Mah Tovu -- "how good" -- is a prayer recited at the outset of the daily morning service. Its opening line is from the book of Numbers, when the non-Israelite prophet Balaam sets out to curse the Israelites but ends up blessing them. In one such blessing, Balaam looks out over the Israelites' encampment and declares "How good are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel!"
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From Curse to Blessing
TANAKH
Balaam's intended curse transformed into a blessing, highlighting the divine protection and favor upon the Israelites. The Torah recounts how Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet, was hired to curse the Israelites but instead marveled at the beauty and order of their encampments.
Entering God's House
LITURGY
The prayer "Mah Tovu" encapsulates the devotion and reverence associated with entering a sacred space. This morning prayer, recited upon entering the synagogue, expresses admiration for Jewish places of worship and a desire to connect with God.
What Is Good About Your Tents, Oh Jacob?
COMMENTARY
Balaam praises the encampment of the Israelites in general terms. Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz’s early 17th-century Torah commentary, Kli Yakar, offers possible details that Balaam saw as praiseworthy.
A Unique Blessing from God
CHASIDUT
Balaam blesses the Israelites in a sequence of blessings culminating in the blessing of "how good are your tents." The Talmud claims that this final blessing was unique among them in its persistence, and Rebbe Elimelekh of Lizhensk, a great Chasidic master, explains the scriptural clues to the novelty of the third blessing.
Praise from an Unlikely Source
COMMENTARY
The soaring praise of Israel comes from an unexpected source, a foreign prophet from an ostensibly antagonistic nation. In the volume of his Covenant and Conversation series on the book of Numbers, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explores the expressions of praise and reprimand in the relationship between God and Israel.
Tel Aviv - Tent camp of pioneers. In the background is the Ussishkin house in Allenby 7. Frank Scholten, Leiden University Archives
Tel Aviv - Tent camp of pioneers. In the background is the Ussishkin house in Allenby 7. Frank Scholten, Leiden University Archives
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