Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
August 25th 2017 -Volume 7 Issue 42 3rd
Elul 5777
Parshat Shoftim
Parent Things
(A golden oldie this week from 5 years ago in honor of Mommy with
a short memory leaving her children with me as she goes to the States- and it’s
just been too busy of a week to put out an original one…sigh…)
The sun was too hot. It was too
warm to play- So I sat in the house on that hot hot warm day.
Elka is five. Tully is two.- Mom had left for
the day. And today was Daddy's day with Thing one and Thing two.
I thought this was a mistake. I
should not be about.-Children need a "real parent" when mother is
out. There was no Cat in the Hat. (the DVD was broke too)-. No fish in the pot.
Just me and my darling Things one and two.
I call them that, you see- Because they take
advantage of me. They knew I did not know the rules, without their mommy.
"Shabbos cereal for
breakfast-mommy always lets"-. "She does not care- if we jump
on the beds".
"Toilet paper is a fun
toy-see how it roll roll rolls"- There is nothing wrong-with swinging from
these stairwell poles."
There they stood in life
jackets and with bicycle helmets on their heads.-They were wearing their sister’s
makeup. When Mommy would come home I knew I would be dead.
"Let's learn a little
Torah" said the Father in a hat-.
I knew that wouldn't work. Maybe a story from the Parsha...something before
they went splat.
So I gave them a little melatonin,
a healthy little tranquilizer (that mommy sometimes uses). -And I sat down to
my computer... As my adorable little things start their early morning snoozes.
And how has your day been, dear
readers? Is there anything more than cute angelic (makeup-covered) faces of a
five and two year old sleeping among streams of toilet paper with bicycle
helmets snuggling next to each other? I hope their mother feels the same way.
Or at least learns that it pays to take the little 'uns along with her next
time.
So I open up my Chumash to this
week's portion, Shoftim, which contains in it many of the basic laws of
creating a society in Israel. The laws of judges and pursuing justice, the laws
of kings, prophets, Kohanim (priests) and Levi'im, cities of refuge, war
exemptions and responsibilities and finally the strange law of Egla Arufa-
the decapitation of a young calf who never had a yoke put upon him by the
elders of the city upon finding a murdered body near their city, with the
statement that our hand has not spilled this blood. Snuck in between all of
these exciting laws, is a short verse that you might miss if you blink but also
a very important pieces of advice or more accurately a prohibition.
"There shall not be found
amongst you one who passes their son or daughter through fire... (followed by a
list of various magic practices, future tellers and practitioners of the
"dark arts")....This is an abomination to Hashem all who do these
things and because of these abominations Hashem is giving you their land to
inherit from them. Be Tamim (complete, pure, blemish-less, faithful.) With Hashem
your God."
Now I have only babysat (or
parented- as my wife likes to tell me) for one day and I admit I have had
certain not-good thoughts during this long exhausting morning. But fire? I
think that's getting a little carried away. Maybe they didn't have melatonin
back then. But this is definitely a strange commandment. Even more strange is
that from the verse it seems that this is our merit and right to inherit the
land of Israel. Two more quick points so that we could put the puzzle together,
what is the connection between the prohibition of sacrificing your child in
fire and the practice of magic or future-telling and why does this mitzvah
conclude with the commandment to be pure before Hashem?
The great 13th century work on Jewish mitzvos, the
Sefer Hachinuch, notes that the Talmud derives from a different verse that the
strange qualification that this prohibition only applies when one sacrifices
some of his children and not all of them. With this he explains the prohibition
and gives us an insight into the idolatrous practice known as Molech. He
suggests that the practice was that one would sacrifice one of their children
in exchange for a promise from the priests of Molech that the rest of his
surviving children or child would live long and have great wealth and blessing.
It is for this reason that the prohibition is connected to trying to know or
even "beat" the future. This explains as well why the commandment
concludes with mitzvah to be faithful and complete with God. For it is in
parenting that we need the most faith.
There is no other area perhaps that
causes greater concern or consternation for Jewish parents. Oy...what will be
with my children? Will they be successful? Will they ever grow up and take
responsibility? When will they start watching out for themselves and being more
careful? Imagine if there was a secret pill that you could take that would
guarantee your children’s success. Imagine if everybody in the society that you
were assimilating in all did something that at first and maybe even second
glance and thought didn't seem right, but "everyone is doing it"
and "it's the only way your child will make it in this world".
Don't you want your child to have the greatest opportunity that he or she could
have? Are you really going to deprive him or her from that opportunity?
So it might come at the "burning" expense of some of the other
children but at least the chosen, special child will make it...
Have faith in Hashem, the Torah
tells us. Don't compromise His values, the Torah's values, our values because
of society's promises of success. We only inherit the land because our nation
is different in this regard. We will succeed because we can set the tone for
what is right. We don't have to sacrifice our children for ideals that may harm
their souls. We are not allowed to put one child's future above another’s as
necessary as it may seem. We must do as much as we can for each of our kids,
and Hashem our Father and third partner in our children's creation will do his
part as well.
We have entered the month of Elul,
the month when we begin to examine our deeds from the past year as we approach
our High Holidays. It is a time when we are meant to get close to our Father.
It is a time as well when we should pause and reflect as our children go back
to schools and summer vacation is over of how important they are to us. What
type of parents we need to be and what sacrifices we shouldn't be making to
raise them into the types of people that deserve to inherit the land and that
will bring them closer to Hashem. They are our most precious gifts. The angel
faces we see when they are sleeping could and should be there all the time.
Should be cherished all the time...just as our Father cherishes ours...
I hear them stirring now. Perfect
timing. I think we'll go out to the park. Time to do some parenting.
Have a marvelous
Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
*****************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Dos leben iz vi kinderhemdel—kurts un bash.” Life is like a child’s undershirt—short and
soiled
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/wxyfwxhFGkc – This brought back memories for me as Yossi Piamenta OBM played by my wedding with my good friend Gershon
Veroba, this is his son Yehuda playing Yossie’s greatest hits. We miss you
Yossie!
https://youtu.be/egEuk_lUR2o – My kids favorite song of the week Machar by
Mordechai Shapiro
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q. The route of the “Land of Pursuit” is
located (“eretz hamirdafim”):
a. East of Jerusalem, in the Jordan Valley area
b. East of the Gaza Strip
c. Adjacent to the Northern border
d. Between the volcanoes in the Golan Heights
a. East of Jerusalem, in the Jordan Valley area
b. East of the Gaza Strip
c. Adjacent to the Northern border
d. Between the volcanoes in the Golan Heights
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ILLUMINATING RASHI OF THE
WEEK
Shoftim- There are many Midrashim and Talmudic debates about the interpretations
and explanations of the text. Our sages tell us that there are “70 faces to the
Torah”. Rashi always tries to bring the simplest explanation. It is not his job
to bring all the different opinions. So when you come upon a Rashi that
mentions a debate about a particular verse then one should examine the reason
why he felt it necessary to bring the alternate pshat. This is certainly
true when he clearly states that the first pshat is the simple basic
one. The reason for the second interpretation therefore must be either because there
was something lacking in the first one or there is some message that he feels
is essential to appreciate before moving on to the next verse.
Towards the end of this week’s portion the
Torah begins to teach us the laws of going out to war and it describes the
prelude to battle with the officers calling the army together and handing out deferments
to anyone who had just gotten engages, or had built a new house or field and
not entered them and enjoyed them yet. They would then at the conclusion of
this speech making the following declaration.
Devarim
(20:8) And they say ‘Who is the man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him
go and return to his house, and let him not melt the heart of his brothers,
like his heart.’
Rashi on this last deferment brings down two
explanations.
Rabbi
Akiva says that this means as it sounds, that he is unable to stand in the
ranks of battle and see swords drawn. Rabbi Yosi HaGalile says that this refers
to he who is fearful of sins that he has. This is why the Torah provides him
with a pretext of returning to his house, vineyard or his wife to cover up for
those who return because of sins that they have, s that people should not discern
that they are sinners and one who sees them returning says “perhaps he built a
house or planted a vineyard or betrothed a woman.
