פָּרָשַׁת בָּלָק

Parshat Balak tells how Balak, king of Moav, hires Bilam to curse Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel), and how Hashem turns every curse into a blessing. Balak ben Tzipor sees what Bnei Yisrael did to the Emori (Amorites) and, with the elders of Midyan, sends for Bilam ben Beor, believing that whoever Bilam curses is cursed. Hashem tells Bilam not to curse the people, "for it is blessed," and lets him go only on condition that he speaks what Hashem tells him. On the road, a malach (angel) of Hashem with a drawn sword blocks his way three times; his aton (she-donkey) sees it and turns aside, and Bilam beats her until Hashem opens her mouth, and then opens Bilam's eyes.

Three times Balak builds seven altars and offers a bull and a ram on each, and three times Bilam takes up his mashal (prophetic parable) and blesses instead: "a people that dwells alone," "G-d is not a man, that He should lie," and "How good are your tents, Yaakov, your dwellings, Yisrael" (Mah tovu, said on entering the beit knesset, the synagogue). Balak, furious, sends him away, and Bilam adds a prophecy of the end of days: "a star steps forth from Yaakov, and a scepter rises from Yisrael."

At Shittim, Bnei Yisrael commit sexual immorality with the daughters of Moav, eat from their sacrifices and bow to their gods, attaching themselves to Baal Peor (perek 31 says this came about through Bilam's advice). A man of Bnei Yisrael brings a woman of Midyan before Moshe and the whole congregation; Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon, takes a spear and kills them both, and the plague stops, after twenty-four thousand have died. No curse can touch a people Hashem has blessed, but their own sin at Peor brings a plague upon them.