MA TOVU: FINDING THE BLESSING IN THE CURSE

There is a two-word phrase in this week’s parsha that is as famous as it is puzzling: Ma Tovu — “How good are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel!” (Bemidbar 24:5)

These stirring words are traditionally recited every morning upon entering the synagogue. But their origin is surprising: they were not spoken by a Jewish prophet, but by Bilaam — a non-Jewish sorcerer, hired by King Balak to curse Israel. Bilaam, the Torah tells us, fully intended to harm the Jewish people. The Talmud adds that he sought to destroy the institutions of Jewish life — to curse the future synagogues and study halls.

But instead of a curse, out came a blessing: Ma Tovu.

This paradox lies at the heart of the Jewish spirit — the ability to turn a curse into a blessing. To take what is broken, and build. To transform darkness into light. Ma Tovu is more than a poetic verse — it is a mindset, a spiritual reflex. It says: there is good to be found, even in the worst.

That attitude found powerful expression in the rise of the Chassidic movement. In the 18th century, after waves of persecution, false messiahs like Shabbtai Zvi and Jacob Frank had led masses into confusion and despair. Hope was nearly extinguished.

But the Baal Shem Tov took the very longings that had been exploited and redirected them — not toward delusion, but toward authentic religious life. He taught that there is a spark of holiness even in the shell of evil. He helped a broken people believe again. Like Bilaam’s words, the despair that could have destroyed became the seed of renewal.

This pattern echoes across Jewish history. The destruction of the Temple — surely the greatest national tragedy — became the catalyst for new forms of religious expression: Temple service became prayer in place of sacrifice, avodah she’balev, the service of the heart. When Jerusalem’s academy fell, Yavneh rose in its place. Our most enduring works of Jewish law were composed in exile: the Mishnah in the Galilee, the Talmud in Babylon, Maimonides’ code in Egypt. Again and again, we refused to surrender to loss. We said: Ma Tovu.

A joke is told of Stalin receiving a telegram from his rival Trotsky in exile:
“Comrade Stalin. You were right and I was wrong. Stop. You are the true torchbearer of revolution. Stop. I should apologize to you. Stop.”
The crowd erupts in cheers — until a Jewish tailor steps forward and reads the telegram again… with Jewish punctuation:
“You were right?! And I was wrong?! STOP You are the true torchbearer of revolution?! STOP I should apologize to you?!? STOP”

Perspective changes everything.

To be Jewish is to read the world with moral clarity — and with hope. Even now, as we mark week after week with Israeli hostages still cruelly held in Gaza and witness a rise in antisemitism in the UK and worldwide, we do not let go of our faith or our humanity. We pray, we advocate, we witness daily how light can still emerge from darkness — and that every soul matters.

Even when curses come our way, we respond not with despair but with the unshakeable conviction of Ma Tovu.