Protected and Blessed by G-d: The Blessing of Looking Up.

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Parshiyot Chukas and Balak, read together this year, share a profound message: recognizing G-d's protection and responding with gratitude.

In Chukas, after the death of Aharon, the Jewish people lose some of the miraculous protection that had surrounded them in the wilderness. The Clouds of Glory disappear. In addition, the people begin to complain about the manna, the heavenly food that has sustained them for years. In response, venomous, fiery snakes enter the camp and many die.

Perhaps G-d wanted the people to understand what life would look like without His constant protection. The dangers had always been there. The snakes had always been there. It was only G-d's protective presence, embodied by the Clouds of Glory, that had kept them safe. We only recognize what we had when we lose it.

The cure is equally fascinating. Moshe is instructed to make a copper serpent and raise it high upon a pole. The Mishnah teaches that the serpent itself did not heal the people. Rather, when the people looked upward, their hearts were directed toward Heaven.

They recognized that all their protection and all their blessings come from G-d.

The message was simple: Look up. Recognize who protects you. Be grateful.

That message continues in Parshas Balak.

Balak hires Bilaam to curse the Jewish people, but every curse becomes a blessing. Over and over, G-d protects His people.

Among Bilaam's blessings are three beautiful descriptions of the Jewish people.

First, "Hen am levadad yishkon." We are “A people that dwells alone." We have a unique identity and mission. We are a people who remain distinct, preserving our covenant and our values throughout history. We will never assimilate and disappear. We exist separately from others and that is something to acknowledge and be grateful for.

Second, Bilaam recognizes our special relationship with G-d. Through Torah, we are bound to G-d in a covenant unlike that of any other nation. We are called to be a holy people, carrying G-d's presence into the world. Our name and G-d’s name are intertwined.

Third, he praises the Jewish people for their goodly tents and peaceful nature. We do not thrive through jealousy or comparison. We seek peace, build homes of kindness, and create places of Torah, prayer, and community that bind us to one another and to G-d.

The message of both parshiyot is the same.

The Jewish people often focus on what is missing, what is difficult, or what is threatening. G-d asks us instead to look up and see what is already there: G-d’s protection, G-d’s blessings, and G-d’s presence in our lives.

The copper serpent teaches us to look Heavenward.

Bilaam's blessings teach us to recognize who we are.

We are a unique and holy people, protected by G-d, connected to G-d, and entrusted with bringing peace and holiness into the world.

May we learn to focus less on our fears and complaints and more on our blessings. May we never take G-d's protection for granted. May we merit to live with gratitude, unity, and the awareness that we are a treasured people in a special relationship with the Divine.

And may we see fulfilled in our days the promise spoken through Bilaam:

"Those who bless you will be blessed, and those who curse you will be cursed."

May G-d continue to protect His people, shower us with blessing, and bring peace to Israel, to the entire Jewish people and the whole world.

Shabbat shalom