Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 15 Av, 5783

HAPPY TU B’AV!!!!!!  Today is a day we embrace the full light of the moon’s reflection of the sun!

Today’s portion epitomizes love for me. I wanted to highlight the part for me that most resonates.  A year ago I wrote about the “sin” of the rebellion in the desert with Eleazar that I had forgotten.  I think this line from last year’s commentary speaks VOLUMES:

Now; I’ll confess; I don’t remember this incident from earlier in the Torah. But there were a group of children of Israel who planned to lead the people back to Egypt. A group of Levites, still mourning the death of Aaron, caught up with them and defeated them.

It is our priestly duty to encourage others towards freedom and liberation and NOT return to being stuck in slavery.

This is love. Freedom. Liberation. And our role as priests – to encourage others NOT to return to being stuck.

The difference is -in my opinion – we are NOT called to “defeat” anyone.  Just remind them in love of the desire to see ALL OF US free and liberated.

How do we do this? It starts within. We must first be free to be a priest. If we are stuck and not growing, we will never be in a position to support others liberation and freedom.

We must first be free. To just be.  To not DO anything. To just BE.  This is love.

This requires a moment by moment living. Not getting stuck in our past (and yet NOT FORGETTING our past as Moses is reminding us) and to not dwell in our FUTURE.  But to just Be. Here. Now.

Those are my short thoughts today.  What about you? What do you think?

Here is my commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 20 Av, 5782

Good morning! Today We continue the story of Moses recap to the Israelites before they entered the promised land.

This was so they would remember what got them to their freedom and not forget.

Today, Moses finishes the story of the golden calf debacle. Moses heard from God after the golden calf incident. After 40 days, God forgave the Jewish people and told Moses to carve two more tablets and a wooden ark and go up on the mountain with Him.

Moses did this and reminds us that God wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets. Moses then came down off the mountain and put the tablets in the ark.

Moses then brings up ANOTHER sin. The rebellion in the desert – an incident with Eleazar. It’s a situation that takes place 40 years after the golden calf.

Now; I’ll confess; I don’t remember this incident from earlier in the Torah. But there were a group of children of Israel who planned to lead the people back to Egypt. A group of Levites, still mourning the death of Aaron, caught up with them and defeated them.

Moses seems to connect this situation to the appointment of the tribe of Levi. This is when God separated out the tribe for service. It is as if the service of stopping the people from going back to slavery was a critical one.

Finally, this portion closes on Moses reminding us of his going back to the mountain. He was there for 40 days and 40 nights again, like the first time. This was his final time. God listened to Moses – and finally said to Moses, ”LET’S GO!” That’s a paraphrase. What God actually said was “Get going! Lead the people in their journeys to come to take possession of the land I promised their forefathers to give them.”

This basically brings us to the point of the story where Moses is about to send them off. He has some more words to give; but he walked them through the story of the wilderness. To get to where they were, the Jews sinned. God forgave. They didn’t get to go into the land on their merits. It was a gift because of what Hashem had promised their ancestors.

How often do we forget this? We receive blessings and think we did something to earn it. Todays portion reminds us; understand; God loves us. He forgives us, even at our worst. He gets angry, yet finds a way to keep His promises. That is reassuring in many ways.

Those are my thoughts. What about you? What are your thoughts?