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By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
ולא אבה ה’ אלקיך לשמוע אל בלעם ויהפוך ה’ אלקיך לך את הקללה לברכה (פרק כג פסוק ו)
Moshe describes Hashem’s love of the Jews by reminding them of when בלעם wanted to curse them and “Hashem did not want to listen, and he turned the curses of בלעם into blessings”. The דברי שאול asks, that in the story of בלעם Hashem didn’t even allow him to curse the Jews, rather He orchestrated that only blessing came from his mouth. If so, why is it described as Hashem turning the curse into blessing, it would seem that there never was a curse? The דברי שאול explains that Hashem’s love for the Jews is so great that He didn’t want us to be cursed at all because this would cause us pain in the moment until Hashem turned it into a blessing. The way to read the פסוק is “Hashem did not want to listen to turn the curses of בלעם into blessing”, rather, out of his intense love for us, He caused בלעם to only bless us, avoiding our momentary anguish.
זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק (פרק כה פסוק יז)
The Parsha ends with how Amalek attacked us in our moment of weakness. Immediately before that is the commandment to have proper weights and measures in business. Rashi explains the correlation, that when we are not honest in business, trying to get more with faulty weights and measures, then we are at risk for the enemy to attack. R’ Shimon Schwab points out, though, that in Parshas Beshalach Rashi says that Amalek was able to attack because we questioned, “היש ה’ בקרבנו אם אין” “Is Hashem in our midst or not”, which one was it? R’ Shimon explains that both of these sins are intertwined because the question in Beshalach was essentially challenging Hashem’s השגחה פרטית, personal divine attention, for כלל ישראל. The lack of firm belief in Hashem’s involvement in our daily life results in cheating in business. If we believed that Hashem was with us on a personal level, we would know that He will provide for all of our needs and we will not gain anything from dishonest practices. The source for lying and cheating is lack of faith in Hashem’s ability and supervision.
