Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 23 Nisan, 5783.
Today is the 8th day of the Omer.
So. The timing of all of this is FASCINATING. Last year when writing about today’s portion, I wasn’t aware of the Omer. And the passage connects to the themes of the Omer for this week (Gevurah) and today (Chesed of Gevurah).
I’m reflecting on the connection. But here is what Chabad has for this second week of the Omer:
Week Two – Gevurah
If love (chesed) is the bedrock of human expression, discipline (gevurah) is the channels through which we express love. It gives our life and love direction and focus. Take a laser beam: Its potency lies in the focus and concentration of light in one direction rather than fragmented light beams dispersed in all different directions.
Gevurah – discipline and measure – concentrates and directs our efforts, our love in the proper directions. Another aspect of gevurah is – respect and awe. Healthy love requires respect for the one you love.”
It’s interesting how Gevurah means discipline and measure. And it also means judgment.
Today is the first day of the second week; so we reflect on the kindness and love of discipline. From Chabad:
Day One of Week 2 (8th day of Omer): Chesed of Gevurah
The underlying intention and motive in discipline is love. Why do we measure our behavior, why do we establish standards and expect people to live up to them – only because of love. Even judgment of the guilty is only to express love. In other words punishment is not vengeance; it is just another way to express love by cleansing anything antithetical to love. Tolerance of people should never be confused with tolerance of their behavior. On the contrary: love for people includes wanting them to be the best they can and therefore helping them be aware of anything less than perfect behavior.
Chesed of gevurah is the love in discipline; awareness of the intrinsic love that feeds discipline and judgment. It is the recognition that your personal discipline and the discipline you expect of others is only an expression of love. And that comes across when disciplining. It is the understanding that we have no right to judge others; we have a right only to love them and that includes wanting them to be their best.
Ask yourself: when I judge and criticize another is it in any way tinged with any of my own contempt and irritation? Is there any hidden satisfaction in his failure? Or is it only out of love for the other?
Exercise for the day: Before you criticize someone today think twice if it is out of care and love.”
This is a great reflection of my heart.
This is what I’m meditating on:
“love for people includes wanting them to be the best they can and therefore helping them be aware of anything less than perfect behavior.”
What happens when the ones we love or care about cannot receive this message – of wanting them to be their best? Do we continue to beat our heads against a wall? Or do we turn away and stop trying?
I don’t have good answers. But trusting what is in our control and what is not. As I’ve shared, I have recently become aware that one of my biggest struggles is trying to control and strategize what I can’t control. I need to let go and let things happen. Receive the things I cannot control and not resist them. Trust these “gifts” I cannot control will be used for my good, the good of others, and the good of the world becomes a part of the restorative work of Tikkun Olam.
And this is where I’m at today given the portion.
One final note. It’s interesting today’s portion is all about food given food has been so salient as Passover ended last night. I love the timing of the universe.
What are your thoughts?
This was my commentary from a year ago:
Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 22 Adar II, 5782
Todays portion is a little long so let’s jump in!
Today it’s all about Kosher food. What Animals are forbinned and which are acceptable.
God speaks to Moses and tells him to say to Aaron who should say to Eleazar and Ithamar; You should all speak to the children of Israel and say; “These are the living creatures that you may eat from among all the animals on earth:”
Let’s stop here. Rabbi Schneerson has an interesting thought for us about this:
God made Moses, Aaron, Eleazar and Thamar equal messengers to relay the following section, because they remained equally silent (above, 10:3), accepting God’s decree against Nadab and Abihu with love (Rashi, 11′ century).
Even a child who is studying the Torah for the first time knows that when a person is in pain,
rules of etiquette are inevitably disregarded. The child knows that when his friends hurt him he reacts, even if it is not appropriate to do so, for human nature is to react instantly to pain.
Even though Eleazar and Ithamar had the courtesy in general not to speak up in the presence of their father Aaron, nevertheless, the pain of the sudden passing of their brothers Nadab and Abihu would presumably have caused them to cry out in anger, out of sheer pain, even if it was inappropriate to do so. The fact that they remained silent was proof to Rashi that they had accepted God’s decree with love.
