Summary of parashat Re'e
"Go," Moses says to the people of Israel, "I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse”—the blessing that will come if they keep the Divine commandments and the curse if they abandon them. These will be proclaimed on Mount Gerizim and Mount Eibal, when the people cross over into the Holy Land.
A Temple must be established in "the place that God will choose to make His name dwell there," where people will bring their sacrifices; it is forbidden to bring offerings to God in any other place. It is permitted to slaughter animals in other places, not as sacrifices, but to eat their meat. However, the blood that is poured on the altar in the Temple is forbidden.
A false prophet, or a person who leads others astray into idol worship, must be punished with death; an idolatrous city must be destroyed. The identifying signs for kosher animals and fish, as well as the list of non-kosher birds, are repeated.
A tenth of all produce must be eaten in Jerusalem or exchanged for money, which will be used to buy food there. In certain years, this tithe is given to the poor. The firstborn of cattle and sheep must be offered at the Temple, and their meat eaten by a kohen (priest).
The mitzvah of charity obliges a Jew to help a neighbor in need with a gift or a loan. In the Sabbatical year (which occurs every seven years), all loans must be forgiven and all servants released.
The parashah concludes with the laws of the three pilgrimage festivals, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, when everyone must go to "see and be seen" before God in the holy Temple."
