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This Shabbat, we reflect on a truth as ancient as our people and as urgent as our present: when the Jewish people are united, there is no force in the world that can overcome us. No curse, no enemy, no obstacle—nothing can stand in the way of our destiny when we stand together as one.
This is the secret that Bilaam HaRasha, the wicked prophet, understood all too well. When he was hired to curse the Jewish people, his first instinct was not to face them head-on. Instead, he sought to avoid seeing them all at once, as it says, “In the morning, Balak too Bilaam up to Bamot-Baal. From there he could see a portion of the people,” (Bamidbar 22:41). The Midrash tells us his reasoning: Bilaam thought to himself, “Perhaps in the merit that they are all united, the merit of their ancestors will protect them.”
Bilaam feared the people’s unity more than their numbers. Bilaam knew that when the Jewish people stand together—when we are one heart, one soul, one flame—the ancient merit of our forebears is reawakened. Avraham’s compassion, Yitzchak’s strength, Yaakov’s truth—all these become present again in our midst. And no curse can penetrate that.
Unity is not just a moral value—it is a spiritual shield. When we are united in our mission, we fulfill our calling to be Mamlechet Kohanim v’Goy Kadosh—a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This is not merely a title; it is a responsibility. To bring justice and compassion into the world. To lift up the fallen, to shine light into darkness, to act not for ourselves alone, but for the sake of Heaven and for the betterment of all humanity.
But that mission cannot be accomplished in fragments. It requires all of us. Every soul. Every voice. Every stripe and stream of our people. The strength of the Jewish people has never come from uniformity, but from unity—a unity rooted not in sameness, but in shared sacred purpose.
When we come together with one heart to do the Will of God—to build communities of compassion, to seek peace, to study Torah, to live lives of meaning and mitzvot—then we reveal the deepest truth of who we are. We become impervious to curses and danger not because we are invincible, but because we are aligned with eternity. The essence of the Jewish people is a flame that no hatred, no exile, no destruction has ever extinguished. But that flame does not burn on its own.
It needs us. All of us. It needs our presence, our passion, our prayers. It needs our love for one another, even when we differ. It needs our commitment to a collective future, even when the present is fractured. It needs our willingness to gather, to build, to believe.
And when we do—when we tend that sacred flame together—its light rises. Higher and higher. Until it becomes a beacon for the whole world to see.
Shabbat Shalom!
-Rabbi Dan
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