Rabbi Isaac Abravanael says this:
After the Tabernacle was completed and the priests inaugurated, they were given the command not to carry out their service while intoxicated. The Torah explains, “(This is) so that (you will be able to) distinguish between the holy and the profane and between the unclean and the clean” (above, 10:10).
So it now became necessary for God to inform Moses and Aaron which creatures were “clean” and which were “unclean” Furthermore, since the priests were forbidden to enter the Tabernacle in a state of ritual impurity, it now became crucial for them to know which creatures would render them impure.
That’s interesting context for us here. But I want to add one more thing from Kabbalah that is fascinating here:
Life is all about embracing Hesed (kindness; love) and escaping from Gevurah (judgment; resentment). The more you become a joyous, loving person the more mentally and physically healthy you become, free from many of the internal beliefs and wounds that give rise to destructive behaviors. On the other hand, harboring negative, judgmental energy will plunge you into internal chaos, paralyzing you from taking corrective actions.
The Kabbalah teaches that your food choices can subtly influence you towards Hesed or towards Gevurah. The “pure,” kosher animals originate from God’s Hesed; the “impure,” non-kosher animals, from Gevurah. Through ingesting Hesed-rooted food, Heed becomes part of your flesh and blood and, over time, Hesed life choices become gradually easier for you.
Wow. That is an interesting perspective that is new for me! What do you think?
Ok; let’s get into kosher laws:
1. You may eat animals that have a split hoof and chews the cud
2. Among those that chew the cud and have a cloven hoof, don’t eat these:
- camels
- hyrax
- hare
These animals don’t have a completely split hoof.
3. The pig because it doesn’t chew the cud
These animals listed are impure.
Now we are on to fish:
1. You may eat fish that have fins and scales
2. No creeping creatures in the water – these are actually called an abomination!
3. Creatures in the water that do not have fins and scales – they are also an abomination.
So I’m a sense it would seem fish we can’t eat are actually worse than pig! A pig is impure, a lobster is an abomination!!!! But they taste sooooooo goood!!!!!
Ok; next we are onto birds:
the following are an abomination:
- griffon vulture
- bearded vulture
- osprey
- the kite
- the buzzard family
- the raven family
- ostrich
- the tahmas (?)
- the gull
- the Hawk family
- the kos owl
- the cormorant
- the yanshaf owl
- the barn owl
- the ka’at owl
- the roller
- the stork
- the heron family
- the hoopoe
- the bat
That’s a long list of birds!
Next it’s insects:
1. Any flying insect thst walks on four legs is an abomination
2. However; among all the flying insects that walk on four legs, you can eat from those that have additional jointed legs with which they hop on the ground, above its regular legs
3. From the locust family, you can eat the red locust, the yellow locust, the spotted grey locust, and the white locust families
Finally we get to the laws of ritual impurity from non-kosher animals:
Through the following animals – if you have contact with them, you become ritually impure:
- Any animal with an split hoof which is not completely split, and that does not chew the cud
- Animals that walk on four legs any animal that walks on it’s paws (such as a dog, bear or cat) is ritually impure.
Ok let’s stop for a minute; Dogs? cats? The next line is helpful:
Anyone who touches their carcass will be ritually impure until evening.
So let’s pause again. We are talking about dead dogs and cats, and we are talking about ritual impurity. That means if we touch a dead dog, we can’t go into the tabernacle to make a sacrifice.
So; whew. I think having a dog is ok. But again I’m not an arbiter of kosher laws.
Moving forward:
The following are also ritually impure:
- Weasels
- Nice
- Toads
- Hedgehog (sorry sonic you aren’t kosher)
- Chameleons
- Lizards
- Snails
- Moles.
If we touch them when they are dead we are ritually impure until the evening.
Let’s close with this spiritual vitamin from the Chumash I’m reading:
“While God created you in a way that you depend on food and drink for survival-you nevertheless have the power to transform this physical necessity into a new and incomparably higher thing: to eat for the purpose of being able
to do good, transforming the food into energy to serve God. And in the very act of eating you can serve God, because it gives you an opportunity to make a blessing before eating, and afterwards.”
So what are your thoughts? I imagine there are a lot. What are your questions?
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