Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 19 Tevet 5784
Parsha Shemot: (Exodus 1:1 – 6:1)
First Portion: Exodus 1:1 – 1:17

Good morning! It is the BEGINNING of a new week, the END of a year, the BEGINNING of a new book of the Torah, the DWINDLING of a moon cycle, and the RISING of our intents for a NEW cycle.

Talk about chaos and repair? We’ve got it.  TODAY.

Today is Parsha “Shemot.” This means “names.”  What I find SUPER interesting is our last Parsha in Genesis. “Ya – Vehi” – which means “And he lived.”  We asked the question last week about the word “he.”  Who is HE?  Are we talking about Hashem? Jacob? Israel? Joseph? The brothers? Us? Who lived?

The answer, I think? Yes.

The Torah is GIVING US the answer to “who lived” in this week’s portion. In the Book of Genesis – we spent a lot of time talking about Isaac (the miracle child) blessing Esau – and how GRIEF was the way to freedom. It is interesting I wrote this two years ago, and it is in line with this thought:

As we enter this period of Jewish history, when we were slaves in Egypt, the Torah I am reading says this;

“The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt for generations, but it is only when they cried out to God in anguish that the process of redemption was set in motion. God is waiting for your cry- a plea to be freed from your downtroddenness and narrow vision of yourself.”

With what we’ve learned so far in Genesis, this concept is CRUCIAL to Spiritual Liberation and Freedom. Cry. Sadness. Grief. God is waiting for our cry.  The past is merely data in our human brains. The Trauma. The Fear. We have very narrow vision of who we are. Today we enter a book that RECOGNIZES our condition.  And is here to help us out of it. I don’t know what this path entails, but it would seem where as Genesis gave us ways to AVOID slavery and then paints it as inevitable, Exodus may be the healing balm to helps us OUT of it?

Grief is Freedom. Letting go of the past; forgiveness; repentance; trust.  This would seem to be what the “rest of the story” is about.

We get ONE BOOK in the Torah before Egypt. ONE BOOK taking us TO the promised land and then AWAY from it.  The next FOUR BOOKS are about how to get back. I think.

With this, let’s dig in.

1And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt; with Jacob, each man and his household came:

2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.

3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin.

4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5Now all those descended from Jacob were seventy souls, and Joseph, [who] was in Egypt.

I wrote extensively about the repetition of names.  We just did this in Genesis. It would seem as if the Torah is telling us this is the context for Exodus. Life. Genesis was about birth. We went from no one. To 70 Souls. Those 70 souls were now in Egypt. Outside the Promised land. They had fortune, power, land, did I mention power?

They left Canaan – the promised land – to survive. Egypt was the “second Ark” so to speak for our people. Noah built an ark that brought safety during the flood.  Egypt was now an Ark for the sons of Jacob to survive the famine. And survive they did.

Remember – Joseph was basically king.  He pretty much enslaved the Egyptians in the famine. The Egyptians ran out of money. He took their land. They ran out of everything, and Joseph made them slaves of Egypt. You’d think this would be a “happily ever after.”

Wrong.

Let’s dig in further:

6Now Joseph died, as well as all his brothers and all that generation.

7The children of Israel were fruitful and swarmed and increased and became very very strong, and the land became filled with them.

8A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know about Joseph.

Ok. The Ark was done. Joseph (the Ark built for the Israelites to bring them to Egypt) was now passed.  The people were forced “off the Ark” the way Hashem called Noah off the ark. What was once built for survival was now gone. It was no longer needed.

In verse 7, the Torah uses the word “swarmed.”  That is interesting to me. It’s a word that has a VERY Negative context. Like pests. Or bugs. And it’s contrasted with the word Fruitful, isn’t it?

Remember the closing thoughts of Genesis?   I wrote this yesterday:

This means; “Be Strong! Be Strong! And may we be strengthened!”

May this Torah discussion strengthen us all!

Be strong. Seek strength. From within.

Seek Strength. And we will become strong.

The Torah is the source.

Seek Torah, and we will become Torah.

Be Torah, and we will seek Torah.

Remember – when we become strong, others will be jealous. And – what we do with that strength? Will guide how we navigate the world. Joseph used his strength to enslave the Egyptians.  He was now gone.

Regardless of whether this new king arose who was a completely new king – or whether it was the same king, it really isn’t much of an issue FOR US.  Because in the end, the Ark was gone. The power was no longer in the hands of Israel.

This is an important takeaway for us. As we start our journey out of slavery? It would seem the Torah is saying to us “be careful what you do with the power you have, because in a moment? It can be taken away from you.”

We are EIGHT verses into Exodus – 8. And Joseph is now gone and a New King is in Charge.

Think about the amount of time – between Jacob’s death and Joseph’s death.

Eight verses. That’s all that period gets.

Looking at the Torah; here is what we know:

• • Joseph was 39 when his family moved to Egypt. (Based off Genesis 41:46, 41:48, and 45:6)
  • Jacob was 130 when he moved to Egypt (Genesis 47:9)
  • Jacob died at 147. (Genesis 47:28)
  • With math, this means Joseph was 56 when Jacob died.
  • We know at the end of Genesis, Joseph was 110 when he died

So – between Jacob’s death and Joseph’s death – 54 years pass. FIFTY FOUR. Think of how much space in the book of Genesis was given to Joseph’s life – 56 years. And how LITTLE space is given to Joseph’s life AFTER Jacob died.

What was life in Egypt like during this period? We don’t often think about it, do we?

As Jews? Our people were slave masters. We enslaved the Egyptians. We took THEIR resources, saved them up during the 7 years of plenty. Then took advantage of them during the 7 years of famine.

We skip over this period in the Torah.  I am curious as to why?

Is it possible because the Torah is demonstrating to us what happens when we COGNITIVELY BLOCK trauma and memories we don’t want to wrestle with? That as the “villain” in the story, we can’t fathom what life was like during those 56 years after Jacob died. Where our Ark became a prison. We lost our freedom by taking away the freedom of others?

Yes, we can convince ourselves we were BENEVOLENT masters – we gave the Egyptians land to work, and they got to keep 80% but had to give us 20%.  But still. The Torah ignores this.

And it doesn’t.  Let’s keep going:

9He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we are.

10Get ready, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they increase, and a war befall us, and they join our enemies and wage war against us and depart from the land.”

11So they appointed over them tax collectors to afflict them with their burdens, and they built store cities for Pharaoh, namely Pithom and Raamses.

So the new king rose and basically did to the Israelites what the Israelites did to them.  Taxed them.  The Egyptians took a page out of Joseph’s playbook – built store cities for Pharoah.

Karma anyone?

Before we go further – we need to remember another lesson in Genesis. Reality.  When we READ Exodus – most of us put ourselves in the place of Israel reading these stories. But the reality of Israel is DIFFERENT than the reality of Egypt. Freedom is RECOGNIZING these different realities and holding space for them.

Let’s keep going:

12But as much as they would afflict them, so did they multiply and so did they gain strength, and they were disgusted because of the children of Israel.

13So the Egyptians enslaved the children of Israel with back breaking labor.

14And they embittered their lives with hard labor, with clay and with bricks and with all kinds of labor in the fields, all their work that they worked with them with back breaking labor.

The taxes were the first step.  But eventually, the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites the way Joseph did. However, the difference? They escalated the retribution.  Instead of allowing the Israelites the opportunity to work the land – it ALL went to Egypt.

Why? Because with the freedom Egypt was given here? They were AFRAID.  They were afraid Israel would become powerful.  So they enslaved them out of fear.

But this wasn’t enough. Because Israel kept growing (they must have REALLY enjoyed sex – they were basically like rabbits).

15Now the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one who was named Shifrah, and the second, who was named Puah.

16And he said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, and you see on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall put him to death, but if it is a daughter, she may live.”

17The midwives, however, feared God; so they did not do as the king of Egypt had spoken to them, but they enabled the boys to live.

We see fear personified.  We check in on the faith of the Israelites.  Verse 17 clearly communicates – the Hebrew women feared God more than Pharoah still. So they didn’t follow Pharoah.

And with that we come to a close of the first portion.

What are our takeaways?

• Grief is Freedom – this is the beginning theme of Exodus.
• Blocking out things we made not be proud of – to avoid feeling shame or guilt? May be more human than we realize.
• Fearing Hashem more than fearing the Pharoah is the continuation of safety.
• What we do with our power matters.

Where do these concepts show up in our lives?  Over the past year; what lessons are we needing to learn? As we enter 2024, what is the Egypt we are wanting to escape from? Are we willing to grieve?

These are my thoughts! What are yours?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 15 Tevet, 5783

Wow. I’m reflecting on these thoughts from over a year ago; and I’m realizing something critical.

We just ended Genesis – Joseph’s life was complete. The Jews were free and provided for. We are in a good space.

The Torah jumps right into trouble for the Jews.

I think the idea I’m chewing on is how important the struggle is, in our quest to be free.

We have to know struggle for us to be free.

In our times of struggle, are we trying to escape and avoid? Or are we leaning in and reflecting on what we need for our freedom? What we need for our liberation?

And I come back to the theme of names. A name is critical. Many of you know, and some of you don’t. My full name is Barton Tyler Miller.

Since 1990, and going to California – I ran away from my name Bart. I changed it to Tyler – and have been Tyler for the past 32 years.

In my healing journey this past year, I started a journey of reconnecting with my name, Bart. It started at my Westtown reunion in May.

In prep for the mummers parade on New Year’s Day, I had to make a choice. When being introduced to the Mummers group I was with, I decided they could call me Bart. I spend the entire new years weekend, being Bart. I did it mostly because my friend Kim Goldberg McCarty knows me and calls me Bart, and didn’t want it to be confusing for her.

