Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 17 Tammuz, 5784
Parsha Pinchas: (Numbers 25:10 – 30:1)
Third Portion: Numbers 26:52  – 27:5

Good morning! It is raining here in Oneonta, NY.  The rain always feels peaceful for me. It’s a reminder of sadness is some ways. We often are angry over our sadness – but there is a peace (in my opinion) to it.  Can we find the “joy” in our sadness?  This is what the Disney movie “Inside Out” teaches us, right?  Sadness is a valid human emotion. And?  We are entering one of the saddest times in the Hebrew calendar.

Why is it sad? Because today commemorates the day we were SUPPOSED to get the Torah.  And we didn’t because of the Golden Calf.  Here are some other sad things that have happened this day:

• During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the Jews were forced to cease offering the daily sacrifices due to the lack of sheep.
• Apostomos burned the holy Torah
• An idol was placed in the Holy Temple
• The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans, in 69 CE, after a lengthy siege. (Three weeks later, after the Jews put up a valiant struggle, the Romans destroyed the second Holy Temple on the 9th of Av.)
• The Jerusalem Talmud maintains that this is also the date when the Babylonians breached the walls of Jerusalem on their way to destroying the first Temple.

To read more from Chabad, click here

The end of this three week period is Tisha B’Av (9^th of Av) – which is the commemoration of the destruction of the first and second temple.  More on this here:

The bottom line? We are called to  mourn.  And I love what Chabad writes about this mourning process over the next three weeks:

There are four levels of mourning – tonight will begin the first phase of mourning- until the end of the month of Tamuz. The second level is from Rosh Chodesh Av, until the week in which Tish’a B’Av falls. The third is the week in which Tish’a B’Av falls until the 8th of Av. And the fourth is Tisha’a B’Av.

So we are in the first stage of mourning.  Until the new moon. Some reflection questions:

• What are the parts of our life we need to “let go of” and mourn?
• What are outcomes we’ve been wanting we need to grieve in order to heal?
• Who are people we need to release because their energy is no longer compatible with ours?

These are great reflections!

On of the bigger areas I’ve had to mourn is this idea that I believe I am entitled to solidity, separation, permanence, and continuous.   This means for me? I should live a life free from worry and chaos, free from needing connection because I want independence, free for worry about death, and free from worry about whether I will be remembered. This quote, from “Rainbow of Liberated Energy: Working with Emotions through the Colour and Element Symbolism of Tibetan Tantra” by Ngakpa Chogyam has been part of my mourning process:

“We seek assurances from life that confirm the unconfirmable: that we are solid, separate, permanent and continuous.”

I have needed to let go of outcomes. It’s a daily process. I have wanted and needed assurances. I need to release that, and allow myself to mourn.

With this perspective, let’s dig into the Torah. We just had a census. It’s now time to talk about an inheritance.  Talk about being attached to outcomes!!!  Let’s dig in:

52The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

53You shall apportion the Land among these as an inheritance, in accordance with the number of names.

54To the large [tribe] you shall give a larger inheritance and to a smaller tribe you shall give a smaller inheritance, each person shall be given an inheritance according to his number.

55Only through lot shall the Land be apportioned; they shall inherit it according to the names of their fathers’ tribes.

56The inheritance shall be apportioned between the numerous and the few, according to lot.

So we begin today with, when we enter the promised land, the Lord has set up how land would be divided as an inheritance. It’s based on size and random chance. That is fascinating to me. The more family – the bigger the community – the more land they received.  This wasn’t a “reward” per se.  It was a recognition that every person counted.

We now shift BACK into the census for the Levites. The Priests:

57These were the numbers of the Levites according to their families: the family of the Gershonites from Gershon, the family of the Kohathites from Kohath, the family of the Merarites from Merari.

58These were the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites and Kehat begot Amram.

59The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, whom [her mother] had borne to Levi in Egypt. She bore to Amram, Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.

60Born to Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

61Nadab and Abihu died when they offered up an unauthorized fire before the Lord.

62And those counted of them were twenty three thousand, every male aged one month and upward, for they were not counted among the children of Israel, since no inheritance was given them among the children of Israel.

