Is it too late to turn the tide?
How many people are going through some challenging times in their lives, in all aspects – family problems, health issues from physical and emotional distress, financial troubles, and that is in this so-called free country which has not yet become a warzone, like so many others around the world? Why is this happening?
For me, the answers lie in the Torah and this week’s Parashat Reeh, meaning “See”, holds some important insights. What does God want us to see? Deut. 12:8 states, “You shall not act or behave at all as we now behave here, each of us doing whatever pleases us.” This is followed in verse 28, “Be careful to heed all these commandments that I command you; so, it will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of your God יהוה.” In other words, the Creator is telling us that He set down boundaries so that “it will go well with us” and warns us not to ignore them and choose to do only what we think is right.
Once again, the modern world has lost sight of God’s boundaries and instead of measuring moral and just behaviour by what is good and right in His sight, most prefer to do exactly as they see fit. How’s that working for us? Is it too late to turn the tide and reverse the decline in morality during our time? Do we simply ride things out and hope for the best? The Torah teaches that our only hope is to restore God’s boundaries – the ones He handed us at Mount Sinai. He created us and He knows what is best for us, just as we know what is best for our children, even if we can’t always do it.
The stories in the Torah depict the cycles of our history. Let’s examine some of them to measure where we are today. Are we as corrupt as the people were in Sodom and Gomorrah? God sent three messengers to Abraham to let him know that He was going to destroy these two cities. In Gen 18:22 we read, “The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before YHVH – GOD. 23 Then Abraham approached Him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? GOD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” This negotiation continued until God finally agreed that He would spare Sodom for the sake of 10 righteous men. However, there were none, not even Lot who was rescued only because of the merits of Abraham.
Do we know 10 righteous men today? I certainly hope I do – but only God knows our hearts. We are living in times when aberrations of lifestyles are encouraged as superior to the family unit that God wanted for us. We have removed God’s boundaries of safety from our homes, our schools and our governments. We are forgetting common sense, decency and reason. The consequences are evident even if we refuse to see (Reeh) them.
Recently the volcanic fires of Iceland erupted, burning and spilling lava close to the Blue Lagoon and northeast of the town of Grind Avik. As I watched it on the news, it reminded me of the eye of Sauron and the fires of Mordor in the Lord of the Rings. Do you know that there have been more than 80 earthquakes worldwide in 2024? We watched the fires in Jasper, Alberta destroy homes and the businesses of people we know and even here in Montreal, how many have suffered damages from flooding? This is not new for humanity. We have heard stories from survivors of the Holocaust describing the horrors they witnessed and now from the released hostages of the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel telling us about the torture, rape and murder that they had to witness and endure themselves. Wickedness is spreading in this world and what can we do about it?
If those of us who know God look back over our lives, we can see how He turns disasters and troubles into experiences for our good; to humble us, to teach us wisdom and mercy, and to learn how to trust Him. It’s a two-way street and we have some work to do on our part. The characters in the Torah set the pattern for us to follow. Who were they and what did they teach us? We can’t know where we are going until we know from where we come.
Let’s begin with Adam who taught us that it’s not a good idea to hide from God. When we do something wrong (and we all know what is wrong), we have the ability and the responsibility to admit it and then make it right. Not in our own way, like Adam who covered himself and Eve with a fig leaf, but God’s formula for us…acknowledging, admitting, being humble, truly sorry for what we did, and finally making restitution. That’s when God steps in and helps us to begin again.
What can we learn from Noah? Here was a man who trusted the God whose voice he had heard. He followed instructions even when he couldn’t see the whole picture. All humanity had descended into such evil and violence that God decided to destroy his creation… except for Noah’s family (just eight people). The word for violence in Hebrew is Hamas! Need I say more? Thankfully we haven’t reached that point yet except perhaps in those countries where the last bastions of freedom have been lost. True freedom is what God offers but that requires responsible behavior and that’s where humanity keeps failing. We confuse freedom with being libertine.
