Dvar Torah for Parshat Balak

In this week's Parshah, Parshat Balak, we find a very rare occurrence in the first Aliyah of the Parsha. Hashem says to Bilam מִי הָאֲנָשִׁים הָאֵלֶּה עִמָּךְ- "who are these men that are with you?". Hashem knows everything- why would he need to ask the question?

The Mepharshim have a multitude of opinions on the subject. Ibn Ezra, as usual, gives the Pshat. He says that Hashem asked the question to start a conversation with Bilam, just like in אי הבל אחיך in Bereshit. Ibn Ezra is saying that Hashem was doing something pretty insignificant, starting the conversation, but it was still something that needed to be done so Hashem did it.

Rashi adds a little bit onto Ibn Ezra. He says that Hashem was starting the conversation, but also that the question was a way to mislead Bilam into thinking that Hashem does not know everything and that Bilam would be able to curse Bnei Yisrael if he chose the proper moment. According to Rashi, Hashem was not only starting the conversation, but setting the tone for all of Bilam's actions in the Parsha.

Hashem's overarching purpose is to make a Kiddush Hashem by changing Bilam's curse of Bnei Yisrael into a blessing. But rather than creating a sudden miracle, Hashem carries out this one through a process. This little subtlety of starting the conversation with Bilam led to Bilam acting the way he did and making the Kiddush Hashem.

In baseball, the goal of the game is to score more runs than your opponent. But not every hit scores a run. Even so, every hit is part of the process of scoring runs. One of the aspects of baseball the managers are often criticized for is sacrifice bunts. Is it really worth it to pay an out to advance ta runner into scoring position when a base hit that would advance the runners would make you over 1.5 times more likely to have a big inning! (That's according to the Run Expectancy Matrix.) Bottom line, when the sac bunt works, the manager looks great and it doesn't, he looks bad. But even when the sac bunt is successful and leads to the run scoring, the player who drove in the run will be remembered, not the player who set it up with a bunt. The sac bunt that leads to the winning run scoring is a subtlety, but a necessary one. Sometimes we have to acknowledge that.

Not everything Hashem does is easy to see. Nowadays, when clear miracles are few and far apart, we have to look for the subtleties that Hashem does for us to get us through every day. Just like with Bilam, these subtleties can lead to great things. With the help of Hashem, however he may chose to help, we can do anything. I hope we can look for these subtleties that Hashem does in our lives and may those subtleties be part of the process that brings the days of Maschiach within our midst, Bimheirah Biyameinu, Amein.