Parshat Balak – How To Turn Our Enemies’ Curses into Blessings

How does this week’s Parasha teach us how the Jewish people will prevail against Hamas in the war they began against Israel?

The world knows that Hamas is a weak and feeble military entity which stands no chance against Israel, and this week’s Torah portion shows exactly why anyone who picks a fight with the Jews is ultimately destined to fail. It also demonstrates how our salvation comes in miraculous ways in which our enemies attempts to curse and defeat us are turned into blessings that last for all eternity.

The Parsha this week is Balak, named for the ancient Moabite king, who summoned a prophet-for-hire named Balaam to curse the advancing Jewish tribes as they meandered past Moabite territory on their journey through the desert.

Balak saw the Israelites advancing toward his land and rather than viewing the Jews in a positive light, was filled with fear and terror. In his delusional and paranoid state, he thought a powerful curse would be needed to defeat what he considered a great threat of the advancing Jewish army.

Balak hired Balaam, a sorcerer with untold powers, to curse the Jews and spiritually cripple them. As Balaam prepared to deliver his curses, he was unable to execute his mission. Instead, Balaam broke forth into blessings, because despite his own personal hatred of the Jews and his willingness to follow the orders of the king, he could not do anything against G-d’s will. “How can I curse whom G-d has not cursed?” (Numbers 23:8).

The blessing he issued goes as follows: “How lovely are your tents, children of Jacob, your sanctuaries, descendants of Israel…” This line of poetry describing the peace and love found in the Israelite camps is well known today by even the smallest Jewish child, who reads it as the Ma Tovu prayer we recite in our daily Shacharit morning prayer services.

But we must ask ourselves, why did Balak commission Balaam to curse the Jews when he could have requested a blessing that his people be successful and protected?

This story shows us what happens when evil people are blinded by the power of hatred — they ultimately act without regard for their own welfare. Evil people do not have a moral barometer, and therefore, the onus is on the Jews to teach morality and live virtuously.

Holocaust Historian Lucy Dawidowicz describes a modern day example of this tendency. She documented how toward the end of WWII, when Germany had limited resources and was losing, Hitler nonetheless chose to use the few available trains to transfer Jews to Auschwitz, rather than transport his soldiers to help fight on the Eastern front. A real antisemite hates Jews more than they care for their own survival. That’s why Balaam agreed to curse the Jews, disregarding his own welfare. That’s why Balak preferred his own destruction rather than simply appeal to Balaam for a blessing to be protected.

When a person or a nation hates Jews, they do so despite the blessings we bring the world on a daily basis. They do so even though we have brought them so many scientific advances, technological discoveries, and life saving medical treatments.

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Additionally, the Jews are a barometer for morality in this world. An evil person does not have a moral compass, and needs the Jews to show them right from wrong. They want to sin and curse others without the burden of a conscience. As Hitler is quoted as saying “The Ten Commandments have lost their validity.  Conscience is a Jewish invention, it is a blemish like circumcision.”

This harkens back to the early 1900s, when the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, of Righteous memory, was imprisoned and sentenced to execution by the Soviets for the crime of spreading Judaism in an officially atheist country. In what can only be described as a miracle, the Soviets released the previous Rebbe without any explanation, an occasion which many Jews around the world mark on Yud Beis Tammuz, which took place this Thursday.

What will help us defeat Hamas and their global network of hateful supporters is the same as what helped the previous Rebbe defeat Stalin and helped our ancestors overcome their biblical adversaries.

We must embrace our divine mission to fight darkness with light, education and complete love. We must bring the message of light and morality to humanity, showing them that this world is not a jungle, but a beautiful bountiful garden. This mission to spread awareness of G-d’s teachings is the holy purpose that each and every Jew can fulfill.

When we stay connected to G-d and our holy divine mission, not only can we stay calm and collected amid the most trying of circumstances, but our enemies’ attempts to destroy us will also be transformed into a blessing that will sustain us for generations, because when you stay connected to something higher, you can’t fall down.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann