Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 17 Shevat 5784
Parsha Be-Shallah: (Exodus 13:17 – 17:16)
Sixth and Seventh Portion: Exodus 16:11 – 17:16

Shabbat Shalom!  Hopefully you are enjoying your sabbath today. For me, it has been about perspective.  All about seeing the various perspectives out there and bringing them within to form my perspective as well.

I am reading this amazing book about the Sabbath called “Shabbat: A Day To Create Yourself” by Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein.  The first part of the book was about character. It looked at the “character” of shabbat and connected it to our own character. Today I transitioned to the idea of perspective:

Like character, our perspectives shape who we are. We have just explored how Shabbat nurtures within us virtuous character traits. In this part of the book, we explore some of the perspectives on our lives and our world that Shabbat teaches us.

How we view our purpose and role in life affects everything we do, feel and think.

The chapter goes on to say:

Shabbat is a day we remember who we are, where we come from, and what our true purpose is. It is the day set aside by God to illuminate our lives with Divine Perspective, to activate our national memory of our birth at Sinai, where God gave us the Torah on Shabbat itself.

I take in many perspectives on who I am.  From friends, my children, my parents (who are no longer alive), my bosses, my colleagues, etc.

I can get very overwhelmed ESPECIALLY when these perspectives diverge. How do I reconcile all of these perspectives TOGETHER?

It really challenges me to focus within me – what is MY perspective on who I am? Is it these people around me have a better handle on who I am than I do? Or are they not seeing me for who I am? Or are they projecting their perspectives of themselves ONTO me? Or all of this at the same time?

It is with this energy, we can dig into the past two portions of Parsha Be-Shelach (When he sent):

11The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

12I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, In the afternoon you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be sated with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord, your God.

13It came to pass in the evening that the quails went up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

14The layer of dew went up, and behold, on the surface of the desert, a fine, bare [substance] as fine as frost on the ground.

Hashem is compassionate to the complaints of the people it would seem. He provided them food. Why? Because He wanted the children to know He was God. That was the perspective He wanted them to receive. How did the children respond?

15When the children of Israel saw [it], they said to one another, It is manna, because they did not know what it was, and Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

16This is the thing that the Lord has commanded, Gather of it each one according to his eating capacity, an omer for each person, according to the number of persons, each one for those in his tent you shall take.

17And the children of Israel did so: they gathered, both the one who gathered much and the one who gathered little.

18And they measured [it] with an omer, and whoever gathered much did not have more, and whoever gathered little did not have less; each one according to his eating capacity, they gathered.

They listened. And – they brought their OWN perspectives to the process of what Moses instructed them to do – “grab according to your eating capacity – one omer per person.”

And – it didn’t matter. Whatever their perspective? They all had the same. Those who came from a place of lack (and gathered more) and those who came from a place of unworthiness (who may have gathered less) – they all ended up with the same.  Hashem’s perspective on us? He has the same perspective for ALL of us. It is OUR perspectives that may be off track.  Let’s keep going:

19And Moses said to them, Let no one leave over [any] of it until morning.

If it weren’t a miracle enough that everyone got the same amount, Moses told them to eat it all.

20But [some] men did not obey Moses and left over [some] of it until morning, and it bred worms and became putrid, and Moses became angry with them.

Still people in the camp felt a lack. They left it to morning – because they were afraid there wouldn’t be more.  And? It became putrid. They were FORCED to see they could trust Hashem. This was Hashem’s kindness. He was helping them see HIS perspective.  Then things settled down:

21They gathered it morning by morning, each one according to his eating capacity, and [when] the sun grew hot, it melted.

22It came to pass on the sixth day that they gathered a double portion of bread, two omers for [each] one, and all the princes of the community came and reported [it] to Moses.

Then they settled down until the sixth day.  When they brought the manna to be weighed, SURPRISE! It was a double portion. They were confused and reported this to Moses.

23So he said to them, That is what the Lord spoke, Tomorrow is a rest day, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake whatever you wish to bake, and cook whatever you wish to cook, and all the rest leave over to keep until morning.

24So they left it over until morning, as Moses had commanded, and it did not become putrid, and not a worm was in it.

25And Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.

26Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day [which is the] Sabbath on it there will be none.

They were to rest on the seventh day. Hashem’s perspective is we must BALANCE rest. And? Some people didn’t trust:

27It came about that on the seventh day, [some] of the people went out to gather [manna], but they did not find [any].

28The Lord said to Moses, How long will you refuse to observe My commandments and My teachings?

29See that the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day, He gives you bread for two days. Let each man remain in his place; let no man leave his place on the seventh day.

People didn’t trust, and Hashem was STILL patient.

30So the people rested on the seventh day.

