It's very easy for us to read and study Parshat Balak because we already know there's a happy ending. We know that the curses were transformed into blessings—and not just ordinary blessings, but some of the greatest blessings the Jewish people have ever received.
But imagine for a moment the Jewish people in the wilderness. They already knew they had the power to win wars through their prayers and through Moses prayers. Then along comes Balak, who learns from the very best. He brings a prophet who knows how to strike at their greatest strength. Like every smart enemy, he learns from the mistakes of others. Moab's intelligence officers did their homework and studied their opponent very well. If today our enemies import scientists and expertise from around the world to build systems capable of overcoming our defenses, in those days they did the very same thing: they brought in a system designed to overcome the Jewish people's spiritual defenses.
I'm sure the people were under tremendous pressure. They were certainly afraid—especially if they listened to the pessimists and self-proclaimed experts predicting disaster.
The Jewish people in the wilderness had no idea how the story would end. They didn't know that the curses would become blessings. Naturally, they were shaken and frightened. They entered an agonizing period of waiting, wondering what the next day would bring. They probably stocked up on cases of water and canned food, and who knows, maybe even generators, just in case the forecast of 48 to 72 hours without power throughout the camp actually came true. After all, the situation looked very serious.
And even after those nerve-racking days had passed and the curses had indeed turned into blessings, they still could not foresee what those blessings would ultimately lead to.
Even those who firmly believed that G-d always loves them, that everything would ultimately be for the good—indeed, for an even greater good—and who sang those words over and over again with joy and dancing, could never have imagined that Balak, the king who fought against them, the one about whom the Midrash says, "He hated Israel more than all other enemies," would become the ancestor of Ruth, whose descendant would establish the Jewish monarchy.
I learned all of this from the Rebbe, in a talk delivered on Shabbat Parshat Chukat–Balak, 5746 (1986). The Rebbe derives from this a timeless lesson for every Jew in every situation.
Whenever we find ourselves facing what appears to be a curse—and who among us does not struggle at times with fear, anxiety, darkness, or uncertainty?—the secret is to remember that everything G-d does is for the good. Every curse will ultimately be transformed into a blessing. And not merely into a blessing, but into something far, far greater than we could ever imagine or predict.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zalman Wishedski