Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 25 Tamuz, 5783
Today’s portion is about being “called out” by Hashem. The portion starts with Hashem telling Moses BY NAME which men will lead an inherit the lands for their tribes. I am making an assumption here that could be wrong – but it would see that there were likely different elders in each tribe. We have already experienced the political landscape a bit – so there may have been things happening within a tribe as elders were vying for leadership. But Hashem makes it clear.
Imagine THINKING you were going to lead the tribe and inherit the land, but Moses says “nope. Hashem has called Elidad to inherit the land for your tribe.”
Or – imagine thinking you are Elidad. Thinking someone ELSE was more worthy to lead and inherit the land. And Moses comes to your tribe and says “Hashem has told me – Elidad is inheriting the land!”
That would do a lot for Elidad, right? To know you were chosen? Even when it seems like you shouldn’t be.
I think we make the assumption these men called by Hashem KNEW they were going to be called by Hashem. I am not so sure.
What is the takeaway? Hashem knows our hearts. Because He is IN our hearts. We can trust that. If we THINK we are supposed to get something and we don’t? Maybe Hashem wants us to work on ourselves – to do some inner work. Become more self aware. Focus on Kindness, compassion, empathy – for ourselves and for others. If we are comfortable, we aren’t growing and developing towards spiritual freedom and liberation.
And if we do the work? We can trust we will be taken care of; and be placed in a position we may not think we are ready for; but Hashem knows we are.
We can trust either side of this, can’t we? Because even in the first part of this takeaway, the leaders who THOUGHT they should lead and weren’t chosen? They were being taken care of as well.
Trust. Faith. In Hashem. In our Neshama.
That is the takeaway (in my opinion) of today’s portion.
We then see there are those who did NOT receive an inheritance. They had a role to play too. The Levites. They were the priests. And they were given land within each city.
Our portion ends with the “cities of refuge” for murderers. Six cites – basically one city for every two tribes. Places for a “murderer” to flee. And we will get into that tomorrow. Keeping in mind that Kabbalah considers every sin to be a type of “murder.” Looking forward to closing this out tomorrow on Shabbat!
Until then, enjoy your friday! And tell me your thoughts!
My commentary from a year ago:
We then get into the sixth portion; and God calls men out by name for Moses to know who will inherit the lands. He goes through each tribe and which elder should get the land.
That is tough, right? Imagine being a leader of a tribe and NOT having God call your name with Moses? How disappointed would you be?
Finally, we close out the portion today with the Levites. They didn’t receive an inheritance. Instead, God tells Moses to command Israel to give the Levites cities to live in from their inheritance. In addition, they were to give the Levites open spaces around the cities to enhance their beauty.
God lays out the portions of these cites and open spaces.
Then we see something interesting. God has Moses command the people to designate six “cities of refuge.” These were places the Torah says “a murderer could flee.”
That is interesting – and it’s something we will explore in tomorrow’s portion.
But that God designed a way for even murderers to have refuge is interesting.
According to Kabbalah, every sin is a kind of “murder.” It’s a metaphorical spilling of blood. Looking forward to exploring this concept tomorrow!
Until then, May your day today be filled with new possibilities! May we not forget the lessons of the month of Tamuz; and May we see in the darkness over the next nine days.
One more article for us to consider; and I feel it’s beauty is incredible – the idea of grief and love:
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