The Sidra of Re’eh opens with the contrasting sharp choices which the Almighty offered to Israel. He said that he was giving them the blessing and the curse. He commanded them to choose the blessing. The blessing was symbolically allocated to Mount Gerizim and the curse was allocated to Mount Eival. These mountains were situated near Nablus, which is called Sh’chem in Hebrew, on the Western side of the Jordan. It may well be that Mount Gerizim was chosen for the blessing because it was fertile and green, whereas Mount Eival was chosen because it was rocky and desolate. Israel was promised blessings, if they would adhere to the divine Commandments and warned that disobedience would bring curse in its wake. Some people explain that Moses meant to say that the blessing was obedience and the curse was disobedience.
Hasidic commentators have interpreted the meaning of choice by way of DRUSH. Every new day in our lives brings with it both good and bad experiences. We never know what to expect. However, God has granted us the ability to transform even the bad experiences, i.e. the sorrows, the difficulties, the losses and misfortunes into blessings. We may not be able to transform these negative experiences immediately, nevertheless we can do this gradually, over a period of time if we remain faithful to the Almighty. We believe that faith and trust in God gives us tremendous resilience and amazing powers so that we are able to overcome very great disappointments and difficulties and move forward.
In this Sidra, as well as in the three subsequent Sidrot, Shof’tim, Ki Tetze and Ki Tavo, we are given a list of Mitzvot and instructions for all the major areas of life. These Mitzvot are followed by a description of the Ceremony of the Covenant, to which Moses is referring here, and which eventually took place when the Israelites entered the land. Six tribes went up and stood to attention on Mount Gerizim and six tribes went up and stood to attention on Mount Eival. The two groups of tribes stood directly opposite each other. The KOHANIM and the LEVI’IM remained in the valley between the two mountains, in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. The Levites then turned towards Mount Gerizim and pronounced the 12 blessings. Then they turned towards Mount Eival and pronounced the 12 curses. The Torah records only the list of curses which they pronounced, but our rabbis explained that the curses were preceded by exactly the same blessings.
By way of example, let me cite the wording of the first and last curses, as we find them further on in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 26, verses 15 and 26. The first curse was: “Cursed be the man who makes a sculptured or molten image, abhorred by the Lord, a craftsman’s handy work, and sets it up in secret. – And all the people should respond, Amen.” The last curse was: “Cursed be the man who will not uphold the terms of this Torah and observe them – And all the people shall say, Amen.”
The first half of the Sidra is devoted to the most fundamental principles of the religion of Israel. It contains laws which command the Israelites to destroy all the centres of idolatry and make sure that they would worship God only in the place that He would choose. The expression ”the place which the Lord will choose” occurs many times throughout the Sidra. There is no hint whatsoever that the reference is to Jerusalem.
Maimonides was of the opinion that Moses knew that the Holy City would become Jerusalem. He based his opinion on the tradition that Mount Moriah, where Abraham had been commanded to offer up Isaac, was located in that city.
However, it is more likely that, at the time when Moses delivered his final speech, Jerusalem had not yet been chosen. As a historical fact, we know that Jerusalem became a special location for worship only 500 years after the Giving of the Torah, when King David conquered it from the Jebusites. King David transformed it into the Holy City and decided to build the Temple in it. However, the Prophet Nathan did not permit him to build it and the project was left for his son, King Solomon.
The commandment to centralise the offering of the sacrifices and to allow it only in one single place is stated in chapter 12 verses 13 – 14: “Take care not to sacrifice your burnt offerings in any place you like, but only in the place which the Lord will choose in one of your tribal territories. There you shall sacrifice your burnt offerings and there you shall observe all that I enjoin upon you”. To offer up sacrifices only in one place was a great challenge to the Israelites. It proved to be extremely difficult to obey. The practice of erecting altars and high places, called Bamot, was deeply ingrained in the psychology of the people for almost 800 years. Long after the Temple was built, people continued to offer up sacrifices in the places where they lived on Bamot. Even Kings, who obeyed the Torah, were not able to summon the courage to eradicate the Bamot. Only two Kings succeeded. They were Hezekiah and Josiah.
In the middle of the Sidra, in the opening verse of chapter 14, we come across the beautiful verse: “You are children of the Lord your God. You shall not gash yourselves or shave the front of your heads because of the dead”. Just before this statement the Torah promises us that the Almighty will be merciful towards us. This juxtaposition teaches us that we should pray to the Almighty like children asking for something from their father, in the knowledge that God will have mercy. Throughout the ages, Jews have shed tears when they prayed, knowing that their Father in Heaven was watching over them. But the Torah warns us not to cut our flesh and spill our blood. These are pagan practices which the Torah considers utterly immoral and abhorrent. They display and encourage violent behaviour and callous disregard for the sanctity of life. Our religion teaches us that God does not want us to spill our blood when we pray to him. He wants us to pour out our souls. He wants us to be sincere and increase peace in the world.