Karmiel

Karmiel
Our view of the Galile

Friday, July 26, 2013

The Non-Atkins Approved E-Mail- Eikev 2013/5773


Insights and Inspiration
from the 
Holy Land
from 
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"


July 26thth 2013 -Volume 3, Issue 39–19th of Av 5773

Parshat Eikev
The Non-Atkins approved E-Mail
Bentch-a-phobia, sadly this seems to be a recent illness that I have noticed amongst some Orthodox Jews. Unlike its accompanying neurosis fleish-a-phobia (the fear of being flieshigs-having eaten meat and then being prohibited from eating ice cream, chocolate or any other dairy product for the next 6 hours according to traditional Jewish practice) which seems to only be found amongst women and teenage girls; we guys know that a good steak or shwarma trumps an ice cream any day. Bentch-a-phobia, or the fear of eating bread and thus being obligated in having to take the extra 15 seconds to wash ones hands before eating (in general a good a practice, my mother taught me and my wife kind of enforces…with soap) and make a blessing and then spending the extra few minutes on the longer after-blessing called bentching that a bread meal requires, seems to be found by many Jews without any differentiation towards gender, age, and even meat or dairy orientation.

There are of course varying degrees in which some people suffer from this disease. There are some that will order the steak and shwarma plate meal, even though it is more expensive, rather than have to bentch (the Yiddish term for the after blessing). There are others though, perhaps more frugal, that will even order the hamburger and/or hot dog (because one is never enough) but make the extra effort to remove the bun in order not to bentch. I've even seen some people dump a beautiful shwarma and falafel onto their plate removing their pita or even worse their laffa and discarding it with the disdain that only broccoli or cauliflower deserves, just to avoid that 3 minute blessing afterwards; A true travesty, indeed. In fact entire industries of fruit-juice based bread products (rather than water which therefore does not give it the halachic status of bread and requiring the after blessing) have developed around this phenomena. Mezonot rolls (named after the shorter blessing), mezonot pizza- or alternately making sure not to eat more than one slice as starving as you may be are all just there so that people don't have to wash and  bentch. Certainly not for flavor. Oyy what our world has come to…

As this weekly E-mail's function is to inspire and address pressing issues amongst my fellow Members of the Tribe, and as this week's Torah portion contains this wonderful mitzvah of blessing, and being that it is the summer time and many are on vacation and seem to be in a rush and try to avoid the bentching (although from what I can see everyone has all the time in the world to examine the menu and decide what to order…if only people would bentch half as  long as it took them to decide what side dish they wanted-just choose the fries already…) there is no better time than to address the ills and maladies of this terrible disorder. The Torah commands us and we recite this portion twice a day in the 2nd paragraph of the Shema that when we will listen to the mitzvahs hashem has commanded us, Hashem will than bring rain and give us crops.

V'aChalta Vi'Sava'ata U'Veirachta Es Hashem Elokecha al Ha'aretz Ha'Tova asher Nasan Lach-And you shall eat and be satiated and you shall bless Hashesm your God on the good land which he gave to you.

This is in fact the only biblically commanded blessing in the entire Torah. That's right if one wants to fulfill a biblical commandment (rather than just the rabbinical commandment-that all other blessings are) than Bentch. In fact all of our organized prayers that we have today are rabbinical in nature. Shabbat, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, we are biblically obligated to celebrate, sanctify and observe these special days and according to some authorities we even have a biblical obligation perhaps daily to talk to God in times of need. But the only mitzvah where the Torah actually explicitly commands us to engage in a verbal communication with the Master of the World is right after you chow down on that big juicy corned beef sandwich on rye. It is as if Hashem is telling us, you want to get a mitzvah to talk to me. Eat a little challa, a croissant, a bagel a baguette and then we can schmooze. Then we have to schmooze. For it is than that you can really appreciate me. One slice of pizza, a mezonos roll, a salad…not so much. OK, the Rabbis said those also require and earn you a shorter blessing. But if you really want to connect, one must have some delicious bread.
Even more interesting about this blessing, now that I've convinced you to wash a little bit and sit down and grab a roll, is that the entire blessing to a large degree revolves around an appreciation of not just God, but of the land of Israel.

