Parshat Re’eh – August 12, 2023 / 25 Av, 5783

You might be wondering why you have one of two index cards. This is a good question. As we journey together through this section of our lives, let us try something new. Please, if you are willing, and this is OF COURSE voluntary. Look at what your card says. Some of you have Ha-Tov (the good) and some have H-Ra (The bad or evil). Please find someone in the congregation, and have a very brief conversation about your week wherein each of you shares one things, positive or negative. This is entirely up to you. Then we will return to our seats and debrief. 

The word “Vayyitzer” (and God created), as in God created all of us; the word is written with two letter yod’s. It is said by our sages that rather than having a practical purpose for these two yods on the pashat, or literal, level, these two yod’s represent two opposite aspects of ourselves that are in constant need of balance in order to maintain us in a healthy way: The Yetzer Ha-tov and Yetzer Ha-rah, or the good and the evil (or bad) inclinations respectively. Interestingly, we are not to rid ourselves of the yetzer ha-ra, or evil inclination, but rather to harness its powerful and virulent energy toward positive means. Think about your conversation? Was it a positive conversation or a negative one? Perhaps it was somewhere in between? Did we hear something that caused us to make a snap judgment? Did we perhaps feel a sense of compassion? All of these reactions, these connections…this balance between ha-tov and ha-ra the good and the bad, and every single thing in between. These are all aspects of God’s Divine light within us. All of it. Think of the positive conversations as one flame and the negative conversations as another flame. We do not blow out the negative candle. We simply fuse it with the positive candle to create one brighter light. Which candle are you today?

We find inherent in this week’s Torah portion “Re’eh” the interplay between the two facets of G-d’s relationship to human beings: the Attribute of Din (Judgement) and the Attribute of Rachamim (Mercy). Moses tells the people of Israel, “See I present before you today a blessing and a curse.” He goes on to explain how the blessing will be attained by following the Commandments of God, and the curse will play out if one strays from the path and follows false prophets, idols, and other gods. There is a blessing (a beracha) and a curse (K’lalah).

I often talk of “Shalom” meaning more than “peace,” but “wholeness” or the coming together of opposite poles to create a unique Oneness. Moses gives us extreme examples of the consequences of our choices and actions. God, through Moses, advocated for complete destruction of peoples and idols in the land of Canaan, which seems to be heavy on judgment, but God also gives us the quality of rachamim of mercy. We are to care for others. To loan them our light when they need it. We are not even to expect anything in return.

Every day we are presented with blessings and curses, with a b’rachah or a k’lalah. All of us judge. Perhaps we judge more than we should, or more than we would like to. Do we err on the side of Din (judgment)? What small changes can we make to our own souls, our own attitudes that can tip the scales toward mercy, toward rachamim? Inversely, perhaps we are too quick to mercy. Do we allow ourselves to be walked on, or taken advantage of? Do we become resentful? When we find that holy balance, we will find our own worlds, and the greater world on a more level and stable playing field. In the holy dance of our lives there exist ebbs and flows…perhaps this is where another pathway to the Divine exists. 

Perhaps God gives us extreme examples, enabling us to color in the space in between as we look to build a more beautiful and balanced world. May we all be blessed to maintain ourselves with the chutzpah required, but never grip so tightly to judgment that we close our hands to those who need them for a lift. Remember, just your presence here today…your sharing of yourself as part of our ONE, can cause us all to say “Mah Nora Hamakom Ha-zeh!- How full of awe is this place!”

Shabbat Shalom

– Rabbi Josh Gray