On Seeing the Larger Picture

by HaRav Dov Begon
Rosh HaYeshiva, Machon Meir

Wicked Bilam was like his own name. He wished to swallow up (livloa) the Jewish People (Sanhedrin 105a). Yet against his will he saw Israel from a great and all-encompassing perspective, stretching from the nation’s start until its finish. He saw them, going all the way back to the patriarchs and matriarchs who were the roots from which the Jewish People sprang forth: “I see this nation from mountain tops and gaze on it from heights” (Bamidbar 23:9). Rashi explains: “I look at their origin and roots, and I behold them as strongly founded as yonder rocks and mountains through their ancestors and ancestresses.” He also saw them until their end: “I see it, but not now; I perceive it, but not in the near future” (Bamidbar 24:17). Bilam set out to curse Israel, and against his will he blessed them.

How much more so that we, who view the Jewish People positively to begin with, must study and teach and ponder them on a large scale, gazing at them deeply and comprehensively, from start to finish. We must know to recognize that our own generation is a link in the long chain of thousands of years, that we possess a glorious past and an even more glorious future. Only from such a perspective can we understand the present and everything that is happening now, in our own day, in a balanced and correct fashion. This approach will help us to overcome all of our present difficulties, obstacles and complications, as it says in the song of Ha’azinu: “Remember days long gone by. Ponder the years of each generation” (Devarim 32:7). Remembering days long gone by, helps us to understand our own generation.

From whom is it possible to learn and to receive the right information about our divine history from start to finish? “Ask your father and let him tell you, and your grandfather, who will explain it to you” (Ibid.). As Rashi explained, “‘Ask your father’ - these are the prophets. ‘Your grandfather’ - these are the sages.” Through the holiness of our prophets and sages we shall merit to see, with our own eyes, “a nation that rises like the king of beasts and lifts itself like a lion” (Bamidbar 23:24).

Looking forward to complete salvation,
With the Love of Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael,
Shabbat Shalom.