We thank you, Hashem our God, that you inherited to our forefather a land that is desirous, good, and spacious.
There is no land that is more special in the world. Everyone wants a piece of us. It is the land which the Torah portion tells us this week is playing non-stop on Hashems live feed wide screen heavenly screen 24/7 (OK maybe it doesn't say it in exactly those words). It is spacious. There is room for every Jew that wants to move here. If you are visiting or touring this country this summer with you family and want to impress upon them the beauty of Israel and our spiritual and ancestral connection to it, how can you not bentch and say these words?

The blessing continues with us recalling how we were redeemed from Egypt, our eternal covenant with Hashem, the Torah we were gifted with and the daily life, kindness and graciousness that we receive from Him. All because of that one slice of bread. Rav Ben Tzion Baruch, the founder of the Jerusalem branch of the Novhardok Yeshiva, in the 1930's shares another inspirational insight about this blessing. He suggests that as opposed to if one comes to someone's house for dinner and thanks them afterwards for the wonderful meal that they had. If one would begin to thank them for the table and chairs and house that they were hosted in it would be a little bizzare. Yet when one bentches we thank Hashem for everything and especially for the land of Israel for the wording of the blessing is not past tense it is present. It is more similar to a an analogy of someone who is thirsty and starving and all of a sudden a plane picks him up and brings him to a beautiful island with all the amenities one oculd ever possibly dream of. In that case of course one thanks their benefactor for everything. When we eat we are meant to appreciate that Hashem created all of this and allows it to exist only for our pleasure in order to him. When we eat that delicious meal we are meant to think about how he provided this special land, the rain, the crops and gave us our freedom and the medium of Torah and Mitzvos to express our gratitude and raise ourselves to higher spiritual level.

Finally, the last of the three biblical blessings that we make after we finished that luscious everything bagel and Lox sandwich with some cream cheese, red onion, and of course sliced juicy tomato (this is for those fleish-a-phobes), is the blessing for Hashem to have mercy and restore our Temple

Our God, Our Father-tend us…sustain us…support us…relieve us…. Rebuild Yerushalayim the holy city soon in our days.
Once we have realized that Hashem has not only created but continues to provide all that we need to survive and granted us this special land in which to fulfill our heavenly mandate, we than ask Him to finally restore to us our precious Beit Ha'Mikdash, our holiest Temple, His presence once again amongst our nation, so that we may have not just our  and the entire worlds physical needs but even more significantly our spiritual purpose fulfilled through that glorious destiny.

There is more to the blessing after the bread that we say. The fourth blessing the Rabbis added in that describes Hashems Divine providence in our daily lives and all types of other blessings and supplication. They shouldn't take you more than another three minutes or so. Maybe four minutes if you sing it and bang on the table and to the clapping NCSY hand signals that accompany the traditional tune. But I guarantee you there will be no better and more fruitful time spent your entire meal than in the few minutes after your bread meal reciting these meaningful words. Think about it when you sit there with your menu. You have the opportunity to order a meal and get a mitzvah and recite the oldest blessing in Jewish tradition. Or you can just have a salad.  Grab another piece of Challah, Forget about your Dr. Atkins  grain free diet. He died of a heart attack. I on the other hand am offering yu a wonderful whole grain, organic slice of heaven.

Have a wholesome delicious Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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 (answer below)
The Mishna was redacted by?
(a) Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi
(b) Rabbi Gamliel                                                                                                        
(c) Rabbi Yehudah HaNassi
(d) Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai
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RABBI SCHWARTZES QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Did you know that the Jews invented sushi? That's right - two Jews bought a restaurant with no kitchen.-Jackie Mason
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RABBI SCHWARTZ YOUTUBE LINK OF THE WEEK
Jackie Mason the funniest and truest description of Jews in a restaurant…If only we would bentch with that much intent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V4zYe23QLg

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RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-
Mitzpeh HaShalom- I love glorious views of Eretz Yisrael and perhaps one of the most inceredible lookouts you will have is from this amazing over the entire Kinneret down the Jordan valley and up to the Hermon and Golan Heights in the lower Golan Heights. Right off Highway 98 about 15 minutes up on the windiest and some say scariest road in Israel from Hammat Gader. (I say the most fun), this 315 meter high lookout point in Kfar Haruv is  truly breathtaking. As well the small settlement of Kfar Haruv founded after the Yom Kippur war on what was formerly a Syrian outpost that terrorized the below Yishuvim of Ein Gev and Ha'On around the Kinneret offers wonderful cabins and vacation suites, truly the perfect get away. Really a must see view for anyone up north in the lower Golan area.

Answer is C- Rabbi Yehuda Ha'Nassi "broke the rules" prohibiting the oral tradition of the Torah from being written down enacting the Torah's extenuating circumstances clause of Hora'at Sha'ah that the Torah provides in order to save the Torah from being forgotten in the advent of the destruction of the Temple being destroyed and subsequental prohibition by Hadrian of Jews living in Jerusalem. The six books of Mishna which was a collection of all of the traditions, rulings and teachings of the 1st and 2nd century sages in his period become foundation of all of jewish law and  the Talmud which followed in the 5th and 6th centuries is merely an elaboration of it. One can visit the great city of Tzippori today where the Talmud was writen and the grave of Rabbi Yehudah Ha'Nasi AKA Rebbi in nearby Beit Shearim. I can recommend a good tour guide if you want J

  


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Loving You- Va'etchanan Nachamu 2013

Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
 July 19th 2013 -Volume 3, Issue 38–12th of Av 5773

Parshat Va'Etchanan/Nachamu

Loving You

It’s a funny thing this thing called love. It’s hard to describe. The dictionary defines love as- a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. But anyone who has ever felt true love knows that it is an emotion that really can’t be put into words. What’s even stranger about love is that sometimes it can strike at the most unexpected moments. Last night as I went in to check on our three year old sleeping youngest, and found him curled up in a little ball with my yarmulke perched on his head and my necktie- I had been looking a week for- crumbled up in his hand as he was snoozing away, I just stood there for a few minutes overcome with that feeling of total love. Why? I don’t know-I can’t explain why that yarmulke and tie mean so much to me. I just know that I love them… just joking (sorry I couldn’t resist).

But jokes asides, our kids more than anyone elicit these feelings within us. We want to hug them at different moments out of the blue. Hold them close. Go on great trips with them. Show them how beautiful life is… how beautiful it can be-particularly in Eretz Yisrael. I have started our summer family Tiyulim and I can just sit back and watch all of these beautiful families around me basking in that love and all of that energy that parents are making to share the beautiful world with their children. The kids however? Not so much- as my children would say. How much longer? Can I have an ice cream? This is soooo boring… Why do we have to shlep around so much. Even worse are the older ones with the headphones implanted in their ears. They are in your car and with you on your trip in a twilight zone/alternate universe type of way. Their bodies are there, but their brains and souls have been captured by an alien ipod electronic god that slowly moves their heads to and fro every so often to the rhythm of a tune that has something to do with love.

But we love them anyways. We can’t explain why. It’s strange. Imagine if someone just showed up on our door one day, demanding to be fed, cleaned up after, laundered for, educated, put to sleep and entertained as well- for free. They were cranky, impatient; they fought with your other children and in general stressed you and your spouse out- sometimes even bringing the two of you to serious disagreements (a nice word). How would we react? With love? Do you think you would sit by their sleeping bed at night and just gaze in their beautiful face. Yet, if they’re our own children it all changes. A funny thing this love. But there’s certainly nothing more special and more desired in this entire world.

One would think with the unique nature and mystery surrounding the origin of this love, that it would be a hard thing to force or even command someone to have. It has to be something that comes naturally and unexplainably-not something that we can expect to elicit on our own if it is not there. Yet as Jews we know that perhaps the two greatest mitzvot we possess are the mitzvot to Love your friend as yourself- maybe because he is your friend it is easier (an interesting aside- the literal translation of the verse in the Torah is your friend-Rayacha, not like the more common mistranslation or wrongful Christian paraphrase of love your neighbor-which it does not say in the Torah- although there’s nothing wrong with loving him as well.) But perhaps even more troubling is the mitzvah in this week’s Torah portion which we read twice daily in the Shema-

And you shall love Hashem your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your possessions.

How can we be commanded to love God? Isn’t love something we either have or don’t? I can understand the mitzvah to revere or to honor God, to obey Him and even to relate to Him or imitate His ways as we are taught. Those are mitzvot that demand an action. But how does one elicit an emotion? We can’t exactly stand over God’s crib and bask in His beauty. What does this mitzvah mean? We recite it twice a day. It’s probably worthwhile to understand what it’s all about.

The Sefat Emet- the Rebbe of Ger suggests a very deep insight based on our questions. He seems to agree that it would be difficult for us to be commanded to have an emotional feeling for someone or something. One either has it or doesn’t. Therefore he concludes, it must be (and you can close your fist and stick out your thumb and swoop it up in the traditional yeshiva Talmudic motion) that if Hashem commanded it, we must already be programmed to have that emotion- to have that love. Loving our Creator is hardwired into our psyche. It’s there. It is in fact at the core essence of who and what we are- in as much as a parent possesses that same sense for one’s child. Being a Created being with a Divine soul means having an innate natural sense of overwhelming love for our Creator.

The problem with love though is that if it’s not expressed it gets buried and forgotten. If a parent never takes those moments to spend and focus on the love they have for their children, they can and will get so caught up in all the distractions of life to ever experience perhaps the most beautiful part of being a parent. If they never tell their children how special and important they are and how much they mean to us-not only will the children suffer, but we ourselves will be missing out on building and growing that incredible feeling and essence of life. It is in that vein Hashem commands us to express that inner self and love for Him. This is so that we may bring out the core of our souls. So that we may appreciate all that we are meant to be and feel.

With this understanding we can explain the beautiful, yet haunting story we read on Tisha’a B’av of the great sage Rabbi Akiva, who as his body was being ravaged by the Romans with iron combs declared to his students how he could withstand such torture.

“My whole life, I waited for this opportunity to declare my love for Hashem and now that it has come to my hand can it be that I will not fulfill it?”

And with the words of the conclusion of Shema he passed.

Rabbi Akiva was certainly not someone who had a death wish. He lived, enjoyed life and accomplished so much and had so much more to accomplish- more than any of us could ever hope to experience. So what does this perplexing statement mean? Perhaps the answer is as we have suggested. Rabbi Akiva was telling his students, that his whole life he wanted to experience this part of his soul that possesses such great love for Hashem even to the point of giving up one’s life. –to paraphrase an old love song- I will die for you , I will walk the world for you, everything I can do I will do for you. He waited his whole life to feel and express that powerful level of love which he knew was latent inside of him. At the end of his life he finally had the chance. His last lesson to us was how much and how deep that powerful love could be.

This Shabbat is called Shabbat Nachamu. It is the Shabbat after our intense mourning for our Temple that has still not been rebuilt. It is a time to remember that as we left and saw our Temple burning the Talmud tells us that the last image we saw was of the two cherubs embracing on top of the Ark- a miraculous phenomenon- leaving us the most important message, as we left into our long bitter and distant exile. Hashem loves us even with all that we had done. We had forgotten how much He meant to us. We had forgotten who we could be and what we could feel for Him. But He always- like a parent to a child- has that love for us. Sometimes we need to be far away to remember that love we had. Sometimes only losing that special person reminds us of how much they meant to us. May Hashem finally comfort His nation and return us all once again to His loving embrace so that we may once again truly feel the beauty of being His special children.
Have a passionate and loving Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz  

                                                                                          

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RABBI SCHWARTZES TOUR GUIDE COURSE QUESTION OF THE WEEK

 (answer below)

Pretty cool that this happened to be the question-as I'm going in order- for this week!

Which Jewish festival is known as the Festival of ingathering (Hag Ha'Asif):

(a) Sukkot

(b) Tu BiShvat                                                                                                               

(c) Passover (Pessach)

(d) Shavuot

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RABBI SCHWARTZES QUOTE OF THE WEEK IN HONOR OF TU B'AV (this monday)

"Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamliel taught There were no holidays so joyous for the Jewish People as Tu B'Av (the Fifteenth of Av) and Yom HaKippurim (The Day of Atonement), for on those days, daughters of Jerusalem would go out dressed in borrowed white clothing [so that they would all look the same and not embarrass those who didn't have nice clothing to wear]."
"And the daughters of Jerusalem would go out and dance in the vineyards located on the outskirts of the city. [And all the young men who were not married would go there and watch]."
"And what would the girls say?"
"Young man, lift up your eyes and choose wisely. Don't look only at physical beauty - look rather at the family - 'For charm is false, and beauty is vanity. A G-d-fearing woman is the one to be praised ..." (Proverbs 31:30)"
–Mishna Taaanit

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RABBI SCHWARTZ YOUTUBE LINK OF THE WEEK

In honor of our newest olim- Rabbi Orlofsky-poignant, hilarious, inspiring But those that love America more than Israel-  beware..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSVqi9e9e3A

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RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Tel Azeka- if you like places that are of Biblical significance Tel Azeka is a great place. On the north part of Park Britanica and right off the road past Beit Shemesh on the border between the upper and lower Judean Shefela/lowlands in the Elah valley one can visit this archeological Tell sit in the shad and pop open your Tanach and read about the famous battle of Yehoshuah when we first conquered the land and the hailstorm Hashem brought against the Emorites here, or better yet one can actually visualize the famous battle of David and Goliath and even go down the mound to the stream where David took his five smooth rocks for his slingshot. This was also the 2nd to last city the Babylonians took before the they destroyed our Temple. There is not a lot to see at this site although there are some caves and tunnels that were dug by the Bar Kochva revolt against the Romans to recapture Jerusalem that ultimately failed. Archeologists have uncovered remains of the walls and towers of the city and found seals that go back to the Temple period as well. But for the Tanach buff this is a great place to travel through centuries of Jewish biblical history.

 

 Answer is A- Again one more that most observant jews know, but many secular do not, forget about non- jews. These past few questions actually made me proud of the ministry of Tourism for demanding a basic Jewish holiday and of what they represent. Pesach is the festival of our redemption Tu B'Shvat the new year for the tithes of the trees and Shavuot the time of the giving of the Torah and the cutting of the crops. Sukkot though at the end of the agricultural cycle is when we gathered it all in.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Orientation of How-Devarim/ Tisha B'Av 2013/5773

Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
July 11th 2013 -Volume 3, Issue 37–4th of Av 5773
 Parshat Devarim/Chazon/Tisha B'av

The Orientation of How

I was the only man there. My wife had gone to Jerusalem for the day and it was me and Elka, my 6 year old, arriving at her/our 1st grade pre-orientation orientation. They do that here. So there I was with a bunch of mothers from Elka's class. It was so cute all of these former preschoolers holding tightly to their mother's skirts nervous about what this assembly will mean for them as they prepare for the next stage in their lives. I looked down at my beautiful little girl in order to share this special father/daughter moment. She in turn looked up to me with her cute little eyes and adorable accent and said "Daddy you cen go 'ome now, eets just for Eema's…"   and then she began to lead me so gently to the doorway-in case I didn’t understand her eengleesh. I happened to agree with her on this point. Yet knowing that my wife obviously would not be so happy with me leaving her there by herself, I tried explaining to her that I was like her Eema for tonight. I was not convincing. Elka ran off to play with her friends. I stayed in the corner and caught up on some phone/email work. She pretended I wasn't there. I played my part well. It was finally over and we reunited outside again. I was her Abba, she was my Elka and we walked hand in hand, family once again.

We are in the period of the "nine days" the week before Tishah B'Av that historical day of mourning and tragedy for our loss of our temple...our land… and the closeness we had with our Father. In this period, Jewish law and custom instituted practices of mourning for the Jewish people. We don't eat meat or drink wine during this period. I miss meat. Not just Israeli meat but a good slice of a Nebraska free-range red, white and blue cow.  We don't listen to music during this period of mourning. I miss music. My kids make a lot of noise in the back seat without the CD playing. My country drives are longer without the sounds of music making the hills alive. Bathing and swimming are limited and cannot be done for pleasure. No Kayak or nachal tours for me this week. The no-shaving thing doesn't bother me that much, although my mustache started to scratch me the past few days. The no-buying new clothing might be saving me some money, although it has certainly put a damper on my wife's clothing business. Our lives have changed for a little bit. But in another few days it will be over. We'll get past it. Summer vacation is just around the corner again and we will move on. But maybe we shouldn't…Maybe we shouldn't write off Abba so quickly…

Over the past two weeks of this period which our sages say will be one that will be a time of crying and mourning until we merit to return, I have read and heard heart-wrenching stories of terrible stories of young children dying in tragic "accidents". Infants drowning, a young girl, my older daughters age being killed by a car, a tragic suicide by a sick teenager. Parents who will never again hold their children's hand from Gan, see them at their Bar/Bat mitzvah, walk them down to their Chuppah. My eyes tear, my heart is ripped apart, my soul cries out. I can't empathize, because I can't imagine it. But I can't turn the pain off, because it is so great. For these families as they mourn, meat, muic, wine, bathing are not signs of mourning. They are expressions of the inner pain and loss. For them life will never be the same. And as they experience the intensity of the tragedy that has changed their lives forever they couldn't eat a steak or think about swimming and enjoying themselves if you paid them. They have lost their most precious treasure and nothing in this world has any allure anymore.

 

There is an incredibly moving Medrash in Eicha, the prophecy of Yirmiyahu that we read on Tisha'a B'Av. It describes the Hashem coming to the Jewish people to comfort us after the loss of our Temple. The Jewish people though refuse to be comforted, complaining that although we had sinned, yet where was His mercy, what of all those that sacrificed, that sanctified, the Torah we alone accepted, the songs and prayers we sang and the hopes and dreams to build the Land for His presence. Hashem responded do you think that I am also not in pain? That I also do not mourn? That I also do not need comforting? The prophets than come to comfort Hashem, but instead Hashem sends them to comfort Jerusalem, the city bereft of its inhabitants…its children once frolicking in the streets, its scholars singing words of Torah into the night, its Temple that once housed the presence of the our Father.  Jerusalem as well fails to be comforted. There will be no comfort, the Medrash concludes, until that return, until our enemies are destroyed, until we are once again reunited with our Abba in our home.

The Torah portion of Devarim which we begin this week, is Moshe's last "schmooze" to the Jewish people. In the parsha Moshe as well uses the word Eicha-"How?" that was echoed by Yishayahu prior to the destruction and by Yirmiyahu upon witnessing the destruction. Whereas  Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah asks How does the city once so full of people now sit abandoned and alone, and Yishayahu/Isaiah  asks how did the people who were so holy become so immoral, Moshe's Eicha is a personal one, and as the Medrash makes the connection, the precursor to all the rest.

"How can I carry the burden alone of your contentiousness, your burdens, and your quarrels Provide men of understanding… and I shall appoint them as your heads. You answered me and said 'The thing that you proposed is good' "

Rav Zev Weinberger in the Shemen Ha'Tov suggests that the problem, downfall and eventual destruction all started from this point. When the Jewish people rather than step up to Moshe and protest losing their connection with him and thereby their special connection with Hashem that Moshe alone would provide, acquiesced to the new arrangement they had already than began to go down that slippery slope. How do you put a man like Moshe into "retirement"? Don't you understand that it is through him that you can have the greatest clarity and connection to Hashem. How do you just move on? It must be that connection to Hashem was not so vital. We were already fading. We had begun to lose it. And it is still lost until today.

Hashem though, has never lost it. Like a parent that suffers the loss of a child, Hashem mourns each day for his children to wake up, to come home, to invite him back and to truly, from the deepest recesses of our hearts, feel the pain of the loss of the greatness of what we were meant to become. What we can still become. What we will become as soon as we truly return. As soon as He returns.

 

 I've been around religious Jews all my life. How many times  have I heard "I don't mind the nine days-I kinda like Milchigs"- (you know who you are), "It's not so bad without a music- a little quieter around the house- I can listen to classes in the car now.." Life in America is really not too bad- It’s a Galut/Exile in a country of kindness" "There's more Torah now than ever before and that's the most important thing…the most important thing" We are not mourning. Our loss isn't real. Our child hasn't died. Our home isn't burnt. Like our ancestors told Moshe millennia ago when he first said Eicha- "The thing that you proposed is good" –We''ll make do without you. We will have our distinguished wise men of understanding. We will move on. We'll catch up with Abba at the end of the orientation. We haven't caught up yet. Sadly the "orientation" has left us disoriented and disconnected. But Abba is still waiting outside for us. We just have to realize that we need to leave. We need to ask him to take our hand once again. We need to forget everyone else in the room and realize that it's time to come home. We don’t want any more tragic reminders of our mourning. Our Father doesn’t' have to call, yell or punish us anymore. May this year see us once again hand in hand walking home together as recapture that special family that we are.

