Guided Meditation: Tiferet
Torah of Awakening: Parshat Re'eh
Parshah Summary – P’shat
Parshat Re’eh, which means “see,” opens with Moses’ admonishment: “Blessing and curse are before you; choose blessing!” He then reminds them of a ceremony in which the litany of blessings promised to them if they follow the Torah should be proclaimed publicly on Mount Gerizim, and the curses for not doing so on Mount Ebal. Instructions are then given for establishing a Temple, the only place that offerings are to be brought. And while it is permitted to slaughter animals anywhere for meat, the blood may not be eaten. The people are then warned against false prophets, and the identifying signs for kosher animals and fish, along with the list of non-kosher birds (first given in Leviticus 11), are repeated. Moses then reviews tithing of a tenth of the produce, which must be eaten in Jerusalem. In certain years this tithe is instead given to the poor. (This is one of the origins of today’s Jewish practice of self-tithing a tenth of our livelihood for the poor.) Moses then reviews the mitzvah of tzedakah (charity), the obligation to lift up anyone in the community who becomes needy with a gift or a loan. Furthermore, on the Sabbatical year (occurring seven years), all loans are forgiven, and all indentured servants are set free after six years of service. The parshah concludes with the laws of the three pilgrimage festivals – Pesakh (Passover), Shavuot and Sukkot.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃ “See – I place before you today blessing and curse!” - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26, Parshat Re’eh
There was once a farmer named Moishe, who owned many horses. But, after a series of unfortunate incidents, he lost all of his animals except for one old horse. Then, one day, even his last horse escaped, leaving Moishe with nothing. The villagers came to console him: “Oy Moishe, we are so sorry. What great sin could you have committed to bring this curse upon yourself?” Moishe replied, “Maybe curse, maybe blessing. We don’t know.”
Later that week, just before Shabbos, the horse returned – with an entire herd of wild horses! Moishe’s son was able to move all the wild horses into their fenced field. Instantly, Moishe was a rich man. The villagers returned: “Oy Moishe! What a blessing! Surely you have done some great mitzvah to deserve such a reward!” Moishe just said, “Maybe a blessing, maybe a curse! Who knows?” After Shabbos, Moishe’s son began the task of breaking in the wild horses. While he was working a particularly feisty one, he was thrown and broke his leg. Again, the villagers came: “Oy Moishe, I guess those horses were not such a blessing after all! Now your only son is worthless! How will you get any work done? How could you have brought such a curse upon yourself?” Moishe simply replied, “Well, we really don’t know… maybe it’s a curse, maybe it’s a blessing.” The next day, some Russian soldiers came through the village, drafting all the young Jewish men into the army. But, Moishe’s son was spared on account of his broken leg. Again, the villagers came – “Oy Moishe! Hashem has surely blessed you by causing your son to break his leg!” Where does it end? Of course, we must judge things when necessary. But the humor of the story is the unconscious impulse of the villagers to constantly judge everything that happens, rather than accepting life as it comes. If we are compulsively dragged around by the shifting judgements of our minds, automatically proclaiming everything as either a blessing or a curse, isn’t that itself a curse? הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה – Today, blessing and curse! In other words, “today” – meaning now – there is the potential for either blessing or curse. How to choose the blessing? אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ – The blessing, that you listen to the commandments… On the plain, p’shat level, Moses is simply telling them to follow the commandments so that they can choose blessing. But we can discover a deeper level if we look at the different meanings of the word מִצְוֺת֙ mitzvot, “commandments.” First, this moment in which we find ourselves is itself a “commandment.” Meaning, it is what it is. It has authority. We surrender to this moment or we struggle in vain; this moment has already become what it is. How do we surrender? This brings us to the second meaning of mitzvah, that of “connection” rather than commandment: בֶּן עַזַּאי אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי רָץ לְמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְבַחֲמוּרָה, וּבוֹרֵחַ מִן הָעֲבֵרָה. שֶׁמִּצְוָה גּוֹרֶרֶת מִצְוָה, וַעֲבֵרָה גוֹרֶרֶת