Parshat Balak: A Blessed Tale of Curses

One could easily confuse Parshat Balak with a narrative from Lord of the Rings. Balak, King of Moab, receives word of the destruction of the other Canaanite kings in Parshat Chukat by Am Yisrael and their powerful Gd. In haste he sends word to Bilam, a famed non-Jewish prophet. He requests that Bilam curse these Jews and promises him great riches as a reward.

The narrative progresses and Bilam discovers that cursing the Jews is not simple; it is not so easy to contradict the Will of Hashem. Hashem makes it very clear that Bilam is simply a servant of His. Bilam says, even “if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, big or little, contrary to the command of Hashem my God.”1 Three times he climbs mountains overlooking Am Yisrael, three times he sacrifices upon altars, and three times his curses result in blessings.

This is quite peculiar. How can it be that Bilam’s curses transform one by one into blessings? The Gemara in Sanhedrin defines how each curse transformed into a blessing. For example, we are told that Bilam wanted to curse them so that “they would have no olive trees and vineyards, [and he said instead that they will be] “like gardens by the river’s side.”2

This begs the question of what is a blessing and what is a curse? Simply put, blessings and curses are two sides of the same coin. They are the power for promises made through speech to be realized in reality. Rashi makes this point when he quotes the Midrash about how it could be possible that two previously warring nations, Moab and Midian, could unite (Balak and Bilam) to fight the Jews? “And what induced Moab to take counsel of Midian? When they saw that Israel was victorious in a supernatural manner they said: ‘the leader of these people grew up in Midian; let us ask them what is his chief characteristic.’ They replied to them; ‘His power lies only in his mouth (in prayer).’ Whereupon they said: ‘Then we must come against them with a man whose power lies in his mouth.’”3

The word barucha (blessing) shares a root with the word for pool (b’richa). It also shares a root with the word for knee (berech) which bends down. A barucha is a bringing down, like a pipe that connects the person or object here with its source beyond. Blessings bring down shefa (abundance; flow). A pipe connects between two objects and so too does a blessing serve to connect the blessed with its source. To do this, one must have an intimate relationship with both sides of the pipe – of the Divine and of the recipient.

There is an intimate connection with blessings and with a “good eye.” The Ba’al Shem Tov quotes the book of Ruth when Boaz tells her: “Let your eyes be in the field that they are reaping."4 The Ba’al Shem Tov explains this verse from a line in Mishle (Proverbs): “He who has a good, generous eye will be blessed."5 The Ba’al Shem Tov continues to explains that a good eye is not only blessed, but a good eye blesses.6 What does this mean? It means that whenever we look at anything, we connect that thing back to Oneness. We see that Hashem is that object or person or event. We connect it back to its greater purpose in the world. We understand that it is all part of a perfect order. When we do this, we literally bring Hashem into the object. We secure the pipe between the world and Hashem. Hashem is good and love and prosperity. To bring good and love and prosperity into the world is to bring blessings. What is the opposite? A bad eye. A bad eye is one of disconnect, one of jealously. A bad eye curses. It fractures the world into a bunch of tiny disconnected pieces. It severs the pipe. Essentially, it is a judgmental eye. Our sages teach that anyone who judges his fellow harshly awakens Divine judgment on himself. Why is this? Because judgment is the act of disconnecting everything from its source, of looking at another human being and NOT seeing the Divine spark in them. When we do that, we disconnect ourselves. That disconnect itself is Divine judgment.

How do we bring blessings into this world? We look at everything through a good eye. We see that everything truly comes from Hashem. There is nothing in this world that is not there for a purpose. We connect every object in the world to its greater purpose. We connect every action of ours, every mitzvah that we do, to the entire reason that we are alive. Everything that we receive is simply a Kiddush Hashem (a sanctification of Hashem’s name). Avraham was known to be one of the richest men in the world. Never for a second did he forget who was at the other end of the pipe. This is why the Zohar and AriZal instituted so many special declarations of “Leshem Yichud” before each mitzvah. It is a short prayer we say before doing a mitzvah. We begin by saying, “for the sake of the unification of the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He... “ As our holy mystics teach, Hashem’s name is the world. Just as your name is how you are known to the world, so too Hashem is known to us by this world. Thus, to unite His name is to see that all the world is Him.

