Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 11 Cheshvan, 5785

Good morning! As we approach the full moon of Cheshvan, things are coming to light for us to be more aware of.  As we navigate today’s portion, we see that Lot is entertaining angels and doing his best to try and help the angels with the people who wanted to “do bad things” to them.

How often do we attempt to try to convince those who seek to destroy NOT to. We offer them so much of ourselves to protect those we care about. Lot was WILLING TO SACRIFICE HIS OWN DAUGHTERS to protect the angels from the people who are trying to hurt them.

Full stop.

How much do we sacrifice our children to protect our relationship and peace with a toxic person?

What choices are we making?

Lot had the freedom to ask the angels for help – at any time – but chose to go it alone.

And? When things got to be too much? The angels intervened.

The takeaway? What are we doing to protect our own peace? Lot was not protecting his peace. He was trying to convince people at war to be peaceful and reasonable.

Have you ever tried to argue with someone who was unreasonable? Yeah. It doesn’t work.

And the angels? They gave the hard truth.

12And the men said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law, your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, take out of the place.

Sometimes? We have to leave things behind. Lot had to leave behind the place he was. Go somewhere new. Because there was no “fixing” the problem. Not matter how much Lot wanted to control the outcome – he just could not. It was time to walk away.

Growl.

That’s hard to accept, isn’t it? To let go of the fight and just walk away?

To trust we may not be in control of others and outcomes?

Imagine Lot trying EVERYTHING he could to fix the problem and protect the angels (and his own peace).

And? Even his own family didn’t trust Lot:

14So Lot went forth and spoke to his sons-in-law, the suitors of his daughters, and he said, “Arise, go forth from this place, for the Lord is destroying the city,” but he seemed like a comedian in the eyes of his sons-in-law.

They laughed at him.

And? Similar to Noah? Lot just wouldn’t leave his family behind. The angels had to intervene.

16But he tarried, and the men took hold of his hand and his wife’s hand, and the hand of his two daughters, out of the Lord’s pity for him, and they took him out and placed him outside the city.

And? Even after this? Lot. Still. Argued. The Angels told him to flee to the mountains – and he REFUSED.

18And Lot said to them, “Please, do not, O Lord.

19Behold now, Your servant has found favor in Your eyes, and You have increased Your kindness, which You have done with me, to sustain my soul. But I cannot flee to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me, and I die.

20Behold now, this city is near to flee there, and it is small. Let me please flee there. Is it not small? And my soul will survive.”

The takeaway today is this.  I wrote about it last year:

Receive the Universe. Don’t Resist it.  This is the path to freedom and liberation

When we argue with the universe – get frustrated at what the universe is doing FOR US (not to us) – we lose our freedom.

What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from last year:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 16 Cheshvan, 5784
Parsha Va-Yera’: (Genesis 18:1-22:24) 
Third Portion: Genesis 19:1 – 19:20

So as we work on our internal love for ourselves, and we try to move from 10% to 11% (instead of trying to close the gap from 90% to ZERO) we come into this story of destruction. We begin our descent into seeing a culture completely enslaved, and Lot and his wife stuck in the middle of this.

I am reminded immediately of Noah – who facing similar circumstances trusted Hashem and built an ark. That became a prison. That he waited for Hashem to call him out of.  And we are almost back to where we were when Hashem destroyed the entire earth with a flood.  Let’s dig in:

1And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom, and Lot saw and arose toward them, and he prostrated himself on his face to the ground.

2And he said, “Behold now my lords, please turn to your servant’s house and stay overnight and wash your feet, and you shall arise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will stay overnight in the street.”

3And he urged them strongly, and they turned in to him, and came into his house, and he made them a feast, and he baked unleavened cakes, and they ate.

The first thing I notice is Lot’s desire to entertain angels here, and the angels’ initial desire NOT to be entertained by Lot. Lot convinced the angels to spend the night with him.

It is interesting the passage “they turned in to him” in verse 3 there isn’t it? Like the Angels almost went INSIDE Lot. The turned within him.

He brought the Angels within his house, or his body. He took the external spiritual things happening around him and brought them within. 

How often do we internalize the spiritual messages around us? We entertain angels, but do we take them in?

There is a difference between bringing guests into our house and being hospitable – and then internalizing this.  Freedom is taking the spiritual lessons of what is happening – EVEN IN times where it’s a complete hurricane.  Let’s keep reading:

4When they had not yet retired, and the people of the city, the people of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, the entire populace from every end [of the city].

5And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, and let us be intimate with them.”

6And Lot came out to them to the entrance, and he shut the door behind him.

7And he said, “My brethren, please do not do evil.

So – Lot had angels with him. And instead of asking them for support and guidance? He took it upon himself to try and fix the problem.

