8 Sivan, 5783 - Tikkun Olam 47

on May 28, 2023

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 8 Sivan, 5783.

Today we start Parsha Naso. Please see last year’s comments for context.

It’s a short portion, focused on the physical component of our reality. When we left off in the last portion, it was focused on Merari – which I postulate represents our spiritual component mattering. We went into Shavuot – focused on the last of the Omer – and come out of it with a portion we discussed yesterday focused on “seeing.” That is a physical thing.

We do this spiritual work within us, so that our physical reality transforms. So we can “see.” Parsha Naso means literally “lift.” This (to me) indicates strength.

How we view ourselves (As physical bodies with a soul inside vs. A spiritual soul with a body wrapped around us) is critical. And I think this week’s parsha shows us – if we take care of the spiritual, we can then live physical lives that are satisfying!

What are your thoughts?

My Commentary from a year ago:

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 6 Sivan, 5782

Chag Sameach! It’s Shavuot!

Today is the day we celebrate the first fruits. And the feast of weeks because it has been 7 weeks since Passover.

What are the first fruits of the freedom we’ve experienced since leaving our personal Egypts? Are we bringing those to Hashem? Are we feeling good about what our freedom has produced?

This weeks Parsha is called “Naso” which means “lift.”

The idea (from the Chumash I am reading from) is that the “Torah should not be limited to the realm of the academic or even the spiritual. It should affect you deeply, lifting you to a higher plane.”

One of the pieces of this week’s Parsha is the idea of restitution. The Chumash I’m reading says this; “confession is important, but a person must also make restitution to those that he has wronged. Only then can he ask for God’s forgiveness.”

It was very interesting that the past seven weeks since Passover has had me reaching out to people to ask them to forgive me for things I had done in the past that I have been holding onto. Some I’ve been holding onto for over 30 years.

In addition – I have needed to ask myself for forgiveness for how I have treated myself. I am learning about how to make restitution to myself- that is a difficult process. Fortunately, I have some amazing friends to help me with this; reminding me to practice self-compassion and self-empathy.

As we start today’s portion, we see that we focus on Gershon. Remember when we discussed Gershon, Kohath and Merari, Gershon represented the physical.

The focus was on specifically what they were to do; they carried the outer coverings of the tent of meeting.

What is interesting is that Gershon was the firstborn. But he came second after Kohath. We may be able to learn from this that our spiritual cognition may be more important than our physical. And we won’t develop this until later. And it makes sense. As babies it’s all physical. That is the first-born thing.

So, our first fruits my need to be physical because they came first; but also, spiritual because they are more important.

What are your thoughts?

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