This week’s parsha, Parshat Balak, opens with Balak, king of Moav, summoning the prophet Bilaam to curse the Israelites during the final years of their desert wandering. Balak learned about the Israelites’ miraculous defeat of the Emorite kings Sichon and Og. When he saw the Israelites encamped on his borders, he panicked. He didn’t send diplomats. He didn’t engage and ask what kind of society Israel is building. Instead, he hired a prophet, Bilam, to curse them into oblivion from a distance.

And yet, surprisingly, his story ends with blessing. Bilam warns the king that he is limited in what he can say: “I can utter only the word that God puts in my mouth.” He cannot utter curses against God’s will. “How can I curse whom God has not cursed?” he says. (Numbers 23:8). Instead of cursing Israel, Bilam ends up delivering a blessing so eloquent that it becomes part of our daily liturgy: “Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov…” — “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob.” 

It’s a remarkable twist—but also a subtle reminder: foreign powers may try to dominate the Jewish people from afar, but their plans are never the final word. God’s will overrides political fear.  Ultimately it comes back to how we choose to respond to the unexpected. And sometimes, astonishingly, blessings come from the most unlikely........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)