Balak 5780

Question: Why do we need so much detail of the story of בלק and בלעם?

Approach: the classic approach given, from a Hashkafic, point of view is to show how הקב״ה helps his people without them even knowing about it.

A more "down-to-earth" approach may be that this is necessary background to understand (a) the events of בעל פעור (at the end of the פרשה) and the subsequent war with מדין, and (b) the prohibition of the Moabites to convert to Judaism.

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