parshat balak

This is from the netivot shalom
In this weeks parsha, we have the famous passuk that we say every day "ma tovu ohalecha yaakov" The gemara in sanhedrin says that from the bracha of a rasha, you know whats really in his heart and so from this we derive that reallly bilam meant to curse bnai yisrael that there wouldnt be any beit midrashot or beit kinesiot amoung klal yisrael. Rashi says that Hashem switched bilam's klala to a bracha. Further in the gemara it says that really this rashi is in singular becuase it is specifically talking about this one klala!! its not by accident that the lashon of rashi is in singular and not in plural. SO really this gemara is saying that this is the only klala of bilam that was changed to a bracha and remained that way. the rest of the brachot that bilam said were reversed back to klalot and didnt stay brachot permanently. This raises a huge question! We always learned that all the klalot were changed to brachot! It says in rashi that the reason Hashem changed this klalah to a bracha was to show His love for bnai yisrael - how does it show His love by changing only one! and reversing the others back! and why this bracha specifically about the beit kineset and beit midrash? How could it really be about one bracha?
To understand this we need to understand the essence of a bracha and a klala. A bracha is dviekus to Hashem. When a person is sticking to Hashem and serivng Hashem, he is subject to only brachot and good things. And a klala is the opposite, according to the netivot shalom. When a person severs his connection with Hashem and is seperated and doesnt have deveikus, the he is subjected to klalot and bad can happen to him. We see this from this as well from the words of the rambam that any bad incident that happened to a navi or a tzadik was during a time, even a split second, when that navi or tzadik was removed from his deveikus to Hashem. At a time when a person is busy being davuk to Hashem, no klala can fall upon them!
Bilams goal was to sever the deveikus that bnai yisrael had to Hashem. He wanted to try and detach that connection becuase he knew that no klala could fall upon bnei yisrael when they were involved in any act of dveikus! If he succeeded, then he could curse them and they would be subjected to the klalot. This is why the sins of ba'al pe'or and bnot mo'av were key for bilams plan! they are sins of the mind and the heart, the two key sources of dveikus for a jew! (this is exemplified clearly in the mitzvah of tefilin. that one corresponds to the mind and one to the heart becuase tefilin is a sign of dveikus ) So bilam was trying to make the mind and the heart impure by these two chata'im thereby severing the dveikus and subjecting bnai yisrael to the curses that he would go on to say.
The powers that we have against avodah zarah and arayot which make the mind and heart impure are Torah and tefiliah --> aka beit kineset and beit midrash the makom torah and makom tefilah!!! How do we combat these impurities? By learning Torah, which is metaher the mind and da'at and by davening, avodah shebalev. These are the two methods by which we achieve dveikus to Hashem and are thereby untouchable by any klala.
So "ma tovu ohalecha yaakov" is talking about the batei kineset and midrash the place of torah and tefilah and keep a Jew connected and purify the mind and heart.
Bilam tried to be metameih them with this by cursing bnei yisrael not to have any beit midrash or kineset and rid them of the ko'ach that would be blocking his klalot (torah and tefillah that are metaher klal yisrael) soHashem changed this one klala to a bracha that bnei yisrael always have the koach of tefilah and torah to be davuk b'Hashem and not be subjected to klalot! It is a tikun for all klalot that fall upon us. This one bracha prevented the other klalot from affecting bnei yisreal. Of course this shows Hashems tremendous ahava from bnai yisrael! an it was therefore only neccessary to switch this one klala becuase this koach protects bnai yisreal from the other klalot!
Additionally, the netivot shalom goes on to say that torah and tefilla ARE the moach (mind) and lev (heart) of klal yisrael. The batei kineset and midrash are the place where the shechinah rest and are a tikun for us in all bad or low situations that we find ourselves. They are a place for us to connect to Hashem and over come anything. In all the darkness that klal yisreal experiances, we have our tzibur and beit kineset and beit midrash to turn to and pour out our hearts directly to the shechinah. As long as we have that, our ruchniyut will thrive and continue to grow and not be able to be destroyed by any klalot.
This is yet another message for the koach and tefila and talmud torah. And a witness to the things that our enemies target and we must protect. As long as we continue davening and learning torah we cannot be harmed by the klalot of our enemies.