What Is Enough?

In Parashat Re’eh, we are called to discern between what we need, what we want, and what we can give. Kashrut, the dietary laws, teaches us mindfulness in consumption-urging us to be conscious of our needs and disciplined in our wants. It’s a spiritual practice that elevates the act of eating, transforming a basic need into an opportunity for holiness.
When we consider poverty, we are reminded that some struggle even to meet their most basic needs. The Torah commands us to open our hands to those in need, highlighting our responsibility to give. This balance-between self-discipline and generosity-is the heart of a just society. As we navigate our desires, let us remember that true fulfillment comes not just from what we acquire but from what we share, creating a community where everyone has enough.

[@KCKGB]

Strong meditation, Rabbi.
Spent a lot of time reading the Christian gospels in my younger years and the specific teachings of Jesus, those that transmitted the value and even the urgency of existing in a condition where you accept the call to center others, or prioritize the community, ahead of your own ambitions, desires or even your own needs, always resonated with me most. And you quite effectively highlighted this theme here. I love the synergies of faith.
Obviously the counter-pathology to this posture has been most readily cultivated and arguably even weaponized in our modern sociopolitical economy, and so the task to effectively and yes, also compassionately break that spell is dead ahead of us.

[@EclecticCleric]

Even more generally: Religion has such capacity for good, and such capacity for ill.