Parashat Re'eh: The tyranny of ‘one’ truth

In contemporary times, we inhabit a post-prophetic era, relying on reason, observation, and empirical evidence to assess claims. While the biblical world experienced direct communication from God through prophets, offering guidance on matters of war, leadership, and societal morality—including personal decisions—the recorded prophets amount to only 48 in Scripture due to the enduring significance of their words.

The era of prophecy was expected to offer clarity, as God's direct communication to humanity ought to have provided an unmistakable path forward. However, Parashat Re'eh demonstrates that prophecy gave rise to its own challenges. Alongside authentic prophets, false prophets emerged, also claiming to speak for God. The Torah warns against these false prophets, whose signs may seem genuine, and whose words are persuasive enough to convince the masses to continue corrupt behavior under the guise of immunity from conquest and exile.

Those who conveyed the authentic message of God, such as Jeremiah, faced imprisonment and persecution, while false prophets found more receptive audiences. Parashat Re'eh explicitly warns against false prophets, instructing the community not only to ignore them but also to prosecute them, even resorting to the death penalty when warranted.

The Torah does not address individuals with bizarre predictions or delusions of grandeur, as such figures are easily dismissed. Instead, it focuses on a more unsettling scenario: a false prophet who has already established genuine prophetic credentials through accurate predictions and access to supernatural knowledge through signs or wonders.

When confronted with such a figure, the natural inclination is to trust his subsequent utterances, assuming his authority to be absolute. However, the Torah asserts otherwise. If a prophet instructs the Jewish people to violate the Torah, his credibility collapses, despite any earlier prophecies that may have earned him credibility.

This passage teaches a broader lesson about processing truth. A person may possess genuine insight and speak profound truths, yet possessing part of the truth does not make everything they say true. It takes courage to reject those who have demonstrated extraordinary gifts and stand up to figures who appear to possess supernatural knowledge, even when they assert partial truths as absolute.

The story of false prophets extends beyond the specific laws governing false prophecy. It illuminates an enduring challenge in religious and moral life. The greatest threats to truth often begin with a genuinely true partial truth, which becomes destructive when elevated into an absolute. This issue is not limited to biblical times; modern ideologies that began with profound truths but grew beyond their proper limits are also relevant.

Throughout history, powerful ideologies have emerged, initially built upon genuine truths. The Enlightenment championed individual liberty, while modern nationalism asserted that nations should govern themselves. These were undoubtedly positive developments; however, when elevated into absolutes, they become dangerous. National identity is crucial, but when it eclipses all other loyalties, it becomes an absolutist ideology.

Similarly, in the 20th century, the nation or state itself became an absolute, with fascist movements demanding unquestioning loyalty to the nation and Communist regimes subordinating individuals to the state and the party. Both prioritized personal liberty over all else, leading to devastating crimes against their citizens and humanity.

These historical examples demonstrate how partial truths can be transformed into absolute truths, endangering individual rights, civic, political, and economic equality. In the modern era, Western societies shifted emphasis to individual rights and freedoms in response to the horrors of the Second World War. While these advancements corrected real injustices, they also exemplify the risk of elevating partial truths into complete ones.