Parsha “Re’eh” (for “See!,”Behold!,” or even “Check it out” — Deuteronomy 11:26-16:18) begins with a blessing, and a curse. And, as Mark points out up front, the fact that even the significance of the distinction there is so often missed is a major indicator of why there is “no power in the [modern] ‘church’.”

The Erev Shabbat reading begins there, and includes what amounts to a great summary of just why that is:

Last week, the parsha told us, “Do not even bring an abomination into your house,” lest you be accursed like it.

This week, the admonition is to utterly destroy anything and everything associated with them. And as for false prophets, who try to get us to serve those fakes? Scripture prescribes — in no uncertain terms — a death penalty.

How is it that a ‘church’ which claims to worship ‘him’ has fallen into exactly that trap?

During the Sabbath Day midrash, Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa answers that question, as He does.

And as for —

…now they’re taught in ‘sun-god day’ school. Even though the idolatry is soft-pedaled.

It is a fact that, once seen, cannot be un-seen. But it certainly must not be ignored.

The combined two-part reading and Sabbath midrash: