Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 22 Tevet, 5785

Good morning! If you are feeling disoriented today, there is good reason. Last night the planets aligned significantly. Things are shifting.

Today is a new beginning. The seed of the moment has the potential to expand our world in ways we cannot even fathom or imagine.

And this is the problem.

We fathom and we imagine.  Our minds create futures for ourselves based on our version of past events. We fantasize about what is to come. And instead of grounding in this moment and acting in ways that might make us uncomfortable? We are stuck in fight, flight, freeze and fawn over a fantasy of a future that has yet to come true.

And we repeat this cycle over and over again.  Like a carousel, we stay on the ride.

And.

We are free.

We can choose to get off. And instead of looking at the mountain that feels overwhelming in front of us; daunting even; we can look down at our two feet, notice how they feel on the solid ground they are on, and decide the next step we want to take.

That is the moment.

That is the energy.

To decide to absorb the collective energy around us, or to ground ourselves in the next 30 seconds and decide what we will do with them.

Can we ground ourselves? Can we breathe in compassion for ourselves? Can we breathe out our suffering?

We may fantasize about a future in which we are not safe, but we are free to decide whether we will be stuck in that future, or time travel back to the present moment and decide what steps we need to take to move in the direction that excites us most right now.  Not out of fear. But out of excitement.

As you come back to this moment. What excites you most? What action excites you?

Do that.

We talked yesterday. Fear is safe. Don’t ignore fear. Feel the fear. Feel the anger. Feel the sadness.  Feel that. It’s real.

The question becomes – what do we DO with those feelings?

What if the answer is…absolutely NOTHING?

What if there is NOTHING we need to do with the fear, the anger, the sadness? Other than to just feel it?

What does that even mean?

It means moving out of our cognitive recognition of fear, sadness, and anger – and moving into how the body is feeling it.

Where in our bodies do we feel fear? Anger? Sadness? What does it feel like? Is there heat or cold? Is there vibration or tingling? Is there squeezing or expansion? What does it FEEL like?

Once we HONOR those feelings? What if our mind becomes FREE to be excited again. To determine what the steps we need to take in a moment need to be.

We are at a moment. We have opportunities here to decide to just be; or live in our fear.

Fear is safe. Being afraid in this moment? Completely valid.

And? This moment has opportunity. We can get stuck in fear, or we can feel it, validate it, let go of the fantasy of the future, and be INSPIRED for more. To ASPIRE. And what in this moment can we navigate out of our bliss and peace and PROTECTING that peace for ourselves, our loved ones, and our family? What can we do NEXT? We don’t need to get to the end zone. We just need to decide a path next that we can move forward on.

One step. In freedom.

That is what the Torah calls us to.

Exodus is the story of freedom. Contemplate – they had no hope of freedom. Exodus should inspire us – one step is all it takes.

When the new moon hits? We are going to be challenged to see in the darkness. We have the gift to do this. Why? Because the light is within us.

The planets align to remind us – they shine in our sky, not because they emanate light – but they reflect it.

Things are aligning for us. It is up to us to allow our light to shine to show us how things are lining up for our greatest good.

The mountain is high. We feel powerless. Helpless. All of us. We can fantasize a future to distract us of this feeling of powerlessness – AND at the same time poking at others who may feel even more powerless and helpless than we do.

We can choose to play into this fantasy. Or. We are free to look at the light within and make one step in the next 30 seconds to live our excitement. And then the next 30 seconds. And the next.

One of those “strategies” will change the world. The other? Will allow the world to change us.

This is the choice.

What is your step?

Here are my thoughts from last year:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 29 Tevet 5784
Parsha Va-‘Era’: (Exodus 6:2 – 9:35)
Fourth Portion: Exodus 7:8 – 8:6

Good morning! Today is the last light of the previous moon cycle. Tonight we hit the new moon of Shevat.

The chaos of the last cycle is coming to a close. The repair work is being completed within us (for this cycle). We are going to start hitting order tonight. And. We will be magnificent in how we handle it. ESPECIALLY if we reflect back on how we would have handled it if these events happened a month ago as opposed to over the next two weeks.

It’s time to practice what we’ve healed.