31The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, [it was] white, and it tasted like a wafer with honey.

32Moses said, This is the thing that the Lord commanded: Let one omerful of it be preserved for your generations, in order that they see the bread that I fed you in the desert when I took you out of the land of Egypt.

33And Moses said to Aaron, Take one jug and put there an omerful of manna, and deposit it before the Lord to be preserved for your generations.

34As the Lord had commanded Moses, Aaron deposited it before the testimony to be preserved.

So then, one of the omers was taken as a remembrance for the generations.  It was preserved.

So what is our takeaway from this?

Are we preserving Hashem’s provision in our lives somehow? What is Hashem providing us – in the wilderness? Are we taking any of this provision and preserving a part of it for future generations to remember this time?  Because once we enter the land of milk and honey? It will likely be EASY to forget about Hashem’s provision.

35And the children of Israel ate the manna for forty years until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

36The omer is one tenth of an ephah.

I feel like verse 36 is interesting. The Torah gives us a conversion rate: 10 omer  = 1 ephah.

Verse 35 talks about 40 years. If we convert 10 omer = 1 ephah, and each year we put away 1 omer, after the wilderness we’d have 4 ephah. Not sure why else that would be there.  I am curious if others have thoughts.  But let’s keep going:

17:1The entire community of the children of Israel journeyed from the desert of Sin to their travels by the mandate of the Lord. They encamped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

So food is taken care of. But now the people became dry. They were nourished properly.

It is interesting to me – as the children left slavery, they had needs. And the Torah is showing us these needs.  They needed sustenance. Hashem provided. They need water. Let’s see what unfolds:

2So the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, Give us water that we may drink Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?

3The people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and they said, Why have you brought us up from Egypt to make me and my children and my livestock die of thirst?

Lol. There is a theme here right? Hashem saved us from slavery, but left us to die in the desert? We’ve seen these miracles and yet we don’t trust you!

4Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, What shall I do for this people? Just a little longer and they will stone me!

5And the Lord said to Moses, Pass before the people and take with you [some] of the elders of Israel, and take into your hand your staff, with which you struck the Nile, and go.

6aBehold, I shall stand there before you on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink

6bMoses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel.

7He named the place Massah [testing] and Meribah [quarreling] because of the quarrel of the children of Israel and because of their testing the Lord, saying, Is the Lord in our midst or not?

So interesting. Hashem gives Moses the plan. Hashem is going to take care of the water issue. Verse 6 was a little confusing at first.

6Behold, I shall stand there before you on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel.

One of the Chumash I read (where it contains the text of the Torah) separated the line to make it clearer.  I am not sure of this, but for now I see why.  So Hashem provided water. What happens next?

WAR!!!!!

8Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

9So Moses said to Joshua, Pick men for us, and go out and fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand

We see Joshua for the first time (I think) and Moses trusts him to go and pick out men to fight Amalek.

10Joshua did as Moses had told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur ascended to the top of the hill.

11It came to pass that when Moses would raise his hand, Israel would prevail, and when he would lay down his hand, Amalek would prevail.

12Now Moses hands were heavy; so they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one from this [side], and one from that [side]; so he was with his hands in faith until sunset.

13Joshua weakened Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

So Moses directly impacted the war between Joshua and Amalek.

And I reflect. Moses is the Torah. I wonder if the message here is – when we read the Torah, when we chew on the Torah, we prevail in our internal war against our internal Amalek? And the stone is rest. We are called to rest. And have others support us in the learning process.

Who are the Aaron and Hur in our lives that support our hands holding the Torah? Are we trying to do it on our own? Or are we digging into Torah with support from others?

Let’s close with this, that seems to affirm the idea of the Torah – holding us up:

14The Lord said to Moses, Inscribe this [as] a memorial in the book, and recite it into Joshua’s ears, that I will surely obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens

Moses. The book. The Torah. Will obliterate Amalek.

And I feel this – within us. The Torah helps us with the war within.

15Then Moses built an altar, and he named it The Lord is my miracle

This is the miracle of Hashem. That He is within us. We don’t have to be at war.

16And he said, For there is a hand on the throne of the Eternal, [that there shall be] a war for the Lord against Amalek from generation to generation.

Every generation will deal with the war within us. So we are normal if we are dealing with this!

What are your thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 13 Shevat, 5783

Shabbat Shalom! Today portion is interesting; and the following from a year ago stands out to me:

Rashi says this;

The section about Amalek was placed straight after the verse, “Is God among us, or not?” to suggest God’s response: “I am always among you, and I am always prepared for all your necessities, and yet you say, “Is God among us or not?’ By your life! A dog will come and bite you, and you will cry out to Me, and then you will know where I am”

We often forget Hashem is with us. How could Hashem and the Shekhinah NOT be with us when they are within us. But we often forget this reality.

