I was in Israel many years ago, when the thin pock size iPods were on the market. I borrowed one to listen to a song, on a bus tour. Looked like I spilled soap on it, I was horrified! Finally I pushed up my sunglasses and the screen returned to normal! This is where I first learned the effect of polarized lenses, and the relief of not unconsciously spilling my water bottle on a friends device.
Opposite story. - Story of sunglasses - geology teacher said, look at the stripes in the rock! Student couldn't see, teacher took off sunglasses, saw it.
(כו) רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃ (כז) אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם׃ (כח) וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וְסַרְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם לָלֶ֗כֶת אַחֲרֵ֛י אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יְדַעְתֶּֽם׃ {ס} (כט) וְהָיָ֗ה כִּ֤י יְבִֽיאֲךָ֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה בָא־שָׁ֖מָּה לְרִשְׁתָּ֑הּ וְנָתַתָּ֤ה אֶת־הַבְּרָכָה֙ עַל־הַ֣ר גְּרִזִ֔ים וְאֶת־הַקְּלָלָ֖ה עַל־הַ֥ר עֵיבָֽל׃
(26) See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: (27) blessing, if you obey the commandments of your God יהוה that I enjoin upon you this day; (28) and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of your God יהוה, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced/ proved themselves to you. (29) When your God יהוה brings you into the land that you are about to enter and possess, you shall pronounce the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.—
Tomorrow in Torah study we will explore this scene at the two mountains in more depth - tonight I want to look at the opening of this verse. See, Re'eh.
ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה, “see! I have placed before you this day blessing and curse.” The word ראה in this context is not a directive to be alert to what follows, rather it refers to the literal meaning of the root ראה, “to see” with one’s eyes, to take advantage of bright light in order to distinguish between different phenomena. (Both abstract ones or physical ones) The Israelite is invited or commanded by Moses to distinguish between phenomena that appear side by side, in order to recognize which of them are beneficial for them and which represent a potential curse for them. (Kedushat Levi)
Seeing and Hearing - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Unlike almost every other culture in ancient and modern times, Judaism is a religion of sound, not sight; of hearing rather than seeing; of the word as against the image.
The God encountered by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by Moses in the Burning Bush, and by the Israelites as they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, came not as an appearance, a visible Presence, but as a Voice – commanding, promising, challenging, summoning. Listen to how insistent Moses is on this point:
Then God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no image; there was only a Voice . . . Be very careful, since you did not see any image on the day that God spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb.
The God of Israel, God at the heart of reality, cannot be seen. Hence the severity of the prohibition against making images. Idolatry in the Torah is more than the absurdity of worshipping things we ourselves have made (“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths but cannot speak; they have eyes but cannot see . . .”). God is beyond what we can see – not simply because God is so much greater, vaster, than anything our eyes can encompass, but because God belongs to a different dimension of reality altogether.
Hence one of the key words of Devarim/Deuteronomy (which means “words”) is Shema, “Hear” or “Listen" - In one form or another, the verb shema appears no less than 92 times in the course of the book.
Hear [shema] O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
If you surely hear [shamoa tishme’u] the commandments I give you this day, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and all your soul . . .
Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel saying:
Pay attention and listen [u-shema], Israel . . .
Listen O Heavens and I will speak; Earth, hear [ve-tishma] the words of my mouth.
Our sedra, however, seems to represent a counter-example. Re’eh, its first word, means “See.” On the face of it, Moses is making an appeal to the eye, not the ear. However, if we examine the role of sight in Judaism we discover something strange. Often, when the Torah seems to be using a verb or metaphor for sight it is actually referring to something not seen at all, but rather, heard.
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse — the blessing if you listen to [tishme’u] the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you do not listen [tishme’u] to the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
The text seems to be about seeing. In fact, though, it is about listening to something heard, namely a blessing and a curse. The non sequitur is so marked that some English translations render the verb re’eh not as “see” but as “understand.”
In one sense, however, Moses is referring to something visible, as the text goes on to make clear:
When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses.
Later in Devarim this ceremony is specified in greater detail:
When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster . . .”
On the same day Moses commanded the people:
When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
Both procedures – setting up the engraved stones, and the blessings and curses recited on the two mountains – are designed to give visual impact to an essentially auditory experience. Seeing, in Judaism, is ultimately about hearing. Israel is the people called on to reject images in favour of words; to discard appearances and follow, instead, the commanding voice.
