Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 14 Tamuz, 5783
Today’s portion of Pinchas is really interesting. It is a Census.
Why a Census? Everytime in the Torah I read a census? I think to myself – “Why is Hashem wanting to remind us that we matter? That we count?”
Everyone counted during the census. 601,730. in this particular census. We know that from one of the early census – when Jacob and his sons came to Egypt, there were 70 of them. There was SIGNIFICANT growth from the moment Jacob (Israel) came to Egypt, to this point of the Torah. Think about this.
Joseph sold into slavery, freed and runs into Potiphar’s wife. Put BACK into prison. Interprets a dream and is made King of Egypt to get them through 7 years of famine.
Dark times turn for Israel as they went from BELOVED of Egypt to slaves in Egypt. And. A decree that all Jewish boys born would be killed.
Moses is saved – he is brought up as a prince in Egypt – but then kills a man and runs to exile. Meets with Hashem, returns with Aaron and demands Pharaoh free the slaves. Pharaoh makes life harder.
Hashem destroys Egypt by killing the first born among them. Israel is freed from Egypt.
They are supernaturally taken care of – splitting of the sea, provision in the wilderness.
They reach the promised land – and 12 men are sent in – 10 report back “we can’t do it” two say “yes we can”
Israel turns around and wanders again
We get to Mt Sinai – Moses goes and talks to Hashem – Hashem speaks to the people – but it’s too much. They reject Hashem.
Instead of being patient and waiting for Moses – Israel builds the golden calf. Worships this statue.
And yet, the number of Israel continues to grow. To flourish.
Balaam and Balak try to curse Israel. They hatch a plan – that seems to work. Israel starts to inter marry with a foreign nation. A plague happens.
What a roller coaster we have experienced. And. yet we continue to grow.
My takeaway today? The census is connected to the space within our hearts. Our capacity to love ourselves and love others. If we are seeing a continuum – we went from 70 to 601k. Our hearts expanded. as we ready the Torah – where we were when we started the process, if we kept on this journey? I would imagine our hearts have expanded to this degree.
And. In addition? The stability of Israel, of Judaism, comes from this notion I wrote about from my chumash a year ago:
“There is a basic difference between our Jewish tradition and those of other faiths, such as Christianity or Islam. For, whereas in the latter cases, the traditions go back to one individual or a limited number of individuals, our traditions go back to a revelation, which was experienced by a whole people at once, so that at no time did we have to place our trust in the veracity of one, or a few, individuals.”
Our trust in NOT in Moses. It is in Israel. Our hearts. Expansion. We are learning (in my opinion) the Torah is teaching us to trust OUR OWN Neshama. The Neshama within. We don’t look to external sources for success. External metrics from reassurance. The assurance we have comes from our relationship with our Neshama. Our Hashem. Not “my” Hashem. Not “my” Neshama.
Because although there IS a reality to “my” Neshama, I believe Hashem wants us to look BEYOND and see “our” Neshama. The collective of all of the Neshama’s around us. Although I exist, at the same time there is no “I”, there is no “my”, there is no “me.”
There is only “us.” There is only “we.” There is only “ours.”
That’s something to take count of. That’s something to take a census of.
Those are my thoughts – what are yours?
Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 19 Tamuz, 5782
Good morning! As we start this new week, I’m excited for what is ahead of us! May your week be full of positive energy and fulfillment! Let’s dig in!
Today’s portion is a census. It would seem pretty boring on the surface.
Rashi writes this about the census:
The nations would taunt Israel, saying, “Why do they trace their lineage by tribe? Do they really think that the Egyptians did not have their way with their mothers?”
So God placed His name, spelled yod-he, upon them–the letter he at one side and the letter yod at the other (e.g., Hanokh becoming Ha-HanokhY), as if to say, “I testify that these people are indeed the sons of their fathers”
This is why the text changes; Enoch becomes The Enochite family (as an example).
In the Zohar:
“The letter yod was added to Phinehas’ name and the letter “He” was added to Joseph’s name (see Psalms 81:6) because they were both zealous about the prohibition of cohabiting with a non-Israelite woman-Phinehas killed Zimri and Joseph resisted the persistent attempts of Potiphar’s wife
So we are seeing there may be more here than just a census.
When we get to Numbers 26:9, we learn about Dathan and Abiram. They were the sons of Eliab, the son of Pallu, the son of Reuben. Dathan and Abiram were the communal delegates from Korah’s group that incited the people against Moses. We also learn something here; Korah’s sons did not all die. In the Psalms we read “a song of the sons of Korah.”
This is how the Torah treats the tribe of Reuben. It serves as a reminder of what happened, AND gives us a glimmer of hope at the same time.
After Reuben we learn about Simeon’s descendants.
After Simeon we get to Gad.
Then Judah
Then Issachar
Then Zebulun
Then Joseph – which of course was split between Ephraim and Manasseh.
Then Benjamin
Then Asher
Then Naphtali.
Something the Chumash I am reading points out about Judaism (as compared to Islam and Christianity as examples is this):
“There is a basic difference between our Jewish tradition and those of other faiths, such as Christianity or Islam. For, whereas in the latter cases, the traditions go back to one individual or a limited number of individuals, our traditions go back to a revelation, which was experienced by a whole people at once, so that at no time did we have to place our trust in the veracity of one, or a few, individuals.”
There is a comfort there.
The portion today ends with the total number of the children of Israel was 601,730.
What are your thoughts?
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