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Matot-Masei: Numbers 30:2 - 36:13

It is so hard to fully curate one’s online presence. Sure, you can try to share only what you want and to carefully choose pictures, words and comments to put forward an image. But at the same time, others may be posting about you, as they curate carefully or haphazardly their own images. I don’t claim to expert at social media, mostly reading and not posting much. However, more often than not, one’s narrative isn’t fully coherent. In traditional or newer media, it is just hard to read across sources and not get a bit confused. I always advocate reading a wide range of news sources and perspectives; however, such breadth is likely to confuse matters. I just prefer a bit of broadly sourced confusion to trusting any one source too much. This dilemma is true in ancient days as well, not just online. For example, look at how the Bible plays out one famous figure.

A couple weeks back, we read of Balam, a foreign prophet, who praises Israel. His words of praise are so powerful, they radiate out in Jewish mornings prayers even today. Parashat (named for a Moabite king) shares Balam’s story in Numbers 22:2-25:29). Here at the end of Numbers, we read again of Balam, in not so friendly terms. Numbers 31:8 tells of five kings of who are killed and further states “They also put Balam, son of , to the sword.” So is Balam the one who couldn’t resist blessing Israel (to him a foreign tribe) or the one who incited violence against Israel (as is stated in Numbers 31:16). Joshua 13 further muddies the waters with other information about Balam.

Look beyond the easily available sources in your Bible, and the nature of Balam complicates further. Since the late 1960s, archaeologists have known of Balam beyond the Torah. He is mentioned in another setting in an extra-biblical inscription. All of these references are not curated together; rather, the inscription Numbers and Joshua may be speaking of know different narratives about this non-Israelite prophet. Even before computers, it wasn’t so easy to curate one’s image and presentation.

As we proceed through this summer, I draw two messages from Balam’s multiple mentions. First, Jewish tradition would encourage us to spend more time worrying about how we act rather than how we are remembered or spoken of. While our current moment may encourage you to spend time curating your image, that isn’t necessarily an action with deep Jewish roots. would lay claim to your actions and your focus and not so much on the image you project. Second, when trying to understand others, don’t be afraid of looking to multiple sources to learn about them, be they friends or famous people. Balam is not the only one whose Biblical image gets a bit

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1 complicated. We can find similar un-curated personalities in the Torah’s presentation of Abraham, for example. Again, Judaism is concerned about how we try to act and not how others read those very actions.

“Ma Tovu, How lovely are your tents…” (Numbers 24:5) draws from Balam’s words about Israel to remind us of the value of community and heritage. These words speak out from our morning prayers. It is that aspect of Balam (one of blessing) that we choose to remember. Some of his other actions are shared later in Numbers (as I have mentioned) or even in Joshua. Some further actions don’t even make it into our scriptures but are remember by others beyond our community. We embrace those words that speak out in our history. And, understandably, we choose not to remember the points that Balam was in conflict with our ancestors. Whether we remember all or part of his image, let us feel driven to focus on the worth of our own actions and not of others or how others perceive us.

Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Busch

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