Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Sivan, 5784
Parsha Be-Ha’alotekha – “When You Fire Up”: (Numbers 8:1 – 12:16)
Fourth Portion: Numbers 9:15 – 10:10

Good morning! It is a scorcher here in New York. Super hot. Like a desert – but humid. Lol. Today we are looking at how the Children of Israel knew to move and act, and when they were called to stay. Let’s dig in:

15On the day the Mishkan was erected, the cloud covered the Mishkan, which was a tent for the Testimony, and at evening, there was over the Mishkan like an appearance of fire, [which remained] until morning.

16So it was always, the cloud covered it and there was an appearance of fire at night.

So the children of Israel were given signs. Cloud cover. Fire. Clouds cover up heat and sun. Fire provides light in darkness.  There is a beautiful symmetry to this.  The environment was taken care of.

I am reflecting on this.  When things are sunny – and the clouds come in – when things are dark, the fire shines the light.  Where are we right now? What are we missing? Is there fire in our lives to shine in our darkness? Is there clouds covering us, blocking out the sun?

Let’s keep going:

17and according to the cloud’s departure from over the Tent, and afterwards, the children of Israel would travel, and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would encamp.

18At the bidding of the Lord, the children of Israel traveled, and at the bidding of the Lord, they encamped. As long as the cloud hovered above the Mishkan, they encamped.

The children of Israel would follow the cloud.  It is interesting – they did not follow the fire at night.  That may change – but they moved and took action during the day – because that is when Hashem moved them.

19When the cloud lingered over the Mishkan for many days, the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not travel.

20Sometimes, the cloud remained for several days above the Mishkan; at the Lord’s bidding they encamped and at the Lord’s bidding they traveled.

21Sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, and when the cloud departed in the morning, they traveled. Or, the cloud remained for a day and a night, and when the cloud departed, they traveled.

22Whether it was for two days, a month or a year, that the cloud lingered to hover over the Mishkan, the children of Israel would encamp and not travel, and when it departed, they traveled.

23At the Lord’s bidding they would encamp, and at the Lord’s bidding they would travel; they kept the charge of the Lord by the word of the Lord through Moses.

So this is fascinating. The cloud remained at various times. Imagine camping for a year – and then all of a sudden one day – oh – the cloud is moving.  There was likely no pattern, other than Hashem knew the plan.  The children just had to trust.  Imagine the CHILDREN.  How they would have reacted. My kids hate when plans change. They want to predict. And they wake up one morning because every day for the past year the cloud had stayed, but today it moved? The REACTIONS!

The takeaway – we cannot predict where and when Hashem is moving us.  We just need to be ready to move when the time comes.

Let’s keep going:

10:1The Lord spoke to Moses saying:

2Make yourself two silver trumpets; you shall make them [from a] beaten [form]; they shall be used by you to summon the congregation and to announce the departure of the camps.

3When they blow on them, the entire congregation shall assemble to you, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

4If they blow one of them, the princes, the leaders of Israel’s thousands, shall convene to you.

So – the camp was so big, they needed a Public Announcing system to communicate.  The made shofars from silver. There were two. And there was a method of communication:

• Two trumpets blown? Everyone assembles at the tent
• One trumpet blown? Just the leaders will convene.

5When you blow a teruah [a series of short blasts], the camps which are encamped to the east shall travel.

6When you blow a second teruah, the camps encamped to the south shall travel; they shall blow a teruah for traveling.

7But when assembling the congregation, you shall blow a tekiah [long blast] but not a teruah.

And to avoid confusion – a series of short blasts signaled movement – the eastern camps moved. Then a second series? The southern camps moved.  So here’s the language of the trumpets:

• Two trumpets blown (long blast)? Everyone assembles at the tent
• One trumpet blown (long blast)? Just the leaders will convene.
• Series of short blasts? Eastern Camps move
• Second series of short blasts? Southern Camps move

8The descendants of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; this shall be an eternal statute for your generations.

The priests – specifically descendants of Aaron were to blow the trumpets.

9If you go to war in your land against an adversary that oppresses you, you shall blow a teruah with the trumpets and be remembered before the Lord your God, and thus be saved from your enemies.

So if there is a war – conflict – blow a bunch of short blasts, and Hashem will save us from our enemies.

• Two trumpets blown (long blast)? Everyone assembles at the tent
• One trumpet blown (long blast)? Just the leaders will convene.
• Series of short blasts? Eastern Camps move
• Second series of short blasts? Southern Camps move
• Short blasts during war? Hashem will save them.

10On the days of your rejoicing, on your festivals and on your new-moon celebrations, you shall blow on the trumpets for your ascent-offerings and your peace sacrifices, and it shall be a remembrance before your God; I am the Lord your God.

If there is rejoicing? During the festivals and new-moon? Blow for joy – to remember Hashem!

