Rabbah Arlene Berger
This week’s Torah portion is Re’eh: Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17
“See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of your God.” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)
There are many ways to understand blessing. In this week’s Torah portion, Re’eh, a blessing is presented as an outcome of obedience to God’s commandments. A curse is framed the same way. The distinction seems clear: blessing is positive, a gift of grace, while curse is negative, a deprivation or punishment.
Sforno, the 16th-century Italian rabbi, physician and commentator, interprets these verses in a striking way: “Re’eh — pay attention! Unlike the nations who seek middle ground, you are presented with two extremes. Blessing is abundance — more than you need. Curse is deprivation — less than your basic needs. Both stand before you. Choose.”
I appreciate Sforno’s framing of blessings and curses as choices, not just consequences. We know blessings and curses exist in the world beyond our control, yet we live daily surrounded by their impact. It is within the gift of being human that allows us to in fact take back some control and choose.
Today, it is almost impossible to pass a day without thinking about the state of our world — unsettling, disturbing, shifting. On a personal level, we may wonder: are we cursed to live in such times, or are we being called to hakarat hatov — to recognize the blessings that remain, and to do our part to expand goodness and godliness in the world?
This is not always easy. Experiencing blessing in the midst of suffering can feel like a double-edged sword. How do we avoid guilt when we rejoice in our blessings while others suffer curses around us?
This question arises in many forms throughout life. We feel it when someone is ill while we are healthy. We feel it in survivor’s guilt after tragedy. We feel it when we pass a terrible accident but arrive safely home. We feel it when our tables are full while others go hungry.
Perhaps this is one reason the Torah speaks repeatedly about blessings and curses. God may be teaching us not only that our actions carry consequences, but that the awareness of those consequences deepens our gratitude. Seeing curses in the world should not paralyze us with guilt but awaken us to the urgency of our blessings so that we use them for good.
Toward the end of Re’eh, the Torah turns to the three pilgrimage festivals — Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. We are enjoined not to appear before God empty-handed, “but each with his own gift, according to the blessing that your God has bestowed upon you.” (Deuteronomy 16:16–17)
Here we can understand each person’s gift as a free will offering. Each gift is different, measured not against others but against one’s own capacity and one’s own blessings.
As a chaplain working with older adults, I see this truth daily. Whatever a person’s circumstances — physical or mental challenges, living situation, or financial means — there is always room for hakarat hatov, for gratitude, and for giving. Old or young, healthy or ill, rich or poor, it is never too late to make a difference.
When asked why there is evil in the world, one common answer is: “To appreciate the good, we must know the bad.” But perhaps it is more than that.
Perhaps to truly understand blessing, we must also witness its absence. To see, with open eyes, what life is without it.
And then, in response, to choose — to choose blessing, to choose gratitude, to choose to expand goodness in the world.
Rabbah Arlene Berger is the rabbi of Shirat HaNefesh in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and a community chaplain.