Judaism’s answer is that God is found, first and foremost, not in the blinding light of the sun, nor in the majesty of mountains. He is not in the almost infinitely vast spaces of the universe, with its hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. He is not even in the letters of the genetic code that give all life its structure and diversity. If this is where you seek God, says Judaism, you are looking in the wrong place. Indeed, the mistake you are making consists in the very fact that you are looking at all.
God is to be found not by looking but by listening. He lives in words – the words He spoke to the patriarchs and matriarchs, prophets and priests; ultimately in the words of the Torah itself – the words though which we are to interpret all other words.
Why is God revealed in words? Because words are what makes us persons. Language makes homo sapiens unique. Because we have language, we can think. We can stand back, reflectively, from the data provided by our senses. We can ask questions. Human beings are the only species known to us in the universe capable of asking the question, Why?
Because we can speak as well as see, we can imagine a universe unlike the one we have seen every day until now. We can dream dreams, imagine alternatives, sketch utopias, formulate plans, construct intentions. Because of language – and only because of language – we are free and therefore morally responsible agents.
No doubt in some sense chimpanzees, flamingos, fruit bats and dolphins are free. They have nervous systems; they have eyes; they feel pain; they are capable of avoiding danger; within limits they know where to search for food. But they are not free in the sense in which human beings are free. We do not hold them to be responsible for their acts. We do not expect them to obey rules, nor do we hold them guilty when they kill. We do not judge them in courts of law.
If you seek God, turn your attention to language – not to people, places or objects. The hidden presence of God is everywhere.
Hence the philosophy of Israel – so different from that of ancient Greece, the European Enlightenment and contemporary science: To meet God is to listen to God.
The apparent counterexample of Re’eh, “See,” turns out to be not a contradiction of this idea but a dramatic reiteration of it. “See, I am placing before you both a blessing and a curse.”
What the Israelites were asked to see was words.
(8) You shall not act at all as we now act here, each of us as we please...
(28)Be careful to heed all these commandments that I enjoin upon you; thus it will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of your God יהוה.
We now need to do what's good in God's eyes, the cosmic view. We don't just change physical location but mindset our field of vision.
Throughout history, Jews have had the power to choose. But the power to choose doesn't mean that every choice is equally wise, equally sacred or equally conducive to the transmission of Torah and Judaism. We can choose to let the elderly homeless remain on the streets. We have that power. One can choose to elevate our eating to an act of holiness and solidarity with Jews through time. We have that power too. In ritual, as in ethics, we can choose. And we can choose wrongly. And God has given us the choice. "See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the Commandments of Adonai your God... and curse, if you do not." Choose wisely. (Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson)
Everything is from God. In times of trouble it is the man’s nature to shout and cry out to God, “what have You done to me?” Yet at the time when God bestows His goodness man’s eye is clouded from seeing that it is from God. Then he says, “my power and the strength of my hand has made me this wealth [Devarim, 8:17],” therefore God shows him, “See! I give before you,” meaning that everything is from God.
Then God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no image; there was only a Voice . . . Be very careful, since you did not see any image on the day that God spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb.
