See What’s Unseen: Re’eh

Click here to read the article published by Hazon, August 5, 2021

This week, in Re’eh, we get the chance to do some real reckoning as we receive a set of laws that govern behaviors historically used as justification for political and religious violence. This single set of 55 laws has borne enormous influence, charting our shift away from “wild” desert ways toward “civilized” urban cultures full of rules, structures, and obligations.

Moses delineates how to release debt; when to free the enslaved; how to tithe; and when to celebrate pilgrimage festivals. But see what else is required of us in Re’eh: “destroy their altars, break up their memorial stones, burn down their sacred trees, and obliterate their gods from that place.”  Moses offers a stark choice: observe and be blessed, or ignore and be cursed.

The promise we are given in this week’s parsha for standing up against idol worship e.g. greed is the promise of dwelling peacefully in the land. This is the same promise we get in regards to keeping the shmita laws.  Time and again in Torah we learn that if you do what’s asked of you, the land will provide you with bounty. From ample rains in their proper time, to fertile soil. From peaceful sleep, to safe and secure living for you and your people.