Transforming Curse into Blessing
The first Midrash[1] on the parsha says that when
reading the curses and rebukes in parshas Ki Savo, it is impermissible to stop
in the middle. The Midrash explains that
God does not want the curses. Rather, He
wants us to learn from them. When we
contemplate the curses and rebukes and then return to God we transform the
curses and rebukes into blessings. The
Zohar[2] says that a person who
accepts his tribulations with love and returns to God transforms those torments
into torments of love – יסורין של אהבה. He understands that, through the torments,
God has shown him a way to return.
Based on this the Sfas Emes explains the first pasuk in this
week’s parsha, “רְאֵה אָנֹכִי
נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם הַיוֹם בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה/Look, I place before
you today blessing and curse.” (Devarim 11:26) Conventionally, this means that God is giving
us a choice between doing good and receiving blessing and doing evil and
receiving curses. The Sfas Emes teaches,
though, that God is not giving us a choice between two exclusive options. Rather, He gives us both blessing and curse,
implying that we have control over them.
The purpose of the curse is to guide us to return to God. If we return to God because of the curse, it
becomes a blessing. We have the ability
to transform the curse into blessing.
This is why the Midrash teaches us not to stop in the middle of reading
the rebukes in the Torah. The rebukes
and curses are not separate from the blessing.
Everything is potentially blessing and we are empowered to make it so.
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