זיל טפי ת"ר חלזון זהו גופו דומה לים וברייתו דומה לדג ועולה אחד לשבעים שנה ובדמו צובעין תכלת לפיכך דמיו יקרים תניא א"ר נתן אין לך כל מצוה קלה שכתובה בתורה שאין מתן שכרה בעה"ז ולעה"ב איני יודע כמה צא ולמד ממצות ציצית מעשה באדם אחד שהיה זהיר במצות ציצית שמע שיש זונה בכרכי הים שנוטלת ד' מאות זהובים בשכרה שיגר לה ארבע מאות זהובים וקבע לה זמן כשהגיע זמנו בא וישב על הפתח נכנסה שפחתה ואמרה לה אותו אדם ששיגר ליך ד' מאות זהובים בא וישב על הפתח אמרה היא יכנס נכנס הציעה לו ז' מטות שש של כסף ואחת של זהב ובין כל אחת ואחת סולם של כסף ועליונה של זהב עלתה וישבה על גבי עליונה כשהיא ערומה ואף הוא עלה לישב ערום כנגדה באו ד' ציציותיו וטפחו לו על פניו נשמט וישב לו ע"ג קרקע ואף היא נשמטה וישבה ע"ג קרקע אמרה לו גפה של רומי שאיני מניחתך עד שתאמר לי מה מום ראית בי אמר לה העבודה שלא ראיתי אשה יפה כמותך אלא מצוה אחת ציונו ה' אלהינו וציצית שמה וכתיב בה (במדבר טו, מא) אני ה' אלהיכם שתי פעמים אני הוא שעתיד ליפרע ואני הוא שעתיד לשלם שכר עכשיו נדמו עלי כד' עדים אמרה לו איני מניחך עד שתאמר לי מה שמך ומה שם עירך ומה שם רבך ומה שם מדרשך שאתה למד בו תורה כתב ונתן בידה עמדה וחילקה כל נכסיה שליש למלכות ושליש לעניים ושליש נטלה בידה חוץ מאותן מצעות ובאת לבית מדרשו של ר' חייא אמרה לו רבי צוה עלי ויעשוני גיורת אמר לה בתי שמא עיניך נתת באחד מן התלמידים הוציאה כתב מידה ונתנה לו אמר לה לכי זכי במקחך אותן מצעות שהציעה לו באיסור הציעה לו בהיתר זה מתן שכרו בעה"ז ולעה"ב איני יודע כמה אמר רב יהודה טלית שאולה כל שלשים יום פטורה מן הציצית מיכן ואילך חייבת תניא נמי הכי הדר בפונדקי בא"י והשוכר בית בח"ל כל שלשים יום פטור מן המזוזה מיכן ואילך חייב אבל השוכר בית בא"י עושה מזוזה לאלתר משום יישוב דא"י: תפלה של יד אינה מעכבת: אמר רב חסדא לא שנו אלא שיש לו אבל אין לו מעכבת אמרו לו אמרת אמר להו לא אלא מאן דלית ליה תרי מצות חד מצוה נמי לא ליעביד ומעיקרא מאי סבר גזירה שמא יפשע אמר רב ששת כל שאינו מניח תפילין עובר בשמונה עשה וכל שאין לו ציצית בבגדו עובר בחמשה עשה וכל כהן שאינו עולה לדוכן עובר בג' עשה כל שאין לו מזוזה בפתחו עובר בשני עשה וכתבתם וכתבתם ואמר ר"ל כל המניח תפילין מאריך ימים שנאמר (ישעיהו לח, טז) ה' עליהם יחיו ולכל בהן חיי רוחי ותחלימני והחייני:
There was an incident involving a certain man who was diligent about the mitzva of ritual fringes. This man heard that there was a prostitute in one of the cities overseas who took four hundred gold coins as her payment. He sent her four hundred gold coins and fixed a time to meet with her. When his time came, he came and sat at the entrance to her house. The maidservant of that prostitute entered and said to her: That man who sent you four hundred gold coins came and sat at the entrance. She said: Let him enter. He entered. She arranged seven beds for him, six of silver and one of gold. Between each and every one of them there was a ladder made of silver, and the top bed was the one that was made of gold. She went up and sat naked on the top bed, and he too went up in order to sit naked facing her. In the meantime, his four ritual fringes came and slapped him on his face. He dropped down and sat himself on the ground, and she also dropped down and sat on the ground. She said to him: I take an oath by the gappa of Rome that I will not allow you to go until you tell me what defect you saw in me. He said to her: I take an oath by the Temple service that I never saw a woman as beautiful as you. But there is one mitzva that the Lord, our God, commanded us, and its name is ritual fringes, and in the passage where it is commanded, it is written twice: “I am the Lord your God” (Numbers 15:41). The doubling of this phrase indicates: I am the one who will punish those who transgress My mitzvot, and I am the one who will reward those who fulfill them. Now, said the man, the four sets of ritual fringes appeared to me as if they were four witnesses who will testify against me. She said to him: I will not allow you to go until you tell me: What is your name, and what is the name of your city, and what is the name of your teacher, and what is the name of the study hall in which you studied Torah? He wrote the information and placed it in her hand. She arose and divided all of her property, giving one-third as a bribe to the government, one-third to the poor, and she took one-third with her in her possession, in addition to those beds of gold and silver. She came to the study hall of Rabbi Ḥiyya and said to him: My teacher, instruct your students concerning me and have them make me a convert. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to her: My daughter, perhaps you set your sights on one of the students and that is why you want to convert? She took the note the student had given her from her hand and gave it to Rabbi Ḥiyya. He said to her: Go take possession of your purchase. Those beds that she had arranged for him in a prohibited fashion, she now arranged for him in a permitted fashion... And anyone who does not have ritual fringes on his garments violates five positive mitzvot. Because the mitzva of ritual fringes is stated four times in the primary passage concerning ritual fringes in Numbers: “That they prepare for themselves strings…and they shall put on the fringe of the corner a sky-blue thread. And it shall be to you for a fringe that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord” (Numbers 15:38–39).
