Yes, the job is too big for us. As Rav Salanter said, “We have no weapon … unless we grasp the ideals of yiras shamayim and mussar study.”This is our only hope. The survival of our people against apparently hopeless odds occurs only because our Father in Heaven has been watching over us. Nothing else can account for it. It is up to us to place our faith in “Hashem echad.”
Balaam heaped upon us the accumulated hatred of the entire non-Jewish world. Between him and Balak, the poison was at least as powerful as the accumulated hatred in our contemporary world. But the Ribbono shel Olam turned it all into blessing. The more poison, the more blessing. So shall it be for us if we strengthen our emunah and bitachon in the Ribbono shel Olam and try with all our strength to correct our own character flaws in this season of teshuvah.
Then we will see, in Balaam’s own words, that “a star has issued from Jacob and a scepter-bearer from Israel” (Numbers 24:17). Then the Three Weeks will become a time of boundless rejoicing as we return to the rebuilt Beis HaMikdash in the eternal Land of our Heritage.
May we see it soon in our days.