Balak

I once met an outstanding, interesting person. He was my driver. He told me an amazing ma’aseh. He got very angry one time.  His anger built up over a couple of days, until his blood pressure boiled over and he had a massive heart attack that sent him into a total coma. He was in a coma for three or four months. People were davening for him, but his condition was not improving.  Gornisht. Finally, a very special rav came to this fellow’s room and davened in his room shacharis, minchah,and Ma’ariv out loud. After a week of davening and saying Tehillim, finally he said to the guy, “Steven! It’s time to wake up! Do you want to wake up?”

Our parshah depicts a well-known historical figure who represented ideals that weren’t nice. Bilam is considered the father of all bad middos and he’s the counterweight to the father of all good middos, Avraham Avinu. There’s a mishnah in Avos where our Tana’im make this contrast.