The seven Aliyahs of Balak
top right – Balaam a non-Jewish prophet has been asked by Balak king of the Moabites to curse the Jews but he is warned by Hashem not to do this.
top left – Balak sends messengers with bribes for Balaam to do this bidding but he is told by Hashem to only speak words Hashem give him.
top center – Balaam heads out to curse the Jews but is confronted by an angel whom at firs only his donkey sees and then miraculously warns Balaam of Hashem’s demands.
bottom right – Balaam tells Balak to build seven altars and make sacrifices to prepare for the cursing of the Jews.
bottom left – Instead of condemning the Jews at a new location Balaaam praises them,
bottom center – And in one of the famed moments at a third location Balaam proclaims “Ma Tovu” – “how goodly are thy tents O Jacob.”
center center – And a strange switch at the end of this parsha that finds Phinehas Aaron’s grandson thrusting a spear into the lascivious idolator Zimri and a Midian princess sent to undermine the commitments of the Jews by seduction into worshiping Baal. A plague also struck those who sinned but was stopped with this action which did not draw blood. so no revenge followed.