In the course of blessing the Jewish people, Bilaam uttered words that have come to seem to many to encapsulate Jewish history: How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce the Lord has not denounced? From the tops of crags I see them, From the hills I gaze down: A people that dwells alone, Not reckoning itself among nations. - Num. 23:8-9 That is how it seemed during the persecutions and pogroms in Europe.