Balak was right. Bil'am, the prophet of the Nations, had tremendous power which he had used successfully before. But the power of the Israelites proved to be much stronger than his and he could not affect them.

A student of Aish HaTorah went to India when he was not yet religious, before he got married. Once there, he searched for the most powerful Guru around. Once he had identified him, he went to meet him and was overwhelmed with his mystical powers. He expressed his desire to become one of his students.

The Guru looked into his crystal ball and told the fellow that he would be pleased to accept him into his group on one condition. "You must bring me something," he said. "Anything," the young man replied. "Just tell me what you want and I will get it for you. No matter how difficult or expensive it is to achieve."

"I don't know exactly," responded the Guru. "I see here in my crystal ball that in your father's house there is something which has exceedingly more power than I have; which can connect Man with his Creator. I want you to bring it to me."

"Just tell me what it is and I'll go get it," said the fellow.

"That's the problem," repeated the Master. "I don't know what it is. I just see two black cubic shaped boxes with unbelievable spiritual power. I must get my hands on them as soon as possible."

The young man realized that what the Guru was seeing was his father's tefillin. He immediately calculated to himself that if the Jews have something which the Guru himself admits has much more power than he has, then why should he settle for less? He left India that very day and traveled to Eretz Yisrael. Hashem guided his path and he found Aish HaTorah where he was taught, among other things, about the power of the tefillin which he began donning every day, and he eventually became totally Orthodox and a member of the faculty of Aish HaTorah.

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