Posted on 08/06/21
Our parsha begins with Moshe telling Klal Yisroel “See, I present before you today a blessing and a curse” (11:26). Rashi explains that Moshe was referring to a future event where half of Klal Yisroel would be placed on Har Gerizim and half would be placed on Har Eival, with shevet Levi in the middle. Shevet Levi would declare blessings for those who keep the Torah and curses for those who disobey, after which everyone would say “amen” (see 27:11-26).
A couple of important questions: 1. Why does it say “see” the blessing and curse? Words of blessing and curse cannot be seen. 2. The beginning of the pasuk starts off in singular form (“Re’eh”) and ends in plural form (“eschem”). Why? 3. Why did Moshe say “today”? According to Rashi, this was an event that did not occur that day and would only occur in the future. 4. What in the world would it accomplish to have the entire klal yisroel split into two separate groups on two separate mountains? Wouldn’t the message have been given over comprehensively, even if klal yisroel was in one standard group, like they were for all of the other commandments in the Torah?
Olympic athletes spend an enormous amount of time training for their events. But, according to Ellen Rogin and Lisa Kueng, authors of "Picture Your Prosperity: Smart Money Moves to Turn Your Vision into Reality," it's not just the physical training that leads to success. It's the mental training, too.
It turns out that the athletes who picture themselves crossing the finish line first are more likely to do it. Rogin and Kueng refer to this technique as "visualization," and they say its effectiveness has been proven by Russian scientists who conducted a study comparing the training schedules of four groups of Olympic athletes.
Each group used a different combination of physical and mental training:
The scientists found that the fourth group performed the best during the Olympics. "This has been such an important finding that the US Olympic Committee now has increased the number of full-time psychologists on staff from just one to six over the last 20 years," Rogin and Kueng say. What makes visualization such a powerful technique for success?
Rogin and Kueng cite research by Srinivasan Pillay, a Harvard M.D. and author of "Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders," to explain how visualization works. "We stimulate the same brain regions when we visualize an action as we do when we actually perform that same action," says Pillay. Rogin and Kueng describe this as a sort of conditioning for your brain. They suggest first establishing a goal, then visualizing achieving that goal in detail, and focusing on it over the long term.
"These simple techniques help your brain know what to look out for," the authors say. "Without the conditioning, critical information that can help you achieve your goals might remain background noise." (https://www.businessinsider.com/olympic-athletes-and-power-of-visualization-2015-1).
The Gemara in Kiddushin (40b) says that, throughout one’s day, as one is faced with opportunity to do an aveirah or opportunity to do a mitzvah, one should always look at himself, on a micro-level, and consider that he himself has exactly the same amount of mitzvos and aveiros. One additional sin would tip the scales in the favor of his destruction and one single mitzvah would tip the scales in favor of him being righteous and receiving blessing. One should also consider, on a macro level, that the entire world is in a perfect equal balance with the same amount of mitzvos and aveiros. If he does one aveirah, the world will receive curses and be deemed rasha’im. But, if he would do just a single mitzvah, the world would be deemed tzadikim and receive merit.
Visualizing this, says the Gemara, is the key to living a successful life. In fact, visualization is SO important, that Moshe had split half of Klal Yisroel on one mountain and half of Klal Yisroel on another mountain. One represented blessing and one represented curse; it was split exactly 50-50. This would help us see and visualize the above lesson from the Gemara in Kiddushin. It was not enough to just tell us; Moshe wanted us to VISAULIZE it. This is also why the pasuk starts in singular, to represent the micro-level view, the personal view that we should take; we should visualize that our personal “merit scales” are 50-50 and that a single mitzvah or aveira will tip the balance – as well as in plural, to represent the macro-level; the fate of the world rests on our next actions. Furthermore, Moshe said you should do so “today”, to remind us, for all time, to do so each and every day (see first Dvar Torah in Nesivos Shalom on this week’s parshah).
Living Inspired
The Yetzer Hara often tries to convince us that it won’t make a difference if “little me” does a single aveirah, nor will not accomplish much if “little me” does a single mitzvah. Our parshah teaches us that this thought-process is detrimental to our success and is a demotivating fallacy. Bear in mind, the Torah is no mere life-coach providing a fluff-tip. Rather, it is teaching us that one of the truest and realest methods to fighting the yetzer hara, and to motivate positive growth, is to constantly VISUALIZE that my single mitzvah or aveirah, will TRULY make a MAJOR difference, can change my personal standing and outcome, as well as my personal connection to Hashem – as well as the entire world’s. This reality is very real and the way to master being cognizant of that is to visualize seeing this with your own eyes; that your personal scale, as well as that of the world, is at a 50-50 balance and its outcome will change based on your single next action.
Think about this the next time you have an opportunity to do a mitzvah or to avoid an aveirah. More importantly, use this understanding to empower your everyday decisions and to understand that they truly make a difference. Visualization is such a powerful tool. May we use it well, when we need to motivate ourselves to go after mitzvos and to stay away from aveiros.
Clearly, as illustrated by our parshah and the above study, visualizing this reality will really work!
Gut Shabbos