Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Parashah Scavenger Hunt שְׁאֵלוֹת הַשָּׁבוּעַ
Welcome to Devash's Parashah Scavenger Hunt for Parashat Balak!
Aliyah 1 (Bemidbar 22:2-12)
- What town is Bil’am from?
- What does Balak plan to do after Bilam curses Benei Yisrael?
Aliyah 2 (Bemidbar 22:13-20)
- On what condition does God let Bil’am go to Balak?
Aliyah 3 (Bemidbar 22:21-38)
- What was the angel of God carrying?
- Who is with Bilam when he is on his donkey ride?
Aliyah 4 (Bemidbar 22:39-23:12)
- What three Hebrew roots are used in some way to mean “curse”?
- How many altars does Balak build in Bamot Ba’al?
Aliyah 5 (Bemidbar 23:13-26)
- What is the name of the second place where Balak tries to curse the people?
Aliyah 6 (Bemidbar 23:27-24:13)
- What famous line from the Siddur is in this aliyah?
Aliyah 7 (Bemidbar 24:14-25:9)
- What two nations other than Benei Yisrael does Bil’am see and address before leaving?
- How is Pinhas related to Aharon?
Look anywhere in the parashah to find the answer to these questions!
- How many words for animals appear in our parashah?
- What phrase in our parashah might remind you of Pesah, Shavuot, and Sukkot?
- What verbs are used to describe how God makes contact with Bil’am?
From the Haftarah (Micah 5:6-6:8)
- What will God do to sorcery?
Scroll down to see the answers!
Answers:
Aliyah 1
- The town of Petor. The Torah says פְּתוֹרָה (Petorah), but remember, the ה (heh) at the end of a place just means “to,” as in, “in the direction of Petor” (22:5).
- Wage war against Benei Yisrael (22:6)
Aliyah 2
- As long as Bil’am will only say whatever God tells him to say (22:20)
Aliyah 3
Aliyah 4
- The roots א.ר.ר in לְכָה אָרָה־לִּי (“come curse for me”), ק.ב.ה in מָה אֶקֹּב לֹא קַבֹּה אֵ-ל (“how can I curse whom God has not cursed”), and ז.ע.ם in ‘וּמָה אֶזְעֹם לֹא זָעַם ה (another way to say “how can I curse whom God has not cursed”) (23:7-8)
- Seven (22:41-23:1)
Aliyah 5
- Sedei Tzofim, which means “the field of scouts,” probably because you could see things at a far distance from there(23:14)
Aliyah 6
- מַה־טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ יַעֲקֹב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל (mah-tovu ohalekha Yaakov, mishkenotekha Yisrael; how fair are your tents, Yaakov, your dwellings, Yisrael) (24:5)
Aliyah 7
From Anywhere in the parashah
- Eleven! צִפּוֹר (tzippor, bird), שׁוֹר (shor, ox), אֲתוֹן (aton, donkey), בָּקָר (bakar, ox), צֹאן (tzon, sheep), פָּר (par, cow), אַיִל (ayil, ram), רְאֵם (re’em, ox), נַחַשׁ (nahash, in our parashah it means “magic,” but it’s the same word for “snake”), לָבִיא (lavi, lion), אֲרִי (ari, another word for lion)
- שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים (shalosh regalim, in our parashah it means “three times,” but in other places it seems to also refer to the holidays when you would walk with your feet to celebrate at the Beit Ha-Mikdash!) (22:28)
- וַיָּבֹא (vayavo, God came) (22:9, 20) and וַיִּקָּר (vayikar, God encountered) (23:4, 16). Neither of these terms is ever used to describe God’s communication with Moshe!
Haftarah
- Get rid of it (Micah 5:11)
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