Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 5 Nisan, 5784
Parsha Tazria’ – “Conceives”: (Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59)
Seventh Portion: Leviticus 13:40 – 13:54

Good morning! I am home in Philadelphia, so I posted this ahead of time. I have written SO Much the past two years about this portion. And it is fitting given my blog yesterday.  This Parsha is the “conception” of an awakening opportunity for all of us.

Are we a safe space for others to unpack their guilt and shame? This is a fundamental question. And it likely the ultimate in love.

First. Here is the portion from the Torah:

55Then the kohen shall look [at it] after the lesion has been washed. And, behold! the lesion has not changed in appearance, and the lesion has not spread; it is unclean. You shall burn it in fire. It is a penetrating lesion on the worn or new [article].

56But if the kohen looks [at it] after it has been washed, and behold! the lesion has become dimmer, he shall tear it out of the garment, out of the leather, or out of the warp or woof [threads].

57And if it appears again on the garment, the warp or woof [threads] or any leather article, it is a recurrent growth [of the lesion]. You shall burn it in fire [the article] upon which the lesion is [found].

58But the garment, the warp or woof [threads] or any leather article which is washed, and the lesion disappears from them, shall be immersed a second time, and it shall be clean.

59This is the law of a lesion of tzara’ath on a woolen or linen garment, warp or woof threads, or any leather article, to render it clean or unclean.

Now – here are my thoughts from the past two years. Read these with the foundation of unpacking our guilt and shame:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 28 Nisan, 5783

13th day of the Omer

My 51st birthday.

Ok. I am taking a hint. I have tried to post thoughts TWICE this morning, and because I clicked on the wrong spot? they vanished into the ether.

So i am going to receive the universe giving me the sign that i need to hold off on what i am trying to share. I am reflecting on the idea of control.

Stressing about what I cannot control. It’s not helpful.

The key words and concepts I wanted to share were:

• Capricious
• Malevolence
• Bonding
• Discipline.

The conception of our wounds.

Moving from the wounds being create to identifying with our wounds.

• Healing.
• Renewal
• Newness

For now, let me share from Chabad on the Omer. Then I will post last year’s commentary. I will trust Hashem to use this in whatever way he needs to.

13th Day of the Omer is about Bonding of Discipline.

From Chabad:

For discipline to be effective it must be coupled with commitment and bonding. Both in disciplining yourself and others there has to be a sense that the discipline is important for developing a stronger bond. Not that I discipline you, but that we are doing it together for our mutual benefit.

Exercise for the day: Demonstrate to your child or student how your bonding with each other is an essential ingredient in discipline and growth.

I’d be curious if any of this lands with you. What are your thoughts? I may be in need of receiving a message from all of you instead of GIVING you all thoughts for the day. It is my hebrew birthday after all!

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 1 Nisan, 5782

According to Talmud, today is also the day the world was created! Happy birthday world!

The theme of this month is renewal and newness! We have passed through a double Adar, which hopefully brought us all Mazal (fortune, positivity) and now we sit with newness in front of us! It is time to be liberated from our past (like the Jews in Egypt we will remember on Passover this month). Kabbalah teaches that new life force and new potential is now ready to manifest itself!

According to the attached article, “We are not referring to just renewal, but an even more essential power to reveal new insight and spiritual energy altogether.”

For more on this month; read for yourself! But wow! Time to clean up and get ready for excitement!

Let’s dig into the Torah portion;

Yesterday we discussed lesions of the garments.

As I’ve been reflecting on this; in our discussions this week we looked at lesions of our mind and of our heart. I’m reflecting that maybe garments might refer to our speech. Garments are something we wear and are in a sense how we interact with the world around us. I’m internally reflecting on what words we use connecting with what clothes we wear.

When a lesion develops in our speech and how we talk about and to others, and how we listen, I think there is a need to examine it.

What do you think? Ok; now let’s dig in!

To recap yesterdays portion, if a lesion develops on a garment – it was to be shown to the priest. Priest examines garment, quarantines for 7 days.

After 7 days priest re-examines the garment if it’s spread the garment is ritually impure. The garment must be burned.

I’m reflecting on this with speech. If we say something negative about someone – that becomes a potential lesion. Waiting for seven days to see the impact of that speech, and if it spreads to the community (like gossip) than we should be condemning that speech.

Judaism does allow for negative speech in certain circumstances, so we need to be clear on that; but it comes down to the intent of saying something negative about someone (this is referred to as Leshon Harah). But let’s get back to the recap of yesterdays portion;

After the seven days of quarantine, If the lesion has not spread it should be cleaned and then quarantined for an additional seven days. And that is where yesterday’s portion ended.

When it comes to speech, if someone says something negative and it doesn’t spread, maybe there needs to be follow up with kind speech, to try and clean the original leshon harah? Again I am speculating here.

Today’s portion begins with the end of the second quarantine period after the garment has been washed;

• If the lesion has not faded in appearance and it hasn’t spread it is ritually impure; it should be burned.
• If the lesion has dimmed, the priest should tear the lesion out of the garment and burn the portion that had the lesion on it
• But if the lesion returns on the garment, then it needs to be burned
• If the lesion disappears on the garment, it should be washed a second time- and it will be pure.

