Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 16 Tevet, 5784
Parsha Va-Yehi (Genesis 47:28 – 50:26)
Fifth Portion: Genesis 49:19 – 49:26

Good morning! So – interesting. I made a “mistake” yesterday in my Torah thoughts.  I use the word “mistake” in air quotes because there are no real mistakes. It happened exactly as it should have.  But I closed the thoughts with the FIRST line of today’s portion, instead of stopping at the last line of yesterdays.

What is even MORE interesting about this line and my thoughts on it yesterday? You can see my brain made a bigger “mistake” and replaced the word “will” with the word “with.”  Here is what I wrote yesterday (mistakes bolded and italicized):

Ok. And interestingly – we close with Gad:

19[As for] Gad, a troop will troop forth from him, and it will troop back in its tracks.

Um. A troop with troop forth? It will troop back?  Troop? Three times in this closing verse. The eighth son of Jacob. What is UP here? Why does the portion end HERE? Troop?

Soldiers. A soldier with soldier forth from Gad. It will Soldier back in its tracks.

What is a soldier? A person who serves in an army.

This portion seems to be sending the message – look – follow the first seven sons? You will serve Hashem. Your service will activate forth from you. AND? It will come back.  This is the cycle. It’s almost an infinity sign. This is the birth. This is the beginning. Serve from a place of peace. From wisdom. From cunning – and whatever you serve with? It will come BACK to you:

• • Serve with an agitated, active heart? You will serve me and it will return back to you with active agitation.
  • Serve me with an agitated, passive heart? You will serve me by waiting, and wisdom will come when it needs to and you will take action – and that action will return to you.
  • Serve me with a peaceful, passive heart? You will serve me and exhaust yourself where you are, and you will never move. You will be stuck. You won’t go out. And it won’t come back. You can’t keep the peace between boundaries.
  • Serve me with a peaceful, active heart? You will serve me with wisdom and cunning. And you will bring justice. And justice will return.

Now, going back a smidge to yesterday’s portion, it would seem the NATURAL break on this spiritual journey was the blessing of Dan. The line

18For Your salvation, I hope, O Lord!

Should have closed us.  We were blessed with seven brothers yesterday.  I “mistakenly” added an eighth, didn’t I?  8 is the number of supernatural – beyond nature.  I have shared THIS article before.  It’s fascinating.

Ok. Let’s get back to nature. Today’s portion starts with Blessing Gad:

19[As for] Gad, a troop will troop forth from him, and it will troop back in its tracks.

Gad is going to troop.  As a reminder, this was the takeaway – and I am going to repeat myself here.

• Serve with an agitated, active heart? You will serve me and it will return back to you with active agitation.
• Serve me with an agitated, passive heart? You will serve me by waiting, and wisdom will come when it needs to and you will take action – and that action will return to you.
• Serve me with a peaceful, passive heart? You will serve me and exhaust yourself where you are, and you will never move. You will be stuck. You won’t go out. And it won’t come back. You can’t keep the peace between boundaries.
• Serve me with a peaceful, active heart? You will serve me with wisdom and cunning. And you will bring justice. And justice will return.

I think this idea of serving with a peaceful, active heart?  It will lead us to these blessings:

20From Asher will come rich food, and he will yield regal delicacies.

21Naphtali is a swift gazelle; [he is one] who utters beautiful words.

Asher produces nourishment. Delicacies. Food.  This is likely fuel for our bodies. Pleasurable food. And (in my opinion) fuel for our soul. We are to “chew” on the Torah. Often we are called to “taste and see” which Rabbi Meir calls out often – is a contradiction.

Now I wonder. Does our heart impact how we digest the Torah? If we chew on the Torah with a peaceful active heart, do we yield rich food and delicacies?  Do words come to us fast – like a gazelle – beautiful for others?  These are the things I am curious about.

And I am curious to know what YOU think!

Ok. Let’s keep going.  We have one blessing to go:

22A charming son is Joseph, a son charming to the eye; [of the] women, [each one] strode along to see him.

We come to Joseph. Day 1 of blessings? 7 sons. Today? 4.  And what does the Torah start by telling us?  Joseph is the DUDE. He is charming. To the eye. Of the women. He was a DUDES DUDE.  And?

23They heaped bitterness upon him and became quarrelsome; yea, archers despised him.

People were JEALOUS! They argued with him. Archers despised him.  I’m curious about that.  Why archers?

When I think of quarrels and archers – I think of someone who refuses to get close – refuses to get curious.  And just flings arrows to protect their fortress.  Many quarrels happen because people refuse curiosity and just sling arrows.

A takeaway for us – maybe – who in our lives are flinging arrows at us? Who in our lives is challenging our peaceful, active heart?

Because a peaceful, active heart? May not be as easy to maintain as we want it to be.

