July 10, 2008
Was Balaam a good guy or a bad guy? In the JPS Torah Commentary, Rabbi Jacob Milgrom writes:
“If one were to remove the ass episode from the text, what would remain is a picture of Balaam the saint. Over and over again, whether in response to Balak’s emissaries or to Balak himself, Balaam harps on a single theme: his unconditional submission to the will of the Lord.”
Of course, we do have the episode of the ass, in which Balaam is, to quote Milgrom again, depicted as being on a lower level than his animal — “more unseeing in his inability to detect the angel, more stupid in being defeated verbally by his ass, and more beastly in subduing it with his stick whereas it responds with tempered speech.”
Certainly, the rabbis of the Talmud see Balaam as a rasha, a wicked person filled with malice toward Israel. So, it’s surprising that almost the first words found in the siddur — in the only prayer attributed to a non-Jew — are the words of Balaam: “Mah tovu ohaleha Ya’akov, mishk’noteha Yisrael” — “How fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel.”
The Talmud teaches that “tents” refers to study halls and “dwellings” to synagogues, and so we say these words when we first enter the shul. Rashi has this to say: “He saw that their doors were not directed one opposite the other, lest one look into the tent of his fellow.”
Human dignity requires that we respect the privacy of even the most public figures.
Balaam blessed Israel because they were careful to guard their privacy. Each family took care to erect their tent so that they would not expose their private lives to public view and so that they would not — intentionally or inadvertently — pry into their neighbors’ business.
Well, if this was important to Rashi some 900 years ago, just think how much more important it should be to us today, when it is not only possible to pry into your neighbors’ business, but also to broadcast it around the globe.
The media declare, “the public has a right to know,” and sometimes it’s true. We have a right and a need to know about elected officials accepting money or gifts from those who hope to receive government contracts or favorable votes in return, about CEOs who profit from insider information while looting their employees’ pension plans, about reporters who fabricate news stories, and about clergy who prey on members of their congregations. However, there’s a lot more that is none of our business.
Just a few weeks ago, it was impossible to turn on a local news broadcast without encountering scenes from the divorce proceedings of former Governor Jim McGreevey and his estranged wife Dina Matos McGreevey. And if you found them sufficiently titillating, there was much more to be found on Court TV and on numerous Web sites.
However, there’s a reason that family court proceedings are normally sealed. Frequently, in the heat of a nasty divorce, particularly when the parties are fighting over money or child custody, all sorts of outrageous, unsubstantiated accusations are hurled back and forth. But even if every word the McGreeveys said about one another is true, on what basis can the media claim “the public has a right to know”? Mr. McGreevey is no longer governor and is unlikely to seek political office in the future. The public has no stake here; it’s nothing but tabloid pandering masquerading as serious journalism.
The damage done goes beyond the McGreeveys themselves. In only a few years, their young daughter — and her classmates — will be able to find all the most salacious bits of the trial with just a few clicks of a mouse. And what does it mean for the future of our country? This and similar episodes will certainly dissuade good, capable men and women from running for office or accepting political appointments, if only to protect their families from being stripped naked in the media.
The public has a right to know — but not everything. Human dignity requires that we respect the privacy of even the most public figures. After all, even Balaam the wicked was able to see the goodness in Israel’s respect for the privacy of their neighbors.
Rabbi Joyce Newmark, a resident of Teaneck, is a former religious leader of congregations in Leonia and Lancaster, Pa.
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