Bilaam & the Temple - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

it's been hard to focus on anything i couldn't study tour i couldn't read almost anything i couldn't focus so i ended up praying i ended up talking to hashem a lot a lot more than usual which is actually one of the great messages in this torah portion in the portion of balak the power of speech and the power of prayer and the essence of today itself it hints to this truth because today is a fast day in jeremie's fasting i'm fasting and it ends it's a summer day so it ends at 8 30. no food no water while i'm sick not a simple thing but it's as jeremy said it's the 17th of the hebrew month of tammuz and jews around the world we don't eat and we don't drink and we re-experience the fall of jerusalem at least that's what we aspire towards we want to hopefully rectify within ourselves the flaws and blemishes that led to the destruction and that's part of what the fast is about that's what it's for and today starts the period as jeremy said known as the three weeks in which we it's a type of morning which really culminates in tisha b'av the 9th of august which is the day that both temples were destroyed as well as so many other tragedies in jewish history when that day comes we'll actually get there and experience it together so the question is why do we mourn jerusalem we've discussed this before you know it's not just a city it's a meeting place in which the most intimate uh and revealed relationship between the nation of israel and the god of israel was manifest when the temple was destroyed god's greatest revelation and connection not only to the jewish people but to all of mankind was lost to the world and that's why the jewish people are completely and totally obsessed with the beit hamikdash because on the deepest level our mission in the world is defined by it you walk into my house right there in the middle of my living room picture of the veda mikdash same with jeremy and we have a a place that we scraped the paint off the wall to remember if our home if the beta meet us isn't completely god's home isn't complete how could our home be complete so here are just the five horrible events in history which we keep in mind today on the seventeenth of talmud five events number one after hearing about the golden calf moshe descended mount sinai and threw the tablets to the ground and shattered them that happened on the 17th of time was in the second thing during the times of the first temple due to the heavy siege on jerusalem the koanim the priests were not able to acquire any more animals for sacrifices so at that point the sacrifices had to stop it may seem like a like an arbitrary thing but if you can imagine it that was a crazy trauma for the nation of israel number three before the destruction of the second temple the walls of jerusalem were breached if my math is correct one thousand nine hundred and forty eight years ago today ninety day unless my math is wrong which it may be i'm not thinking that clearly fourth thing was the roman general of apis thomas he burnt a torso which according to ravshraga simmons in many ways set the precedent and started the pattern of millennia of burnings of taurus scrolls and ancient jewish texts and the fifth one was that an idol was placed in the sanctuary of the holy temple which was in of the deepest and most unimaginable that the mind could fathom putting an idol in the sanctuary of the holy temple so now to highlight how deeply our mission and identity is connected to jerusalem and the beta mikdash we tied in we turn exactly to this week's torah portion i was even conflicted about whether to share this but i just had to because there's no chance that anyone that is solely reading the english could ever catch the teaching that i'm going to share because to the sages of israel and even just the average hebrew reader it's impossible to miss so here's the story as we know it's just a little background the nations were terrified of the jewish people and the moabites and the midianites who had been sworn enemies of israel they were all of a sudden united as allies in their shared fear of the approaching nation of israel and they understood that the source of israel's strength is spiritual so they hired a spiritual mercenary named bilaam to attack the jewish people now although he claimed to be only willing and interested in doing god's will you can tell by his actions that he very much desired to fulfill the mission to curse the jewish people he was eager and he was excited and he wakes up early to saddle his donkey it's reminiscent of of abraham but a different word was used the word that was used as a matter of fact here was he arose in the morning whereas usually the word for waking up is vayashkemba boker he awoke in the morning hinting to us that he was so excited to curse the jewish people that he couldn't sleep the entire night before so he didn't awake he just arose either way he was a bad guy and he was eager to curse israel and off he went and so here's the famous story on the way there his donkey saw an angel of god in front of him that bilaam himself couldn't see which should have been enough in and of itself to humble him that his donkey was a greater prophet than he was but it didn't humble him and he veered to the side the donkey veered to the side pressing the leg of bilaam against the fence by the side of the road and bilaam hit him once and then the donkey moved forward and then the bilaam hit him again and then again and at that point the donkey turns to him and says in chapter 22 verse 8 now even in the jps translation that i looked up which is a good one those words are translated as the donkey saying what have i done to you that you've struck me these three times but in the hebrew the words are not the normal words for three times which would have been shalom but they were a really unique and unparalleled usage of the word regalim now some of you may immediately recognize these words for what they are the shalosh regalim are the three high holidays the three times the year when the nation of israel leaves their home and ascends to jerusalem for feasts and sacrifices and connection both with each other and with hashem in the beta and these were indeed