A Bit of Torah -- Balak

As any reader of children’s books knows, profound truths spring from the mouths of talking animals.  (See Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment).  The reader of the Torah knows the same.

King Balak of Moab orders the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites.  Against his better judgment, Balaam makes his way to the Israelite camp.  But his donkey refuses to carry him, stopping in her tracks and chastising her master for agreeing to the mission.

Rabbi Andy Shapiro Katz offers a unique reading of the story:  Balaam and the donkey are two aspects of the same being.  Balaam represents the intellect, that part of ourselves that’s capable of convincing us that we are on the right path.  It’s the piece of us that can’t see when we are going wrong.  The animal, on the other hand, represents the gut instinct, the innate knowing of what’s right for us.   The intellect may be distracted by power, money, or flattery.  Our inner self, however, knows these to be dross.  It points us instead to our greatest good, our better angel, the highest expression of our Self.