Parshat Balak5 min read

The Patriarchs Rise Three Times a Day to Argue for Israel

Three times every day, according to 3 Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ascend from their graves to stand before God and demand the redemption of their children

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. What the Souls Are Doing
  2. What Merit Actually Means
  3. The Orchard That Opens for the Righteous
  4. What Balaam Could See From the Outside

What the Souls Are Doing

Three times a day, the souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob rise from their graves.

They ascend to Paradise, where they stand before God, and they do not stand quietly. They speak. Master of the Universe, how long will You sit upon Your throne like a mourner, with Your right hand behind You, and not redeem Your sons and daughters? How long will Your name not be revealed in the world?

This is from 3 Enoch, the Merkavah mysticism text also known as Sefer Hekhalot, the Book of the Palaces, composed in Babylonia between the fifth and seventh centuries CE. It describes the celestial ascent of Rabbi Ishmael, guided through the heavenly realms by Metatron - the angel who had once been Enoch. In chapter 44, the account pauses to describe what the patriarchs do on a daily basis. They are not resting. They are not fixed in contemplative peace. They are working. They rise. They ascend. They argue.

What Merit Actually Means

Most traditions speak of the merit of the patriarchs - zekhut avot - as something like a credit balance. Abraham lived righteously. The credit accumulated. Israel draws on it in times of need. This version of the doctrine is passive. The merit sits in an account and is available to be accessed.

3 Enoch's account makes the doctrine active. The merit is not a stored quantity but an ongoing petition. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are not invoking their past righteousness as leverage. They are standing before God in the present and making their case in real time. The advocacy does not stop because they are dead. If anything, death freed them from everything except the one remaining obligation: their children are still in exile, and they intend to say so three times a day until that changes.

The Orchard That Opens for the Righteous

Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews describes the entrance to Paradise in specific detail: two enormous gates made of carbuncle, a fiery gem, guarded by six hundred thousand angels radiating the brilliance of the heavens. When a righteous person arrives, the angels do not simply wave them through. They remove the burial clothes. They dress the newcomer in seven garments made of clouds of glory. They place two crowns on the head - one of precious stones and pearls, one of pure gold from Parvaim. They hand the person eight myrtle branches, fragrant and green. Then they sing.

This is where the patriarchs go three times a day. Not to rest in that welcome but to use the access it gives them. Paradise is not a retirement. For Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is a staging point for return - the place from which they ascend further to stand before God and press the question that has no expiration date.

What Balaam Could See From the Outside

Midrash Tanchuma Balak 14 records the moment Balaam himself acknowledged what made Israel impossible to curse. Standing on the heights of Moab with Balak's commission in his hands, he said: God does not pay attention to the transgressions in their hands. He only pays attention to their merit. And then the comparison: if an orchard has no keeper, a thief can harm it. If the keeper falls asleep, the thief enters. But these people - the One who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. How can I harm them?

Balaam was not praising Israel out of admiration. He was explaining his failure to his employer. He had been hired to disable the protection, and the protection turned out to be this: not a wall, not an army, not a law inscribed on stone, but three men who rose from their graves before dawn and argued with God on behalf of their descendants. No curse could touch that. A curse requires a gap - a keeper asleep, an orchard unguarded. There was no gap.

PatriarchsAngelsAfterlifeIntercessionRedemptionBalak
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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

3 Enoch 443 Enoch

Some of these images paint a picture of them continuing to fight for us, even from the next world.

One such story tells of the souls of the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – being raised from their graves and ascending into Paradise. Imagine the scene: these foundational figures, the very avot, fathers, of our people, standing before God Himself. It's a moment filled with both awe and, surprisingly, a fierce kind of advocacy.

What do they do when they get there? They pray. But not just any prayer. According to this tradition, they challenge God, almost pleading with Him. "Master of the Universe," they cry, "how long will You sit upon Your throne like a mourner, with Your right hand behind You, and not redeem Your sons and daughters and reveal Your kingdom in the world? How long will You have no pity upon Your children, who are made slaves among the nations of the world? Have You no pity?"

Can you feel the weight of their words? The raw emotion? They’re not just praying for abstract justice, but for their descendants, for us, suffering in exile. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 44, is one source for this incredible scene.

God's response, however, is…sobering. He essentially says, "Since these wicked ones have sinned and transgressed, how can I deliver them from among the nations of the world and reveal My kingdom?" Ouch.