strange words for the donkey to use to describe being hit three times now rashi we quote rasheela he's a great stage in israel he explains that the words god spoke through the donkey were an allusion exactly to that to the temple that the donkey was saying look at you balaam you're hitting me because you're in such a rush to go curse this holy nation that will serve seeking to uproot this nation that will ascend to the temple three times a year the shalosh regalim was an illusion to the shalom of the jewish people going to the temple the islam was a prophet he was a great prophet if it was truth that he really wanted the truth he would have understood that he would have heard that message but he didn't want the truth he wasn't open to being humble and there you know there are numerous sages that elaborate on this theme but the underlying message is all the same that god was telling bilam that he was destined for failure because he was trying to curse the nation that would be ascending to the temple of god in jerusalem to worship the one true god of israel and so here we are on the 17th of tammuz we have about i think two hours left to this past and we're mourning the destruction of jerusalem of the walls that led to the destruction of the temple and we're reading about balaam going to curse the jewish people when he's reprimanded by a talking donkey who alludes to the temple can you think of another nation in the world that has such a central fundamental fixation on anything as the jewish people has on jerusalem and the beramikash and why what's it really about the behavior is about the power of prayer the moabites turn to the midianites to consult with them about how to defeat israel because of moshe's connection to media right he married the daughter of a midianite priest of vitro so they figured that the midianites had inside info on moshe rabbenu on moses and they did and what did midhyan respond what was that inside info they said quote his strength is solely in his mouth meaning in his if he looks in his prayers that is ultimately the power of israel is in our praise and i'll tell you now that we're back in the land god is indeed circumcising our hearts and replacing our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh and as you know our mission out here on the judean frontier is not really to create judea into this but to reveal that judea is a global destination for spirituality and transcendence and jeremy's going to talk to you a lot more about this i know he will but this it was so special it was a landmark event here at the arugula farms on the judean frontier i was i was so sick i couldn't go for more than a minute but we had a great sage of israel come out and guide over a hundred thirsty jews for how to speak to god in the most real way and while i couldn't be there personally like i said i did step out on my balcony and all at once i heard over a hundred jews boys and girls and men and women all different ages they were spread out all over the mountain they had been speaking to hashem as they were just guided and how to do and all of a sudden they all together once screamed out to the heavens at this point it wasn't even words it was just a scream from the deepest place in the soul i could barely breathe for that moment as tears came to my eyes and and oh my goodness that i feel goosebumps at that moment it hit me that it's happening it's already happening we are we're on our way we're on our way to you with shalom we're on our way to the beth hamikdash we're on our way together and i want to end this message my friends with words from isaiah the prophet that we read today on this fast day that we actually when we go to synagogue we read them right now they couldn't be more prophetic now i strongly encourage all of you to read through all of it it's isaiah chapter 55 verse 6 through isaiah verse 8 but for brevity's sake i'll start with the part that stood out to me most dramatically because to me it was speaking exactly about us about our fellowship about our connection about this group about the veda mig-dash about where all of them are going so let me just read it to you from here it's isaiah chapter 56 verse 3 let not the foreigner who has joined himself to hashem speak saying hashem will utterly separate me from his people and let not the barren ones say behold i'm a shriveled tree for thus said hashem to the barren ones who observe my sabbath and choose what i desire and grasp my covenant tightly in my house and within my walls i will give them a place of honor and renown which is better than sons and daughters eternal unknown will i give them will never be terminated and the foreigners who will join themselves to hashem to serve him and to love the name of hashem to become servants unto him all who guard the sabbath against desecration and grasp my covenant tightly i will bring them to my holy mountain and i will gladden them in my house of prayer their elevation offerings and their feast offerings will find favor on my altar for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples the word of my lord hashem elohim who gathers in the dispersed of israel i shall gather to him even more than those already gathered unto him is that unbelievable that is just a prophecy spoken to us for our times for our days if that doesn't strengthen us the jewish people that doesn't strengthen the nations of israel who love us and want to cleave to us if that doesn't strengthen all of you all of us together i don't know what will it talks about the beta mikdash that all of us will be there praying together may it be soon in our days thank you my beloved friend stay in touch stay in touch jeremy stay in touch with jeremy and with me and let's all stay connected great days are coming we're in great days right now shalom jeremy this highlight was taken from the land of israel fellowship every week hundreds of families from literally around the world come together on our live zoom sessions to strengthen each other to inspire each other and to learn torah from the land of israel in which we connect the dots between the bible the hebrew language and the confusing events of our times go to www.thelandofisral.com backslash fellowship or click on the link below to join thank you