Rav Yehoshua Eizek Shapira (1801-1873), known as R. Eizel Charif of Slonim, zt’l, was a phenomenal gaon, Rosh Yeshiva of Minsk, and Rav of several outstanding Torah communities, including Tykocin and Kalvarija in Lithuania. The author of “Emek Yehoshua” as well as brilliant works on halacha and Talmud Yerushalmi, Rav Eizel was sharp, witty, and a staunch misnaged. His father, Reb Yechiel, on the other hand, was a Chasid of the Alter Rebbe, a soft-spoken Yid who worked as a watchmaker.
Rav Eizel Charif gave many shiurim in Minsk, each one laced with complex theories and proofs, skillfully advancing his intellectual perspectives and opinions. Crowds of admirers, talmidei chachamim and rabbanim would come to hear his brilliant thoughts. One time, Rav Eizel’s father, Reb Yechiel, came to the shiur. At the end of it, while everybody was shaking his hand and telling him yasher koach, Reb Yechiel was sitting in the back of the shul, crying. The gaon Reb Eizel was shaken. He went to the back and asked his father what upset him.
Reb Yechiel looked up at his son and said, “You said such beautiful Torah! I’m just struggling to understand something. Throughout the shiur you kept repeating “I hold,” “I say,” “I think….” Who exactly is that ‘I”? And why is he so important to the shiur?
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“See, I place before you today a blessing and a curse” (Devarim, 11:26).
Rebbe Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the “Maor vaShemesh” of Krakow, zt’l, explains this opening verse of our parshah:
“The importance one subscribes to himself can be both a blessing and a curse,” as an earlier pasuk (5:5) tells us: “Your anochi, ‘I’, stands between Hashem and you.”
There is a fine line between a healthy sense of self, gadlus ha’adam (confident self-esteem) and arrogance. An honest reckoning of our human frailty and imperfections as well as our shortcomings and flaws ensures that we stand before the Ribbono Shel Olam with appropriate humility and contrition. With an unchecked ego, however, we can easily get in our own way, as the Maor vaShemesh continues: “To the extent that a person thinks of himself as existing, this is a separating screen between him and HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and this is the curse.”
In considering our Divine purpose and service, choosing how we stand before Hashem, our sidrah calls out to us: Re’eh anochi: “See your anochi, your sense of self!” The way we express our anochiyus will determine whether or not we draw down blessings or interfere with the flow; therefore, we should look at ourselves and eliminate any blind spots and hidden self-importance.
It is related in Sefer Ohel Yitzchok, about Rebbe Israel Yitzhak Kalish of Warka (Yitzchok of Vurka) (1779–1848), zt’l, that each year, on Shabbos Parshas Re’eh, the Rebbe would relate the following story:
Baderech, the Rebbe was hosted by a simple and humble villager. At the time of the seudah, the Rebbe asked his host to share a Torah thought. The simple Yid replied, “Who am I to share a vort? Ich veis nisht, I don’t know anything, let alone any Torah!” When the Rebbe gently prodded him, the host sighed deeply and shared his basic understanding and literal translation of the pasuk in our sidrah: “Re’eh anochi in Polish means Fatsh vu sabia, “Take a look at yourself!” We can merit blessings or the opposite depending on how we look at ourselves, and what we see ourselves as deserving! “Ribbono shel Olam,” he called out with tears in his eyes, “We are Your children! We look and we see that we want only to be good and to do good! So please send us your blessings!” n
Rav Judah Mischel is executive director of Camp HASC, the Hebrew Academy for Special Children. He is the mashpia of OU-NCSY, founder of Tzama Nafshi, and the author of “Baderech: Along the Path of Teshuva.” Rav Judah lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife, Ora, and their family.