A curse is that which disconnects from its source. A blessing is that which connects to its source. A blessing reminds us of why we are alive, what we are doing, and that Hashem is truly with us. A blessing transforms into action, coloring our speech and guiding our hands, and thus, manifests into reality as well.

If curses, which disconnect, are also from Hashem, what purpose could they possibly serve? They are there to bring us closer to Him. They are there to demonstrate to us how far we are from Him. The ultimate repair is when we realize that at the deepest level, our curses are also blessings because they too bring us closer to Hashem – which is the very definition of a blessing. The act of changing our eye from a good eye to a bad eye means that we actually change our curses to blessings. We actually start using our curses to connect deeper to Hashem. Then, we’ve learned our lesson. The curses disappear and only blessings remain. We bring meaning to the words of the Prophet Zechariah: “Hashem will be One and His Name One.”7 We make Hashem’s name One when we see Him in everything, both the curses and the blessings.

Amazingly, we see this truth from the fact that Ruth actually comes from Bilam. The Gemara says, “Rabbi Yosei bar Huna says: Ruth was the daughter of Eglon, son of the son of Balak, king of Moab.”8 As Ruth transformed Bilam’s power to curse into a power to bless, so too can we all transform our curses into blessings.

How do we fight curses? How do we bring about blessings? We use the power of tefillah (prayer). Bilam tells us that he cannot curse Israel because they have Hashem’s blessings. One of the reasons he gives is that, “there is no enchantment in Ya’akov, no witchcraft in Israel. At once it is told to Ya’akov, ‘Israel, [see] what Hashem has planned.”9 There are two ways to bring about change in this world. One is by trying to manipulate the forces of nature, to control people, and allow our jealousy and fear to rule. If we disconnect people and objects from their source than we can rule over them. The other is through prayer – through a relationship with Hashem. We ask Hashem for that which we need. We trust Him that it will be provided. By praying to Hashem for help overcoming our curses, we make it known that Hashem is found in our curses. When our curses drive us towards prayer, we fulfill their true purpose. Then the blessings begin to flow.

Bilam had no power to curse Am Yisrael because they were connected to Hashem. They were masters of prayer. Any curse Bilam brought upon them was simply seen as another opportunity to deepen their connection to Hashem. This very act transformed his curses into blessings. To pray is to communicate with the Divine. When we truly see that Hashem and Hashem’s name is One – that this world and everything in it is contained within Hashem – then every word that we utter becomes tefillah. Every action we make, every person we meet, every object we encounter is just another word in our conversation with the Divine. This is what Bilam did not understand. When an angel of Hashem stands in Bilam’s way, only the donkey sees it. He beats his donkey forward. Only once the angel reveals himself does Bilam say, “I sinned because I did not know that you were standing in my way.”10 Bilam seeks to disconnect so he only sees disconnect. Am Yisrael seeks to connect so they only see connection. There are no blessings or curses, only prayers. May we all merit to reach this level, to find the light in the darkness, to receive and see the baruchot in our lives. We are a blessed people.

An Optional Exercise:

If we want more blessings in our life then we need to bring Hashem more into our lives. Where are you cursed? Where are those places or people that disconnect you – that make you feel lonely, not enough, anxious, or afraid, or perhaps not worthy of blessings? Ask yourself how can you turn them into blessings. If they motivate you to seek Hashem in help solving them, then they’ve become blessings. Take five minutes and talk to Hashem about them. Genuinely ask His help in overcoming them. Feels awkward? Talk to Him about the awkwardness. Whatever is disconnecting you, use it as a point of connection. This world has no right to curse you – transcend, transcend, transcend. Then watch conciously as more blessings come to you throughout the week. Keep a list. (Optionally), text me what you notice. I’m genuinely interested.

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A thank you to Rav Avraham Sutton for the inspiring lessons that wove their way into this week’s piece. A thank you to my love and soon-to-be wife (B”H), Yarin, for her constant inspiration and invaluable help with these writings.