Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 15 Iyar, 5783.  30th day of the Omer.

Shabbat Shalom!  Happy Full moon! Today is the Scorpio Moon. In talking to people in my sphere – this has been a HARD week for many of us.  The Scoprio moon is a fulcrum (in my opinion) between the poison – and the anti-dote.  You see, a scorpion can poison you – but it can heal as well.  Hopefully, this full moon will transition us from poison to healing.  Those difficult things that have happened over the past two weeks? May we all see those things being used in our lives for healing in the upcoming two weeks as we enter the new moon and the month of Sivan.  We have Lag B’Omer coming up Tuesday night. We have Shavuot coming up.  A lot is going on as we walk from the freedom of our exodus, and into the giving of direction for our lives when Hashem gave us the Torah on Shavuot.  May we all see direction for our lives in the next three weeks as we get ready for Shavuot!

Today’s Omer Theme is “Gevurah of hod” or “Discipline of Humility”

From Chabad:

Humility must be disciplined and focused. When should my humility cause me to compromise and when not? In the name of humility do I sometimes remain silent and neutral in the face of wickedness?

Another aspect of gevurah of hod: Humility must include respect and awe for the person or experience you stand humble for. If my humility is wanting, is it because I don’t respect another?

Exercise for the day: Focus in on your reluctance in any given area to see if it originates from a healthy, humble place.

Do we have any reluctance in our loves?  Does this reluctance originate from a healthy, humble place?  That may be the critical question as we move from poison to the anti-dote.

Let’s dig into the portion.

Today’s portion has me thinking about Hashem’s provision for us.  Part of this spiritual journey (in my opinion) is discovering the freedom that comes with the belief that Hashem (the universe, God, what have you) is safe and good.  When we look around us, there is a lot to get antsy about.  To be afraid of.  To have our “flight/fight” response activated at all times.  We are in survival mode.

If we instead believed that despite visual evidence to the contrary, the universe is a safe place for our souls – we might engage differently, no?  And the portion today seems to mete that out.

We are put in touch with Hashem’s provision.  Then we are witness to a court case of the consequences of “blaspheming” God.

What if all of this is a warning for us?  Believing that the world is a scary and unsafe place – that is the ultimate “blaspheming” of Hashem?  And the consequences of believing that the world is a scary and unsafe place? We live in fear. Always.  And surrounding ourselves with people who live in fear? That may create a significant impact on our belief that Hashem and the universe is safe.

What if the key question isn’t about whether God exists or not?  What if the key question is whether we believe the universe has our best interest at heart, or whether the universe wants to destroy us?  How might our lives change with that shift?

Something I am reflecting on today.  What about you?

My commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Iyar, 5782

Shabbat Shalom!!!!

Today is the 28th day of the Omer. It is the final day of the theme of determination as we turn tomorrow towards the theme of Humility.

One of the things I realize this morning before getting into the Torah portion is the idea that Determination without Humility is stubbornness. As Jews we are often connected with stubbornness; we are, after all (as Exodus 32:9 points out) a “stiff-necked people.” Which the Talmud points out we don’t like being rebuked.

The truth of the matter is; we aren’t stubborn. We are determined. The key is humility!

Ok let’s dig into the portion!

The final portion of this weeks Parsha is a mix of things, but basically seems to be in a few parts.

The first part centers around the menorah and Bread in the temple.

God tells Moses to have the people being clear Olive oil crushed for lighting so that the menorah would be lit continually- from night to night.

Then they were to make 12 loaves of bread, placed in 2 stacks of six on the table before God.

Then pure frankincense in a ladle was to be placed on each stack of bread.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch wrote this interesting commentary on this passage:

“Here the Torah tells us that we are to have the candelabrum (menorah) set up continually before God, and in verse 8 we are told that multisurface bread also had to be set up “before God continually.” By having the “light” and “bread” displayed in this way, we demonstrate that it is God who bestows us with our physical and spiritual needs.

I find a lot of comfort in knowing the system was set up to remind us of God’s provision – he provides for our needs – lighting the darkness spiritually, and feeding us physically.

What follows this section is almost like a court case. We learn that the son of a Jewish woman who was the son of an Egyptian man- who converted to be fully Jewish in order to live fully with the children of Israel. He wanted to pitch his tent in the camp of Dan.

The son quarreled in the camp with a member of the tribe of Dan who opposed his claim. According to Talmud, They went before Moses court and the son lost the case.

In response, the Torah records the son “pronouncing the Divine name and cursed.”

