Talking Donkeys and Trixie
- Leann Shamash
- Jul 17, 2024
- 4 min read
Oh, what a parsha Parshat Balak is! Sefer Bamidbar contains a number of unusual events, including rebellion, the earth swallowing people, plagues, intimidated scouts, thirty eight unaccounted years and death and punishment of the leaders of the tribes, just as the last of the original generation are dying in the desert. This leads us to Parshat Balak, which appears to stand as a parsha on its own, largely separated from the others in the Torah. Moshe and company are missing from this narrative, which highlights this foreign prophet Bilaam distributing blessings instead of curses. The community of Israelites appear far away as though in a painting. The spokesperson is not Moshe, but a prophet from outside of the community. His efforts are almost comical and certainly lend themselves to retelling, which is probably why to this day we sing out Bilaam's forced prophecy each day when we enter the synagogue.
מַה טֹּֽבוּ אֹהָלֶֽיךָ יַעֲקֹב מִשְׁכְּ֒נֹתֶֽיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל:
How good are your tents, Jacob; your dwelling places, Israel.
I will not do justice to the telling of the story of Balak (the king of Moab) and Bilaam ( a prophet/magician) born in Petor here, so I offer you the story here: (reprinted from My Jewish Learning ) https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/balak-a-summary-of-the-parashah/
Much of what I learned this week from Parshat Balak concerns how people outside of the community perceive us and how nations perceive the nation of Israel then and now. This has been a red hot topic these past years and especially these last months. Another theme found in this strange parsha is the failure of individuals to notice clues that others (and animals!) give to warn us that something is amiss. Three times in Parshat Balak Bilaam fails to read the non-verbal signs that the donkey provides to keep Bilaam from proceeding with his ill-fated journey to curse the Israelites. It is only then that God opens the donkey's mouth to speak and Bilaam's eyes to see.
This week I have chosen to write about the voice not of a donkey, but our dog, Trixie.
We adopted Trixie nearly four years ago from somewhere in the south. She arrived at our home as a three year old dog. She had already lived in a very unique situation for her first year or more and then she went to a foster family for a period of time before it was decided that we might be an appropriate couple to adopt her.
Trixie is a quiet dog and good natured, as her foster owner promised us she would be. She is a moderately communicative dog, but it is her silences that always puzzle me. There is a certain tentativeness, even a little melancholy that appears in her eyes and a way of withdrawing from us at times that leave us wondering what secrets she holds behind those eyes.
Trixie (the name she came with when we adopted her), I believe, tries to communicate with us all the time. It is up to us to be careful not to miss the cues that she provides. Trixie is not the donkey in the Balak/Bilaam story, but like that donkey, she might be there to teach us to communicate some message, to urge us toward patience and understanding the other and to try to do right by adopted animals, who come to us with a past and perhaps even trauma.
I know that some of you who read this post are also pet owners and you will understand that special bond of a person and their pet. It's never as simple as it seems, but the challenge of reading the cues is priceless.
Sending wishes for better, more optimistic news to come soon.
Shabbat Shalom,
Leann
Trixie.
Her name suggests
a certain lack of gravity,
silliness
or flightiness,
but she is often solemn
and occasionally exuberant.
She is not a talking donkey.
She doesn’t reprimand or accuse,
but her eyes lock on mine,
relaying messages couched in mystery.
In her pupils glimmer echoes of a past life.
Perhaps one I have no right to understand.
Her eyes speak,
spark,
one eye tawny brown and one glowing white
like the moon.
Sometimes they are tinged with fear,
wrung with disappointment,
but at times they brim with hope.
It is then that we smile,
a very human smile.
Occasionally
her voice barks out
complaints mingled with surprise.
Her muscled body aches for the hunt,
but her eyes are the narration of the scroll,
simple, elegant,
so sad.
We read volumes in the silence of those eyes.
What is your message?
What do you remember, Trixie girl?
Are all forgiven?
——————-
For more on the communication of animals:
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/advice/how-to-read-dog-body-language/#:~:text=Dogs%20with%20their%20tails%20pointing,neutral%20depends%20on%20the%20breed.
For more on Parshat Balak:
On Talking Animals in torah: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/270094?lang=bi
Seeing Ourselves Through the Eyes of Others
A Prophet, A Donkey and a Blessing
More From Words Have Wings on Parshat Balak:
In the World of Talking Donkeys
Then the LORD opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”
Balaam said to the ass, “You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I’d kill you.”
The ass said to Balaam, “Look, I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?” And he answered, “No.”
Numbers 22:28-30
הָאָת֜וֹן
Lovely words! And a magnificent picture of Trixie. I can see her beautiful soul.