Balak

After seeing that the Jews are successful in defeating the Emori, Balak is afraid that his country is next. He sends a delegation to go hire the sorcerer, Bilaam, to curse the Jews in the hope of stopping them. The posuk states: וילכו זקני מואב וזקני מדין אל בלעם, "and the elders of Moav and the elders of Midian went to Bilaam." They explain their mission and why they need him to come. He tells them to stay overnight and, then, in the morning, he will let them know what Hashem said he can do. Then the posuk concludes, וישבו שרי מואב עם בלעם, "the elders of Moav stayed with Bilaam." It only states that the elders of Moav stayed; what happened to the elders of Midyan? They didn't stay, they went home. Why? They thought, “could it be that a father will curse his son? There is no way that Hashem will let this happen," so they left. Now what was their thinking the day before? If they believed that Hashem would not let this happen, why did they bother coming in the first place? Rav Zaitchik answers that when Bilaam told them to stay, they had time to think, while before that it was all heat of the moment. Since Balak was frightened, he got everyone worked up, so they ran to Bilaam without thinking. However, once they stayed the night, they had time to stop and think, so they realized that it was a waste of time and they left.

The Chafetz Chaim points out an anomaly in the parsha. Throughout the whole parsha of Bilaam, there is not one stop. Whereas normally there is a Samach or a Phey ending a section, in this whole parsha there isn't one stop. Why? The Chafetz Chaim explains that the reason for the stops was Hashem, while teaching Moshe the Torah, gave Moshe time to think. He paused, contemplated what he learned and then went further. Bilaam, however, once he got the request to curse the Jews, didn't stop for a second. He didn't give it a second thought; he just kept going and going. No matter how bad things were working out, he just forged ahead without thinking.

A traveler once came to the house of the Chafetz Chaim. The visitor looked around and was appalled at the simplicity of the home. It had only the barest necessities needed to live. The man asked the Chafetz Chaim, “how do you live like this? Where is your furniture? Where is all your stuff? There is nothing here?” The Chafetz Chaim looked at him and said, “I can ask you the same question; where is all your stuff, you're just here with nothing but a suitcase!”  The visitor answered, “you’re right. When I’m away, out of my hometown, I stay in hotels and take along with me only what's absolutely necessary. At home, though, I have all the luxuries that one could imagine.” The Chafetz Chaim answered him, “I’m just like you; in this world I act like a traveler taking only what’s absolutely necessary, for my main home is in the world to come and there I, too, have a most luxurious home."

One of the lessons we must learn is to reexamine what our focus is in life. What is important to us? Instead of just going full speed ahead without taking pause, we should stop and think about what we are doing to determine if it's the right thing. For example, one of the brachos that Bilaam gave us was: מה טובו אהלך יעקב, "how great are your tents," which the sages tell us refer to the study hall and shuls. These are a sanctuary for us to be close to Hashem. Do we ever take a step back and think before we walk into a shul, that this is Hashem's place? This is where we connect to Him? Or, do we just jump in without thinking and treat it like our living room? 

The Torah is trying to teach us that, in all aspects of our lives, we must take a step back, think about what we are doing to make sure to do it right!