Blessing or Curse

This week’s Torah Portion

Re’eh

Deuteronomy 11:26- 16:17

Torah Commentary by Laura Weakley

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What Moses shares with all of us in this week’s parashah is when we lose sight of Adonai, and the reality we are part of something much larger than ourselves, we then allow ourselves to be duped into thinking selfishly about our personal gain. When we lose sight of the bigger picture, of which we are each only a small part, we demonstrate the lack of wisdom about what true reality is, and therefore live a cursed life. We bring the curse upon ourselves when we sever our soul’s connection with Adonai. This is when we live as fools, attempting to satisfy our gods - which can never be satisfied. There will always be more power, lust, money, etc., which we want (understated, of course).
A person who is blessed, on the other hand, understands we were put here on earth to be servants of Adonai. This means living fairly, honestly, justly, kindly, and above all, knowing Adonai has the ultimate control. The blessed person derives satisfaction from serving Adonai, and in doing so serves mankind as well. As we are told, the choice is ours to make.
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Shabbat Shalom!

Moses starts our parashah by relaying to us a very basic and universal truth: follow the commandments and you will be blessed; if not, and you turn away and follow other gods, you will be cursed. Throughout the Torah, we are continually warned. It is quite striking we are not told in a straightforward fashion to follow the Torah and be blessed; and its opposite, do not follow the Torah and be cursed. The caveat is added to the curse: if you turn away from the Torah and follow other gods, you will be cursed. This is the particular theme of this week’s parashah, but also the underlying theme of the Torah.
What does Adonai want us to understand with the addition of the caveat? Think about this as I start with a little background summation.
The Israelites - who later on became known as the Jewish people - were the nation to whom Adonai chose to give the Torah. We were chosen to safeguard its ways, including every letter and every word it contains. In any grouping of people, someone necessarily must be responsible to lead. The nation of Israel was chosen to lead all of the people on this planet. We were chosen to be the light unto the nations. This light is the light of truth, justice, fairness, kindness, and love. As for the light which originates from Adonai: it comes from the Torah through the Jewish people so we can teach the world about Adonai - the ONE AND ONLY G-D. The Torah teaches all of us how to live our lives in the way Adonai wants us to.
We were not given the Torah for ourselves alone, to keep secret and hidden. The Torah imparts to us the connectedness of all of humanity to each other and to Adonai. Adonai lives inside of each one of us, everywhere, and is in everything. Understanding and then acting on this knowledge is the path to peace on Earth.
Leaders are role models. This means they must live by the highest of standards. Following all of the commandments is what Adonai wants from the Jewish people. In actuality, some of the commandments are impossible to keep during this era in history. This is partly why we are given the above caveat, rather than the simpler opposite of: “following all of Adonai’s commandments will lead to blessing.” The other reason for the wording of the exhortation, or warning of the curse, is because those who aren’t Jewish do not have to follow all of the 613 commandments to be blessed.
The caveat tells us, we (all of humanity) will be cursed, not for choosing to follow only some of the 613 commandments; but instead the curse is for both turning aside from Adonai and the Torah, and choosing to follow after other gods. We have learned from the Torah how the societies Adonai had us eliminate were evil for committing the worst sin, following other gods.
Why is this necessarily evil? Adonai created everything in the beginning, as we know from Genesis. This means angels, aliens, et cetera, were also created by Adonai. The one we ultimately answer to for how we conducted our lives will be Adonai. We aren’t told the other non-earthly or non-human beings don’t have some power, only that Adonai has the ultimate say in any matter. Consider a simplistic example: in a corporation where your boss wields some power over you, your boss still ultimately answers to the CEO.
Some of the “other gods” which have been prayed to are of an otherworldly nature. Some were Pharaohs and kings who held themselves as gods, whereas others were animals. Some of the other gods referred to are ones of greed, lust, power, and money, along with other coveted items of this nature. Praying to, or following after any of these other gods, has and will lead people to harm others, and of course, themselves. The wording of the warning actually tells us specifically not to “follow after”, rather than not to “pray to” these other gods.
Continued....

Blessing or Curse

Friday, August 6, 2010

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