Parashah Re’eh Comments 2024
“In the Big Inning”: A Light Start to a Serious Call
Did you know that G-d is into baseball? A dear Orthodox friend once quipped that it’s right there in Genesis: “In the big inning…!” Groaner or not, it points to something real: from the very beginning, Scripture is a story of relationship—G-d creating humanity to love and be loved, and humanity learning how to return to Him.
Deuteronomy 12:8
“You will not do all the things as we are doing here today—everyone doing what is right in his own eyes.”
From Adam and Chavah (Eve), to the golden calf, to the ten spies, and into the Brit Chadashah with Yeshua’s death, resurrection, and parables, the pattern repeats: people sin, realize it, repent, and G-d forgives—because He formed us for relationship and will have His way in the end.
Revelation 21:1–4
A new heaven and new earth… the New Jerusalem… “Behold, the dwelling of God is among men… He shall wipe away every tear… and death shall be no more.”
The Sacred Pattern: Three Family Portraits of Covenant Love
1) The Akedah (Binding of Isaac)
In Genesis 22, G-d commands Avraham to offer Yitzchak. The sages note Isaac’s willing consent—no 140-year-old father can overpower a strong son. Love and trust culminate in surrender; G-d stays the knife and provides the ram.
2) Hosea and Gomer
Hosea is called to marry Gomer, knowing infidelity awaits. After betrayal comes restoration. The marriage becomes a living parable of Israel’s unfaithfulness and G-d’s pursuing love.
3) The Prodigal Son
Yeshua’s parable presents a son who squanders everything, then returns repentant—only to be embraced and fully restored by his father. Love stronger than failure; mercy stronger than shame.
All three witness to a love “beyond knowing,” yet knowable enough to fill us with “all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).
Re’eh and the Heart of Worship
Deuteronomy 12:15, 22
“You may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates… Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten… the unclean and the clean alike may eat them.”
Here “unclean” speaks to ritual impurity, not moral stain: contact with death, certain foods, menstrual status, or tzara’at (metzora) impeded access to the Tabernacle. Yet HaShem shows compassion: even those not ritually clean may eat permitted meats at home—deer and gazelle included—outside sacrificial worship. It is a pastoral concession to human frailty and desire, and a safeguard against idolatry as worship moves from a portable Mishkan to a centralized place G-d will choose.
Centralizing Worship, Guarding the Heart
Israel’s wanderings exposed a dangerous drift—“everyone doing what is right in his own eyes.” Re’eh’s centralization curbs syncretism, and its allowance for home meat acknowledges human appetite without diluting holiness. Compassion does not erase Torah; it rightly orders it.
Clean & Unclean Today
With no Temple standing, Israel does not bring animal sacrifices. Still, Torah’s food boundaries remain a sign of obedience and identity. The question is not merely “what’s allowed,” but “what forms us into a holy people?”
“One Torah” and Grafted-In Sojourners
Exodus 12:49
“One Torah shall be for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
Paul speaks of Gentiles “grafted in” (Romans 11). Interpretations vary among Jews and Christians on how Torah applies today, but the prophetic horizon remains: a people formed by G-d, from many paths, learning holiness together under His covenant mercy.
The New Covenant in Jeremiah
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (30–33 in Hebrew)
“I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will put My Torah within them and write it on their hearts… for all will know Me… for I will forgive their iniquity.”
Some hear a call to Christian faith here; others hear a promise of Israel’s deeper return to Torah. Either way, Jeremiah’s aim is clear: the Torah internalized, the people transformed, and knowledge of HaShem becoming intimate rather than merely instructional.
Many Paths, One Holy Goal
My own “mountain-top” moment looked like converging trails—diverse journeys meeting in the Presence of G-d. Perhaps our differences are less “fundamental” than we fear. G-d’s strategy does not change; His tactics meet each soul where it is. He draws, confirms, and leads. When you think you’ve heard from Heaven, wait for confirmation. His messages will harmonize with Scripture and the trajectory of holiness.
A Story of Friendship and Torah
A pastor friend once handed me a page of proofs for Sunday worship; years later he visited our service and found himself blessed by Torah. He remains Christian; I remain a Messianic Jew. Yet the same G-d knit our hearts in gratitude and awe. Religion can be a bridge—until it is not. The measure is simple: does it draw us nearer to HaShem in holiness, mercy, and truth?
Conclusion: Re’eh—“See!”
Re’eh calls us to see blessing and curse, idol and altar, appetite and obedience, ritual and compassion—and to choose life. May the Holy One keep writing His Torah on our hearts until all know Him, and may our tears be wiped away in His Presence. Amen.