23,000 Levites.  We know the earlier count from 3:22, 3:28, and 3:34 – 7,500 from Gershon, 8,600 from Kohath, and 6,200 from Merari.  A total of 22,300.  The Levites increased by 3% from the beginning of the book. To me? This indicates spiritual expansion!

63This was the census of Moses and Eleazar the kohen, who counted the children of Israel in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan at Jericho.

64Among these there was no man who had been [included] in the census of Moses and Aaron when they counted the children of Israel in the Sinai desert.

So this is interesting.  No one was included in the original census.  40 years passed.

There were 603,550 in the census at the beginning. No one lived to see this current count. There were 601,730 NEW children of Israel.

There were 22,300 Levites at the beginning. No one lived to see the current count. There were 23,000 NEW Levites.

65For the Lord had said to them, “They shall surely die in the desert,” and no one was left of them but Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

This is mind blowing. In 40 years, enough children were born in the desert – among the journeys – to almost replace all of those who lived at the time of the Golden Calf.

Only 2 were counted twice.

Now, we’ve been talking about the dudes. The Torah now shifts to the ladies:

27:1The daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, came forward, and his daughters’ names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

2They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the kohen and before the chieftains and the entire congregation at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, saying,

3″Our father died in the desert, but he was not in the assembly that banded together against the Lord in Korah’s assembly, but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons.

4Why should our father’s name be eliminated from his family because he had no son? Give us a portion along with our father’s brothers. “

5So Moses brought their case before the Lord.

These women brought a good case to Moses. The laws as they were written were solely around men inheriting land. These women (in some senses) weren’t counted. They asked (demanded?) to be counted.

And this is where we leave off today.  And I am reflecting on this.

Looking across the landscape of our culture today – given what we know about organized religion. What do we THINK the response here would be?  Like if someone went to a religious leader today and said “hey! Your rules are about to create an injustice here! We deserve to inherit land too!” How do you think these religious leaders would respond? Do we think it would match what is coming?

Stay tuned until tomorrow!!!

What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 15 Tamuz, 5783.

In America, we are celebrating “Independence Day” because it is July 4th.  This is the anniversary of when we gained our independence from England.

Last night was also the full moon – when in the darkness, the moon reflects brightly the sun’s light to the earth.

It was also a Supermoon last night – the moon is 14,000 miles closer to the earth than a typical full moon.

What I “feel” is that all of this is connected.  I believe we are called to look closely with light on the idea of “Independence Day” here in America.  And it WILL connect to the Torah portion.

Because today’s portion is all about dividing up the land and portioning it out to the tribes.  And guess what? The land wasn’t conquered.  It was decided “by lottery.”

The size of the land was proportional to the size of the tribe.  But the largest or smallest tribe didn’t get to pick first.  It was left up to “divine providence.”

In my opinion, this is because land has a soul. And the soul of a land is connected to the soul of us as entities who are more a soul than a body.

As we “celebrate” our independence – maybe we should examine the soul of the land of America?  Maybe? Anyone?

No?

What I am reminded of is one of my favorite quotes from the book “Rainbow of Liberated Energy: Working with Emotions through the Colour and Element Symbolism of Tibetan Tantra” by Ngakpa Chogyam.

This is the quote: “We seek assurances from life that confirm the unconfirmable: that we are solid, separate, permanent and continuous.”

In America, our “independence” has come at great cost to our souls.  We go about seeing ourselves as solid, separate, permanent and continuous.

However, I think we are beginning to see how this isn’t true.  The state of our country today is trying to reconcile how we are NOT solid. We are NOT separate.  We are NOT permanent. And we are NOT continuous.  No matter how hard we try to be.

The truth is – we are all interconnected.  Not just with each other – but with the land we find ourselves on.  The land may have a soul – and how we navigate this – declaring the land “mine” and “yours” may take away the sovereignty that the land itself may have.

This is why the Torah divided up the land by lottery – in my opinion.

Imagine doing this in America today?  Those of you who want to live a biblical life – how would you feel if the larger families were given land that was larger than individuals who may have material wealth?

Does our land proportion match the various “tribes” living in America?  I don’t think they do.

So as we have fun today – and I truly do hope we have fun today (and every day) – we should remember about the soul of the land. And the idea of “independence” because as amazing as it sounds to us growing up with the idea of independence? It fails in comparison to the idea of the collective consciousness that could be rooted in love, compassion, and empathy for one another.