The weight of that answer crushes the patriarchs. They begin to weep. Picture Abraham, the compassionate one; Isaac, the one who knew sacrifice; and Jacob, the striver, all weeping together. The image is devastating. Then God asks them, "Abraham, My beloved, Isaac My elect, Jacob, My firstborn, how can I save them at this time?" This comes from 3 Enoch, chapter 44, by the way.

At this point, Michael, the Prince of Israel, the angelic protector of our people, steps forward. And he doesn't mince words. With a loud, tormented voice, he cries out, "Why do You stand far off, O Lord?" This piercing question, a direct quote from (Psalm 10:1), cuts through the heavenly court.

What does it all mean? This myth, as Lawrence Kushner and Nehemia Polen would likely argue, isn’t just a story. It's a window into the ongoing dialogue between God and His people, a dialogue that continues even after death. The Zohar tells us that the souls of the righteous never truly leave us; they continue to advocate on our behalf.

This story, like others such as "The Pleading of the Fathers" (found elsewhere in Jewish lore) and "The Patriarchs Weep over the Destruction of the Temple," found in Midrash Rabbah, reveals a complex and sometimes challenging relationship. God loves us, but also holds us accountable. The patriarchs love us and plead for mercy. And the angels, like Michael, stand ready to defend us. It's a powerful reminder that we are not alone in our struggles. We are part of a chain, a legacy, that stretches back to the very beginnings of our people, and extends even into the heavenly realms.

So, the next time you feel lost or overwhelmed, remember the souls of the patriarchs. Remember their tears, their prayers, and their unwavering commitment to the Jewish people. And remember that even in the face of divine judgment, there are voices in heaven crying out for our redemption.

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Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 14Midrash Tanchuma

(Numb. 23:21:) “No one has beheld falsehood in Jacob […].” Balaam said, “He does not pay attention to the transgressions in their hands, He only pays attention to their merit.” (Numb. 23:21, cont.) “The Lord their God is with him.” You (Balak) said to me (in Numb. 23:7), “Come, curse [Jacob] for me.” If an orchard has no keeper, a thief is able to harm it; or if the keeper falls asleep, the thief will enter [it]. But in the case of these people (according to Ps. 121:4), “Behold, the One keeping Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” So how can I harm [Israel]? (Numb. 23:21:) “The Lord their God is with him (i.e. Moses).” Balak said to him, “Since you cannot touch them because of Moses, who protects them, look at Joshua, his successor, and his deeds.” He said to him, “He also will be strong like him.” (Numb. 23:21:) “The Lord their God is with him; a royal war cry is within him.” He is blowing [a trumpet], giving a war cry, and throwing down a wall. (Numb. 23:22:) “God brings them out of Egypt.” You said to me (in Numb. 22:5), “’Here is a people that has come out of Egypt,’ on their own. But that is not so. Rather God brought them out.” (Ibid. cont.) “Like the heights of His loftiness (r'm).” Such is His nature. [When] they sinned a little, He brought them down like a bird, as stated (in Hos. 9:11), “Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird.” [When] they are worthy, He raises them up and exalts (rt. rwm) them on high like a bird. Thus it is stated (in Is. 60:8), “Who are these that fly like a cloud?” (Numb. 23:23:) “There is no augury in Jacob and no divination in Israel.” Here you are (Balak) practicing augury and divining in what place you may prevail against them, but they are not like that. When they have to fight against enemies, a high priest stands up and puts on urim and thummim, which are asked about [the will of] the Holy One, blessed be He. So all the gentiles practice divination and augury, but these (Israelites) prove them false through repentance and nullify their divinations. It is so written (in Is. 44:25), “Who frustrates omens of liars and confounds diviners.” (Numb. 23:23, cont.) “Now it is said for Jacob and for Israel, [‘What has God done?’]” His (i.e. Balaam's) eye saw that Israel was sitting (yoshevim) before the Holy One, blessed be He, like a pupil before his master and was hearing why each and every parashah was written; and so it says (in Is. 23:18), “for her profits shall belong to those who dwell (yoshevim) before the Lord […].” It also says (in Is. 30:20), “and no more shall your Teacher hide Himself, for your eyes shall see your Teacher.” The ministering angels will ask them, “What has the Holy One, blessed be He, taught you?” As they cannot enter their (i.e. Israel's) precincts, as stated (in Numb. 23:23), “now it is said for Jacob and for Israel, ‘What has God done?’” (Numb. 23:24:), “Here is a people rising up like a lion.” You have no nation in the world like them. Here they are sleeping away from the Torah and the commandments. [Then] having risen from their sleep, they stand up like lions. Quickly reciting the Shema', they proclaim the sovereignty of the Holy One, blessed be He. Then having become like lions, they begin worldly business pursuits. If one of them should stumble, or if destroying demons come to touch one of them, he proclaims the sovereignty of the Holy One, blessed be He. (Numb. 23:24, cont.) “It (a lion) does not sleep until it has eaten its prey.” When he (the reader) says (in the Shema' of Deut. 6:4), “the Lord is one,” the destroying demons are destroyed on his account, [and] they intone after him (as the liturgical response), “Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.” Through the recitation of the Shema' he is sustained from the day watch to the night watch. And when he goes to sleep, he entrusts his spirit into the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, as stated (in Ps. 31:6), “Into Your hand I entrust my spirit.” Then when he awakens [and] proclaims the sovereignty of the Holy One, blessed be He, the night watch transfers him to the day watch. Thus it is stated (Ps. 130:6), “My soul [yearns] for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning, the watchmen for the morning.” For that reason Balaam says, “There is no nation like this one.” (Numb. 23:24, cont.) “And drunk the blood of the slain.” He prophesied that Moses would not die, until he had taken vengeance upon him and the five kings of Midian, as stated (Numb. 23:24), “it does not sleep until it has eaten its prey,” this [prey] is Balaam; “and drunk the blood of the slain,” these are the five kings of Midian. It is so stated (in Numb. 31:8), “And they slew the five kings of Midian upon their corpses.” (Numb. 31:6:) “With the vessels of the sanctuary.” This is the [high priestly diadem] plate upon which it is written (according to Exod. 28:36), “holy to the Lord.” (Numb. 31:6, cont.) “And the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.” Moses said to Israel, “Balaam the wicked has practiced magic for you and is making the five kings fly. So he flies and makes [others] fly. Show him the [high priestly diadem] plate on which the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is engraved, and they will fall down before you.” You know that it is so written (in Numb. 31:8), “And they slew the five kings of Midian upon their corpses and Balaam ben Beor [with the sword].” What did that wicked man want with the kings of Midian? Is it not in fact written (in Numb. 24:25), “Then Balaam arose and went back to his own place?” It is simply this: when he heard that twenty-four thousand [Israelites] had fallen (in Numb. 25:9) through his counsel, he returned to get his wage. For that reason Balaam ben Beor is recorded (n Numb. 31:8) together with the five kings of Midian.

