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Friday, March 29, 2024

Can You Really See?

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David Bibi is the Rabbi of the Sephardic Congregation of Long Beach and has taught in many community Synagogues. He has written and edited a weekly newsletter “Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace” for 19 years, and can be reached at DavidBibi@gmail.com.
David Bibi is the Rabbi of the Sephardic Congregation of Long Beach and has taught in many community Synagogues. He has written and edited a weekly newsletter “Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace” for 19 years, and can be reached at [email protected].
Commentary on Parsha Re’eh

I am always intrigued by the people who I meet and after engaging in some theological conversation, they close in saying that, “if there really were miracles and I saw what Benai Yisrael saw in Egypt and in the desert, I guess that I would be more observant.”

But the fact is that although we say that “seeing is believing,” it takes more than seeing for something to truly enter the heart. There is a physical seeing and then there is a deeper emotional and spiritual seeing.

Even our forefathers who experienced the plagues, the death of the first born, the exodus, the splitting of the sea, the revelation at Sinai, the well of Miriam, the clouds and the manna falling from heaven had their moments. Imagine crossing the see and still carrying an idol in the knapsack as some mystical insurance policy. It takes much more than miracles.

This week’s portion begins with the word Re’eh – the word is a directive to see. The Malbim brings down that this usage of the word “Re’eh” is because the blessing and curse described here by Moshe are not simply promises for the future but actually a visible property which exists amongst the Jewish people. He goes on to explain that one can actually see that people who observe the Torah have a sense of accomplishment, fulfillment and spiritual growth whereas those who go against it can be seen to live mundane lives which lack such achievement or satisfaction.

But I believe that although the rest of the verse is directed in the plural, this word Re’eh is directed in the singular, because not everyone can really see. It may be in front of our face and on a physical level we see it, but it takes more than seeing with our eyes for the vision to penetrate our mind, heart and soul. And although many people may see and experience the same object or event, they will all walk away with something different.

I am reminded of a true story that Rav Yechetzkel Levenstein told over.

As he entered a taxi in Israel, his driver noticing the rabbi, turned to strike up a conversation. “You know, I have a very religious best friend.  He wasn’t always religious, in fact we were army buddies and he was as irreligious as me.  After the army as most of us did then, we went off to travel and found ourselves camping in the Amazon in South America. In the middle of the night we all woke up to hear muffled screams and we saw our friend with a huge boa constrictor around his neck squeezing tighter and tighter.

“Of course we screamed at the snake and hit it with sticks but it was just going tighter around his neck.  Nothing we were doing was helping and our friend was quickly losing consciousness.  With nothing else we could do one of the friends shouted to him “say Shema Yisrael” – so with his last ounce of strength our friend said Shema Yisrael and all of a sudden the snake unloosened his grip and crawled away.  It was a miracle!! – It struck him so deeply that when he returned home, he started learning about the Shemah, then praying every day, and then learning too. So now our friend wears a hat with a religious wife and kids in yeshivas.”

“That’s a great story,” the Rav exclaimed, “but why are you not more religious after witnessing all this?”

“Well” said the taxi driver, “the miracle didn’t happen to me!”

When I tell the story, people are amazed that this guy could retell this story again and again and it’s just a story he tells to the religious guys that come into his cab and nothing more. He saw, but he didn’t see. But it’s not so amazing.

Do you know anyone who still smokes? I was shocked that some of the most observant guys I know still smoke and allow their children to smoke. Aside from the halachic point of view, where Maimonides notes that a sound mind requires a sound body, and for this reason it is a religious obligation to take care of one’s health and where the Shulchan Aruch brings a number of regulations enacted for health purposes and where the Talmud comments that in general, health regulations are treated with greater stringency than any other section of halacha, there is the box. One picks up a box with a clear warning label. One knows that smoking kills not only the smoker, but those around the smoker and one still smokes. How?

We can see, we can know, but unless it enters us and becomes a part of us, we’re not really seeing. That was the problem of the generation that left Egypt. Their internal eyes were closed and thus they were condemned to die in the desert.

Moses tells their children, speaking to each as individuals and in speaking to them, he is speaking to us. He begs us to strive with all our abilities to really open our eyes, our hearts and our souls and to see. We need to let that vision enter us and become a part of us and change us for the better.

As we approach the month of Elul, the month of introspection and the month of change, let’s open our eyes to the point where each of us can answer as the holidays approach, “Ah, now I see.”

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