Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 21 Tamuz, 5783

Good morning! It is Monday.  So yesterday, I missed a part of the daily portion.  This week’s Parsha is actually combined – it’s two.  I trust yesterday’s message was meant to happen (otherwise it would not have).  So today, we actually have 4 portions to go over.

Today’s portion is tough. It’s all about dividing up the spoils of war.  It involves killing women and children.  It involves dividing up women.  Read my commentary below.  It’s ROUGH.

And. My takeaway? It’s around safety.  I shared this with a friend today.  It’s from today’s passage in Mark Nepo’s “Book of Awakening” He was talking about sitting on a bench and seeing a yellow jacket; and how his mom would have swatted it away – because she was afraid of anything that she couldn’t control.  For Mark, he has survived cancer, so the idea of a yellow jacket on a bench wasn’t much of a concern.  These were his thoughts:

“I realize that we all suffer the uncertainty of being hurt by the life that surrounds us, and we all have a changing ring of safety beyond which we are likely to hurt other living things in the guise of self-defense.”

“How often we imagine things are dangerous when they are only doing what comes naturally.”

“How often do we murder parts of ourselves by not letting things advance or come close? How often do we let fear and swat rule our emotional lives. How often do we kill or chase away everything that moves.”

“I think of Francis of Assisi, who held so still the birds landed on his branch-like arms, and we wonder why we are so lonely when we won’t let anything full of life come near.  If we could only see the bee, or the bird, or our enemy as a brief living center like ourselves, we could let them go on their way without pulling us into opposition.”

I read Mark Nepo’s words and I think today’s message becomes clearer for me.  I want to put myself into the Torah portion as the Israelites.  But what if I put myself into the story as Israel’s enemies.  All Israel wanted was to pass through in peace.  And yet? Communities were afraid.  Israel was NOT a threat to these other people – and yet they were seen as a threat.  And it led to their downfall. They tried to murder the Israelites, and it was returned to them – and – with their most vulnerable – the women and children.

What is my takeaway?  As I have been learning in meditation – I am learning to respond, and not react.  So for those we “see” as an enemy in our lives – can we create space before we react and distrust their motives and consider they are only doing what comes naturally?  And maybe instead of exasperating them – letting them explore and feel safer with US so they do not have to view us as a threat?

I know humans around me – who perceive me as a threat. We all have these people in our lives like this.  People who see us and judge us.  And we want to try and convince them we aren’t a threat. We want them to see us for the safety we are.  But the more we try to convince them, the more they perceive us as a threat.  And then we go to war. It becomes a battle over – “I am safe” and “No you are not.”

When the response may just be to stay still. Be at peace – and let those who perceive us as a threat make their moves – buzz like the yellow jacket on the bench; and determining all they want is to pass through our space/lives without any engagement.

Because we don’t want to end up as Israel’s enemies, right? Where we block their path, and they overtake us – and we end up bringing to fruition the danger we are so wanting to avoid.  Murdering parts of ourselves and not letting things advance or come close because they are perceived as a threat.  Should we let go? Can we let go?

What are your thoughts?

Here is my commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 26 Tamuz, 5782

Todays portion is going to be a little tough for me (us?) because it’s all about war and revenge. Let’s not shy away from the Torah talking about this, let’s look at it with curiosity.

The portion starts out with God telling Moses to take revenge against the Midianites for the children of Israel; and after that, God tells Moses he will be “gathered to your people.”

Why Midian? Didn’t Moses marry a midianite? Why get revenge?

Remember, they ALSO sent their daughters to lead the Israelites astray (the story of Balak and Balaam).

Rabbi Meir Simchah of Dvinsk wrote this:

“If Moses had not fought the Midianites, people would have suspected it was because of his stay in Midian and his marriage to the daughter of Jethro, priest of Midian. God commanded Moses to avenge the children of Israel before his own demise and, in this way, dispel any skepticism from the people.”

That is a very interesting and logical take.

As soon as God told Moses this, he immediately spoke to the people and told them what needed to happen to fight Midian. There is evidence he said this with enthusiasm. Here is what Rabbi Ephraim of Luntshits had to say:

“Moses enthusiastically announced God’s command to fight Midian, without imposing any delay. This was in full realization that after the war ended he would pass away- after that you will be gathered to your people” (Numbers 31:2; Rashi).

What evidence is there that Moses announced God’s command with enthusiasm? A hint to this fact lies in a difference between God’s command to Moses, and Moses’ delivery of that command to the people.