The Jews were thirsty. They were arguing. We thirst. We argue. And yet, all we need to do is be reminded of Hashem’s presence.

That leads to peace and trust. Where do you need that on this day of rest? Ask.

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for Shevat 13, 5782

Shabbat Shalom!

Today we have a lot of ground to cover. I’m assuming this will be long. Because we didn’t talk about yesterdays portion, we have two to cover on this Shabbat, and then in the comments we have a Haftorah!

So let’s reset where we left off. Thursday’s portion ended with the people complaining to Moses and Aaron about the provision of food and water. They wanted to go back to Egypt because they felt starved.

Moses told the children of Israel what was going to happen. God would provide. He said;

“In the evening, you will realize that it is not us (Moses and Aaron) but God who brought you out of the land of Egypt because He will deliver you quails to satisfy your desires. BUT he will not give it to you gracefully, since you asked for it improperly.”

This cuts deep for me personally. Often Hashem provides for us, but it comes across harshly as opposed to gracefully. The night God provides and it is HARSH.

In the morning, however; the Torah continues with Moses telling the people; “you will see God’s glory in the beautiful way he delivers you bread, indicating that God has heard your properly delivered complaints against Him about the lack of bread.

Thursdays portion ended with the children of Israel turning towards the desert and seeing the glory of God appearing in the cloud!!!!

Yesterdays portion starts with God speaking to Moses; “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them and say ‘In the afternoon you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be full with bread, and you will know that I am God, your God.”

That evening quails came up and covered the camp. In the morning, there was a layer of dew around the camp. The layer of dew evaporated and on the surface of the desert was the mana. God’s provision.

Moses told the children of Israel that each person should gather as much as he needs to eat – an Omer (measure) for each person. He told them to take one Omer for each person for every person in your tent.

The children of Israel did this. There were some that gathered too much or too little but when they got it home it was the right amount (miraculously).

Rabbi Meir Loeb Weisser writes this;

Some people intentionally gathered less than an omer while others deliberately gathered more. Nevertheless, upon measuring, they discovered that they had exactly an omer for each family member. Those who were weak in their trust of God and gathered more than they should have did not gain by their extra effort. On the other hand, people who gathered less than an ‘omer did gain because they spent less time gathering their food, freeing their schedule for other pursuits. The lesson here is that our sustenance does not ultimately depend on the extent of our efforts but upon what God has decreed that we will earn. Rather than overexert yourself in business for nothing, devote extra time to more important concerns.

Whew. That’s big. Our efforts aren’t as important as what God has decreed for us. I’m chewing on that.

Let’s continue:

Moses told them to eat it all and not leave any until the morning.

Dathan and Abiram did not listen to Moses and left it for the morning. The mana became foul smelling and bred worms. Moses became angry with them.

We come to the sabbath in this story and they gathered (why they later discovered) was a double portion of bread, two omers for each person. The heads of the community came out and reported it to Moses because Moses hadn’t told them yet about the sabbath portions.

Moses said to them; “This is what God said, tomorrow is a rest day, a holy Sabbath to God. Bake whatever you wish to bake today, and cook what you wish to cook today. Whatever is left over, put aside for storage until morning.

They put it away until morning and it did not become foul. Moses said on the sabbath – “eat the bread today, for today is a sabbath to God. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you will gather it, but on the Day of Atonement and the festivals there will it be any.”

On the seventh day, some people went out to gather manna but they did not find any.

God said to Moses “how long will you refuse to observe my commandments and My teachings? You can see that God has given you the sabbath because a miracle occurs on the Friday. He gives you enough for two days.

Let each person remain in his place. Nobody should leave his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.

We close yesterdays portion with more on the manna. Keep in mind the Torah isn’t necessarily chronological here. It’s a summary.

The house of Israel named the food Manna. It was round like coriander seed but it was white. It tasted like dough fried in honey.

Moses said “this is what God has commanded; “a full Omer of it should be stored away for your generations to come, in order that they see the bread that I fed you in the desert, when I took you out of Egypt.”

This is why we bake and eat two loaves of challah every Shabbat!

In addition the Torah continues that Moses told Aaron to put some manna in a jar and place it before the ark of God to be preserved for generations to come.

The children of Israel ate the manna for almost 40 years until they went into the promised land.

The portion closes with telling us “the Omer is one-tenth of an ephah.”

That’s Friday’s portion. It was all about food.

Todays final portion of Parsha “be-shallah” (which means “when he sent” as a reminder) Begins with the journey of the Jews. They journeyed from the desert of Sin, traveling according to Gods instructions.

They camped in Rephidim and there was no water for the people to drink. Rephidim means “supports.” So the first camp we see them in was a support for the Jews. But there was no water.

