Making Sense of the Sedra: Re’eh

In this week’s reading, Re’eh, Moses informs the Israelites to prepare, when they enter the Holy Land, for a ceremony involving the uttering of covenantal blessings and curses on the mountains of Gerizzim and Ebal. Gerizzim is therefore known as HarBeracha, the Mount of Blessing, by the Samaritans who still live and worship there. The Talmud states that the Samaritans are led by two families of priestly descent who are, by their own account, descended from Pinchas, son of Elazar.  There are only 1,000 left, and are descended from the some of the tribes of Israel left by the Assyrians who first exiled our ancestors from the Holy Land some 28 centuries ago.

In the following topic in the reading, Moses then commands the Israelites to destroy all idols and their accessories that they will find when they enter Israel. He says that God will designate a specific location where He will choose to rest, where all sacrifices must be offered. The students of Eli the high priest, who parted company with the first Israelite worshippers on Mount Gerizzim, interpreted this place as Shiloh, and later, over 3,000 years ago, David set the location in the Canaanite town of the Jebusite people, which was renamed Jerusalem.

In ancient times, quadruped animal meat of kosher species was permitted only if three parts of it were given to the priest. Its blood is not permitted for consumption, so animals must be bled at the time of slaughter and thereafter precautions taken that surface blood is removed prior to consumption. The evil medieval myth of Jews mixing blood into matzah, known as the blood libel, which began in England, was patently impossible to be the case, and demonstrates how some of the worst antisemitism is sourced in ignorance.

Moses also warns against idolatrous Canaanite practice and to neither add to nor subtract from its laws. A false prophet is liable for the death penalty; not only words but even flesh is sacred and must not be defaced by tattoos. Crops are tithed and gifts given to the Levite tribe and to the poor. The land must also refresh itself once every seven years as part of the Shemitah cycle.

Lending money to the needy and freeing slaves is part of the societal covenant of Israel. Temple festivals are celebrated with sacrifices at three periods through the agricultural calendar: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. This week is the third week of nechemta, a seven-week period during which prophetic readings affording post-Tisha B’Av comfort to Israel are read.