God commanded Moses to “take revenge for the children of Israel”; but Moses instructed them to “carry out God’s revenge”

What inspired Moses to change the emphasis here? The Midianites had led the Israelites astray, sending their daughters to seduce the Israelites to act immorally. The Midianites had not only sinned against God, they had also caused the Israelites to be struck by a plague that had wiped out twenty-four thousand people. When conveying the command to Moses, God implied that even if He could overlook the slight against Himself, He could not overlook what the Midinites had done to Israel- “Take revenge for the children of Israel.”

When Moses received the announcement that he was to die when the war was over, he was afraid that the Israelites would choose not to go to war, overlooking what the Midianties had done to them, in an attempt to postpone his death. So Moses Instructed the people to ”carry out God’s revenge” – they could overlook their own honor, but God’a honor had to be avenged, even if it would hasten Moses’ death.” (End quote)

It’s interesting here. The need to bring closure to Moses’ purpose on earth. From a baby in the Jordan, to marrying a midianite, to leading the Israelites from slavery to freedom, and now getting revenge for the Israelites – he lived a completely life and fulfilled his purpose.

My take is whether we are living out our purpose? Do we know what that purpose is? That might be a start. Are we consulting with Hashem as to what our purpose is?

Back to the portion. The Israelites went and besieged Midian; they killed every male. They killed the Midianite kings who fell upon their own people’s corpses. The five kings of Midian killed were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. We also learn that Balaam son of Beor was also killed with a sword.

Let’s stop for a moment. God is violent here. And that tends to eschew our sensibilities. And taken out of context, it would be justified to say God is without compassion.

But we have to remember what led to all of this. God gave Balaam every chance to listen. He gave Balak every chance to pay attention. It’s the one story of the journey that takes place outside of Israel’s perspective. The parsha Balak that we read a few weeks ago gave us their human perspective. God spoke to them clearly and they did not listen. He gave them every chance and their evil persisted. That is God’s compassion. We can’t forget that.

The portion closes with Israel taking the women and children captive. The Torah says they took everything but kept none of the booty for themselves. They brought everything before Moses. And that is where the portion ends today.

As a spoiler; things aren’t going to go well tomorrow. Again, it is harsh. And we have to wrestle with God being a God of both compassion and empathy, and a God of Justice and revenge. Those are not separate ideas.

Would love your thoughts on this!

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 27 Tamuz, 5782

Good morning. We are coming to some of the “darkest” says on the Jewish calendar. As the light of the moon fades into the new moon of Thursday evening, we are straddling the three weeks between the destruction of the two temples, leading us to Tisha B’Av.

Todays passage is going to be tough. There’s no way around it. We must approach it with both our modern sensibilities AND the context in which it was written. How we reconcile those (or not) is going to be crucial.

Yesterday the soldiers returned from Midian. They destroyed all the men, and brought the Women and children before Moses and Eleazar the priest.

It seems as if some of the Israeli youth went outside the camp to grab some of the plunder, and Moses and Eleazar when out to meet them outside of the camp to put an end to it.

The Torah tells us that “Moses became angry with the officers of the army.” Because they “allowed all the females to live.” Moses challenged them and said they were the ones who acted on Balaam’s words against the children of Israel to betray God. This resulted in the plague among God’s congregation.

Moses now does something horrific (it seems). He tells them to kill every male child. And kill every woman capable of knowing a man. They could keep alive the young girls who weren’t old enough to sleep with a man.

Let’s stop and process. On one hand it was an act of mercy that the officers saved the women and children. However. Moses is pointing out that the women were responsible for their behavior – not the men. The women were the ones taking action against the men of Israel. It was a plot to seduce them for the purpose of taking Israel away from God, and that was the issue.

We can’t project our own thoughts about “what about the Israeli guys here? Don’t they have some responsibility?” But we have to remember this was an actual plot hatched up by Balak and Balam. This wasn’t just your run of the mill relationships. It was nefarious.

I don’t have many good answers beyond that to be honest. It’s a hard passage to read in this time of darkness.

There is something interesting here though. And it’s what the Torah doesn’t say. Normally we’ve been reading things like this – where Torah gives direction, Moses gives direction – and we read “and the children of Israel did what Moses commanded them” or “Israel did as God commanded.”

We don’t see that here. It may come later; I don’t know. But today’s portion doesn’t have that.

Instead. We jump right into purification returning from battle.