The Torah tells us they brought him to Moses; and identified the man: His mothers name was Shelomith, Daughter if Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. They placed him under guard until his sentence would be clarified by the word of God.

God speaks to Moses; “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All the judges and witnesses who heard this blasphemy should lean their hands on his head. Then they should stone him on behalf of the entire community.”

Whoa. That is pretty harsh sentencing for blaspheming God. But I also find it interesting that we get following this, More decrees about punishments:

1. Any man who blasphemes God will bear the consequences of his sin by being cut off from his people if he was not warned before hand.
2. One who blasphemously pronounces the explicit name of God in a curse and was warned not to do so, should be put to death. The entire community should stone him, concert and native alike.

So let’s pause. Even here, Hashem seems to indicate the key is intention. Death comes to those who KNOW what they are doing and cursing God. That’s the difference between life and death.

Ok. Back to the decrees:

3. If a man strikes any human being – including a woman or child, and the victim dies, he should be put to death.
4. One who strikes an animal fatally should pay for it. He should pay the value of the animals life as compensation for its life.
5. If a man inflicts an injury upon his fellow man, he should be penalized according to the severity of what he did: fracture for fracture, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. He should be penalized according to the injury.

Let’s pause here, because there is a common misperception about this. In context with the passage before about the animals, the Torah isn’t saying to take the eye of someone who injures and eye. It’s “pay for the value of an eye for the injury to another’s eye.” That’s the concept.

6. One who strikes an animal should pay compensation for its injury
7. One who strikes (one of his parents while they are still alive, causing a bruise) should be put to death.

Now. The Torah mentions the judges and witnesses took the blasphemer outside the camp and threw a stone at him. And this is going to get a little gruesome. The Talmud mentions that the children of Israel did the other procedures of first pushing him off a high place, then additional stoning until he died, and the hanging of the corpse. So- one stone, pushed off a cliff, more stones until death, then hanging.

For our Christian friends- does this help explain the confusion around the story of what happened to Judas? Maybe?

So. Rabbi Moses Feinstein wrote this- and I think it’s a good way to begin to close my thoughts:

“Moses is told by God that the punishment for the blasphemer is death (24:14), but the execution did not occur until after Scripture named the punishments for murdering, injuring,

and damaging the property of another person.

The message here: Only through loving other people can you truly love God. The way to show

your love to God-to the extent that you want to kill the man who blasphemed God–is by first

perfecting your love for your fellow man.”

I really like this as a close. Our job is to love our fellow human. This is the way to love God. And that love for each other needs to be perfected.

The spiritual vitamin for today is this:

“If you have to make a choice between good intentions and good deeds. The actual good deeds must take precedence.”

The Torah is clear; our intentions aren’t relevant.

Those are my thoughts; what are yours?

As always on Shabbat – Haftorah thoughts will be in the comments below

Haftorah thoughts:

Todays Haftorah is relatively short. It’s Ezekiel 44:15-31

It focuses on the priests. So keep this in mind.

The Haftorah starts by separating out the descendants of Zadok from the tribe of Levi. All of the other priests at the time were delegitimized. Ezekiel writes why: “They kept watch in the Sanctuary in the times of Solomon, even when the Jewish people strayed.”

The Haftorah gives them special honor for remaining faithful when others weren’t. We are then reminded of the priestly rituals – Yom Kippur, and what they should wear, how they should groom themselves (never shave their heads not let their hair grow longer than thirty days- they need to keep their heads trimmed), to not drink wine when they enter the inner court of the Sanctuary.

Also, who they should (not) marry; they should not take widows or divorcees as wives – only virgins of Jewish lineage. The exception is a woman who was a widow that did not need to perform a release from a levirate tie (hallitzah)- she could be taken as a wife by a priest, but not the high priest.

For more on what hallitzah, check out this resource: https://www.chabad.org/…/Levirate-Marriage-Yibbum-and…

Next, the Haftorah lays out the functions of the priesthood:

1. Teaching the people about the differences between the holy and mundane.
2. Teaching people the differences between ritual impurity and purity known to them
3. Acting as judges in financial disputes
4. Judge according the the laws and not their own personal views

The rest of the Haftorah is a reiteration of their roles and what they can and can’t do (contact with dead, inheriting land, etc).

My biggest takeaway from this passage comes back to remaining faithful when others around us aren’t faithful. How do we stand strong for what we believe in? That’s the thoughts I’m chewing on. By remaining faithful we are given more responsibility and trust.

It is true in our relationships with one another; it is true in our relationship with Hashem!

May you have peace on this Shabbat!