Talking About the Weather: Parashat Re’eh and the Wisdom of Knowing When to Stop When Moshe Rabbeinu speaks to the Jewish people in Parashat Re’eh, as they stand on the threshold of entering Eretz Yisrael and building a society there, he warns them about one of the greatest dangers that can threaten any society: “You shall not do as we are doing here today, each person whatever is right in his own eyes.” (Devarim 12:8) To modern ears, the phrase “whatever is right in his own eyes” can almost sound like a virtue. After all, every individual and every group is convinced that they are acting for the sake of truth and justice. But Moshe Rabbeinu is warning us about the danger. When everyone does only what seems right to him, without shared boundaries, without considering others, and without a sense of responsibility for the community as a whole, society can begin to fall apart. Chazal sharpened this idea in the Midrash (Sifra, Bechukotai 1:8): “If there is no peace, there is nothing.” A society cannot survive for long without peace among its different parts. No economic, technological, or military strength can hold together a society whose internal fabric is being steadily torn apart. Many of us remember the small communities in which we grew up, where people lived alongside one another and knew each other. There were simple, healthy rules: If you cannot say something good, it is better not to say anything at all. People did not always avoid disagreements, but they understood that not every argument had to become a war. Sometimes they talked about simple things—even the weather. That was not weakness, and it was not an escape from reality. It reflected a simple understanding: the relationship between people is more important than winning an argument. There were serious disagreements among us. People did not give up their principles or pretend to agree with one another. But they knew how to live together. When people meet one another day after day and actually see one another, they learn to see the person first. They understand that even when there is a disagreement, the other person is still a neighbor, a friend, a fellow Jew, a human being who shares the same place and the same reality. That creates a basic sense of respect. Israeli society today has lost some of that simple wisdom. To a large extent, the population has divided into separate circles—separate educational systems, separate........

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