And I am reflecting – how often do we put aside our spiritual experience and knowledge to try and fix someone ELSE’S problem?  And; how much Hubris is it for Lot to try and “Fix” the Angel’s problem?  Why not ask the Angels what to do?

How often do WE do this? Try and fix our friends problem? Take it on as our own? Instead of asking them “How can I support you? You are an Angel – you have your best answers”  That is spiritual freedom and liberation. And Lot gets himself deeper here:

8Behold now I have two daughters who were not intimate with a man. I will bring them out to you, and do to them as you see fit; only to these men do nothing, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

9But they said, “Back away.” And they said, “This one came to sojourn, and he is judging! Now, we will deal even worse with you than with them.” And they pressed hard upon the man Lot, and they drew near to break the door.

10And the men stretched forth their hands, and they brought Lot to them to the house, and they shut the door.

The Angels did let this go on too long though it would seem.  They saw what Lot was doing – and supported him.  Then turned their attention to those trying to enter the house:

11And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they toiled in vain to find the entrance.

12And the men said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law, your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, take out of the place.

13For we are destroying this place, because their cry has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

When destruction sets in – how often do we try and fight? The Angels encouraged Lot to take his family and step away. Sometimes we know and see we have the power of the Universe behind us; and still? We are told to flee. 

A good friend taught me; “Lessons need to be learned.” There is freedom in this.  Sometimes we need to go through life in order to learn important lessons for our spiritual growth and liberation.  It’s a contraction to cause an expansion.  Let’s keep finish out the portion:

14So Lot went forth and spoke to his sons-in-law, the suitors of his daughters, and he said, “Arise, go forth from this place, for the Lord is destroying the city,” but he seemed like a comedian in the eyes of his sons-in-law.

15And as the dawn rose, the angels pressed Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you perish because of the iniquity of the city.”

16But he tarried, and the men took hold of his hand and his wife’s hand, and the hand of his two daughters, out of the Lord’s pity for him, and they took him out and placed him outside the city.

17And it came to pass, when they took them outside, that he said, “Flee for your life, do not look behind you, and do not stand in the entire plain. Flee to the mountain, lest you perish.”

18And Lot said to them, “Please, do not, O Lord.

19Behold now, Your servant has found favor in Your eyes, and You have increased Your kindness, which You have done with me, to sustain my soul. But I cannot flee to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me, and I die.

20Behold now, this city is near to flee there, and it is small. Let me please flee there. Is it not small? And my soul will survive.”

You know what’s funny? Lot arguing with the Angels trying to save him and his family. Instead of LISTENING to the Angels, he delayed. The Angels STILL had pity and brought him out of Sodom. How did Lot sleep that night?

Think about it; Lot was about to be attacked, the Angels caused the people to go blind.  The Angels told Lot to leave, he slept. Lot tried to save his future son in laws, they laughed at him.  So the Angels took Lot’s hand with his wife and daughters and placed them outside the city. They say “run to the mountain.”  And instead of trusting he argues.

Let’s close with this.  All of the learning so far has been around spiritual freedom and liberation. 

Let’s add something new to our learning:

• The Path of Ascension begins with curiosity and not judgement
• If someone’s curiosity causes doubt and defensiveness, be curious about our own doubt and defensiveness and NOT their motives for curiosity.
• The tree of life is within us. Choose life within with curiosity and not judgment
• Learn to balance the comfort of stumbling, with the challenge of pushing ourselves towards spiritual growth.
• Let go of a stable life. Freedom is accepting “what is” as a blessing. We can’t control what happens. We can only navigate it with bitterness or flow.
• Freedom requires balance – emotions vs intellect, humility vs confidence, thinking as an individual while staying meaningfully connected to others.
• Freedom comes from expansion and not contraction – but contraction is important to the process of expansion
• To live free, we must circumcise the foreskin of past trauma and feel the pain of healing so that our higher selves can appear to us, and we can co-create miraculous NEW life for us and others.
• To be free, we must understand what love requires vs the world around us. 10%.  Just start there. Freedom is seeing the 10% and moving to 11%. Not being trapped by the daunting 90% we feel guilt and shame about.  The 90% is slavery. The 10% is freedom.

Today, I think the lesson is this:

To be free, we must receive the world around us and respond accordingly. Arguing with circumstance and direction is a fruitless endeavor that leads to being imprisoned. The major fundamental question is whether we BELIEVE Hashem and the Universe created by Hashem is working in our favor?  Freedom comes from believing Hashem has rigged the universe in all of our favor and has our back.  Resisting and arguing with the universe leads us to prison. Slavery. Because we don’t control the Universe. We don’t control what is happening around us.

Receive the Universe. Don’t Resist it.  This is the path to freedom and liberation.

 Those are my thoughts – what are yours?