Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Adar 1, 5784
Parsha Tetzavveh: (Exodus 27:20 – 30:10)
Fifth Portion: Exodus 29:19 – 29:37

Good morning! It is super fascinating. The themes of the past two times reading this passage?  Living in a moment – and bringing our power to the moment instead of having the moment bestow power on us (“able to be” vs “to be able” as Mark Nepo puts it) and the succession of leadership. This idea of legacy.

What is our legacy? I’ve been working on mine. As I approach this today, I am learning more about Empathy from Oren Jay Sofer – who is a meditation teacher.  In any moment, we have the power to choose empathy – for ourselves and for others. There are three critical questions to ask ourselves:

• What matters?
• What are we/they feeling?
• What are we/they needing?

If I am unaware of what matters to me? If I am unaware of what I am feeling? If I am unaware of what I am needing? When I approach a moment, that moment I am “unable to be.” Because I am not approaching that moment with self-empathy. Instead, that moment will provide me opportunity “to be able.” The moment defines me, instead of me living the moment.  This is the fundamental shift within I am working on.  And – when we approach this moment with self-empathy, already knowing what matters to us, what we are feeling, what we are needing? We create SPACE to be in that moment, and then SHIFT to ask these questions of the other – What matters to THEM? What are THEY Feeling? What are THEY Needing?  This is the legacy I am working on.

With this, let’s dig in:

19And you shall take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lean their hands upon the ram’s head.

20You shall slaughter the ram, take [some] of its blood and put it upon the cartilage of Aaron’s right ear and upon the cartilage of Aaron’s sons’ right ears, upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the big toes of their right feet, and you shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar all around.

So this is interesting, right? Why the right ear, right thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot?

From Kabbala and the Sefirot, the right side is the masculine side of the body – and the ear would be connected with the highest level of that side – understanding.

The ear connects to listening. The blood – the sacrifice – opens the doorway to hear with understanding. This connects to empathy, doesn’t it? Are we listening and open to hearing what someone needs, what matters to them, what they are feeling? This is love. This is relationship.

And are we doing this within ourselves? Do we listen to ourselves first?

The thumb would be connected to strength.  The sacrifice opens the doorway to our strength. Action. Taking action – not to FIX a problem – but to ACT in a way of HOLDING SPACE for empathy.  Because holding space? This is our strength. Are we strong enough to create and hold space for another to feel, to need, to matter? To put aside our own needs, feelings, and mattering for another? NOT to be a doormat, but to be a place of strength.

And are we doing this within ourselves? Are we strong enough to HOLD SPACE for us?

The toe would be connected to surrender. The sacrifice opens the doorway to surrendering the moment to Hashem (the universe, source, etc) to just BE.  This connects to FIXING. We so want to be in a moment and DO something. Can we just BE? This involves surrender. Surrendering to this moment.

This is divine masculinity in a nutshell. Listening with understanding, holding space in our strength to just surrender to being in a moment. In my opinion.

And. This is within ALL of us. Regardless of biology.

Let’s keep going:

21You shall [then] take [some] of the blood that is upon the altar and [some] of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron and upon his garments, upon his sons and upon the garments of his sons with him; thus he will become holy along with his garments, and his sons and their garments with him.

Ahhhh. This is SUPER interesting. The garments? Why blood on the garments? We discussed earlier about the Garments from verse 28:3:

3And you shall speak to all the wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, and they shall make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, [so] that he serve Me [as a kohen].

Wisdom is connected in Kabbalah to the feminine.  The three traits on the feminine side (left side) are Wisdom, Loving Kindness, and Victory.

Are we ALSO approaching each moment from a place of Listening with Wisdom (the feminine ear), Loving Kindness (the feminine thumb), and Victory (the feminine toe).

It’s both/and, not either/or.

Are we entering each moment from a place of being able – able to be in our fullness of unity of the masculine and feminine energy – or from that moment creating the ability to be. Are we giving in a moment, or are we taking from a moment? Or. Are we receiving from a moment? These are contemplation questions for us all.

Let’s keep going:

22And you shall take out of the ram the fat and the fat tail and the fat that covers the innards, the diaphragm of the liver, the two kidneys along with the fat that is upon them, and the right thigh, for it is a ram of perfection.

23And one loaf of bread, one loaf of oil bread, and one wafer from the basket of matzoth that stands before the Lord,

24and you shall place it all upon Aaron’s palms and upon his sons’ palms, and you shall wave them as a waving before the Lord.

So as the moment arrives, Aaron and his sons hold out the bread and meat with palms up – able to RECEIVE the moment – in its fullness. And waves them in the moment before the Universe.

25You shall then take them from their hand[s] and make them go up in smoke upon the altar with the burnt offering as a spirit of satisfaction before the Lord; it is a fire offering for the Lord.

Then the moment passes – and those offerings go “up in smoke” they are no longer real in that moment. So that they can receive the NEXT moment:

26And you shall take the breast of the ram of perfection which is Aaron’s, and wave it as a waving before the Lord, and it will become your portion.

27And you shall sanctify the breast of the waving and the thigh of the uplifting, which was waved and which was lifted up, of the ram of perfection, of that which is Aaron’s and of that which is his sons’.

The next offering of the next moment? Designed for Aaron and his sons to consume.

We have a BEAUTIFUL layout – seek first to understand someone else – and then release that energy – so that you can RECEIVE understanding and digest it.

All with beautiful harmony!

28And so it shall remain for Aaron and his sons as a perpetual allotment from the children of Israel; for it is an offering, and it shall remain an offering from the children of Israel of their peace offerings; it is their offering to the Lord.

Basically, THIS is our legacy. This is our succession plan. Forever. This is peace.

You want a formula for peace?