The people quarreled with Moses about the water and said “give us water to drink.”

He responded “why are you quarreling with me? Why are you trying to test God to see if He can give water in a dry land?”

The people thirsted there for water. They went back to the place of “why did you bring us here from Egypt to make us die from thirst?”

Moses cried out to God “what shall I do for this people? If I wait longer they will stone me!”

God said to Moses “pass before the people and you will see that your words were uninformed as they will not stone you. bring with you some of the elders of Israel as witnesses and take in your hand your staff, with which you struck the Nile and go. I will stand before you there on the rock at Choreb. You shall strike the rock and split it and water will come out of it and the people will drink.”

Moses did what God asked before the eyes of

the elders of Israel.

Moses named the place Massah and Meribah (testing and quarreling) because of the children of Israel’s quarreling and because they tested God saying “is God among us, or not?”

The Torah next says “Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.”

Rashi says this;

The section about Amalek w

out to Me, and then you will know where I am”

This can be compared to a man who mounted his son on his shoulder and set out on the

road. Whenever his son saw something, he would say, “Father, take that thing and give it to

me” and the father would give it to him. This happened a second time, and then a third time.

Then they met a man, and the son said to him,

“Have you seen my father anywhere?”

His father said to him, “Don’t vou know where I am?”

He threw his son down off him, and a dog came and bit him

So basically God is with us. Yet we ask “where are you?” And then the only way for Him to show us is to let us down and let the dog bite us; then we will know where He is.

That’s interesting to me. we’ve got to experience some challenges to know where God is because we are prone to taking Him for granted!

This was a “spiritual vitamin” in the Torah I am reading that brings this home;

“The difficulties and obstacles which you encounter are really intended to evoke in you untapped powers, to reinforce your determination and stimulate further efforts to the maximum degree.”

Next, when Amalek came, Moses said to Joshua to choose men and fight against Amalek. He tells them he will stand on top of the Hill with the staff of God in his hand.

Joshua followed Moses instruction to fight. Moses, Aaron and shut (Miriam’s son) ascended to the top of the hill. It happened that when Moses raised his hand, Israel would prevail, and when he lowered his hand, Amalek would prevail.

Moses hands grew heavy (because he was lax with his duty, discharging it to Joshua). Aaron and Hur took a stone and placed it under him, and he sat directly on it. Aaron supported his hands – one from this side and one from that side. His hands were spread heavenword in faith and prayer until sunset!

I have to stop here. Because I am personally crying. Around 20 years ago I was given a prophecy for my life that today has come to fruition. The mother of one of the students I was teaching at the time pulled me aside and said to me “I have a vision of you tyler, standing on a hill directing a battle and your arms are getting tired, but the Torah will be placed under your hands and arms to keep them up.”

My friends, that is where I am today. I can’t go into more. But needless to say I am shook by this. Really shook.

Hashem is real. He loves us. He takes care of us. I am so shaken right now.

But I need to finish this lest you get the wrong impression.

The Talmud asks “Did Moses’ hands decide the battle? Obviously not. Rather, the Torah teaches us here that so long as the children of Israel looked towards heaven in prayer and aligned their hearts to God, they would prevail. When they failed to do so, they began to lose.”

I’m sitting with that. This isn’t about me. It’s about faith.

In addition, Rashi writes about Moses hands growing heavy; “Because he was lax in performing the commandment to wage war against Amalek, and had appointed someone else in his place, his hands became heavy.”

Friends this is me. I was supposed to wage a battle and I failed. I appointed someone else to do it.

Rabbi Ahai Gaon of Shabha writes about the stone Moses sat on; “Did Moses have to sit on a bare stone? Did he not have a cushion or a pillow? Moses said, “I insist on sitting on a stone. Since the children of Israel are in anguish and under attack by Amalek, I will share their anguish with them” (Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 1la). A righteous person shares in the lot of the masses, even if he had no part in the failings that brought on the calamity.

I had a part in the failings that brought this calamity. That is important to recognize I am not Moses, and I didn’t sit on a rock in the vision that was given to me; the Torah was under my arms.

I’m just floored.

Todays Parsha ends with the Jews winning the battle and God telling Moses to inscribe the story of what happened as a memorial in the book (the Torah). God tells Moses to recur it in the ears of Joshua who will bring the Jewish people into the land of Israel because God is going to sheet obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens!

Moses built an altar and named it Adonai-nissi (God is my miracle) for he said “For there is a hand on the throne of God (which swears) that there shall be a war of God against Amalek from generation to generation.”

Wow. Just wow. I am so encouraged by todays portion. What are your thoughts? As always Haftorah thoughts will be in the comments. They may be a little delayed as I need a break to process.