Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 6 Sivan, 5784– Shavuot Day 1!
Parsha Naso – “Lift”: (Numbers 4:21 – 7:89)
Fourth Portion: Numbers 5:11 – 6:27
Shavuot readings: Exodus 19:1 – 20:23, numbers 28:26-31

Good morning! It is finally here! Shavuot! The day we celebrate and have been eagerly awaiting for! It is the day we remember the giving of the Torah – the direction after wandering in the wilderness!  Chabad has some amazing resources here:

Of the best Shavuot traditions? Cheesecake! We eat dairy for a multitude of reasons. Again, Chabad does a great job here: 

Before we dig into Shavuot though – let’s talk about today’s portion in Naso. Let’s lift up our consciousness!

Today’s portion is long. And. We need to start by “going down” before we “go up.” I wrote about this for a while now – and feel like I need to start here:

And as I reflect on how we make mistakes and miss the mark every day of our lives – which is what makes us human, how often we get stuck in these mistakes – unable to move forward. Unable to grow.  Stuck in a spiral of:

• • Rejection
  • Abandonment
  • Regret
  • Guilt
  • Shame
  • Malevolence

After being freed by Hashem in Egypt – we were brought into the wilderness. And we made mistakes. We are imperfect. And we DEAL with this imperfection by beating ourselves up. Rejection. Abandonment. Regret. Guilt. Shame. Until we become Malevolent towards ourselves. We believe SO STRONGLY that we DESERVE the “consequences” of our mistakes.

This is as down as we can be. And? Our portion Naso – means – “lift.” How are we lifted up?

I am reading Brene Brown’s “Gifts of Imperfections” and she does an amazing job with the process of moving from a place of Malevolence. Courage. Compassion. Connection.

I love this, and it relates to what we’ve been talking about.  Do we have the courage to believe we are wanted and needed in this world? Do we have compassion for ourselves when we betray ourselves and act in a way that goes against this belief we are needed and wanted? And? Can we connect with others to remind ourselves and remind THEM they are needed and wanted in this world.  This is the stuff. This is love.

Let’s dig into the portion:

11The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

12Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: Should any man’s wife go astray and deal treacherously with him,

13and a man lie with her carnally, but it was hidden from her husband’s eyes, but she was secluded [with the suspected adulterer] and there was no witness against her, and she was not seized.

14But a spirit of jealousy had come upon him and he became jealous of his wife, and she was defiled, or, a spirit of jealousy had come upon him and he was jealous of his wife, and she was not defiled.

So. We are going down. To the depths. There is no witness, but a guy believes his wife is cheating on him.  She denies it. So either – the wife is being deceitful, or the man is jealous for no reason. We don’t know. Fear.

What is he to do with this? Connection. The Torah prescribes connection:

15Then the man shall bring his wife to the kohen and bring her offering for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall neither pour oil over it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousies, a meal offering of remembrance, recalling iniquity.

He is not meant to deal with this in isolation.  It is a meal offering of jealousies.

16The kohen shall bring her forth and present her before the Lord.

17The kohen shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and some earth from the Mishkan floor, the kohen shall take and put it into the water.

18Then the kohen shall stand the woman up before the Lord and expose the [hair on the] head of the woman; he shall place into her hands the remembrance meal offering, which is a meal offering of jealousies, while the bitter curse bearing waters are in the kohen’s hand.

19The kohen shall then place her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and you have not gone astray to become defiled [to another] in place of your husband, then [you will] be absolved through these bitter waters which cause the curse.

Ok. So the connection – the trusted priest (I get that is hard to fathom in our current culture, but bear with me) – let’s her know – if she has not gone astray, then the waters will absolve her.

20But as for you, if you have gone astray [to another] instead of your husband and have become defiled, and another man besides your husband has lain with you…”

21The kohen shall now adjure the woman with the oath of the curse, and the kohen shall say to the woman, “May the Lord make you for a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord causes your thigh to rupture and your belly to swell.

22For these curse bearing waters shall enter your innards, causing the belly to swell and the thigh to rupture,” and the woman shall say, “Amen, amen.”

Ok. So now, the woman agrees to all of this by saying Amen.

Let’s pause for a minute. There are two options here, right? Let’s be real. Either – Hashem really would swell a belly and rupture a thigh because of these waters, OR, this was just hogwash.  So. If it was hogwash, then really what the Torah is saying – “let it go.” If you think someone did something, and there are no witnesses – there really isn’t anything you can do about it. And what we have here is a giant process for the dude to let go of his jealousy. Because? Men are fragile.

