July 18 • 2019 23
jn

spirit

torah portion

A 

talking donkey? Middle school 
metal shop class? What do they 
have in common? Read on. 
In this week’
s Torah por-
tion, we read a most strange 
and amusing story. Bil’
am, the 
prophet, has been hired by 
Balak, the Moabite king, to 
curse the Israelite nation. En 
route to carry out his mission, 
Bil’
am is frustrated that the 
donkey, on which he is riding, 
suddenly stops.
Bil’
am, unaware that his 
donkey is looking at an angel 
holding a sword, hits his don-
key three times.
Suddenly the donkey turns 
to Bil’
am and asks: “What have 
I done to you that you have beaten me 
these three times?”
This cute story turns out to be a 
metaphoric message from God to 
Bil’
am. Just as God can cause the 
donkey to speak, all the more so God 
can cause the prophet to say blessings 
instead of curses.
Beyond the context of this story, the 
mouth of Bil’
am’
s donkey is mentioned 
in Pirkei Avot 5:6 as one of the items 
God created in the twilight period at 
the conclusion of the sixth day, just 
prior to the first Shabbat.
Consider the significance of this 
message. God’
s creation of the world 
consisted of six complete days of work, 
followed by 24 hours of rest.
Our workweek and observance of 
Shabbat are a bit different. In order to 
avoid violating the Shabbat, we add 
a minimum of an hour to our week-
ly holy day. We begin Shabbat prior 
to sundown on Friday, and we don’
t 
conclude until darkness arrives on 
Saturday night.
Even the “workaholic” Sabbath 
observer is unable to work six com-
plete days and instead ceases work 
prior to the onset of twilight.
But God is different. And so God’
s 
miraculous and mysterious creation 
contains an even more miraculous and 
mysterious time period: the twilight 

as the first Shabbat is about to arrive. 
During these waning minutes of cre-
ation, God produced a series of special 
items, among them the mouth 
of Bil’
am’
s donkey and the first 
set of tongs.
We recognize that an actual 
talking donkey is miraculous. 
Remember that Shrek’
s pal and 
Mr. Ed (I know, he was a horse, 
but a talking one, nonetheless) 
are fictional characters.
But, what’
s miraculous or 
mysterious about tongs?
Here is where I am taken back 
to middle school metal shop 
class. To make tongs or similar 
projects, the metal had to be 
made “red hot” to be bent into 
its desired shape. 
A red-hot metal rod cannot be held 
in an unprotected human hand. The 
only way to do such a project is to hold 
the hot metal with a pair of tongs.
So far, so good, but how did the first 
tongs get made? For a human, another 
set of tongs had to have pre-existed. 
Or, we can conclude that the human 
creator of the first set of tongs sacri-
ficed his/her own hands, which surely 
would have been destroyed beyond 
recognition from the burns.
A final possibility is that the first set 
of tongs was created by God, during 
the twilight period just prior to the 
onset of the original Shabbat. After 
that, thanks to God’
s generous gift, 
new tongs can be made by anyone who 
desires.
Here, then, is a lesson from Parshat 
Balak. Think hard about what gifts you 
possess that come wholly from God, 
starting with your health and your 
miraculous body. Think about the 
wonder of the natural world and how 
you benefit from it each and every day. 
We are eternally grateful that God was 
wise and kind enough to provide us 
with tongs and so much more. ■

Rabbi Elliot Pachter is the rabbinic adviser at the 
Frankel Jewish Academy and rabbi emeritus 
at Congregation B’
nai Moshe, both in West 
Bloomfield.

Our 
Miraculous 
Gifts

Rabbi Elliott 
Pachter

Parshat 
Balak: 
Numbers 
22:2-25:9; 
Micah
5:6-6:8.

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