A thought on Parshas Re'eh

"...Re'eh anochi nosen lifneichem ha'yom bracha u'klala...""...See, I present you today with a blessing and a curse..." (26:1)

To the English-reading person, there is nothing unusual about the words in this verse. Those who are fortunate to learn Torah in the Sacred Tongue, however, spot a significant shift in the wording. Hebrew uses different words for "singular" and "plural." For example, when addressing an individual, we will say atah (and to a woman at) for "you ." With a group of people, "you" is atem. In our verse, the word "see" (re'eh) is singular but "before you" (lifneichem) is plural. HaShem addresses us first in the singular, telling us to "look," then shifts into the plural, as if no longer addressing this message to an individual but to the entire nation. The shift is quite obvious and demands interpretation.

Rabbeinu Bachya observes that seeing can be done with the physical senses, and can also be done with the mind. The creatures of the physical world are in general limited to the first form of seeing. They see with their eyes. The malachim, the Heavenly entities we know as angels, HaShem's highest creations, see with the clarity of pure minds as they apprehend the majesty and might of the Creator. Meanwhile, down here on earth, we human beings are urged to move past our corporeal senses and limitations. We are urged to look at the world and universe with our higher intellect through clarity of spirit. That way, we can transcend beyond the restricted "seeing" of the eyes and draw closer to seeing more and more of the Higher realm, its complexity, and it purpose.

When mortal man encounters the notion of reward and punishment, of bracha and of klalla, of din (justice) and rachamim (mercy), at most and at best he or she will respond with fear and caution, aware in a limited manner that we must watch our step in functioning before HaShem. Those few individuals who devote their lives to transcendence, to moving beyond and looking past the concrete and the mundane so that they might peer deeper into the mystery and the majesty of creation, are able to see in that higher manner. They can see through the mind's eye, with the greater clarity of the spiritually inclined intellect.

The verse, thus, begins by addressing the select few, for what HaShem wants is that the Jewish people truly "see." This is hinted in the verse's use of the singular in commanding us to "see." The reality is that most people do not get that clarity. They only see with their eyes. That is not what is important here. They will not really be able to "see" the expanse which awaits them because they will focus on "the blessing and the curse." This will, of course, help them attain a level of fear, but it will not let them achieve a level of awe and wonder. The latter part of the verse is for the multitude, and is written in plural to the nation.

Each of us and all of us confront this challenge throughout life. We have an encounter or an experience and we can take it at what we believe to be its face value, or we can try to peer past the present, beyond the context and strive to apprehend its broader significance. It is said that the Brisker Rav, Rabbi Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik, once lamented that when his great father, Rav Chaim, would hear of an event somewhere in the world, he could unravel and determine its meaning and ramification for world history as it would unfold over the next hundred years! "I, on the other hand", he bemoaned, "am only able to figure out an events ramification for the next few years...."

We can learn to look, to see, to perceive, to apprehend, to observe, to attend...

May HaShem help us learn to see beyond the moment and to look ahead. Good Shabbos. D Fox