Joe Biden Shouldn’t Object to Israeli Officials Accompanying Him to a Palestinian Hospital
An implicit denial of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.
July 15, 2022
Why the Ancient Rabbis Compared Moses to Balaam
The ethical purpose of making a despised figure into a great prophet.
Tomorrow, synagogues throughout the Diaspora will read the parashah of Balak (Numbers 22:2 –25:9), which tells the story of a diviner name Balaam who is hired by Balak, king of the Moabites, to curse the Jews, but is led by God only to bless them. The scriptural portrait of Balaam is a deeply, sometimes comically, unflattering one, and traditional interpretations tend to amplify this disparagement. Yet some rabbinic sources, beginning with the ancient midrashic commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy known as Sifrei, make a point of comparing Balaam with Moses, emphasizing that the former is a great Gentile prophet while the latter is the greatest prophet of the Jews. Simi Peters explores this surprising but fruitful comparison:
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Login or SubscribeJuly 15, 2022
The U.S. Should Encourage Saudi Arabia’s Rush to Modernity
And press it to join the Abraham Accords.
For the Jews of Medieval Europe, the Bible’s Characters Were Everywhere
Quotidian piety.
Why the Ancient Rabbis Compared Moses to Balaam
The ethical purpose of making a despised figure into a great prophet.
Israel’s Vietnamese Community Turns Forty-Five
“Of course, I’m a true Israeli.”