Parashat: Re’eh

Torah Reading: Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17

“See, this day I set before you blessing and curse…”

~Deuteronomy 11:26

For the past two weeks, God (through Moses) has been reminding us not to forget the “wonders that you saw with your own eyes”—as an important way for us to remember our direct ethical relationship with God. This ethical relationship (and expectation!) is meant to be taught and passed down generation to generation. And yet, sometimes, even though the Torah was an oral/aural tradition (as most of us didn’t read at that point in time!), there was always a distinct point when you would hear the word “Re’eh!”: a literal imperative—“See!”

As someone who heard about the maxim, “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see,” I understand the perils of perspective—we at times, are easily distracted or dissuaded by what works/doesn’t work for our own lives. But here, God really wants the Israelites to understand the offer that’s being laid out for them: blessing and curse. The reality is that we have the capacity for both in our lives.

This week, perhaps Parashat Re’eh invites us to look a little longer before deciding what we see. The situations we encounter (and even more so, the people we meet) are rarely as simple as blessing or curse, right or wrong, black or white. More often than not, our lives are black and white, woven together with complexity, context, and considerations we cannot yet fully perceive. If we can resist the temptation to rush to judgment, we might find that the greatest blessing comes not from having all the answers, but from recognizing that there is more to see than first meets the eye.

~Rabbi Amanda K. Weiss