RABBI'S THOUGHTS:  PARSHAS BALAK

A Good Word...

This week's Parsha speaks of Bilaam who was sent to curse the Jewish people by King Balak. 
Every time he tried to do so, he was thwarted by none other than G-d himself who put kind words
of blessing into Bilaam's mouth instead.

Halevai - if only the rest of us had this form of Divine censorship!  Can you imagine if every time
you opened your mouth to utter a bad word towards someone else, it was automatically changed
to good?

Sadly the reality is not so.  It is down to us to be careful with our words and to use them to help
others, to build up rather than to cut down, for positive rather than negative purposes.

As the saying goes, when you prick somebody they bleed.  Even our greatest Rabbis and leaders
are human.  Sometimes we may even think the other person doesn't really mind, they take it as a
joke, or they are self-deprecating.  It still behoves us to pay careful attention to each and every
word and action, to ensure that it is not designed to cause strife or worse but rather is leshaim
shemoyim - for the sake of heaven - and for good purposes only.

Shabbat Shalom