Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 11 Av, 5784
Parsha Va-‘Ethannan – “I requested”: (Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11)
Fifth Portion: Deuteronomy 5:19 – 6:3

Good morning! We are now four days away from “Jewish Valentines Day!” Where love, romance, and the meeting of our “requests” is given!

Let’s dig into the Torah!

19The Lord spoke these words to your entire assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the opaque darkness, with a great voice, which did not cease. And He inscribed them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

20And it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.

Moses is reminding us of the process of receiving the Torah. And, we are REMINDED that we hear Hashem’s voice from the midst of the darkness. We can listen with our ears, see with our eyes, smell with our nose, taste with our tongue. Touch. We have all our senses to use. We get so focused on what we see. We lose sight of one of our BIGGEST senses – our feelings – our intuition.

21And you said, “Behold, the Lord, our God, has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we saw this day that God speaks with man, yet [man] remains alive.

22So now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we continue to hear the voice of the Lord, our God, anymore, we will die.

23For who is there of all flesh, who heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

24You approach, and hear all that the Lord, our God, will say, and you speak to us all that the Lord, our God, will speak to you, and we will hear and do.

25And the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, “I have heard the sound of the words of this people that they have spoken to you; they have done well in all that they have spoken.

26Would that their hearts be like this, to fear Me and to keep all My commandments all the days, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!

They heard directly from Hashem, and they were scared. They asked for Moses to speak to them.

So we ask today? Why don’t we hear from Hashem? Because that is what we asked for. Can we “request” to hear from the Universe and Hashem directly? Maybe that is a question to ask Hashem?  Just be mindful of what you may see and hear (and smell and touch)

27Go say to them, ‘Return to your tents.’

28But as for you, stand here with Me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which you will teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.

29Keep them to perform [them] as the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside either to the right or to the left.

30In all the way which the Lord, your God, has commanded you, you shall go, in order that you may live and that it may be well with you, and so that you may prolong your days in the land you will possess.

 Hashem has informed us – Moses is the one He deals with.

How do we engage today, if Moses isn’t here?

What if there is a Moses in every generation? Maybe that was Jesus? Allah?

Who knows? These are just curious questions I’m asking.

6:1This is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that the Lord, your God, commanded to teach you, to perform in the land into which you are about to pass, to possess it.

Let’s sit here for a minute. The commandments and statues were given to PERFORM IN THE LAND which you are about to pass, to POSSESS IT.

The goal of the Torah? The mitzvahs? It was to be done in the land to possess it and keep it.

If we aren’t living in the land, these are things we need to consider.  What is our relationship going to be with the Torah? Is it something we want to practice NOW so that when we enter the land it’s familiar? I can see the draw of that.

2In order that you fear the Lord, your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments that I command you, you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life, and in order that your days may be lengthened.

And we get the “why?” Here. So that we “fear” Hashem. The word is better translated “to be in awe of” which is a way of combining fear and safety.

The second goal was to pass this on – so our “days may be lengthened.” That is something to consider as well.

3And you shall, [therefore,] hearken, O Israel, and be sure to perform, so that it will be good for you, and so that you may increase exceedingly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, spoke to you, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Why?

• To connect with Hashem by performing the mitzvahs
• So that it will be good for us
• So that we can increase exceedingly

 What?

A land flowing with milk and honey.

 Do we want to be in a land flowing with milk and honey? And are we aware this land is within us?

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 10 Av, 5783

Good morning! Wow. I hope you had a Tisha B’Av full of light in the darkness!  My day was incredible – so many opportunities to choose darkness over light – light over darkness.  And light won each and every time.

Today we catch back up with a double portion.  Put simply, the theme is “listen.”  A year ago, we were reading this around the 15 of Av – which is the Jewish valentine’s day.  A day of love. It is interesting, this year we read it coming out of Tisha B’Av – a day of darkness.

I believe the message is – whether it is dark, or full of love; we need to listen.  As we begin our ascension away from the 9th of Av – we need to listen as we rise.  To slow ourselves down enough to hear what Hashem (the Universe, the one soul) is communicating.  To do this, as a good friend has pointed out recently, we need to get out of our heads. Into our bodies. To receive. To just “be.”  In order to listen, there is nothing to “do.” Just let go. Hear. The oneness.

Instead of “efforting” to be – what can we let go of to just “be” in the moment?

One of the parts of my reflections this morning was around the “skill” of enjoyment.  So much feels like work to enjoy life.  But the skill of enjoyment is fairly simple – but may not be easy.  The idea is to be grateful in each moment for the things that put a smile on your face.  To just enjoy the moment – regardless of what is happening around us – including big storms and a lack of stability.

How can we better listen to the moment and find enjoyment?  Last night I went for a walk and found enjoyment in discovering a snail crawling on the ground.  I spent time just being in the moment with the snail. And for some reason I couldn’t explain, it brought a smile to my face.

This morning, upon reflection, it was the snail’s shell that brought me joy.  We often see life (and time) very linearly.  But the snail shell teaches us how life is more a spiral. We come back around again and again to learning lessons deeper than we did the first time.

And, in studying Torah? This connects.  We read the Torah and each time gain a better and deeper understanding

And, in life? This connects.  We will come back to experiences time and time again to learn lessons that need to be learned – until we have let go and learned them completely.  And that may never happen.  And that’s ok.

This is the lesson (in my opinion) we are learning during the month of Av. The full moon is approaching – and the energies will shift in a new direction.  And we enter a time of joy and peace as we approach the new year – Rosh Hashanah – where we will dip apples in honey and begin a new spiritual cycle – just another go around on the shell of the snail.

Which, by the way? Is reflective of the special Challah we eat on Rosh Hashanah.

Shema, Yisrael.

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 14 Av, 5782

Remember, tonight at sundown starts Tu B’Av (15 of Av) and it is a joyous day. The moon is full. It hits your eye, like a big pizza pie….

And tomorrow at 10am eastern, the entire globe is going to be in prayer for love. May you join the global chorus of prayer!

Let’s dig into the Torah!

We ended yesterday with a review of the Ten Commandments. And what we are finding is that Deuteronomy as a book is mostly a review. It is interesting; here we are. On the cusp of entering the promised land. We have come out of Egypt. We wandered in the desert. And we stand on the Jordan ready to go in.

But instead of going in, we are going back. We are remembering. And I believe a lot of our purpose on this earth is to remember.

Moses tells us, after we heard the voice from the mountain, the leaders of the tribes went back to their families and testified at what God had done. “We saw today that God speaks with man, and yet he can still live.”

But they wanted an intermediary. They were concerned that if they continued to hear the voice of God they would die. They appointed Moses to listen to God and then they would listen to Moses.

And Moses told the people God agreed it was good that they said this. And here’s what God added;

“If only their hearts would remain like this, fearing Me and keeping all My commandments eternally, so that things would be good for them and their children forever!”

God told Moses; He would teach him everything!

The main message was this; “You should listen Israel, and be careful to do what is good for you, so that you will increase greatly.”

We are called to listen. Do we listen? Or do we instead speak? We aren’t called to speak per se. We are called to listen. We need to be better listeners! And that is the message today!

What are your thoughts?