Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
May
23rd 2014 -Volume 4, Issue 31-23rd
of Iyar 5774
(38th day of the Omer-five weeks and three days!)
Parshat Bamidbar
A Shortened Journey
They were a couple
that were truly made for one another. Brandon and Miriam, Miriam and Brandon.
One looked at the two of them and was in awe of our Creator that made two
people that truly completed one another in the fullest of ways. She was his
"rib" that had found her way back to the body and soul that she was
once separated from in the garden of Eden, and he had been restored with the bride and essence
of his heart and soul that made him whole once again. It was an amazing process
and reunion to watch these two souls come together. Brandon from a more secular
non-orthodox upbringing studying in University of Washington and Miriam from an
observant background and whose family were pillars of their Chabad shul in
Seattle. I remember watching how Brandon grew in yiddishkeit and grew
closer to Hashem and the traditions of his forefathers. He took to learning
like a fish first thrown into water, like one of my congregants to the
rebbetzins chulent after a long Shabbat sermon. They became pillars of my shul,
the cute young couple that were the life of our West Seattle TLC family. My
kids loved them and they were like their older siblings. They introduced us to
"Settlers" on our long Shabbat afternoon board games, followed by
discussions about life, Torah, the home they would build . Our shul loved them
and we couldn't wait to dance at the wedding we knew was to be coming.
It wasn't a smooth
process though. There were challenges they faced in dealing with many of the
sensitive issues that their religious lifestyle would have on Brandon's family
and how to best and with the greatest respect and appreciation balance
everything. But it was truly an awesome experience to see somebody who was
absolutely incredible in his soft, kind and yet firm resolve to overcome and to
continue on the path that he knew he was meant to traverse. As brilliant as he
was, he always inquired and wanted an outside "rabbinic" and Torah
perspective on every step that he took on his journey and navigating the waters
of personal growth in the ocean of Torah, relationships, family and even in his
work. His humility, his commitment to always doing the right thing and his
warmth and love in everything he did…with everyone he met, made him an
incredible role model for me, his Rabbi who was also becoming his student. One
of the happiest days of my life was when I stood under his chupa as they
married. I as well as everyone there danced the night away, for it was a family
simcha. They were ours, they were everyone's and we couldn't wait to
watch them build a life together.
We moved soon
afterwards to Israel. We started a new life, a new shul, new job…jobs…J. We lost touch, but they
were never out of hearts. When we played Settlers Shabbat afternoon, when we
joked about the good old days back at the TLC, when my kids said something
funny, Brandon and Miriam- never mentioning one without the other would always
come up. We missed them and they had left an eternal imprint on our entire
family.
It was about a year ago that we first heard
Brandon was sick. Cancer. The C-Word. It shouldn't happen to young healthy
non-smokers. It shouldn't happen to the sweetest and finest young couple. It
shouldn't happen to such an amazing person at the start of what was a beautiful
perfect life. It shouldn't happen to anyone-but certainly not to him. He had
been diagnosed at the start of their marriage-but it had been
"treated" he was gonna be fine. And he was…until it came back. We
added his name to our prayer list. We davened daily and I guess we were lulled
into the fact that everything would be alright once again. Time went by and
when I got a message last week asking if I had been in touch with them, I
abashedly shot off an E-Mail asking when was a good time and number was to
reach him at…I never got a response. After Shabbat I opened my E-Mail and read
about the funeral that was to take place Sunday Morning. Tears streamed down
mine and my wife's eyes. He was gone. Brandon-Refael Chaim Ben Leah had
returned his soul to his Father in heaven.
When I spoke to Miriam
during Shiva words came tumbling out but I don’t even know what I was saying.
Regrets, shock, condolences, memories, numbness and confusion about the future
just kind of all jumbled together. I couldn't imagine her without him. I needed
Brandon to logically analyze us through it all and make some sense of it. To
tell us, it's all from Hashem, all for the best, all part of the Divine plan
for Miriam, for his friends, his co-workers, his family, his Rabbis… for us. It
was one of the hardest phone calls I ever had to make. But somehow I felt His
warm smile up above and his loving touch telling me that it would all be all
right.
It is perhaps
auspicious that Refael Chaim/ Brandon passed right before the Shabbos when we conclude the third
book of the Torah Vayikra. It is a Book that discusses the ways that we would
get close and answer that personal call of Hashem. The first part of the Book
discussed the sacrifices that would be brought to Him; the daily ones, the ones
for our lifetime events and challenges, the ones for our holidays and those
that are meant to rectify and bring us
close once again as we make up for mistakes in our past. The end of the Book
switched gears and talked about the various commandments and details that we
are meant to incorporate in our lives. The things that would make us holy, the
things that we should avoid that would prevent us from achieving our lifelong
spiritual goals. The conclusion of the book that we read last week ended with
the fulfillment of our destiny as a nation. How all of our actions will have
consequences and how our lives are on a Divine trajectory that will ultimately
bring us to our national and the world's fulfillment. The Book of Vayikra out
of all the Books in the Torah is perhaps the book that most exemplifies Brandon's
too short life and myriad of achievements. The Torah lifestyle most spoke to
him not because he saw in it an elusive book of "values",
"ideas", "principles" or even a national heritage or
history that he was born into or part of. Rather for him it was a pathway a
day-to-day living and roadmap of how to lead and direct one's life in the way
that he would most honor his Creator and achieve the maximum he was meant to
accomplish.
