Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 21 Adar, 5785

Good morning! As we are quickly approaching the new moon – full of new intents.

It is a time of Celebration! Of our senses!

Can we stop for a moment today, and like the keyboard I am typing on – consider the inputs into our brain?

What am I smelling?

What am I seeing?

What am I hearing?

What does my skin feel like?

Skin.  How can I focus on the boundary between what is inside of me and what is external?

The skin is like a giant input keyboard – touch.

We so often connect touch with another object – we lose consciousness of the touch we experience in every moment. Whether the air around us, the heat or cold, my skin touching my clothes, my socks, my jewelry. It’s all input.

And we tend to ignore it.

The menorah in today’s Torah portion? Designed to bring light to these senses. What are we missing? Can we shift?

This is the message.

And? Pressure.

Do we feel our skin pushing out into the world – like an expansion? Or do we feel it closing in on us – like a contraction? Can we pay attention to this nuance?  In each moment? Sometimes? It is both, isn’t it? Like a pulse – the skin expanding and contracting. What are we giving birth to?

These are my thoughts. What about you?

Here are my thoughts from last year:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 28 Adar 1, 5784
Parsha Va-Yakhel: (Exodus 35:1 – 38:20)
Sixth Portion: Exodus 37:17 – 37:29

Good morning! As we prepare for Shabbat, there are some interesting things at work. This is a SPECIAL shabbat tonight and tomorrow – Shabbat Shekalim. Because we have a leap month, an “extra” Adar – the Shabbat before the month of Adar II adds an extra Torah portion that I will dig into more tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure we are all aware of it.

In many senses, energetically, this shabbat is about reunion.  In terms of marriage, I love what Chabad writes about that here.

The idea is the “Half Shekel” we will read about – signifies the half portion that was to be counted in the census. As we do our work within? We find reunion with the parts within us that have not been connected. We will discuss more about marriage and the half shekel tomorrow!  For now, it is this spirit of “reunion” that I want to bring with us into the Torah portion.

Yesterday, we focused on the ark and the table.  We discussed senses – and we can see the container of the ark of our hearts. The table had tools, and had the bread on it – taste. Let’s dig in:

 17And he made the menorah of pure gold; of hammered work he made the menorah, its base and its stem, its goblets, its knobs, and its flowers were [all one piece] with it.

18And six branches coming out of its sides: three menorah branches from its one side and three menorah branches from its second side.

19Three decorated goblets on one branch, a knob and a flower, and three decorated goblets on one branch, a knob and a flower; so for the six branches that come out of the menorah.

20And on [the stem of] the menorah [were] four decorated goblets, its knobs and its flowers.

21And a knob under the two branches from it, and a knob under the two branches from it, and a knob under the two branches from it; [so] for the six branches that come out of it.

22Their knobs and their branches were [all one piece] with it; all of it [was] one hammered mass of pure gold.

23And he made its lamps seven, and its tongs and its scoops of pure gold.

24He made it of a talent of pure gold, and all its implements.

Today we see the menorah. The light. We can see the light and feel the warmth of the burning. What I love about this, and what I’ve written in the past is the idea of the menorah being one piece. It was unity. And. It was separated out – the six branches and one in the center. Seven lamps. Pure gold.

Let’s keep going:

25And he made the incense altar out of acacia wood, one cubit long and one cubit wide, square, and two cubits high; its horns were [one piece] with it.

26And he overlaid it with pure gold, [on] its top, its walls all around, and its horns; and he made for it a golden crown all around.

27And he made two golden rings for it underneath its crown on its two corners, on its two sides, as holders for poles with which to carry it.

28He made the poles out of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

29And he made the holy anointing oil and the pure incense after the art of a perfumer.

Smell. We had taste with the bread. We have sight and touch with the menorah, and now we have smell.  We are meant to have a reunion with ALL of our senses at the same time. How often do we get AWAY from our senses -and get sucked into our mind?

May this weekend be a reunion of our senses! What are you feeling physically? What do you hear? What do you smell? What do you see? What do you taste? How often do we ask ourselves these questions?

May we all have a restful shabbat just being in our senses!