Parashat Re’eh Plaut p. 1259

Source Sheet by Yair Robinson

There is a Hasidic story about Yukel the water carrier. Yukel would carry two huge buckets of water on either side of a long pole stretched across his back. One day, the rabbi greeted him as he crossed the street and asked how he was. “Terrible, Rabbi! My shoulders ache, the children have no time to help–they are too busy studying Torah. And my wife nudges me all the time to do this and that.” The next day the rabbi saw Yukel and asked again how he was: “I’m fine rabbi. My shoulders ache but they help me earn a living. And children are bright and inquisitive; I shep naches from their learning! And my dear wife needs me. I am blessed!”

Nothing had changed for Yukel–not the weight of his burden, not his children’s learning, and not his wife asking for help. What changed was that Yukel saw his troubles instead as a blessing.

This week, in parashat Re’eh, God commands us to see that blessings and curses have been put in front of us, but how do we know which is which? How can we truly see what is in front of us? What can seem like a curse might actually be a blessing, and what seems like a blessing may turn out to be a curse? Or rather, like Yukel, they may be the same thing, depending on how we are. So can we differentiate and choose between blessing and curse at all?

Rather than be paralyzed from making any kind of choice, we need to truly see what is in front of us, who is in front of us. The blessing and curse are not static things–they are not things at all! Rather, it is about our own posture, our own way of seeing the world. It is about a way of being and responding in different circumstances. As Rabbi Mordechai Leiner reminds us in the Mei HaShiloach:  “In times of trouble it is our nature to shout and cry out to God, “what have You done to me?” [but then we turn around and claim success as our doing, and not God’s blessing.] … therefore God shows us, “See! I give before you,” meaning that everything is from God.

There is no doubt that some things in our lives are truly blessings, and some are curses, but the rest of our experiences? Then it becomes up to us how we want to respond to it. May we respond with blessing. Amen.