PARSHAT BALAK - A Star Goes Forth From Jacob, and a Staff Shall Arise in Israel

[TorahZionist]

Rabbi Dov Begon - Rosh Yeshiva of Machon Meir

Message for Today:
"A Star Goes Forth From Jacob, and a Staff Shall Arise in Israel"



Wicked Bilaam, in his desire to curse Israel, was instead forced to bless them, in accordance with G-d's will. His gaze encompassed the Jewish People from the start of time until the end of time. Of the start of time he said, "'I see [this nation] from mountain tops, and gaze on it from the heights. It is a nation dwelling alone at peace, not counting itself among other nations" (Numbers 23:9). Rashi commented, "I gaze at their inception, at their earliest roots, and I see that their Patriarchs and Matriarchs rendered them as strong and formidable as these mountains and hills "They shall not cease to exist with the rest of the nations, but shall live on eternal"
In later generations, the Jewish People exits Egypt and conquers Canaan. Then, their might and valor are revealed: "G-d shall devour His enemy nations, grinding their bones and piercing them with His arrows. Israel crouches, lies like a lion, like an awesome lion, who will dare rouse him" (24:8-9).
Finally, regarding the end of days, Bilaam states, "I will advise you about what this nation will do to your people in the final days". I see it, but not now; I perceive it, but not in the near future. A star shall go forth from Jacob, and a staff shall arise in Israel, crushing all of Moab's princes, and dominating all of Seth's descendants.... but Israel shall be triumphant" (24:14,17-18).
In the end, Bilaam offers an illustration: "Alas! Who can survive G-d's devastation? Warships shall come from the ports of the Kittim, and they will lay waste Assyria and Eber. But in the end they too shall be destroyed forever" (24:23-24). Rabbi Yochanan comments on this example:
"Woe to the nation that will be around when G-d redeems His children! Who would dare place his garment between the male and female lion when they are about to mate" (Sanhedrin 106a). Woe to the nation that would ever consider delaying Israel during the ingathering of the exiles, when Israel and G-d are gathering together and uniting in Eretz Yisrael (see Rashi, ibid.).
Today, we are living in that very generation. The Jewish People have been gathering together into Eretz Yisrael over the past hundred years. We see clearly how Bilaam's words are coming true, how G-d punishes all the nations that try to hold up Israel's redemption, and those nations disappear from the stage of history. The Ottoman Empire, which at the beginning of our national rebirth schemed against the Jewish population, fell apart. The British Empire, which received a mandate to assist the Jewish People in establishing a state, and betrayed its mission, decreeing the White Paper against them and preventing them from coming to Israel to settle, fell apart. The Soviet Empire, which armed the Arab countries and helped them directly and indirectly to attack the State of Israel, fell apart.
In our own day as well, the countries of Europe and the United States have joined together to establish an Arab state in the very heart of our country, the land of our life's blood, and that state would endanger our existence. Those countries will most certainly meet the same fate as those empires that disintegrated. The Arab countries and Iran, which do not stop for a moment their concrete military preparations to attack our country, will be the living fulfillment of Bilaam's words: "A star shall go forth from Jacob, and a staff shall arise in Israel, crushing all of Moab's princes, and dominating all of Seth's descendants"
Looking forward to complete redemption,
Shabbat Shalom