Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
September 7th 2012 -Volume 2, Issue 43 –19th of Elul
5772
Parshat Ki Savo
Timely Message
Nobody likes to hear Pesach
or Haggadah Dvar Torahs after Pesach. People pretty much overload on them
during the Seder. The little kids with all their questions from Gan or school.
The yeshiva Bochrim with their boxes of notebooks full of Drashos that their
Rebbe has been packing them up with so that we feel we are getting something
out of our High School Yeshiva education. Frankly I’d be a little happier with
some more help cleaning out the car of Chametz and checking the maror and other
errands then lengthy Dvar Torahs but that’s just me. But by the time Pesach is
over I am certainly not interested in any more Dvar Torahs about the Seder. I’m
not interested in Matzah Brei or Matzah lasagna either. Same thing with
Chanukah. I don’t want Latkas (or jelly doughnuts) after Chanukah or Hamantash
after Purim. I love them on their respective holidays. But the second the day
is over. I’m done. The exception being chulent after Shabbos. But that’s
because we have a special relationship. Years of Yeshiva food trained me to
appreciate chulent until even Monday. And I haven’t lost it yet.
Now where am I going with
all this? Well when one opens this week’s Torah portion and pays attention to
the reading one all of sudden might hear the familiar sound of the Haggada
reading as the Torah recites the confession of one who brings his Bikurim/
first fruit offerings (on Shavuot incidentally another holiday that is long
gone).
And you shall call out and
say before the Lord, your God, "An Aramean [sought to] destroy my
forefather, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a small
number of people, and there, he became a great, mighty, and numerous
nation. 6. And the Egyptians treated us
cruelly and afflicted us, and they imposed hard labor upon us. So we cried out
to the Lord, God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our
affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
8. And the Lord brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and with an
outstretched arm, with great awe, and with signs and wonders. 9. And He brought us to this place, and He
gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
The question of course is
why are we reading this now. Pesach or Shavuot makes sense but this is Rosh
Hashana season. Now if you then turn to me and say listen Rabbi it just happens
to fall out this way in our annual cycle. The Talmud however tells us that even
in times when there would be a tri-annual cycle they would pause and read the
Torah reading of Parshat Ki Tavo the week before Rosh Hashana in order to read the
blessings and curses at the end of the portion before the end of the year. This
seemingly misplaced reading of the Arami- being Lavan of course, who tried to
kill our forefather Jacob and the eventual Egyptian exile and redemption,
however was also included. So there must be a message in ti for us as well. And
I don’t think it is to think about the Matzah Brei.
There is an interesting
Rashi that notes that the word in Hebrew destroys when it mentions the
Arami is actually not necessarily literal (thus the above brackets {sought
to} are our own). Meaning that Lavan in fact was unsuccessful in
destroying us, proof being- we are here reading this E-mail today. Rather Rashi
says that he tried to kill Yackov and de-facto his children however Hashem
thwarted his plan. Yet Hashem considers the thoughts of evil-doers as if they
had actually committed the acts. In a similar vein the Talmud tells us that
righteous who try to do acts but are unsuccessful- for example one gives
charity to someone who is a fraud, one places on tefillin that may not be
kosher, one tries to make it to Minyan or read an entire Torah email but
somehow doesn’t make it through. As long as one puts in all his best effort
Hashem considers it as if he fulfilled the Mitzvah.
Rabbi Yochanan Zweig notes
that the reason for this Divine rule is that when an evil person like Lavan is
committed to doing something destroy us there is virtually nothing within take nature
that can stop him. (One can certainly that same lesson today with our enemies
who are constantly shooting missiles and attacking us throughout the years with
overwhelming odds and yet…). The reason they are not successful is because of
extra Divine intervention. Thus it is considered as if they have accomplished
their goals. It is for that reason that we thank Hashem as if they had
destroyed us and He saved us.
Perhaps even more
inspirational is that the opposite is true as well. When a Jew sets his mind to
do a mitzvah, a good deed, an act of Godliness, there is no natural physical
force that would prevent him from accomplishing his goal. It’s a rule of nature
in as much as gravity is. The only reason why we would not be successful is
because there is some type of Divine plan and intervention that prevents us
from actually carrying it out. Hashem does not make us lose out as a result of
that. We are rewarded as if we actually accomplishe what we set out to do.
Which then brings us from
Pesach when we first experienced the attempt to destroy our people, and Shavuot
when we bring our first fruits to Hashem saying that we have actually done all
you have asked of us. Meaning you have blessed us with the opportunity to
actually fulfill the mitzvah to its culmination. To the holiday of Rosh Hashana
when we add in this extra Torah reading as we examine our actions of the
previous year and pray for a renewed better one this coming year. One of the
greatest challenges as we approach this special day is the feeling of
un-worthiness many of us have. If you were God would you invest in you for the
coming year to serve Him, to emulate His ways, to be his “face-man” for the
rest of the world? We look at all of the things that we had meant to accomplish
this past year, so many of the resolutions we might have made to improve and
here we are at the same place again. From where do we get the chutzpah to ask
for another chance of after all our failures?
The answer I believe lies
in this mitzvah of Bikkurim. Hashem does not judge us as much on our action
rather on our sincere, realistic and meaningful decisions to accomplish. All it
takes is for us to resolve to be better and make our best efforts to make amends
of the ways of our past and it is as if we have actually done so. We are
renewed. We are fixed. We are considered as if we have changed; For Hashem
considers the act of the righteous as if they have done them. The caveat is
merely that we actually have to mean it, believe it and understand that it is
our nature to be close to Him. All of our mistakes are against our nature. They
are, because we don’t believe that we have it in our power to achieve the
greatest of heights that we know Hashem has created us to achieve. As we enter this last week of the year it is
our chance to end off the year with this life changing perspective. Hashem
doesn’t expect us to become entirely different over night. He just wants us to
know that it is in our nature to become great and the failures that we
experienced in the past are not necessarily all our fault and certainly do not
change our inherent potential to become His special children. To make our
Father proud.
Have a magnificent Shabbos
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
For
all of my beloved readers that would also like to join in this merit before the
High Holidays and would like to help us support our programs and projects please
click on the following link for our High Holiday Young Israel campaign.
Contributions can be made in memory of a loved one, and in honor of Simcha or a mere appreciation for your weekly
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Thanks
so much for your support!
Israel Supreme Court- As we approach the day of judgement it might be worthwhile to take a short visit of the truly inspiring building of the Israel Supreme court. Located right near the Knesset in Jerusalem the building stands out with all kinds of architectural symbolism of the Jewish perspective of Justice. The building which was opened in 1992 on the hundred birthday of James Rothchild (donated by the Rothchild foundation) has no regular entrance way rather it is designed like a street thouroughfare in order to give a sense that the court is not for the elite but for all who wish to be heard. In fact as opposed to United States Supreme Court which hears less then a hundred cases a year that they handpick in Israel the Supreme Court hears over 10,000 cases and serves as the court of appeals as well with 15 judges total and generally three justices presiding over a case.
The building has one main wall that is designed like the Kotel that flows through the building connecting it’s relationship to the Sanhedrin that once sat on the Temple mount. There is a pyramid dome in the center hall that can also be seen to symbolize the mountain of Sinai which hashem held over the Jewish people when we received the Torah .The building itself is full of geometric designs of circles (Ma’agalei Tzedek/ circles of justice) and straight lines and squares (Chukim Yesharim/ Laws that are straight). The court is open for anyone to visit and one can see the museum there as well that discusses many of the courts famous (and infamous decisions).
RABBI SCHWARTZES ROSH HASHANA VIDEO LINK OF THE WEEK
http://www.aish.com/h/hh/video/What-Makes-Rosh-Hashanah-Beautiful.html
RABBI SCHWARTZES JOKE OF THE WEEK
Moishe was heading out of the Synagogue one day, and as always Rabbi
Mendel was standing at the door, shaking hands as the congregation departed.
The rabbi grabbed Moishe by the hand, pulled him aside and whispered
these words at him: "You need to join the Army of God!"
Moishe replied: "I am already in the Army of God, Rabbi."
The rabbi questioned:
"How come I don't see you except for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?"
Moishe whispered back: " I'm in the secret service........."
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