Serving Hashem According to the Blessing

Parshat Re’eh repeats a powerful theme again and again: serve Hashem according to the blessings He has given you — “asher berachecha Hashem.”

Rashi explains that our offerings, our giving, our avodat Hashem must be commensurate with the prosperity and abilities Hashem has placed in our lives. This is not only about money. It includes:

• Tzedaka
• Torah learning
• Community involvement
• Teaching
• Chesed

A wealthy person hasn’t fulfilled his role just by giving more than someone with little. And someone gifted with the ability to teach or lead carries greater responsibility in those areas than one without that gift.

If we think differently, we’re missing the point.

---

Hashem’s Orchestra: Playing Your Part

We are all different. We live on different levels, with different talents, roles, and missions.

Think of a symphony orchestra: each instrument is unique, each one essential. If even a single violinist is missing, the difference can be heard. The music only becomes complete when every instrument is playing.

So too with us. Hashem gave each of us a mission only we can play. We are not meant to compare ourselves, but to use the gifts Hashem placed in our hands to the fullest.

But even the most beautiful music can falter when blessings themselves become a test.

---

The Test of Abundance

The parsha describes one who cannot carry his abundant ma’aser sheini to Yerushalayim.

The Alshich notes: the more a person has, the easier it is to make excuses and distance himself from Hashem.

The Dubno Magid sharpened the point with a parable:

A boy hired to carry a man’s packages was sweating and struggling under the load. With a single glance, the man said:
“Those aren’t mine. My packages are light. If you’re collapsing, you must be carrying the wrong ones.”

So too with mitzvot. Hashem’s mitzvot are not meant to crush us; they are meant to lift us with joy. If they feel unbearably heavy, we’re carrying them wrong.

---

Open Your Hand, Open Your Heart

The parsha tells us not to harden our heart and close our hand to our brother in need:

“You shall surely open your hand.”

A closed hand makes every finger look the same, and you wonder: why should I give him anything?

But when you open your hand, you see that each finger is different — and so too are our brothers and sisters.

If we judge them with a closed hand, we miss the point.

---

Serving Together in Yerushalayim

The parsha ends with the mitzvah of aliyah l’regel: three times a year, we go up together to Yerushalayim.

No one comes empty-handed. Each person brings a korban “according to the blessing Hashem has given you.”

Hashem does not compare us to one another. He looks at what we give from what we’ve been blessed with. If you keep looking at what others are bringing, you miss the point.

---

From Galut to Geula

We are in Galut because we’ve missed the point.

• Judging each other without really knowing one another leads to sinat chinam.
• Seeing Torah and mitzvot as a burden led to distance from Hashem.

But we are all individual musicians in Hashem’s orchestra. We are all “Banim LaMakom” — but even more, we are one family unit.

When we open our hearts and hands with ahavat chinam, the music we play together will be the most beautiful song — the song of Geula.

And soon, we will once again go up to Yerushalayim, serve Hashem with all the abundant blessings He gives us, and sing the song of the Geula Sheleima with the coming of Mashiach.