How does this relate to our speech? If I am speaking about someone – and I realize there is a lesion in my speech, and I have committed leshon harah, I need to examine it myself first, then bring it to a priest (someone I trust) to have them examine it. Then I need to spend time reflecting on why I said it; what is driving me, wash it, and observe it.

As an example, in my meditation practice (3 years now – big thank you to Michael Takahara for gifting me this practice) we will sometimes meditate and practice radical empathy. Wishing someone who we may have negative feelings for from our past (think toxic boss) peace, joy, ease and freedom from danger. This would be a way to “wash” our soiled garments. Now; In order to do this, we need to recognize the garments being soiled to begin with.

I have found practicing radical empathy (as opposed to ruinous empathy – read “Radical Candor” on that topic) isn’t about the other person; it’s about washing my soul to be clean and pure. I feel lighter after these practice sessions.

Just something to reflect on.

Oh. One more thing. Probably the most important. The bigger lesion of our words? Is the words we speak about ourselves. How often do we commit leshon harah about ourselves? Speaking negatively (Even inside our head) about our actions, behaviors, motives? This spreads like a lesion in our minds and souls. Practicing radical SELF empathy is another great practice I’ve been learning through meditation. We can “wash” our underwear (under garments) by saying to ourselves “may we be happy, may we be at peace, may we be free from danger, may we be at ease.”

Because like garments – we have the clothes we share with the world (our outer garments) and the clothes we don’t (our under garments). This weeks Torah portion doesn’t seem to distinguish that at all.

So what do you think? This was such a good portion for me to reflect on.

Enjoy your sabbath and the new month! As I do every Shabbat, Haftorah thoughts will be in the comments below!

Haftorah thoughts:
Todays Haftorah comes from 2 Kings 4:42- 5:19.

It recounts the story of the healing of Naaman’s lesions (Tzara’at).

There are two miracles we see in this weeks Haftorah- and for my Christian friends, you may be surprised at what you read.

We start the portion with a man bringing bread from the first harvest to Elisha, the man of God. 20 loves of barley bread, and fresh grain as well.

Elisha tells the man to give it to the people to eat; which is ridiculous because 20 loaves was not going to feed 100 men. It was not enough.

Elisha tells him to give it to the people, and not only will it be enough, “they will eat and have food left over.”

So the man placed the food before the people. They are. There was food left over. Just as God had said.

Now. Let’s sit with this for a moment. We often times believe we don’t have enough – enough friends, enough money, enough food, etc. and yet when we connect with Hashem we can see we have enough and more; left overs! That is amazing as a thought!

Ok. Now on to a second miracle –

Namaan was a commander of the king of Aram’s army, and was well respected! He was strong and willing to fight but couldn’t because he had Tzara’at.

Namaan had a wife who told her mistress that if Namaan’s request was brought before the prophet in Samaria, the prophet would cure him of his Tzara’at.

Namaan went to the king and the King of Aram told the servant to approach the prophet and he would send a letter to the king of Israel to instruct the prophet to cure him.

So Namaan went taking silver, gold, and clothing as a gift for the prophet.

Namaan gave the letter to the king of Israel, but the king didn’t really believe in the prophet and so the king of Israel thought the king of Aram was asking Namaan to be healed by HIM (the king of Israel).

This distressed the king of Israel and he tore his clothes in grief. He took it as a sign the king of Aram was declaring war!

But Elisha heard about this and sent a message to the king of Israel instructing him to send Namaan, so that he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.

Namaan came with his horses and chariots and stood at Elisha’s door.

Elisha told him to wash in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed and pure.

This made Namaan angry. Because Namaan had expectations on how this was supposed to go.

Namaan believed it was going to be a different process. He told himself a story of how it should go;

• Elisha would come out in his honor
• Elisha would stand before him respectfully
• Elisha would call out the name of God
• Elisha would wave his hand towards the Tzara’at
• Namaan would be miraculously healed

That is what Namaan had built up in his head on how this was supposed to go.

But no! Elisha was cavalier and just told him to wash in the Jordan seven times.

Namaan had some good servants around him; “if the prophet asked you to do something really difficult wouldn’t you have done it? All the more so when he tells you to do something easy. You should listen.”

Wow. Let’s stop for a moment. How often do we ASSUME healing will be hard? Dealing with our brokenness is going to be a challenge? Healing our trauma is going to be gut wrenching. We are looking for a miracle. But we have built up in our mind what that miracle should look like.

Now I’m not saying our healing isn’t a hard process, but I begin to wonder if maybe we miss things because solution seems to easy/simple. Do our own expectations get in the way?

Ok; back to the Haftorah.

Namaan bathed in the Jordan seven times and was healed. He had the skin of a young child.

He went back to Elisha. He said “now I know there is no God in the whole world other than in Israel.” And he wanted to give a gift to Elisha.

Elisha refused. He could not accept any gift.

Namaan then asked for earth to build himself an altar for the only God.

And then, he asked Elisha to ask God to forgive him because he was coerced to bow down when standing beside the King of Aram in the temple of Rimmon.

Elisha told Namaan to “go in peace.”

Wow. That’s some story! What are your thoughts?