A Question of Choice

A Question of Choice
D’var Torah for Parashat Re’eh
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman

Parashat Re’eh (“behold”) continues Moses’s last sermon, addressed to the Israelites only days before they cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land.

The rules in these chapters—Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17—continue defining the identity of the People of Israel. We are Israel by dint of our religion, by practice and traditions, and by our connection to our people and homeland. The major categories of the laws covered in Re’eh are therefore: ritual and worship; food (both what we eat and what we don’t eat); a recollection of our basic philosophy that loyalty to God is shown by the love, loyalty and charity we show our family and community; and finally, a recap of the Three Holidays of Pilgrimage (Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot.

That’s a lot of material to carry in our backpacks!

And all of it highlighted, delineated, clarified and colorfully illuminated by examples. All is made clear and simple for all to understand and follow.

Yet one “detail” is somehow left blank. It is referred to by the word Ha-makom, meaning “the place.” You are supposed to bring your sacrifices, gifts and donations “El ha-makom asher yivchar Adonai”—“to the place which Adonai your God will choose.” Similarly, days of family celebrations and national commemorations are celebrated Ba-makom asher yivchar (“at the place which He will choose”).

What place might that be?

The historical background of the book of Deuteronomy roots it in Jerusalem. However, it becomes clear from passages within the text that there already existed communities of Jews who were living outside the Promised Land. From Moses’s view—high on top of Mount Nebo—he can see not only the entire Land of Israel, but also far beyond its boundaries and even into the future. He can see the entire Diaspora!

That’s why Moses summarizes these laws for us at this point. These laws, he seems to say, will keep on defining us as Israel, a people, no matter where we live and at what eon in our history.

Today there are Jewish communities all over the globe. The stories of how we got there are, one and all, fascinating. One of the books I read this summer is Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean by Ed Kritzler. Who would have ever thought, right? And yet, among the many Jews who followed Columbus to the New World, all looking for adventure, riches and romance (and in the process escaping the Spanish Inquisition), quite a few were swashbuckling “privateers,” “corsairs,” or in modern idiom—pirates. How they managed to maintain their Jewish identity despite their occupation, despite persecution and oppression, is truly a miracle.

Wherever the Jews went, they took the Torah with them. Its injunctions, morals, its system of rewards and punishments, these were the backbone of the faith on which we relied. What we ate—and refrained from eating; our practices and rituals; our traditions; our holidays; and most importantly, our relationships with one another—these kept us together as one nation. Despite geographical and temporal distance from sister communities all over the globe, Israel thus has remained one people.

So where is this “place” to which Moses alludes?

Certainly it is Israel; but it is also everyplace, everytime.

Yivchar Adonai–God chooses the place. But God’s choice depends on ours. God waits for us to act first: to follow the way of the blessing or the curse. When we choose to follow the laws that make us Israel, to remember who we are and what that means, God reciprocates and we sense the blessing—God’s Presence at that place. Ba-makom.

Parashat Re-eh is always read on this Shabbat, four weeks before Rosh Ha-Shanah. It comes at the end of summer, when we find ourselves back at home again. We’re back from camp or vacations; some of us have already returned our college sons and daughters to their dorm “homes.” Those who haven’t yet, will soon. Wherever we are at this season, facing a new year, now is the time to focus and restate—at least for ourselves—the moral principles that will guide us during the next year. At this time, in the words of the portion, we “behold the blessing and the curse,” a life glowing with meaning and purpose, or a life with no context, without love, without blessing or holiness. The choice is ours.

And then God beholds and sees, and God makes God’s own choices.

We are truly partners in holiness. May our Shabbat be blessed with peace wherever we are.


©2011 by Boaz D. Heilman