"מה טבו אהליך יעקב משכנתיך ישראל"
“How goodly are your tents, O Yaakov, your dwelling places, O Israel.”

QUESTION: Why do we open our daily prayers with words of the vile Bilaam, uttered in an attempt to annihilate the Jewish people? (In fact, some omit it and start from “Va’ani berov chasdecha” — see Responsa Maharshal 64).

ANSWER: Inherent humility and insecurity usually inhibits a person from thinking highly of or praising his own endeavors and accomplishments. Very often he needs the assurance of an outsider to be convinced that his decision or action was correct.

A popular adage states: “A stranger for a while sees for a mile.” Particularly one who is familiar with “both sides of the fence” is in the best position to honestly appraise one’s virtues.

Bilaam the non-Jewish prophet had a profound insight of the secular world. When he took a close look at the Jewish people, he was stunned and flabbergasted at their beauty. Knowing keenly the shortcomings and faults of the gentile world, he involuntarily proclaimed, “How goodly are your tents, O Yaakov.”

In order to dispel any doubts that we may have about our convictions of G‑dliness and Judaism, we proclaim these words at the very beginning of our prayers. We thus recall that even the great gentile prophet, Bilaam, attested to the beauty and superiority of our religion.