A Thought on Portion Re'eh and A Respite From Information Overload
“If you’ve locked your phone in a drawer, hidden the newspaper down the sofa or unplugged the radio, I wouldn’t blame you. Just glimpsing or half-hearing the headlines can be enough to plunge you into a sinkhole of gloom”. So writes Joanathan Freedland in the August 15 edition of the Guardian Weekly. (p.46). I cannot tell you how many people I have spoken to this summer who readily admit that they have “cut down” on the amount of news they now seek to digest on a daily basis. For some reason, reading this opinion piece related to this week’s Torah portion. We begin with the word “re’eh” which is translated as “see”. In the classic style of Deuteronomy, we read the If…then formula of “if you follow God’s commandments then blessings will follow and if you do not, then curses will accrue. Instead of reminding the Israelites to “hear” or “listen” to the words, this week we are told to “see”. The Etz Haim commentary on this reminds us that the portion reminds us that people learn differently, some learn by listening, some by seeing. “Those Israelites who were not persuaded by hearing God’s commandments at Siani, or by hearing Moses’ exhortations, are asked to see the difference that following God’s ways can make in one’s life”.
Well, for many now we have grown tired of hearing and listening and seeing so much of current events that are restructuring not only the world as we knew it but also our own Jewish community. It has become too much for many and, as our community prepares to enter Elul and the drama of the High Holidays, part of us may seek some sort of refuge. Freedland notes that “the need to look away, and to get away is compelling, precisely because of the turmoil all around” In his essay, Freedland cites his escape into a huge cricket match between England and Pakistan that was spread over twenty-five days. He also took note of some other “diversions” that helped him focus on the power and majesty of individual human beings who were performing at the top of their game. It was as if seeing these events allowed Freedland to remember that there is beauty and meaning in the world.
We have spoken to many people who, in expressing their news burn-out condition sought refuge in the peace and beauty of nature. They reported that after seeing so much carnage, despair and hurt, it was therapeutic to see the ocean, or the mountains, or listen to or see a concert. It was a reminder that sanity, order and beauty still can exist. Perhaps that can be a lesson from this week’s portion. Maybe each of us needs to find that part of our self that will greet the power and beauty and order of nature. Maybe it is in the strength of our cire relationships, people who care about us and for whom we care. Maybe in these encounters we will be able to “see” what is truly meaningful and important in life. Freedland concludes his essay with this reminder to have the strength to “see” that which is beyond us: “For it’s when we feel ourselves plunged into the abyss, when our despair at our fellow human beings pulls strongest, that we most need to look upward-and glimpse the stars”
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Richard F Address