Balak Was an “Ehrlicher Goy”:

Sefer Divrei Meir relates the following story: A Rov once spent Parshas Balak in Premishlan, where he davened in the bais medrash of Rav Meir Premishlaner zy"a. Since there was no kohen present, this distinguished Tov was honored with the first aliyah. As he made his way to the bima, Rav Meir stopped him and said, "Before you make the bracha on the Torah, I would like to ask you a quick question. Was Balack a Yid or a goy?” The Rov answered, “Of course he was a goy! He was from the nation of Moav." Rav Meir then asked, "If so, why is an entire Parshah in the Torah named after a goy? Most Parshios are named after the first word in the Parshah, so why isn't this Parshah called 'Parshas Vayar'. The Parshah about Avrohom Avinu is called ‘Parshas Vayeirah' because it starts with that word. So, why can't this Parshah be called 'Parshas Vayar'?" The Rov did not how to answer this question. Rav Meir said, "I'll tell you the answer with a story. One time, I was traveling by foot with my friend to see Rav Mordechai of Kremnitz zy"a, when it suddenly began to rain very heavily. The rain got harder by the second and it became very cold and windy. We were stuck in the downpour and started to desperately look for any place to take shelter. "Finally, we saw a small house, knocked on the door and ran inside. We found that it was inhabited by a non-Jew and started to leave, but the goy called us back and said, 'Please be my guest and sleep here tonight.' "He gave us nice accommodations and we slept well that night. In the morning, we got back on the road. As we walked, my friend and I had an argument. My friend said, 'That was an ehrilcher (upstanding) goy.' I disagreed and said that it isn't proper to call a goy 'ehrlich'. We decided that when we got to Kremnitz, we would ask the Rebbe about this. "When we asked our question to the Rebbe, he asked me, 'Meir, what is your source in the Torah for your contention?' "I said that it is a clear Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 334). Rav Shimon bar Yochai says that it is a known halacha that Esav hates Yaakov. Since this is the law, if the goy had thrown us out, he would have been doing the right thing according to halacha. Then we could say that he is an ehrlicher goy. But this goy was nice to us. He was acting against halacha. Therefore, he is not an ehrlicher goy. "The Rebbe responded, 'You are correct." Rav Meir concluded, “Balak's actions are puzzling. He knew that Klal Yisroel was commanded not to fight against Moav (Devarim 2:9). So, why did he hire Bilaam to curse the Jews? What did he have to gain from this? The answer is that he was simply following the halacha that Esav is supposed to hate Yaakov. Therefore, Balak was an ehrlicher goy. Since he was so ehrlich, an entire Parshah is named after him."