This week’s music: Reva L’sheva Ki Ba Moed

“Re’eh Anochi noten lifneichem hayom, brachah uklalah” Look at what I am giving you today, blessing and curse (Devarim 11.26). This is the opening verse of this week’s Torah portion of “Re’eh.” Hashem is imploring us to open our eyes today. What is so important about today, that the word appears three times in the first three verses of the portion? Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev explains that each day is a special and new day. Each day Hashem is sending new goodness down to our world. “Hamechadesh b’tuvo b’chol yom tamid ma’aseh bereshit,” He is creating goodness every day of our lives and all we need to do is open our eyes to see it, receive it and connect to it.

To make the point even stronger, the Slonimer Rebbe brought down that once the Holy Kubriner was asked what is the most important thing that he needed to do. The Rebbe answered,” whatever you need to do, “ka’et,” right now, that is your most important task in life.”

As I have mentioned many times, the Gerer Rebbe teaches us that each morning when we wake up, immediately after saying “Modeh Ani,” thanking God for another day, I right away need to ask, “what is my task in life today? That task is only available today so I need to focus on all of the circumstances that take place on my life in that day. Each person I meet, each situation I find myself in was sent specifically to me by Hashem simply to help me know what to do today. What is it that my soul was sent down to this world to fix? Therefore, the Baal Shem Tov teaches, often times lessons on this high level can not necessarily be seen with the eyes of my body, but rather must be seen by the eyes of my soul. As such, I need to invest daily to become acquainted with my soul and where it wants to go.

May we all be blessed to see all that we need to see and use it to connect to our souls and thus make a strong connection to our Creator in heaven. As Reb Shlomo taught us, we need to use more that the eyes of prophecy, the eyes of facts and details. We need to look with eyes of Moshiach, the eyes of “emunah and bitachon,” of faith and trust in Hashem and the world he sent us to live in. As far as I can see, the time do that is mamash now!

Shabbat Shalom,
Yehudah