And that is a battle within our souls worth fighting for and reflecting on this independence day!

Those are my thoughts – what are yours?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 20 Tamuz, 5782

Good morning! Yesterday we finished the census of the Israelites. But did we? There was one tribe that was left out. The priestly tribe of Levi!

Today’s portion begins with God talking to Moses about separating out land as an inheritance with those whose names were included in the census from yesterday. To larger tribes, they get more land, to smaller sized tribes, they get smaller portions of land.

What’s interesting is God tells Moses the size of the land is connected to the size of the tribe; however regardless of size, the land was inherited by lottery. The idea that the lottery is miraculous was inherent in the Torah. Does this mean we should play the lottery? Likely not.

Something I’m reflecting on as well. The idea of land having a soul. And the soul of a land being connected to the souls of us as humans.

This is something we don’t often (in America at least) think about. We see land more with a lens of occupation. We look at who “occupies” a land vs the land’s soul. The idea of a lottery reinforced (I think) that there is something bigger than occupation when it comes to land.

That has consequences, right? If we each have an inheritance to a certain land, and instead we focus on the land we occupy, things might get jammed up.

It is likely in our brains’ cognitive benefit to believe land is inherently inanimate without a soul. To see it just as something without consequence makes it easier for us to “occupy” a space instead of considering the soul of that space.

It would seem that God wanted the Israelites to understand that occupying land wasn’t as critical as the spiritual connection to a land. The lottery was a way to ensure that.

I’m curious to what others think!

Rabbi Schneerson’s thoughts about the lottery are particularly interesting here:

While Jewish law obligates you to observe all the commandments, there is always at least one particular command to which your soul is drawn more strongly (cf. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 118b). This is a kind of spiritual “lottery” – your primary mission in life has been pre-allotted on high, and you have no choice in the matter! (Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady)

Your soul has a particular “special commandment” because each soul is a “spark of the “general soul” which Adam possessed. Your soul’s specific path corresponds to its original “location” within Adam’s soul. Only when you observe your “special commandment” will you become spiritually fulfilled (Rabbi Hayyim b. Joseph Vital)

How can you discover what your “special commandment” is?

There is no simple solution. But since your mission in life revolves around your special commandment, your “evil impulse” will definitely oppose this commandment strong, which may give you a clue what it is.

Also, Divine Providence will inevitably lead you to circumstances which are conducive to the observance of your special commandment. So if you are wealthy, for example, your special commandment is quite possibly to give charity.

In addition to all the above, we all have another special commandment of our generation by virtue of the times in which We live. This is the need to awaken to the global flowering of Devine consciousness towards which the world is currently shifting.” (End quote)

Ok. Let’s keep going. It’s time to consider the Levites. You see they weren’t connected to land. They weren’t grounded; because their role was spiritual. They were free to move because they weren’t tied to the land the way their brothers were.

We see that Kohath’s family DID survive. There were 23,000 Levites aged one month and up. They did not receive the same inheritance as the other families.

The chapter (not the portion) ends with the statement that not one person was alive from the leaving of Egypt except Caleb and Joshua.

So. Great, right? Time to go into the promised land!!!

Waaaaaait just a minute! In the sausage fest (excuse my language) it’s time for the women to step up.

The daughters of Zelophehad step up. They descended from Manasseh – Joseph’s son. Five daughters; and they are all named;

Mahlah

Noah

Hoglah

Milchah

Tirzah

They came before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the tribal leaders and the entire congregation of Israel.

They make a case to Moses; “Our father died in the desert. He was not part of the group that rebelled against God nor was he in Korah’s assembly. He died due to his own sin and he had no sons. Why should our father’s name be missed out from his family because he had no son? Give us a portion along with our father’s brothers!”

This was a big deal. Five women challenging the entire patriarchy at the time. Of course, Male Fragility won out and they all scoffed at these women, right?

Wrong.

Moses didn’t know what to do, so he brought their case to God.

And that’s where the portion ends.

Iiiiinteresting. I like how we are left with a cliffhanger. What will happen? How will God respond?

Stay tuned until tomorrow! Until then; what are

Your thoughts?