Summary of the Parasha

“See (Re’eh), I set before you today a blessing and a curse”: the blessing if you listen, the curse if not. They will be proclaimed on Mounts Gerizim and Ebal. Moses commands the destruction of the places of idolatry in Canaan and that offerings be brought only to “the place Hashem will choose” (the future Jerusalem), where one will rejoice with family, the Levite and the stranger. Outside that place, one may eat meat freely (basar ta’avah), but never the blood. Do not imitate the nations’ worship, “not even for Hashem”.

Then the false prophet who performs signs to lead people to other gods, the close relative who entices in secret (even “your brother, your son, the wife of your bosom”), and the city led astray as a whole. “You are children of Hashem your God”: no cutting oneself in mourning. Then the laws of kashrut: animals that chew the cud and have split hooves, fish with fins and scales, the list of forbidden birds, an animal that died on its own, and again “do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk”.

The tithes: the second tithe (ma’aser sheni) eaten in Jerusalem or exchanged for money, and the tithe for the poor in the third year. Shemitah cancels debts in the seventh year. Tzedakah: “Do not close your hand to your poor brother… open your hand to him”, even as Shemitah approaches, for “the poor will never cease from the land”. The freed Hebrew servant receives gifts (ha’anakah) to start a new life, “remember that you were a slave in Egypt”. The firstborn animals are consecrated.

Finally, the three pilgrimage festivals: Pesach and matzah, “bread of affliction”, Shavuot after seven weeks, and Sukkot: “You shall rejoice in your festival… and you shall be only joyful”. “No one shall appear before Hashem empty-handed.”

Re’eh often announces Rosh Chodesh Elul, the month of teshuvah: from the 1st of Elul, Sephardi and North African communities rise before dawn for Selichot.

Summary of the Haftara

“Aniyah So’arah” (“Afflicted, storm-tossed one”)
Text in Isaiah 54:11–55:5

The third haftara of consolation. God addresses Jerusalem, “afflicted, storm-tossed, not comforted”: “I will set your stones in carbuncle and lay your foundations with sapphires”. “All your children shall be taught of Hashem, and great shall be the peace of your children”. Then the universal call: “Ho, all who are thirsty, come to the water! Come, buy wine and milk without money”, “listen, and your soul shall live”, and “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful kindnesses of David”.

Parasha-Haftara Connection

The parasha asks us to open our hand to the poor and share our festivals with those who have nothing; the haftara shows God Himself offering food “without money” to all who are thirsty. And “the place Hashem will choose” in the parasha becomes the Jerusalem of precious stones in the haftara.