Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 17 Adar II, 5784
Parsha Tzav – “Command”: (Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36)
Fourth Portion: Leviticus 8:1 – 8:13

Good morning! What another amazing day we get here. It is a new day – a chance to “begin again” and fully start over!  We are not enslaved to our past. We are free. If we are struck by guilt, by our mistakes, by war? We are free in this moment to act from a place of peace.  Most of us do NOT understand what it is like to act in peace. We are so used to fighting that we struggle to just “be.”

Fighting feels like freedom – we don’t have to follow a blueprint. We can adapt; we can feel like we are not stuck. And yet, we are stuck in a place defending and attacking – adapting to the strategy of our enemy. We are warriors fighting dragons.

When the battle is over? What are left with? What happens after the war?  Think about it.

I was speaking with my therapist about this idea. Moving from skillful warrior to peaceful warrior.  What does a peaceful warrior even look like?

Construction. Restoration. Building bridges. Clean up.

At first? Those feel SUPER boring. I’d rather be fighting a war than cleaning up messes.

And? That is where we go. We have a choice. When in war, we desire stability and peace. Yet when we find peace? We want action.  This is the paradox of being a warrior.

And yet? The peaceful warrior? We are priests. We minister to the broken hearts around us – devastated by war.  And sometimes, in the clean up process? We discover landmines. Triggers as we clean up the messes that set ourselves and others off emotionally.

And we are called to be equanimous in this process. To let others have their reactions – and just be.

Today, we step into the Torah with an anointing. We are anointing the high priest within. The Torah is a blueprint for construction. Following a blue print is a lot easier than fighting a war. And – it certainly feels a lot less exciting and adventurous than fighting a war. What is the blueprint we are building? Let’s dig in:

1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the sin offering bull, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread,

3And assemble the entire community at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

4And Moses did as the Lord had commanded him, and the community assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

Moses followed directions. He didn’t react to circumstances. He just did. He brought people together. He assembled. He’s Nick Fury from the Avengers.

5And Moses said to the community: This is the thing the Lord has commanded to do.

Moses tells the people gathered – this is the blueprint. It’s not as exciting as fighting a war. It’s not as exciting as parting of the red sea. It’s not as exciting as the 10 plagues. We don’t need rescuing. We are at peace. We don’t need salvation. We are at peace.  There is a blueprint to follow. Let’s explore:

6And Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and bathed them in water.

Bathed them in water.

The high priest within us – to anoint HIM – we must bathe him. What are the parts of our internal high priest that need cleansing?

7And he placed the tunic upon him [Aaron], girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe, placed the ephod upon him, girded him with the band of the ephod, and adorned him with it.

Once we wash the high priest (high priestess) within? He needs clothes. He is not meant to be exposed in his emotional and spiritual nakedness. He is to be girded.

8And he placed the choshen upon him, and he inserted into the choshen the Urim and the Tummim.

Once our high priest is washed and clothed – he is given tools. The Choshen the breastplate – is a shield. The Urim and Tummim? Tools for intuition. Our high priest – within us – has shielding and intuition to live at peace.

9And he placed the cap on his [Aaron’s] head, and he placed on the cap, towards his face, the golden showplate, the holy crown, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

The high priest within is royalty. It is our crown. Is the high priest within us sovereign? Or do we give other things (people, hobbies, careers) our attention and crown? How do we anoint the high priest within to be king (or queen) within us? This is how. By being mindful.

10And Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Sanctuary and everything in it and sanctified them.

11And he sprinkled from it upon the altar seven times, and he anointed the altar and all its vessels and the washstand and its base, to sanctify them.

Next? After washing, clothing, handing the tool tools of peace, and then crowning the high priest within? Moses turns his attention to the environment around our priest. Our bodies. Next we need to look at where our high priest lives. Is the temple they do their work in anointed?

12And he poured some of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and he anointed him to sanctify him.

Once we have washed, clothed, equip, and crown the high priest within us, then we anoint our bodies? We anoint ourselves with oil.

What is oil? Crushed olives (in this case).  It is the fruit of a tree that has been pressed down and crushed.