This week we begin the
Book of Bamidbar; a book that we will have to read this year without Brandon.
Unlike Vayikra, Bamidbar is not a book with many commandments in it and not a
book with many stories of great figures, heroism or salvation. It is a book
that is primarily occupied with the challenges and failures of our people on
the path to the land of Israel. It is a book of the repeated counting of our
nation before and after each tragedy, each failure and each subsequent
consequence. It is also the Book that we read each year from before the holiday
of the receiving of the Torah on through the summer months with the culmination
coming as we enter the period of mourning for our Temple. It is the book we
conclude before beginning the High holiday season and the New year.
Each book of the Torah
corresponds to a different part of our development. The first book of Bereishis/Genesis is our
DNA our family our roots. Shemot is the story of our family becoming a nation
with a divine mandate. We are "wed" with God we become his beloved
people and even after we sin, we achieve atonement and we are instructed on how
"our home"" the tabernacle will be built. Vayikra, the third
book is how we are meant to take that special relationship and marriage and
become role models and symbols to the rest of the world. The world's Divine
actualization will come when they view us as a nation to aspire to becoming, as
ambassadors of the Almighty. Our connection to God is meant to be seen in the
way we live our day-to-day, how we conduct our business, our families and our
lives with heavenly ordained ethics, values. And perhaps most importantly how
we build the land of Israel and raise it to the ultimate heights creating a
home for our Father on earth that will shine out and bring glory to mankind as
they emulate us. Which then brings us to Bamidbar.
Bamidbar is the story of our successes and failures in life as we
struggle with integrating and realizing those goals and our mandate. We are
"out there" in the Midbar…the wild. On one hand it is a place
that is barren of all growth, certainly none of the dramatic changes that we
have seen until now. It is a place that is full of bumps, full of scary things.
As well as full of doubts and even of longings and desires to return to the
simpler easier times. Yet at the same time it is a place where each day we were
sustained by "the bread of faith" -the Manna, and where each
day the water that we drank came to us miraculously. It is an intense
dichotomy. In the Midbar there are times that we wrongfully challenge
our leadership .When we express doubt of whether they are indeed representatives
of God and whether we should follow their guidance. There are times when we fall
into sins of temptation, desire and assimilation. We will read stories of our
infighting, our sins of gossip, lashon harah and even idolatry and
blasphemy. There are stories of enemies that will try to attack and destroy us
and our attempts at peace as well. And we will repeatedly encounter times when
we even question our own right and desire to come to our destined Holy land The
story of the Midbar is not a story of our 40 year journey. It is the
story of our 3000 year history; of still trying to make it El HaMenucha
and El HaNachala- to our resting place and to our heritage homeland. It
is sadly where we are still stuck until today.
The last book of the
Torah, Devarim, are the words of Moshe, our leader that never made it here. Who
is still waiting to come and to return with us in the final redemption. It is
our final pep talk from the individual that was prophetically able to see our
destiny but never to experience and actualize it. In the book of Devarim Moshe
tell us the final and most essential words that we are mandated to recite twice
daily. The only words and prayer that we have a biblical obligation to recite
and perhaps the most familiar words to every Jew. "Shema Yisrael Hashem
Elokeinu Hashem Echad- Hear Israel Hashem is our Lord Hashem is one."
Jews have recited these words in the worst of times and we have recited them in
our most exalted times. The words communicate to us that our entire existence
revolves around that one Divine mandate. It is all from Hashem. It is all about
bringing the knowledge of Him to the world. It is the essence of who we are and
what we are here to accomplish and it is how we will ultimately achieve our life's
goals and purpose. Hashem is one. He is the center of our existence and His
love and His faith in us is what has sustained us and what will bring us to our
destiny.
Miriam shared with me
that on the last day of Brandons life a friend visited him and Brandon asked
him to recite the prayers one says as one approaches the end of one's life on
this world and before his entrance into the next. It is what Halacha/Jewish law
mandates, although many people don't have the right state of mind to think
about it. But Refael Chaim/Brandon was always in the right state of mind. As
Refael Chaim recited the prayers, the confessions, the psalms and his final
thoughts he recited the Shema prayer. He passed from this world after closing
his eyes and reciting the final words Hashem Echad. His journey
was complete. We are left bereft of him. His friends, his family, his Rabbis
and his students are left with those words Hashem Echad as we once again
have to traverse the book of Bamidbar, hoping and striving to make it the last
time that we read it while still waiting for our redemption. May Hashem who
consoles all of us who mourn Zion and the Temple and await that final day also
console Miriam and all of us with the coming of Mashiach and the great day we
are all waiting for.
