“May my Soul Die the Death of the Upright.”
Balak, the King of Moav, saw that the Jewish nation was
camped near his land and he became frightened.
He employed the greatest sorcerer of the generation, Bilaam,
to curse the Children of Israel.
God ensured that all potential curses were turned into blessings.
“How can I curse? when G-d has not cursed!
How can I be angry? when G-d is not angry.......
Behold! It is a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the nations…”
Even as he know that he will be unable to curse a people that God wants to bless,
he attempts anyway and fails.
In spite of trying to ‘outsmart God,’
He asks God,
“May my soul die the death of the upright, and may my end be like his!’"
He longed for the eternal fortune destined for the Jewish people.
He wanted their afterlife.
In the end because of who he was and how he lived
he did not deserve to have any piece of the World to Come!
Our attitude toward life is intertwined with our attitude toward death.
Our mission is not only to die the death of the upright,
but to live the life of the upright as well.
How we live is intimately tied to our existence after death.
Our lives matter.
What we do matters.
Who we are matters.
Bilaam understood that there is more to the legacy of life than life itself.
He wanted to die the death of the righteous and thereby receive eternity.
To be righteous we are enjoined to be like the students of Abraham who had
a good eye, a humble spirit and a small appetite.
A person with a 'good eye'
loves others,
wants the best for them,
sees their potential,
is not diminished by their success,
is content and ultimately happy.
It is up to us to choose to use our eyes to see the good in everyone:
to see beauty,
to recognize our blessings
to be happy with our lot,
to be grateful and
generous and
joyous.
Many of us have experienced very significant losses.
May we be able to use these experiences to
live more fully, meaningfully and passionately.
I pray that we are blessed
with a sweet Shabbat that combines elements
of this world and the next, and
that in Shabbat we can have a
taste of the goodness that
we will experience ultimately and eternally,
Shabbat shalom, with much love
Elissa
Picture by Michael Meron
Comments