Welcome to the short, practical Lelamed Weekly Dvar. Please consider forwarding this to others, and I hope you enjoy... _______________________________________________ When Bilam is commissioned to curse the Jewish people, he gets up the next morning to saddle his donkey and begin his task. Rashi points out that Bilam wakes up early to convey his commitment and enthusiasm for his mission, noting the parallel when Avraham did the exact same thing many years prior when he traveled to sacrifice his son Yitzchak. Why is it relevant that Bima’s tactic had been previously used? Rav Moshe Feinstein (Darash Moshe) suggests that Bilam’s evil ploy didn’t work precisely because Avraham had used that tactic for a good cause many years prior. Had Avraham not done so, Bilam’s enthusiasm might have given him an advantage in our episode. This mention is meant to highlight the importance of countering evil with positivity. When we see someone fighting for an evil cause, we can learn to mimic the passion and transpose a sinister cause with a positive one. If we extract something from the good and the bad, we’ll be twice as likely to succeed in life. _______________________________________________ Quotation of the week: "Be thankful for what you have and you will attract more things to be thankful for."