Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 2 Cheshvan, 5784

Parsha Noah: (Genesis 6:9- 11:32)

Third Portion: Genesis 7:17- 8:14

So, today’s portion is the flood and the receding of the flood.  I have some good thoughts the past two years, and I want to summarize them; but first I wanted to reshare this link on the month of Cheshvan.  As today is the Second Day, I felt like this was a good reading to supplement our Torah study.

Let’s now dig in.

Here’s the main theme of today’s portion:

“We live our lives as if it is stable. We try to build stable lives for ourselves, when in reality it is not stable.”

This is the bitterness or flow we talked about yesterday.  We can be bitter our lives are unstable – or we can accept the flood as a blessing.  The choice is ours.  This is added to our learning so far.

• The Path of Ascension begins with curiosity and not judgement
• If someone’s curiosity causes doubt and defensiveness, be curious about our own doubt and defensiveness and NOT their motives for curiosity.
• The tree of life is within us. Choose life within with curiosity and not judgment
• Learn to balance the comfort of stumbling, with the challenge of pushing ourselves towards spiritual growth.
• Let go of a stable life. Freedom is accepting “what is” as a blessing. We can’t control what happens. We can only navigate it with bitterness or flow.

And since I gave you a long article to read, I will let me thoughts on the flood be short.

I’m curious to yours!

Here is my commentary from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for Tishri 30, 5783

Wow. I read my thoughts from the last time I read this portion. It was like it was predicting what lay ahead.

“We live our lives as if it is stable. We try to build stable lives for ourselves, when in reality it is not stable.”

If I could go back to that point in time? I’d be telling “year ago” Tyler – “um, you don’t know how right you are! Buckle up buttercup, because big changes are headed your way.

Today is ALSO a day of change; tonight is the new moon and Rosh Chodesh; the new month begins – the Month of Cheshvan.

This is a fantastic reading on the month ahead; I share it with you – it’s long but dense. This next month can be an “anti climax” from the month of Tishri. But it really isn’t.

Interesting thing I learned again from todays portion. The flood was on the earth for 40 days. Then we find out the waters surged for 150 days. Then they recorded another 150 days. The ark rested at Mount Ararat. Then after 40 more days – Noah sent the raven. And the raven came back. Then 7 days later and Noah sent the dove. Who then came back. Then 7 more days he sent the dove and it came back with an olive branch. Then he waited 7 more days and sent the dove and it didn’t come back.

There is a certain symmetry here. If we look at the cycle we just completed; just about to enter the promised land; in 40 days we are to the point of the waters raging – the chaos. The 150 days of surging. This seems to be the process of going from freedom back into bondage – internally. To start the cycle where we need Hashem to change the momentum of our lives. Then we go 150 of the waters receding, the momentum shifts – and we are back on dry land. And then we wait. And wait some more. And even in the Torah portion, we don’t leave the ark quite yet. What an interesting possible summary of the story of freedom to slavery and back to freedom. Noah was stuck physically in that ark for a long time. Longer than we realize. And yet he also had everything he needed. And his imprisonment on the ark serves a purpose; to keep him from death. That’s an interesting idea!

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 29 Tishrei, 5782

So. There’s a lot (for me) in today’s Torah portion. Let me summarize and then expand. The story is about the flood coming and receding from the earth. Here’s my initial takeaways:

1. Whether you believe in a literal flood or not, the first take away here is that even when (perceived) bad things come, they are temporary. The truth is everything that happens is for our good. Not just a future good, but a current good.
2. How much effort/education/teaching is placed on Hashem’s justice about the flood, and how much is placed on His mercy in the flood receding? If we reflect inward, how much energy and thought do we give the act of Hashem flooding the earth vs how much thought and energy are given to the receding of the flood? I know for me, I feel like I focus more on the act of the flood because I am afraid of Hashem’s cosmic hammer coming down on me for all the bad things I’ve done. I live in fear of the flood often, instead of trusting in the receding of the flood.
3. What about the fish? I don’t have an answer to this question, but beyond those on the ark, everything on land died. But what about the fish? They seemingly survived the flood. Why?
4. Biggest takeaway- the idea of change. Life is changing. We live our lives as if it is stable. We try to build stable lives for ourselves, when in reality it is not stable. What is stable? Is the journey – the change.