But on the day of the parade, I was getting judged for my costume. I had to provide a name on the card. I could have chosen Tyler. But I chose Bart. I was surprised by this choice. But I was glad I did.

I spent my weekend in Philly being Bart. And I liked who I was. That was very healing.

So the name is a powerful thing.

So interesting!

What are your takeaways from the Torah portion?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for Tevet 15, 5782

Today is a new book of the Torah! This weeks’ parsha is Shemot which means “names.”

As we enter this period of Jewish history, when we were slaves in Egypt, the Torah I am reading says this;

“The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt for generations, but it is only when they cried out to God in anguish that the process of redemption was set in motion. God is waiting for your cry- a plea to be freed from your downtroddenness and narrow vision of yourself.”

That’s a powerful thought going into the book of Exodus.

The beginning of the book and portion today is a list of names. It seems odd to repeat it.

Rabbi Schneerson though writes this;

“Although God counted them by their names in their lifetime, He counted them again after they died, to teach us how precious they were to Him.

This is analogous to the stars, of which it is written (Isaiah 40.26): “He who takes out their hosts by number, calls them all by name” (Rashi, 11th century).

A parent can show love to a child through a gift, or through words of affection; or through physical embrace. Why did God show His affection to the tribes through repetition of their names?

These other signs of affection are all relative to the situation at hand. For example, what might be a generous gift for one child would be an insult to another. Similarly, words of affection must be specific for a particular child at his level. And while a hug may always seem appropriate, it requires the presence of the child and his alertness. Only the calling of a name breaks through these barriers and is applicable in all circumstances.

Consequently, when the Jewish people were immersed in the idolatrous culture of Egypt. they had few merits, and so the only possible sign of affection was to repeat their names.

This teaches us that God’s love for us is unconditional.”

The thought that Hashem’s love is unconditional is a difficult concept given how many conditions are placed on love in our culture. I struggle with this notion to a degree. In my head I know Hashem loves me and others with no conditions; yet I live my life placing burdens on those I love to act in a certain way. I’m getting better at this, but the struggle is real.

After naming the eleven tribes who came to Egypt with Jacob, the Torah reminds us 70 souls began the exile in Egypt, and Joseph was already there. This is a bookend to Exodus. As we will see how many left the exile and entered the promised land.

We are reminded that Joseph died, as all his brothers did as well. The children of Israel were fruitful and swarmed and increased in number – the land became filled with the children of Israel.

A “new” King arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.

Rashi writes that there is some controversy as to whether this is a different King than the one who Joseph engaged with, or the same king. The Talmudic sages Rav and Samuel disagreed.  Rashi writes;

“One said it was actually a new king, but the other said it was the same king, but he issued new decrees. According to this second opinion, verse 8 (that Pharaoh did not know Joseph) means that he made himself as if he did not know Joseph.”

Interesting!

Immediately Pharaoh is scared; he told the people the Children of Israel were already stronger and more numerous than the Egyptians. He implored the people to “deal shrewdly” with them lest they increase. Pharaoh was concerned they (we) would join their enemies and fight against Egypt.

So; what did they do? They appointed tax collectors to afflict the children of Israel with their burdens. The Jewish people built storage cities for Pharaoh – Pithom and Raamses. And the more the Egyptians tried to burden the Jews, the Jews multiplied and spread.

Let’s stop for a moment. The Jews responded to the burdens being placed on them by being kind. Building storehouses for Pharaoh. And Hashem blessed them in this. I think this is an important lesson for us; in the face of burden; we should seek to bless!

Moving forward, because of everything going on, the Egyptians were disgusted.

In response; they added to the burden. The enslaved the children of Israel – with crushing labor. With mortar and bricks, with all kinds of labor in the fields.

Then we begin the genocide. Pharaoh spoke to the Hebrew midwives – one named Shiphrah, and the other named Push. Rashi writes these are actually Jochebed and Miriam; and they were named this because Shiphrah implies that Jochebed prettified (groomed) children at birth and Push implies Miriam was effective at cooing to children when they cried.

Pharaoh tells the midwives that when they help the Hebrew mothers give birth, if it is a son, “you shall put him to death, but if it is a daughter, she may live.”

Now let’s chew on this a second because it’s important. Why just the boys; why not commit genocide on all Jewish children. Because the goal was for the women to marry Egyptians, mixing the bloodlines and rendering Judaism dead. Pharaoh knew that assimilation was the greatest threat to the Jewish people; and if the only way Hebrew women could have children was through Egyptians, the bloodline would be erased. Just my opinion/thought. Would love yours!

But the midwives feared God more than Pharaoh; so they did not do what pharaoh asked. They kept the boys alive.

Wow. This sets the stage for this entire book.

What are your thoughts as we begin the story of Exodus?

What questions linger for you?