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Parshat Balak
1997
A few years ago, as the Assistant Head of Jewish Learning at a summer camp deep in the hills of New Hampshire, I taught this parsha to my campers in a unique way.
Every week, a different age unit was responsible for creating a Shabbat experience for the entire camp. Shabbat Balak was conducted by the youngest campers (ages 8-10) with a dramatic interpretation of the text. When it came time for the Torah reading in the Shacharit service, the campers assembled themselves in front of the bimah and acted out the scenes between Balak, King of Moab, and the prophet Balaam who the King hired to put a curse on the Children of Abraham.
In the end, God prevents Balaam from accomplishing his mission by placing an angel in front of his donkey. The donkey, who at this point in the story is the only one who can see the angel, stops in his tracks. Balaam scolds the donkey and forces him to move on. The donkey sees the angel, stops again and is scolded by Balaam a second time. After the third scolding, the donkey speaks out against his master and forces Balaam to open his eyes and see that it is God who preventing the journey from continuing on.
For me, the experience of teaching these campers about Torah crystallized what Jewish communal service is all about. We as Hillel professionals have an incredible opportunity to creatively engage and empower the Children of Israel through Torah.
We engage and teach people where they are, not where we are. We are able to learn Torah by chanting text, and reading commentaries to understand its deeper meanings, but many of our students may not be there yet. Just like Balaam, many of them need to be taught to open their eyes to the teachings of the text. At the same time, just as for the youngest campers many years ago, we have to let our students come to the text at the level of their readiness. In this way, it is almost as if they engage themselves in Torah.
Prepared by Rachel Mersky.
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