Parshat Re’eh
Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17
By Torah Blogger, Jen Smith
The curtains’ part at the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Re’eh, with a dramatic proposition: “See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.” (Deut. 11:26)
It is a spiritual version of “Door #1 or Door #2,” except instead of Monty Hall and a goat behind one curtain[1], we are talking about the very shape of our lives. Blessing or curse, freedom or constriction, compassion, or cruelty. It is as if the Torah is empowering us by reminding us: we always have a choice.
But here is the mystical twist: the Hebrew word Re’eh means “see.” The Torah does not say “hear the choice” or “think about the choice,” … it says: See. In Kabbalistic terms, sight is so much more than physical vision; it is about clarity of perception, and how we develop the ability to pierce through the fog of confusion to experience divine light. The mystics teach that every moment and every decision – from choosing to go to war, to choosing when to cross the street – carries with it both blessing and curse woven together. The difference lies at the intersection of what we see and how we see it.
The Torah portion also emphasizes social justice. It talks about caring for the poor, releasing debts in the Sabbatical year, and making sure no one in the community is left behind. Judaism is not abstract spirituality floating above the clouds; it’s spirituality with boots on the ground, wallets in hand, and hands extended to help others. Blessings are not private treasures; blessings are a communal responsibility. The mystical Zohar puts it this way: when we open our hands to give, we literally open channels for divine blessing to flow through the world.
Think about current events: we live in a world where blessing and curses collide daily. Climate change and innovation; Polarization and solidarity; War and peace talks. Rising hatred and rising movements of kindness and resilience. We just need to open our phones and scroll to see curses and blessings side by side in the same newsfeed. The Torah’s point is that we choose where to focus our vision, and then we choose what we decide to do about it.
Re’eh challenges us to remain grounded in the spectacle of negativity. It reminds us to train our eyes to notice where our blessings are hiding – a kind of spiritual Where’s Waldo. The scene might be Grand Central Station at 5:30 PM Friday night, and we know for sure: Waldo is there (the publisher swears!) even if it takes two visits to the dentist to find him! Blessings are the same: they are a divine guarantee, but they require us to do our part. The Torah lets us in on a secret: once we start to notice hidden blessings, they will appear all around us: in our community, compassion, kindness, and sincere pursuit of justice.
Parshat Re’eh is basically telling us: life is not “choose your own adventure;” instead, it is “choose your own lens.” What we see shapes what we create. The curse is not seeing – walking around blind to possibility, compassion, and divine sparks. The blessing is choosing to really see – to recognize that even in the mess of the world, the choice for goodness is right in front of us. In modern terms, the Torah is the original “augmented reality.” If you look through its lens, you see a world alight with holiness just waiting for you to choose blessing.
Shabbat Shalom