• Step 1: Know what matters to us. Know what we need. Know what we feel.
• Step 2: Approach each moment able to HOLD that moment for someone else. Ask “what matters to them? What do THEY need? What do THEY feel?”
• Step 3: Wave that moment – feel into it – empathize with it. DON’T TRY TO FIX IT. Because it’s NOT A BROKEN MOMENT.
• Step 4: Connect and communicate so the other person feels that they matter. They feel understood (needs). They feel seen (feelings)
• Step 5: If there IS space, share what matters to us. Share what we need. Share how we feel.
• Step 5a: If there is NOT space, just Be. Relationships are not designed to be transactional. They are designed to be transformative.

This? This is ALSO the formula for INTIMACY.

We close now with the succession plan:

29The holy garments that are Aaron’s shall be for his sons after him, to be exalted through them and invested with full authority through them.

30Seven days shall the one of his sons [who will be] the kohen in his place wear them, the one who is to enter the Tent of Meeting to serve in the Holy.

31You shall take the ram of perfection and cook its flesh in a holy place.

32Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

33They shall eat those things with which atonement has been effected, in order to invest them with full authority, to sanctify them, but a stranger shall not eat [of them], because they are a sacred thing.

34If any of the flesh of the perfection [offering] or of the bread is left over until the next morning, what is left over you shall burn in fire; it shall not be eaten because it is a sacred thing.

35So shall you do to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; for seven days you shall perform their investiture.

36And a bull as a sin offering you shall offer up every day for the atonements, and you shall purify the altar by performing atonement upon it, and you shall anoint it, in order to sanctify it.

37For seven days you shall perform atonement upon the altar and sanctify it. Henceforth, the altar shall be a holy of holies. Whatever touches the altar will be holy.

This is how we transition from one moment to another. Maybe this is 7 seconds? 7 minutes? 7 hours? But there is space created to transition to a new moment. The bottom line? We need to pause in silence.

These are my thoughts. What about you?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 9 Adar, 5783

As I read this now, it’s interesting how I am getting something different from the passage. Today; I’m focused on the part about not leaving things until the morning.

I’m reflecting on how we navigate each day; do we live each moment as if we don’t need to carry it over until tomorrow? Do we feel abundant and trust that tomorrow will give us just as much as we have today? Or do we live out fear – keeping things until tomorrow out of a sense of lack?

Do we allow the moment to be experienced the way we desire it to? Do we allow ourselves to be happy in each moment of the day, leaving nothing on the table for tomorrow? Trusting more moments will come tomorrow that we can allow ourselves to be happy with?

And certainly, happiness is different than recklessness. But are we letting each moment pass ahead of us without saving it?

That’s a lesson I’m reflecting on. Allowing.

We block ourselves so much.

And in the book of awakening today (by Mark Nepo) he discusses the idea of power.

He writes that power USED to mean “able to be” but it has shifted over time to mean “to be able.”

And we suffer the difference.

Each moment; we have the power to decide. Are we “able to be” with the moment? Or are we focused on what the moment gives us power “to be able?” And. What it restricts us from being able?

I challenge us today; can we live in our power; “able to be” in each moment of our day?

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 9 Adar I, 5782

Today we continue the inauguration of Aaron and his sons. We have sacrificed the bull and one of the two rams. Todays portion starts with the second ram:

Aaron and his sons would place their hands on the rams head. They would slaughter the ram, take some of the blood and place it on the cartilage of Aaron’s right ear, and his sons’ right ears as well. In addition they were to take blood and place it on their thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toe of their right feet.

So there is something with the right side of the body; and the ear, thumb and big toe are somehow connected.

After this, they were to sprinkle blood on the altar, and then on the garments that Aaron and his sons were wearing. They would be consecrated at this point.

Then they were to take the fat of the ram and other body parts, along with a loaf of unleavened bread, and a loaf of unleavened bread that was boiled and fried in oil, and a wafer (a total of 1/10 of the basket of unleavened bread that stands before God.

Then with this food, they would place it on the palms of Aaron and his sons and it would be waved as a wave offering to God.

After waving, they were to take the breads from their hands and make them go up in smoke as a pleasurable fragrance before God. It was a fire offering.

So we have a wave offering and now a fire offering.

Then they were to take the breast of the ram and wave it before God; which would then become (Moses) portion.

But that was JUST for this first time. There was to be a different procedure for future offerings: they were to consecrate the breast of the wave offering through waving horizontally and the thigh of the raised offering by raising this vertically. They were to give it to Aaron and his sons to eat. This was an eternal law for the Jewish people.

Then we are given the succession plan for the priests.

Let me stop here. What a tremendous lesson on leadership we are given in the Torah. We have a succession plan for leaders! More companies could take note and create a succession plan so that their work continues after they are gone!

Here’s the plan:

Aaron’s garments should be passed in to his successor as the high priest among his sons after him. That high priest will be inaugurated into office through the garments. The one who will succeed Aaron should wear the garments for seven days before entering the tent of meeting.

Now; we get back to the sacrifices:

The remainder of this second ram; they were to cook its flesh in a holy place. Aaron and his sons should eat the flesh and the bread in the basket. They should eat these to cleanse them from their “non-priestly” status in order to inaugurate them into office. A non-priest should not eat them because they are extremely sacred.

They weren’t allowed to have leftovers. If there was anything left, it needed to be burned in the fire.

The portion today closes with the instruction that this procedure should be repeated every day for seven days. After seven days, the altar would become the Holy of Holies. The idea is even then; an invalid offering would become holy because the altar is holy.

This Torah view on leadership is interesting to me. There was a set onboarding process that was slow and steady. There was a succession plan. We could learn a lot from this!

What are your thoughts?