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Legends of the Jews 1:38Legends of the Jews

Entering Paradise isn't just strolling through a gate. Imagine two immense gates made of carbuncle, a fiery, glowing gem. And guarding them? Sixty myriads – that's six hundred thousand – of angels, each radiating the brilliance of the heavens themselves!

Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews describes this incredible scene: When a righteous person arrives, the angels don't just wave them through. They remove the burial clothes and clothe the newcomer in seven shimmering garments made of clouds of glory. Two crowns are placed upon their head: one of precious stones and pearls, and another of pure gold from Parvaim (a legendary source of the finest gold). They're handed eight myrtles, fragrant symbols of blessing and peace. And then, the angels sing praises, welcoming them with the words, "Go thy way, and eat thy bread with joy."

What's next? Each person gets their own canopy, its size and beauty reflecting their merits. And under that canopy? Four rivers flow: one of milk, one of balsam (a fragrant resin), one of wine, and one of honey. Can you picture it?

It gets even better. The Zohar tells us that each canopy is draped with a golden vine, from which hang thirty pearls, each shining like the planet Venus. Beneath each canopy is a table crafted from precious stones and pearls. And attending to each righteous soul are sixty angels, encouraging them: "Go and eat with joy of the honey, for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and she is sweeter than honey, and drink of the wine preserved in the grape since the six days of creation, for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and she is compared to wine." The Torah, God’s word, is the key to this paradise.

Even the least among the righteous are said to be as beautiful as Joseph and Rabbi Johanan, radiant as the shimmering seeds of a silver pomegranate in the sun. There is no need for artificial light, because "the light of the righteous is the shining light."

But the most amazing part? The righteous undergo four transformations every single day, passing through the joys of childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age. As we find in Midrash Rabbah, they experience the best of each stage of life, continually renewed and revitalized.

So, what does all of this tell us? Maybe it's not about a literal place, but about the ultimate state of being. A state of joy, beauty, and constant renewal, earned through a life dedicated to Torah and righteousness. It's a powerful image, isn't it? A reminder that our actions in this world have profound and lasting consequences, shaping not just our present, but our eternal future. And maybe, just maybe, it's a glimpse of the incredible potential that lies within us all.

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