In this week’s parshah, Parshas Ki
Seitzei, Moshe discusses with Bnei Yisrael the laws of different day to day cases
that will come up during their life in Eretz Yisrael. In the third aliyah,
Moshe tells Bnei Yisrael the Halacha that any Ammonite or Moabite man can never
become part of the Jewish Nation. The pasuk explains why, “…וַאֲשֶׁר שָׂכַר
עָלֶיךָ אֶת בִּלְעָם בֶּן בְּעוֹר מִפְּתוֹר אֲרַם נַהֲרַיִם לְקַלְלֶךָּ” “…and
because he (the nation of Moab) hired Balaam the son of Beor from Pesor in Aram
Naharayim against you, to curse you” (Devarim 23:5). This show of hatred
can never be erased and therefore, no man from either of these nations can
convert and join us.
The Torah continues, “וְלֹא אָבָה יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹעַ אֶל בִּלְעָם וַיַּהֲפֹךְ
יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְּךָ אֶת הַקְּלָלָה לִבְרָכָה” “But Hashem, your
God, refused to listen to Balaam, and Hashem, your God, reversed the curse to a
blessing for you…” (23:6). The Kli Yakar asks two questions on this pasuk.
First of all, how can a curse turn into a blessing? It’s one thing to give a
blessing in place of a curse, but to switch the actual curse into a blessing is
seemingly impossible! Secondly, the Gemarah in Sanhedrin (105b) says that by
looking at the blessings that Balaam blessed the Jews with, you can see what
his true intentions were. That which was in his heart to curse Bnei Yisrael instead
came out as a brachah. However, the Gemarah says that only one curse actually changed
into a blessing, the rest never reached “curse status”, rather they were
blessings that Balaam was forced to say in place of curses. The only curse that
was changed was that Balaam blessed Bnei Yisrael that there should always be
Batei Medrash (Study Halls) and Shuls (Synagogues) wherever and whenever they
are throughout history. Where did the Gemarah see this specific brachah from
the pasuk? And why would this specific brachah be the one to change?
There is a general
rule that Hashem does not like to change the laws of nature. There have been
very few miracles where these laws were broken and every time they were, it is
noted as a monumental occasion. Two of the most famous ones are the Giving of
the Torah and the Splitting of the Red Sea. The same idea applies to blessings
and curses, whenever someone attempts to curse Bnei Yisrael, Hashem takes the
actual curse itself and uses it for something good. However, if this is
impossible, Hashem will then, and only then, turn the entire curse around into
a blessing. But His first intention is to take the curse itself and simply
change its’ meaning to mean something good. For example, when Bnei Yisrael left
Egypt, they left under the planet Ra’ah, which signifies blood. While
the Egyptians thought this meant the Jews would be slaughtered in the desert,
Hashem simply made this blood the blood of the Milahs that Bnei Yisrael
underwent.
With every curse that
Balaam attempted to bring on Bnei Yisrael, there was no way to turn it around
to mean something good so Hashem had to force Balaam to say them as blessings.
However, there is a time where it is an advantage for Bnei Yisrael to not have
Batei Medrash and Shuls and therefore, Hashem switched this curse directly to a
blessing. When is this? When Bnei Yisrael do aveiros, instead of punishing the
people themselves, Hashem will take His anger out on the bricks and mortar of
our holy buildings. This is exactly what happened when the Beis Hamikdash was
destroyed, instead of wiping out Bnei Yisrael, Hashem destroyed the holy
building and spared Jewish lives. In this way, we see how the actual words
of the curse turned into a blessing. When Balaam said that there should not be
any Batei Medrash or Shuls amongst Bnei Yisrael, he meant it as a curse, but
Hashem changed it directly to a blessing, that there should be no Shuls instead
of fewer people.
This teaches us an
important lesson about Emunah, belief, in Hashem. He is always going to
do what is right and also what it best for us at the same time. So even if
something appears to be a curse, don’t worry, it’s just another opportunity for
Hashem to turn something evil into the best situation for Bnei Yisrael.
Shabbat Shalom!
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