May you break out of your narrow vision, your narrow arguments and resentments.
May you enter the place where your soul dwells and respond with spaciousness to all that comes your way.
May you forgive, repair, soften, see.
May you open up. The gift of a great expanse is yours to have. It already resides within you.
May God be with you.
And may God work through you, now and always. Amen.
- Rabbi Naomi Levy, Einstein and the Rabbi: Searching for the Soul, (New York: Flatiron Books, 2017), p. 97
אָמַר רַבִּי לֵוִי לְמָה הַדָּבָר דּוֹמֶה, לְעֶבֶד שֶׁאָמַר לוֹ רַבּוֹ הֲרֵי מוֹנַיִיק שֶׁל זָהָב, וְאִם לָאו הֲרֵי כְּבָלִים שֶׁל בַּרְזֶל. כָּךְ אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אִם עֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת רְצוֹנִי הֲרֵי הַטּוֹב וְהַבְּרָכָה, וְאִם לָאו, הֲרֵי הַקְּלָלָה, הֲרֵי שְׁתֵּי דְרָכִים לִפְנֵיכֶם, רְאֵה אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם הַיּוֹם בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה.
Rabbi Levi said: To what can this be compared? To a slave whose master says to them: If you listen to me I have a bracelet of gold for you, and if not, then I have chains of iron for you. Such God said to the Israelites: If you do My will, then blessing and goodness, and if not, then curse. Behold, two paths are before you. See that I have placed before you the choice of blessing or curse.
ראה אנכי נותן לפניכם כו'. כבר דקדקו קמאי דפתח בלשון יחיד "ראה", ו"לפניכם" הוא לשון רבים. ונראה לפרש בצירוף הפסוק "לעושה אורים גדולים כי לעולם חסדו", דהנה השני האורות הם אהבה יראה, והם היו שניהם גדולים כאחד דיש יראת רוממות, והנה כשאמרה הלבנה "אי אפשר לשני מלכים כו'", היה כוונתה שתעלה במדריגה, או היא או החמה, ולא שימעיט מדריגת אחד חלילה, והשי"ת ב"ה ראה שזה בלתי אפשרי מחמת הרשעים שצריך ליראם ביראת העונש, ואמר לה "לכי המעיטי עצמך", והיינו יראה קטנה, תחילה יראת העונש. ובאמת איתא באור של ז' ימי בראשית "ראה שאין כדאי כו' וגנזו לצדיקים לעתיד לבא", דאנו אומרים "יוצר אור ובורא חושך", והיה לו לומר "יצר אור כו'" לשון עבר ולא לשון הווה, אלא האמת הוא שהשי"ת ברוב רחמיו יוצר אור תמיד, דהיינו הצדיק ההולך בדרכי השם באמת ובתמים, אליו נראה ונגלה אור הגנוז, ובכל יום יום שהצדיק הולך במדריגה יותר, נתגלה לו האור יותר. וזהו "ראה שאין כדאי כו' וגנזו לצדיקים לעתיד לבא", ר"ל שהצדיקים עתידים להיות לבוא אל האור הזה הגנוז שנתגלה אליהם. וזהו "לעושה אורים גדולים" ג"כ לשון הווה. והנה יראת העונש יכול להיות לאדם אף שאין רואה הדבר המיראו, רק באומרים לו למשל "אל תלך אל המקום הזה ששם הוא דבר הממית והמזיק", הוא מתירא ואינו הולך, אבל אהבה בלתי אפשרי להיות לאדם כי אם בראותו הדבר הנאהב, וכל זמן שאין רואה בעיניו אין לו רק השתוקקות לראות, ואהבה הוא האחדות, ולכן אהבה בגימטריה אחד. והנה בהיות האדם במדריגה זו באחדות, צריך שמירה תמיד ולהחזיק עצמו שעדיין אינו במדריגה זו, ונמצא שורש הדבר אהבה נקרא בשם ראיה כנ"ל, שאין אהבה נגמרת אלא בראיה. וזהו "ראה", פירוש כשאתה במדריגת אהבה הנקרא בשם ראיה, "אנכי נותן לפניכם", ר"ל עדיין צריך להחזיק עצמך שאינך במדריגת אחדות גמור, רק "לפניכם" שהוא לשון רבים, ועדיין אתה כשאר בני אדם, כי אם "היום ברכה וקללה", ר"ל תחזיק עצמך כאילו התחלת היום להרגיל עצמך במדריגת אהבה ויראה, "ברכה" רמז לאהבה "וקללה" רמז ליראה, דהיינו רצועה לאלקאה, "את הברכה אשר תשמעו כו'", י"ל ע"פ המשל אדם שהיה בו איזה חולשה ר"ל ונתרפא ממנה, אזי בכל עת ורגע הוא מעייין ושומע אם חלילה החולשה הזאת מתעורר בו, כן הנמשל בכל אדם צריך בכל עת ורגע לשמוע בעצמו ולעיין אם הוא יוצא ידי חובתו בעשיית מצוות ה', אם אין מתעורר בו ח"ו איזה דבר שאינו הגון, וזהו "את הברכה אשר תשמעו" ר"ל זה הוא ברכה לאדם אשר תשמעו אל כו' כנ"ל, שתשמעו ותעיינו תמיד אף בעשותכם מצוותיו ית"ש אם אין אתם מחסרים בהם, "והקללה אם לא תשמעו" ר"ל אם לא תשגיחו על עצמיכם כנ"ל, לכן צריך האדם להסתכל תמיד ולהשגיח על עצמו בכל עת שזה יהיה ברכה לו ולזרעו עד עולם. וק"ל.
