The Powers In The Mouth

A true expression of one’s love for those closest to him is his willingness to fight for them.  This is true of our People as well throughout the ages.  

Nonetheless, the real power of the Jew is in the mouth.  Prayer.  We find this in this weeks double-header Torah portion in two places.

In the first of the two Torah portions, the Torah tells of various battles the Jewish People needed to fight.  In one of the first battles, Amalek, the old archetypal anti-semite, understood the power of Jewish prayer and therefore disguises themselves by changing their language so the Jews wouldn’t recognize them and on that basis pray for victory.  

The Jews confused as to whether this was or wasn’t Amalek take to prayer with a general prayer asking G-d for protection and salvation.

In the second Torah portion Balak King of Moab is frightened from the continuous victories of the Jews and wants to eliminate them.  At this point he realizes that victory cannot be had with the weapon and so he approaches Bilaam, a prophet and asks him for advice.  

Bilaam tells him that the real power of the Jewish People’s leader, Moses, is in his mouth.  His ability to pray and talk to G-d.  And so Balak hires Bilaam to curse the Jews.

The end of both of these stories is that the Jews win the battle against Amalek and Bilaam is unsuccessful at cursing the Jews and in fact blesses them.

***Prayer can be daunting at times, we can feel inadequate or inarticulate.  The message of this week’s Torah portions is that a. Prayer works b. a general prayer works as well.

In fact there is an idea that one should have in mind when they are praying a general thought; “may my prayer be considered before you as if it had included in it all of the great meditations”.

Don’t be afraid, G-d is waiting to hear from His children. 

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