Have a Shabbos filled with blessing and peace,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz  


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RABBI SCHWARTZES TOUR GUIDE COURSE QUESTION OF THE WEEK

 (answer below)

Pretty cool that this happened to be the question-as I'm going in order- for this week!

It is customary to read the Book of Lamentations (Megillat Eicha) on:

(a) The Fast of Gedalya

(b) Yom Kippur                                                                                                            

(c) The general Kaddish Day

(d) The 9th of Av

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RABBI SCHWARTZES QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 They asked Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
“Which is greater: love of G‑d, or love of your fellow man?”


“Love of your fellow man,” he replied.
“For than you are loving the one that your Beloved loves.”


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RABBI SCHWARTZ YOUTUBE LINK OF THE WEEK

BBC –The destruction of jerusalem film for your tisha b'av viewing (59 minutes)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y37rCFAUoMU  

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 RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Har Ha'Bayit/ The Temple Mount Jerusalem- Although I have never been up there, the Temple Mount is certainly the most important place in the world for the Jewish people and perhaps one of the most fought over pieces of land in the world. Although many associate the Har HaBay  it with the Beit HaMikdash, the Beit Hamikdash for most of its history was on a much smaller mountain and smaller area than the present day mountain top which was built up by Herod in the last century before its destruction. Herod needed a big building and the mountain wasn't big enough so he framed the mountain to give it its present structure. After the Romans and Byzantines plowed the Beit Hamikdash it remained barren until the early arab periods in the 7th and 8th century where they made it their holy site building the al aska mosque on the southern courtyard where Herod and the earlier Chashmonaim had their palaces for visitors (the chakra) and the dome of the rock, where Jewish sources describe to be the place of the Even HaShesiya,/foundation rock. The Crusaders as well built their Templer castles up there in an area they thought was Solomon's stables the Arabs however came back and built the rest of the structures there. May this year we merit with the coming of Mashiach to visit this special site with the Temple rebuilt and the offerings necessary to purify us so that we may enter all of our holy sites without question.

 

 Answer is D- Easy as well..especially after you've read this E-Mail. But sadly many secular Israelis do not know the answer to this question and it is quite difficult for them. Kind of like how I would not know the different Muslem or Christian texts that are read on their holidays. Which of course we were responsible for as well. So it is a pretty detailed question that every Jew should know, but I don't really see the significance of a tour guide knowing unless he is guiding religious groups that actually know it anyways…

 

Thursday, July 4, 2013

The Answer to Life the Universe and Everything-Matos/Masei 2013 5773

Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
July 6h 2013 -Volume 3, Issue 36–28th of Tamuz 5773
Parshat Matos Masei

The Answer to Life the Universe and Everything

"How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man?" Thus croons that nice Jewish boy Robert Allen Zimmerman (otherwise known as Bob Dylan) in his famous song. The answer, my friends, to that question though is not blowing in the wind. In fact the answer to "Life, The Universe and Everything" as readers of Douglas Adams famous work "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" know, is the number "42". Yup. That's it 42.

Doug was asked many times during his career why he chose the number 42. Many theories were proposed, but he rejected them all. On November 3, 1993, he gave an answer on alt.fan.douglas-adams

"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a completely ordinary number, a number not just divisible by two but also six and seven, and I chose that one. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do. It's the sort of number that you could, without any fear, introduce to your parents." I typed it out. End of story."

Doug, although he got it right, obviously never read the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov the founder of the Chasidic movement. Neither it seems had Bob.

This weeks Torah portion the last of the book of Bamidbar (Numbers) concludes the Book that shares with us the journeys of our ancestors through the wilderness for forty years before arriving on the banks of the Jordan River .

"These are the Journeys of the Bnai Yisrael, the verse tells us, who left Egypt according to their legions under the hand of Moshe and Aharon. Moshe wrote their goings forth according to their journeys at the bidding of Hashem and these are their journeys according to their goings forth….

The Torah then lists a series of "and they traveled from here and they camped here's" for a good portion of the Parsha." At first glance this seems like a rather boring Portion of the Torah unless you have a particular affinity for reading MapQuest directions. Yet as we know there is nothing in the Torah that is not meant to speak to us today and have a message that we can learn from. That's where the Baal Shem Tov comes in.

"42" says the Baal Shem Tov. That's the number of places the Torah tells us the children of Israel traveled. But the Torah utilizes a word that insinuates not just a historic recounting but also a present tense one. "These are the Journeys"- Not were the journeys. Each person, suggests the Baal Shem Tov, will undergo 42 different journeys in their life; 42 different paths and challenges that he will have to transverse. The places that are listed in the Torah all have names that hint to the various personal challenges our ancestors underwent and that we embark upon from the moment we leave the constraints (in Hebrew interestingly enough the word for constraint is the same word as Egypt Mitzrayim) of the womb until the moment we end our journey here on this Earth. The journey log sounds a little more interesting now, doesn't it? Pull out a Torah and get to work figgering it out or just come to the TLC this Shabbat.

The Slonimer Rebbe of blessed memory carries that idea a little further. He suggests that in each place they camped there were two primary challenges. "and they traveled and they camped" . There is something positive that we are meant to establish and gain from and something negative that we are meant to be challenged to leave behind and remove ourselves from. "Sur Mei'Ra- V'asei Tov – Remove yourself from Evil and do Good" in the words of King David ( a singer, unlike Bob, who was certainly not blowing in the wind). Life he suggests is not about necessarily getting someplace. It is about going someplace. And the only way we can move forward in our journey in life is if we have our sights set on a life that seeks to undertake the journey of accomplishment, meaning and personal growth.

All too often I believe we lose sight of this perspective. We want and expect to cruise down that highway of life on cruise control or autopilot. We set our sights on what will I be when I "grow up" and we don't focus on what I am meant to accomplish and take from the journey. One of the principles of Judaism is that ultimately the destination and what we were meant to be is all guided by the "bidding of Hashem". Our role and free will is only what we will make and take out of the journey that is set before us. There will be times we are flying high and times when we are low. Places that might be fearful and places that are glorious mountains of tranquility. Oh, the places you will go. So stop and enjoy the journey of life contemplate what you are meant to take from those 42 different experiences. It sure beats hitchhiking and blowing in the wind.

Have a Shabbos filled with blessing and peace,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz  
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RABBI SCHWARTZES TOUR GUIDE COURSE QUESTION OF THE WEEK

 (answer below)

What is an "optional tour"?

(a) A tour offered to tourists in their free time

(b) A regular tour the leaves on set days                                                        

(c) A tour determined by the hotel in advance

(d) A tour that offers at least 5 different options

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RABBI SCHWARTZES QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 "A friend is family that you choose”

 heard from my friend Menachem at Kfar Kedem

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As we approach 8 years since the tragic 10th of av when jews expelled their brothers and sisters from their home sin gush katif it behooves us to mourn once again what this galus/exile even here in eretz yisrael has left us with…

May Hashem return us to our home and bring the final redemption soon.

 RABBI SCHWARTZ YOUTUBE LINK OF THE WEEK

THE EXPULSION FROM GUSH KATIF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm11qDwSVlk

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8goaeVJNxQ

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv5VGXl0In8

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RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Nachal Kibbutzim-The author of the work Kaftor Va Perach Rav Ishtar Ha'Parchi describes the Beit Shan Valley as the "mouth to Paradise" This beautiful part of the country in the foothills of historic mt Gilboa below the Jezre'el valley is truly lush with hills, trees, spring and rivers. Nachal kibbutzim right behind Sachna/Gan Ha'Shlosha and Gan Guru is one on the nicest hikes one can take on a hot day in the summer. The hike through the river which is waist to shoulder high most of the way is full of water all year. The hike will lead you to same wonderful tube/slides that you can slide through, little fish that will be happy to nibble at your dry feet like a professional spa and through a pool from the british mandate period. One can also visit Tel Amal/Nir Dovid which is the historic wall and stockade settlement that was built in 1936 the first of many of such settlements made by the early Zionists in one day literally in order to create facts on the ground for the upcoming Partition plan. Best of all is that this Nachal is free and open  from dawn until dark unlike many of the national parks.
 Answer is A- This was pretty much a another give-away question. And perhaps it was harder in Hebrew than English –siyur bechira. But yes there is certain terminology for the many types of tours that are offered a fixed tour being answer b and of course there are medical tours, handicapped tours, religious tours and the like as well.