Emet Inspire - Rabbi Mordechai Kraft - Remember Balak & Bilam

Our [Music] sages tell us something which is somewhat outstanding and uh really surprising. The Tal in 12 says our sages say that they wanted to add the blessing of Bum in our paragraphs of Israel. And this is somewhat astounding for two reasons. Number one, Bum was one of the most wicked, mostly evil people to ever have lived. He was someone who wanted to destroy the Jewish people. Yet we know that Hashem altered his words and he blessed us. Somehow they wanted to include that blessing of bilam in our schma. The second question is what could it possibly add? The soul as we think about it we say it twice a day here. O Israel the Lord our God. The Lord is one. We're declaring oneness. Everything in this world is a function of things that we perceive as kindness. Things we perceive as strict justice. It's all his love. It's all him. And it doesn't stop there. We have to then take it down the you have to be emotional about it. You have to feel it. And not only you have to feel it, you have to have your property express it. Place it on the muzus on the doorpost of your house. Your money has to express it. Everything you do has to express it. The second paragraph speaks the idea that the Jewish nation has to know it. You have to make sure this idea penetrates the whole nation. The third paragraph says you have to take it to the next generation. You have to remember the going out of Egypt. Remember what Kushbaku did for us. Understand these ideas have to be generational. What could possibly be added by blessing? So our sages say really they wanted it for one line and that one line was when we go down to sleep at night we sleep like a lion and a lioness. Who dares awaken them? What does that mean? There's such intrinsic power and strength in the Jewish people like a lion who sleeps at night without any fear. The Jewish people even when we're at rest, there's something so strong about it, so noble about it that people are afraid of us. That's the internal strength that we embody as as a Jewish nation. And that's what Bill was telling us and our sages wanted to include that in the creation. Why? Because it's one thing to focus on Hashem's oneness and his unity and his love and how this message has to go out into the world which is what we're declaring the Israel but there's an element which perhaps might be the foundational idea that we need. We have to know how great we are. And that's something which is very difficult to discern from within oneself. And that sometimes we need our environment to tell us that. We need the outside world to tell us that. If our greatest enemy in history could tell us that, how much more so we believe it and understand exactly how strong we are, how powerful we are. That's the greatness that our rabbis wanted us to perceive. And we wanted to hear it from Bill. And that's what Bib said. In the end, he didn't include it for different reasons. But nonetheless, we should be cognizant of the fact that the outside world sees us as so strong and so powerful. That's the foundational idea. We need to know that greatness we possess. We're like lions with the lions with an is so close to Hashem. And there's a greatness inside of us. And when we know that greatness, what we can accomplish, what we can do, and the sanctification of God's name we can bring to the world is without limitation. [Music]