Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 29 Av, 5784
Parsha Shofetim – “Judges”: (Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9)
Second Portion: Deuteronomy 17:14 – 17:20

Good morning! Today is a holiday in America – labor day. What are we giving labor to? And? These are the final moments of the month of Av. The new moon of Elul begins Tuesday night at sundown. We will shift into reflection – what has this past year looked like? What have we grown in spiritually? Where have stopped ourselves?

This is our time to set our intents.

14When you come to the land the Lord, your God, is giving you, and you possess it and live therein, and you say, “I will set a king over myself, like all the nations around me,”

15you shall set a king over you, one whom the Lord, your God, chooses; from among your brothers, you shall set a king over yourself; you shall not appoint a foreigner over yourself, one who is not your brother.

When we enter the promised land? We will possess the land and live in it. And? We will want a king.

Full stop.

We just left slavery. We wanted our freedom. And now we want to go back to a king?

For 5785? What will be the king we will appoint over our lives? Who do we want to serve?

My takeaway? Focus on one thing for the upcoming year:

Physical fitness, Financial fitness, Relational fitness, Emotional fitness, Spiritual fitness.

Just one thing. What can you do? What can you prioritize on a small scale? That could pay off bigger?

16Only, he may not acquire many horses for himself, so that he will not bring the people back to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, for the Lord said to you, “You shall not return that way any more.”

And? As we choose something to focus on? What we choose should not bring us back to Egypt in our other areas.

For example – if we are happy with the work we did in 5784, and have moved from slavery to freedom relationally? And we choose financial fitness? If we see that taking us BACK to relational slavery? That is a problem.

Choose our king.

17And he shall not take many wives for himself, and his heart must not turn away, and he shall not acquire much silver and gold for himself.

It feels like the message here is not to get distracted. Don’t get too involved.

18And it will be, when he sits upon his royal throne, that he shall write for himself two copies of this Torah on a scroll from [that Torah which is] before the Levitic kohanim.

“Two copies” could mean two Torah cycles here. So? Let’s do some math.

5782 was the last Sabbath year. It is interesting because I started posting my Torah thoughts that year.

5783-5784 was the first two year cycle. It is interesting, because I am finding myself exactly where I want to be relationally in this moment, as we come to the conclusion of 5784.

5785-5786 will be another two year cycle. The intents we set? It may take two years to get there. I know what my intent is going to be. Financial fitness.

5787-5788 will be another two year cycle. Then?

5789 is the next Sabbath year.

So we get three major areas to work on between Sabbaths. That is beautiful, isn’t it?

What are you thinking you want to work on for the next two years?

19And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, to keep all the words of this Torah and these statutes, to perform them,

20so that his heart will not be haughty over his brothers, and so that he will not turn away from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, in order that he may prolong [his] days in his kingdom, he and his sons, among Israel.

The Torah is the anchor for our journey. It’s a helpful guide.

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

Here is my commentary from the past two years:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 27 Av, 5783

So rereading my commentary from a year ago, I did NOT rewrite the Torah as I had considered.  However, I did REFLECT on the idea of a polyamorous king.

Within us, internally, I think we have different beliefs and values.  These values may be the “kings” within us.  If we start having too many?  The values and beliefs can start to conflict within us – creating disharmony and war within.

I wonder if Moses is telling us to be convicted of our values and beliefs. But not have too many of these out of concern for the energy it would take to keep them all in harmony and balance with one another.

When we are spiritually free, we will set a king over ourselves – something to ground us.  Because if we don’t? We may “fly away” and lose our footing.  Some call this grounding. Anchoring.

This weekend, I had a conversation with a friend – the idea of a tether vs an anchor.

A tether is something that keeps us from being free.  An anchor grounds our freedom when we need to connect.  If my boat is tethered, I am not going very far.  If it is anchored, I can pull the anchor up, go freely, and then when I need to pause, I can “weigh anchor” and just “be.”

Too many anchors, it will be hard to keep track, won’t it?

Finally, the goal of rewriting the torah is for the King to hear the suprarational commands.

Why?