In our lives, the wars we’ve fought have been tremendous. And. We’ve won the war. We just don’t know how to live in peace. We have been freed from slavery – and we are in the wilderness. How to live in the wild and not always need to fight a war? Is a tough sell.

We have a responsibility to do the inner work in peace. To wash ourselves after the battle. To clothe ourselves to protect our nakedness – emotionally, spiritually, physically. To equip ourselves with the tools of peace – a breastplate with 12 stones on it – the children born to Israel. And to crown ourselves.  To anoint our bodies, and then to anoint the high priest to guide us in peace. Will we listen to the high priest within?

Today’s portion closes with this:

13And Moses brought Aaron’s sons forward and clothed them with tunics, girded them with sashes, and bound them up with high hats, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Aaron’s sons are within us too. I would argue they are the shadows born of our traumas. The High Priest within us has needed to fight as a warrior. And produce sons to helps us with our fight. The shadows in us need new roles as well. They have become priests. Ministers.

This is the blueprint for peace within. We don’t often talk about how to navigate life when the war is over.

What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 7 Nisan, 5783

I’m just reflecting on this portion today. The anointing of Aaron. And I am struck with my own journey. Where have I avoided leadership – at work, with my family, in my personal life because “I don’t know.”

It seems daunting and scary to lead from a place of “I don’t know” and yet we are often called to do just that. Make decisions. Micro and macro decisions. And it’s scary. Because when we do, if they don’t go the way we want them to? We have to then take accountability for that.

“I don’t know” is a scary thing. And yet, it is what is called for.

Thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Adar II, 5782

Tonight starts Purim! A time of revelry and a time Of joy as we remember the courage of an Amazing woman; Esther. Who risked her life to save the Jewish people.

Judaism often times gets a bad rep because of the patriarchal nature of the religion. However, if we look deeper, women feature prominently in most of the Happenings of what we navigate. Purim is a great example. Yes, the synagogue tends to glorify Mordecai’s role instead of really centering Esther. But that is humanity. Hashem himself shows us the value of women! So tonight as you read the Megillah or hear it, let’s meditate, make a conscious decision to do something different and reflect on Esther’s journey more than Mordecai and Haman (booooooooo!).

Ok; let’s dig into todays Torah portion:

We just finished discussing many sacrifices in the temple.

Once again we find ourselves at the Inauguration of Aaron and his sons before the tabernacle.

Moses brings together the community and Tells them what he is about to do comes directly from God.

Moses then brings Aaron and his sons near; he immersed them in water (mikveh). He then dressed them.

Then, Moses took anointing oil and anointed the Sanctuary and everything inside it. He sprinkled the oil upon the altar seven times. He poured some of the oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to sanctify him.

Moses then brought Aaron’s sons near and dressed them.

Out of all of this, one thing stands out. The sprinkling of oil on the altar. This was never mentioned prior in the Torah. Rashi even said “I do not know where in Scripture he was commanded to perform these sprinklings.”

Why then? Why did Moses sprinkle the oil? Well, Rabbi Schneerson has some great thoughts:

“Despite being a great Torah scholar and halakhic authority, Rashi was not ashamed to write “I do not know,” teaching us that even those of a lesser stature than Rashi should not be embarrassed to admit their shortcomings.

In Hasidic thought, oil represents the secrets of Torah which are so sublime that they cannot be understood. This is the inner reason why Rashi wrote “I do not know” in the case of anointing oil.”

How connected to “I do not know” are we? How comfortable are we “not knowing?” This is something I’m navigating and struggling with.

From another book I’m reading, “Rainbow of Liberated Energy” (Ngakpa Chogyam) comes this:

“We seek assurances from life that confirm the unconfirmable: that we are solid separate, permanent and continuous.”

This “I don’t know” plays into the truth of our realty – we are NOT solid, we are NOT seperate, we are NOT permanent, and we are NOT continuous. Hashem is.

We are not solid – we are souls. We are not separate – our Neshama connects to each other. We are not permanent – our Neshama is permanent, but our bodies are temporary. And we are not continuous – we will die, but our Neshama will continue.

So it’s ok to say “I don’t know.”

What are your thoughts?