Helen Keller is said to have famously taught that it is “better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing.’’ 

This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Re’eh opens with an imperative to truly see in a similar way. “Re’eh — See,” the portion begins, “I place before you today a blessing and a curse.” (Deuteronomy 11:26)

The Torah might just be addressing each of us personally and urgently in this time and place: See what lies before you. See that you have a choice. See the path of blessing, and the path of curse.

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“Seeing” in the Torah is rarely just about visual perception. It is about awareness. It is about moral clarity. It is about empathy. To see is to truly encounter the other — to move beyond the self and recognize something outside of our own limited perspective. And in that light, I think it is obvious that this week’s parashah offers a profound and painfully relevant message for our fractured world.

We live in a time when people have never been more connected — and yet more deeply disconnected. Social media, our carefully and curated manipulated news feeds, and the algorithmic echo chambers in which so many of us live seem to give us an illusion of insight when, in fact, they are just reinforcing our confirmation bias. We refuse to see those who disagree with us. Instead, we don’t even listen to them. Instead, we all too often reduce complexity into simplistic binaries between left or right, conservative or liberal, pro-Israel or anti-Israel, friend or foe.

This refusal to truly see doesn’t just fracture our society — it also erodes our community and threatens to destroy our souls. Within the Jewish world, political and ideological divisions are literally tearing at the fabric of our shared destiny. Suspicion replaces trust, certainty replaces curiosity, and fear replaces hope. The slippery slope leads us to a place where first, we stop seeing each other — truly seeing — and subsequently we lose the ability to create anything enduring together.

When I encountered Parashat Re’eh this year, I realized that we can read this portion as a plea against this very moral blindness. In this portion, Moses stands before the people of Israel as they are about to enter the Land — a land where they will face genuine threats, a land that will demand both their strength and solidarity. Moses’ first word is: Re’eh – See. Choose to see beyond the narrowness of your own fears and biases. Choose to see your fellow Israelites and the others who dwell in the land. Choose to see the moral implications of your actions. Most of all, choose to see the opportunity to live a life of blessing.

In Hebrew, the word “Re’eh — See” is written in the singular. I think this can be understood as teaching that this message is personal. The transformation begins with each of us. Each of us, as an individual, must choose to see. This means seeing those with whom we disagree and seeing the humanity of people on the “other side” — whether political, ideological religious or national. This means recognizing that, even in a world where antisemitism and anti-Israel hatred are real and dangerous, we have many allies — moral, courageous individuals and communities who stand with us. If we are only looking through the lens of fear, we will miss seeing them entirely.

The Torah reminds us that the choice to live with blessing comes from choosing moral sight over moral blindness, choosing the blessing of lives of nuance, dignity and shared humanity.

The curse, on the other hand, comes when we refuse to see, when we fall into fear, cynicism, and isolation, when we give up on each other and on the idea that genuine community is still possible.

I am convinced that this parashah is a spiritual directive to all of us to truly see, and to choose awareness, connection, community. I pray that each of us will find the strength to open our eyes, soften our hearts, and to truly see each other once again.