Have Questions or Comments?
Leave us some feedback and we'll reply back!

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Phone Number)

    In Reference to

    Your Message


    BALAK: OUR LIVES ARE BLESSED!

    The Hovot Ha’levavot writes
    that when a person goes out
    to work in the morning, he
    should have kavanah that he
    is now performing a mitzvah,
    fulfilling Hashem’s command
    that he work to earn a
    livelihood. A person shouldn’t go to work
    begrudgingly, wishing he could just stay
    home and do nothing. Rather, he should think
    to himself that he performs a mitzvah, since,
    after all, it is Hashem’s will that a person
    work to support himself and his family.
    In presenting this idea, the Hovot Ha’levavot
    brings a pasuk from the story of creation.
    After Hashem created Adam and Havah, the
    first human beings, he placed them in Gan
    Eden “to work in the garden, and to guard it”
    (Bereshit 2:15). This pasuk, the Hovot
    Ha’levavot writes, is the source of the notion
    that we fulfill Hashem’s will by working for a
    livelihood.
    It is noteworthy that the Hovot Ha’levavot
    chose to bring this pasuk, which refers to
    Adam and Havah’s life in Gan Eden before
    the sin. As we know, Adam and Havah were
    soon banished from Gan Eden because they
    partook of the forbidden fruit, and Hashem
    decreed that Adam would have to work very

    hard to earn a livelihood: “By the sweat of
    your brow shall you eat bread” (Bereshit
    3:19). Hashem cursed the land, such that it
    would not produce food without lots of hard
    work. Already before the sin, Adam and
    Havah needed to work, but after the sin, the
    work became much more grueling.
    We would certainly assume that this second
    pasuk is far more relevant to our situation,
    which the Hovot Ha’levavot addresses. As we
    all know, we need to work very hard to
    support ourselves and our families, and this is
    because of the curse which Hashem
    proclaimed after Adam and Havah’s sin. Why,
    then, did the Hovot Ha’levavot bring the first
    pasuk, which describes work before Adam
    and Havah’s sin, as the source of the “mitzvah”
    to work for a living?
    Perhaps we can find the answer in our
    parashah, Parashat Balak.
    Balak, the king of Moav, sent a delegation to
    Bilam, asking him to come and place a curse
    on Beneh Yisrael. Hashem appeared to Bilam
    and said, Lo Teor Et Ha’am Ki Baruch Hu –
    “Do not curse the nation, because they are
    blessed” (22:12). Rashi explains that Hashem
    first told Bilam, Lo Teor Et Ha’am – not to
    curse Beneh Yisrael. Bilam then asked if he
    should bless them, instead. Hashem replied,

    Ki Baruch Hu – the people were already
    blessed, and they did not require Bilam’s
    blessing.
    What does this mean? Why did Hashem not
    want Bilam to bless the people?
    The answer, sadly, is found all around us, and
    perhaps even within ourselves.
    So many people are waiting to be blessed, not
    realizing that they are already blessed. So
    many people complain and feel unhappy,
    seeing themselves as deprived, and their lives
    as “cursed,” when in truth, they are blessed.
    They are unhappy and discontented, because
    they don’t see that they already have so much
    blessing.
    Hashem was telling Bilam that Benei Yisrael
    are already blessed, and they do not need him
    to bless them. And this is the perspective we
    should have, as well. Of course, it is perfectly
    acceptable to want things we don’t have, and
    to pray for these things. However, we must
    always remember Ki Baruch Hu – that we are
    already blessed, that we already have so many
    beautiful blessings, that we are so fortunate,
    that Hashem has bestowed upon us so many
    wonderful gifts. We don’t need to wait for
    bracha to feel blessed, because Baruch Hu –
    we already have a great deal of bracha in our
    lives.
    This might explain why the Hovot Ha’levavot
    chose the pasuk describing Adam and Havah
    before their banishment from Gan Eden. He is
    indicating to us that we are to see our lives as
    blessed, not cursed. Even if we need to work
    long hours at a job we do not love, we are to
    feel blessed, as if we are in Gan Eden, because
    we are doing what Hashem wants us to do. We
    shouldn’t see our jobs as a curse, but rather as
    a blessing. We should go to work and do all
    the things we need to do – even the hard
    things! – with a feeling of Ki Baruch Hu, that
    we are blessed, that we have the good fortune
    of living our lives in the service of Hashem
    and under His constant, loving care.