“You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go.” — Deuteronomy 12:4-5

The Torah portion for this week is Re’eh, which means “see,” from Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17, and the Haftorah is from Isaiah 54:11–55:5.

Pablo Picasso once said: “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” Whether our gift is in the arts, medicine, or the ministry, our job is to find out what our talents are and then devote them to God’s purposes.

Many years ago, when a Jewish boy approached 17, it was his father’s duty to find him a vocation. It was the custom to take the boy to the marketplace in town where many artisans worked at their trade. There were tailors, cobblers, leather-workers, bakers, artists, and so on. Whatever area attracted the boy most was the area his father would choose for him. If the boy paused for a long time at the baker’s, it was a signal that he was well-suited for that job. If he lingered at the cobbler’s shop he might be best at that trade. In this way, the father could choose the most appropriate trade for his son.

The rabbis explain that the same principle applies in doing God’s work. Wherever a person is drawn and whatever talents he or she innately possesses are signals for what that person should be doing to best serve God. In Proverbs 3:9 we read, “Honor the LORD with (honecha) your wealth.” The Sages teach, “Don’t read the word as honecha, meaning ‘your wealth,’ but as chonecha, meaning ‘with what God has graced you with.’” In other words, we all have been graced with a set of talents. We must figure out what those are and serve God with them.

In this week’s Torah portion we read: “You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go.” On the surface, God was instructing Israel that they must not worship as other nations do, but must serve God alone in the particular place that He would choose. The fact that the verses are nonspecific – they don’t specify that God’s chosen place is Jerusalem in the territories of Judah and Benjamin – leaves them open to other interpretations.

One such interpretation is that we are not meant to serve God the same way as someone else because we have our own unique set of gifts which God has given us. Our job is to uncover those talents and find the unique place in which to serve Him.

What gifts have you been graced with? How might you give them away?