Parshat Balak & Shiv’a Asar B’Tammuz
Let’s start by looking at the numbers and days of the week for Shiv’a Asar b’Tammuz.
The 17th of Tammuz (and the 9th of Av) always fall on the same day of the week as the first day of Pesach. The “rule” for Pesach is LO B’DU – it will not begin on a Monday (yom Bet), Wednesday (yom Dalet), or Friday (yom Vav). And neither will 17 Tammuz or 9 Av. Additionally, although the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av can fall on Shabbat, when that happens, the fasts are bumped to Sunday.
That leaves us with three possible days of the week for these two fast days. Here they are, with their frequencies: Sunday (39.54%); Tuesday (31.89%); Thursday (28.57%). Sunday’s frequency is higher because of the times the fast is bumped (nidche) to Sunday.
This year, 5785, is the rarest of all 14 year-types in our calendar – occurring in only 3.31% of years. The last two years exactly like this year were 5663 (1903) and 5754 (1994). The next scheduled one is 5805 (2045). Rare indeed!
The 17th of Tammuz (the date and the fast) fall on the day after Shabbat Parshat Balak this year and two other year-types, for a total frequency of 11.51% – still rare.
Then we have a year-type in which the 17th is a Shabbat and the fast is nidche to Sunday. This happens in three year-types, including the most common one, which occurs 18.05% of the time. The total frequency of Shabbat being the 17th is 28.03%. Add that to the 11.51% and you get the fast being on Sunday 39.54% of the time (i.e., almost 40% of the time).
It gets a bit more complicated when we look at what sedra is read on the day right before the Fast of 17 Tammuz.
Let’s look only at the Shabbat before the fast, regardless of which day of the week the fast is. The competition is between Balak and Pinchas. Balak precedes the Fast of the Fourth Month (that’s what the navi calls Shiv’a Asar b’Tammuz) almost 80% of the time. That includes, in Chutz LaAretz, the years when Shavuot is Friday-Shabbat and the sedra right before the fast is Chukat–Balak. That doesn’t happen in Israel, since Shavuot in those years is only on Friday. So we’ll keep it at 80% for Balak. And it is even higher than that outside of Israel, because during another two year-types, Pesach is Shabbat-to-Friday in Israel and Shabbat-to-Shabbat elsewhere. In 13-month, two-Adar years, the Shabbat in question (the one before the fast), is Balak in Chu”l (Chutz LaAretz) and Pinchas in Israel.
Bottom line: Balak precedes the Fast of the Fourth (Tzom R’vi’i) 80% of the time in Israel and 90% of the time in Chutz LaAretz.
Since this column is supposed to focus on numbers, I could end the part about 17 Tammuz here and move on to Parshat Balak. But first I’ll throw in a couple more numbers as an excuse to make an insightful point about 17 Tammuz.
The Mishna in Taanit (4:6) lists five things that occurred on the 17th of Tammuz. The first calamity on the list is that Moshe smashed the Luchot (when he saw the Golden Calf).
The navi Zechariya (8:19) prophesies in Hashem’s name that the four mournful fasts associated with the destruction of the Batei Mikdash will become Mo’adim Tovim, festive days.
Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher, z”l, asked the following: I understand why the fast days will no longer be days of mourning with the Third Beit HaMikdash, but why would they be happy days?
His answer: Imagine what would have been on the 17th of Tammuz had Cheit HaEigel not happened. The people had waited in excited anticipation for Moshe’s return from his 40-day, 40-night experience with Hashem on Har Sinai. Moshe would come back to the people with the Tablets of Stone, the Aseret HaDibrot, and all of the Torah and mitzvot – those which would be written and those teachings that would partner with the Written Word as the Oral Law and Tradition. Imagine the joy! A second Z’man Matan Torateinu!
But alas, it didn’t happen that way. We could say that Shiv’a Asar b’Tammuz was cheated. The people stole its joy.
That joy will be restored in the time of the Third Beit HaMikdash, may it speedily come to be – Amein!
Moving on, Balak’s numbers are startling in their simplicity. The sedra is made up of two parshiyot. One is a huge portion of 95 pesukim (probably the third longest of the Torah’s 674 parshiyot). With 5,846 pesukim in the Torah, there are an average of 8.7 pesukim per parsha. And the first of Balak’s two is 95 pesukim long!
Aside from its remarkable length, the parsha in question has another, more significant, distinction. It is the only portion of the Torah’s narrative, from Shemot until the Torah’s final words – “L’einei kol Yisrael” – that was not witnessed by the people of Israel.
The whole Balak-Bilaam story took place without our knowing anything about it. The only way we know about it is because Hashem included it in the Torah. Exile and slavery in Egypt – witnessed by a multitude. Splitting of the Sea – same. Sinai experience – same. Every event recorded in the Torah was witnessed by the People. Except this.
It is as if Hashem said to us – after the fact: I’ll take care of this one on my own. You just go about your daily routine.
But with 104 pesukim in the average-length sedra (below average for the Book of Bamidbar), the 95-pasuk story of Balak and Bilaam does not cover the whole sedra. And the second parsha, the last 9 pesukim, do not reflect well on us (to greatly understate matters).
Following Bilaam’s repeated failure to do what Balak hired him for – “bless” the Children of Israel – he and Balak hatched a plan to get Hashem angry with His own People. What Bilaam and Balak and many others throughout our history could not accomplish, we did to ourselves. Bilaam and Balak conspired to have the Moabite women seduce the Israelite men to the orgiastic worship of Baal Peor. The plague that Hashem sent in punishment claimed 24,000 lives, and would have continued were it not for the zealous action of Pinchas. But that’s another story.
Parshat Balak has none of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot. Sixteen other sedras of the Torah’s 54 have no mitzvot counted from them.
Notice that we have had a run of four sedras with three-letter (Hebrew) names: Shelach, Korach, Chukat, and Balak. Note, too, that the letter kuf is the first letter in the name Korach, the second in the name Chukat, and the third in the name Balak. Significance? I doubt it. But still interesting.
The other three-letter sedra names are: Mikeitz, Emor, B’har (that’s two in a row), then the aforementioned four in a row in the Book of Bamidbar, and then Eikev, R’ei (also two in a row). And that’s the list. One in Bereishit, none in Shemot, a pair in Vayikra, four in Bamidbar, and a pair in D’varim. Nine three-letter sedra names in all.
Try asking your Shabbat table family and guests about the three-letter sedra names. Don’t just read them the list – see if they can figure it out for themselves.
Shabbat Shalom and have a meaningful fast.