Basically, everyone needs to stay outside the camp for seven days. Everyone who killed a person or touched a corpse should sprinkle themselves in the third and seventh day (with the red heifer water).

Here’s something interesting- the Torah says “just as you require purification because you are members of the covenant, so too your captives will require purification when they enter the covenant.”

So; the captives – whether it was the women and children; or whether it was just the female children (because we don’t know really what happened) – they were allowed into the covenant with the Jews. That is super interesting.

We are also told these aren’t logical mitzvahs- they are suprarational ones.

What do you think? Tomorrow’s portion may raise more questions as to whether the women and male children actually were killed or not. They may have been. Stay tuned!

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 28 Tamuz, 5782

Good morning! Less than 48 hours left in Tamuz and the new moon on Thursday night! Then we turn our sights towards the Month of Av!

Yesterdays portion was tough; Moses telling the leaders to kill the women and male children. Afterwards, Moses told them they should purify themselves.

Again; no where do we read “they did as Moses commanded them.”

And today’s portion switches gears. It’s interesting we are left with an open-ended finish to Moses telling people to kill. It isn’t as clear cut as other passages and I’m really reflecting on that as we dig into today’s portion.

Today, God tells Moses to calculate the plunder. God tells Moses to do this with Eleazar the priest and the communities’ paternal leaders. God says to divide the plunder equally between the soldiers that went out to battle and the rest of the congregation.

Let’s stop for a minute. Kabbalah teaches this about plunder:

“Plunder, which is acquired violently, is symbolic of Gevurah, your soul’s power of severity and limitation. The division of the plunder into two halves suggests that your Gevurah is active in two key areas: cognition (Binah) and articulation (Malkhut).

Cognition is the flip-side of inspiration. We all have wonderful ideas but those ideas are only valuable if their boundaries have been defined into clear and succinct arguments. This requires the limiting force of Gevurah.

Gevurah is needed again when you attempt to explain your idea to others, You will only be effective if you choose your words carefully and precisely, exercising your Gevurah of articulation.

Of the two Gevurot, cognition needs to be stronger, as an error in the conceptual stage will destroy an idea, whereas failing to articulate it properly will not.” (End quote)

That’s a really interesting thought around plunder and cognition. What do you think?

Let’s dig back into the Torah:

After dividing the two, God says to take a tax for God from the soldiers who went out to battle:

From the people, the cattle, donkeys and sheep take one individual from every 500. Take this from their half of the plunder and give it to Eleazar the priest as a gift to God.

Ok. So let’s stop for a minute. This was a .2% tax. And. Let’s be clear. This was also placed on people. Meaning the people that the soldiers plundered – 1 of every 500 were given to eleazar. Now. Keep this in mind. 1 of every 500 from the soldiers half of the plunder.

Next, God tells Moses from the people’s half of the plunder, take one fiftieth (1 for every 50) of people, cattle, donkeys, sheep and animals, and give THOSE to the Levites – the guardians of God’s tabernacle.

Here we read “Moses and Eleazar did what God commanded Moses.”

And we see the results.

First we get a total of the plunder – and there were 32,000 women who did not experience sleeping with a man. This would seem to indicate the others were done away with.

Half those women were given to the soldiers; 16,000. And the tax was 32 women for Eleazar.

They did the same with the people’s portion.

This is still tough to swallow. And God tells us it is hard to swallow, which is why it’s called “suprarational.”

And today’s portion closes with something interesting. The officers over the army approached Moses. They start by telling Moses that miraculously, in the battle of Midian not a single soldier died. They emphasized there is no mistake here. They counted. And because of this miracle, they brought an offering for God. All the gold the officers found. All of it. Why did they do this?

The Torah says they told Moses They did it to atone for their souls. They were atoning for the thoughts about the Midianite women from the debacle at Peor – the plot from Balak and Balaam.

Moses and Eleazar took the gold from them and counted it. The soldiers though, kept the gold they found.

Moses and Eleazar took the gold from the officers and brought it to the tent of meeting as a remembrance for the children of Israel before God.

It is interesting because moving forward we are going to start dealing with the promised land. In a sense, this was the last piece of sin that Israel needed to deal with before entering. And it was dealt with.

What interests me here is the officers did this on their own. God didn’t tell Moses to tell the officers to do this. They took the initiative. That says something about where leadership was at the time.

That’s something important for us to take away. What sins do we need to take initiative on and ask for forgiveness of? What are the ones we are waiting on God to convict us of?

Thoughts?