Efrat, Israel – The miracle of the existence of the Jewish people for the past 4,000 years – despite destructions, exiles and persecutions – remains the secret which confounds the world. From as far away as the universities of Beijing and Kai fang Fu I was invited to address both the faculty and student body on the reason for the miraculous survival of the people of Israel. Interestingly enough, the answer to this conundrum is to be found in this week’s Biblical reading of Balak.

Bilam, a Gentile prophet, is hired by the King of Moab to curse the Israelites, a nation whose miraculous exodus from Egyptian slavery has both astounded and terrified the civilized world. Bilam desperately wants to curse Israel in order to receive the gold and silver he was promised once he were to do so, but he finds the task impossible. “What curse can I pronounce if G-d does not express a curse? How can I express anger if G-d is not angry?” (Numbers 23:8).

Apparently Bilam looks upon the nation of Israel with a desire to pronounce the curse, but he is prevented from doing so by the very special qualities he finds defining this nation “From the head of the mountains do I see this people and from the high places do I gaze upon the Israelites. Behold, they are a nation dwelling alone not to be counted the way in which other nations are counted. Who can count the dust of Jacob or give a number to one quarter of the Israelites….” (Ibid 9,10) At the end of this vision, the last words that we have cited, Bilam declares that the Israelites have the unique capacity to stand alone, isolated from all other nations of the world and subject to a very different kind of historiography which seems to govern other peoples; other nations develop from paltry beginnings progress and reach their zenith, and then pass away from the arena of history. Israel, on the other hand, constantly seems to renew itself, rises and falls and rises again, and each time Israel renews itself she plays center stage within world history. Even when she seems to have disintegrated into dust (this almost seems like a reference to the crematoria of Auschwitz and Treblinka), she begins to develop once again. Even when only one quarter of her population is left (perhaps because of persecution, perhaps because of assimilation) she never the less always rises again in defiance of all demographic and sociological rules. 

Bilam in his introductory words to this vision, provides the answer to his own question, at least according to the Midrash (Tanhuma 12). “’From the head of the mountains do I see this people’ -  I look upon their heads the beginning of their roots. I see them entrenched and ensconced like these mountains and hilltops within the infrastructure of their patriarchs and matriarchs”. In other words, Bilam is saying that the Israelites are rooted in their past in the merits of their ancestors, in the special covenant guaranteeing their eternity which G-d made with those ancestors, and in the fundamental pride which emerges with the knowledge that they are the nation of G-d imbued with a unique Divine message to perfect and redeem the world. What Bilam sees is that it is virtually impossible to curse a nation that believes in itself and in its destiny with such firm faith and commitment.

What is truly astounding about this prophecy is that although it was written more than 4,000 years ago, it could very well have happened this very morning. There is only one basic change: our leaders do not have the same kind of belief in the national mission of Israel and in the ability of Israel to execute that vision as had the Israelite leadership encountered by Bilam. Undoubtedly, David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir and Menachem Begin were such leaders. We must ask ourselves what is there about our political structure that does not seem to be providing such leadership at this particular juncture of our history.

Allow me to close with a verbal picture of an amazing scene between Father Jacob, founder of the Family of Israel, and Pharaoh, exalted King of Egypt. The Bible describes the following meeting between a nascent leader and aged paterfamilias with the majestic head of the Egyptian state: “And Joseph brought his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob how old are you? And Jacob said to Pharaoh ‘the days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years; the days of the years of my life are few and evil and they did not reach the days and the years of my fathers during the days of their sojourning.’ And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and exited from before the presence of Pharaoh” (Genesis 47:7)

How can we understand such an inane dialogue being recorded in our eternal Bible? It seems to me that there is much profundity besides this seeming inanity. Joseph is nervous about his father’s meeting with his “boss”. He certainly explained to his aged father the proper protocol for such a royal encounter. He told Jacob that Pharaoh considered himself to be the god of Egypt and always gave out blessings to those who visited him; He told Jacob that a visitor must never begin the conversation and must always take his cue from the mighty Pharaoh, including the time of the conclusion of the meeting. Jacob hears his son’s words without internalizing them. It is impossible for him – the son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham, the carrier of Israel’s covenant with G-d – to accept a blessing from an Egyptian idolater. Hence as soon as the encounter begins Jacob loses no time and immediately bestows his familial blessing upon Pharaoh. Pharaoh is dumbstruck and probably even considers imprisoning Jacob or worse, for his disregard of proper respect and protocol.  And then Pharaoh changes his mind, asking the old man’s age. He is probably old and senile and that accounts for his disrespect. The proud Jacob understands Pharaoh’s intent and therefore insists that he is much younger than he looks, his age and appearance are as a result of a very difficult life and as a further proof to the fact that he is of sound mind and body, Jacob repeats his blessing and leaves Pharaoh’s presence.

Jacob is the proud Jewish leader who has bequeathed his pride and mission to all subsequent generations. As Bilam understood so very well, the secret of our eternity is our prideful commitment to the execution of our mission to perfect the world.