Balak 5774: Lot's Daughters

“And Moav was very frightened of the people because they were numerous.” (Bamidbar/Numbers 22:3)

Moav and Ammon are protected nations. Because of the two great women who descend from them, Ruth and Naamah (wife of King Shlomo/Solomon) respectively, Torah forbids attacking them. However, there is a difference between the two nations.

With respect to Ammon, the Jewish people are not allowed to strike a hostile posture or appear belligerent. However, when it comes to Moav, the Jewish people are allowed to threaten and be belligerent as long as we don’t engage in outright hostility. Yelling and brandishing swords is acceptable; shooting is impermissible. This explains why Moav is “frightened of the people.”

Why does Torah differentiate between Moav and Ammon?

Rabbi Yissocher Frand in Rabbi Frand on the Parasha explains that the difference dates back to the circumstances of the birth of the nations’ founders. (The explanation is found in the Talmud in Bava Kama 38b.) After Sodom is destroyed, Lot’s daughters think that they and their father are the only people left on earth. They believe that they have to bear children by their father in order to save the human race from extinction.

“And Lot’s two daughters conceived from their father. And the elder bore a son, and she named him Moav; he is the father of Moav until this day. And the younger, she, too, bore a son, and she named him Ben-Ami; he is the father of the children of Ammon until this day.” (Bereishit 19: 36-38).

The name Moav means “from my father”. In giving her son this name, the oldest daughter advertises her incestuous relationship with her father. The other daughter names her son Ben-Ami, meaning “son of my people” or “son of my nation”.  With this name, she makes no mention of her child’s illegitimacy. We are permitted to harass the nation that emerged from the Moavite birth that advertises incest, while we are forbidden to disturb Ammon with even a hint of belligerence.

Rabbi Frand explains: “The Zohar (Jewish mysticism) states that ‘chutzpah (brazenness) begets chutzpah’.  The older daughter was immodest and bold; she took an aggressive posture. Therefore, we are allowed to take an aggressive posture toward her descendants. The younger daughter was modest and discreet, the opposite of aggressive. Therefore, we are forbidden to be aggressive toward her descendants.”

Rabbi Frand notes that shame no longer exists in contemporary society. In the past, people who had shortcomings and failures did not advertise them and were not proud of their mistakes and poor behavior. They tended to hide what they did and lied about it instead of admitting it. Today, there are reality shows and celebrity gossip in which people are open and honest about their foibles and are unashamed to tell all. Should shame be a relic of the past? The long-term ramifications of the actions of Lot’s daughters show that shame, modesty and discretion still matter.

Balak 5773: Guardians of the Goodly Tents

In this week’s Torah portion, the Moabite king Balak sends Bilam to curse the Israelites. Bilam finds he is unable to do so and he instead issues blessings, including the well known opening to the contemporary worship service: Mah tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenotecha Yisrael – How goodly are your tents, Yaakov (Jacob); your dwelling places, Israel.

Rashi explains that Bilam sees that in the Israelite encampment the tent openings do not face one another, affording each tent privacy from the prying eyes of others. Writes Chana Bracha Siegelbaum in Women at the Crossroads (p. 148), “The woman personifies the tent, which served as the home for the Jewish people during their wandering in the wilderness. Likewise, the name Yaakov refers to the Jewish women (see Rashi on Shemot/Exodus 19:3).”

The Rebbetzin continues: “[The tent] protects the Jewish people from every negative influence. As long as the Jewish men were under the faithful shield of their Jewish women – the guardians of the goodly tents of Yaakov – no evil could befall them. However, as soon as they left their tents, to go astray after strange [Moabite and Midianite] women, they made themselves vulnerable to every sin conceivable, including idol worship.”

The shrewd Bilam understands that the holiness of privacy and modesty ensures Jewish survival. Talmud (Sanhedrin 106a) relates that Bilam advises Balak: “Hashem hates harlotry and the men of Israel love linen garments. Make curtains, have elderly harlots selling linens outside and young ones selling inside…Israel ate, drank and were merry. The old harlots offered the curtains for their true value; the young ones sold them for less.”  The men enter the tents to consort with the young harlots and the women refuse to have relations with them until the Jewish men engage in idolatry.

Normally, the Moabite women would not venture outside their tents. Talmud (Yevamot 77a) notes that the Moabite women do not come out to offer food and drink to the Israelites when the Israelites leave Egypt since “it is not the way of women to go out towards wayfarers.” The Moabite men, however, are faulted for not offering refreshments. Torah therefore prohibits Moabite men from converting to Judaism (Devarim/Deuteronomy 23:4-5), while it allows Moabite women to convert “because of their notion of modesty.” (Siegelbaum)

The Haftorah for Balak (Michah 5:6-6:8) ends with instructions for serving G-d: “He has told you, O man, what is good (mah tov) and what the L-rd requires of you: only to do justice, love kindness and walk modestly with your G-d.” Concludes the Rebbetzin: “If we Jewish women learn to excel in tzniut (modesty) and model exemplary modest behavior, in spite of the immodest spirit prevailing in our current western society, we will b’ezrat Hashem (With G-d’s help), walk with Hashem on the path of our final redemption.” 

Published in honor of the opening of the Mei Tova Mikvah in Dix Hills, New York. May its holy waters bring down many blessings.

http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/torah_portion/chanas_blessing/the_tents_of_jacob.aspx?id=12271&language=english

http://www.berotbatayin.org/Torah/Parsha/Haftorah%20Balak.pdf

http://dafyomi.co.il/sanhedrin/points/sn-ps-106.htm