Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 25 Av, 5784
Parsha Re’eh – “See”: (Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17)
Fifth Portion: Deuteronomy 14:22 – 14:29

Good morning! Reading through my commentaries on this portion? It is amazing to remember, I have been doing this for four years now. As we approach Rosh Hashanah? I will be completing my fourth cycle of the Torah – daily study. I have been sharing it for three years.

Yesterday’s message as been resonating with me.  How much do we see ourselves and others as treasure? How often do we see ourselves as treasure?

This is the spirit I want to bring to the Torah today.  Let’s go!

22You shall tithe all the seed crop that the field gives forth, year by year.

We are called to give back, To the community. To Hashem. To ourselves? Where are we giving back for all we have been given?

23And you shall eat before the Lord, your God, in the place He chooses to establish His Name therein, the tithes of your grain, your wine, and your oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep, so that you may learn to fear the Lord, your God, all the days.

Now – before all of the mitzvahs were meant to be in the promised land. This one feels a little different. “In the place He chooses to establish His Name therein.”  It would seem tithing? That is something we are called to do – for the purpose of being in awe of Hashem.  Fear and safety mixed together.

24And if the way be too long for you, that you are unable to carry it, for the place which the Lord, your God, will choose to establish His Name therein, is too far from you, for the Lord, your God, will bless you

25Then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and you shall go to the place the Lord, your God, will choose.

And – the nice part – if it is too far? Hashem makes a way to get to the place. It’s ok to turn the tithe into money.

26And you shall turn that money into whatever your soul desires; cattle, sheep, new wine or old wine, or whatever your soul desires, and you shall eat there before the Lord, your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

And? When we get to the place we are called to? We are encouraged to turn the money into whatever our soul desires. We are to have a celebration.

Full stop.

The Torah here? Is not talking about Tithes the way I think we understand them. Reread the portion again. This is telling us to tithe by taking a part of what we are producing? And EAT IT before Hashem.  We are called to CONSUME our tithes in this portion.

Um. That is a radical shift in thinking isn’t it? I wonder where the idea of giving our tithes to someone else came from? I wonder.

Anyway. This is radical. We are to take what we are given – and EAT IT -to CELEBRATE before Hashem. To THANK HIM.  Let’s review 14:26 again:

26And you shall turn that money into whatever your soul desires; cattle, sheep, new wine or old wine, or whatever your soul desires, and you shall eat there before the Lord, your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

Friends. Tithing is self-care. We are called to care. We aren’t called to tithe it away?

But how do the priests eat?

27And [as for] the Levite who is in your cities you shall not forsake him, for he has neither portion nor inheritance with you.

Oh – the Torah is going to tell us this.

28At the end of three years, you shall take out all the tithe of your crop in that year and place it in your cities.

29And the Levite because he has no portion or inheritance with you and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are in your cities, will come and eat and be satisfied; so that the Lord, your God, will bless you in all the work of your hand that you will do.

Every three years?  We give our tithe to the priests.

That is FASCINATING. We are called to mostly care for ourselves, and then care for the priests.

Those are my (radical) thoughts. What are yours?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 23 Av, 5783

Today’s Torah portion is about the “second tithe.”  Moses was reminding people the importance of giving back – because it is so important that we do not forget the source of all we have; Hashem.

My contribution to “giving back” is to share the wisdom I have received from reading the Torah daily – and putting it back out into the world as a gift. It’s not much – but it’s what I have to give.

It doesn’t HAVE to be money.  We are coming to the end of the third cycle of Torah I have studied.  In 5781, I began reading Torah for myself. In 5782, I began sharing a commentary of the Torah daily on facebook.  In 5783, I dug deeper and began to apply concepts from the Torah and my previous commentaries to work towards spiritual freedom and liberation.  I don’t share all of what I am learning – but I share a lot.

But this isn’t about me – this is just an example.

How do we “begin again?”  The Torah cycles. The moon cycles. We have Genesis. We have the new moon.  What does that look like for us?

We have one week until the new moon of Elul.  This is a perfect time as we come through the darkness and into the light – as we approach the final moon cycle before Rosh Hashanah – how will we “finish strong” in 5783?  How do we “begin again?”  It is time to start setting our intents for Elul – and – setting our intents for 5784.  What do you want to accomplish? What do you what to do.  But more importantly? Who do we want to BE?

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 28 Av, 5782

We are winding towards the new moon and the new month. Elul is coming, and that brings more new-ness as we enter into the days of awe. It also means we are coming to the end of the Torah; where we enter the promise land of liberation, and then finish out the book of Deuteronomy and then return to Genesis.

Let’s dig in!

Moses is telling the people to make sure they give back some of their bounty that God has provided from the produce of the seeds.

The idea here is that Charity builds wealth. It’s difficult to wrap our heads around this; but the more we put out into the world, the more that gets returned.

And why should we tithe when we become liberated? Because Moses tells us – so that we will continue to be in awe of the amazing things Hashem has done for us; for all time. It’s so we don’t forget.

One of the themes I see in Torah come up a lot is the idea of freedom and liberation breeding forgetfulness of what led to that freedom and liberation. And. The redemption that comes from remembering and turning around and re-establishing the remembering.

In Meditation (always gotta give credit to both Melissa Fallon-Korb and Michael Takahara for getting me started in meditation over two years ago!) one of the things I’ve learned is the concept of “begin again.” Each moment we get off track, we can return to our anchor point (mostly the breath) and just “begin again.” This simple practice really builds mind muscle to allow ourselves to move beyond our thoughts.

So – we can always “begin again” with this idea of giving charity; especially when we enter freedom and liberation.

Before COVID hit; I had a side gig (hoping to be able to start it back up soon). Whenever I got a job and got paid, I made sure to take a portion out and pay those who helped me gain the knowledge it took to do the training. I’ve reached out to people from my past with a contribution as a way to thank them for teaching me; for free. I share this not to pay myself on the back; but to give a practical example of things we can do to remember how we got to where we are!

How often do we gain things for free, accept them, and then don’t return that kindness to others when we are liberated?

That is the message here. Give back. Give tzedaka. From the Chumash:

“If you consider the many benevolent acts that you have done in the past, and will continue to do in the days and years ahead, you will surely realize that there is a great deal of meaning to life.”

Do good. Be kind. Live well, friends!

What are your thoughts?