Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
October
31st 2014 -Volume 5, Issue 2 -7th
of Cheshvan 5775
Super Mom
She
is probably one of the most awesome women in the Jewish world today. Rebbetzin
Lori Palatnik, has become a household name and revered figure and role model
for many women in the Jewish world today as a women who not only lives an
inspiring Jewish life but is determined to take that personal inspiration and
share it with the Jewish world. For a woman in her mere early 50's who was not
raised as an observant Jew, Lori has created quite a remarkable track record.
Together with her husband Rabbi Yaakov, they founded Jewish outreach centers
and synagogues in Toronto, Denver and Washington DC, she has authored books,
has video blogs on Aish.com that has tens of thousands of viewers and has
thousands of students worldwide that have re-connected to the faith and
heritage of their ancestors.
Her
most recent project that is truly transforming the Jewish world and that I was privileged
as a tour guide to participate in this past week is called the Jewish Women's Renaissance
Project (JWRP). The program was developed with the appreciation that it is
women and particularly Jewish mothers that possess the power to build and
transform the Jewish home. Over the past 6 years thousands of women have come
to Israel on this very heavily subsidized "birthright" for women. The
conditions to be eligible for the program is merely that one be non-shabbat
observant, emotionally and physically healthy and 90% of the women have
children under the age of 18 at home. The trip contains classes and sessions
about spirituality, relationships, Torah ideas and insights into meaningful mitzvot
and some of their concepts such as Shabbat, prayer, and Mikva. They also
incorporate along the trip truly moving experiences meeting with soldiers,
projects of chesed and meetings with inspirational individuals from all walks
of Jewish life. Best of all of course is the great and fantastic tour guides J that truly feel privileged to
show them and connect them to their land and heritage as we traverse Israel
from top to bottom together.
Lori
says "When people ask me 'how can I leave my children for 9 days?' I tell
them you're not leaving your children-you're going for your children…for their
future for everything that they will learn and be inspired from you for the
rest of their lives."
In
the Jewish educational outreach world that I was fortunate enough to be part of
in my journeys across the States, in New York, Iowa, Virginia and Seattle, Lori
is considered the "queen of Kiruv/outreach. Her love and passion for every
Jew and her determination to provide everyone of our brothers and sisters who may
have never experienced the true beauty of our rich heritage with the
opportunity to do so inspired us to do more…to connect more…to live more
inspired ourselves. But the truth although Lori may be the queen the Father and
Mother of Jewish life and inspiration make their introduction to us right from
the start in this week's Torah portion in the figures of our first Patriarch
and Matriarch Avraham and Sarah.
The
Torah does not tell us much of Avraham and Sarah's early lives. We are
introduced to the them in their 70's this week with Hashem's commandment to
them to pick up and leave their birthplace and dwelling place and parents home
and go to the "land I shall show you"; The first Rennasaince
project ever. What were they doing until then? The Torah doesn't tell us but it
does drop a very subtle hint when it tells us that they went and they took with
them their orphaned nephew Lot and all of their possession "and the
souls that they made in Haran". Hmmmm…how do you make souls? Rashi,
our greatest commentator who in general explains what he refers to as the
simplest understanding of the text, quotes the Midrash that Avraham and Sarah
had spent the past years where they dwelt bringing the people of the world
under the 'wings of the Divine'. They were involved in the outreach
business it seems. According to Maimonides there were 10's of thousands that
left the pagan world and idolatry and joined the troops of Avraham and Sarah. What
is even more fascinating is that Avraham
and Sarah did all of this without any word or acknowledgement from Hashem. No prophecy,
No word of God speaking to them. Without even any teachers. They discerned
Hashem and brought the concept of monotheism and a caring loving God that
interacts and watches over all of his Creation merely by the fact that it's
obvious. The world doesn't make sense otherwise. So much beauty, wonder, good,
incredible intricacies of every nuance of our existence existing and continuing
to function couldn't be here and function without such a Creator. And from
there it all started.
Yet
the words of the Torah our deep and there is even something more significanct
in the words the Torah chose in describing what Avraham and Sarah did with the
their students. It doesn't say the souls they converted or the souls they
inspired or even the souls that they taught, when referring to these students.
The word the Torah uses is the souls that they made. One of my teachers once
explained this strange term with a concept that Nachmanides elaborates when he
discusses our forefathers is that what our Patriarchs and Matriarchs truly did
was to create Jewish DNA. To light up those natural genes that we have that
connect to God and embed them within our Jewish souls. All of the actions and
stories, Nachamanides suggests, that the torah tells us about our forefathers
and their experiences are really stories about us. Avraham goes down to Egypt,
he is rescued and comes out, their acts of kindness, the battles, their
struggles and challenges even the test and request which was not carried of
having to sacrifice of our children rather than abandoning our faith. All of it
was just making our souls, making our DNA.
