I'd like to connect Parshas Pinchas to Parshas Balak in a way you may not have thought of before.
Chazal tells us that it is better to be like the Talmidim of Avraham Avinu than the Talmidim of Bilaam harasha. First of all, isn't this obvious? What kind of Talmidim does Bilaam have? Murderes and thieves! And who was Bilaam's teacher? Lavan, his grandfather. Bilaam’s wickedness was learned from his grandfather Lavan, (some say Bilaam was Lavan). How could it be then that Avraham Avinu sent Eliezar to marry into Lavan's family? How could it be that Yaakov went to Lavan's house to look for a wife? What did our forefathers see in Lavan's family that they so desired to obtain as part of our Jewish identity?
The answer is that our Patriarchs saw in Lavan's family the overwhelming drive they had to reach a chosen goal. Besual was ready to kill Eliezer in order to rob him. Lavan was willing to sell his children into arranged marriages in order to keep Yaakov from leaving. And Bilaam, who reached the peak of blind willpower, marched forward in mad desire despite direct warning from an Angel. In this gashmios world who can stand up to such a people as we find in Lavan's family?
It is that determination, that ability to drive oneself in this world beyond all physical restraints, that our Patriachs wanted to imbue into our Jewish identity. They knew that if the azus to conquer the gashmius could be untied with the azus of spirituality that nothing in this world would be able to stop us from reaching the highest heights of devotion to Hashem. So our forefathers married into Lavan's family in order to acquire that azus of gashmius and subdue it to the azus of spirituality. We inherited a double azus.
Is it any wonder then that Parshas Pinchas follows Parshas Balak and the story of Bilaam? Pinchas has reached the highest state of this double azus. Nothing in this world was able to stop Pinchas from turning back Hashem's wrath against Am Yisrael.
Everyone of us has the potential of "double azus". This is our inheritance and it is our duty to act when called upon!
Over the years people have asked me if I would ever draw cartoons depicting some of the cases found in Yora Daya. Well, the answer is yes! I recently published a sefer called The Great Game of Kashrut. Click on the link to find out more: The Great Game of Kashrut
To order a copy of The Great Game of Kashrut follow this link: The Great Game of Kashrut
If you would like to dedicate a Davar Torah in honor of a special occasion or in memory of a beloved family member please contact Yisroel Simon at yisroel@judaism613.com.
Good Shabbos,R’ Channenjudaism613.org