Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 22 Tishri, 5784.
Shabbat Shalom! What an amazing and special day! As we leave Hoshanah Rabbah – and the final moments of judgment and salvation, we enter into a special two day period. We not only receive the Shabbat Rest today, we enter tonight into reading the last portion of the Torah, and “Begin Again” with Genesis. As such, I want to focus on the final portion of Deuteronomy today, and I will focus on Genesis tomorrow.
As we paused on Deuteronomy before Sukkot – the Harvest has come. The judgments made for the year. We now get a moment to rest.
I wrote yesterday: “To Be in a moment or Not to Be in a moment” is the question we ask ourselves. And as we close the last book of the Torah, Kabbalah gives us this quote:
“Your consciousness is your only real address. If you stand in London but your mind is in New York, then you are in New York. You are not in London at all.”
And spoiler alert? The Torah NEVER brings us into the Promised Land. We are left with the end of Deuteronomy standing outside. And starting over.
And we are left with Moses leaving the earth in a moment when Hashem kisses him. Is that the promised land?
Or. Is the promise land THIS moment. And then THIS moment. And THIS. And THIS. Each moment we live – is the promise. To live in a moment or to ignore a moment. To numb ourselves in a moment. To distract ourselves in a moment. To live or die in these moments MAY BE the answer to Spiritual Freedom and Liberation.
And. It may not be.
It may ALSO be that the Promise Land ALREADY Exists. Our Consciousness can decide – will we be OUTSIDE the promised land within? Or will we enter it within? That may be the final message of the Torah. Basically, The Torah can lead a horse to water (the Promised Land) but the Torah cannot make us drink. We have to CHOOSE to enter. That is it.
Or maybe it’s both/and? MAYBE THE Torah wants us to AVOID Either/Or thinking. To see it both/and. At THIS moment. We are both IN the Promised Land, and OUTside of it. We are IN Heaven and OUT of it. Hashem is both withIN us and OUTside of us. We don’t seem to think this way. We think it’s one or the other. Both/AND is liberation thinking. Just my opinion.
Either way, as we finish tonight on Simchat Torah, and we start again tomorrow with Genesis. The journey continues.
Once again, THANK YOU for those of you who have been a part of this journey the past two Torah cycles. It has been an amazing two years. And we will continue into the next – because I believe 5784 and this new Torah cycle is going to be something special and amazing! But we can’t get ahead of ourselves – because that is dying to this moment. The next 30 seconds. This moment. Then THIS moment. Then THIS moment. Just be here. Now.
Moses blesses all of Israel. Moses blesses us. And as we close each book of the Torah we proclaim:
“Be strong! Be strong! And may we be Strengthened!”
See you tomorrow for Genesis!
My commentary from a year ago…
Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 20 Tishri, 5783
Shabbat Shalom! It’s Shabbat Chol Hamoed! Today’s portion is the last one in the Torah! This journey of slavery to freedom; from bondage to liberation all comes to a conclusion today!!!
Spoiler alert. It does not.
Let’s dig in!
We are here. Along the Jordan! Ready to enter the promise land. Moses has given us our final blessings! Let’s gooooooooo!
The portion today starts with Moses going up to Mount Nebo. The hero is going to his final resting place. Of course we need to see the conclusion of Moses’ life before we get into the Promised land!
Moses ascends the mountain. God meets him there. Hashem shows him the land of promise; and gives Moses visions of what was to happen there in the future.
The Kabbalah says something interesting here: “Your consciousness is your only real address. If you stand in London but your mind is in New York, then you are in New York. You are not in London at all.”
Where our mind and consciousness is; there we are.
Let’s get back to it:
God says to Moses:
“This is the land I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you should not cross over there.”
And then…
Moses, the servant of God, died there, in the land of Moab, by (a kiss from) the mouth of God.
Moses died by a kiss from God. I just think about a death. And a kiss. A kiss is the ultimate physical intimacy between two humans. Dying in that kind of intimacy is really special and poetic. The last conscious thought of Moses’ human form is a kiss from the mouth of Hashem. Beautiful!
But this isn’t where the Torah ends. Obviously we need to reach the promised land. So the Torah has more to say. Which brings up a significant question.
Moses wrote the Torah. So. If he dies here, how does the rest of the Torah get written?
Rabbi Schneerson has some great thoughts on this; and it’s relatively simple:
Is it possible that Moses died, and then wrote, “Moses – died there”? Rather, Moses wrote up to this point, and Joshua wrote from here on.
Rabbi Meir says: “Is it possible that the Torah Scroll which Moses gave to the Levites (Deuteronomy 31:26) would be lacking something? Rather, God said this section, and Moses wrote it with tears” (Rashi, 11′ century).
According to Rabbi Meir, what was the purpose in God’s commanding Moses to write about his own passing?
Moses did not write these words with tears of resignation, as it may at first seem, but amid a spirit of determination and optimism. He was using these last moments in a further, practical attempt to avert the looming decree of his death, by motivating the Jewish people to beseech God on his behalf. Moses knew that when the Jewish people would read of his death written down in black and white, it would provoke an uproar. The people were sure to respond: “We will not allow this to happen! We will pray, beg and demand from God that Moses lead us into the land of Israel” and the decree would subsequently be annulled.
But when something is written in the Torah surely it must happen? By writing “Moses…died there,” wasn’t he guaranteeing his own death?
The answer is that Moses hoped that the prayers of the Jewish people would transform the decree of his actual death to an allegorical equivalent. (End quote)
That’s interesting – Moses hoped that the Israelites would become spiritually alive by praying to undo the decree of death. What a great final gift to us. Any desire in the story to have Moses stay alive gets transformed into a desire for us to become free and liberated in spirit!!!!
