Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 2 Adar, 5785

Good morning! We have a new week, a new month, and a new Parsha!

This week’s Parsha is called “Tetzavveh” which means “you should command.”

What is it we are called to command?  The idea is our light.

We are called to command our light. Our worth.

I have been recently dug into this idea of worth. And how much our world is built around the idea of “earning” our worth. A lot of this stems from wounds instilled in us in childhood.

As we study the tabernacle in the Torah, I am reminded how much we have just accepted this idea of separation.  That as humanity, we are individuals; separated from each other.  Where did we learn this?

What if? We are not separate? What if inherently, we’ve just forgotten our interconnectedness?   We are dreamers lost in our own dream?

As we put together the tabernacle within, the question is why?

The tabernacle was built for the purpose of filling it with divinity.

What if we are designed to remember the divinity within?

This is the perfect time to uncover this.

You see we are entering into the month of Adar. This is the month of “mazal.”   Mazal is often interpreted as “good fortune.”

However, the idea of mazal is deeper. The reason our fortune is strong this month? Because Mazal is actually external to us.

We have the Neshama – the “godly soul” – but the Neshama expands beyond the borders of our body.  And what connects us beyond? Mazal – which is the part of our Neshama which is external to us. And during the month of Adar, and on our birthdays? Mazal is as close as it can be – aligning our purpose and reason for being here.

Our worth. Our value. Our abundance.

So this is the time to just receive.

And – this is also the time of completion. The completion of journeys – a celebration of sorts!  Because we are going to “begin again” in the next moon cycle.

The month of Adar is when the Tabernacle we are studying comes to completion. We are ready to emerge. And. Begin again.

You can read more on the month of Adar here

What is ALSO interesting -the tabernacle in a sense was ALSO built to “separate” – there are walls built.  So it was built as a place for divinity to dwell, and it was also built to separate us from divinity.  It served two functions.

As we continue the construction of the tabernacle in the Torah, what are the parts of us we need to construct for the purpose of separation?

Why would we need to separate ourselves?

Because divinity dwells in us. And some of us? We don’t recognize or remember this. So we act and behave in ways that are wounded because we have forgotten our worth and divinity. We project. We lash out. We make decisions (subconsciously most of the time) to hurt each other because we feel like a wounded animal.

The truth is. We are worthy. Not because of anything that has happened to us since we arrived on this earth. In these bodies. In fact, since our arrival on earth, from the time we are little babies? Has been sending us the OPPOSITE message – we are NOT worthy. We have to EARN our worth.

We are pulled away from our mazal and our Neshamas.

Worthiness is not earned. It is remembered. From before we were born. It is our soul. Not “my” soul. Not “your” soul. “Our” soul.

What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from last year:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 9 Adar 1, 5784
Parsha Teztzavveh: (Exodus 27:20 – 30:10)
First Portion: Exodus 27:20 – 28:12

It’s a new week, with a new Parsha! This week, we are preparing for the full moon that is arriving on Shabbat. We will have the fullness of light shone on our rest. As we celebrate Mazal in the month of Adar (of which we get a double portion) – we will want to dig into our rest.

This week we are studying Tetzavveh which means “you should command.” These are the first word of the parsha.  The next is children.  “You should command the children (of Israel).”

As we have set up our tabernacle, today’s portion provides us insight into the tools we have at our disposal to navigate our role as royalty. Let’s dig in:

20And you shall command the children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the lamps continually.

The purpose of us “commanding” the children -of leading – is to maintain the light continually. Our identity is to be royalty. And. Maintain the light of those we lead in our kingdoms (our areas of influence – whether at work, at home with our children, or with those we meet each day). 

21In the Tent of Meeting, outside the dividing curtain that is in front of the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall set it up before the Lord from evening to morning; [it shall be] an everlasting statute for their generations, from the children of Israel.

We are called – forever – to keep the fire lit with our love.  “They shall take to you pure olive oil.” We are the olive oil.  Hashem in us. Our Neshama.  We are the nurturing Oliva oil.  And – it is because we have survived “the crushing.”

Most of us reading this have experienced this crushing. We have experienced “soul crushing” moments in our lives – and we have navigated them.  And we became resilient. We became oil. Pure essence poured out.

We have the opportunity to rebuild the tabernacle of our hearts with the oil of the crushing experiences in our lives to light the way for others. To be that holy light that draws others to their lit souls.

This is the main thought this week. How will we “transmute” and “transform” these soul crushing experiences into oil that will keep our flame lit forever. And. Light our children’s flames. Because as they experience soul crushing experiences – we are called to remind them – although their soul feels crushed – it is purely because there is meant to be fragrant oil produced from the process. So they are light to those around THEM.

Let’s keep going:

28:1And you shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height [shall be] three cubits.

2And you shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be from it, and you shall overlay it with copper.

3And you shall make its pots to remove its ashes, and its shovels and its sprinkling basins and its flesh hooks and its scoops; you shall make all its implements of copper.

4And you shall make for it a copper grating of netting work, and you shall make on the netting four copper rings on its four ends.

5And you shall place it beneath the ledge of the altar from below, and the net shall [extend downward] until the middle of the altar.

6And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you shall overlay them with copper.

7And its poles shall be inserted into the rings, and the poles shall be on both sides of the altar when it is carried.

8You shall make it hollow, out of boards; as He showed you on the mountain, so shall they do.

9And you shall make the courtyard of the Mishkan on the southern side [there shall be] hangings for the courtyard of twisted fine linen, one hundred cubits long on one side.

10And its pillars [shall be] twenty and their sockets twenty of copper; the hooks of the pillars and their bands [shall be of] silver.

11And so for the northern end in the length hangings one hundred [cubits] long, its pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty of copper; the hooks of the pillars and their bands of silver.

12The width of the courtyard on the western side, hangings fifty cubits, their pillars ten and their sockets ten.

This is the key line (for me) as the Torah lays out the alter:

3And you shall make its pots to remove its ashes, and its shovels and its sprinkling basins and its flesh hooks and its scoops; you shall make all its implements of copper

We have, at our command – pots to remove the ashes of the altar.  As we experience within us – and those around us – the burning up of the soul crushing experiences – to transform them into pure oil to keep our light on fire? The ashes produced? They need to be removed. We need to let them go. Release them. 

We have shovels to move the ash to the pots. The shovels can also be used to move wood to make the fire hotter (or cooler) to make sure the fire burns consistently.

We have sprinkling basins – which hold the blood – for us to sprinkle on the altar of those who have been wounded. To take the blood that was sacrificed in the soul crushing experience and make that experience holy.

Finally, we have flesh hooks and scoops – to hold our flesh that has been scarred from these soul crushing experiences – to bear witness to, and continue the idea that these soul crushing experiences provide oil for the fire to be continued to burn.

Those are my thoughts.  What are yours?