The name of this week’s Parashah “Balak,” is the name of the King of Moab, who got scared because the Jewish people had been succesfuly fighting other Kingdoms in order to enter the Land of Israel. So Balak hires a prophet by the name of “Bilam” to come and curse the Jewish people when they were encamped outside his border.
Bilam was no friend of the Jews, an antisemite, so he jumped at the chance to curse them. But H”S warned him not to and he knew that from his mouth couldn’t come out anything that H”S didn’t decree.
Anyways he went to Balak with the hopes that he could find a moment in which the Jews did something against H”S so he could curse them.
When he was looking at them living peacefully from up the hill he tried to curse them but only blessings would come out of his mouth. One of those famous blessings we say everyday in our morning prayers “How goodly are your tents, Ya’acov; your encampments,Yisrael.”
The Jews used to position their tents in such a way that they didn’t look to the other. Halacha (Jewish Law) rules that we have to be very careful to not look into other people’s homes. What this means is that we can’t snoop. When we are looking at others possessions we can get envious and then resentful. “What the eye sees the heart wants.”
This is were most of the hate in the world comes from. Instead of being happy with our lot, we are looking at what we don’t have. The secret of the Jews in the desert was that they were happy with their lot, they didn’t need what others had.
When we are careful in this matter no evil eye can come to us. This is why every time Bilam tried to curse, he blessed instead.
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