I'm no angel

N.B. - I feel that I should confess a few items to my audience. Those of you who checked the blog last night might notice that the Misconception post looks a tad different now. I lost my cool when frantically scrawling that post and wrote some things that this morning I(/my darling wife) realized had no place on a blog meant to spread the word against bigotry and hatred. Hopefully, everyone's OK with the (multiply) re-edited post as it stands now and I will try my best to keep calm going forward and liberally edit and re-edit as necessary.

As the incomparably coiffed Gregg Allman sings "I'm no angel!" But conveniently enough, our parashah features one prominently (Num. 22:22-35).

Balaam's donkey, to which I've referred in previous posts, witnessed an angel standing in the road with drawn sword blocking its path. The angel was trying to prevent Balaam from following through on his mission to meet with Balak and curse the Israelites. When the donkey tried to avoid the threatening angel by veering into a field, Balaam (who, though a prophet, did not see the angel) beat the donkey and turned her back onto the road. The angel then placed himself in two other successive locations at each of which the donkey tried to avoid the angel and was subsequently beaten. Miraculously, the donkey starts to speak and asks Balaam why he was beaten three times. Only after conversing with the donkey are Balaam's eyes opened. He sees the angel and realizes the evil that he has committed.

Sometimes in life, we naturally develop blinders - "keep your head down" we are commonly told. In today's society, we sometimes lose ourselves in the hustle bustle of the times; whether it's diving headlong into our job and losing sight of our personal life, or diving headlong into a relationship at the expense of our friends and families. Rabbi Josh Runyan's article concludes that we should let the large Biblical miracles remind us to enjoy the everyday miracles happening all around us. However, I see the tale as far more cautionary than a simple wake up call to the commonplace miracles of life.

While I too see the Divine behind the chaotic, stochastic nature of life, I think the tale bears more of an ethical imperative. Balaam's "blinding" hatred and lust for wealth were so complete that it took a miracle to help him see the truth standing right in front of him. In contrast to Balaam's attributes, Avraham Avinu is credited with exhibiting "a good eye, a meek spirit and a humble soul." (Pirke Avos 5:19) Clearly, there is some sort of spectrum between these two poles, but if we try to shade healthily towards the Avraham side, we should be in good shape. May we all keep our good eyes open to the truth in front of us and our blinders loose (in the off chance the truth is slightly to the side of us).

With that, I'm off to Miami for the weekend.