Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 7 Iyar, 5784 –Day 22 of Omer
Parsha ‘Emor – “Speak” (Leviticus 21:1 – 24:23)
Fourth Portion: Leviticus 23:1 – 23:22

Good morning! We are now shifting from a week of compassion to a week of VICTORY! Endurance is the theme this week. We endure to victory!

From Chabad on the week ahead:

Week Four – Netzach (Victory! Endurance)

Endurance and ambition is a combination of determination and tenacity. It is a balance of patience, persistence and guts. Endurance is also being reliable and accountable, which establishes security and commitment. Without endurance, any good endeavor or intention has no chance of success.

Endurance means to be alive, to be driven by what counts. It is the readiness to fight for what you believe, to go all the way. Without such commitment any undertaking remains flat and empty. It is an energy which comes from within and stops at nothing to achieve its goals. This, of course, requires that endurance be closely examined to ensure that it is used in a healthy and productive manner.

Ask yourself: How committed am I to my values? How much would I fight for them? Am I easily swayed? What price am I ready to pay for my beliefs? Is there any truth for which I would be ready to give my life?

Effective endurance needs to encompass the following seven ingredients: love, discipline, compassion, endurance, humility, bonding and dignity. The problems people have with endurance and commitment are due to a lack of one or more of these seven components.

Day 22: Chesed of Netzach – The Loving of Endurance (or the Love of Victory!)  From Chabad:

For anything to endure it needs to be loved. A neutral or indifferent attitude will reflect in a marginal commitment. If you have difficulty making commitments, examine how much you love and enjoy the object that requires your commitment. Do I love my work? My family? My choices?

For endurance to be effective it needs to be caring and loving. Endurance without love can be counterproductive. Raw endurance can come across as harsh and aggressive, which undermines the cooperation of others. Out of sheer determination one may often become controlling and demanding, driving others away. For endurance to be successful it needs a loving and caring attitude, it requires patience.

Does my endurance cause me to be, or seem to be, inflexible? Does my drive and determination cause me to be controlling? Am I too demanding? Do others (my employees, friends, children) cooperate with me out of the sheer force of my will and drive, or out of love? Is my endurance unloving? In order to get my way would I allow others to get hurt? Do I believe that the end justifies the means? Would I stop at nothing to achieve my goals? When my endurance prevails and I overcome the obstacles in my way, am I still loving? Even when defending myself and others against unhealthy influences, am I driven by love or hate (see week two, day one)?

Exercise for the day: When fighting for something you believe in, pause a moment to ensure that it is accomplished in a loving manner.

So let me share a bit more.    Over the last four years, I have developed some AMAZING emotional and spiritual disciplines. I have endured some hard times and kept at it.  Yesterday, I was struggling because I am just starting a new physical fitness routine, and I have been starting a financial fitness routine as well.

When I started running, I pushed myself as hard as I could as quickly as I could.

Day 1: I ran a quarter mile without having to stop and rest.

Day 2: I ran a third of a mile without having to stop and rest.

Day 3: I ran half a mile without having to stop and rest. I was feeling super good.

Day 4: I ran ¾ of a mile without having to stop and rest. I was feeling good. I stopped, walked. And when I started to run again? STABBING pain in my hip.  I could not run.

I shared this with a friend who was a runner and she challenged me – “tyler – you went all out from day one! That’s not how you do this!”

What I did NOT realize – like my spiritual and emotional practices? I needed to start small. Slow. And build up.

Four years ago, when I was meditating, I could only do a minute or two. Now I am able to do 30-40.

Four years ago, when I started journaling, I was writing one or two sentences a day. Now? I can write so much I have to set a timer to stop.

All of this to say? Endurance needs to start with love.

With this, let’s dig into today’s portion:

23:1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: The Lord’s appointed [holy days] that you shall designate as holy occasions. These are My appointed [holy days]:

So. The Torah is clear. We are about to get the HOLY DAYS.  These aren’t holidays.  These are days that are holy.

3[For] six days, work may be performed, but on the seventh day, it is a complete rest day, a holy occasion; you shall not perform any work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

The Sabbath. Holy Day. Set apart.  On the seventh day. Side note: This is Friday night until Saturday night.

4These are the Lord’s appointed [holy days], holy occasions, which you shall designate in their appointed time:

5In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, in the afternoon, [you shall sacrifice] the Passover offering to the Lord.

6And on the fifteenth day of that month is the Festival of Unleavened Cakes to the Lord; you shall eat unleavened cakes for a seven day period.

7On the first day, there shall be a holy occasion for you; you shall not perform any work of labor.

8And you shall bring a fire offering to the Lord for a seven day period. On the seventh day, there shall be a holy occasion; you shall not perform any work of labor.

Next appointed time? Passover.  We just finished this period of time.

9And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

10Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you come to the Land which I am giving you, and you reap its harvest, you shall bring to the kohen an omer of the beginning of your reaping.

11And he shall wave the omer before the Lord so that it will be acceptable for you; the kohen shall wave it on the day after the rest day.

12And on the day of your waving the omer, you shall offer up an unblemished lamb in its [first] year as a burnt offering to the Lord;

13Its meal offering [shall be] two tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with oil, a fire offering to the Lord as a spirit of satisfaction. And its libation [shall be] a quarter of a hin of wine.

14You shall not eat bread or [flour made from] parched grain or fresh grain, until this very day, until you bring your God’s sacrifice. [This is] an eternal statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

15And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day from the day you bring the omer as a wave offering seven weeks; they shall be complete.

This is the counting of the Omer – which we are doing.  We don’t have a temple, so we can’t offer the sacrifices. We are offering the sacrifice of time.

16You shall count until the day after the seventh week, [namely,] the fiftieth day, [on which] you shall bring a new meal offering to the Lord.

17From your dwelling places, you shall bring bread, set aside, two [loaves] [made from] two tenths [of an ephah]; they shall be of fine flour, [and] they shall be baked leavened, the first offering to the Lord.

18And associated with the bread, you shall bring seven unblemished lambs in their [first] year, one young bull, and two rams these shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, [along with] their meal offering and libations a fire offering [with] a spirit of satisfaction to the Lord.

19And you shall offer up one he goat as a sin offering, and two lambs in their [first] year as a peace offering._

20And the kohen shall wave them in conjunction with the first offering bread as a waving before the Lord, along with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord, [and] belong to the kohen.

21And you shall designate on this very day a holy occasion it shall be for you; you shall not perform any work of labor. [This is] an eternal statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

22When you reap the harvest of your Land, you shall not completely remove the corner of your field during your harvesting, and you shall not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. [Rather,] you shall leave these for the poor person and for the stranger. I am the Lord, your God.

This is Shavuot. This is the day the Children of Israel Received the Torah.

So right now, The Torah lays out the Sabbath, Passover, Counting the Omer, and Shavuot.  This is a cycle that kicks off the year. And it’s designed to be special and set apart!  Rest (Sabbath), Freedom (Passover), Mattering (Omer), and Direction (Shavuot).  This is the beginning of the journey.

Here are my thoughts from two years ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 10 Iyar, 5782

Today is the 25th day of the Omer

Today’s portion is really interesting because we are learning about the period of time which we currently find ourselves. We are going to study the two current festivals we find ourselves between and the counting of the Omer.

Todays portion starts with Hashem talking to Moses and telling him to tell Israel to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the festivals of God.

Hashem goes on to explain that just like the Sabbath (each Friday night to Saturday sundown), these festivals should be observed to the same degree. These are intended to be holy celebrations.

The festivals are connected to the agricultural cycle- Passover is a time when produce ripens, Shavuot is a time when the harvest comes, Sukkot is the completion of the harvest season.

It’s almost like Shavuot is our Memorial Day, and Sukkot is our Labor Day. Even in our current culture we have built our lives around this similar schedule – although robbed of its Jewishness.

