Three times Bilam attempted to curse Beneh Yisrael, and all three times, Hashem forced him to pronounce beautiful blessings, instead.
When he made his third and final attempt, he introduced his prophecy by saying, נאם הגבר שתום העין – “These are the words of the man with a shut eye.” The Rabbis explained that before giving this third blessing, Bilam became blind in one eye.
Why did this happen? Why specifically now did Bilam lose vision in one eye?
The answer lies in a change in Bilam’s strategy.
The first time he tried to curse Beneh Yisrael, he looked to their ancestors, pointing to the fact that Avraham Avinu’s parents worshipped idols. Bilam was telling Hashem that Beneh Yisrael weren’t anything special, because they descended from idolaters. In truth, of course, Avraham broke from his past, and charted a whole new course, and so Beneh Yisrael did, in fact, have very strong spiritual foundations.
Next, Bilam turned to Beneh Yisrael’s current generation, the sins they committed in the desert, specifically, the golden calf. Certainly, he said, they shouldn’t deserve any special status if they did something so terrible. But in truth, only a small portion of the nation instigated the sin of the golden calf, and the rest were, indeed, deserving of Hashem’s special blessingHem.
The third time, Bilam tried a whole different approach. Rashi writes that Bilam tried to place an עין הרע (“evil eye”) on Beneh Yisrael. Instead of trying to find something bad to say about them, he decided to do just the opposite – to talk about how great they are, how much they achieved, how much they had, and how much they were blessed. Hashem therefore made Bilam blind in one eye – representing the loss of the power of עין הרע, that he would be unable to place an “evil eye” on Beneh Yisrael.
The story of the Jews’ experience in the United States can be divided into three stages, three basic challenges that we encountered – which, to a large extent, correspond to the three attempts to curse Beneh Yisrael.
The first challenge was the challenge of basic survival, both physical and spiritual. The Jewish immigrants’ primary struggle was the struggle to earn a livelihood without losing their Jewishness. Many immigrants lost this struggle and ended up working on Shabbat, but many others heroically persisted, without flinching, remaining committed to Torah despite the hardship. These heroes laid the foundation of Torah life in this country – much like Avraham Avinu laid the firm foundation for the entire future of the Jewish Nation.
The next struggle was the children. The first generation persevered, but many of the children were lost – just as many among Beneh Yisrael sinned in the desert. Many others, however, remained committed to Torah despite the lures of American society.
The third struggle is the one we are facing now in our times. This is challenge of the עין הרע – the challenge of having everything. Jewish life has become very comfortable. It’s no longer a challenge to earn a living while observing Shabbat. We have so many outstanding shuls, schools, yeshivot, institutions and organizations. There are so many opportunities to learn Torah. Kosher food is available in abundance. Our generation’s struggle is like Bilam’s third attempt to curse Beneh Yisrael – the struggle of having everything, of being too comfortable.
Our challenge is the opposite challenge of our predecessors, who had to struggle to put food on the table, to maintain their Jewishness, and to provide their children with a religious upbringing. We have it easy – and this becomes a struggle unto itself, as we can become complacent, distracted, and led astray by all the comforts and luxuries that modern life affords us.
Our nation’s success throughout its history is owed to our resilience. We’re not afraid of challenges. When we get knocked down, we get back up. Yes, it’s very difficult to raise a religious household in today’s day and age. But this was no less difficult – and, in some ways, it was far more difficult – in earlier generations. Our predecessors persevered and met their challenges – and we, too, are fully capable of persevering and meeting our challenges.