Transgressions: Transgressing prohibitive commandments, even when they were committed on purpose which is more severe than when they were committed accidentally.
The Koach for this Avoda: The impetus for this service of transforming a “Curse” into a “Blessing” in comparison to transforming a “Transgression” into a “Merit” as discussed in Tractate Yuma 86 B.
Transgressions into merits: We know from the Zohar that the Torah precedes the world by two thousand years. Which in an environment beyond time simply means that the Torah stems from a spiritual plane far higher than any of the spiritual or material worlds. In the Torah someone who commits a sin is punishable by one of the Biblically listed penalties. When someone does ‘Teshuvah’ however he is invoking a power that far transcends the Torah, because the Torah states the penalty for the transgression whereas ‘Teshuvah’ waives the penalty together with the transgression and if ‘Teshuvah’ is sincere out of love for Hashem it can even transform his committed transgressions into merits. The impetus for this can only come from a Divine spiritual level that is far beyond the Torah which automatically means beyond the worlds. Here the Rebbe shows us that it comes from the same place spiritually as the ability to transform a curse into a blessing which is the same place spiritually that allows us to connect with Hashem in a ‘visual’ capacity.
In other words, besides that which the Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah on Parshas Bechukosai that the curses are exalted revelations of blessings that can only be revealed in this style, the Alter Rebbe brings down an [illustrative] incident from the Talmud in Moed Koton [showing] how several statements that initially seemed to be the opposite of blessings were each in turn explained as beautiful blessings for a revealed good, besides all that, there is [now introduced the novel concept of] a ‘Koach’ to transform a curse into a blessing.
Blessings Disguised as Curses
In Parshas Bechukosai, The Torah discusses the curses which are retouched upon here in our Parsha. These curses are higher than the Blessings which are revealed and expressed in an explicit, worldly form. In Chassidus it is discussed how sometimes when the goodness that Hashem shows us is so very pure, when it filters down into our world of lies and concealments it is expressed in unwelcomed manner due to the influence of the negative forces which are in this lowly world. As is explained in Likkutei Torah that according to the truth being HaShem’s greater plan, these curses we mention are really only Blessings {In disguise}.
There is a story in the Gemorah where Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai sends his son Reb Elozer to get a Brocha from the Chachomim (Sages) and they said to his son: “May it be HaShem’s will that you should plant and not harvest, you should enter and not exit, you should exit and not enter, He will destroy your house, and your guests will sit in it, He will confuse your table and you won’t see a new year”. And it appears from this ambiguous exchange that the sages didn’t only not bless him but rather they pained and cursed him! And when Reb Elozer told his father about what happened, Reb Shimon told him that in fact all these are actually blessings. How so? “You should plant and not harvest”-‘You should give birth and your children shouldn’t die’, “You should enter and not exit”-‘You shall herald in brides for your sons and they won’t die nor divorce’, “You shall exit and not enter”-‘You should give birth (exiting the womb) and your children shouldn’t die (enter the world to come)’, “He will destroy your house and guests will settle there”-‘This world is your guest and the world to come is your house’, “He will confuse your table”-‘Your children’, “And you will not see a new month”-‘Your wife won’t die and you won’t have to remarry’. The above Talmudic story from Moed Kotton demonstrates the concept of a blessing disguised as a curse.
Transforming a Curse into a Blessing
Perhaps it can be said that whilst the curse is immersed in this lowly world it appears to be a curse because in comparison to its negative surroundings it is a curse, but when explained as in the story in the Talmud in a beautiful way then these curses are elevated slightly to allow for their innate blessing to shine through. However there still needs to be a deeper way to transform these curses into blessings whilst they remain in their own surroundings but for that we will need an extra impetus a greater power from a higher source.