May
this Shabbos bring peace and solace to all of us,
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL JERUSALEM QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"Ten
measures of beauty descended to the world, nine were taken by Jerusalem."
-Talmud: Kiddushin 49
"Whoever did not see Jerusalem in its days of glory, never
saw a beautiful city in their life."
-Talmud: Succah 51b
"The view of Jerusalem is the history of
the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven." -Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of
Beaconsfield and British Prime Minister
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
(answer below at end of Email)
Rabbi
Yochanan Ben Zakkai was
a) from
the generation of Rabbi Akiva one of his antagonists
b)
active after the destruction of the Temple in the re-establishment of Judaism
c)
The head of the Sanhedrin during the period of Yonatan the Chashmonean king
d)
established the Mishna in Tzippori
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL GEMATRIA OF THE WEEK
It is
quoted in the name of the great Gaon of Vilna Gra’s name that “Yerushalayim
shel ma’ala,-The heavenly city of Jerusalem above" and “Knesset
Yisrael-the congregation of Israel” and “sefirat ha’omer-the
counting of the Omer” all have the same gematria (1071). It is
interesting that Yom Yerushalayim falls out during the Omer and right before we
arrive at Shavuot when we became that holy congregation. The Prophet
Jeremiah says as he speaks words of consolation: “Go and call out in
the ears of Yerushalayim: ‘So says Hashem: I have recalled
the kindness of your youth, the love of your time of marriage, when you
went out to the desert (the Midbar), to a land not sewn’ ” (Yirmiya
2:2). May we merit soon this year to see the fulfillment of that prophecy.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Jerusalem/Lion's
Gate- 1967on the 7th of June
or more appropriately the 28th of Iyar (this Wednesday) it was through these North Eastern Gates that
the paratroopers entered the old city to restore the Temple Mount and kotel to
our nation. The gates were built by Suliman (who modestly called himself the
Magnificent) in 1517. According to legend he dreamed that he was being attacked
by lions as a punishment for not fortifying Jerusalem properly and he installed
the stones that were remnants of Beibars the Maluk ruler in the 13th
century that had the lions engraved upon them (his symbol). Truth is if you
look carefully the symbol is really a Cheetah, But we won't pay much attention
to the small details. The lion is the symbol of the tribe of Judah and
therefore Jerusalem being the capital calls it a lion… so it’s a lion. Someone
once told me that it is the reason why there are so many cats in Jerusalem.
Cats are baby lions… The tribe of Judah has begun to return J we just have to grow the cats into the lions we were meant
to beJJ
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S COOL ACAPELLA YOUTUBE CLIPs OF THE WEEK
Rare
footage of yerushalayim in 1918 in honor of yom yerushalyaim
One day in Jerusalem video tribute by Matisyahu-Great!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S JOKES OF
THE WEEK
(In honor of our special papal visitor and yom
yerushalayim J
One day an old couple decided to go to Jerusalem for
vacation. A few days after they arrived, the old wife died. The man who worked
at the local funeral home told him that he could pay $150 to have her buried
here in Jerusalem, or pay $4,000 to have
her body be shipped back to the States and have her buried there. The old man
thought about it for a while, and said that he would rather pay $4,000 to have
her body shipped over than to pay $150 to get her buried in Israel. The man who
worked at the funeral home asked him why he wanted to pay $4,000 instead of $150.
The old man replied " 2,014 years ago they say a man died and was buried
here. Three days later they say he was resurrected. I can't take the
chance."
*****************
Q: What do you call
someone from Israel that has to sneeze? A: A Jew
Q: How can you tell if
someone is half Catholic and half Jewish? A: When he goes to confession, he
takes a lawyer with him.
****************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ' S EXAM ANSWER OF THE WEEK
Answer
is B: This is certainly a trick question particularly for someone
without a Talmud or yeshiva background. Thankfully, that's not me. Each answer
has a partial truth to it and is tricky. He did live in the period of Rabbi
Akiva-but was not an antagonist, He was the head of Sanhedrin but after Yonatan
Chashmonai, and he did live in Tzippori-but did not write the Mishna. The only
true answer is B in the famous story of him escaping from Jerusalem and meeting
with Hadrian and getting him to spare
the city of Yavneh and its scholars. Jerusalem eventually fell and it took us almost
2000 years to return, but the only reason why we were still around to return is
because of the Torah and our traditions that Rabbi Yochanan manages to salvage
and build once again from.
