Deuteronomy Cycle Two 11:26-16:17 Re'eh

Re'eh

There is a place of God’s choosing. It’s a sensitive exquisite point as tiny as the tip of an eyelash. You can feel it being opened by angels. It’s where we lift our divine sparks to God in offering and sit silent. It’s beyond small trees and large mountains, kind or harsh words. It’s the Promised Land within the Promised Land. It exists. It is the place of God’s choosing.

Let’s go there. It seems a bit much though. I mean, we haven’t even crossed the Jordan yet and we’re getting a lecture about the next places on the list. Even more, this time we don’t seem to receive directions or even names. We have the treasure map to get through the wilderness to the Promised Land. But where’s the treasure map to go within to this place that is everywhere? Why is it so hard to see? The directions, are they so invisible, delicate, like the veins on a leaf? Maybe, we think, once in the Promised Land we will have garnered enough light to shine on the invisible filaments. Maybe we will bring about our own sight. The treasure map within the treasure map…the place of God’s choosing… will be found. And given verse 14:2 we will then become the place. In other words, we don’t go anywhere. We become that place for all to see.

This is Re’eh.

Re’eh begins at the moment of entry to the Promised Land. There are blessings to be declared on Mt Gerizem and curses on Mt Ebal. We also receive directions to the mountains. Think of a map of California with the southern-most part of Oregon. It’s a beginning. It’s how we cross the Oregon State boundary on I-5, the sun setting on the left. But that’s it for our directions. We’ve driven off the map. What do we see? Curses and blessings are in balance, equalized in the sameness of the metaphors. Idol worshippers might be on high mountains, on a hill, or under a tree. Distance has become simply a matter of human perspective. Now, we can throw the map out. And we don’t need to stop to buy another one. They aren’t for sale. Neither is God. When we follow a prophet who says he is closer to God, it is idolatry. This makes perfect sense. There is no getting closer. There is a strong clinging (13:5) and loving (every line in Torah) and sight beyond the map. There is God hayom... today.

Next, let’s look at these places of God’s choosing. Perhaps if we know more about them it will be easier naming (and finding) them. There are several important ones in Torah...not only in Re’eh but in Vayerah. The two parashot feel like mirror reflections. Even the names of each infer the act of seeing. In Vayerah though there is a specific place designated by God. There is the place to which God leads Abraham to offer Isaac. Since time (the near and far) is already seen as human, not divine, then we can infer that the Akeda occurs before, during and after Re’eh. The place, finally named Adonai Yireh (God will see) really clinches the connection between these two parashot, showing us that the place of God’s choosing is the one that Abraham finds within his heart as he (without question) follows the divine will.

Now let’s look at expansion and contraction. In line 12:20 we are reminded of the expansion of our borders. This is the breath in, our lungs filling up, the love pounding. Then, we are reminded of the words of God, to do that which is good and right in the eyes. The words center us back on the point where we can focus to once again expand. It’s a rhythm, a repetition. It’s beautiful. In 13:5 we are told to cling to God. The nun at the end of the verb tidbake-un shows that the verb clinging is beyond clinging. And yet, at the same time, we have contraction, the idea of grasping one thing. Finally, in 13:18 we will flourish. This leads us directly to the contraction of line 14:2.

Sudddenly, chosen refers no longer to place but to people. Ah, our egos say, we are the chosen people. But wait, think of what we’ve just learned given expansion and contraction and the places of God’s choosing and Abraham. The treasure map to the treasure map has so many filaments and vibrations, all of them pointing deep within our hearts and to the love for God. Are they about us or something deeper? Are we even capable of such depth? Do we need a name for the places of God’s choosing? Yes, it seems we do. And the name is Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebbeca, Jacob, Rachel, Leah, Joseph, David, Christine, Abdul and everyone from any religion with a tiny breath of the tzaddikim, in other words you and me, our names. Just fill them in. We are the place chosen by God to create the offerings. In our own little way, we are it as we breathe God in and out, transmit and receive, touch and be touched. We are the exquisite point if we choose to shed light on the invisible filaments, the divine hidden beneath our husks.

Of course, it's only a beginning, a new border. We know we won’t need a map. We didn’t buy one on the last trip anyway. Perhaps we won’t even need more than vision, love and silence, the endless waves of recognition, the Torah within Torah within Torah. Where do we go from the center of our hearts, from this makom? How do we let this place be seen by God and everyone despite the challenges? How do we carry it with us like Abraham and nurture it on our march towards consciousness?

As Rumi says...The traveling's not done with the body. God's secret takes form in your loving...So we walk along inside the rose, being pulled like the creeks and rivers are, out from the town onto the plain. My guide, my soul, your only sadness is when I am not walking with you. In deep silence, with some exertion to stay in your company, I could save you alot of trouble!

For now, may we all help each other as we travel. May we all cling with devotion to the radiance that is everywhere. May we have the courage to do the work to see and to be seen so we can connect as one in love with God.