Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa takes another two-part look at parsha “Balak” this week (Numbers 22:2 through 25:9).
Yes, this is the story that includes Balaam’s famous talking ass, and that certainly makes a humorous and enduring point, but it’s only a part of the entire lesson in this one.
During the Erev Shabbat overview teaching, Mark reviews the “whole story,” including elements that simply must be “spiritualized” to be understood.
The Sabbath teaching, however, is perhaps even more poignant and relevant than usual — as well as more “politically incorrect”. And THAT is because it hits directly on the very war that is still being waged on a people who no longer know what is “self-evident”, as opposed to what is really “whoring”.
Balak: Spiritual war, ‘Whoring’ vs prostitution, or dinner and a movie”
