Whatever your opinion on the Affordable Care Act may be, I'm sure you'll agree that President Obama probably doesn't mind if it's called Obamacare. He's obviously proud of that piece of legislation which he managed to get signed into law. I think you'd also agree that it would be out of place if it were called CruzCare or McConnellCare (or even SCOTUScare, as Justice Scalia suggested).
The name of a piece of legislation usually would reflect the person or people behind it. Definitely not the names of people who oppose it.
Similarly, the name of this week's Torah portion, Balak, seems out of place: It's named after the villain who tried to destroy the Jewish people! Although he wasn't successful, he did manage to cause the deaths of over 100,000 Jewish people.
So why is the portion named after him? It's almost like naming the ACA after Sen. Ted Cruz!
Here’s the thing - there's something unique about this week's portion: It's all about dramatic transformation. Balaam, the non-Jewish prophet, was hired by Balak, the evil king, to curse the Jewish people. However, at the end of the day, instead of raining curses he showered the most beautiful blessings on the Jewish people. And not just regular blessings either. These blessings include one of the few references in the Torah to the future era of Moshiach. The time when this world will reach a state of perfection and G-dliness will be apparent and revealed.
And there's more! Not only were Balaam's curses transformed into blessings, Balak himself - the wicked conspirator of this whole attempted cursing spree - experienced transformation. Ok, it wasn't Balak himself, rather his descendants. And not in a small way - the very individual who attempted to do away with the Jewish people - is also the ancestor of Moshiach.
Yes, you read that right. Balak was the king of Moab and one of his descendants was Ruth. She later converted to Judaism and her great grandson was non other than King David. And you guessed it - Moshiach is going to be a descendant of King David.
Bottom line? This week is one of dramatic transformation. It can be done - why not try to dramatically transform something of significance in your life? Take something negative and transform it into a positive! There's no better time than the present.