Let’s keep going:

24But his bow was strongly established, and his arms were gilded from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob; from there he sustained the rock of Israel,

25from the God of your father, and He will help you, and with the Almighty, and He will bless you [with] the blessings of the heavens above, the blessings of the deep, lying below, the blessings of father and mother.

So, we started this portion with Gad trooping and will troop his troop and will troop back.  We seem to be closing with Joseph being blessed with blessings – from above, from below, from the masculine, from the feminine. Bless blessings. Troop troops. These are the bookends of today’s portion.

My takeaway here is navigating conflict.  The first 7 sons establish a foundation. Where are we in a moment.

Today’s portion tells us – regardless of where we land – EVEN IF we choose a peaceful, active heart? The conflict and quarrels will come.  Why?

Because our active peace agitates others.

Just sit with that.

Let me say it again.

Our active peace agitates others.

We will encounter conflict.

Passive peace? That doesn’t create the quarrels and conflicts.  It’s a pseudo-peace. We may not have these quarrels, but that isn’t what trooping is about, is it? Serving Love. Serving Hashem.  It’s not pseudo-peace.  Its active peace. And that agitates others.  Always has. Always will.

That’s a big takeaway.

Our active peace agitates others.

And we close today’s portion with this:

26The blessings of your father surpassed the blessings of my parents, the ends of the everlasting hills. May they come to Joseph’s head and to the crown (of the head) of the one who was separated from his brothers.

Jacob tells Joseph – this has been going on for generations. “The blessings of your father (Jacob/Israel) surpassed the blessings of my parents (Isaac/Rebeccah).”

Then this last line is kind of confusing isn’t it?

“May they (blessings) come to Joseph’s head and to the crown (of the head) of the one who was separated from his brothers.”

There are a lot of ways the Torah could have said this; “May the blessings come to Joseph’s head and crown.”  “May the blessings come to the head and crown of the one who was separated from his brothers.”

And I reflect. Why say it this way?

• Joseph’s head
• The Crown of the one who was separated from his brothers

My takeaway is this; Jacob was giving Joseph a double blessing. Remember – he already established this early on – because Joseph was going to be blessed through his two sons. But this double blessing? Is spiritual.

Joseph’s head is the blessing Joseph receives in the moment It was given to him.  In each moment of Joseph’s life. And. The one who was separated from his brothers? Acknowledges Joseph was separated from his family.  It’s a different blessing – it is a blessing of the past. And future?

For us? I think this is important.

So often we feel guilt and shame for separating OURSELVES from those we love and care about.  We reject ourselves – keep ourselves isolated.

We still inherit the blessing.  In each moment. We are not MEANT to be isolated. We are meant to be in community. With our brothers. And. Even when we are not? We are still blessed.  In each moment.

Where are we struggling today?  We reached the light of chaos and repair.  We are coming OUT of the fullness of the moon and moving towards the darkness and transition into Shevat – in the new year.

We still have a few days of 2023 left. Where are we separated from those we love and care about deep in our hearts? Where can we shed light and return? Where can we allow those who are separated return to us instead of resisting it? This is the path to freedom and liberation.  And in these closing moments of Genesis – where we KNOW we end up slaves in Egypt; we can STILL receive these blessings.

This parsha is “and he lived.” We have two more days/opportunities to study this parsha and the book of Genesis in this time/space.  How will we live these moments? That is the mark of our hearts. Peace or Agitation? Active or Passive?  Regardless of the choice. We need to honor our reality. If we are agitated, we cannot snap our fingers and be at peace.  That is not how it works.

I have a blessing for all of us.  It’s four.  Here they are:

• Do you have a Passive, Agitated Heart?
  • My blessing for you is over the next year – by the time we return to this portion, you will move in the direction of having an active, agitated heart or a passive peaceful heart. There are two opportunities and blessings for us here:
    • My blessing is that you would find the strength and power to VOICE your agitation and not be afraid of it.
      • I think we will find in Exodus (I am not sure but I think this is where we are headed) Moses and Pharoah giving VOICE to their agitation.
    • The other option is to find the depth within you to remain passive and learn to love yourself such that you become much more at peace in your heart.
      • I think we will find Moses’ journey in Exodus may be in line with this for you.

• Do you have an Active, Agitated Heart?
  • My blessing for you is over the next year – by the time we return to this portion, you will move in the direction of having a passive agitated heart or an Active Peaceful heart. There are two opportunities and blessings for us here:
    • My blessing is you would find the will to restrain your active agitated heart and create space to respond instead of react. To become more passive with the agitation – and react less than you do in this moment.
      • I think we will find Moses’ journey in Exodus will contain elements of restraint – where he responds and does not react. He becomes more passive than active in his agitation.
    • The other option is to find the depth within you to remain active and learn to love yourself such that you become much more at peace in your heart.
      • I think we will find Moses’ journey in Exodus may be in line with this for you.

