Please join us tonight as we welcome Rabbi Peter Tarlow Rabbi Emeritus of Texas A&M and expert in security and tourism, as he delivers a special Dvar Torah!
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Here’s the amazing weekly parash from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks for your listening enjoyment!
https://soundcloud.com/office-of-rabbi-sacks/the-good-society-reeh-5780Parashat Hashavua Rabbi Peter Tarlow :The name of this week’s parashah is: “Re’eh”. You will find it in the Book of Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17. This section continues with Moses’ great summation speech emphasizing the fact that we all live with the potential to be positive (create blessings) or to be negative (create curses).The section begins with a strange Hebrew grammatical phrase: “Re’eh, Anochi noten lifnechem hayom brachah uklalah/See, I am giving you today (right now) a blessing(s) and a curse(s).” It is a strange sentence. Hebrew tends to emphasize sight much less then it emphasizes “hearing”. It is also not the style of Hebrew to begin a sentence with a word in the imperative mood (tzvui). Furthermore Re’eh is a singular command. We might have expected the verb to be Re’u, meaning see in the plural format. Usually when we find less common grammatical formats, we get a sense that the text is telling us much more than at first meets the eye. For example, is the singular command form indicating that the text is speaking to each one of us on an individual basis or does it see Israel, not as separate individuals but as a singular or collective entity? To add to the uniqueness of this sentence, the Bible then uses the continuous present tense (noten) rather than the more normative “va’natti” for “I give”. Hebrew rarely uses this tense. It is tense that indicates a sense of ongoing continuity. Is the text indicating that G-d never stops giving? Is the text teaching us that we are continuously confronted with opportunities to create good or to do evil, and the choice is ours?Is the text reminding us that we dare not be blind to life’s opportunities and to fail to see them is a curse we bring on ourselves? This week’s text reminds us that when things go wrong in our lives we need to begin to heal by asking ourselves: where did I fail? How did I not see the mistakes that I was making? What can I do differently to change the direction of my life?Once again Moses reminds us that Judaism is not to be a religion of submission or fatalism, but a religion that teaches us that we are G-d’s partners in life and it is we who must determine the quality of our life. This year has been a year of challenges. How have you faced the year’s many hurdles? Did you turn curses into blessings or only see crises and problems?Is the lesson of this week’s parashah the idea that to be an adult is to view the world through reality rather than make-believe? How many of us take the time to realize that there are blessings even when life seems harsh? How many of us know how to appreciate the blessings that come into our lives, and to realize that these are gifts of G-d that should not be taken for granted? Are you capable of being creative enough to see our challenges as opportunities to create new blessings?
