Balak
Numbers 22:2-25:9
Micha 5:6-6:8
The loss of a job, a relocation far away from family and friends, a failed romance or the discovery that a “true” friend is a “fair-weather” friend often results in a profound sense of loss. People often wonder why they have been singled out for such treatment from which they may take months to recover.
However, such individuals may later be surprised to discover that a lost job led to better employment opportunities, a relocation resulted in new adventures, an end of one relationship led to more worthwhile companionship and the loss of a close friend resulted in a wider social network.
A Chinese folk tale entitled “The Lost Horse” illustrates the tension between disaster and good fortune:
One day a horse ran away from a man skilled in interpreting hidden meanings. When people tried to console him, he asked, “Why are you certain that this is a disaster and not a blessing?”
When his horse returned with a magnificent stallion following behind, his friends offered congratulations. But the man asked, “How can you be so certain that this not a calamity?”
One day the man’s son rode the stallion, was thrown to the ground and broke his hip. Everyone offered comfort at the misfortune that occurred. The man replied, “We shall see if this is such a catastrophe.”
Some time later, a band of marauding nomads invaded the region. All able-bodied men took up arms and fought against the threat. The lame son was unable to join in the battle where many lives were lost. Thus he was able to care for his father in his old age.
Misfortune miraculously transformed into good fortune is illustrated in this week’s Torah portion, Balak, the tragicomic story of Balaam. He set out to curse the Israelites, but instead blessed them with this now familiar verse: “How goodly are your tents O Jacob, your dwellings O Israel” (Numbers 24:3).
The converse of turning a curse into a blessing is also illustrated in Balak. After the Balaam narrative “Israel dwelt in Shitim, and the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab” (Numbers 25:1). This deviant behavior resulted in punishment for the entire community.
At times people are blind to the opportunity to transform either curses into blessings or ignore the reality that they are turning blessings into curses. When Balaam set out to curse the Israelites, an angel blocked the way. While his donkey could see the angel, Balaam could not. He beat the poor animal until finally Balaam’s eyes, too, were opened. Thus, the metamorphosis of a curse into a blessing rests in first seeing the opportunity and then taking it. It is a process that can yield surprising results.
What role do people play in the transformation of a curse into a blessing? The Yiddish poet Baruch Katznelson once wrote that the strong person “restrains his grief and teaches it to smile.” Examples abound of admired individuals whose determination did exactly that.
What could be more devastating to a composer than to lose his hearing? Yet Ludwig von Beethoven continued to compose music as he became progressively deaf. Incredibly, his Ninth Symphony was written when he was completely without hearing.
Maurice Ravel composed the striking Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and Orchestra for a well-known pianist who suffered the loss of his right hand. In doing so, he wrote a composition of disciplined beauty and demonstrated that it is possible to succeed even in the face of tragedy.
As president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt struggled with the ravages of polio. A deaf, blind, mute Helen Keller communicated to the world with grace and charm. Pierre Auguste Renoir, suffering from debilitating arthritis that forced him to paint from bed with a brush strapped to his hand, created exquisite paintings.
British poet William Ernest Henley struggled with the effects of childhood tuberculosis that forced him to write in bed. His inspiring words powerfully speak to all who wish to transform curses into blessings:
“It matters not how strait the gate,/How charged with punishment the scroll,/I am the master of my fate,/I am the captain of my soul.”