Parashat Re'eh opens with a reminder to Am Yisrael that they are about to enter the Land of Israel, where they will be obligated in a series of seminal commandments. First and foremost is a command to locate two mountains, Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eival, and to pronounce a berakha and a kellala - a blessing and a curse. This commandment is expanded upon later on in Devarim (ch. 27), and, in fact, fulfilled in the Book of Yehoshua (Joshua; ch. 8) after the successful capture of Jericho and Ai.
The Torah gives no particular reason for performing this ceremony, but it is clear from the reaction of the Canaanite nations that it was a ritual that had great significance. Immediately after the curses and blessings are presented, the prophet reports two reactions. On the one hand, all those nations now join in a pact to fight "as one" against Am Yisrael (9: 1-2). On the other hand, the Givonim choose to present themselves as coming from "a faraway land" to make peace with the Jewish People. While before the ceremony on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eival the Canaanite leaders were willing to let Jericho and Ai fend for themselves, now they understood that something out-of-the-ordinary was taking place.
It appears that this ceremony - in many ways, a reenactment of the Revelation of the Torah in the Land of Israel - clarified to the Canaanites that this was not simply a new, nomadic tribe that would settle amongst them. These people were coming with a new belief system that totally rejected the basic values of the lifestyle that the Canaanites held dear.
They understood (as we must) that moving to Israel is not simply a geographic move; it is a statement of belief in HaShem and acceptance of a moral, ethical, principled way of life.
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Rabbi Shalom Z. Berger, Ed.D. directs Lookjed, the educators' e-list at the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora at Bar-Ilan University. Prior to his aliyah in 1991, Shalom taught in New York-area high schools. Today, he lives with his family in Alon Shvut.
The Torah gives no particular reason for performing this ceremony, but it is clear from the reaction of the Canaanite nations that it was a ritual that had great significance. Immediately after the curses and blessings are presented, the prophet reports two reactions. On the one hand, all those nations now join in a pact to fight "as one" against Am Yisrael (9: 1-2). On the other hand, the Givonim choose to present themselves as coming from "a faraway land" to make peace with the Jewish People. While before the ceremony on Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eival the Canaanite leaders were willing to let Jericho and Ai fend for themselves, now they understood that something out-of-the-ordinary was taking place.
It appears that this ceremony - in many ways, a reenactment of the Revelation of the Torah in the Land of Israel - clarified to the Canaanites that this was not simply a new, nomadic tribe that would settle amongst them. These people were coming with a new belief system that totally rejected the basic values of the lifestyle that the Canaanites held dear.
They understood (as we must) that moving to Israel is not simply a geographic move; it is a statement of belief in HaShem and acceptance of a moral, ethical, principled way of life.
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Rabbi Shalom Z. Berger, Ed.D. directs Lookjed, the educators' e-list at the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora at Bar-Ilan University. Prior to his aliyah in 1991, Shalom taught in New York-area high schools. Today, he lives with his family in Alon Shvut.