Rabbi Nachman Teaching Uses Balaam to Explain Divine Love and Self-Control

An article dated June 24, 2026, presents a Chassidic essay on Parashat Balak, attributed to Rabbi Nachman, that uses Balaam’s failed attempt to curse Israel to teach that God loves every Jew constantly. The piece says God loves a person 24 hours a day, every moment, wants only their good, and gives blessing, joy, and mercy. It argues that even when God punishes someone, it is מתוך love, to bring them back, and that “when you are in distress, God is in distress too.”

The article says Balaam was looking for a “fraction of a second” of divine anger in order to curse Israel, but God prevented him from finding it. It cites the idea that in the entire day God is angry only for an instant, and in Israel’s case, He even canceled that moment out because He “loved you.” Balaam was forced to admit that he could only say what God allowed him to say. The article uses this to stress that no one can curse or take anything from another person without heavenly permission.

It also says Balaam noticed that Israel’s tents were arranged modestly, with no opening facing another opening, and understood that holiness protects the Jewish people. The article connects this to later sin, saying that if Israel falls into sexual immorality, divine anger follows, and it recalls the episode in which Midianite women led Israelites astray, including a public act by a tribal prince of Simeon.

The second half turns to practical guidance from Rabbi Nachman in Likutei Moharan, section 36, on resisting the evil inclination. The recommended sequence is to rouse the good impulse against the evil one, then study Torah, then recite Shema, and if needed remember the day of death. It explains that Shema, with its 248 words including the repeated phrase “Hashem is true,” corresponds to the 248 organs of the body and crowns God over the person’s entire being, cooling the burning urge to sin. It adds that the same acronym underlies Phinehas’s spear, and concludes that someone who overcomes temptation is helped from above and can merit a miracle.