Re'eh: seeing the dream

This week's parsha, named after its first word, Re'eh: see!, is set in the wilderness, at the threshold of the Promised Land - Moses speaking to the nation.  Moses presents his vision.  How can the people see it?  They have not been to the promised land, they do not know the place that the Lrd will choose,  they do not know how this land and labor based economy will work. 

Actually, the immediate object of Re'eh (see!) is the reward and punishment.  The reward is stated as: that you will follow the commandments.  Following the commandments is its own reward. This is something that a person can see in her life, but it  cannot be seen in advance.  How could I have  known the pleasure of Shabbath before I kept its statutes?  Who knew that Succah was so romantic? (It was where the  courtship of my wife flourished). 

Re'eh must not mean "see something in front  you"; it must mean " you will eventually see" It is a mixture of dream and command.  It is a request for  extreme trust: do it an you will see. 

This dream took root.  It sustained the dream of Zion  through all of the exiles. It continues to support the vision that doing good is its own reward.