Because (In my opinion) we are often “ruled” by understanding – and we STRUGGLE with the idea of “not knowing why.”  The suprarational commands were ways to connect with Hashem that often did not make “sense.”  We couldn’t understand “why?”  Hearing these we are required to make a choice – follow these opportunities to connect with Hashem and trust beyond our understanding – or set up for ourselves the “Kingdom of Understanding.”

In closing, this “Kingdom of Understanding?”  It sets ourselves up as king.  Because if we don’t understand something, we won’t submit to it’s rule. That is not a spiritually free life.  Sometimes we are called to follow even if we don’t understand.

One last thing. I’ve been learning about breadcrumbs. The difference between chasing breadcrumbs and following breadcrumbs.  (This is OBVIOUSLY an analogy).  If I am satisfied with bread, if I am NOT hungry, I can follow a trail of breadcrumbs, not knowing where it leads, and just live in a state of curiosity and adventure.  If I am STARVING? I will ravenously follow the breadcrumbs consuming each one – not out of curiosity – but out of desperation.  In a sense, I have turned my internal kingdom over to breadcrumbs.

This leaves us with a few questions for ourselves:

• What are our values, beliefs, and attitudes that rule our mind?
• What are our values, beliefs, and attitudes that rule our heart?
• Are these values in coherence with one another? Or are they conflicting?

Are we satisfied with these answers? Are we starving? Are we ruled by our hunger? Or are we ruled by our curiosity?

This is the path towards spiritual liberation and freedom!

I’d love your thoughts.

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 2 Elul, 5782

Another day of introspection! I hope yesterday was fruitful for all of us!!

Let’s dig in. Moses is continuing with his last lecture:

When we go into the land of promise – and we achieve true liberation, Moses tells us; we will eventually say “I will set a king over myself, like all the nations around me.”

This is interesting. Hashem isn’t telling us to set up a king for ourselves. But naturally we will desire to set up a king. I think about this spiritually. When we come into true liberation; and we have freedom – spiritual freedom; there will naturally come a point where we feel the need to be “ruled.” Is this because we get scared of the power we have to rule ourselves? As a community- do we fear conflict and power when it comes to liberation? These are my questions. Curious if you have any thoughts.

Here are the ”guidelines” Moses gives us for a king:

• We should always set a king over us, one whom Hashem will choose
• the King we appoint over ourselves must be from among our brothers
• We may not appoint a gentile over ourselves, one who is not our brother
• However, the king may not acquire many horses for himself (he should not be king and acquire wealth) except what he needs – horses for his chariot
• he should not take too many wives for himself, so his heart will not be led astray.

Um. Hold up. I thought we are supposed to be monogamous. The King who rules can have more than one wife? That seems curious to me. But he can’t have “too many” wives. There is a balance? I’m just chewing on that.

I’m trying to reflect internally what this might mean for our hearts. The internal king could have different marriages? Hmmmm. I’m chewing on this. What does this mean. I’m not sure I have answers.

Let’s keep going and close out the passage:

• the King should not acquire an abundance of silver and gold for himself
• after he is sitting on his royal throne; he should write two copies of this Torah scroll for himself, in the presence of the priests, the sons of Levi.
• one copy of the scroll should be placed in his treasury, and the other should remain with him. He should read it all the days of his life; so he may learn to hear it’s suprarational commands. This is so that his heart will not be arrogant over his brothers, and he will not veer away from even the smallest commandment, either to the right or to the left, in order that he will reign for a long time over his kingdom – he and his sons among Israel.

Ok. Interesting. I’m reflecting and chewing on what my task for 5783 should be. I’m not saying I’m the king; but we are ALL royalty. And if I accept my royalty, maybe over the next year I need to type out the Torah for myself. Maybe I take my Torah thoughts from 5782, repost them, and add the passages with them. I’m chewing on that as a goal for the next year.

Those are my thoughts. I’m not making a commitment just yet. But I’m thinking about it. Interesting.

What are your thoughts?

Internally; we are called to appoint for ourselves a king to rule over us internally. To ground us.