Divrei Balak
Bilaam’s Secret Weapon
One Shabbos afternoon,
the Arizal took a nap that was slightly longer than usual. He awoke with a great
simchah. When his talmidim questioned him, he answered, “I was in shamayim,
learning secrets of Parshas Balak from the malachim.” “Teach us, rebbe!” the
students begged. “I cannot,” declared the Arizal, “It would take me eighty years
to explain what I learned when asleep.” Clearly, the seemingly-odd incident of
Balak and Bilaam contains many, many messages for us today.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin (105b) states, “Rabbi Abba bar Kahana says, ‘All the blessings given by Bilaam were eventually transformed into curses, except [for the one] regarding synagogues and yeshivos, as it is said, (Devarim 23:6) “And HaShem your G-d will transform for you the curse into a blessing” -- “curse” but not “curses.”’” Asks Rabbi Yonason Eybeshitz (as rendered by Rabbi Dovid Wenick, shlit”a, in Yaari Im Divshi, 3:1:2), while we see here that only one blessing stayed a blessing, we see no indication of which one. How did Chazal know?
Even though Bilaam’s blessings cover many areas, we can divide them into three general categories: first, that we should have synagogues and yeshivos; second, that Israel should be a mighty nation, humbling and conquering its enemies; and third, that we should have strong kings and leaders whose ever-increasing domain should bring in many nations as vassals. Based upon the posuk in Devarim, we expected that one of Bilaam’s blessings would actually come true. However, Yirmiyahu, who prophetically witnessed the soon-to-occur churban bayis rishon, thought that all three blessings had been transformed into curses. He therefore cried out, (Eichah 2:2), “HaShem consumed without pity all the dwellings of Yaakov (synagogues and yeshivos); in His anger, He razed the fortresses of the daughter of Judah (a mighty nation) down to the ground; He profaned the kingdom and its leaders (the strong kings).”
How did Bilaam turn the blessings into curses? Even though he was forced to pronounce the blessings, he evilly managed to inject an ayin harah into them. However, the Gemara in Taanis (8b) declares, “The ayin harah does not work on anything that is hidden from the eye.” If our synagogues and yeshivos contain talmidei chachamim who can learn there in peace all day, “hidden from the eye” outside, then the ayin harah cannot work on them, and Bilaam’s forced blessing stays a blessing. If, however, a community does not properly support its chachamim, and they have to go out to make a living, the ayin harah lies in wait for them, and Bilaam’s blessing becomes a curse. As Yirmiyahu says (Eichah 4:1), “Sacred stones are scattered at the end of every street.” The Midrash explains, “These are talmidei chachamim who must leave [yeshiva] to make a parnasa.” Therefore, while Bilaam did succeed in turning the latter two blessings into curses, the first one depends upon our willingness to support our chachamim.
While this ma’amer contains many messages, one lesson stands out. The sheer power of Bilaam’s words (which we still feel today) comes from his use of two factors: timing (see Brachos 7a) and intent. A prime example of our using these two tools for our own benefit comes every Leil Shabbos. The Besamim Rosh (found in the Otzar HaTefillos siddur) notes that this time is especially propitious to bless our children. Not only have we just become enveloped by the majesty of Shabbos on the outside and by a neshama yisera on the inside, but at that time, there are no mekatrigim who could push away the blessing. He also notes that one can take advantage of the simchah of Leil Shabbos and add more blessings to the birkas cohanim, and even bless others present, such as uncles, aunts, and grandparents. To those who doubt their own abilities to bestow blessings, (“What am I, a rebbe?”), he reminds us of the gemara in Brochos 7a, “Let the blessing of an ordinary one not be light in your eyes.”
Still, why are children singled out for needing a blessing? The Ya’avetz there states that because children’s deeds are too weak to bring down the shefa of Shabbos on their own, an adult’s blessing can serve as a conduit for the children. (HaRav Shlomo Wolbe, shlit”a, spells out in detail parents’ obligation to bless their children at all times. In Zriah u’Binyan BaChinuch, he attributes his own success -- from heroic Holocaust rescuer to gadol b’mussar -- to his mother, whom he estimates prayed for him as many as ten times a day.) The M’aber Yabbok there adds that the children especially deserve a blessing because possibly they might have done something that week which had caused their parents to curse them. In this time of happiness, however, the parents’ wholehearted blessings annul those curses and in fact transform them into blessings. His source? The posuk in Devarim, as explained by our gemara in Sanhedrin!