• Do you have a Passive, Peaceful Heart?
  • My blessing for you is over the next year – by the time we return to this portion, you will move in the direction of having a more active, peaceful heart. You will remain at peace most times. And when you are separated, you will find your way home.
    • My blessing is you would do this by finding the COURAGE to have a voice and speak your peaceful truth.

• Do you have an Active, Peaceful Heart?
  • My blessing for you is you would maintain this peace and activity by the time we return to this portion next year. When you find yourself separated from your peaceful, active heart, may you reestablish the crown and sovereignty to bring it back to you.

 These are my blessings for us as we enter into the book of Exodus. It has been an AMAZING journey for me reading and writing about the Torah.   

 And. We are not done yet.

Because tomorrow? There is one son left to bless. And my Hebrew name? Is his. Looking forward to that!

As always, I am curious about your thoughts!

Here are me thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 12 Tevet 5783

Good morning! We are coming into the Full Moon; which for this month is the Full Wolf moon. May you find peace and joy as the full light of our spirits illuminate the world this weekend!

As I reflect on today’s portion, I’m struck by the blessing. The blessing that Joseph receives from his dad is significant. Joseph had already received a lot of earthly blessings for what he had been through. He went through a pit with scorpions and snakes. He went through Potiphar’s wife and prison. He went through separation from his family for a long time.

Yet he was ruler of Egypt for the most part. He has acquired all the wealth of the land. So much so – he had the power to move people around so they were no longer living on the land they owed.

Joseph could not have been blessed much more on earth.

And. Jacob spoke for Hashem and blessed Joseph more.

More.

I’m just chewing on that. It feels almost gluttonous.

What more could Joseph want?

It would seem to me – peace, stability, reconciliation, family, love. These things are more critical than earthly abundance. And that was where Joseph was headed. And Jacob blessed him in this manner.

Just my reflections this morning!

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for Tevet 12, 5782

Todays portion continues Jacob’s blessing of his children;

Gad is told his troops will go across the Jordan and conquer the land and go back to their inherited lands and no one will be missing from them.

Asher is told his land will produce rich food and he will provide royal delicacies

Naphtali is told his land will yield fruit like a gazelle that has been freed and runs quickly, and people will give thanks and a blessing for it.

Now we come to Joseph. So not only did Joseph receive a blessing through his sons (which occurred before the blessing of Jacob’s literal sons) Joseph now receives his own blessing:

It’s an interesting “blessing” for sure;

Jacob starts by commenting on Joseph; he’s charming, and not only that, his charm “impresses the eye” so much so that Egyptian girls would step along a wall to gaze at his beauty.

He then goes into the challenges; Joseph’s brothers made him bitter, quarreled with him and hated him. But in spite of that, his power was established and a golden ring was placed on his finger through the hands of God.

He then talks about Joseph’s blessings and the source of those blessings – “All this came to you from the God of your father, and he will continue to help you.” He continues “Your heart was with God (when you refused to listen to potiphar’s wife, and therefore) He will bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and the blessings of the depths that lie below, the blessings that fathers and mothers need.”

What is interesting here is that so far Jacob was blessing his children – but for Joseph, Jacob is speaking for God. He is saying God will bless Joseph.

Jacob closes out by acknowledging God blessed him more than he blessed his father Isaac. He asked for all of these blessings continue on Joseph’s head, the man who was separated from his brothers.

Wow! That’s a pretty big blessing from your dad.

I’m struck by Joseph’s life and what he overcame and what he endured. He wasn’t always perfect (in our sense of the word) because it seems there was some vanity involved here, since his looks and charm got him far; but Jacob wanted to reassure him that his looks didn’t bring him this far; it was God.

I would imagine (I can’t speak from my own experiences here, lol) that if you grew up believing that your looks and charm were the sources of success, how difficult it would be to grow older and navigate later in life. If you never connected or attributed your successes to Hashem; but instead believed your looks were the source, that would stink.

And then I reflect (as a man) how our society is basically BUILT on treating women based on their looks for the most part. And the pressure that places on them to be “successful.” And how that system sets up a cycle of vanity and gaslighting that is toxic. If you ever wondered what toxic masculinity is, I think this starts to scratch that surface. Men struggle with this idea too; however, there are plenty of other options for “success” than the way you look for men (it would appear).

And. If one IS successful- how often does society say “well you are only successful because of your looks.” Dang. That’s vicious.

Jacob’s blessing is important for all of us; no matter how much we think our beauty and charm are the source of success for ourselves (or anyone else) this is a misattribution. The true source of any success we see is from Hashem; especially when our hearts are aligned with him.

I think. These are just my thoughts. I’m curious as to yours; especially women out there reading this. I’d love your comments and engagement!