• Two trumpets blown (long blast)? Everyone assembles at the tent
• One trumpet blown (long blast)? Just the leaders will convene.
• Series of short blasts? Eastern Camps move
• Second series of short blasts? Southern Camps move
• Short blasts during war? Hashem will save them.
• Trumpets blown during celebrations and festivals? It was a way to praise Hashem

It is interesting to me they set up this system for the people to communicate with each other – and with Hashem.

Some things I notice here. What about the Western and Northern Camps? How would THEY move? They followed the Levites and the Mishkan. They would have known because they would have seen the Levites follow the Southern Camps.  Think about it – depending on the direction the cloud moved – you could the Eastern camp take off, and the Southern camp NOT know to follow.   But once the Eastern and Southern Camp left, the Levites would have gone – and the Western and Northern Camps would have known to follow. It’s a brilliant plan – of course.

So – where are we today? Are we at war? Do we have conflict? Are we feeling joy? Do we need everyone to convene? Just the leaders? What do we need?

These are my thoughts – what are yours?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 18 Sivan, 5783

I am very excited to dig into today’s portion.  It is all about the journey and path we are on.

The portion today talks about and begins with “the day the tabernacle was erected.”  So this is the “beginning” of the journey.

On this day, Hashem gave the Israelites (and Moses) the signs on when to move and when to camp.  When to step on the gas and when to put on the brakes.

As humans, I think we desire our journey to be consistent.  Predictable. Patterned. I think I personally spend a LOT of time trying to “figure out” the pattern of my life.

What today’s portion tells me is that I won’t be able to predict.  And if I try? I may get stuck on the pattern that I might miss the movement.  I may stay when Hashem wants me to go.

They key to our journey (in my opinion) is to move from “figuring it out” to “watching and listening.”  Being mindful. Being aware.  Is our “camp” covered in a cloud? Or is the cloud moving us?

Growth. Spiritual growth.  And I think discomfort, a lack of safety, these are things that cause us to “move” from our current positions.  This is not to say we need to “run away” when we feel safe.  Sometimes we need to “lean in” to the discomfort.  But we do need to move when we aren’t feeling safe.

If we ARE feeling safe, we need to ask why? Is that safety coming from Hashem? Or are we resting in our circumstances?

How difficult would it have been for the Israelites to “move” from the camp when they were getting comfortable and safe in their camp?  If they had camped out for a year, and then the cloud started moving – what would the human reaction be for those in the camp?

This is our life.  Where are we being asked to move? Where are we stuck?  What do we need to let go of in order to grow?  Where do we need to camp out because we’ve felt unsafe for so long? Where is our “sanctuary of safety?”

These are my thoughts – what about yours?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 16 Sivan, 5782

Good morning! Today we are going to dig into when Hashem asked the children of Israel to move, and when he asked them to stop moving.

I come to this today reflecting on growth. There are times in my life I see God leading me to move in a direction, on a journey. And then there are times He asks me to stop and set up camp. I know I make mistakes when I try to move when He wants me to stay, and when I stay when He wants me to move.

I’m hoping as we dig in, we can better recognize the signs – and be more in tune with where God wants us!

The portion opens the day the tabernacle was created. We learn the cloud covered it during the day, and then at night there was something that looked like fire until morning. This was always the case.

The cloud would then rise up from over the tent, and then the children of Israel would travel. Wherever the cloud settled, that is where the Israelites would encamp.

The Torah is interesting here. Numbers 9:18 says “Thus the children of Israel traveled by the word of God, and they encamped by the word of God.”

It’s an interesting juxtaposition of the cloud being the word of God. Moving forward this language is used a lot. Movement and stopping was always “by the word of God.”

The Torah talks about sometimes it was a day, two days, a month, or a year, the cloud was over the tabernacle, the children would encamp. Only when it rose did they travel. We are reminded again in Numbers 9:23, “They encamped by the word of God, and they traveled by the word of God.”

I’m chewing on this and how difficult this must have been. First, there wasn’t a pattern for the Israelites to figure out. They couldn’t predict ANYTHING. That would be really tough. They just had to trust and watch. And, they had to be living by the word of God. I would assume that at this point it would be studying this new Torah they had been given.

Maybe Hashem wanted them (and us) to spend more time dealing with certain passages than others? Maybe Hashem knew there were times we just needed to sit in our feelings; encamp in our sadness, anger, joy, etc and not move on or distract ourselves?

Either way. I see how letting the process happen is a good thing. We so often want to navigate things when we do. I want to go through my sadness and anger and grief quickly. I want to slow down my joy. But we need to trust we have our feelings the way we need to; and trust God to lift the cloud when it’s time to move on. There isn’t a formula for us to follow that will get rid of the feelings we have an aversion to. All we can do is be curious.

The portion then closes in talking about the trumpets. These were used for communication. They signaled when the people were to gather at the entrance, when leaders would gather, when the different camps should travel (east and south). The trumpets were used to communicate travel or encampment. Finally, when In a battle or war, the trumpets would be blown with a long blast so as to be remembered before God, and we will be saved from our enemies.

Finally, when we rejoice or have festivals, we are also to blow the trumpets!

What are your thoughts?