PARSHAT RE'EH
Re’eh (”behold”) begins with Hashem placing a
blessing and a curse on the Jewish people. The blessing will apply if
they obey the commandments, and the curse if they don’t. The parshat
tells us that when they cross the Jordan river and enter the land of
Israel, the Jews must declare the blessings on lush, verdant mount Gerizim, and the curses on arid and harsh
mount Ebal, the two most prominent hills flanking the geographic center
of
Israel.
Later in Deuteronomy, we’re told that six tribes must stand below one
mountain, and six tribes below the other, and all must answer “amen”
after each blessing and each curse. I understand that the Talmud refers
to this as the Covenant of Mutual Responsibility.
But the Jews already had other covenants. The first, circumcision,
tells us that we must be willing to endure pain and shed blood for our
relationship with Hashem. The second, Torah, teaches that we are bound
to a specific cultural heritage and unique set of laws that determine
and color every aspect of our
lives. Now, after 40 years of wandering in the desert, Hashem says we
have
a third covenant to worry about: Mutual Responsibility.
What, precisely, are the Jews commanded to do? Hashem demands that they
destroy all those places where people worshiped idols, as well as the
idols
themselves. The Torah continues with the Code of Laws, which deals not
only
with religious institutions, but also with government, criminal law,
and
domestic life, all of which are covered in succeeding portions.
But let’s examine this portion a little closer. Hashem says either you
live by his or her commandments or you don’t. There doesn’t seem to be
any in-between, and certainly no room for compromise. And in fact, in
America today, many people are extreme. Either you approve of President
Bush’s invasion of Iraq, or you’re unpatriotic. Either you approve of
the government’s whittling away at our civil rights in the hopes of
providing better security against those who seek to destroy us and our
civil rights, or you’re unpatriotic. A similar situation exists in
Israel, where the political spectrum regarding Arab-Israeli relations
ranges from “peace now” to “not one inch.”
But one consequence of living, as the Israelis and we do, in nations
with opposite forces, is that in order to survive, we must establish a
dialectic that suggests that opposites can sometimes compromise in
order to proceed and succeed. We must live side by side with those with
whom we disagree, and
learn from each other. The result, if you’ll pardon my musical
training, can
sound like a symphony orchestra playing beautiful music. If we don’t,
I’m
afraid we’ll sound more like out-of-tune jackhammers and remain at
loggerheads with each other.
So this Torah portion, written thousands of years ago, contains an
important message not only for the people and leaders of Israel, but
also for us who live in a young nation that celebrated only its 227th
birthday last month. To progress and succeed, our leaders and we must
recognize that those who disagree with us may themselves have
legitimate feelings and concerns, and that we can learn from them. So,
in closing, I urge that we focus on maintaining a dialogue with others
rather than a monologue with ourselves.