Torah Reading: Parshat Balak

Next read on 12 July 2025

Summary

Portion:   Balak = King of Moab בָּלָק       (Hebrew)
Book:   Bamidbar = Numbers Section:       22:2-25:9
Balak is the 4th book of the 5 books of the Torah.

Balak, the king of the Moabites, known as son of Zippor, sees the Israelites in the wilderness as a threat .

He hires Balaam, a heathen soothsayer, to cast a spell and curse them.

Balak's hope is to weaken the Israelites so that he can defeat them in battle.

But God commands Balaam to listen to Him, not Balak, and the soothsayer finds he has no choice but to bless the Israelites, instead of cursing them.

Balaam's blessing: " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob ! " became the sentence which Jews have recited for thousands of years on entering a synagogue, and in beginning the morning prayers.

Read More about this Portion

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TORAH READING DATES

This Torah portion - Parshat Balak - will next be read on 12 July 2025
Read on these dates in following years: 27 June 2026   -   17 July 2027   -   8 July 2028
30 June 2029   -   13 July 2030   -   5 July 2031
26 June 2032   -   9 July 2033   -   1 July 2034
14 July 2035   -   12 July 2036   -   27 June 2037
10 July 2038

ABOUT THE TORAH READINGS:

The Torah - the Five Books of Moses - is read publicly in synagogues every Sabbath on an annual cycle.
The cycle begins each year with Bereishit (Genesis), which is read on the Sabbath following the Simchat Torah festival.

Each of these weekly readings is known as a Parsha, or portion.
The Torah is also read in shorter segments of the Parsha on Mondays and Thursdays, and in selected sections on festivals.

To see the next Parsha after this one, click here

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