Of all professional sports, Baseball offers the most amount of games in the regular season: 162 games. The regular season usually begins at the end of March (this year it began in the first week of April due to a strike) and concludes at the end of September. After 6 months of 162 games, the Postseason begins. So, whichever teams are good enough or lucky enough to play in the world series, those teams will have played baseball for 7 months. However, at this time of year, around the middle of the season, a baseball team must assess where it is on and the We prognosticate as to what our favorite team will do in order to put themselves in the best possible position to win the World Series. During our discussions, my parents and I are always amazed at how a change of environment can truly affect a player’s outlook itself both in the short term and the long term. By the middle of July, two weeks before a trade deadline, a team needs to assess its performance and decide whether it can find help from outside the organization. Halfway through the season and a team needs to determine whether they have a legitimate chance of making the playoffs. If a team does not feel that there is a chance, then they may decide to trade their best players in order to get younger less expensive players in return. Of course, the message to the fanbase is that the team has “given up on the season”. A team that believes it has a very reasonable chance of getting into the playoffs or even challenging for a World Series Championship, may decide to there is a particular position that could be upgraded and that could be a difference maker. Sometimes a very good team has experienced injuries and the return of those injured players will be enough to stand pat with the current personnel. What is always amazing to me, and it happens every year, there is always a player on a poor or mediocre team who is experiencing a disappointing season and not performing up to expectations. Management is disappointed, the fans are disappointed and sometimes the player himself is disappointed. Then the player is traded to a team that is contending for a playoff spot. The management of the contending team believes that the disappointing player can make a difference. Whether it is the organization, the stadium, the fans, the fact that the player has a chance to play in the postseason, or just knowing that he is wanted, the player has an incredibly productive second half of the season and by the end of the season, he has lived up to or exceeded new team’s expectations.
This Shabbat we read Parsha Balak. In the Parsha, we read an interesting narrative that is filled with suspense, humor, intrigue, an apparent “midseason trade” and even a happy ending. It is interesting to note that throughout the Parsha, the focus is on the outside world as it relates to the B’nai Yisroel. That is to say, Balak, the king of Moab, and the tribe of Midian are the subjects of the Parsha. B’nai Yisroel hovers as the main reason for why the narrative is pertinent; however for once, Bnai Yisroel is not doing something wrong, they are not recipients of God’s anger. Instead, they placidly and temporarily settled on the plains of Moab waiting to enter Eretz Canaan. Not until the end of the Parsha and only after the narrative of Balak and Bilaam concluded, does the Torah return to a narrative style with Bnai Yisroel as the subject of poor behavior and God’s anger.
Bilaam, a soothsayer is hired by Balak to curse Bnai Yisroel. By cursing Bnai Yisroel, Balak believed that this was the only way to defeat Bnai Yisroel since they had successfully waged war on all the indigenous tribes thus far. The donkey that Bilaam rides upon on his way to curse Bnai Yisroel refuses to respond to Bilaam, and Bilaam grows angrier and angrier. The donkey is able to see an Angel of God in the road and Bilaam the soothsayer cannot. So a humorous conversation between Donkey and Soothsayer occurs (this is the funny part). Bilaam eventually realizes that he is unable to curse B’nai Yisroel. Finally, when he is looking from the hills down upon B’nai Yisroel and sees a peaceful, God-fearing community he utters praise instead of curses. Imagine Balak’s anger and frustration? He hires Bilaam to curse B’nai Yisroel; instead, he blesses B’nai Yisroel! Vayomer Balak El Bilaam Meh Asita Li Lakov Oyvai L’Kachticha V’Hinei Beirachta Vareich – Balak said to Bilaam, “What have you done to me! To curse my enemy have I brought you – but behold, you have even blessed!” (Num. 23:11) Balak’s frustration is something we can all understand. He believed that Bilaam, a powerful soothsayer/prophet was capable of communing with God and deriving the appropriate sign in order to curse Bnai Yisroel. Bilaam’s response is quite revealing: Halo Eit Asher Yasim HaShem B’Fi Oto Eshmor L’Daber! Is it not so that whatever Hashem puts in my mouth, that I must take heed to speak! Essentially Bilaam explains that he can only say what God would have said. If Balak could have traded Bilaam for another soothsayer, he probably would have.
As awful a person as Balak is, and as mercenary, a person as Bilaam is, we can learn a lot from the exchange of both men. Balak hired the soothsayer to do a job for which Bilaam was renowned for doing. Bilaam did not live up to his reputation nor Balak’s expectations. Had Balak issued a curse himself, even if it failed, at least he would have felt empowered. For Bilaam, at least for that moment, he turned inwards, listened to his soul, listened to the donkey, listened to God and his entire attitude changed teams. At least for the moment, this mercenary soothsayer offered only blessings to the Jewish people. The fact of the matter is that we need to turn inwards, towards our soul. There, in our own soul, we will find holiness. The funny thing about the trade deadline, sometimes it is the trades that don’t get made turn out to be the best. Rather than trading for another player –looking outwards; teams decide to stick with the personnel that they have, injured players return from injury, the organization expresses confidence in the players and the coaches, and the players commit to playing better, commit to exerting greater effort, and working harder. They look inward and renew a sense of commitment and purpose.
Rav Yitz
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