How should we look at reality? / Rabbi Oriel Zaretsky

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One of the most common human traits is to focus on what is missing, on what is not there—to think about the things we wish we had in life but did not achieve.

This trait of focusing on the deficiency can be found in Balaam the Wicked, whose defining characteristic was an ‘evil eye’ (Avot 5:19).
Make no mistake: Balaam possessed great spiritual powers. Among Israel, there arose no prophet like Moses, but among the nations of the world, one did arise—and that was Balaam (Sifrei Berachah 357). The concept of sight is prominent in Balaam’s story; he is described as ‘the man whose eye is open’ (or closed/blinded).
To curse Israel, he needed to see them—’And from there he saw the edge of the people.’ His power was in his mouth, but to curse, he required his evil eye to gaze upon the camp of Israel.

What was this ‘evil eye’ of Balaam?
It is a perspective that knows how to focus precisely on what is lacking in reality, thereby causing a curse to take effect.
In Psalms (30) it is said: ‘For His anger lasts but a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime.’ From God’s will, life and goodness flow into all of reality. God is good and does good to all, and He desires to bestow good upon us. However, there is a brief duration—a single moment—in which God’s anger and wrath are expressed. Within the grand scheme, it is only a single moment, but it exists. This means that reality as a whole is good, and evil is quantitatively very small, yet it also has a place in reality and it, too, comes from God.
The Gemara (Berachot 7a) teaches us that Balaam’s power lay in his ability to pinpoint that exact moment. One who knows when the moment of God’s wrath occurs can curse others, and this is how Balaam wished to apply his curse upon the People of Israel.
‘How can I curse whom God has not cursed?’—Balaam fails to curse because God, who loves His people, does not become angry on that day, and Balaam cannot manifest his curse.
Our great mission is to be among the students of Abraham our Father, the possessor of the ‘good eye,’ and to see all the abundance that God has given us in our world—He who opens His hand and satisfies us with His goodness—rather than focusing on the deficiency and lack, which is the trait of Balaam.

The remarkable thing is that through that very man of the evil eye, God merits us with sublime and exalted prophecies. As God’s messenger, into whose mouth a hook was placed, he sees far into the distance: ‘I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh.’ He prophesies about days close to our own time—the days of Redemption and the Messiah. The Spies, whom we read about recently, sinned through their sight. They were commanded to see the land, ‘whether it is good or bad.’ They returned from scouting the land and showed the fruit to the nation. They wanted the People of Israel to view the fruits of the land with an evil and negative eye.
The rectification for the sin of the Spies lies in positive sight—viewing the Tzitzit. This is a vision being completed in our days, the days of Redemption, through the discovery of the Techelet (blue dye), which restores the commandment to its full observance.
Since the destruction of the Temple, ‘men of faith’ have ceased (Mishna Sotah 9:12)—and for the Temple to be rebuilt, we must be people of faith, and the test of our Redemption lies in our vision.
Redemption progresses slowly, step by step (Kim’a Kim’a). There are those who look at all the good and our achievements in the State of Israel, and there are those who see primarily what is missing, saying that since the state is not run entirely according to Halacha, the core is missing from the book, thereby emphasizing the lack. Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook taught us that ‘the sanctification of God’s Name is greater than its desecration,’ renewing the idea that when there is a reality containing both Kiddush Hashem and Chilul Hashem, the sanctification of God’s Name overcomes the desecration. It is more significant, and that is where one must focus. ‘A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness,’ and how much more so in our time, when there is so much light.
To merit the complete Redemption speedily, we must learn to see things with a positive eye, and to contemplate all the goodness and abundance that God has granted us as individuals and as a collective—’For eye to eye they shall see when the Lord returns to Zion.’
 

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