To Choose Life and a Future Forward

Aug 17, 2025, 7:22 AM

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To Choose Life and a Future Forward

Torah Portion- Re’eh (“See”)

(Deuteronomy -Chapter 11:26-16:17)

To choose life is to choose to choose

Freedom over internal paralysis.

It is to decide to rule over fear,

Anxiety, despair and wanton evil.

Freedom implies choice, not internal slavery

Which succumbs to whatever sets us adrift.

The choice is ours, if we choose to take it;

Otherwise, we are prisoners trapped in whirlwinds.

To choose life and a future forward

Is to evade the pitfalls of the past.

It is to learn from history’s failures.

To see a Divinely mapped trajectory:

A mission statement blessed at the outset,

Always awaiting, yet, to be bestowed.

About the Author

Michel M.J. Shore is a retired judge of the Federal Court of Canada and recently made a home in Israel. He is the writer of several published books and poetry collections.