One More "Woyd"- Vaetchanan- Nachamu 2018 / 5778

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 27^th 2018 -Volume 8 Issue 40 15^th Av 5778

Parshat Va’Etchanan /Nachamu

One More Woyd

 

He was my favorite comedian. The Rebbe ‘Reb Jackie” we would call him. We would listen to him again and again and roll with laughter at his perfect on the spot charachterizations of Jews and Gentiles. Us and them. We mimicked his New Yawhk accent and we repeated his lines as if they were Torah from Sinai. It was our brief comic relief from the intensity of our Yeshiva life and rigorous schedule. It was also contraband and against the rules. So of course we listened. We listened and we laughed.

One of my favorite routines that he had was about how Jews are not fighters. You never find four “black guys” (his 70’s politically incorrect term-not mine) walking down the street saying “watch out there’s a Jew over there”. You never find anyone scared to walk into a Jewish neighborhood because they might get killed by an accountant. Jews don’t fight. They don’t fight. They almost fight. “I almost killed him”. If he would have said one more ‘woyd’, I would break his head. One more woyd and I would’ve killed him. He would be dead already. One more woyd I was ready I was waiting. … What’s that word? Nobody knows…

Yup that’s us we’re not fighters. We’re talkers. We’re negotiators. We don’t like to fight. What about the Israeli army? According to Jackie, they’re really Puerto Ricans. They even speak Hebrew like Puerto Ricans. “Makita catata badipa madata…”  Oyyy those were the days.

Now this weekly E-mail is not just Rabbi Schwartz reminiscing about his good old yeshiva days. Although that might be an arguable point. It’s about the Parsha. It’s inspiration. So what does Reb Jackie have to do with the parsha? See that’s why you come here every week. To see how one can connect Torah and Jackie Mason. Or how the warped mind of your favorite “tour guide” Rabbi works. So the truth is this memory really jumped out at me when I saw an incredible Chatam Sofers insight into this weeks Torah portion. One that revealed not only an answer to one of the most difficult questions in the Torah but one that as well should serve as a source of inspiration for all of us.

This week’s Torah portion Va’Etchanan begins with perhaps one of the most difficult stories. Moshe Rabbeinu, our shepherd, our leader, the hero of the past four books of the Torah tells us how he beseeched Hashem to enter the land and his prayer was rejected.

 Va’eschanan el Hashem – And I entreated Hashem at that time saying "O Hashem You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand… Pray let me cross over and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan… and Hashem said to me, "It is enough for you; speak to Me no more regarding this matter.

Admit it. This story bothered.you. Why couldn’t Moshe go in? After all he had done for us, after all he had done for Hashem. Is there no mercy? No grace? And Moshe prayed and prayed for this . According to the Midrash Moshe even prayed 515 prayers- that uncoincidentally is the numerical Gematria value of the word Va’Etchanan. So after 515 prayers Hashem couldn’t let him go?

Perhaps even more perplexing, the Chasam Sofer asks, The Midrash tell us that a person should always call out to Hashem in a time of trouble. As the Torah tells us that Moshe said and “I entreated Hashem… saying”- saying is referring to future generations in trouble to call out in prayer. For even though Hashem told him he would not cross the Jordan he still entreated God.

The Chasam Sofer asks though this would seem to be a really bad example. After all it didn’t work. Moshe was refused. So why should someone pray in time of trouble. It’s like telling someone to try this and this cure because Berel tried and it didn’t work.

So what the Chasam Sofer reveals to us and he actually reads it in the verse. He suggests that Moshe would have been answered ultimately. Had he recited that one last prayer that Moshe tells us he didn’t say. Because Hashem told him don’t say it. The way the Chasam Sofer reads the verses, Moshe says “I entreated Hashem. I did it 515 times. And then I wanted to say “Hashem you have begun to show your greatness… please let me cross…” But Hashem cut me off. He said don’t say it. Not one more woyd. If Moshe would have said that one more woyd, that one more prayer, the 516^th …it would have been over. Hashem would have had no choice but to let him in. But he didn’t say it. He stopped at 515.

