Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster reflects on how a curse can actually be a blessing in disguise.
This Shabbat’s Torah reading is Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17. It is known as ‘Re’eh’, which means ‘See’.
There is a difference between looking and seeing. Seeing is a way of stopping being paralyzed by our own problems and instead realizing what must be done. And this starts in our nearest vicinity.
In addition, what appears to be a curse can actually be a blessing in disguise. It depends on seeing the problem as a challenge rather than a threat.
One such problem is dealing with poverty in our own community. Deuteronomy 15:11 states that ‘destitute people will not cease within the Land.’ In other words, the poor will always be with us. Poverty will never be totally eradicated.
However this does not mean that we should give up out of despair. You should not ‘harden your heart or close your hand (v 7). Rather, you should open your hand - lend him what is lacking.’
This is an example of Judaism’s emphasis on small gestures and unostentatious behaviour. We may not solve all the world’s problems, but incremental steps go a long way to help both the giver and the recipient.
The accompanying Haftorah is the third of the Haftorot of Consolation recited in the lead-up to Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). It occurs just before we enter the contemplative month of Elul.
Here in Isaiah 54:11-55:4 the prophet calls out to the poor and needy, to ‘everyone who is thirsty, go to the water, even those who have no money, go, buy and eat. Go and buy without money or price, wine or milk (55:1).’
Here, poverty is compared to lack of Torah with the idea being that the real food and real wealth comes from imbibing the waters of Torah.
This is another aspect of ‘seeing.’ In Judaism, if you concentrate only on your own needs then you are bound to neglect Torah teaching, which is no academic exercise, but a way of life, in which your own community comes first.
This is an apt teaching for our own day in which egoism and ideas of grandeur hold sway, with many charities, for instance, concentrating on global issues, to the detriment of our nearest neighbour.
Judaism teaches that neighbour comes first and that small local acts of kindness trump global initiatives every time.