What can we learn from Joseph? His father Jacob saw Joseph’s innate gift from his youth and made him a special coat in recognition of his administrative abilities. But Joseph was too immature and proud to be able to carry the weight and responsibility that came with his talent. It would take many trials and testing before he was humble enough and ready to step into his role. God allowed him to be tested because he had a special task for him. Many of us go through trials in our lives and don’t always realize why these things are happening to us until time reveals their purpose. Don’t complain or lose hope when this is happening to you but remain resolute in your faith and keep trusting in God.
One of my favorite heroes with whom I identify most in the Torah is Joshua. Wherever Moses went, Joshua was always close at hand. He remained in the tent, he waited out of earshot of the people while Moses ascended Mount Sinai (Ex. 32:17), and he rarely left Moses’ side. He was always watching and observing, learning and growing and it was Joshua who God chose from that entire first generation to lead Israel’s army into the Promised Land. Joshua was loyal, committed and always available. If we choose to exercise those qualities in our lives, we will see (Reeh) how God blesses us.
The bottom line is that as evil grows around us, we have daily choices to make. Reeh begins with “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn away from what I command you this day, to go after other gods, whom you have not known.” What are these other gods today? Education, Beauty, Comfort, Substances, Family, Religion, Science, Sex, Money, Self – anything that we need more than what the Creator offers or anything that we think we can’t live without.
We can choose to ignore the immorality around us, hide in disgust, stand in judgment or be discouraged by it; we can join them and allow an immoral lifestyle to control our lives OR we can take control and stand for what is right and good. All the stories in the Scriptures are about people who made choices both good and bad, and the Torah is truthful about the consequences so that we can learn to choose to do what is right in God’s sight instead of our own. The Torah does not give us any easy way out but shows us that we belong to GOD no matter what and He will always be with us, no matter what!
The last person I’d like to speak of today is Yeshua who lived during the very corrupt days of the Romans. He was a Hebrew man of God, a rabbi who followed in the footsteps of his predecessors. He loved the Torah and chose to do what was right when his peers did not. He said, “I have not come to destroy the Torah, but to fulfill it, i.e., to explain it.” Yeshua was fed up with the hypocrisy of his fellow Orthodox – how they added and took away from God’s commandments. Why did he stand up to them? Because he loved his people, including them and knew the consequences.
Matthew 15 tells us: 1 Then Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Yeshua and said,2 ‘Why do your talmidim break away from the tradition of the elders? ( in other words, the Talmud) They eat without washing their hands.’3 Yeshua answered, ‘And why do you break away from the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?4 For God said, “Honour your father and your mother” and “Anyone who curses his father or mother will be put to death.”5 But you say, “If anyone says to his father or mother: Anything I might have used to help you is dedicated to God, 6 he is rid of his duty to father or mother.” In this way, you have made God’s word ineffective by means of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! How rightly Isaiah prophesied about you when he said:8 This people honours me only with lip service, while their hearts are far from me.9 Their reverence of me is worthless; the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments.’
Yeshua wanted his people, Israel to return to the written Torah so that they could fulfill their role as ohr l’goyim, a light to the nations. That still holds today and is the only solution for lasting peace in this world.
Like these men in our history, are there enough righteous in our midst to stand up against the evil that we (Reeh) see growing and refuse all other gods? Are there people among us like Noah, willing to build an ark, a haven of safety for when evil increases? What does that look like today? Let us create a safe haven where we can rejoice in all that God has done for us, where we can remind each other how He has blessed us and where we can recharge our physical and spiritual batteries so that when we are out in the world we can, as Yeshua said, “Let your light shine among men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” He also said, “We are in the world but we are not of it.” This means that when we see horrendous things happening around us and when we experience tough times because of the injustices of this world, let us always remember that He is there walking with us every step of the way. He will never leave us or abandon us; so, hold on, be still, and know that HE is GOD!
Shabbat Shalom
Peggy Pardo