Balak 14 Tammuz 5767 / June 30, 2007

In 1961, a Jewish grandmother had the opportunity to have a private conversation with the young president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. And what did they talk about? Weapons.

Not what you would expect from a Jewish grandmother, certainly not nearly half a century ago; but then again, Golda Meir was no one’s typical grandmother. As Elie Wiesel recounts in an article that I recently came across, the conversation flowed as follows:

“You come from the land of the Bible, Mrs. Meir. Let’s talk about that.”

“I’ll find you a rabbi, Mr. President, First, we need to talk about weapons.”

“I’ll give Israel money,” offered the president.

“Money you’ll give to the UJA. We need weapons.”

“I’ll put the 6^th fleet on alert in the event of a crisis, and even make a security pact with Israel.”

‘Thank you, Mr. President. We’ll take that, but we first need weapons.”

4 years later, I was in Israel on Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day, as Israel proudly displayed its newest weapon, Hawk anti-aircraft missiles, recently acquired from the United States. The Jewish grandmother’s plea had been heard. Israel surrounded by states which refused to make peace with it—as the events of 1967 clearly highlighted--, needed weapons as it dwelt alone and isolated. Even the assurances of American support were not sufficient for a nation that lived daily with the spectre of destruction.

I cite the story, because in the midst of what is a series of curses transformed into blessings is the phrase, “Hen Am L’vadad Yishkon, UVgoyim Lo Yitchashav, There is a people that dwells apart, not reckoned among the nations.” Our commentary suggests that the passage means that the people of Israel will not share the fate of other nations. However, over the centuries it has taken on other meanings, primary among them is that it is isolated, alone; apart from the rest of nations. In our age, we have seen Israel excluded from the councils of nations, considered as they say in Yiddish, Nisht a Hin, nisht a here, neither here nor there. As for Jews, we have been treated as pariahs over the centuries. Long before the term anti-Semitism was coined in the late 19^th century, Jews were subject to the slings and arrows of such hatred, be it motivated by Christian superseccionism or Islamic relegation of believers of other faiths to second class status as Dhimmi.

But this blessing/curse offered by the pagan prophet Balaam has not only been adopted as justification for those who would harm us, the Jewish people, but it has to a degree been internalized. There are forces within Judaism that point to this idea of isolation and hail it; embrace it. They create separatist communities. Some do go so far to create a New Square or take over a community such as Lakewood, New Jersey, but many others have the mind set of isolation. When haredi, ultra-Orthodox, rabbis in the United States and Israel ban the internet, when they limit the amount of advanced education women can receive they are fighting to keep the Jewish people isolated. When they make common cause with Christian fundamentalists and reject evolutionary science—and that includes groups that are seemingly open, such as Chabad (just try to have a conversation about evolution with a Chabad rabbi and see how open he is—“the Rebbe hat gesagt, the Rebbe said that dinosaur bones were planted by God to test our faith” and that is the end of the conversation), they are embracing the notion of isolation. They can point to the passage in Pirke Avot, in the Ethics of the Fathers, attributed to Ben Bag Bag who declared “Hafoch Bo, V’hafoch Bo, D’kulay Bo, turn it over and turn it over, for everything is within it,” Here IT is a reference to Torah and Jewish tradition. We don’t need to learn external wisdom; all we need to know is to be found in the 4 ells of our tradition.

But that has not been the only force within Jewish tradition. We encounter elsewhere in Pirke Avot the passage, “Ayzeh Hu Chacham? HaLomayd Mekol Adam” Who is wise? One who learns from everyone.” Clearly when medieval scholars such as Saadia Gaon and Maimonides wrote philosophy, which was not a classic Jewish endeavor, they were expressing a broader view of whence knowledge may be derived. Modern or Centrist Orthodoxy has embraced a similar model: Torah Im Derech Eretz is their motto. The phrase is understood to mean that Torah is to be combined with secular wisdom; that such studies are not inherently treif, off-limits. I dare say that most of us would concur with such a view; that the words of the prophet Balaam are not a mandate for self-isolation; that we should not fence out the external world; rather the passage is reflective of an historical reality that plagues us to the present day. The problem for many of us is that we have not maintained the balance and need to be reminded that our Tradition does have something to say to us; that Jewish education is an on-going process, it doesn’t stop with the end of Hebrew School. We have done well in acquiring Derech Eretz, we need to reclaim for ourselves Torah.

For Golda Meir and her political heirs, Israel’s isolation is an on-going challenge. As we witness repeated condemnations and proposed boycotts of Israel, while nations with more horrific records, such as Sudan and Myanmar go untouched, we wonder whether Balak actually got his wish; that Israel would be isolated. Israel continues to struggle against the unfairness of it all. But for us, we who have chosen not to dwell alone; we who clearly live in the larger world and not in self-contained Jewish communities, we, too have a struggle. How much of the larger world can we absorb without diluting our Jewish lives? There are opportunities galore to expand our Jewish knowledge and beginning in the fall there will be more here at Beth-El. Use them.

So the words of Balaam may yet find fulfillment in our lives, “Mah Tovu Ohalechah Yaakov, Mishkenotechah Yisrael, how fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel.”