Re’eh

The parsha starts off, “See I am giving before you bracha and klalah. The bracha, on condition, that you will listen to the mitzvos of Hashem… that I am commanding you today (as Rashi explains). And the klalah if you don’t listen to the mitzvos of Hashem….”

Similarly in parshas Nitzavim the passuk says, “See I put before you chayim, life and tov, good, death and bad…” Rashi explains if you do good you will have life, and if bad then…. The Ibn Ezra explains “chayim” is long years and “tov” is richness, health, and a home, while death and bad are the opposite. It seems the Ibn Ezra learns that both tov and chayim are part of the bracha.

The Seforno explains “Re’eh” is teaching one needs to see to it that his actions are not average or mediocre. Most people are beinoni, average, but we are being told to rise above this. The Torah says, I am putting before you two choices: bracha and kalalah, two ends of the spectrum. Bracha is success, more than one needs and klalah is that one doesn’t have what he needs. A person has the choice to do tov or ra, and he thereby chooses if he will get bracha or klalah.

Later on in Nitzavim the passuk says, “life and death are put before you and you shall choose life.” Rashi explains Hashem is showing you to choose life as a person says to his son, “choose a good portion in my inheritance” and he shows him the choice portion and says “choose this one.”

I heard from my Rosh HaYeshiva, in the name of Rav Moshe Soloveithchik that there is no shveitz in Yiddishkeit. Meaning, there is no middle road. There is tov and ra.

The Navi called a person a “mehalech” and a malach an “omeid.” A malach is created for a purpose to be a messenger for something specific and his being is for that mission. He doesn’t grow, he stays on his level. However, people always have the potential to grow, and lo aleinu to fall. One is either improving or falling. A mashal to this is gravity. If you put something in the air it automatically falls. One needs to constantly hold it up and consistently give it power and energy to keep it from falling. So too every Yid always has this nisayon to hold tight to Torah and mitzvos or chas v’shalom to let go.

May Hashem help us to always choose good, life, and bracha!