So this is a beautiful interpretation,
certainly one that we would not see in the original text, yet there are many
beautiful interpretations in the Torah. If Rashi is bringing it there must be
something in the text that forces him to mention it. The Ohr Hachaim, HaKadosh understands
that Rashi is teaching us that the essence of Jewish wars were always won with
miracles. The Jewish people knew that and understood that and they saw it time
and time again. Therefore it would not make sense that someone would be fearful
of battle. It wasn’t them that was fighting it, Hashem had promised them that
they would win. Rather the only thing that might make them hesitate would be
that perhaps they would not merit victory because of their sins. Or maybe the
Jewish people might merit victory but individually they might not make it out
themselves. As a result of that Rashi explains that this disclaimer by the
Officer was addressing those people. Yet even those people might be intimidated
and embarrassed to leave the battle-field it is for that reason that Rashi
explains that the Torah gave him cover to do that by mentioning the other
deferments along with the fearful of his sins. What I find remarkable as well
if you think about this is that those soldiers that remained in the army were
all people that were confident that they had no sins that would jeopardize
their safety and remove Hashem’s benevolence from them. Reb Eliyahu Meir Bloch
suggests that this is also a secret for our spiritual battles as well. One
should never give up hope and feel that they are not worthy of a miracle. No
matter how far we may fall we can always rise up once again.
Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar- TheOhr
Hachaim HaKadosh– (1696-1743) – Rabbi Chaim ben Atar, the
Rabbi of Sale, called the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh after his popular commentary on
the Pentateuch, was a Talmudist and kabbalist; born at Meknes, Morocco, in 1696
and He was one of the most prominent rabbis in Morocco.
R'
Chaim's dream was to go to Israel. After receiving spiritual signs approving
his desire, in 1733 he decided to leave his native country and settle in the
Land of Israel, then under the Ottoman Empire. He was received with great honor
wherever he traveled. This was due to his extensive knowledge, keen intellect
and extraordinary piety. He stopped over in Livorno (Italy) where he raised
large sums of money for publishing his books and establishing a yeshivah in
Israel. With 30 followers he arrived in Israel, four days before Rosh
HaShanah 1742 and settled in Acco. R' Chaim and his students spent Yom
Kippur in the cave of Elijah the Prophet on Mount Carmel (Haifa),
where they all felt a great sense of holiness and witnessed seeing a great
Light at the spot where according to tradition Elijah used to pray. The holiday
of Purim was spent in Tzfat and Miron, where a great deal of time was spent
studying the holy Zohar . They later moved to live in Pki'in for a
few months. On the 15th of Ellul 1742 R' Chaim finally arrived in Jerusalem with
his group. He immediately established a yeshivah called 'Knesset
Yisrael' and second secretive yeshivah for the study of Kabbalah. R'
Chaim and his students were constantly going on many journeys (zia'rot)
around the land of Israel visiting grave sites of the tzaddikim.
They used the opportunity to pray for the welfare of Jews all over the world,
the success of their yeshivah and its financial supporters.
One
of his new students was Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (the Chida), who at that
time was only 18 years old. The Chida wrote about his master's greatness:
"His heart pulsated with Talmud; he uprooted mountains like a resistless
torrent; his holiness was that of an angel of the Lord, ... having severed all
connection with the affairs of this world ."His saintly way of life gained
him the name Ohr HaCaim HaKadosh (the holy one).”
The
most famous of Rabbi Chaim's works is Ohr HaChaim , a
commentary on the Torah. In this work he employes the four methods of
exegesis: peshat-explaining the simple meaning; derash-homiletic
interpretation; remez-allusion; and sod-the kabbalistic esoteric
approach. This book was enthusiastically accepted by Sephardic and
Ashkenazi rabbis alike. His book Chefetz Hashem was his
first book, it was a commentary on tractates Shabbat, Horayot and Chulin. His
second book was Pri Toar, a commentary on Yoreh De'a (one of
the sections of Shulchan Aruch). Rishon Letzion was a book he
wrote when living in Jerusalem, its a commentary on Prophets and Writings
(NACH) and a few tractates of the Talmud
The
founder of the Chassidic movement, The Baal Shem Tov maintained
that if he could join forces with Rabbi Chaim, together they could bring the
Messiah. The Baal Shem Tov made several failed attempts to reach the Holy Land.
In fact the Baal Shem Tov believed that R' Chaim was the Mashiach of that
generation. On the day that R' Chaim came to Jerusalem, The Baal Shem Tov told
his students: "Today Mashiach ben Yosef entered Yerushalayim". R'
Chaim departed the world at the time of Mincha of shabbat Pinchas. At that
exact moment the Baal Shem Tov was eating the 3rd meal of shabbat and uttered
out: "the western candle has been extinguished". After shabbat he
explained: "The tzaddik in the west, R' Chaim ben Atar left the world. The
proof for that is: there is one secret about the washing of the hands (netilat
yadayim) which is revealed to only one person in each generation. This secret
was known to R' Chaim. When I washed my hands for the 3rd meal, that secret was
revealed to me, and that was my sign that the "western candle' was
extinguished."
Rabbi
Chaim ben Atar was 47 when he departed the world. He was buried outside the
walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, on Mount Olives. Before the "Six Day
War" in 1967, the Jordanians had control over the cemetery where R' Chaim
was buried, they destroyed many tomb stones and paved a new road. When the
tractor touched the grave site of R' Chaim, it turned upside down and the
driver was killed. They tried a second time, and again the tractor turned
upside down and the driver was killed. Someone tried to use a hammer, it turned
on himself and he was killed too. The grave site was left intact.
R'
Chaim had two wives. His first wife Patzonia was unable to bear children for
him and encouraged him to marry a second wife. His second wife Ester gave birth
to a few daughters. Both of his wives passed away within a few years after R'
Chaim's death, and were buried next to him.
.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TYPES OF JEWS IN ISRAEL OF
THE WEEK
Yeshiva Guys –They’re back. Elul Zman is here in Eretz Yisrael and the
country once gain fills with Yeshiva bochrim. Although most of our “Types
of Jews” are fairly easy to categorize, Yeshiva Guys, like the yeshivas they
attend are also not easy to put into a box. To make it even more interesting is
that I’m sure that anyone here who is reading this identifies the word Yeshiva
guy with their own type of Yeshiva and assume the rest of them are in some
other category. So we have the black hat yeshiva guys both American and
Israeli, the Americans attend Mir which is the largest Yeshiva in Israel if not
the world, as well as Brisk-of which there are quite a few although some don’t consider
the other ones to be “real” and then there are many smaller yeshivas and
Kollels where these young 19-22 year old Americans study before they go back
and find their Shidduchim (Are you ready yet?-Ask your son- sponsored by the Nasi
project) The Israel Yeshiva guys go to Chevron, Beit Mattis, Kol Torah, Ateret,
Ponovizh, and other names. Israeli Yeshiva guys are also black hatters but an
entirely different culture than Americans. Generally their style of learning is
different. On one hand many of them are raised more that Torah will be their life-long
occupation more than American boys are, at the same time as a result of that
there are more of them that maybe in Yeshiva for the wrong reasons- to avoid
army service although they may not be cut out for learning.
The next category are Sefardi Yeshiva
guys, they are very similar to Israeli ones, certainly from an American perspective.
Yet of course from the Israeli Yeshiva Guy perspective they are not in the same
league as them, as many more of them ight not be in it for life as they are and
many of them are more likely to be short term “learners”. There are also the Chasidish YG’s. There are
thousands of both Israeli and American Chasidish guys in Yeshiva in Israel.
Generally they come at a much younger age then their black hat counterparts and
they get married younger as well. In the Chasidic world though there isn’t as
much difference or friction between the Israeli and American young men as they
are all pretty much joined together and united by their Rebbe. There is also on
the other end of the spectrum the Kippa Seruga and more Zionistic yeshiva guys.