If this REALLY was a thing, and Hashem would blow the belly up, then it becomes about the woman lying or not.

Either way, the idea here is justice and restoration.

23Then the kohen shall write these curses on a scroll and erase it in the bitter water.

24He shall then give the bitter, curse bearing waters to the woman to drink, and the curse bearing waters shall enter her to become bitter.

25The kohen shall take the meal offering of jealousies from the woman’s hand, wave the meal offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar.

26The kohen shall scoop out from the meal offering its reminder and burn it upon the altar, and then he shall give the woman the water to drink.

27He shall make her drink the water, and it shall be that, if she had been defiled and was unfaithful to her husband, the curse bearing waters shall enter her to become bitter, and her belly will swell, and her thigh will rupture. The woman will be a curse among her people.

28But if the woman had not become defiled and she is clean, she shall be exempted and bear seed.

29This is the law of jealousies when a woman goes astray to someone other than her husband and is defiled,

30or if a spirit of jealousy comes over a man, and he is jealous of his wife, and he presents the woman before the Lord, and the kohen shall do to her all of this law,

31the man shall be absolved of iniquity, and the woman shall bear her iniquity.

The Torah is compassionate here, right? It gives us options on navigating deceit or jealousy.  Compassion. Connection. Courage.  Let’s keep going:

6:1The Lord spoke to Moses saying:

2Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: A man or woman who sets himself apart by making a nazirite vow to abstain for the sake of the Lord.

3He shall abstain from new wine and aged wine; he shall not drink [even] vinegar made from new wine or aged wine, nor shall he drink anything in which grapes have been steeped, and he shall eat neither fresh grapes nor dried ones.

4For the entire duration of his abstinence, he shall not eat any product of the grape vine, from seeds to skins.

5All the days of his vow of abstinence, no razor shall pass over his head; until the completion of the term that he abstains for the sake of the Lord, it shall be sacred, and he shall allow the growth of the hair of his head to grow wild.

6All the days that he abstains for The Lord, he shall not come into contact with the dead.

7To his father, to his mother, to his brother, or to his sister, he shall not defile himself if they die, for the crown of his God is upon his head.

8For the entire duration of his abstinence, he is holy to the Lord.

9If someone in his presence dies unexpectedly or suddenly, and causes the nazirite head to become defiled, he shall shave off [the hair of] his head on the day of his purification; on the seventh day, he shall shave it off.

10And on the eighth day, he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the kohen, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

11The kohen shall prepare one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering and atone on his behalf for sinning by coming into contact with the dead, and he shall sanctify his head on that day.

12He shall consecrate to the Lord the period of his abstinence and bring a lamb in its first year as a guilt offering; the previous days shall be canceled because his naziriteship has been defiled.

13This is the law of the nazirite: On the day his period of naziriteship is completed, he shall present himself at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

14He shall bring his offering to the Lord: one unblemished lamb in its first year as a burnt offering, one unblemished ewe lamb in its first year as a sin offering, and one unblemished ram as a peace offering,

15and a basket of unleavened cakes; loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, with their meal offerings and their libations.

16The kohen shall present it before the Lord, and perform the service of his sin offering and his burnt offering.

17He shall make the ram as a peace offering to the Lord, along with the basket of unleavened cakes, and the kohen shall perform the service of its meal offering with its libation.

18The nazirite shall shave the head of his naziriteship at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and he shall take the hair of the head of his naziriteship and place it upon the fire which is under the peace offering.

19The kohen shall then take the cooked foreleg of the ram, one unleavened loaf from the basket and one unleavened wafer, place [them] in the hands of the nazirite after he has shaven off his nazirite [head].

20The kohen shall wave them as a waving before the Lord; it is consecrated to the kohen, along with the breast of the waving and the thigh of the uplifting. After this, the nazirite may drink wine.

21This is the law of a nazirite who makes a vow: his offering to the Lord for his naziriteship is in addition to what is within his means. According to the vow that he vows, so shall he do, in addition to the law of his naziriteship.

So – after dealing with jealousy or deceit, the Torah deals with taking on extra responsibilities. For those who wanted to “go further.” They had the CHOICE to do more to connect with Hashem. This was not a requirement, but Hashem provides a space to go higher.  Grapes represent joy – the Nazarite vow requires an absence of joy.

