Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 12 Av, 5783

It is a new week and a new Parsha!  And – we have made it through the darkest times on the calendar

From my commentary last year:

Good morning! On this first day of the week, we turn to a new Parsha. As we leave the darkness of the “three weeks” behind us from 17 Tamuz to 9 Av, we are turning towards comfort as we approach the spiritual new year on Rosh Hashanah. These next seven weeks should be a time of comfort as we complete another cycle of the Torah, leading us into the true liberation that comes from repentance and forgiveness, which is the theme associated with the “Days of Awe.”

Once we are through that time, we get to Sukkot, Shmeni Atzeret and then finally Simchat Torah; the day we complete this journey in the Torah and finish the book of Deuteronomy.

That’s our path forward. May we all journey together in Harmony as we reach the pinnacle and the restart!

This is a time of comfort – leading us through this final part of the journey (in our current cycle) towards freedom and liberation!  This is our final opportunity to take risks, make mistakes, get messy – because Hashem’s energy right now is all about comfort. What risks have you been putting off that will help you be free?  It’s time to try!

Let’s dig into the Parsha!

The theme in today’s portion is about attraction. Moses tells us – “if we do good, good will come. If we live in fear, we just need to remember Hashem’s good!” I am paraphrasing.  If we live in fear, fear will come.

And how can we do good? I think there is a hint in the Kabbalah.  Balance. Harmony. Within. From my commentary last year – quoting Kabbalah:

In the spiritual realm, there are two types of Sefirot through which blessings flow: masculine and feminine, “providers” and “recipients.” Here we are blessed that both will be brimming with Divine flow.

We often struggle with balance here.  We encounter those who default to “providing good” but who struggle to “receive good.”  We also encounter those who default to “receiving good” but those who struggle to “provide good.”  If all of humanity defaulted to one or the other? Think about it.  That would not be good for the world.  If ALL of us just wanted to “provide good” but no one was willing to “receive good” collectively that would leave EVERYONE disappointed.  Same if the reverse were true.

Why do we default? I’d opine it comes down to worthiness.  We don’t believe we are WORTHY of both providing AND receiving good. I know I often struggle with “I think I am unworthy to receive the good that comes to me – so I reject it!” And I ALSO struggle to think “that person is SO MUCH BETTER than me I have nothing to offer them in terms of goodness.”

If we worked within ourselves to BALANCE this – where we could both PROVIDE and RECEIVE good? Think about how we would collectively heal!  I cannot control another human being and their willingness to receive good.  Nor can I control another human being and their willingness to PROVIDE good.

What I can do is work within me.  To be an open vessel. And HOPEFULLY that will INSPIRE others to look within themselves to provide and receive good!

Those are my thoughts – what about you? What are yours?

Here is my full commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 17 Av, 5782

Good morning! On this first day of the week, we turn to a new Parsha. As we leave the darkness of the “three weeks” behind us from 17 Tamuz to 9 Av, we are turning towards comfort as we approach the spiritual new year on Rosh Hashanah. These next seven weeks should be a time of comfort as we complete another cycle of the Torah, leading us into the true liberation that comes from repentance and forgiveness, which is the theme associated with the “Days of Awe.”

Once we are through that time, we get to Sukkot, Shmeni Atzeret and then finally Simchat Torah; the day we complete this journey in the Torah and finish the book of Deuteronomy.

That’s our path forward. May we all journey together in Harmony as we reach the pinnacle and the restart!

Let’s dig in.

It is FASCINATING. That this weeks Parsha – starting our time of comfort is called ’Ekev – which means “heel” or “as a result.”

We’ve just been through the darkness – the dense. And we have come out brighter than before. The Chumash I’m reading has this quote:

We are at the heel (‘ekev) of history, right before the New Era. Step forward and leave your footprints as a trailblazer! Do something spectacular; the moment requires it.

We have the power within all of us to ”do something spectacular!” The energy we’ve been generating is leading us to greatness if we will embrace it! True freedom and liberation from the slavery of darkness is at our fingertips.

Some themes for the week from this Chumash are:

APPRECIATION:

Our everyday blessings are easily overlooked. By thanking Hashem after every meal you train yourself to remain aware and appreciative of the good things in life (verse 8:10).

BRIBERY:

God does not accept bribes. Being good or charitable in one area does not exempt you from fixing those areas of your life and relationships that need repair (10:17)

STRANGERS:

We must love the “stranger.” finding compassion for the ignored, oppressed, silenced and abused. The notion of empathy for the underprivileged is a central theme running throughout the Torah (10:19)

So let’s dig into today’s Parsha

Moses starts by talking about what will happen if we do good and the mitzvahs – good will come back to us.

I’m learning about the “law of attraction.” The idea of the energy you put out into the universe is what gets manifested in our lives. If we put out negativity – we get negativity. If we put out positive energy, positive energy is returned, even in difficult circumstances.

Moses tells us Hashem will be kind to us. NOT because we are kind. But because that is what He promised to our forefathers.

He will love us. He will bless us. He will multiply us. He will bless the fruit of our womb, our soil, our grain, etc.

He tells us there will be no sterile male or female among us or our cattle.

He will keep sicknesss away from us. He will not give us the “diseases of Egypt which we experienced; rather He will give them to our enemies.”

Kabbalah teaches about this verse:

“There will be no sterile male or barren female among you.”

In the spiritual realm, there are two types of Sefirot through which blessings flow: masculine and feminine, “providers” and “recipients.” Here we are blessed that both will be brimming with Divine flow.

“Or among your cattle.” The flow will be so great that it will overpower even the sitra’ ahara’ (demonic forces), which is the spiritual root of the animals.

“God will keep every sickness away from you.” He will remove from kedushah, the side of holiness, all the parasitic forces which try to steal energy from it. (End quote)

This is a really interesting take on the Torah.

Moses once again brings us back to our fear. He addresses our fear; “you might say to yourself, ‘these nations are more numerous than us! How will he able to drive them out?”

Moses said “Do not fear them! You should always remember what God, your God did to Pharoah and the whole of Egypt.”

We have many proofs of the power of Hashem.

Moses reminds us “do not be demoralized by them, because God, your God – a great and awesome God – is among you.”

Let’s sit with that for a minute.

God is among us. This was even when the Israelites were outside the promised land waiting to go in. God is among us. How?

Well, If we are souls with a body wrapped around us. And our souls are God, then He is among us and within us. Clearly. We have all the power we need from Him to achieve victory. We only need to tap into our highest selves; our Neshama. We have that victory already established.

But let’s keep going. Moses has more for us here:

“Little by little God, your God, will drive away those nations from before you. You will not be able to destroy them quickly, for then there might be too many wild animals for you to contend with.”

I’m chewing on this. And it makes sense. If the victory comes too quickly, our animal selves will run wild. The ego will think we did something and it is our power that did it; not the higher power of Hashem. We have to go slow. There has to be a process. Our animal souls are a reality within us. Again. The animal soul isn’t bad. It’s like a nesting doll covering the Neshama. The goal is to make the animal soul translucent to the Neshama can shine through it. If we go too fast, the animal soul will become opaque – and it will be more difficult for our Neshama to shine.

Let’s finish this part of the portion. Moses concludes:

God, your God will deliver them to you, and He will drive them crazy until they are destroyed. He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will eradicate their names from beneath the skies. Nobody will stand up against you, until you have destroyed them.

That should encourage us as we move towards liberation. We are on the precipice. Hashem is giving us comfort. But we are not there yet.

Moses goes on to tell us to destroy any and all idols. Specifically “statues of their gods.” We should burn these statues in fire. We should not covet the gold and silver on them and take it for ourselves so we won’t be tempted. And we should not bring these into our house.

The portion today concludes with a remembrance of the 40 years in the desert. Moses tells us “you should remember the entire path along which God led you these 40 years in the desert in order to afflict you.”

Stop. Why did God afflict us? That seems unloving and unkind. But Moses explains why:

It was to test you, to find out what is in your heart. Would you keep His mitzvahs or not?

Stop again. If Hashem is in us, He should know this already, right? It wasn’t to test us for His sake. It was for ours. WE NEED TO KNOW whether we will or we won’t. That’s what we are supposed to remember.

The Torah has many themes. One of them is about remembering. It’s almost like a collective amnesia that falls over us year after year, lifetime after lifetime. The Torah is designed (in my opinion) to trigger in us memories. What memories?

The memory of the journey of slavery to liberation and freedom. Hashem wants us to be free and liberated. We know. Instinctively we know. But we forget. We have amnesia. Everything we read in the Torah seems to be triggering memories. The mitzvahs and commandments. The holy days we are to celebrate. It’s all about remember. Remember. Remember.

Moses reminds us; we went through hard things. And each time Hashem delivered us. He let us go hungry. Then He provided mana. We learned we don’t live on bread alone. Moses reminds us we live from all the utterances of Hashem’s mouth. There is a spiritual energy that sustains and feeds us.

The portion closes with a description of the promised land. And concludes with this:

“You will eat and be satisfied. You must then bless God, your God, for the good land He has given you.”

Remember. When we get the good, we must be grateful and bless God because He has provided. The light has shone on us. And like the moon, we can reflect the light or we can repel it. We can be the full moon or the new moon. But even when we are the new moon; and light is NOT reflecting off us, we are only in a cycle, and we will move to be the full moon once again.

Life is about cycles. The journey from slavery to liberation is a cycle.

Whew. What a passage. What are your thoughts?