Balak, King of Moav, sends a delegation to request from the gentile prophet Bilam to curse the Jewish People. Bilam tells them that he has to wait to hear from G-d as to whether he can grant their request. G-d eventually allows Bilam to join them but warns him that he will be unable to do anything other than what G-d allows. Bilam fails three times to find an opening to curse the Jewish people in a way that G-d would acquiesce to. Instead he receives a prophecy to bless them and is forced to do so.

In the second blessing (23:22) Bilam mentions that G-d took the Jewish people out of Egypt “G-d who freed them (plural form) from Egypt.”- אֵ-ל מוֹצִיאָם מִמִּצְרָיִם

By the third blessing (24:8) the wording is slightly different. “G-d who freed them (lit. it) from Egypt” – אֵל מוֹצִיאוֹ מִמִּצְרַיִם

Why the change from the plural to the singular?

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, of blessed memory, explains that this represents Bilam’s perspectives on the Exodus from Egypt. At first Bilam thought that G-d freed the Jewish people because as a nation they were worthy of it (“G-d took them out of Egypt”). G-d blesses them if the nation as a whole deserves it. He therefore sought to accentuate their spiritual downfalls as a nation so that G-d would agree to curse them.

This is why the Torah tells us, "Balak took Balaam to the peak of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland” (23:28). Rashi comments:

Balak was a great soothsayer and he foresaw that they would once be punished on account of Peor (a form of idol worship described at the end of this week’s parsha that caused the death of 24,00 men!), but he knew not by what. He said: Perhaps the curse will fall upon them from there (be effective against them if pronounced there).

Eventually Bilam came to understand that G-d did not redeem them only because as a nation they were worthy of it. Rather G-d would have taken out the Jewish people just on the merit of the righteous individuals among them (hence the change to singular form). Therefore reminding G-d of their sins won’t help to get them cursed because in every situation there are always righteous individuals who remain steadfast in their loyalty to G-d and His Torah and in whose merit the entire nation will be blessed and protected.

This is what happened in the times of Chanukah. The brave Chashmonaim (also known as the Maccabees) that rebelled against the mighty Syrian-Greek armies were a small minority of the Jewish people. Most had become Hellenists happy to remain under Greek dominion without a life of Torah. But that small group that was ready to give up their lives to bring the Torah way of life back to the Jewish people merited miracles and succeeded in saving the Jewish people for eternity.

There are times when doing the right thing can put us in the minority. But that shouldn’t discourage us. Contrary to what Bilam thought, there is power even in small numbers.

Shabbat Shalom,
Yitzchak