And? When the full light of the moon shines? We will CELEBRATE.  Because the “New Year for Trees” (Tu B’Shevat) will arrive. And the repair of the past month, and the testing the first two weeks, will be GROUNDED into us like the roots of the strongest tree.

Then? We will have Chesed – Blessing – the last two weeks of the cycle.

So set your intentions today – what has the chaos brought into your life that is being repaired?  How do you want to lean into that repair in the month ahead. 

Let’s dig in:

The context for today’s passage is being on the “right track.”  Hashem reassured us and Moses and Aaron.  And then he gave them THIS message:

8The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

9″When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Provide a sign for yourselves,’ you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff, [and] cast [it] before Pharaoh; it will become a serpent.’ “

“Provide a sign for yourselves” stands out to me here. Hashem is telling them – this first sign? Is for Moses and Aaron. It’s for us.  And it became the Serpent.  One Serpent.

I am reflecting here. The serpent was almost “responsible” for this mess, right?  The serpent is what tempted Chavah in the Garden. The serpent was cursed.

Yet here? The serpent is being used as a sign. In a sense, it is being redeemed, isn’t it? We often see snakes as “evil” yet here? Hashem uses it as a sign “for us.”

Let’s see what happens:

10[Thereupon,] Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they did so, as the Lord had commanded; Aaron cast his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11[Then,] Pharaoh too summoned the wise men and the magicians, and the necromancers of Egypt also did likewise with their magic.

12Each one of them cast down his staff, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.

So this is interesting. In my brain, I fully expected to read “There were three snakes -and Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.” Again, my reality is painted by things not of the Torah – Thanks Charlton Heston and Val Kilmer. (Ten Commandments and Prince of Egypt references for those who don’t understand).

The one snake from Aaron consumed ALL the snakes from the “wise men and the magicians, and the necromancers of Egypt.” How many snakes WERE there? There could have been hundreds.  How much do we limit our own power? We think our snake/rod can only consume 3. But it could have been HUNDREDS of snakes – think – Raiders of the Lost Ark.

So the one snake of Israel – Moses/Aaron wielded this snake to consume the snakes of Egypt.  That’s power.

So – how did Pharoah respond?

13But Pharaoh’s heart remained steadfast, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord had spoken.

It’s interesting. The word “steadfast” is a positive word in my head. Having a “steadfast heart” would seem to be a positive trait. But here it was just a way Pharoah hardened his heart.

The Torah seems to be playing around with language here, doesn’t it? Snakes being positive, being steadfast as a negative.  Why?

I am unsure – but I also don’t want to get stuck. 

Let’s keep going:

14The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is heavy; he has refused to let the people out.

15Go to Pharaoh in the morning; behold, he is going forth to the water, and you shall stand opposite him on the bank of the Nile, and the staff that was turned into a serpent you shall take in your hand.

16And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the Hebrews sent me to you, saying, “Send forth My people, so that they may serve Me in the desert,” but behold, until now, you have not hearkened.

17So said the Lord, “With this you will know that I am the Lord.” Behold, I will smite with the staff that is in my hand upon the water that is in the Nile, and it will turn to blood.

18And the fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become putrid, and the Egyptians will weary [in their efforts] to drink water from the Nile.'”

19The Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch forth your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their bodies of water, and they will become blood, and there will be blood throughout the entire land of Egypt, even in wood and in stone.’ “

I am thinking of the elements here involved. The first sign was a rod. A piece of wood. Separated from the earth. This sign is water. The wood was transformed to a snake. The water turned to blood.

Hashem was alchemizing the elements here for Moses and Aaron. Transforming. And that makes sense, right? The serpent went from leading Adam and Chavah from the Garden – and now the serpent is a sign for the Israelites to leave Egypt.

Let’s keep going:

20Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord had commanded, and he raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile turned to blood.

21And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became putrid; the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile, and there was blood throughout the entire land of Egypt.

22And the necromancers of Egypt did likewise with their secret rites, and Pharaoh’s heart was steadfast, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had spoken.

23Pharaoh turned and went home, and he paid no heed even to this.

Necromancers? Ok. That sounds like a super cool word – and super evil. What exactly is a necromancer?

According to Wikipedia, Necromancy is the practice of magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events and discover hidden knowledge.

