was formidable.” (Numbers 22:2). Israel, had of course, recently emerged victorious from a war against the powerful Amorites. Their concerns would seem, well, valid?
Not quite.
I heard the most remarkable insight this week from my Rabbi, Immanuel Bernstein, based on a comment from Rabbi Avram Naftali Galante. He asks us to consider what Israel’s connection to the Amorites was in the first place?
The answer is provided in last week’s parsha, wherein the Jewish people had wanted to enter Israel. The best route was through the country of Edom (whose King refused to let them pass through), while the second best route was through the country of Amor. The Israelites reached out to the Amorite King Sichon asking if they could pass through his land, promising not to hurt anyone and offering to financially compensate for any eaten fruit/vegetables along the way. Rather than simply declining, Sichon enlists his army and races out to the desert to wage war against the Israelite nation. The Israelites win the war and destroy the Emorite army.
Simply put — the Jews open with a peaceful overture, in return they are attacked, they defend themselves and emerge victorious. Rabbi Galante notes that, somehow, the perception in the eyes of the Moabite King is how our parsha opens: “Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorite.”
History, Rabbi Galante notes, is not interested in what the Amorites were interested in doing to the Jewish people. History begins, in the eyes of the world, **only** when the Jewish people attempt to defend themselves.
It would be hard to find a more appropriate synopsis of how Israel has been perceived over the past year and past decades.
This of course, is a reminder to each of us — especially in our day jobs — to pursue truth, seek the context to all disagreements, and recognize that in both life and our companies, certain people, departments, etc will be unfairly demonized and attacked. We need to see more than simply the reaction; we need to see the catalysts and causes.
Wishing everyone a shabbat shalom.