Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
Moshe reminds Benei Yisrael about how God changed Bilam’s curse into a blessing:
וְלֹא אָבָה ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹעַ אֶל בִּלְעָם
וַיַּהֲפֹךְ ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ לְּךָ אֶת הַקְּלָלָה לִבְרָכָה
כִּי אֲהֵבְךָ ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ׃
But God your Lord refused to listen to Bilam. God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because God your Lord loves you.
Why does Moshe need to highlight God’s love? What can we learn from that?
הֲגַם שֶׁהָיָה מָקוֹם לִשְׁמוֹעַ מִצַּד עַנְפֵי הַחֵטְא שֶׁהָיָה בִּלְעָם נֶאֱחָז בָּהֶם, אַף עַל פִּי כֵן נִתְרַצָּה ה' בְּלֹא טַעַם וְלֹא שָׁמַע וְגוֹ', וְנָתַן הַטַּעַם כִּי אֲהֵבְךָ ה' פֵּרוּשׁ לֹא לְצַד שֶׁהָיִיתָ רָאוּי לְדָבָר זֶה.
God could have listened to Bilam because he reminded God of the sins Benei Yisrael had done. Even so, God showed favor to Benei Yisrael for no good reason at all, and God did not listen to Bilam. Moshe explained: "that’s because God loves you"—but not because you really deserved it.
The Or Ha-Hayyim teaches that God loves Benei Yisrael even though they don’t necessarily earn, or deserve, that love. That’s called “unconditional” love, which is love that’s not based on any condition, like having to do something to earn it.
- How does it feel to know that God’s love for Benei Yisrael is unconditional? What does that teach you about God? How does that change the way you think about God?
- Can you think of a time when someone showed their love for you even though you had made a mistake or done something wrong? What was that like?
- How can you show love for other people even when they make mistakes?
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