Blessings in Disguise

 

Parshat Ki Tavo contains the curses and blessings that Bnai Yisrael heard at Mt Gerizim and Mt Eival right before they entered the Land of Israel. Early on in the section describing the blessings, the Torah states (28:2) “All of these blessings will come upon you and overtake you…” The term “overtake: is generally used in regards to something bad. Why is it used here to describe the feeling of being blessed? Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski quotes an answer from the Degel Machaneh Efrayim, written by the grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. (The Baal Shem Tov’s yahrtzeit was this week on the 18th of Elul.) He writes that sometimes God’s blessings can come in a form that we find distressful. Not all blessings are obviously good for us. Sometimes a blessing can come to us in disguise. If we don’t recognize the situation as a blessing we may become suspicious, anxious, and even frightened. Our response to a blessing in disguise may be to run away from it, instead of running towards the blessings. In such a situation the Torah promises us that even if we run away from a blessing in disguise, if we ar meant to receive that blessing Hashem will make sure the blessing chases after us and finally catches up to us. A similar idea is used to explain the phrase in Tehillim Chapter 23: “Only goodness and steadfast love shall pursue me
all the days of my life…”

Rabbi Twerski concludes by noting that children cry when they go to the doctor and receive a painful shot. Many children probably wonder why is it that their parents bring them to the doctor to get poked and pricked. But we adults know that parents allow their children to endure momentary pain because it is really for their health and in their best interests. This is even truer when it comes to the situations in which Hashem puts us. Let us be on the lookout for the blessings in our lives. And when things really don’t seem like blessings, let us at least consider the possibility that what we are experiencing is actually a blessing in disguise.