Rabbi's Blog

The concept of smichas parshios perhaps understood as the juxtaposition of one section of the Torah to the next, is sometimes more apparent than others. Smichas parshios may require more of a bird’s eye view to see the continuity from one concept to the next. This week’s Torah portion R’eih is part of Moshe Rabbeinu’s parting words to his people. The opening words contain a very simple message: if you follow the mitzvos and perform them, you will be blessed; if you do not fulfill the mitzvos, you will be cursed. One can ask, ”Didn’t we just have this same message in last week’s Parshas Eikev when we read the second section והיה אם שמוע  of the Shema? There it stated that if we follow the mitzvos there will be rain and if we don’t follow the mitzvos the heavens will close and there will be no rain. Surely doesn’t this sound like a bracha/blessing and a klala/curse to me.

The short and direct answer is, yes. However, the message given in Parshas Eikev was regarding a specific example of a curse and a blessing while here, in Parshas R’eih, it is more of a general idea. I have discussed the concept of blessings and curses several times throughout the years. Very often we learn about the concept or definition of what something is and even what we need to get it or avoid it. In this week’s message I would like to share my thoughts on how to keep the blessing and grow it and to illustrate how, unfortunately, the opposite works the same way for the curse. The simple secret to maintaining a blessing that we receive is to maintain the current level we’ve attained and work slowly and consistently to increase it. By making the effort to increase, we will at least maintain that which we have already earned. However if we do not maintain that which we have, allowing our gains to slowly but surely slip away, that is the beginning and definition of a curse. Allow me to share the following examples and scenarios to illustrate my point.

Many people think winning the lottery is one of the biggest brachos a person could receive, and to tell you the truth being blessed with lots of money could be a bracha, but it could also lead to a curse. I am sure some of you are thinking that the bracha will come if I do what is positive with that resource and could be a curse if misused. That is no doubt one of the explanations, but my focus is how to maintain and grow it.

The “winning the lottery” of losing weight is a crash diet whereby we shed many pounds quickly.  Unfortunately, statistics show the faster we lose weight the quicker we gain it back. We all have the tendency to wish that in the blink of an eye a situation is fixed or solved.  The correct perspective of Bracha is the incremental value, the small, focused doses that we build upon day by day over a long period of time. The slower the weight comes off, the more solidly our body adjusts to this new norm, and this now becomes the baseline to losing the next pound. The key focus is that even when we slip a little one day, we can catch ourselves and not go into a freefall that will completely erase our gains. The curse is when we do not stop eating and revert to where we were, and from there the new norm is established by gaining a pound more.

A second example is when I observed a family with a garage that was a complete mess.  A few years back they hired someone to organize and clear out all the junk, organizing and cleaning up the garage so that it would be functional. They paid good money, and sure enough almost overnight the garage became a useful, user-friendly garage that was neatly organized with items stored properly. That was instant, but a true, real blessing would have been for the family to work together to clean a small part of the garage every day and work openly to never contribute back any new garbage. In other words, for the entire family to conscientiously work together to keep the garage clean and organized.   The bracha is to build on the small successes of today’s accomplishments. Removal of the trash every day, adding to the incremental effort of cleanliness and order.  That is the bracha. This surely applies to spiritual matters as well. If one day I decide I am going to learn for ten hours or double and triple the time it takes me to say the Shmoneh Esrei, I may say it for only that day, but usually I won’t end up doing it again. However, if I establish a baseline regarding my daily learning and never give into learning less, then I can add a little more time to my religious growth and practices. Those extra bonus-added minutes is the Bracha! The bracha and the klala take place daily, depending upon us slowly adding to the good or slowly detracting from the good. Every day is an opportunity to maintain that blessing we received by slowly adding something to it, either in the physical and or spiritual worlds.

The Torah in this week’s Parshas R’eih begins Devarim 11:26 by stating "ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה" “Behold, today I have placed before you a blessing and a curse”. Every change in life begins with ‘today’. Today is the first day of the rest of my life; today is the day that I can  choose what kind of life I want to live. This lesson was given to us by none other than Hashem Himself.

When Hashem created the world, it did not happen all at once in one shot of a lottery; each day was added to the previous day, one day at a time. On Rosh Hashana, after the Shofar blasts during the repetition, we recite the words:היום הרת עולם :Today is the birthday of the world. Today, Rosh Hashana, it is all about a new beginning - starting from TODAY. In the daily davening we say the Shir Shel Yom, the psalm of the day that is always preceded with the words HaYom Yom… today is the day of the week of Shabbos.

The message of today is how we start and continue from the previous day. Even though yesterday I broke my diet, or I didn’t learn a word or concentrate on my davening, or I even made a mess in the garage, we can turn it around Today. The opening passuk of Parshas R’eih instructs us that life is not a blessing and a curse, rather life is a choice regarding how we approach today. As we bless the incoming new month of Elul this week, we begin the change in behavior for the coming year. Rosh Chodesh Elul is the entry to is the forty days of change from now to Yom Kippur. Just as Moshe Rabbeinu had an ascent to heaven, we should do the same. Let this year be a year of change for the good, a year focused on maintaining our daily growth to grow higher, cleaner, and yes, even leaner in all areas of life.      

Ah Gutten Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky