Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 3 Nisan, 5785

Good morning! There is a heavy energy around us right now. A lot of people are sharing this.  The shift at the new moon brings us back to remembering the exodus from Egypt.  We are coming up to passover. The entire purpose is to remember our bondage – and this energy right now is centered around this heavyness.

One of the major themes right now is control.  We are truly not in control – and the energy we are in is showing us more and more we are NOT in control. How we navigate this space – things not working the way we want them to – things going sideways that we had planned on going in the direction we wanted them to? It’s designed to remind us of both the authority we have in a moment – and what valor looks like – courage in the midst of chaos.

This is all part of our process of freedom and liberation.   When we look at Moses and Aaron and their return to Egypt to free the slaves? Things did not go the way they thought they would. They were rejected by their own people – because they came in to free the children of Israel, and it ended up making things worse. It took 10 plagues to free the people.

There was a lot of mess to navigate.

This is the energy right now.

Things aren’t going the way we want them to.

And that’s ok.

We want to “fix” things and we can’t.

And that’s ok.

The idea right now? Is to allow and receive the energy – the lack of control – the uncertainty? And see the safety in it. To trust in it. And just live in the moment and take the next step.

And? Remember our humanity. That this is hard. We have tough feelings to navigate. Sadness. Anger. Fear. Powerlessness. Helplessness. These are feelings we have come to experience.

And we are free.

What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from last year:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 9 Adar II, 5784
Parsha Va-Yikra’ – “And He affectionately called”: (Leviticus 1:1 – 5:26)
Third Portion: Leviticus 2:7 – 2:16

Good morning. As I am reflecting on this passage, a year ago while reading it was one of the more difficult days of last year. I felt completely and utterly inadequate. Today, a year later, I feel differently as much has healed since then.  It is beautiful to see how our lives do look like check boxes – we go down, in order to go up. And. It’s tough to go down. 

Let’s review what we’ve learned so far in Leviticus.

• Sacrifices need to be unblemished
• Sacrifices need to be for the motives of truly giving
• Sacrifices need to be brought to the altar
• Sacrifices need to match our resources

In our relationships, how much can we acknowledge that our sacrifices are grounded here? Let’s dig in to today’s portion:

7And if your sacrifice is a meal offering [made] in a deep pot, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.

8Thus you shall bring the meal offering which shall be made from these [types], to the Lord. And he shall bring it to the kohen, and he shall bring it close to the altar.

9And the kohen shall lift out, from the meal offering, its reminder and cause it to [go up in] smoke on the altar; [it is] a fire offering [with] a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.

It’s interesting – as we sacrifice – in our relationship with Hashem – we don’t sacrifice ALL of it to Hashem.  It’s not JUST for Hashem.

Let’s back up – if the sacrifice we are bringing is a meal offering, and it is unblemished – it is what Hashem wants – we bring it to the Lord. It comes to the surface of being revealed on the altar. And the priest lifts out from the meal provided – a reminder.  The REMINDER is what goes up to the Lord. The sacrifice of a meal isn’t really for Hashem. Why do we make the meal, and cause the REMINDER to go up to Hashem?

Let’s see more:

10And what remains of the meal offering shall belong to Aaron and his descendants; [it is] holy of holies from the fire offerings of the Lord.

The REMINDER goes to Hashem. The rest? To those who counsel us spiritually.

What is the takeaway? What can we add?

• Sacrifices need to be unblemished
• Sacrifices need to be for the motives of truly giving
• Sacrifices need to be brought to the altar
• Sacrifices need to match our resources

I think what we add – in our relationships, if we get STUCK in what we’ve sacrificed in the past? And expect a reward? We are sacrificing from the wrong motive. We are called to RELEASE our sacrifices.

• Sacrifices need to be let go of once we make them. We are to release them. They are NOT for us. They are for Hashem, and those we are sacrificing for

Let’s keep going.

11No meal offering that you sacrifice to the Lord shall be made [out of anything] leavened. For you shall not cause to [go up in] smoke any leavening or any honey, [as] a fire offering to the Lord;

12[However,] you shall bring them as a first [fruit] offering to the Lord; nevertheless, they shall not go up on the altar as a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.

Interesting – our sacrifices should be made with leavening or honey.

Leavening is an expansion agent. It expands bread.  It rises.

Honey is a sweetening agent. It makes things sweet.

Why would we not sacrifice these to Hashem?

My thought is – Hashem does not need expansion. He is expansive. He cannot expand as He is everywhere. He is also sweet. He does not need us to sacrifice honey because that is not what he requires. 

My takeaway? When we sacrifice, it’s important not to sacrifice something in our relationships for the purpose of giving someone something they already have.  Let’s get back to an example.

Let’s say my friend is an avid Disney fan. They collect Disney. They have every Disney snowglobe you can imagine. And imagine you sacrifice – you search out for the perfect Disney snow globe for them? And you give it to them as a gift.