I reflect on this. Why would someone CHOOSE to take a vow where they reject joy? In my opinion? It’s receiving grief. It’s owning and feeling grief. If my significant other passed away – if my child passed away – I could see taking a Nazirite vow as a healing process for me. And it’s interesting how the Torah connects it with death. If the Nazirite comes into contact with death? He has to start over.

And so we move from jealousy and deceit – to grief and we close with this:

22The Lord spoke to Moses saying:

23Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: This is how you shall bless the children of Israel, saying to them:

24″May the Lord bless you and watch over you.

25May the Lord cause His countenance to shine to you and favor you.

26May the Lord raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace.”

27They shall bestow My Name upon the children of Israel, so that I will bless them.

We finish with a blessing. This is a famous blessing within Judaism. “May the Lord bless you and watch over you. May the Lord cause His countenance to shine to you and favor you. May the Lord raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace.”

Peace. Even when we are jealous. When we are deceitful. When we grieve.

What is countenance?  Support.

When we are stuck in a spiral of rejection, abandonment, regret, guilt, shame and malevolence towards ourselves, reminding ourselves we are wanted and needed in this world, and the Universe wants to bless us. The Universe watches over us and our back. The Universe shines on us and favors us – ALL OF US – the Universe raises its support towards us and gives us PEACE.

This is the message of Shavuot

These are my thoughts – what are yours?

Here are my thoughts on the Torah portion in Naso from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 11 Sivan, 5783.

A year ago I wrote commentary on this long portion of the Parsha.  And I am going to start this year with where I ended:

That is really cool! So we go from adultery, to purity, to blessing.

It feels like that is our entire process with Torah. We make mistakes, we atone and become pure, we see blessing.

This is a great synopsis of the Torah portion today.

And as I reflect on how we make mistakes and miss the mark every day of our lives – which is what makes us human, how often we get stuck in these mistakes – unable to move forward. Unable to grow.  Stuck in a spiral of:

• Rejection
• Abandonment
• Regret
• Guilt
• Shame
• Malevolence

Not towards OTHERS. But internally.  Within.  Instead of working to make different decisions in the moment and letting go of our past mistakes – living in full spiritual liberation and freedom, we instead beat ourselves up, believing that is what Hashem wants for us.  Judgment.  To live in judgement.

I reflect on how much judgment I read at the beginning of today’s portion.  And yet?  The end is blessing.  I am learning to move away from judgment and into a place of curiosity.  This is the Torah approach.  Be curious.

I was helping a friend prepare a keynote for K-12 administrators.  And where we landed was the wisdom of Ms. Frizzle from “The Magic School Bus.”  We have gotten really far away from her advice: ” Take chances. Make mistakes. Get Messy.”

We live in such fear of making mistakes and getting messy.  We avoid it.  Today’s portion (in my opinion) has us focused on mistakes. And Blessing.

Where are we taking chances? Where are we making mistakes? Where are we getting messy?

AND instead of rejection, abandonment, guilt, and shame? Where are we moving forward in love and blessing!

Those are MY thoughts – what are yours?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 9 Sivan, 5782

Wow. Todays portion is long. There is a lot to dig into so let’s get started!

The portion starts off with jumping in with adultery.

“If a man’s wife goes astray from the ways of modesty, arousing her husband’s suspicion that she had acted treacherously towards him and had allowed a man to lie with her and have a seminal emission, but the alleged act was not seen by her husband….”

Ok. So we are talking about betrayal here. The Torah is focused on a Husband being betrayed. I do wonder – what if that is something the Husband is ok with? We may not be comfortable with that question, but I’m more curious about it. Just something I’m chewing on.

If this happens, the Torah says if the following occur (remember because she was not seen):

1. She was seeded with a Man long enough to commit adultery
2. There was no witness against her
3. She was not forced against her will
4. Her husband warned her not to be secluded with this man

Then the following should occur:

1. The man should bring his wife to the priest and an offering
2. The meal offering should not have oil or Frankensense put over it – because it is a meal offering of anger; and not a meal offering of atonement but instead of remembrance – a reminder of sin.

So again- we are talking about a husbands anger here. What if the husband isn’t angry?

And why a reminder of sin, when we still aren’t sure? Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah writes that we know sin has occurred – either the husband for falsely accusing the wife, or the wife committing adultery.

