Parashat Re’eh is a darshan’s dream. It is chock full of material, covering blessings & curses, kashrut, shmittah, rejoicing, prophecy, sacrifices, slavery, and Hagim. But amidst all of this, the opening verse offers too much to pass up.
“Re’eh Anokhi notein lifneichem hayom bracha uk’la’ala.”
“LOOK, I have put before you a blessing and a curse.”
We are often given imperatives. SHEMA, HEAR. RE”EH, LOOK. But do we think beyond the face value of these words? What does it mean to really hear? What does it mean to truly look? Our opening verse seems simple. “I have put before you a blessing and a curse.” The choice seems easy. Yet all too often we make the wrong choices. The blessings are not so obvious; the curses seemingly not so bad. We need to look beyond the surface, beyond the immediate effects to see actual end. SHEMA- understand; RE”EH- recognize.
In my shul growing up, the High Holiday Supplementary Readings booklet contained a poem by Jack Riemer with the following line, “The person who walks amid the songs of birds and thinks only of what he will have for dinner, hears, but does not really hear.” Dinner is important. We have children to feed. Our meals impact our health; our food choices effect the environment. Still, if that is the only thing on our minds, we will miss what is right before our eyes. We are too involved in our own minds and our individual lives to realize what is around us. We forget to look for the rainbows, to listen for the birdsong, or to hear God’s voice.
“Re’eh Anokhi notein lifneichem hayom bracha uk’la’ala.”
“LOOK, I have put before you a blessing and a curse.”
Choose well.
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