Parshas Balak Poem

If you only believed what you actually saw,

Scientists out there would be awfully poor.

To deny the fact that we have a brain,

Just because we can't see it – is completely insane!

If we only trusted what we ourselves heard,

There'd be no need for newspapers to recount what occurred.

If I didn't hear it from the president first hand,

Doesn't mean I can't follow the officer's command!

If we only accepted what our mind understood,

We'd never achieve the best that we could!

To label a mathematical problem unsolvable,

Just because it's too hard – is laughable!

The wisdom of man lies in his ability to see,

How much is happening beyond the "me".

On that note, Bilaam, the sorcerer was a fool,

He couldn't perceive what was invisible.

When his donkey drove him off the road three times,

He failed to recognize that G-d was sending him a sign.

Bilaam embarked to curse the Jews,

His donkey kept veering when it would choose,

Because a sword-bearing angel stood in front of his spot,

Which the donkey could see, yet Bilaam could not.

First time – the donkey turned into a field,

Bilaam whipped it and angrily reeled.

Then the angel appeared in an area that was small,

The donkey moved aside and Bilaam's leg crushed to the wall.

The third time this happened in an even tighter space,

The donkey just halted, frozen in place.

Yet Bilaam *still* couldn't read between the lines,

And he hit his poor donkey for the third time.

He ignored the stop signs along the way,

"Go back" - the message G-d tried to convey.

His terrible misfortune was all he could see,

Didn't bother to contemplate – what is G-d telling me?

It's the disease of two dimensional perception,

The inability to grasp the larger situation.

And to recognize that nothing happens by chance,

There's a flaw in those plans you made in advance.

So when you feel your life driving you off the road,

Or crushing you under a burdensome load,

Ask yourself, "Why did G-d plan this to be?"

"What secret message is He communicating to me?"

G-d is talking to us through natural events,

There are all different clues that He constantly presents.

But are we listening to the instructions of where we should go?

Or are we opting to turn the volume to low?

Open your eyes to see the G-dliness around,

Open your ears to its magical sound.

Unlock your mind from its limiting clasp,

It's the wise that recognizes how much he can't grasp.

There's a good reason for everything. That's a fact. For sure.

*Can you see the beauty, or is your eyesight too poor?*