3. The priest should bring her near and present her to God
4. The priest should take holy water and some earth from the floor and put the earth in the water
5. The priest should move the woman from Place to place to tire her out. And then stand the woman at Nicanor’s gate.

The story of Nicanor’s gate is really fascinating. And one that is worth digging into. I have a link for you to dig further – https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/nicanor-s-gate

6. The priest should uncover the hair of the woman
7. The priest should place the offerings into her hands while he holds the afflictive waters in his hands.

Now we get to the crux –

8. The priest should then place her under oath. “If a man has not slept with you and you have not gone astray to become defiled (to another) in place of your husband, then you will be absolved through these “bitter” afflictive waters. But if you have gone astray and have become defiled – by allowing another man besides your husband to sleep with you – the you will choke.”
9. The priest should then make the woman swear and oath that contains a curse. “May God make you as example of a curse uttered within an oath among your people, when God causes your thigh to rupture and your belly to swell. For these ‘bitter’ afflictive waters will enter your innards, causing also the belly of your adulterous partner to swell and the thigh of your partner to rupture.”
10. The woman should say “amen! Amen!”

And then it’s done. The priest will then write the curses on a scroll and erase it in the bitter waters.

Next, the woman will drink the bitter waters – with the curse erased into it.

The priest will take a three fingered hand of the meal offering and burn it on the altar.

The priest again gives the woman the water to drink.

If the woman refuses to drink, he should make her drink the water unless she confesses her guilt.

And the Torah tells us what will happen:

1. If she was defiled and was unfaithful to her husband: the waters will enter her body to being a bitter end upon her. She will first have her belly swell, and her thigh will rupture. She will be an example of a curse to the people.
2. If the woman was not defiled, and she is clean, she will be proven innocent and she will bear children.

Wow. That’s a lot. And we are only halfway done with today’s portion.

I’m reflecting on first – the idea that this is a much more chill version of the Salem Witch trials; drinking dirty water? Seems pale compared to burning a witch.

Second; at the point a husband is ready to bring his wife to the priest – so much has had to go wrong in their marriage.

This portion concludes with the famous Aaronic Benediction (Numbers 6:22-27):

God spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying:

“This is how you should bless the children of Israel, by saying (the following) to them (in a way that they can all hear):

“May God bless you (that your possessions should be blessed) and guard you (against robbers).

May God cause His face to shine upon you and favor you.

May God raise His face towards you (suppressing His anger) and grant you peace.

(The priests) should use My (explicit) name (when blessing) the children of Israel, and I will fulfil (their) blessings.”

Rabbi Schneerson has some great things written about this:

“May God bless you and guard you.”

How does a man come to earn the favor of God?

By continually seeking to emulate God by making peace. To emulate God, Aaron strove to make peace between the Israelites and their Father in heaven, between the Israelites and the Sages, between one sage and another sage, between a man and his fellow man, and between a husband and his wife. God, who knows the thoughts of a man, said to Aaron, “You always strove to make peace between Israel and My great name.

Therefore, I will bring forth from you sons who will make atonement for the children of Israel every year, and they will entreat peace for them every day, by saying, May God bless you etc (Tanna de-Vei Eliyahu).

“May He bless you” – that your possessions will be blessed.

“And guard you” – that a gang of robbers will not attack you and steal your money. For if a person gives his servant a gift and cannot guard it from all other people, what benefit does he have from the gif? But God is both giver and guardian (Rashi, 11′ century).

“May He bless you” – with the blessing stated explicitly in the Torah: “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of God, your God: You will be blessed in the city, and blessed in the field, etc, your fruits and your dough will be blessed, etc.” (Deuteronomy 28:2-6; Sifrei).

Since the Torah has already promised a person virtually every possible blessing in Parashat Be-Hukkotai (and later in Parashat Ki Tavo’), what additional blessings could possibly be added here?

Rashi concluded that “May God bless you” means, “that your possessions will be blessed,” i.e. that the possessions that a person already has, as a result of the earlier blessings recorded in the Torah, will enjoy supernatural growth.

In other words, the blessings in Parashat Be-Hukkotai promise you an abundance of possessions. Here, with the Priestly Blessing, you are promised that, having acquired those possessions, they will flourish in a supernatural manner.”

That is really cool! So we go from adultery, to purity, to blessing.

It feels like that is our entire process with Torah. We make mistakes, we atone and become pure, we see blessing.

What are your thoughts?