Let’s keep going:
(God) buried him in the valley, in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor. No person knows the place of his burial, to this day.
The people then wept for Moses. For 30 days. So they waited to go into the promised land for 30 days! That’s a major honor for Moses! And now…
The Torah turns to Joshua- and he “was filled with the spirit of wisdom” and the children of Israel obeyed him, and they did as God had commanded Moses.
So. I’m getting a little concerned. We have one last passage to read. Surely, we are going into the promised land? But one paragraph? The entire Torah has been a story of the descent into slavery and then the freedom from slavery. Liberation. We get ONE paragraph about going into the promised land? I’m really chewing on that.
And. Uh. Oh. In the twist ending of all twist endings…
The last paragraph has absolutely NOTHING to do with entering the promised land!!!!!
Let’s read the final paragraph of the Torah:
Deuteronomy 34:10-12
No other prophet ever arose in Israel like Moses, whom God knew face to face, as manifested by all the signs and wonders, which God had sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land, and all the strength (he needed to receive the Torah with his) hand, and all the (miracles that occurred in the) great, awe(some, wilderness), which Moses performed before the eyes of all Israel.
Stop. First of all; that is one long sentence.
Second. The Torah doesn’t mention the Jews entering the promised land??
Third. We start all over tomorrow? There isn’t a sequel? We just rerun the story over the next year again?
Yes. I know there are other books written. But none like the Torah. The book of Joshua DOES mention the Jews going into the Promised land. But. That’s not in the Torah. The Torah never brings us into the promised land.
I think about this. And it makes sense to me.
The truth of the matter is, as long as we are here, our journey to spiritual liberation isn’t going to be completed. It’s never finished.
And- there should be comfort in that. Because if we can never finish, we can’t really get it wrong, can we? If we “begin again” tomorrow in Genesis (with a delay until Simchat Torah on Monday night) this is a never ending cycle.
But it’s not a circle, is it? We aren’t spinning our wheels, are we?
No. It’s an upward spiral – that’s the design. Each year as we read the Torah, we are meant to glean more on the journey to bring us closer and closer to spiritual liberation. But; as long as we are anchored in these bodies, this journey will continue. We will never be “done.” If we stop reading the Torah, our spiritual journey will likely circle back around – but possible further away from liberation. But even then, that isn’t “wrong” because we get another go at it tomorrow.
And there is significant beauty in this (in my opinion). We can’t really get this “wrong” because it’s never over. That’s freedom. That’s liberation.
I think my biggest takeaway from reading the Torah this year has been self compassion. Loving myself. To stop beating myself up – because we are human. We make mistakes. And each year, Hashem gives us chances to ascend the mountain with Moses; look out over the land (which may be a chance for us to survey the promise of our future) and start again.
Tomorrow comes. And we know what we are going to read. A formless earth. The Genesis of life. God re-creating us. Tomorrow is the clean slate. Everything that has happened over the past year – it dies with Moses today. We transform from Moses to Joshua. Tomorrow we are back to Adam. Not even, because he isn’t even created yet.
But the benefit of being Adam tomorrow? We have all of the knowledge and understand this past year reading and digging into the Torah together that doesn’t die. It comes with us. But anything like guilt, like shame, like fear; that is left behind. That dies with Moses. Tomorrow, we get to start over. At least for a few days – until Monday night, we can just stay here and reflect on the journey.
I would encourage all of us – reflect on the past year. What is it you want to bring with you tomorrow (Monday night) on this new journey? What do you want to leave behind? We have a few days to chew and reflect. Consider the things you want to bring, and the things you want to leave. You have complete freedom here.
Maybe we are leaving behind survival strategies that kept us alive this year but we are discovering that they no longer serve us; they keep us trapped and enslaved?
Maybe we are taking with us new ideas and wisdom about our connection to Hashem and how we want to make sure we build on those in the upcoming year?
Whatever it is; our story isn’t over.
I’m reminded of one of my favorite shows, the modern version of Battlestar Gallatica – “all this has happened before. All this will happen again.” The question is; what do we do with that?
Thank you all; for being a part of this year’s journey with me. My plan for tomorrow is going to focus on the final Haftorah – I’m going to do two parts – Sunday and Monday. This is the “Simchat Torah” Haftorah- and I want to use this window to dig into it. Then on Tuesday I plan on starting over. Getting into Bersehit (Genesis). I’m not sure how the Torah thoughts are going to look each day.
And. If anyone would like to join me this year, and want to take a portion of the torah and give YOUR thoughts; I’d love to have other minds and souls here with me. Just let me know – you can DM me. Write something on a section of the Torah Parsha of the week, or something that strikes you, and I will Incorporate it.
One last thing. It’s not quite ready yet. But it will be soon.
I’m developing a new website tikkunolam47.com
Tikkun Olam means Repair the World. Here’s a resource for you:
https://www.chabad.org/…/jewish/What-Is-Tikkun-Olam.htm
The website will be a way for me to more engage in Torah. And to help those who want more help. Who want to dig deeper. Who want to focus on healing.
The big lesson for me this year has been; I can heal the world by healing myself. That’s where it starts. My soul and body has experienced a ton of healing this year. I’ve engaged in parts of my consciousness I’ve been running away from for 30+ years.
I’ll be offering classes and spiritual coaching over the next year for those who want more. It’s not fully ready to go; but it’s on its way.
If you know people who want more; you’ll be able to connect them.
Don’t worry. I’m still going to post my Torah thoughts here. They may be links to my website. But I’m still figuring that out.
Again- the purpose is healing the world by healing ourselves.
I wish you the best on this Sabbath. The final Sabbath of the Torah cycle. Enjoy your day!
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