Looking vs. Seeing
The first pasuk (verse) of Parshat Re’eh is what one might colloquially call a “doozy”, “Re’eh anochi notain lifneichem bracha u’klalah.” (Deuteronomy:11:26)
Moshe tells the people that it is in their hands to choose between being blessed or cursed.
The way that one chooses between being blessed and being cursed is that he either listens to the mitzvot that HaShem commanded and receives blessings… or the flipside, that one is cursed by not listening to HaShem, and subsequently, by going off of the path of Torah, one receives curses.
When Bnei Yisrael arrive in eretz Yisrael, the brachot (blessings) will be doled out on har Grizim and the klalot (curses) will be doled out on har Eival. Bnei Yisrael will perform this ritual after entering eretz Yisrael.
There seems to be a choice involved. That is clear from the pesukim which state “asher tishme’u”,– if you listen.
If.
It is conditional.
The curse occurs if we do avodah zara, if we go off of the path that HaShem has laid out for us, and worship other gods.
This is baffling because we seem to be getting only a quasi-choice here.
Even more so, because in the very next perek in Deuteronomy: 12:28, we are told “shmor v’shamata ate kol hadivarim ha’eyleh asher anochi mitzavcha lima’an yitav licha u’livanecha acharecha ad olam ki ta’aseh ha’tov vi’ha’yashar b’eynei HaShem elo[k]echa”
“Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of HaShem your God.”
This is a problematic pasuk for me.
Because no one who knows my family members can say that we are not people who choose to show up for HaShem every single day.
And it’s not easy.
One of my rabbis at the Moriah School of Englewood described davening as act similar to talking to your best friend–it’s something that you should do, every single day, multiple times a day.
We show up.
We talk to our best friend.
I don’t know about others, but if I think about the words that I say when I daven, for too long, I cry.
(I’m also just a little bit of a cry baby.)
And I don’t understand.
I can’t understand.
Banim atem la’HaShem elo[k]eichem… You are the children of HaShem your God.
If we jump forward toward the end of the parsha in 15:7-8, the Torah states the following:
“ki yihiyeh bicha evyon mayechad achecha b’echad shiarecha ba’artzecha asher HaShem elo[k]echa notain lach lo ti’ametz et livavecha v’lo tikpotz et yadcha mayachecha ha’evyon ki patoach tiftach et yadcha lo v’ha’avait ta’avitenu day machsaro asher yechesar lo”
If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which HaShem your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. But you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.
My siblings and I certainly do not want to need help with our acts of daily living, but we do.
So, we have aides who help us.
There are at least six aides who care for us during different shifts.
That’s what the bodies that HaShem gave us need.
“…day machsaro asher yechesar lo”
Unfortunately, it is what we are lacking…
The parsha is called Re’eh.
“Re’eh” can either mean to look, or to see.
There is a very big difference between looking and seeing.
Seeing is more cursory.
Looking means that you have to analyze, look with detail.
At the end of the parsha, we hear about the different holidays, and we are told that we are to come before HaShem, “according to the blessing of HaShem your God which He has given you.”
Maybe that message can apply here, that we can all give only according to our own ability… And my family we are doing our best.
If you would like to help us, do our best, you can help us here:
Please please share this with your network if you can.
—
