This gives me the opportunity to reflect on the Bat Mitzvah celebration and teaching by our own Hannah Davidson. This past week’s parashah (Torah portion) was Balak. Balak was the name of the King of Moab, an ancient kingdom in present day Jordan, who encountered the Israelites as they marched through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. Because of their large numbers, Balak perceived the Israelites as a grave threat to his people, and he sent messengers to summon Balaam, a neighboring prophet, who apparently had the ability to bless or curse people, in order to curse the Israelites. In a dream, God told Balaam not to go, but, after multiple persistent efforts by Balak, relented, with the caveat to Balaam that “whatever I command you, that you shall do.”
“But,” we read “God was still incensed at his going” so, on Balaam’s journey to see Balak, “an angel of the Lord placed himself in his way as an adversary.” Balaam could not see the angel, but the donkey he was riding could. The donkey swerved this way and that, seeking to avoid the angel with his sword drawn. Unable to see the angel, Balaam beat his donkey, confused at her seemingly erratic pacing. Before long, the angel revealed himself, revealing that the donkey had been able to see what Balaam had been unable to, letting Balaam continue on his journey but ultimately facilitating Balaam offering blessings of Israel rather than curses, thereby revealing the power of God.
Hannah offered a beautiful teaching on the role of the donkey in this journey. First, she drew forth a comparison to the age of COVID we are living in. The donkey is the medical workers in our community who were able to see the threat of COVID and sought to protect us from it. “Balaam was all of us;” she wrote. “Every community that couldn’t, or didn’t want to see this big problem ahead of us.” She offered a beautiful paean to the idea that we should be attuned to the voices in our community that are looking to protect us, and she extended this analogy beyond the situation of COVID to others: parents who are looking out for the children, seeking to protect them from threats they can’t quite perceive yet, an incredible observation from someone still in that relationship to her parents. But then she turned it around, observing that sometimes children play the role of the donkey in this story, injecting youthful imagination and optimism into the journeys of adults, who like Balaam, with blinders on, barrel ahead without taking stock of what is around them.
It was a beautiful, diverse reflection on our world day and an exhortation to be attuned to the “donkeys” in our lives, in whatever form they take, offering us wisdom from unexpected sources.
