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Seeing is believing

Torah study

RABBI STEPHEN KAROL
R'eih/Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17

• God places both blessing and curse before the Israelites. They are taught that blessing will come through the observance of God's laws.
  
  
• Moses' third discourse includes injunctions against idolatry and self-mutilation, dietary rules, and the release and treatment of Hebrew slaves.
  
  
• Moses reviews the correct sacrifices to be offered during Pesach, Sukkot and Shavuot.
  

See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of Adonai your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of Adonai your God but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)

• The Rabbis note that the Hebrew grammar in this phrase, "See, this day I set before you blessing and curse" (Deuteronomy 11:26) is surprising. It begins with the singular and ends with the plural. According to our sages, we learn from the singular r'eih ("see") that the mitzvot are given to the entire people. The contours of our religion are not the personal preference of each individual Jew. At the same time, the phrase ends with lifneichem ("before you," in the plural) to remind us that each individual must decide whether or not to commit to covenant with God. (Bradley Shavit Artson, "Today's Torah," Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies)
  

1. Why does the first sentence of this portion begin with the imperative form of the verb "see"?
   
   
2. Although the alternatives between blessing and curse in Deuteronomy 11:27-28 are clear, do the people really have the freedom to choose between them without fearing that they are offending God?
   
   
3. Rabbi Artson states that Judaism is not based on "the personal preference of each individual Jew." When should we put the good of the community above our own personal preference?
   

Because I am primarily a "visual learner," I am attracted to the first word of this portion, r'eih. I remember someone's phone number better if I have visualized it on a list. It seems to me that our ancestors who went out of Egypt were also visual learners. They had lived in a country that was a "feast for the eyes," and this image stayed in their memories.

Yet the use of the word "see" at the beginning of the portion R'eih is about something other than the physical act of seeing. It is bit one of the 400 times in which the verb "see" is used in the Hebrew Scriptures. Others include: In Genesis 41:41, Pharaoh says to Joseph, "R'eih, I put you in charge of all the land of Egypt," after Joseph has proposed his plan to save Egypt from famine. When Moses has doubts about whether Pharaoh is listening to him, God replies: "R'eih, I place you in the role of God to Pharaoh." (Exodus 7:1)

In each of these examples, the speaker is announcing something that will have an impact on the future. We often use the imperative when we want to get people's attention. We say, "Look, this is what I want you to understand" The word r'eih is a way of drawing attention to what will happen, that the future will be different based upon the current choice.

Whether or not you can see the blessings or the curses in front of you, you have to believe that you can, and then you have to believe that God has given you the ability to do what is right as an individual and as a member of the Jewish community.