See! I give in front of you etc. (Deut. 11:26) - Others pointed out that the language changes from the singular "see" to the plural "in front of y'all". And it seems that we can explain this by combining the verse "the One who makes great lights, God's kindness endures forever (Ps. 136:7) - behold, the two lights are Love and Awe, and both of them were great equally, [since there is Awe of Greatness aka fear] and behold, when the moon said "it is not possible for two kings etc" the moon wanted to rise above its level, or the sun, and not to descend from that level, God forbid. And the Holy Blessed Name saw that that was impossible, due to the evil ones, who need to feel awe only due to fear of punishment, and said to the moon 'go diminish yourself' - and this is the small awe, which begins with the fear of punishment. And in truth there is the light of the seven days of Creation "God saw that it was not appropriate, etc, and hid the light for the righteous in the future". And this is what we say "forms light and creates darkness" and yet we should say "formed light" in the past and not the present. In truth, however, the Holy One of Blessing creates light continuously due to God's mercy. To the tzadik, who walks in God's ways in truth and completion, the Hidden Light [Or Ganuz] is revealed and is seen and at every day that the tzadik goes to higher levels, the more the light reveals itself to him. And this is "God saw that it wasn't enough etc and hid the light for the tzadikim in the world to come" (Bereshit Rabbah 12:6, Chagigah 12a): the future of the tzadikim is to go into this light, the Hidden Light, that is revealed to them. And this is why "God makes the great lights" is also written in the present tense. And behold, to feel fear of punishment is possible even if a person has not seen the thing to be afraid of, as just our saying to them "do not go to such-and-such place, there are bad things there" and they don't go because they feel fear. But love can't happen without seeing the thing that brings love about, and all the time one does not see the thing with one's eyes one just feels desire to see. Love means unity, and that is why the gematria for 'love' is the same as 'one'. And when a person is on that level, in unity, one needs to guard it always and one needs to strengthen oneself that if that level wasn't reached yet. And we find that the root of love is called "seeing", as we explained, since love is not completed without seeing. And this is "see!" - meaning, when you are on the level of love, which is called seeing, "I give to y'all" - meaning, you need to strengthen yourself that you have not reached that level of unity yet, and you are still on the level of the rest of human beings, since "today blessing and curse" - meaning, strengthen yourself as if you began just today to accustom yourself to the levels of Love and Awe. "Blessing" is a hint to love, and "curse" a hint to Fear, which is the whipping for the wicked (Zohar 1:11b). "The blessing, that y'all listen etc" one has to say according to the allegory of a person who has some disease, God forbid, and was healed from it, and at all times the person is noticing and listening to their body to see if the disease is erupting again, God forbid, and so too every person needs to at all times listen to themselves and notice if they have fulfilled their mitzvot for Hashem, if something not good - God forbid! - is erupting, and this is "the blessing if you listen": the blessing resides in listening, as explained, that you listen and notice at all times even if you are fulfilling God's mitzvot if there is something lacking on them. "The curse, if you do not listen" that is to say, if you don't watch out for yourselves as explained above. That is why a person needs to pay attention always, and watch out for him/herself at every moment, so it will be a blessing for her/him, and for their children. And this is easy to understand.