Using your ears – Re’eh
This is the sidra about free will: “Look, I set before you today blessing and curse: the blessing if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God… and the curse if you do not listen (Deut. 11:26-27).
The message is that life is largely what we make it; if we heed God’s commandments we earn a blessing, but if we fail to heed them we deserve a curse.
Some writers, however, say that the blessing we are offered is the capacity to listen to God’s word, and the curse is the incapacity to listen.
When you think about it you realise what a blessing it is that we have eyes to see, ears to hear, feet to walk, hearts to feel, minds to think, and all the other capacities that come with being alive.
If we use these functions wisely it is a blessing. If we leave them unused or use them irresponsibly, it is a curse.
The Hallel speaks of idols that have mouths that cannot speak, noses that cannot smell, hands that cannot touch, and so on (Psalm 115). Idols are wood and stone and lack any life. But human beings who are alive and capable of functioning do not always utilise what God has given them.
As far as the sidra is concerned, if you have ears capable of hearing the Divine word but let yourself be deaf to the message, you have denied yourself a precious blessing.
