Hi!

Hope you’re all having a fun summer!

This week’s parsha is Parshat Balak (this summary has some help from chabad.org):

– In last week’s  parsha the Jews has defeated other nations. Balak, the king of Moav, is terrified.
He knows he will not win against the Jews if he fights them, so instead he hires a non-Jewish prophet named Bilaam to curse the Jews, so that he will be able to beat them in battle. Bilaam takes his donkey and goes out to the Jews. Hashem sends an angel to block their path, and the donkey sees the angel, so it goes off the road to go around it. Bilaam does not see the angel, so he beats the donkey. Suddenly, the donkey starts talking and asks Bilaam why he is beating it! Then Bilaam sees the angel, who says to him that he will not be able to curse the Jews. He will onlybe able to say what Hashem wants him to. Bilaam arrives at the Jews’ camp, but when he tries to curse the Jews, he blesses them! Balak gets very upset and tries changing Bilaam’s location to make him curse the Jews, but still, he can only bless them, because Hashem causes him to only speak words of praise. Bilaam also has a prophecy about Mashiach.

-The Jews begin to sin by serving idols and being with non-Jewish women. A man named Zimri takes a non-Jewish woman into his tent. Hashem sends a plague to the Jews. Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon, kills Zimri and the woman, and the plague stops.

Why did Hashem give Bilaam’s donkey the power to speak?

Hashem was showing Bilaam that just like He made the donkey speak, He had the power to
make Bilaam bless the Jews as well. Hashem controls everything, including speech.

This week’s question is tiriva-like. There’s only one right answer! The words that Bilaam blessed
the Jews with later became part of our prayers. What prayer is it part of?

Have a great Shabbos!

<3 Tamar