Transformation - This week's Torah portion: Balak

This week's Torah portion, Balak, opens with the Children of Israel encamped near the borders of Moab. Balak, the king of Moab, hired the famous gentile prophet, Bilaam, to curse the Jews and cause their defeat, but G-d frustrated his evil intentions. Instead of delivering curses, Bilaam was overcome with a Divinely inspired mood of prophecy and perception of goodness. Against his will, Bilaam heaped praise and blessings upon those he had intended to curse.

Our Sages taught that Bilaam's prophecy alludes to the end of days and the Final Redemption that will take place when Moshiach comes. "There shall step forth a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel," Bilaam begins. Maimonides explained that Bilaam's prophecy refers to two anointed kings - King David, who saved Israel from her enemies, and the last anointed Jewish king, Moshiach, who will arise and save Israel in the end of days.

By specifying that the Torah mentions Moshiach "in the portion of Bilaam," Maimonides alludes to the underlying concept of transformation which will see its culmination in the Messianic Era. "And G-d, your L-rd, did not desire to listen to Bilaam. And G-d, your L-rd, transformed the curse into a blessing." Just as Bilaam's evil intentions were transformed into benedictions, so too shall the inner positive nature of human suffering be revealed when Moshiach comes.

The Torah portion of Balak generally coincides with the fast of the 17th of Tammuz which commemorates the breaching of the walls around Jerusalem, the beginning of the destruction of the Holy Temple, and inaugurates a three-week period of mourning. Yet, according to Maimonides, in the Era of Redemption, "all fasts will be nullified...and will be transformed into festivals and days of joy and rejoicing." When Moshiach comes, the entire experience of exile will be seen from a different perspective. The inner good of the exile will be revealed and appreciated as a positive phenomenon.

The coming of Moshiach will theretofore restore to the Jewish people a sense of completeness which cannot be experienced while in exile. Just as his ancestor King David did before him, Moshiach will remove our spiritual blinders and enable us to live a fully integrated Jewish life.

Adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.