July 16/05 — Shabbat Balak: Harry Potter Daze is Here Again!

Commentary by Rabbi Lawrence Pinsker

Get ready for the arrival of another blockbuster as a new volume in the Harry Potter series is released this Shabbat, July 16th!

With each installment of the adventures of Harry Potter and his friends Hermoine and Ron, an entire generation of children are learning that handling great power (symbolized by the magic skills being learned at Hogwarts School of Wizardry) requires maturity, reason, and a well-honed sense of responsibility to one’s fellow humans and other living creatures. Like all good fantasies, the Harry Potter books explore a universal human truth: everything we know can be turned either to good ends or else to harm and destruction.

The world of the Hogwarts School exists apart from our own in a kind of parallel universe. We who live in a world where magic and the supernatural are not part of our daily existence nevertheless remain fascinated by them.

This week’s Torah portion explores similar territory. The Torah tells us that animals talk, spirits appear, and God speaks to Bilaam, a non-Jewish prophet who employs enchantments and invokes curses and blessings. In the biblical world, people believe in the power of spoken blessings and curses. By reputation, Bilaam is a major success: his words reliably bring desired results. What is cursed is truly cursed and falls apart; and what is blessed is truly blessed and thrives.

We know the outcome of Bilaam’s story: God puts blessings instead of curses into Bilaam’s mouth. This infuriates Balak, the king who has hired Bilaam to curse the advancing Israelites. Balak cooperates with Bilaam three times, but each time Bilaam blesses the Israelites rather than cursing them.

At a minimum, what we learn from Bilaam is that words have power over the human spirit and human deeds. When we use words to bless or to curse, we have to be very careful. Sometimes what we say that seems good may actually be equivocal or ambivalent. For example, at the very beginning of Bilaam’s blessings, he describes Israel this way: “Heyn am l’vadad yishkon”— “Behold, it is a people that will dwell alone.” Does this mean that the Jewish people are separated from other nations by fate and by our covenant with God? Or does it mean that our people’s strength and security depend on our living in isolation from others? Is our strength that we simply are different from other nations? The biblical and linguistic contexts of Bilaam’s remarks offer us no clue as to how to answer these questions.

Overlooking the Israelite encampment from a height, Bilaam remarks: “Lo Nachash b’Yaakov v’lo kesem b’Yisrael”—“There is no divination in Jacob and no magic in Israel.” God has forbidden us to use the magical instruments employed by the rest of the ancient world, so that the future depends on how we conduct ourselves within the assurances of God’s covenant.

The world of magic fascinates us, but it is imaginary. At best, it demonstrates the power of words and sheds light on our fears and hopes. Look at how events in London less than two weeks ago were set in motion by a war of words that embody clashing ideas, ideals, and beliefs. In reading Bilaam or Harry Potter, we become acutely aware of how words can move others to hope or despair, to action or helplessness.

And perhaps there is some enduring magic in the words of another of Bilaam’s declarations, which are still recited as the opening of morning services in synagogues all over the world: “Mah Tovu Ohalechah Yaakov mishk’notechah Yisrael—How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel.”