Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 5 Av, 5784
Parsha Devarim – “Words”: (Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22)
Sixth Portion: Deuteronomy 2:31 – 3:14

Good morning! Today is 5 Av, and as we are looking at the fetal development, the fifth month brings a light layer of skin, the bone marrow begins to produce blood. Muscles begin to develop and we begin to see movement.

As we look today in our growth towards the 9^th of Av – where we experience death and rebirth? What is being born within us? What is growing in us? These are the questions to bring to the Torah!

31And the Lord said to me, “Behold I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land before you; begin to drive him out, that you may inherit his land.”

32Then Sihon went forth towards us, he and all his people, to war at Jahzah.

33And the Lord our God delivered him to us; and we smote him and his sons and all his people.

34And we conquered all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every city, the men, women, and the young children; we left over no survivor.

35Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves with the spoil of the cities which we had taken.

36From Aroer which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us: the Lord our God delivered up all before us.

37Only to the land of the children of Ammon you came not near; all the side of the river Yabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God commanded us.

We start today’s portion with war. We start with a promise – Hashem has begun to deliver the enemy and their land  – we will inherit it.

When things seem dark. When we feel like the world around us is against us. Do we trust? Our inheritance will come – because Hashem is working for our good? This is the big question in our minds.

In this darkness we find ourselves in – can we trust the process and let things unfold? Can we heal the conflict and war WITHIN us, trust the process and see the growth in our lives? Can we “take back” our power and live in it? This is the move for us.

3:1Then we turned and went up the way of Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, came forth toward us, he and all his people, to war at Edrei.

2And the Lord said to me, “Do not fear him, for I have given him, all his people, and his land into your hand, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.”

And? As soon as we won one war? Another came at us. How often do we feel like we are just TIRED of the battles? Like, COME ON! Let’s have some peace. And yet, today? The Torah reminds us – there are energies and peoples who are threatened by our power. They come at us in war. Can we just trust that when one battle ends and new one begins? We don’t need to be afraid?

3So the Lord, our God, delivered into our hands also Og, the king of Bashan and all his people, and we smote him until no remnant remained of him.

4And we conquered all his cities at that time; there was not a town that we did not take from them sixty cities, all the territory of Argob the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

5All these cities were fortified with high walls, double doors, and bolts, in addition to a great many unwalled cities.

Let’s stop for a minute. Moses is reminding us. Look at the faithfulness of Hashem. Even with high walls, double doors, Hashem was with us and we won.

6And we utterly destroyed them as we did to Sihon, king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every city, the men, the women, and the young children.

7But all the beasts and the spoils of the cities, we took as spoil for ourselves.

8At that time we took the land out of the hands of the two kings of the Amorites who were on that side of the Jordan, from the brook of Arnon to Mount Hermon.

9The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion; and the Amorites call it Senir.

10All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

11For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. His bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the cubit of a man.

12And this land, which we possessed at that time; from Aro’er, which is by the brook of Arnon, and half of Mount Gilead and its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

13And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh; all the territory of Argob, all of Bashan; that is called the land of Rephaim.

14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the territory of Argob to the boundaries of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and he called them, even Bashan, after his own name, villages of Jair, to this day.

Two wars. Two victories. Lots of abundance and spoils. Is this what is waiting for us on the other side of Tisha B’Av? Can we trust that the outcomes aren’t relevant, but the process is?

What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 3 Av, 5783

Good morning! Today’s portion concludes yesterday’s cliffhanger.  Moses is recounting the history – and reminding the people of what has transpired to bring them to this place.  And today’s focus? How Hashem supernaturally won these wars for the Israelites.

My takeaway from today’s portion.  We often struggle thinking we need to “work hard” and “effort” to get to our promised land.  There are just some battles that are not ours to fight.  We can only do what is put in front us.  I think we struggle.  We ALL struggle with trying to win wars and battles we can’t.  We want others to do the things we want them to do the way we want them to do them.  And we believe we somehow can come up with a strategy to get what it is we want.

Instead, we are reminded there are just some battles we are connected to that we cannot fight.  They are battles for Hashem to fight for us.  That requires a level of trust, I’ll be the first one to confess, which is really challenging and difficult.  And yet here we are.  Standing on the edge of the promised land; being reminded some of our battles are not ours to fight.

So I ask – what battles are we fighting that are not ours – despite our involvement in them?  Where I see this most for myself?  In my career and in my past relationships.  When my jobs and career unfold in a way I am not wanting or expecting? I fight. Or. I flee.  The same way with relationships.

And fighting or fleeing shouldn’t be labeled as “bad” or “good.”  They are human responses to fear. And what my personal fear comes down to? Trusting that there actually IS a God (or spirit or energy) and that God (or spirit or energy) wants the best for me.  If I can boil it all down – that is it.  Things beyond my control start unfolding around me in a way I do not want or believe is best for me. And I get scared.  I don’t lean into that discomfort and look with curiosity within myself.  I numb. I distract. I look for a hit of dopamine however I’m used to getting that.

But if I can slow down with curiosity – I can see my past and all the battles fought on my behalf I couldn’t see until I was further down the road.  Jobs I didn’t get that I REALLY wanted. Jobs I lost I really didn’t want to lose. People I wanted to be connected to who didn’t want to connect with me. All of that? I dodged bullets.  I gained insights. I grew and healed.

In Judaism there is this concept of needing to “go down to go up.”  It’s almost like a slingshot of growth.  As things go “down” it becomes a catapult to being launched into something new we could not have envisioned at the time.

This is the takeaway (in my opinion) from Today’s Torah portion.

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 8 Av, 5782

Well here we are. The last day before Tisha B’Av. Tonight at sundown begins the solemn day. AND it also begins Shabbat. We get a slight reprieve before Saturday evening.

One of the things for Tisha B’Av is we don’t study the Torah. We focus on a few passages dealing with the destruction of the temple. My plan for Sunday is to post a Torah passage around this idea.

However, there is ALSO Jewish thought that messiah will be born on this day as well. So there is always light and hope even in the darkest spaces.

Let’s dig into today’s portion!

Moses has been walking us through the journey to get us to the promised land. We have explored places that were given to others as an inheritance that we did not touch or go through.

However, yesterday we left off with the first war. It was with the king of Heshbon because he did not let the Jews pass through in their journey previously.

Today’s portion starts with Moses telling the people “God has said to go because the ministering Angel has gone before us! Start driving him out so you can inherit the land.

Basically, God supernaturally won the war. There were no survivors.

The Israelites did what was expected of them. And they respected the boundary placed on them; they did not approach the ammonite lands.

After Heshbon had been defeated, they turned towards Bashan. They did the same to Bashan.

So; they took over the lands from the two Amorite kings on that side of the Jordan.

This was the land the Israelites were now going to divide up between Reuben and Gad, with a portion given to Half the tribe of Manasseh.

One thought is around Manasseh. Manasseh as a tribe was split between the promised land and the land outside the promised land. This is interesting to me – and the only tribe of Israel that is split between the two lands – promised land and right outside the promised land. You have Gad and Reuben who exist on one side of the Jordan, the other 9 tribes in the promised land. The Levites who spread out over all the lands, ministering to everyone. But then you have this 12th tribe – which is half of the tribe of Joseph (the Tribe of Joseph was split between Ephraim and Mensasseh).

I’m not sure what it fully means; but that there is this one group who has family in the promised land and outside is something for more reflection on.

Those are my thoughts – what are yours?

May you have a productive day in preparing for the sabbath tonight. It should be a good one as it is delaying the heartache of the darkness of Tisha B’Av. Blessings to you!