Our parashah begins with a single commanding word: “Re’eh” — See.
Moses does not say hear, or remember, or even believe, but see. He calls us to open our eyes to a reality that already lies before us: blessing and curse, life and death, the fruit of obedience and the cost of rebellion.
We live in perilous times. Our government trembles with uncertainty. Terror still stalks the nations. Economies rise and collapse, carrying families and communities with them. We cannot avoid seeing the instability around us. The question is not whether we will see, but how we will respond once we do.
Our Torah portion offers us a surprising pattern for how to live faithfully in such a world. First, we must rid ourselves of idols. Then, we are called to come to HaMakom — the Place where God chooses to dwell. And finally, we are commanded to rejoice.
Get Rid of the Idols
The parashah begins:
“These are the statutes and judgments you shall carefully observe… You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations served their gods” (Deut. 12:1–3).
Before Israel could inherit the land, they had to clear it of idols — not only the pagan shrines and altars that littered the high places, but also the hidden idols of the human heart. Rashi comments that the destruction had to be total, lest even the memory of idolatry tempt Israel back into bondage. Ramban adds that it was not enough to erase the idols of others; Israel had to guard their own hearts from building altars of pride and self-will.
The same is true for us. Many outwardly religious people appear faithful, yet remain captive to subtler idols: pride, fear, greed, the relentless need to control or be honored. Without repentance, even Torah itself can become another mask, another language of bondage.
Yeshua warned of this same danger when he said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matt. 15:8, citing Isaiah). Repentance is always the first step. Unless the idols fall, there can be no true worship, no real encounter with the living God.
Come to HaMakom
For the nations, the sacred could be anywhere: a high hill, a grove of trees, a carved image. But Israel was called to something different. God Himself would choose HaMakom — the Place — where His Name would dwell. The Torah says:
“But only to the place that the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish His name there; you shall seek out His dwelling place and come there” (Deut. 12:5).
First it was Shiloh, then Jerusalem, then the Temple of Solomon, rebuilt by Ezra, glorified by Herod. The Midrash Tanchuma (Re’eh 8) teaches that God’s choice of the Place was a sign of His covenant love: just as He chose Israel from among the nations, and Aaron from among the tribes, so too He chose Jerusalem from among the cities.
And then came Yeshua. Here lies the scandal and the wonder of faith: the God of the universe chose not only a people, not only a place, but a Person in whom His presence would dwell. Yeshua is HaMakom — the true Temple, the dwelling of God on earth.
He says, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). To repent is to cast down idols. To come to the Temple is to trust in Messiah. To rejoice is to live His promise: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Yochanon 10:10).
And not only is Yeshua Himself the Temple, but together in Him we too become HaMakom. As Kefa writes, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house” (1 Kefa 2:4–5). Our relationship with God is never merely private or inward. It becomes real only when it is lived out in relationship with one another — as a people gathered around the presence of Messiah. Rambam reminds us in Hilchot Teshuvah that the soul cannot return to God alone, but only as part of Israel’s larger calling, woven into community.
Have a Party
The parashah concludes:
“There you shall bring your offerings… and there you shall rejoice before the Lord your God” (Deut. 12:7).
The goal is not endless sacrifice, not fear, not mere survival, but joy. And not solitary joy, but shared joy — the joy of community. Rambam, in Hilchot Yom Tov, emphasizes that true celebration is incomplete unless the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger are included in it. To exclude them, he says, is not a mitzvah but an abomination.
This same truth is echoed in the Besorot. Yeshua teaches, “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” (Luke 14:13–14). The joy of the Kingdom is never hoarded; it overflows.
And it is no accident that Yeshua’s first miracle was not in the Temple courts but at a wedding feast, where He turned water into wine so that the joy of the bridegroom and his guests would not fail (Yochanon 2:1–11). The Kingdom begins with a party.
To serve God is to be grateful. Gratitude ripens into joy. And joy multiplies when it is shared.
Living the Pattern Today
Why does this ancient pattern matter now? Because crisis has a way of testing whether we truly know how to live.
Imagine an economic collapse or a national emergency. Will we retreat into isolation and self-preservation? Or will we have already learned how to live as a community — praying for one another’s needs, bearing each other’s burdens, rejoicing together even in times of scarcity?
The Book of Acts records that the earliest disciples, facing poverty and persecution, “broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” (Acts 2:46–47). Their faith was not preserved by power or safety, but by joy shared in community.
God calls us: Come to the Temple now. Not later, when disaster drives us into each other’s arms, but now — when it is inconvenient, when it requires effort, when it may feel unnecessary. If we clear away our idols, come to Yeshua who is HaMakom, and learn to rejoice together, then we will be ready to meet whatever comes — not in fear, but with strength, hope, and joy.
See With Your Heart
So when Torah says Re’eh — See — it is not only with our eyes, but with our hearts.
See the idols that must be cast down.
See the Temple — Yeshua, HaMakom, God-with-us.
See the joy that awaits when we live gratefully, faithfully, and together.
May we be a people who truly see. And in seeing, may we rejoice before the Lord — even in perilous times.
an rejoice before the Lord even in perilous times.