She blessed every aspect of my life as I sat there basking in her words not wanting to move.

"If I had a sword in my hand I would have killed you now.” (Bamidbar 22:29) 

The donkey said to Bilaam “If you can’t kill me without a sword in your hand how do you expect to uproot an entire nation with your tongue?” Bilaam was silent and couldn’t find an answer. (Midrash Tanchuma) 

Blessings and curses are dependent on the fulfillment and transgression of the mitzvos as it says in Devarim (11:26-27): “See I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. The blessing if you shall listen…” If so how can the blessing of a tzaddik help and the curse of a rasha harm? (Rav Z. Sorotzkin Oznayim l’Torah) 

This past Pesach I was in Bnei Brak visiting friends. The kids and I wandered around and found a pretty park to play in. The park was full of children dressed in new Chol Hamoed clothing and I settled myself on a bench while the little ones ran off to the slides. Next to me on the bench was an old woman with a knotted kerchief smiling as she watched the children play.

I wished her a “gutten moed” and asked if I was disturbing her. Her smile widened as she answered “Of course not!” She asked me to show her my children and when I pointed them out she began to shower blessings on me for their future life of happiness. She bentshed them with health good spouses children of their own and nachas.

Her speech had a foreign lilt hailing from a distant place where simple Jews lived Jews who were full of brachos like hers. She enunciated each word slowly her voice soft from age as her blessings poured off her tongue clearly used to speaking in such terms.

She blessed every aspect of my life as I sat there basking in her words not wanting to move.

In actuality a blessing works by arousing strengths that already exist in the recipient enabling him to draw close to Hashem to fulfill the mitzvos. Thus the brachos written in the Torah rest upon him. Conversely a curse arouses the impure powers within the person causing him to sin and then automatically the person is included in the curses given for those who defy His will. 

It’s understandable that a person like Bilaam who possessed keen understanding of the powers of impurity was able to increase the power of the yetzer hara in a person and thereby cause him to sin and bring upon him a curse. This is how Bilaam had the power to uproot an entire nation. 

All this is true regarding man who has free choice. Yet it’s not relevant to an animal (like the donkey) that has no connection to sin. Therefore Bilaam had no dominance over it with his power of speech and couldn’t kill it without a sword. (ibid.) 

I don’t know how long we sat as I drank in her words. Eventually her Filipino aide came to get her. I barely managed to thank her before she flashed me another sweet smile and slowly left the park.

As I rounded up my crew I felt alive charged with the energy of multiple blessings. My surroundings were vivid the children adorable life brimmed with happiness. The brachos of an old woman I didn’t even know filled me with simchah and I knew I was blessed.

This is why Bilaam chose to curse Bnei Yisrael and not bless Moav. He knew that even if he managed to arouse the good in Moav and cause them to repent they wouldn’t reach the level where they could compete with Bnei Yisrael. Therefore he attempted to cause Bnei Yisrael to sin and to curse them. (ibid.)

 Brachos can’t change a person but they can charge them with new strength and intensify the good within them. They can ease their challenges and nisyonos and be the catalyst for all the brachos of the Torah to be fulfilled in their lives.

The elderly lady didn’t know me. I was just another Jewish woman yet she blessed me ceaselessly. Gratis. We have so many words so many brachos latent within us.

We have so many people who share the bench with us in our journey through life. Let’s turn to them with blessings allowing them to channel their potential into receiving Hashem’s bounty. Amen!

 (Originally featured in Family First, Issue 501)