So – some questions –

First – if Moses and Aaron turned the water of the Nile to blood, all the fish died, the Nile because putrid – what does it mean “necromancers of Egypt did likewise with their secret rites?”

I am just stuck on this.

So I googled this – and it is mildly satisfying: https://outorah.org/p/63398/

There is a duality discussed here – that the water was turned to blood, the fish died, and the water of the Nile TURNED BACK to water -where the fish were still dead and rotting. And then the necromancers did their thing.

This fits a bit – we’ve been discussing transformation. The serpent transforming. Wood transforming. Water transforming. Life transforming to death.

In the first plague the snake killed the snakes of Egypt. Egypt could make snakes, but they died.

In the second plague, the blood killed the fish of Egypt. Egypt could make blood, but they could not kill fish – because the fish already died.

Interesting. In these first two plagues, the duality and transformation seems to be saying – the Torah has the power to keep us alive (Aaron’s snake lived) and – the Torah has the power to destroy our enemies (killing Egypt’s fish).

Egypt can COPY the Torah – making snakes and blood – but Egypt does not have the power to kill.

Because – I am now asking myself. Why didn’t they just kill Moses and Aaron?

Like – if I was Pharaoh’s buddy – I’d say “hey Pharaoh – have you maybe considered – I don’t know – killing Moses and Aaron?  Like maybe THAT would stop the plagues?  Why do you keep letting them live – you LITERALLY had babies drown in the river – and for some reason you are just letting Moses make a fool of you?”

And I think this is the takeaway for us:

• The Torah transforms and keeps us safe. The Torah transforms and protects us from our enemies.
• Anything else? It can transform – but it cannot kill – and cannot keep you safe.

The question is – what is the purpose of transformation? This is connected to slavery and freedom. Are we transforming for the purpose of life and freedom? Or are we transforming – but remain stuck?

Let’s keep going:

24All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink from the water of the Nile.

25Seven full days passed after the Lord had smitten the Nile.

Now. Isn’t it interesting? It would appear the Necromancers and Egypt did themselves in here. The water likely turned back to water after Moses and Aaron – leaving the Egyptians with water in the Nile (albeit dead fish).  That sign was not meant to punish the Egyptians.

The Necromancers could turn the Nile into Blood – but it looks like they couldn’t turn it back to water.  Interesting. The Egyptians caused their own suffering.  And likely blamed the Jews.

Another takeaway – how often are we the cause of our own suffering and instead make someone else the villain?

Let’s keep going:

26The Lord said to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘So said the Lord, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.

27But if you refuse to let [them] go, behold, I will smite all your borders with frogs.

28And the Nile will swarm with frogs, and they will go up and come into your house and into your bedroom and upon your bed and into the house of your servants and into your people, and into your ovens and into your kneading troughs;

29and into you and into your people and into all your servants, the frogs will ascend.'”

1The Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, stretch forth your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt.”

2And Aaron stretched forth his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.

3And the necromancers did likewise with their secret rites, and they brought up the frogs on the land of Egypt.

“Secret rites” is standing out too for me. What are these “secret rites?” And – again – how did they know which frogs were brought up by Moses and Aaron, and which were from the Necromancers?

Here is the third plague. And it’s a little more straight forward. No frogs seemed to be harmed in this plague. 

Which is interesting. Because we have snakes and fish dead. One is a land creature – one is a sea.  Frogs are both. They transcend water to earth.

Now I am thinking about the locations here.

We started with the presence of pharaoh and the snakes, and then moved to the water. Then from the water we moved to the land – and there was life – because the frogs lived. Let’s keep going

4Thereupon, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the Lord that He remove the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let out the people [of Israel] so that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”

5And Moses said to Pharaoh, “Boast [of your superiority] over me. For when shall I entreat for you, for your servants, and for your people, to destroy the frogs from you and from your houses, [that] they should remain only in the Nile? “

6And he [Pharaoh] said, “For tomorrow.” And he [Moses] said, “As you say, in order that you should know that there is none like the Lord, our God.

So again- the necromancers could CREATE – but they could not remove. Only Hashem has the power to remove.

A lot to reflect on!  I am curious to your thoughts!