Singing our own praises – Balak
Bilam’s praise of Israel resounds through the centuries: “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob: your dwelling-places, O Israel” (Num. 24:5). Like many non-Jews, he found much to extol in Jews and Judaism. There are whole books containing such observations, and to read them is an antidote to the antisemitism we are often subjected to.
But much as we enjoy the praise of outsiders, we often forget to praise ourselves. I do not suggest we should whitewash everything a Jew does and pretend that everything is as it should be. But from time to time we need to control the tendency towards Jewish self-criticism and sing our own praises.
For Judaism is such a wonderful way of life that it is strange that the whole world is not Jewish. Our ideas are breathtaking, our ethics impressive, our pattern of observances rich and complete. No other option is as satisfying as ours: it is hard to be Jewish, but good. The communities we create are a model to others; the Jewish state we brought back into being is inherently far more of an inspiration than almost any other nation on earth.
Are we then all saints without sinners? Are there no blotches on the skin, no lapses from high standards, nothing to be ashamed of or needing improvement?
Of course not, and we grieve at every failure to meet the due standards. We have to keep working on ourselves and our communities, and on Israel: but all things considered, we are not so bad after all.
