Parashat Re’eh opens with a bold declaration: “See, I place before you today a blessing and a curse.”
At first glance, this seems simple — life is a series of choices, some good, some bad. But if we pause, the Torah is asking us to go deeper: How do we actually see?
Most of us walk through life with our eyes open but our vision clouded. We see problems, responsibilities, and worries. We notice what is missing more quickly than what is present. Yet this verse challenges us to shift perspective — to see with clarity, to recognize that every single day, God places before us opportunities to choose blessing.
The Hebrew word “Re’eh” (see) is singular, directed towards the individual. It’s as if God is whispering: “Don’t just follow the crowd. Look with your own heart. What do you see?”
When we believe in God, even without strict religious practice, this verse reminds us that belief is not passive. It calls us to active seeing. We can choose to notice beauty in the ordinary, gratitude in the small, strength in the struggle. Seeing with the heart means recognizing God’s presence in places we might overlook.
The Torah doesn’t say that blessing is money, health, or success, and that curse is loss or suffering. Those are circumstances. Instead, blessing and curse are ways of seeing.
Two people can face the same challenge — one finds growth and a spark of hope, the other falls into despair. The difference is not in the event itself, but in the eyes with which they view it. That’s the deeper message of Re’eh: blessing is not something that happens to us, it’s something we train ourselves to notice.
Notice that the verse says “today.” Not yesterday, not someday — but today. Life doesn’t give us a single, permanent choice between blessing and curse. Instead, it invites us each morning to decide how we will see the world. Will we approach people with suspicion or with openness? Will we interpret our challenges as punishments, or as invitations to grow?
Every small choice builds a pattern. And those patterns shape the way our lives feel — blessed or cursed.
For those who believe in God but don’t connect to ritual, this portion has a special gift. It tells us that faith is not about complicated practices or systems. It’s about awareness. It’s about lifting our vision so that we don’t get trapped in negativity. To be a “believer” is simply to keep choosing to see the fingerprints of God in everyday life — in the kindness of strangers, in the resilience of our own hearts, in the simple breath we take each morning.
Parashat Re’eh invites us to ask ourselves: What am I seeing today? Am I focusing on what is broken, or noticing what is whole? Where is God inviting me to choose blessing in the ordinary?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen