Numbers - Cycle One - 3002-3242 - Mattoth

Mattoth is about the shifting of earthly light as it flows from and into the divine. It’s about duality. By duality I mean that our light re‐creates itself constantly to fit with a finer vibration. This fit is not static. We, as carriers of sparks, are always expanding, contracting, merging, pulling, kissing, pushing back, breaking apart, forming one shape, new shapes, new textures, new dimensions, new reflections. We, as carriers of sparks, are always bleeding and breathing into ourselves, into each other and the sacred. Of course, this reality can bring about every circumstance imaginable. In Mattoth, we learn how to deal with a few. We also learn that at the center of all vibrations, there is a stillness, a solid breath and shine so profound that, like fine metal, it can support the eternal flow, fit and shift of love. From that center, human changes are not nearly as seismic as they might seem.

In Mattoth silence honors shifting light. What we read in the lines is that if a woman takes a vow (for example, one of deprivation) the vow can be repealed by the spoken word of the patriarch in her home. Given silence, the vow remains. A vow in Torah is serious. It is an announcement of a deliberate shift and not to honor it slams down the flow of divine consciousness and shows disrespect for others. Jacob, in Genesis, is punished for not satisfying his vow in a timely manner. A description of the naziritic vow (Naso 6:2) goes on for 21 lines, the detail in which underlines its importance.

Back to Mattoth, as the divine spark flows out of a woman, she re‐shapes herself and creates others. Therefore, she symbolizes shift and her vow brings integrity to herself and to it. Silence from the light around her (in this case, the patriarch) honors her vow as one that brings greater connection, balance and intimacy with the divine. It’s a beautiful decree; simple. What’s interesting is that while in Mattoth, a woman must have a man’s permission to satisfy a vow, in Naso (6‐3) a woman can satisfy the naziritic vow, thereby becoming as holy as the priests. This, for me, is support that we are not so much dealing with male chauvinism as we are with the ever changing, evolving and merging fit man to woman, man to man, woman to woman, all to all, all with one.

Sometimes, no matter how painful, it’s clear that the fit is impossible, that the light has separated from the whole. At that extreme point, God tells us how to achieve the divine. In Mattoth, the Israelites attack the Midianites. Pinchas is placed in charge of the sacred objects and we are reminded of the integrity and purity of shifting light as we expand and contract (Balak 25:7 and Pinchas). The attack on the Midianites signifies a continuation of purification and expansion but now we must also consider what we are bringing in. We, the Israelites, return victorious with thousands of widows. And God orders us to kill them.

These women, who engaged in Bal Peor, symbolize the shifting light that is now left vow‐less, without integrity, without even silence to accept it On the contrary, not a husband or a father but God has spoken against them. In their very existence they can no longer merge as light forms, merely as human bodies. Connection is impossible. Such shifting lost light must be cut off from the merging whole. This is not about the murder of innocent victims. If we want to focus on that we can; then we will become the murderer or the victim through our very focus. No, it’s about the integrity of our shift as we expand and about sparks, that, because of their very nature, can’t blend or merge. It’s about the extreme work involved in sustaining divine consciousness (maybe divorce, surgery, bankruptcy and/or the doing away of pieces of ourselves if they defy sacred balance). We can even look at the words that God spoke to Jeremiah (in the Haftorah section)…that the Israelites, as a people, are to root out and to pull down. We must remember however, that the killing of the Midianite widows is a final action, not an everyday excuse to obliterate hurdles, or even a solution to solve problems around great expansion.

In contrast to the widows, there are spoils that we can bring in. If we refer to the Haftorah, God tells Jeremiah that, after the rooting out, the Israelites are to build and to plant. We see this possibility when we read about the tallies of spoils. These animals and objects all represent shifts of light that, in the long run, become our breath. We must pay attention to the movement of these divine sparks as they enter into us, understand how they can best connect and morph and flower with the sacred, how they can best help us build ourselves into the sacred. It’s important to see ourselves as not single beings but as part of the whole so that we can create the best fit possible. When we see that not one warrior was killed, not one spark lost, there is more expansion and connection and this brings us even closer to the divine.

We also see a situation in which a shift of light could easily create balance but has to shift around even more. This happens when the families of Reuben and Gad want their livestock to roam on the conquered land. Moses says no. The families vow to be warriors for the Israelites and then return to their homes when divine consciousness, the land of milk and honey, is achieved. Moses than says yes. The vocalization of the acceptance contrasts with a vow accepted in silence. Clearly, when there has been a previous negation, acceptance must be clear and loud.

In the end, what we see is that as light shifts and morphs, purification is necessary. If we look at the metals, that which was used over fire must be brought over fire again then sprinkled with water. Here we have a balance of light with light, fire with fire. The metals do not change. They remain the same as they receive the flow of life from the water. This sameness, this merging of two fires with life flow, symbolizes the solid divine at the center of human and earthly transformation. It is where we yearn to be, and it is at the center of Mattoth.

As humans shift in attempts to fit their light, may we watch from the perspective of the metals at the center of the two fires. Yes, may we experience earthly changes from the solid divine so that we may flow eternally with God’s love. May we be discerning and careful in our cutting off of light (in the rooting out and pulling down) as it expands and merges. And as the shifting becomes almost seismic, may we build and plant. May we focus on peace and therefore be in peace. May we know and be God.