The blessing and the curse

Moshe places before the Jewish people a choice.  If we choose one way, we will be blessed and if we choose another way we will be cursed.

This choice is both on the individual level and on the communal level. The choices that each of us make and the choices that the community as a whole makes affects the entirety of the Jewish people. The choices that we make as a community or as individuals — those are the choices that Moshe spoke about, there on the banks of the Jordan, before we entered the land.

If we choose paths consistent with Jewish ideals and values —commitment to helping the needy, solving disputes amicably, education, and continuity – then the Jewish people will reap the fruits of their labors. Our communities will be blessed, and our offspring will be devoted to the Jewish people.  Our children and children’s children will not worship other gods, our land will be blessed with peace, rain, civic innovation.

If we choose paths that are in conflict with Jewish ideals and values – ignoring the needy, fomenting discord and disunity, ignoring the educational needs o

f our children and grandchildren, ignoring our commitments to the land of Israel, then the Jewish people will be cursed.  Our offspring will be devoted to other gods, our children will loose touch with the ideals and values of the Jewish people. We will not reap what we sow, the land will not be blessed with peace, nor rain, and will be mired in political divide.

It’s all there in the parsha.

Argue with Moshe if you don’t like it.