In Hebrew they call them “Benish”im Bnei Yeshiva. When one walks into some of
their Yeshivas, like Hakotel in the old city or in the Gush or really any
around Israel the Kol Torah is beautifully loud. Many of the young men are very
intense and serious about their learning and as well as opposed to the other YG
types their learning encompasses studies besides Talmud and law. Many of their
yeshivas focus on the study of Tanach as well as Limudie Eretz Yisrael.
So as you see this is a complicated
category. But Yeshiva Guys are complicated guys. On one hand we believe that it
is their Torah that is holding up and defending the land of Israel and bringing
it its divine protection. On the other hand sadly and tragically we tend to
focus on the misbehavior and disregard that the small minority of them may have
for the each other and for their surrounding environment as they swarm all over
the land. Israel is a complicated country as we have noted and there is nothing
more complicated than its Yeshiva guys.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S REALLY TERRIBLE BACK-TO-SCHOOL JOKES
OF THE WEEK
Luke comes home from his first day of school,
and his mother asks, “What did you learn today?”
“Not enough,” Luke replies. “They said I have
to go back tomorrow.”
What’s the king of all school supplies? The
ruler.
Teacher: Class, we will have only half a day of school this morning.
Class: Hooray!
Teacher: We will have the other half this afternoon.
Class: Hooray!
Teacher: We will have the other half this afternoon.
Stevie: Hey, Mom, I got a hundred in school today!
Mom: That’s great. What in?
Stevie: A 40 in Reading and a 60 in Spelling.
Mom: That’s great. What in?
Stevie: A 40 in Reading and a 60 in Spelling.
What kind of school do you go to if you’re…
…an ice cream man? Sundae school.
…a giant? High school.
…a surfer? Boarding school.
…a Crusader? Knight school.
…an ice cream man? Sundae school.
…a giant? High school.
…a surfer? Boarding school.
…a Crusader? Knight school.
Mom: What did you do at school today?
Mark: We did a guessing game.
Mom: But I thought you were having a math exam.
Mark: That’s right!
Mark: We did a guessing game.
Mom: But I thought you were having a math exam.
Mark: That’s right!
Teacher: Daniel, I’ve had to send you to the principal every day
this week. What do you have to say for yourself?
Daniel: I’m glad it’s Friday!
Daniel: I’m glad it’s Friday!
What’s the difference between a teacher and a
train? A teacher says, “Spit out that gum!” and a train says, “Chew!
Chew!”
Johnny: Teacher, would you punish me for something I didn’t do?
Teacher: Of course not.
Johnny: Good, because I didn’t do my homework.
Teacher: Of course not.
Johnny: Good, because I didn’t do my homework.
**************
Answer
is A– A the 6 day war of 1967 the former Jordanian citizens that
lived in Palestine-fled to Jordan which did not want to absorb them and kept
them in refugee camps. They in turn, led by Yasser Arafat began what was called
the war of attrition coming over across the Jordan river and valley which was
the new border of Israel and Jordan and began launching terror attacks; hitting
school buses, targeting farmers, settlements and other wonderful things that
these animals do. This area for the next few years became called the Land of
the pursuits as the Bika brigade of the paratroopers would go from cave to cave
hunting them and many Israeli soldiers were lost. It is for this reason that many
are nervous till today to drive along the Jordan valley although it really isn’t
much of a problem. See in 1970 Jordan was pretty much given a choice by Israel
to take care of business or we would and if we would we should set up shop on
other side of Jordan River preventing them access to that. They also weren’t
too fond of this newly formed race called the “Palestinians” as they were
threatening the Hashemite kingdom and its sovereignty. So in Black September of
1970 the Jordanians pretty much went in and wiped out thousands of these
refugees in their camps mostly civilians incidentally, not that many people
cared and the problem was pretty much solved. It’s something to think about
when they start passing moral judgement upon us. Maybe its even something to
think about in how we should perhaps be reacting when these guys are attacking
and launching terror attacks upon as well.