And? They already have it.

You just spent a ton of resources – money, time, energy – looking for the perfect gift. And. It didn’t quite land because they have it. What if we missed your friend who is going through a really tough time, and instead of spending all of that time researching Disney snowglobes? We had sacrificed that time checking in on them? Writing them a letter? Holding space for them to process their struggle?

How often do we sacrifice to give someone something they desire, and avoid sacrificing to give them something they need?

The lesson here? Sacrifice for what someone NEEDS not what they may or may not Desire.

• Sacrifices need to be unblemished
• Sacrifices need to be for the motives of truly giving
• Sacrifices need to be brought to the altar
• Sacrifices need to match our resources
• Sacrifices need to be released after we give them

We add:

Sacrifices are to given for what someone NEEDS not for what they want.

Ok – let’s keep going:

13And you shall salt every one of your meal offering sacrifices with salt, and you shall not omit the salt of your God’s covenant from [being placed] upon your meal offerings. You shall offer salt on all your sacrifices.

Salt. Salt is important for a sacrifice.

Why? I want to go back to what I wrote about Rabbi Schneerson on this:

Rabbi Schneerson writes:

Offering a sacrifice on the altar represents the process of offering up your Animalistic Soul- the source of all physical desires–to God. Since these desires arise from the blood, every sacrifice must be salted to signify your strong resolution to extract those desires from the Animalistic Soul, just as salt extracts blood

I think we can now add? Our sacrifice needs to be whole hearted. We cannot sacrifice half heartedly. Why? Because Hashem may have expansion and sweetness – He doesn’t need those. What he needs is our ENTIRE HEARTS.

We add:

• Sacrifices need to be unblemished
• Sacrifices need to be for the motives of truly giving
• Sacrifices need to be brought to the altar
• Sacrifices need to match our resources
• Sacrifices need to be released after we give them
• Sacrifices need to be given for what someone needs – not just what they want

We need to give our sacrifices from our whole hearts.

Let’s keep going:

14When you bring a meal offering of the first grains to the Lord, you shall bring your first grain meal offering [from barley], as soon as it ripens, parched over the fire, kernels full in their husks, [ground into] coarse meal.

15And you shall put oil on it, and place frankincense upon it. It is a meal offering.

16Then, the kohen shall cause its reminder to [go up in] smoke, [taken] from its coarse meal and from its oil, with all its frankincense; [it is] a fire offering to the Lord.

Again, it’s fascinating isn’t it? The sacrifice was to be ground up. And. The REMINDER was what was given to Hashem.  The entire thing was NOT given.

My final takeaway?

Whatever we are sacrificing in our relationships? The only part of the sacrifice that will carry forward is the REMINDER of the sacrifice – not the sacrifice itself.

How much are we FOCUSED on what we’ve sacrificed for someone, and wanting them to acknowledge our sacrifice? That goes back to our motives for sacrificing.

It’s not WHAT we sacrifice that IS the sacrifice. It’s the REMINDER that we are WILLING To sacrifice that is the key in our relationships.

Because a sacrifice in a particular moment? That’s a REMINDER to our friend, our kids, our lover – of our willingness to sacrifice. But in a future moment? The sacrifice we made? That doesn’t carry over.

If we have the resources, and our friend has a need, and we choose to tell ourselves “I already sacrificed?” We’ve missed the point.

Every moment is a new moment. The data in someone’s brain about our past sacrifice isn’t just data. If a moment calls us to sacrifice? That is the key. Do we show up? Or do we lord our past sacrifices over our friends?

This is the final. Important takeaway:

• Sacrifices need to be unblemished
• Sacrifices need to be for the motives of truly giving
• Sacrifices need to be brought to the altar
• Sacrifices need to match our resources
• Sacrifices need to be released after we give them
• Sacrifices need to be given for what someone needs
• Sacrifices need to be given with our ENTIRE hearts.

Just because we’ve sacrificed in the past? Doesn’t negate the opportunity to sacrifice in the present – if we have the resources, and our friend has the need.

And. We need to be kind to ourselves. Because if we are unwilling to do any of these within ourselves? We won’t like HAVE the resources to do them for someone else.

Let me close with this;

• Are we bringing ourselves unblemished sacrifices?
• Are we giving to ourselves?
• Are we making sure we are mindful and aware of the sacrifices we are making for ourselves?
• Are we giving to ourselves of the resources we have?
• Are we releasing our sacrifices for ourselves after we give them?
• Are we giving to ourselves what we need, or are we distracting ourselves from what we need by giving ourselves what we desire?
• Are we giving ourselves from our whole hearts?
• Are we giving ourselves from this present moment, or are we relying on past sacrifices?

This is true love. First for ourselves. Then for others.