Parashat Balakפָּרָשַׁת בָּלָק

Balak tells the story of the Moabite king Balak, who hires Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balaam’s donkey speaks along the way, and Balaam ends up blessing the Israelites. The portion ends with a story about Israelite men sinning with Moabite women and the stabbing of an Israelite and a Midianite. At its heart, Balak (Numbers 22:2–25:9) is a meditation on divine protection and the futility of cursing a people God has blessed. King Balak hires Balaam precisely because he believes words of cursing carry power, yet the narrative repeatedly shows God overriding human intention so that Balaam can speak only the blessings God places in his mouth. The talking-donkey episode sharpens this irony, since a pagan seer proves less perceptive than his own beast in recognizing God's messenger. The portion's sudden turn to the sin of Baal-Peor reframes the danger: having survived an external enemy's curse, Israel nearly destroys itself through idolatry and seduction, and zealotry steps in to halt the resulting plague. Together these strands explore providence working through unlikely agents, the contrast of blessing versus curse, and the moral vulnerability that persists even after miraculous deliverance.

In most communities the Haftarah for Balak is Micah 5:6–6:8 (cited in some editions as Micah 5:7–6:8 due to differing verse numbering), and Ashkenazi and Sephardi rites read the same passage. The connection is explicit: Micah 6:5 calls on Israel to "remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him," recalling the parashah's central episode as a paradigm of God's saving intervention that turned an intended curse into blessing. Commentators also note a thematic echo between Balaam's praise of Israel's "goodly" tents (Numbers 24:5) and Micah's culminating statement of what is "good" that God requires (Micah 6:8).

Balak is the source of one of the most beloved lines in the liturgy: Mah Tovu, "How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel" (Numbers 24:5). Spoken by Balaam, these words open the traditional weekday morning service and are often described as the only prayer in the siddur attributed to a non-Jew. The talking-donkey episode (Numbers 22:21–35) is among the Torah's best-known narratives. The Haftarah supplies another widely quoted verse, Micah 6:8: "He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Balak is read on an ordinary Shabbat, typically in late June or July.