Ok – let’s start:

1. Everything happens for our good. As a society we can see the flood as a wiping away of wickedness from the earth. If I stop and chew on this, I know my heart and brain often have wicked thoughts. I live in fear that God is a bitter and angry God and will surely wipe me away in the flood. I see myself outside of the ark in this story, not inside. This is the first struggle.

However, remembering back to a lesson prior; there is still a spark within us that is worth saving and being merciful for the storm.

The verses talk about both Hashem’s Devine Mercy and Devine Justice.

Rashi writes about this;

“The verses suggest Noah’s prayers were effective in transforming Hashem’s justice to Hashem’s mercy.

Conversely, wicked people transform Hashem’s mercy to justice, as the verse states ‘God saw that man’s wickedness on earth was increasing – God said ‘I will wash away man, whom I created.’ Even though the verse speaks of destruction (justice) the Tetragrammaton is used, indicating that the attribute of mercy was transformed to justice through man’s wickedness.”

So basically my take away is like the waves of the ocean, we are constantly between Hashem’s mercy and Hashem’s justice. Not because Hashem is unstable, but because we are. We have the ability to impact where we fall. We can seek out Hashem’s mercy, and it will be given us (even if it means isolation in a flood for a period of time) or we can take that same mercy and abuse it. The choice is ours.

We do have to remember, that choice isn’t a “one and done.” We get to make that choice each moment of every day. Right now we have the power to choose how to engage over the next 60 seconds of our life; will we live in a place of mercy? Or will we live in a place of taking advantage of Hashem’s mercy?

In the end, even when we take advantage of Hashem’s mercy, another opportunity comes. And another and another. It’s temporary.

2. Building off of 1 above, the truth is our society places a lot more emphasis on the flood; what led to it, how people ignored Noah. We spend very little time focused on Hashem’s compassion and mercy; how many opportunities He gives us.

Hashem gets a bad rap sometimes because of the Torah. People perceive the Torah as Hashem being “mean” and full “justice.” The truth is far from that reality. The Torah puts on display Hashem’s compassion and mercy all the time; we just tend to ignore it. Something I’m chewing on.

As my good friend, Rabbi Meir Rubashkin says often; “if I thought about God the way some people think about Him, I wouldn’t believe in Him either.” I think people have a troubled perception of Hashem’s reality; likely because humans have abused Hashem for their own purposes of controlling the population and keeping them in line.

The Hashem we read about in the Torah is very compassionate. He gives multiple chances. And when he is focused on justice, he is easily moved towards mercy by our hearts. That is important to remember

3. The fish. Even in the flood, Hashem kept a remnant from perishing. The fish lived through the flood.

What is the fish inside of us? That spark? That piece of Hashem that is pure? Even when our entire world (I’m talking psychologically now and not physically) seems wicked and we do so many things wrong that bring guilt and shame, there is something in us that remains. Consider the fish.

4. In conjunction with the Torah, I have been building a meditation practice. Thanks to my friend Michael Takahara who gifted me the “10% happier” app, I have learned a ton about my brain and how it is working even when I’m not aware of it.

This morning, Anushka Fernandopulle has been sharing some Buddhist teachings around constants in the universe and how we get in our own way.

Principle 1 is that life is always changing.

The truth is everything is changing; but we invest in things being stable. We try to control things that are uncontrollable. Our bodies are constantly changing, but we get frustrated when it happens because we live life like it won’t. We crave and build a world internally that is stable, when the world that is fully changing.

We know all of this in our brains, but we don’t live our lives like this is true. Our brains convince ourselves that things are more stable than they are.

By noticing things are changing, and being curious about it, maybe we will be able to live more authentic eyes.

As an example; gravity. We know gravity is true, but we don’t live our lives in opposition to gravity. If we tried (for example placing a glass of water in mid air as opposed to a table), we would live lives that are less frustrating because we understand than change is something that is true. In turn, this would cause less stress.

What is stable, is Hashem. That is where stability comes. The Torah is stable. It is unchanging. How we connect to the Torah changes constantly, however.