Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 11 Sivan, 5784
Parsha Be-Ha’alotekha – “When You Fire Up”: (Numbers 8:1 – 12:16)
Second Portion: Numbers 8:15 – 8:26

Good morning! We are entering into a new week – hopefully we were fired up from yesterday and we are ready to go! This week, we have the fullness of the Sivan moon. As we are now past Shavuot, may the light of this moon reveal in fullness the direction of our lives this year!  Let’s focus on where we are going, with a small look into our review mirror on where we’ve been.

Sit with that. Which direction are you headed? Forward or backwards? The car analogy is beautiful.  Do we take each moment as it comes like a road trip? Or do we driving backwards, where our windshield is in the fullness of the past – seeing so many moments from the past and keeping them in our focus, while the moment passes like in our rearview mirror?  Or? Do we do the opposite? Dream and vision of a future and watch it through the windshield while the moment passes in our rearview mirror? I know I am guilty of both.

How do we set ourselves in a place to see the MOMENT in our windshield, the past in our rearview mirror, and the future on our GPS?

This is the direction we are seeking. And it is this attitude to bring to Torah today. The Levites have been blessed. They are holy. Let’s see what happens next:

15Following this, the Levites shall come to serve in the Tent of Meeting. You shall cleanse them and lift them as a waving.

16For they are wholly given over to Me from among the children of Israel; instead of those that open the womb all the firstborn of Israel I have taken them for Myself.

17For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are Mine whether man or beast since the day I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt; I have sanctified them for Myself.

18And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel.

19I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the children of Israel, to perform the service for the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting and to atone on behalf of the children of Israel, so that the children of Israel will not be inflicted with plague when they approach the Sanctuary.

I think this is important. The Levites were chosen for a purpose. They are representative of all the first born of all the children of Israel. They are not “separated” in that sense. They are intentionally set apart so that families were not disrupted. It’s teamwork.

20So Moses, Aaron, and the entire congregation of Israel did [this] to the Levites; the children of Israel did [in accordance with] all that the Lord had instructed Moses regarding the Levites.

21The Levites cleansed themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron lifted them as a waving before the Lord, and Aaron atoned for them to cleanse them.

22After that, the Levites came to perform the service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron and before his sons; they did to them just as the Lord had commanded Moses regarding the Levites.

The Levites did the holy things for everyone. I talk a lot about sovereignty.  In a sense, Hashem gave the sovereignty for the spiritual things over from the first born of each family to the Levites. He did not bestow this on everyone, and I think this is important.

23The Lord spoke to Moses saying:

24This is [the rule] concerning the Levites: From the age of twenty five years and upwards, he shall enter the service to work in the Tent of Meeting.

25From the age of fifty he shall retire from the work legion, and do no more work.

26He shall minister with his brethren in the Tent of Meeting to keep the charge, but he shall not perform the service; thus shall you do for the Levites regarding their charge.

I am struck each year I come to this passage. Being over 52, I am not in the window to “perform service” but instead my role would be to “minister with” my “brethren” to keep the charge. I am called to mentor leaders. That’s my role.

These are my thoughts – what are yours?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 16 Sivan, 5783

Good morning! As we enter this new week, let’s get fired up about the Torah. When I wrote about this portion a year ago, it definitely fired me up.  I am now another year older – so the idea of the shifting roles of the Levites after 50? It is much more salient and present for me.  It would seem as if my role now is shifting to helping OTHERS develop and grow spiritually.  This is not to say I am not growing myself.  I am every day growing spiritually.  It’s just in terms of my “leadership” role – I do the work within – not for my own benefit – but for the benefit of myself AND others.  To help my “brothers” (and “sisters” and those who don’t conform to the gender binary).

In the Chumash I am reading, it talks about education – and I love this quote;

Education, in general, should not be limited to the acquisition of knowledge and preparation for a career, or in common parlance, “to make a better living.”  We must think in terms of a “better life,” not only for the individual, but also for society as a whole.

I love this. My spiritual development and education is not just about acquiring knowledge.  It’s about a ‘better life’ – for me – and the collective souls of those who I engage with every day.  How can we build a better life for EVERYONE?  Study Torah, develop our own spiritual practice through self-care, self-compassion, and self- kindness.  Then turn around and care for OTHERS. Be compassionate for OTHERS. And be kind to OTHERS.

Our capacity for kindness and compassion for others is LIMITED by the kindness and compassion we have for OURSELVES.  Heal ourselves. Heal the world.

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 14 Sivan, 5782

Good morning! Today we continue to study how the Tabernacle was “fired up” and ready to go.

We left off with the inauguration of the Levites.

Today we start off with the Torah portion with the family of Merari being separated out – the Torah says to purify them and wave them as a wave-offering.

If Merari represents the emotional work we need to do; that’s the heavy lifting. They got the bulk of the offerings – they required a lot of labor.

The Torah says that God took Merari to himself instead of the first born (which would have been Gershon).

God goes on to call the Levites a gift; and because of this, the rest of the children of Israel will not need to approach the Sanctuary. Consequently, they will not be afflicted by a plague.

Now. I’m chewing on and reflecting on all those laws of ritual impurity. I could be wrong. I am not an expert. But the question in my head is this; if the Children of Israel did not need to approach the sanctuary, were the laws of ritual impurity (and clean and unclean) really a non-negotiable? Is it black/white right/wrong here?

Don’t hear me say – PLEASE don’t hear me say – that the children of Israel didn’t or shouldn’t care about the mitzvahs of ritual impurity – just whether or not those were “standards” for them to stress over?

Because if the Levites were a gift, then the rest of us can relax a bit. We can focus on our spiritual and soul journey, and work to incorporate ritual purity at our own pace. Because I do believe those mitzvahs are things we should aspire to do; but they are not necessarily laws for us to obey with penalty of being put in “God jail.”

I’m still chewing on this. But I keep coming back to the gift of the Levites who were given to perform the work of the tabernacle – where the idea of ritual purity would have been crucial.

Let’s get back to the Torah. The Torah then tells us the Levites did everything God asked them to do. They cleansed themselves, and performed the service of the tent of meeting.

The Torah portion closes with this:

God spoke to Moses; “This is the rule of disqualification for the Levites:”

1. He is qualified to serve from the age of 25 and up.
2. He is withdrawn from being qualified from the age of 50. He may serve no longer.
3. He may position himself around the tent of meeting to help his brothers guard the duty of erecting and dismantling the tent – but he may not perform the service.

Wow. I’m personally reflecting on this. Because my journey with God began when I turned 25. 1997 into 1998 was a formative time for me. It was the beginning of my spiritual awakening of my Neshama connecting to Hashem. I became agnostic after my father died when I was 15 in 1988.

I am now sitting at 50. The idea that my “service” could be up is something I’m really reflecting on and chewing on. And my job isn’t done. The Torah talks about the shifting role. Of helping those who are 25-50 serving God in the tabernacle. That’s an odd realization that things are shifting. I’m just chewing and reflecting on this. That somehow my spiritual role has changed.

Which makes sense, right? Given the idea that 50 is the year of jubilee? Ok. I’m going to continue to reflect.

What are your thoughts?