Go for the blessing every time!

Last updated on: August 26, 2019 at 2:20 pm by Hebrew College

Go for the blessing every time! 2019-08-26T14:20:33-04:00 Hebrew College

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By Rabbi Minna Bromberg

Parshat Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17)

There is a wildlife refuge near my parents’ home on Long Island that has a population of chickadees that are not so wild anymore. That is, they are tame enough that if you fill your hand with birdseed and stand very still they will flit over and pick the food (sunflower seeds are favored) right out of your palm. Once when we were children, a number of decades ago, we were walking in the refuge with our birdseed and noticed that my younger brother, perhaps seven at the time, had stopped on the path and was standing very still with both of his hands extended at his sides. One hand was full of birdseed and the other hand was empty. When we asked what he was doing, my brother said, “I’m doing an experiment. They go for the hand with the food every time!”

This became a family story because, at the time, it seemed such an odd combination of clever and ridiculous. On the one hand, how cute was it that my seven year old brother was “doing an experiment?” On the other hand, how stupid did a bird have to be to try to eat birdseed from an empty palm?!?

But the longer I carry this story with me, the more poignant I find it. Because, when I look at my own life and at the lives of those around me, I see so many many moments when we too have had a clear-as-day choice about what would be nourishing for us and what would prove to be empty and we have failed to make the right choice. We’ve failed to set healthy boundaries, saying “yes” when our hearts knew the answer should be “no.” We’ve denied ourselves both simple pleasures and deeply needed self-care out of a sense of being undeserving. We’ve done simply what’s expected of us, instead of what our souls knew to be right, because of fears of “making waves.” In other words, we’ve been the “birdbrains” while these tiny birds just go for the hand with the food every time.

The Torah is similarly concerned with our abilities to choose wisely. This week’s Torah portion opens with the exhortation: “See! I have set before you blessing and curse.” The next verse explains that blessing comes from hearing God’s mitzvot (commandments). The implication here is that our failure to do the right thing has everything to do with our perception, our ability to see and hear clearly the starkness of the choices before us.

In the world of spiritual reflection, this would be described as an issue of “discernment.” And discernment, especially when the freedom of our choices is hemmed in by habit, cultural norms, and actual oppressive structures, is no easy feat. Still, our tradition, and our lives demand that we engage in this work of taking the time to truly see and hear: Which is the blessing and which is the curse? Which hand has the food and which is empty?

In the Jewish calendar there is no better time for this work than now. We read these words of Torah just as we are beginning the Hebrew month of Elul: a time for reflection on our lives and our world in the last weeks leading up to Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. We are given the opportunity to look back at the past year and try to see where we have made choices that were right for us and where have we been busily pecking at emptiness. And from this examination we can, hopefully, reset our intention to choose blessing in the year to come.

Re’eh is a Torah portion rich with mitzvot of ritual, ethical, and spiritual significance; it deals with with kashrut and other issues of “right eating,” as well as the shmita (sabbatical) year, the treatment of servants and slaves, and the imperative to care for the needy among us. In the end it reiterates the calendar of the three yearly pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot). And in the description of the essence of these pilgrimages, we find a fitting bookend to exhortation to “See!” that opens our Torah portion. Here (Deut. 16:16-17) we are commanded to be seen before Adonai our God. Opening our own eyes to see the choices before us allows us to truly show up in the Divine Presence. And we are told not to come empty-handed but instead to come with our own particular gift “according to the blessing that Adonai your God has given you.” Discerning where blessing lies allows us to fill our own hands with blessings to share with God and with the world.

Minna Bromberg is a singer, songwriter, rabbi, and voice teacher who lives in Jerusalem. Ordained in 2010 at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, she currently runs the school’s Year-in-Israel Program for rabbinical students.

Learn more about Hebrew College’s rabbinic, cantorial and rav-hazzan programs at our Open House & Day of Learning, Ta Sh’ma (Come & Hear) on November 18, 2019.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 19, 2019

Holding The Shattered Tablets

Next Post

September 12, 2019 Return Again

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz