14 Adar II, 5784 – PURIM!!!!

on March 24, 2024

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 14 Adar II, 5784
Parsha Tzav – “Command”: (Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36)
First Portion: Leviticus 6:1 – 11

Chag Sameach! Happy Purim! This morning, I have a lot to share as we have two readings; the Megillah (Book of Esther) and the first portion of Parsha Tzav. Tzav means “command.” And this feels really oppressive at first. And. I feel like what we are talking about is sovereignty. Do we have COMMAND over our own heads and hearts? The past two years, there has been some incredible nuggets of wisdom:

Checking in on where we are; are we living in fear? Or courage? The difference can mean whether the ashes cover up and weaken our flame, or whether we remove the ash and allow our flames to burn bright.

Especially when we get to the moments of fight or flight. If we are in a place of being emotionally triggered, do we lean in and have courage to embrace that? Or do we run away?

My therapist shared this quote with me; “you can only be afraid of something if you run away from it. If you are not running away from it, it’s called bravery/courage – in spite of fear.”

Whew. That is a WORD. When we face fear, do we cover that fear with ash and extinguish the flame, or do we remove the ash and live out our purity?

“You are the guardian of your inner flame, which illuminates the path to your highest self. Every decision you make either feeds your flame or causes it to diminish. With a weakened flame, you fall easily into fear and worry. With a strong flame your consciousness expands and you are energized. How is your flame burning today?”

We are the GUARDIAN of our inner flame. How are we living in this role? Are we busy guarding every one ELSE’S flame? Or are we focused on our own?

How do we do this? The Chumash I am reading gives us a formula:

“Intellect and emotions should govern and inspire your daily life in complete harmony, and in a way that the mind rules the heart. When this inner harmony prevails, all the details of your daily life, both the MATERIAL (emphasis mine) and the spiritual, will be carried out properly, without conflicts, without contradictions, and without vacillations.”

It is this spirit that we start with the entire Megillah. The story of Esther. First, I encourage you to read the ENTIRE story here.

If you want an abbreviated version, check it out here.

This also has a REALLY cute video!

Ok. So there are some key moments in the story I want to highlight. In Esther 4:11-17, we see a tense confrontation between Esther (Hebrew name Hadassah) and Mordechai (her uncle). It is NOT a direct confrontation because they are not allowed to be in the same place. Esther sends her servant.

The Jews have been condemned to die on the 13^th day of the 12^th month – by lottery (Pur). Haman, who is the villain of the story is really upset because EVERYONE bows down to Haman who is second in command to the king. Mordechai will NOT bow down. Haman goes OFF and loses all emotional control and plots a plan to kill Mordechai, and has NO CLUE the Queen is ALSO Jewish, and has condemned her to die as well. The King has sentenced his own Queen to death. Here’s Chapter 4:11-17:

11″All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who comes to the king, into the inner court, who is not summoned, there is but one law for him, to be put to death, except the one to whom the king extends the golden scepter, that he may live, but I have not been summoned to come to the king these thirty days.”

12And they told Esther’s words to Mordecai.

Mordechai asks Esther to talk to the King, and she basically says nope. I am not risking my life – and the King has not brought me into his court for the past 30 days. Esther is afraid of dying. She thinks she is playing it safe and does NOT see herself as being at risk for death – this is HER arrogance.

This is Mordecai’s response:

13And Mordecai ordered to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house from among all the Jews.

He calls out her arrogance. He tells her – she is not safe either. How does he know this? This feels arrogant in Mordecai’s heart as well. He explains:

14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and rescue will arise for the Jews from elsewhere, and you and your father’s household will perish; and who knows whether at a time like this you will attain the kingdom?”

Mordecai isn’t being arrogant – he is trusting. He trusts Hashem. If Esther remains silent? The Jews are STILL going to be saved WITHOUT Esther’s help. And then, Esther will die because she sided with the King and Haman and remained silent.

Silence.

Silence in the face of injustice. Silence when we are afraid? It’s a big risk. Why? Because if there is injustice, the universe (Hashem) is working it all out – BECAUSE HASHEM IS GOOD. If we remain silent, we are siding with the enemies of Hashem when it comes to injustice. And. As Mordecai points out? “who knows whether at a time like this you will attain the kingdom?”

Mordecai tells Esther, you may be exactly where you need to be in order to attain the ENTIRE Kingdom!

Esther responds:

15Then Esther ordered to reply to Mordecai:

16″Go, assemble all the Jews who are present in Shushan and fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, day and night; also I and my maidens will fast in a like manner; then I will go to the king contrary to the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

She accepts her role. And. She asks for support. She is STRONG as a Queen. She is going to put her life on the LINE. And? We see LEADERSHIP and HUMILITY as a result of her arrogance. She saw the arrogance, and turned it into the gift of leadership – but couched in HUMILITY. She asked for support. “I can’t do this alone.” That was a MAJOR turning point for our story.

17So Mordecai passed and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

Mordecai also lived in Humility here. He showed leadership. He surrendered to Esther’s edict.

And? Esther went to the King…

Chapter 5:1-4:

1Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther clothed herself regally, and she stood in the inner court of the king’s house, opposite the king’s house, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal palace, opposite the entrance of the house.

2And it came to pass when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she won favor in his eyes, and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter.

3And the king said to her, “What concerns you, Queen Esther, and what is your petition? Even to half the kingdom, it will be given to you.”

This was the risk. And the King extended his scepter. Here we GO! Esther was in position to save the Jews! Half the KINGDOM!!! How does she respond?

4And Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

She serves the King and Haman.

Humility.

Strategy.

Flow.

Esther embodied leadership. Humility.

Haman? Did not. He died in his arrogance. He was unwilling to let go of Mordecai NOT bowing down to him.

This is a key part of the Purim story. Do we have COURAGE to overcome out Arrogance? Or will our Arrogance extinguish our flame of humility?

Let’s pause to let this land, before we start our Parsha for the week.

Ok. Let’s now dig into the Parsha:

1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: That is the burnt offering which burns on the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall burn with it.

So this isn’t a sacrifice per se, it is an offering. An eternal offering – all night until morning.

3And the kohen shall don his linen tunic, and he shall don his linen trousers on his flesh. And he shall lift out the ashes into which the fire has consumed the burnt offering upon the altar, and put them down next to the altar.

4He shall then take off his garments and put on other garments, and he shall take out the ashes to a clean place outside the camp.

5And the fire on the altar shall burn on it; it shall not go out. The kohen shall kindle wood upon it every morning, and upon it, he shall arrange the burnt offering and cause the fats of the peace offerings to [go up in] smoke upon it.

6A continuous fire shall burn upon the altar; it shall not go out.

The ashes were to be removed so the fire can be lit eternally.

I come back to this:

Our flame is our humility. The ash is arrogance. Are we removing our arrogance EVERY DAY so we can continue to burn in love? In Humility? This is an eternal offering.

7And this is the law of the meal offering: that Aaron’s sons shall bring it before the Lord, to the front of the altar.

Ok. So not a sacrifice. A meal offering. A gift. To me? A meal is relational. And? In the story of Purim? A Meal is where Esther and the King and Haman all came together to save the Jews. When Esther could have had HALF The Kingdom? She made a meal for the king. She brought a meal offering. Humility.

8And he shall lift out of it in his fist, from the fine flour of the meal offering and from its oil and all the frankincense that is on the meal offering, and he shall cause its reminder to [go up in] smoke on the altar as a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.

9And Aaron and his sons shall eat whatever is left over from it. It shall be eaten as unleavened bread in a holy place; they shall eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.

10It shall not be baked leavened. [As] their portion, I have given it to them from My fire offerings. It is a holy of holies, like the sin offering and like the guilt offering.

11Any male among Aaron’s sons may eat it. [This is] an eternal statute for your generations from the fire offerings of the Lord. Anything that touches them shall become holy.

This is DIFFERENT than the sin offering and guilt offering – which were sacrifices. The meal offering was special. It made us holy.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 4 Nisan, 5783

It’s the start of a new week! Todays portion has me focused on my inner soul/heart.

It would seem as if over the past year I’ve learned in each moment we live the true choice is to live in fear or live in courage.

Especially when we get to the moments of fight or flight. If we are in a place of being emotionally triggered, do we lean in and have courage to embrace that? Or do we run away?

My therapist shared this quote with me; “you can only be afraid of something if you run away from it. If you are not running away from it, it’s called bravery/courage – in spite of fear.”

I feel like that is a good message for all of us!

Have a great week cleaning out the ashes of our heart and soul!

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 10 Adar II, 5782

This week we have a new Parsha! Parsha “Tzav” which means “command.”

The primary thought for us going into this Parsha comes from the Chumash I’m reading:

That is a great question to ask ourselves going into the week ahead, and to consider as we learn about the commands from Hashem. These mitzvahs – not only are they an opportunity to connect with Hashem; they also feed our soul and inner flame.

The portion starts with Hashem speaking to Moses: “Command Aaron and his sons, saying;”

This is where the Parsha name comes from – these were commands for Aaron and his sons.

We start with the ashes; which is the remnants of a flame. It’s the material that is consumed by the fire. If we were going to tell the story of a fire, I’m not sure we’d start with the ashes.

But here we are. Why the ashes?

First, I wonder if it’s because Aaron was the high priest, and yet he and the other priests were tasked with shoveling the ashes from people’s sacrifices. To remove them. There is a humility here; it wasn’t left to anyone but the priests

Second, if the idea is forgiveness – removing the ash would send it away so that it was no longer real. The sin was forgotten. It was fully forgiven.

Third, fire consumes fuel. Ashes built up would block fuel getting to the flame; removing the ash would provide more fuel to reach the flame, continuing to burn.

In our lives, how often do we mess up and keep the ashes of our mistakes close to the heart? How often does it build up to where we cannot see the flame and passion in our hearts any more? We are called to remove those ashes; our past mistakes and live in the moment; so our fire will burn.

And this is reinforced with the best part of todays portion; God tells Moses – “The fire on the altar should be kept burning upon it, it should not go out.” This is supposed to be a continuous fire. The priests were to kindle wood on it every morning, and then put the burnt offering and make the fats of the peace offering go up in smoke upon it.

Are we kindling wood every morning to keep our fire alive? What are you doing to kindle the fire for the day? For me, I’ve found journaling, meditation, Torah study, and davening to be great kindling to keep my fire burning. What about you?

Next, we move on to the meal offering. Our we using our meal times to honor Hashem? That’s my takeaway here. The closing of the portion says this; “Anything that touches the meal offering and absorbs part of it will become holy.”

That is an interesting concept to chew on.

Let me leave you with this from the Chumash I’m reading:

“Intellect and emotions should govern and inspire your daily life in complete harmony, and in a way that the mind rules the heart. When this inner harmony prevails, all the details of your daily life, both the material and the spiritual, will be carried out properly, without conflicts, without contradictions, and without vacillations.”

What are your thoughts!!! Let me know

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