עֲבֵרָה. שֶׁשְּׂכַר מִצְוָה, מִצְוָה. וּשְׂכַר עֲבֵרָה, עֲבֵרָה: Ben Azzai said: Be quick in performing a minor commandment just as a major one, and flee from transgression; for a commandment leads to another commandment, and transgression leads to another transgression; For the reward for performing a commandment is another commandment and the “reward” for committing a transgression is a transgression. - Pirkei Avot 4:2 And the Hasidic master, Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl wrote in his Me-or Einayim (“Light of the Eyes,” mid-18th century): אמרו רז״ל: שׂכר מצוה – מצוה. רצונם לומר, שהשם יתברך נתן לנו המצות כדי להידבק על ידיהם בהשם יתברך. וזהו “שכר מצוה – מצוה”, לשון צוותא, דהיינו שנדבק על ידי המצות בהשם יתברך, ואין לך שׂכר גדול מזה: Our Rabbis said: ‘The reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah.’ This means that the God gave us the commandments so that we might cleave to the Holy Blessed One through them. Thus, the reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself—in the sense of (the similar Aramaic word) tzavta, which means “connection,” hinting that through the mitzvot, one “connects” to the Divine, and there is no greater reward than that… Rabbi Menachem Nachum points out that mitzvah is related to the Aramaic word tzavta which means not “to command,” but “to connect.” And what is the basic means through which we connect with another being? אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ – that you listen… We connect by listening – as when someone is speaking, we affirm our connection by telling them, “I hear you.” In this way, the verse is telling us: if we want to connect (tzavta) with the “command” of this moment, we must listen – that is, we must be present; this is meditation. הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ – The blessing, that you listen… In other words, if we want blessing and not curse, we must connect with command of this moment – be present with what is, regardless of whether it seems like a blessing or a curse on the surface. Accept the blessing and the curse; that’s the blessing. Prefer the blessing and not the curse – that’s the curse! רְאֵ֗ה...בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה – See…blessing and curse!” But in order to do that, we first have to be aware of our situation; we have to see. So while the sense of “hearing” is a metaphor for connecting, the sense of “seeing” is a metaphor for understanding, as in when we “see” that something is the case: “Oh, I see.” Our tendency, however, is to be like the villagers, stuck in the curse of the automatic, unconscious impulse to judge things as either blessings or curses. To go beyond that, we need to see that impulse within, and choose instead to simply listen to the fullness of how it is, without judging, like the wise farmer. And this is the one judgement we should make – the judging of the judge. When we do that, we free ourselves from the mitzrayim (Egypt, narrowness) of the compulsively judging mind. Then, we can respond to each moment as it is, without the excess drama. And this brings us to the third meaning of mitzvot – the plain meaning as God’s “commandments” to us. When we see our own impulses, get free from them, and listen attentively to the fullness of what is now, then we can recognize that we are not something separate from that Fullness; there is One Reality, and we can choose to align our actions can with that Oneness. We can choose to live, imperfectly yet ever-returning, in service of the Whole, through the two core mitzvot: וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ V’ahavtah l’rei-akha kamokha ~ “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is not merely a mitzvah to have a certain feeling, but to live in communal responsibility toward others: giving of tzedakah (charity), hospitality, visiting the sick, and the many other mitzvot of service. וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְה–וָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ V’ahavtah et Adonai Elokekhah ~ “Love Hashem, your (own, inner) Divinity.” This is not merely a mitzvah to have a certain feeling, but to express love of the Divine through the concrete forms of avodah: prayers and blessings, Shabbat and festivals, Torah study, and the many other mitzvot of Jewish practice. Then, our actions can truly be, however imperfectly yet ever-returning, expressions of God in the world; that is both our true nature and infinitely unfolding potential: to accept how Reality unfolds, and respond with wisdom and love, bringing forth Its potential beauty and harmony, moment by moment.
Read past teachings on Re'eh HERE
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