פָּרָשַׁת רְאֵה

Parshat Re'eh sets before Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) a berachah (blessing) and a kelalah (curse): the blessing if they listen to Hashem's mitzvot, the curse if they turn to other gods. Then it teaches how a holy people lives in the land, around the one place Hashem will choose.

Every place of the nations' avodah zara (idol worship) is destroyed. Korbanot (offerings), maasrot (tithes) and firstborn animals are brought only to "the place that Hashem your G-d will choose" and eaten there in joy with the family and the Levi; ordinary meat may be eaten anywhere, but never the blood. A navi (prophet) who calls them to other gods is not believed even if his sign comes true, a relative who entices them in secret is not spared, and a city led astray is destroyed and never rebuilt.

As children of Hashem, they do not cut themselves for the dead, and they keep kashrut: the signs of kosher animals and fish, the forbidden birds, and not cooking a kid in its mother's milk. Maaser (the tithe) is eaten in the chosen place, and in the third year it goes to the Levi, the ger (stranger, convert), the orphan and the widow. In the shemitah (seventh) year debts are released, and they open their hand to the poor even as that year approaches. A Hebrew servant goes free after six years with a generous gift. The parsha ends with the three regalim (pilgrim festivals), Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, when every man appears before Hashem and rejoices with the Levi, the ger, the orphan and the widow.

Its last part, 14:22–16:17, is read outside Israel on Shmini Atzeret, and on the eighth day of Pesach and the second day of Shavuot when they fall on Shabbat; 15:19–16:17 is read when those days fall on a weekday.