See, I am placing in front of you a blessing and a curse.
The Ohr Hachaim asks, how does the word רְ אֵה - see, apply here? The two things that were placed in front of Klal Yisroel were abstract, how were they visible?
He also asks, why does the Torah use a singular expression, whereas the rest of the parsha is written in the plural form? אֶת הַבְרָכָה אֲשֶר תִּשְמְעוּ - the blessing is if you listen. Here the verb is plural. Why did the Torah change?
The Ohr Hachaim explains that the Torah’s intent is to persuade them to choose the Higher worlds, and to feel disgust to the favors of this world. They needed to internalize the idea that everything that is considered good in this world has no inherent value, and the good to be found in the world to come includes and surpasses all pleasures that can exist in this world. How can a person persuade another about these two points? The only way a person can transfer this message is if he has a personal knowledge of the world to come and has felt it with his senses, and also has a personal knowledge of all of the pleasures that this world has to offer. If a poor man discusses the ephemerality and foolishness of the pleasures of this world, the listener will discount his opinion, claiming that he is only talking this way because he never experienced it. The listener may claim that if his interlocutor had enjoyed the pleasures of flesh and bone, he would have appreciated them. Anyone who discusses the pleasures of the world to come can find his words ignored because who of us ever visited Heaven to find out how things look there? The entire concept rests on trust because it is invisible.
Moshe told them רְ אֵה אָנֹכִּי – look at me, see how great I am, and learn from me that there is only one choice, the world to come.
The Ohr Hachaim adds to this that the Rambam says that every person can become like Moshe Rabbeinu. He is telling Klal Yisroel to look at him and emulate him, because deep down, we all have it in us.
