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Balak, the king of the Moabites,
afraid of the approaching Israelites,
hires Balaam, a local prophet, non-Jew.
"Go curse the Jews, they're a threat."
So Balaam saddles his donkey
to ride up to the place
where he can look down upon the Israelites
and curse them.
But as he travels, something gets in the way:
God has sent an angel with a sword
to stand in the path.
And while Balaam doesn't see it,
the donkey does and the donkey
turns to the side.
Balaam is incensed.
He whips the donkey
to get it back on the path.
The donkey again swerves,
trying to avoid the angel with the sword.
Balaam again whips it.
The donkey gives up,
lays down in the middle of the road
and Balaam continues to strike it
and whip it and beat it.
And God opens the mouth
of the donkey and says,
"Balaam, why aren't you seeing
what I'm seeing?
God has sent an angel
to stand in our way,
and you don't see it and I do.
God doesn't want you to do this."
We're not looking, really,
at two different beings here,
Balaam and his donkey.
We're looking at one being:
we're looking at the intellect and the gut.
We can convince ourselves
that the path that we're on is the right path
and that we're doing something
that's the right thing when in fact it's not,
and we're not able to see it.
And the only thing that communicates with us
and tells us that what we're doing is wrong
is our gut.
The question is,
how far do each of us have to go
before we listen to our gut,
before we listen to the part of our character
the ethical part of us that is within our limbs,
within our legs,
even within our ***? (English pun intended!)
Producer: Sarah Lefton
Animation Director: Nick Fox-Gieg
Editorial Director: Matthue Roth
Theme Music: Tim Cosgrove
Narration: Rabbi Andy Shapiro Katz
Sound Recording: Sarah Lefton