Blessings and curses. Stirring stuff from the Bible this week as Moses again
cautions his congregation. The great prophet reminds them that living a life of
goodness will bring them blessings while ignoring the Divine call must
inexorably lead to a cursed existence.
Moses prefaces his admonition with the Hebrew word Re'eh, "See."
See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse. But why "see"? What is
there to see? Did he show them anything at all? The Torah does not use flowery
language just because it has a nice ring to it and sounds poetic. What was there
to behold? Why Re'eh?
One answer is that how we look will, in itself, determine whether our
lives will be blessed or cursed. How do we look at others, at ourselves? Our
perspective, how we behold and see things, will result in our own lives being
blessed or, G-d forbid, the opposite.
The saintly Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev once chanced upon a strong,
young man who was brazenly eating on Yom Kippur. The Rabbi suggested that
perhaps he was feeling ill. The fellow insisted he was in the best of health.
Perhaps he had forgotten that today was the holy day of fasting? "Who doesn't
know that today is Yom Kippur?" responded the young man. Perhaps he was never
taught that Jews do not eat on this day? "Every child knows that Yom Kippur is a
fast day, Rabbi!" Whereupon Rabbi Levi Yitzchak raised his eyes heavenward and
said, "Master of the Universe, see how wonderful Your people are! Here is a Jew
who, despite everything, refuses to tell a lie!" The Berditchever was always
able to look at others with a compassionate, understanding and benevolent eye.
How do we view the good fortune enjoyed by others? Are we happy for them, or
do we look at them with begrudging envy? How do we look at ourselves and our own
shortcomings? Are we objectively truthful or subjectively slanted? "He is a
stingy, rotten good for nothing. Me? I am just careful about how I spend my
money." "She is a bore of bores, anti-social. Me? I just happen to enjoy staying
at home." "He is as stubborn as an ox! Me? I am a determined person."
Clearly, the manner in which we look at our world and those around us will
have a major impact on the way life will treat us. Quite justifiably, Moses says,
"See." For how we see things in life will undoubtedly affect life's
outcomes.
The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950),
once told how when he was a young child he asked his father: "Why does a person
have two eyes?" "The right eye," his father replied, "is to be used lovingly,
when looking at a fellow Jew; the left eye is to be used discerningly, when
looking at sweets or other objects that are not that important in the grand
scheme of things."
(When I was in yeshivah, the same building also housed a synagogue where we
would often interact with the adult men who would come to the daily minyan.
One particular gentleman, may he rest in peace, always seemed to us rather
cantankerous, what you might call a grumpy old man. I cannot remember whether he
was actually a bit cross-eyed or not, but we referred to him as "left-eyed Sam"
because he always seemed to be looking at us students with that proverbial left
eye.)
The Parshah that is entitled Re'eh, "See," is a perennial reminder to
all of us that even our vision can bring virtue or vice. Let us look at the
world correctly and invite the blessings of G-d into our lives.
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