Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 16 Tamuz, 5783

Today’s portion is really intriguing to me.  We have two concepts within it that “seem” to run counter to what I grew up learning about in Judaism.

First, we learn about the power and humanity of women within Judaism.

The process of Zelophehad’s daughters challenging Moses is significant.  We really don’t see many female leaders after the Jews left Egypt, and (mistakenly, I believe) the one incident we see of Miriam standing up to Moses? That did not go well for Miriam.  And we are called to remember this – even until today!

But Zelphehad’s daughters, according to Hashem, “spoke well.”  They stood up to Moses and the Patriarchy. They stood up to the system that had been given that centered around men and the masculine.  And their courage was rewarded.

Next, we see the Torah talk about energy transfer from Moses to Joshua.  I’ll confess. Growing up, I never really learned about the concept of spiritual energy, and yet here we see it first hand in the Torah.

What I love about the passage of energy is that the idea of sovereignty still seems paramount. Moses didn’t “just give” energy to Joshua.  He had to convince Joshua to receive it.

Looking around us today? I see a lot of energy being given and taken without much discussion.

As a recovering empath – I would take people’s energy without their consent.  If they were feeling sad, I would take that sadness (or even anger) on for myself – thinking it was compassion.  I never asked these people to take their energy on for myself – I sucked it off them, thinking it would help “lighten their load.”

A spiritual coach taught me how to “observe” others’ energy but not “absorb” it.  Compassion is allowing someone to go through what they are going through and at the same time owning our own feelings about it and responding in kindness.

Mark Nepo wrote about the difference between “holding someone’s feelings for them” and “holding someone in their feelings.”  This is a significant difference and retains the sovereignty where it belongs.

And when it comes to “giving” energy, we do this without communicating or determining whether there is a receptive vessel for that energy.  We get frustrated because we try to give to someone who is unwilling or unable to receive.  Then we get upset at them because of this.

I keep coming back to “we can only love others to the capacity at which they love themselves.”  And “we can only allow others to love US at the capacity to which we love ourselves.”

This (in my opinion) is the message of the transfer of energy from Moses to Joshua. And. If you think about it? It is connected to sovereignty.   This was about who was going to lead Israel. Who would be sovereign over the people.

What are your thoughts?

Here is my commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 21 Tamuz, 5782

Yesterday – we left off on a cliff hanger. The census was finished, we were about to move on, when women stepped forward to make an inheritance claim. Moses did not know what to do, so he went to God. What is Hashem’s response going to be?

The first words out of God’s mouth were “Zelophehad’s daughters speak well.”

Think about that. The culture at the time was extremely patriarchal. And these women spoke up. And God affirmed them. It’s interesting to note, that it seems like God didn’t tell Moses and the Israelites what their culture should look like. He gave them good deeds to do; and then let the process play out.

Moses had no clue what to do here; the women were pushing against the culture at the time. And God said “they speak well.” This means God agreed with their assertion. So what does God do?

He immediately tells Moses – “give them a double portion of inheritance with their father’s brothers. Transfer their father’s inheritance to them.”

That was a bold move at the time.

God goes one step further to make sure Moses isn’t put in this position again:

1. If a man dies and has no son, the inheritance goes to his daughters.
2. If he has no daughter, his brothers get the inheritance
3. If he has no brothers, the relative next closest to him in his father’s family shall get it.

This was made clear!

Next in today’s portion, we are getting ready for Moses to leave us in the story. God tells Moses it’s time. He was directing Moses to go to the mountain so he could see the promised land. But Moses would not enter it.

Moses is concerned for the people; and he asks God to appoint someone to lead.

God tells Moses to persuade Joshua to do it. To lay hands on Joshua and appoint him as leader. Here is where it gets interesting, and we learn some of the mysticism of the Torah:

God tells Moses to lay his hands on Joshua and to “give him some of your glow.”

Here we have our first “glow up” I think.

What I have been learning lately is about energy transfer. Those who give energy (glow) and those who receive (or worse case “suck”) energy. Moses had a lot of spiritual energy (glow) and was transferring that to Joshua. But Joshua needed to be convinced first.

Moses did all of this and the transfer for energy and power was given to Joshua in front of the priests.

What do you think?