Deuteronomy Cuycle Three Re'eh 11:26-16:17

Re’eh

How does a man nourishes himself? How does he nourish others? This is one focus of Re’eh …and of many Talmudic rabbis. Their comments on this subject are plentiful. By watching habits of nourishment, we know to be on guard or to be open, to accept certain gifts or not. From the point of view of the poor and the widow this is difficult. We want to accept all. We have needs. We want to trust and be gracious. But we don’t need food poisoning or better said, heart poisoning. Therefore, it’s important to see clearly, to discern the curses from the blessings. No doubt, if a man nourishes himself with curses they will sooner or later manifest in his gifts.

First though, what do I mean by nourishment? Well, literally, we certainly get the kashrut policies in 14:3 to 14:21. We trash the abomination. We cook up the ox, the sheep, the goat, the gazelle, the antelope, the ibex, the chamois and the giraffe. Yum.

On other levels we serve ourselves with attributes of God. For example, this is how Rabbi Hama interprets line 13:15: You shall walk after the Lord your God. Since (in Genesis 3:21) God clothes the naked… we nourish ourselves by clothing the naked. Since (in Genesis 18:1) He appears to Abraham after he is circumcised…we visit the sick. In Genesis 25:11 after the death of Abraham, He blesses Isaac. Therefore, we bring comfort to mourners.

Here’s more. Deuteronomy line 13:18 says God will show you mercy, have compassion on you and multiply you. According to Gemara, we are to be bashful, merciful and benevolent. In fact, David taught that only one who cultivates these three characteristics is fit to join the Jewish people. Certain forms of nourishment therefore can heighten our intimacy with God. Mercy, graciousness, benevolence, compassion, the visiting of the sick, kindness to one who mourns, burying the dead… here’s more iron than a sirloin steak and more taste than any lobster of your choosing.

Where do we go to nourish ourselves and God? Well (as we read over and over again) in the place God shall choose as a site dedicated to his name. In other words, according to the rabbis of Talmud, it is to be in a single centralized place of worship. No doubt (again this is from our teachers) this place is the one radiant heart.

How do we see the stuff that isn’t nourishing or that is harmful? Well, God wants us to declare the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. Therefore, first we need to separate one from the other. This way we can discern each, choose one and be seen by others as to our choice. We need to take the time to create the separation (no fast food here) and we need to see that the curse seems to grow within itself. Therefore, if we accept a curse as nourishment, or a curse disguised, it will spread within us as well. What’s so hard is how parallel and balanced they are. For example, someone wants to love you. He is overflowing with love and fear. You want to witness the fear and bring in the love. However some fear-crumbs will certainly get mixed in with the love and you find yourself picking away at your food like a child before a bowl of alpha-bet soup. What to do?

The best thing is to give a good strong look at the boundary that marks the good stuff from what hurts. What after all, is the final distinguishing factor, that fine line? In Judaism it is idolatry, arrogance. We sure look a long time at this in Re’eh. We don’t eat the dead sparks of the dead. (In other words, we don’t eat blood.) We don’t water down God with a million other gods. We don’t buy into a holier-than-thou miracle-seller, a spiritual experience or a dream magician if all we get is ego- pills. We choose our food with humility and if we choose well we will be chosen to do the feeding.

So may we be merciful and compassionate to those who eat well, to those who don’t, to those who are swallowing stuff because they’ve never known anything else, to those who are in need. Rabbi Shila of Nawha after all says that one should give to the poor person from one’s wealth… for that wealth is the poor person’s given to you, in trust. Therefore, may we give from the well nourished heart. May we give from a place of purity. May he who nourishes others be careful how he nourishes himself. (That way, it won’t be necessary to chuck the vulture soup right back on his head. ) May we protect ourselves with calm and deliberation. May we be discerning and patient and may we offer the fruits of our harvest with only pure chesed and love.