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Among the many decrees that were issued by the evil Nazi government in the ghettos was the prohibition for Jews to immerse in a mikvah. The mikvaos were sealed (by the Germans), and on the door was affixed a note stating that opening the mikvah or using it will be considered an act of sabotage with punishment ranging from ten years in jail to the death penalty.

In the years following the Churban Beis HaMikdash, many Jews continued to go up to Jerusalem to cry over its ruins. They gathered at the Kosel – testimony to the magnificence of the Holy Temple – and saturated it with their tears. The “Traveler from Bordeaux,” the first Christian tourist to record impressions of his visit to the Holy Land, visited the country about 250 years after the Churban. He wrote that Jews come to Jerusalem once a year, on the Ninth of Av. They cry and lament next to a stone that remains from the Temple. Close to one hundred years later, in 4993, a Persian tourist described thousands of Jews crying over the ruins of the desolate House during the holiday of Sukkos, in remembrance of aliyah l’regel.

The Cities of Refuge are where one goes if he killed another by accident and he is protected there from the wrath of an avenger until the death of the Kohen Gadol. The pasuk is clear that there was no premeditated murder, and it only applies to one who “strikes his fellow unintentionally, whom he did not hate in times past.”

The daughters of Tz’lafchad petitioned Moshe Rabbeinu for the right to inherit their father’s property in the Land of Israel. These five daughters argued that were they not to inherit, their father’s name would be lost forever to his tribe. Moshe took their case to Hashem. Hashem recognized the merit of their case. He told Moshe that their plea was just, and that they should be granted their father’s hereditary holdings. Rashi sums up this whole episode by quoting the words of the Sifrei: “This tells us that their eyes saw (the daughters understood the halachah) what even Moshe Rabbeinu did not see!”

Hashem sends us blessings every day, but unless we make an effort to look out for them and “see” them as blessings, we may not even realize that we are being blessed! In fact, the greatest blessing we receive daily is life itself. Rav Avraham Pam zt”l would say that when we wake up in the morning and say Modeh Ani, we should look at our breakfast as a s’udas hodaah (thanksgiving feast). By employing a singular term, “R’ei!” (See!), the Torah reminds us that each individual should see his blessing as an individual, and not as part of the klal, because everyone looks at life through his own individual lens. Since people don’t always realize the brachah they receive daily, it often gets misused, and that same brachah can turn into a curse (klalah).

The parshah speaks of the many battles that klal Yisrael fought. As they traveled through the desert, they were confronted by their enemies, time and time again. Tired, thirsty, exhausted from the weary journey through the desert, they had just been attacked and beaten by an implacable foe, Amaleik. They cried out to Hashem – they made a vow to the Lord – and He came to their rescue. Although the Canaanim were powerful, Hashem said, “Why should I trouble My children to besiege every city?” He gave all the warriors the idea to leave their cities, and they gathered in one place, where they were slain (Rashi).