September 10, 2024|ז' אלול ה' אלפים תשפ"ד Re'eh 5784 - TODAY! By Rabbi Beni Krohn

Our Parsha begins in an unusual way:

(כו) רְאֵה אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם הַיּוֹם בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה:

Look, says Hashem, I place before you TODAY, Blessing & Curse

And there is so much ink spilled trying to understand so many different parts of this pasuk.  And the commentators ask at least two questions:

1)   Why RE’EH!? Look!  What is Hashem asking the people to look at?

2)   Why does the Torah use the present tense, NOSEIN HAYOM?  That Hashem IS GIVING us something TODAY?  Is Hashem really coming to show them something specific TODAY?

The Vilna Gaon writes that the language of NOSEIN, that Hashem IS GIVING the choice, the option to choose blessing or curse for our lives is SPECIFICALLY offered in the PRESENT.

And that is because so often we think that our life trajectory is determined by certain choices we have ALREADY MADE.  We chose a certain path, a certain lifestyle, community, certain friends, and then whatever path we’ve chosen, now we just hang on for the ride.

Comes to the Torah to teach us, that it’s simply NOT TRUE.

Rather, Hashem is NOSEIN, HASHEM is placing the opportunity for Bracha in your life in front of you NOW!  This pasuk, says the GR’A is a REAFFIRMATION of our Bechira Chofshis, of our ability, at EVERY MOMENT IN OUR LIVES, to make a choice that is a bracha.  It’s a reminder that just because I’ve lived my life a certain way until now, that doesn’t mean it has to continue that way.  Because every day, Hashem is NOSEIN, HE OFFERS US THE CHOICE, BRACHA or KLALA.

And this, of course, also explains the language of Anochi Nosein Lifneichem HAYOM!  That I place it before you, when?  TODAY?  HAYOM! 

The word HAYOM comes up 3x in the first three psukim of the parsha. 

Why so much focus on the word TODAY?

Because even if I know I have the opportunity to make a good choice now, so often we worry, “sure, I’ll do something good today, but I won’t be able to keep it up.  What will be with my tomorrow!?”

And the answer, says the Torah, is ANOCHI NOSEIN LIFNEICHEM HAYOM, BRACHA UKLALA – I am giving you this opportunity TODAY, and that’s all you have to worry about.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov writes:

"לא ישים לנגד עיניו כי אם אותו היום ואותו השעה"

When a person is trying to grow, then should only place ONE THING IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES – TODAY, THIS MOMENT.

Because the moment we start worrying about what will happen next, will I be able to learn tomorrow’s daf, will I be able to daven mincha again tomorrow, then we’ll lost the motivation and we’ll do nothing.

HAYOM – Says HKBH, do something meaningful today.  And worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

Rav Menachem Genack explains in his sefer on the parsha that this is why the culmination of the tefillos on Rosh Hashana is what tefillah? HAYOM! 

At the end of hours of davening, as we inspire ourselves to real change, and we are about to leave shul, the thoughts start to creep in: “But this is just ONE DAY. Of course I’m inspired.  It’s Rosh Hashana!”  “I’ll never keep this up!”

So, before we leave, we sing a song, and we tell ourselves: “don’t allow the negativity, the worry about the future throw you off and hold you back.  JUST GRAB ONTO TODAY!  And you never know what might happen next!

But the truth is that the power of HAYOM runs even deeper:

Rav Yisrael Meir Druk makes the following remarkable point:

Imagine you come into shul on Erev Rosh Hashana, it’s the last tefillah of 5784, and you begin Shemone Esrei for mincha.  And in that Shmone Esrei you ask Hashem:

"ברך עלינו ה' אלוקינו את השנה הזאת..."

Bless us, Hashem our Gd, for THIS YEAR.

We ask Hashem for abundant crops and full bank accounts for THIS YEAR!

It seems RIDICULOUS!  The year will be closing in a few minutes as sunset arrives.  What kind of request is this!?

Answers Rav Druk, we know “Yeshuas Hashem K’Heref Ayin” that Hashem’s salvation comes in the blink of an eye.  A person’s fortune can be made in a day and lost in a day.  Our health can change – for the good and chalila, for the opposite – in an INSTANT.

Therefore, says Rav Druk, even in the waning moments of each year, we still daven “BARECH ALEINU!”  Send us a bracha! We never give up ONE MOMENT, not ONE OPPORTUNITY to grow, to change, to make a difference in our lives. 

I saw this idea yesterday, and I shared it with my friend Rabbi Andrew Markowitz, who is the rabbi in Shomrei Torah in Fair Lawn.  And he told me something amazing:  He said that EVERY YEAR ON EREV ROSH HASHANA, Rabbi Benjamin Yudin, his predecessor, would get up in shul and say this idea:

"ברך עלינו ה' אלוקינו את השנה הזאת..."

Whoa! EVERY MOMENT IS A SHANA.  Every moment can change my entire year!  So, of course we can’t pass it up!

Rav Noach Weinberg, the founder of Aish HaTorah, used to tell the following story about his father, Rav Mattis.  Rav Mattis had come to the from Eretz Yisrael to live in the Lower East Side, and he would go around collecting funds for the poor of Eretz Yisrael.  This was pre-WWII, when there was tremendous poverty in Eretz Yisrael.

One man came over to him and he said, “I’m very angry with you!”

“Why?” 

“Because you’re collecting for the poor of Eretz Yisrael and you didn’t come to collect from me!  And I know why you didn’t come.  Because I no longer keep Shabbos!”

“Actually I would have come to you, I just didn’t know where you lived.  But why don’t you keep Shabbos?”

“Because every job I’ve had for years, they have a sign on the wall: ‘If you don’t come on Saturday, don’t bother coming back on Monday either.’  And I got tired of losing my job each week.  My family was suffering so much!” 

Rav Mattis responded: “OK.  But what about Friday Night?”  The man said “What do you mean?  What ABOUT Friday Night?”  He said, “I understand Shabbos day is hard for you because of work, but on Friday night you have no excuse.  Why don’t you at LEAST keep Shabbos on Friday night?”

The man said, “Honestly, I never thought about that”.

That Friday night, Rav Mattis came to shul, and the man was there for the first time in a very long time.  And the next morning when Rav Mattis came for Shacharis, the man was there again.  He ended up keeping the entire Shabbos that week, and he eventually became closer and closer to Yiddishkeit.

And I think all of this also explains the unique word which BEGINS our parsha as well.  Why call upon us to be RE’EH?  To see?

Because EVERY DAY brings with it opportunities to make small, but meaningful, changes in our lives.  But we will NEVER be able to make use of them IF WE’RE NOT LOOKING OUT FOR THEM.

Therefore, the Torah doesn’t simply tell us “Anochi Nosein Lifneichem Hayom Bracha UKlala” I am placing in front of you today the opportunity for blessing or chalila, the opposite. 

Rather, it first tells us ‘RE’EH’ know that you can ONLY take advantage of that opportunity if you’re willing to open your eyes to those possibilities.  If you’re ready to imagine for yourself something MORE. Because if you’re READY TO SEE the opportunities for growth, you’ll notice they’re actually present EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Elul begins Tuesday.  This year, let’s not wait for the inspiration to find us.  Let’s go find it ourselves.  Because if we are willing to open our eyes to the opportunities of HAYOM, to get started with whatever it is that inspires us.  If you’re able not to worry about tomorrow, or how you’ll keep it up, but to just take advantage of HAYOM, of the opportunity of TODAY, you never know where it might take you.