So let’s get back to the passage – Passover is up first. We are given the mitzvahs of Passover. Read my Torah thoughts from two weeks ago, and you can see my thoughts about Passover. I want to focus on the Omer.

First, we learn about the Omer offering. Hashem tells Moses that when we come to the land He is giving us, and we reap its harvest, we should bring an “Omer-measure” from the first of our reaping to the priest.

The priest should wave the Omer in front of Hashem on our behalf. It should be waved on the day following the first rest day of Passover. And on that day, we should additionally offer up:

1. A perfect lamb in its first year as a burnt offering
2. It’s associated meal offering of 2/10ths of an Ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a fire offering
3. A quarter hin of wine.

We are also told that until this day (the first day following the rest day of Passover) we should not eat bread, parched grain flour or parched kernels from the new harvest.

Finally, we are told this isn’t just about the promised land. We are told this is a mitzvah throughout our generations In all the places we live.

So. Why don’t we do this? I am not sure I have an answer.

Finally, todays portion closes with the counting of the Omer and Shavuot. This is the season we are in right now.

The Torah says following this first day of Omer offering (the following Day after the first day of rest of Passover) we are to count seven weeks. We should count up to but not including 50 days. The day following the seventh week.

Now it’s interesting. We are today in the middle of the 25th day. 24.5 days have passed since the day of the Omer offering and 24.5 days are in front of us until the 50th day starts.

So we are right smack dab in the middle. Between the ripening and the harvest. The ripening of liberation and the harvest of liberation.

And on the 50th day, we are told to bring the first meal offering from the new crop to God.

Think about this. Liberation ripened on Passover. But we don’t bring the fruits of that liberation until Shavuot – 50 days later.

What journey are you on with liberation today? Take comfort that we are halfway there!

And what are we to bring on the 50th day?

1. From the places we live, we should bring bread that is designated for a higher purpose! 2 loaves made from 2/10ths of an ephah of fine flour. Baked leavened since they are the first meal offering to God.
2. With the bread, we are to offer 7 perfect lambs in their first year. One young bull. Two rams. These should be a burnt offering
3. One male goat as a sin offering.
4. Two lambs in their first year as a peace offering
5. The priest should wave the two lambs with the first meal offering bread as a wave offering before God. This should be done while the two lambs are still alive. This is unlike a normal peace offering which is of a lesser degree of holiness.
6. We should declare this day (the 50th day) a holy celebration for us. We should not perform any manual work. It’s an eternal statute in all the places we live, throughout our generations.

Let’s stop for a second. We are called to celebrate Shavuot everywhere. Why don’t we? Even as a Jew, growing up in a conservative synagogue- Shavuot was discussed but we never really “celebrated” it. Passover? Sure. Rosh Hashanah? Sure. Yom Kippur? Sure. Sukkot? Yup. But Shavuot really didn’t seem to be a big deal. maybe that’s my perception as a kid; but I know I didn’t have to take off from school for Shavuot.

The portion today closes with this:

7. When we reap the harvest of the land, we should not completely remove the corner of our field during harvesting. It should be left for the poor. Nor should we gather the individual stalks of the harvest that have fallen; those should also be left for the poor and the convert.

There is an interesting note from Rabbi Meir Simchah of Dvinsk about this practice:

“Why does the Torah make mention of the gifts left over for the poor in the middle of detailing all the festivals? After the Torah commands us regarding the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot), which is associated with the giving of the Torah, we are told immediately about the moral obligation to give charity to the poor to stress that the Torah comprises not only suprarational decrees and spiritual matters, but also a deep sense of humanitarianism.”

I really appreciate this thought. As we recognize today being the middle of this period of our own personal journey of liberation and freedom, it would be easy to hyper focus on ourselves. Yet we are called to also think of others on this journey. How are we focusing on others at the same time we journey within?

Those are my thoughts. How about you? What are your thoughts?