Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 26 Tevet, 5785

Good morning! Well, I have been quiet the past few days as I have dealt with my own plague – norovirus. As we were reading about the 10 plagues in Egypt, I was dealing with the impact of my own sickness.  And I was wrestling with my own grief.

I had plans last week. Plans to spend time with the kids. Plans to be productive. Plans.

And all of them? Got thwarted. Because I literally could not get out of bed for more than five minutes.

And I struggled. My body would not rest the way I wanted it to. When I slept, I slept a long time, but my sleep data revealed how stressed my body was, even in the deepest sleep.

It was not easy.

Grief.

I felt angry.

I felt sad.

I tried to bargain.

And ultimately just had to accept the reality for what it was.

Today, we start a new Torah portion as we wind down to the new moon. It’s Parsha Bo.  This means “come.”

This word “come” is an action word. It requires us to do something. We cannot stay stuck any more. We have a choice to stay – or move.

Grief can do that, can’t it? When we let go of the past, grieve it – and allow the past to be in the past, we are free to make new choices.

We can come.

So what is it you want? What is your goal? As we enter this period of order – the month of Shevat – where we will experience harshness – until we get to the full moon. What can we look for? What actions can we take that we may not have been ready to take a week ago? A month ago?

This is where we can choose to be.

Grief brings freedom.

Or? We can be like Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

Today’s passage was all about avoiding their grief. Instead of moving forward in this new reality, they wanted to go back to “the way things were.”

So where will we go? What will we do?

Discuss

Here are my thoughts from last year:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 4 Shevat 5784
Parsha Bo’: (Exodus 10:1 – 13:16)
First Portion: Exodus 10:1 – 10:11

Good evening!  Today we start Parsha Bo’ – which means “Come.” Given that last week’s portion was “And He Appeared.” He is here – and He is asking us to come. 

We just left off seeing Pharoah going through somewhat of a grief process.  A lot of denial, a little bit bargaining, and a smidge of acceptance – for a moment – but then backtracking. 

Let’s dig in:

10:1The Lord said to Moses: “Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order that I may place these signs of Mine in his midst,

2and in order that you tell into the ears of your son and your son’s son how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and [that you tell of] My signs that I placed in them, and you will know that I am the Lord.”

So – Hashem tells Moses – WHY he is hardening Pharaoh’s heart.

There are signs being placed here.  For US.

We see how Hashem made a mockery of the Egyptians.

But what are these signs?

My take? Grief.

If we don’t deal with grief? It will mock us.

If we block grief?

It will mock us.

If we MOCK grief (which Pharaoh is doing) – it will mock us.

These are the signs of grief. They are placed in the midst of Pharaoh. Let’s keep going:

3So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said to him, “So said the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, and they will worship Me.

4For if you refuse to let [them] go, behold, tomorrow I am going to bring locusts into your borders.

5And they will obscure the view of the earth, and no one will be able to see the earth, and they will eat the surviving remnant, which remains for you from the hail, and they will eat all your trees that grow out of the field.

6And your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians will be filled, which your fathers and your fathers’ fathers did not see since the day they were on the earth until this day.’ ” [Therewith,] he turned and left Pharaoh.

It is interesting.  This plague is all about locusts – but the purpose was to block sight. We went from hardening of hearts to loss of sight.

I reflect on grief. When our heart is hard, and we cannot see, that’s a pretty dark place. And what is interesting here, Pharoah’s servants start to doubt:

7Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this one be a stumbling block to us? Let the people go and they will worship their God. Don’t you yet know that Egypt is lost?”

The lost of sight was too much for Pharaoh’s servants. They brought Moses back. And Pharaoh goes back to bargaining, doesn’t he?

8[Thereupon,] Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, worship the Lord your God. Who and who are going?”

9Moses said, “With our youth and with our elders we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our cattle we will go, for it is a festival of the Lord to us.”

10So he [Pharaoh] said to them, “So may the Lord be with you, just as I will let you and your young children out. See that evil is before your faces.

Pharoah is trying to get AS CLOSE TO THE LINE as he can here, isn’t he?

And with our own grief? How much is this like us? We will only grieve as much as we need to to survive. We don’t go past that, do we? Most times?

Freedom is through grief. Sadness. We need to stop bargaining with our grief if we want to be free.  This is the take away.

What are your thoughts?