Isn’t it incredible how King Solomon’s ancient words “There is nothing new under the sun”1 still hold true? I find it absolutely fascinating that statements in this week’s Torah reading still hold true over 3,000 years later.

It’s the story of Balaam, the powerful heathen prophet who attempts to curse our ancestors at the behest of King Balak of Moab.2 But, try as he might, Balaam’s attempts fail dismally. G‑d is clearly controlling him, and against his own wishes, he blesses the people instead of cursing them. Balak is exasperated, Balaam is frustrated, and he returns home a failure.

You may not be aware that it was Balaam who coined the phrase ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenotecha Yisrael - “How good are your tents, Jacob; your dwellings, Israel,3 a line that has made it into our Siddur and is one of our most well-known synagogue prayers.

Let me focus here on another of Balaam’s memorable words. The prophet describes Israel as am levadad yishkon, “a nation that dwells alone.”4 The commentaries offer a variety of interpretations to this expression. Some say it refers to this world, while others suggest it means the World to Come. Regardless, they seem to agree that it is intended as a blessing, rather than a curse.

So, it appears that alone does not necessarily mean lonely. Thus, alone may be understood as distinctive, exceptional, and unique.

And yet, there’s no getting away from the simple meaning of the word. In my thesaurus, alone calls up the words lonely and lonesome. Indeed, the Jewish people have been very much alone throughout history, and that hasn’t changed. It was true in Balaam’s day, and it remains true today. “There is nothing new under the sun.”

In March 1972, when former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, he received a request from then President of Israel Zalman Shazar to convey the blessings of the President and Israeli government to the Rebbe on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Rabin spent a considerable amount of time with the Rebbe and later recounted their conversation.

The Rebbe asked Rabin if he did not feel alone as the Ambassador of Israel among the 120 countries represented in Washington. Rabin said it was an honor for him, even if he did feel lonely at times.

“We have to realize the uniqueness of the Jewish nation,” said the Rebbe, and quoted the above Torah verse describing Israel as "a people that dwells alone." He asked Rabin whether it is by our own choice or by outside forces that Israel dwells alone among the other nations of the world. Is it a blessing or a curse? Is it something we embrace willingly, or is our rejection by the nations something which we must accept against our wishes? In short, is being alone a positive or a negative?

As their conversation continued, the Rebbe answered his own question.

“Being alone is both our own choice and forced on us by the nations of the world. On the one hand, we choose to hold fast to the Torah, our faith and traditions. This has preserved our uniqueness through millennia of persecution and wandering. Through the Inquisitions, expulsions, pogroms, and most of all, the Holocaust.

“On the other hand, external pressures have strengthened the core of Jewish belief and our loyalty to our traditions. In instances where a Jew may have been embarrassed by his Judaism and tried to hide it, there were external elements that forced his Judaism upon him, and this, too, prevented assimilation. So, it is a combination of both - choice and force - which has kept us alone among the nations - a combination of positive and negative.”

Rabin shared with the Rebbe that even the Russians had a begrudging respect for Israel. “The Russian ambassador once told me, ‘You are a small country, but you are a proud country.’”

As I have written elsewhere, while antisemitism is a terrible negative, it also has some positive consequences. Interestingly, philosophers who may themselves have been antisemites, have argued cogently that antisemitism has been good for the Jews and helped us retain our Jewish identity, rather than assimilating ourselves out of existence.

A few years ago, we had a guest speaker at our shul, Rami Sherman, one of the heroic commanders of the 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue. What that experience did for him spiritually, he shared: “I left an Israeli and I came back a Jew.”

I think of a number of young security volunteers who stand outside our shul on Shabbat or holidays, sometimes in inclement weather, to protect those of us inside. Some of these young men and women have never been seen inside the synagogue. What prompts them to offer their time and effort to the shul community is their Jewish pride and zealous commitment to protect us from our enemies. They may not be religious in practice, but they bristle at antisemitism and put themselves on the line to defend their people. Ironically, antisemitism has bolstered their Jewish identity.

Yes, even today Israel dwells pretty much alone. Sometimes even our friends aren’t as supportive as they could be. We know that we stand alone. And, especially in the UN, it can be very lonely.

On November 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution determining that “Zionism is a form of racism.” Some years later, when he visited Johannesburg, I had occasion to interview the late Chaim Herzog, former president of Israel who was Israel’s Ambassador to the UN at the time of that infamous resolution.

I asked him how he felt representing Israel during that dreadful time. He said it made him terribly angry, but also very proud. Responding to the UN resolution, he ended a brilliant speech with these words: “For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood, and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such.” He then tore the resolution in half.

The resolution was revoked by the United Nations in 1991.

Yes, we may be alone. But we are distinctive in our Jewish pride, and even in our defiance when necessary.

We have nothing to be ashamed of. We have nothing to be prouder of than our distinctive Jewish values and way of life. We may be alone among the nations, but we are not at all alone, for G‑d is with us, protecting us and guiding our destiny.

May we all realize that “a people that dwells alone” is not a curse, but a most beautiful blessing.