Now
although we all have that special soul, and we recognize that in each of our
daily prayers when we connect to Hashem by beginning our conversations with Him
as the children of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs, it doesn't end there. Each
and every one of us are meant to ignite and "turn on the spiritual DNA for
our own children and the souls throughout the world that we are meant to
"make". We have parents and ancestors that have done that for us.
Somewhere somehow if you are reading this E-Mail you are connected to Jewishly
(at least the Jews areJ) and that is because
you must have had someone who prayed and ignited those sparks in your DNA and kept
those initial sparks of Avraham and Sarah dormant enough for you to realize
them and then share them and pass them down yourself.
Until
a few years ago if you would have asked Lori who ignited her sparks, she would
have said it was her Rabbi, Rabbi Noach Weinberg O"BM who should met when
she came to Aish Hatorah on a trip many years ago. However a few years back Lori,
through what can only be described as Divine providence, connected with a
relative that she never knew she had done some family research of their mutual
great-grandmother. It seems that her great-grandparents lived in a small Polish
Shtetl of Ivansk that was quite impoverished. There were no schools, places
of study, or even Rabbis or teachers in the town and so the town got together
and chipped in to hire a Melamed/ a children's Judaics teacher in order
that the children would be able to get their basic Jewish education. After many
months though it seems the money ran dry and the it reached a point where the Melamed
announced to the town that unless they came up with money he would have no
choice but to leave and find other employment somewhere else. Lori's
great-grandmother was heartbroken and she together with the townspeople pleaded
with him to stay for the sake of their children. However having no funds and no
choice the melamed packed his belongings and boarded the wagon to leave.
The
townsfolk came to say their final tearful good-byes to the man who had served
so faithfully and given them and their children so much for so long on his
meager stipend when suddenly a commotion was heard. A woman had lain down on
the street in front of the wagon and refused to get up. With tears and screams
Lori's great-grandmother exclaimed "If my children cannot study Hashem's
holy Torah, I have no reason to live. Let me be trampled to death. Without the
knowledge that my children will have our heritage, our special gift from
Hashem, I cannot bear to go on.. The people were shocked and tried to prevail
upon her to get up, but she refused to move. As a crowd gathered they were so
inspired and taken aback that they all agreed that somehow someway they would
figure out a way to come up with the funds. The melamed himself as well
so moved by this woman's self-sacrifice also stepped down and announced that he
would stay. The relative of Lori's told her that when he heard this story it
was the start of his return to the faith of his ancestors for as his Rabbi told
him "it is in the merit of that righteous woman and her sacrifice that you
unlike so many of the rest of your assimilated brothers and sisters was given
the opportunity to once again find your way home".
Later
that evening when Lori who was so moved by this story of her great-grandmother
called her father to find out if this story was in fact true, he confirmed
telling her that he heard it as well when he was a child but never bothered to
tell her because he didn't feel it was too important. When Lori asked if he knew
any other stories that he might share, her father said that he didn't. But then
rather nonchalantly he mentioned "You know, come to think of it, Lori,
you were named after…her name was Leibe Rachel". The spark that almost
flickered and went out had been so strongly embedded by Leibe Rachel it just
took some time until it was reignited once again. We are not leaving our
children….We are going and doing for our children for their future for
everything that they will learn and be inspired from us for the rest of their lives…"
Have
a remarkable Shabbos,
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
This
week's E-Mail has been dedicated by my dear friends Carl and Helen Grossman of
Seattle Washington upon the occasion of their 19th anniversary this
past week. We miss you guys here in Israel and look forward to you visiting us.
May Hashem continue to bless the two of you with many many more happy years
together filled with health, joy, happiness, inspiration and nachas from your
children!
Mazel
Tov
**********************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FAVORITE QUOTE
OF THE WEEK
“There are two things that are infinite, the universe and man's
stupidity..... And I am not sure about the universe.” – Albert Einstein
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
(answer below at end of Email)
Q. During the 12th century the
Crusaders built a system of fortifications for the purpose of laying siege to:
A. Gaza
B. Jerusalem
C. Ashkelon
D. Akko
New feature!-last year we did Gematria which is the Remez portion of
Torah this year we start Drash enjoy!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL
MIDRASH OF THE WEEK
After Avraham wins the battle of the 4 kings
and rescues his nephew Lot he was concerned that he had used up his merits and
Hashem responded that he had nothing to fear for because of his great faith all
of his reward would be intact and he would even be granted a child. When
Avraham objected that it had been forseen by astrologers in the stars that he
was not destined to have children. Hashem told him to forget about the stars
and the forces of the Zodiac that control the world for Avraham and his descendants
are above all of that and are only controlled by direct Divine decree.
The Midrash
then shares a story of how Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai and Rabbi Yannai were
listening to two astrologers who pointed at a group of workers and foretold
that two particular ones destiny as told in the stars was to be bitten by a
poisonous snake and die that very die. When they came back alive, like every
good Rabbi would do, the two sages went back to the astrologers and said "Didn't
you predict their demise was foretold in the stars" The astrologers
then asked the men if they did something special that particular day. When they
responded that the recited the Shema and morning prayers as they did daily
before going to work. The astrologers responded
"Ahh you are Jews, the predictions of astrologers do not apply to you people"
"Ahh you are Jews, the predictions of astrologers do not apply to you people"
Shabbat
156A
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL THINGS TO DO IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
(New year figure we'll offer a new feature-Let me know what you
think)
Hiking – Sure there are lots of places around the world
to hike but Israel is the only country where you get a mitzvah for hiking. As
many of our sages suggest that anyone who walks four cubits in the land of
Israel is fulfilling the commandment of settling the land. Why? Because when we
walk around we are showing that it is ours, Hashem gave it to us. We are not
leaving it abandoned and we are appreciating this beautiful gift. In addition
Its pretty cool when you hike in this country that you are literally walking in
the footsteps of our ancestors who lived here and explored the land just as we
are doing today for thousands of years. That's pretty awesome as well! There
are really fantastic hikes in Israel that are there for everyone; water hikes,
desert hikes, mountains valleys hidden springs, challenging extreme ones and
easy stuff for the whole family. Two very popular extreme Israeli hikes are the
sea to sea hike width-wise across the country from the Mediterranean to the Kineret/sea
of Galile, although I have seen quite a few American Yeshiva guys doing this
over the summer break and vacation this is a pretty fun 2-3 day hike. The other
more typical Israel one is a few weeks or more and that is the top to bottom
Shvil Yisrael/Israel trail that starts up at Tel Dan in the North and ends by
Eilat which is not a straight shot but stops along the way across many
historical sites. The trails in Israel are usually fairly well taken care of
and marked with colored paint markings on rocks along the way and are all of
lots of fun. Just remember take water and drink and make sure people know where
you are when your exploring Hashems favorite country…your country.
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S COOL YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
Check
out the Lori Palatnik's JWRP tour!
And
guys don't feel bad theres a new JWRP program for men as well it's called
Momentum here's the preview
and lots of personal moving testimonials..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDV9YzN9Rqk&list=PLmbPqkDCQ9pOdxCd9fHH1cBqMsbKXrFt4 *******************
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S JOKE OF THE WEEK
Two brothers are terrible trouble makers. They are always breaking
things, stealing things, lying, and making all kinds of general trouble. The
parents have tried everything to get the boys to change, to no avail. Finally,
out of options, they ask the Rabbi if he can help. He says he will talk to the
boys, but only one at a time. The parents drop off the youngest and go home,
promising to return to get him soon. The boy sits in a chair across from the
pastor's desk and they just look at each other.
Finally, the Rabbi says, "Where is God?"
The boy just sits there and doesn't answer.
The Rabbi begins to look stern and loudly says, "Where is
God?"
The Rabbi is starting to get angry at the boy's refusal to
converse and practically shouts "Where is God?"
To the Rabbi's surprise, the little boy jumps up out of his chair
and runs out of the office.
The
boy leaves the synagogue and runs all the way home, up the stairs and into his
brother's room. He shuts the door and pants, "We're in BIG TROUBLE. God's
missing and they think we did it"
*************************************************************
Answer
is C: Hate to say this but this one stumped me. Frankly I hate the
Crusaders. Really lousy jew murdering people. So I kind of zoned out by the
nitty gritty details of their battles and sieges and the to be fully honest
here shhhh…I hav never toured Ashkelon which is the correct answer here. But
there is a bit of process of deduction that would have been possible here.
Jerusalem is not correct because the Crusaders conquered it in 1099-not the 12th
century. Akko was the Crusader capital during the later Crusades and the
Crusaders built the city and its immense fortifications but not to make siege
rather to protect themselves from attacks. Gaza was conquered by the Crusaders
and built up-(not that I've toured there either) but Ashkelon was held by the
arabs for quite a while and they would launch attacks on the Crusaders from
there so the Crusaders built fortifications to keep their on them and
eventually seized and conquered them. I'm wondering though if this question is
a mistaken Hebrew and English translation because the Hebrew question was that
the Crusaders built fortifications in order לכתר
or in English L'Kater which of the following cities and as far as I know
L'kater would mean to crown the city not siege it but who knows? Any Hebrew speaking
tour guides know if this question was right or wrong on the exam?
