Hello friends and welcome back to Torah Thoughts from Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa, based in Mason City. Before we get into this week's Parsha (Torah Portion) please remember we'll be gathering for services at 7:00PM on Friday the 18th and our Midrash (Study Session) takes place on Shabbat (Saturday) starting at 10:00AM. Both events at the shul. The portion we'll be studying next week is Parsha Shoftim (Deut. 16:18 - 21:9. Just in case you want to study up before we visit. Hope to see you in Shul!
Parsha Re'eh
This week we've been studying Parsha Re'eh (Hebrew for "see") Re'eh is Deut. 11:26 - 16:17. The name of this Parsha comes from the first word and it is Moses talking, "See, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. The blessing that you will harken to the commandments of Hashem your G-d..." Of course there is another path a person might follow which is the "curse". "And the curse is that if you stray from the commandments of Hashem your G-d, to follow other gods that you do not know."
It is a pretty stark reminder of our duty to follow each of the commandments that we can, or must. So how do we know what will bring us a blessing and what might bring us a curse? Rabbi Yitzchok Meir of Gur says that G-d has given a person the wisdom and understanding to be able to distinguish between right and wrong, between a blessing and curse. We have not only the intelligence to make wise decisions but also the ability to do so. Yet, we often see people making unwise decisions that are to their own detriment, and they fail to use these G-d-given strengths in their own favor.
So...What?
The great sage Rabbi Avraham Twerski talks about it in his writings. "This thought occurs to me when I see intelligent and even scholarly people smoking cigarettes, knowingly poisoning themselves. True, it would require effort and some tolerance of discomfort to break the habit, but certainly one's life is dear enough that one should willingly accept the discomfort in the interest of survival. People who readily accept the discomfort of a surgical procedure to save their lives nonetheless appear unable to do so with regard to discontinuing smoking."
The reason for this discrepancy is that one's judgment is distorted by what one would like to believe. The Torah states this very clearly: “A bribe will blind the eyes of the wise” (Deut. 16:19). One's wisdom is ineffective when a bribe has affected one's judgment capacity. A blind person would indeed wish to avoid falling into a pit, but he cannot help himself if he cannot see it.
Beyond the Smoke...
But, friends, this example of smoking is just one. There are many others. We are constantly under the influence of biases that impair our judgment.
The blind person cannot make himself sighted, but we do have the ability to overcome the blindness of our biases. We just need to be on the alert and on the defensive, realizing our vulnerability.
Moses chose his words very deliberately: “See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse.” See, indeed. You have the ability to overcome the blindness of your biases.
Thank you for reading and Shabbat Shalom!
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