1. Numbers: Balak

This is funny….RJ.org posts haiku for the Torah portions.  Here’s the haiku for Balak:

A talking donkey!
Is this Balak in Torah
Or Shrek on the screen?

Both Balak and Shrek
Have donkeys as companions
And both are “ogres”.

Balak is an old friend (although I suppose I should hesitate to use the term friend in connection with someone who wanted to have the Isrealites cursed) of our family’s.  2 years ago, when my daughter turned 13 and was preparing for her Bat Mitzvah, we spent many a dinner hour chatting about talking asses.  That’s life with a 13 year old girl and a 9 year old boy.  They were so excited that they could say ass in front of us.  Not only that, but Em could say it on the bimah!

When she first began her d’rash with the cantor, they talked about the “still small voice”.  When Em was small, maybe as young as 3 or 4, I began to tell her about the voice inside of her that told her when something wasn’t right.  This voice became more and more reliable as Em got older, and is something that both she and I have learned to trust.  When her life goes awry, it is usually a result of not listening to her “little voice”. 

It’s so nice when life and Torah have something in common.  Oh dear, did I say that out loud?  Of course life and Torah ALWAYS have EVERYTHING in common.  But sometimes we mortals just don’t see it.  Or hear it.