He continues and explains that is the reason therefore that our sages suggest that we learn from Moshe to call out in prayer in a time of trouble. Prayer works. Moshe’s prayer would have worked if he would have said the last one. It would have worked so much that Hashem had to ask Moshe not to say it. And thus each Jew should heed that lesson and never give up hope and pray as well.

That brings to an end the inspirational and humorous part of this weekly E-Mail. You even got the Jackie Mason connection here. So you can feel free to click down to the jokes or youtube section about now. But for those of you with a little more stamina and free time on your hand or a more mystical and spiritual bend, hang on for a few more paragraphs for the rest of this deep deep idea that the Shvilei Pinchas shares from the Belzer Rebbe.

The Talmud tells us in reference to the Beit HaMikdash that Avraham called it a har- a mountain (when he saw it from a distance to sacrifice Yitzchak. Yitzchak calls it a sadeh- a field (when he goes out to pray) And Yaakov calls it a bayis- a house. (when he awakes from his dream. The Rebbe then quotes a Midrash that writes cryptically about a heavenly Temple above that corresponds to our Temple down below and that will ultimately come down in the time of the building of the third Temple to complete ours down below.

“The Temple that is up who built it? Hashem and his heavenly machaneh- camp built the first wall, Avraham built the second wall, Yitzchak the third, Yaakov the fourth and Moshe built the roof.”

As I said cryptic and strange.

The Rebbe notes however something fascinating the gematria of the word machaneh- camp is 103, har- mountain or Avraham’s wall is 206 or 2 times 103. Isn’t that cool? But let’s keep going. Sadeh- field is 309 or 3 x 103, bayit- house yaakov’s wall is… can you guess? Yup. 412 or 4 times 103. Now that’s pretty wild but what about the roof. What about Moshe? Well what’s 5 times 103? Hmmmm… that’s right it’s 515. Does that number sound familiar? It should those are the 515 prayers that Moshe prayed to come into the land. So those prayers that we thought didn’t do anything? Each one of them was another shingle on the roof of that heavenly Temple that will come down when Mashiach comes.

Moshe having completed that Temple up above with his 515 prayers now wanted to bring it down. To usher in the heavenly, Messianic era. To finally “show the greatness and the strong hand that Hashem had only begun to show to the world. But Hashem said. Don’t say that one more woyd. It’s not the time yet. The souls that died in the wilderness will need a shepherd ultimately to bring them into the land.  The midrash tells us that Hashem told Moshe

Bamidbar Rabba (19:13) Hashem said to Moshe. How can you request to enter the land? It is similar to a shepherd that was shepherding the sheep of the King. And the sheep were taken. The shepherd wanted to come into the palace. And the King told him “if you will enter now what will people say that you lost my sheep. As well over here Hashem said, your praise is that you took 600,000 out and buried them in the wilderness and bring in a different people. People will say that those who died lost their portion in the world to come. Its better that you shall remain here with them and then you will ultimately be the one to gather them and come with them into the land.

Moshe wasn’t denied entry to the land. Moshe, our faithful shepherd, chose not to come into the land until he finished his final mission. The mission that he started 40 years before bringing the Jews out of Egypt to the holyland. He could have said that one more word, that one more prayer. But instead he listened to Hashem for when the time when all of those souls of our ancestors will finally achieve their tikkun, their completion. Then it will be time for him to finally enter the land and say that last prayer. The ARI”Zl notes that the one prayer that each Jew says perhaps more than any other prayer is the Kaddish. The Kaddish begins with the words. Yitgadel Vitkadesh Shmei Rabba- May Hashem’s name become great and sanctified. The first letters of each of those first four words spell Yosher- straight. The gematria of yosher… 516. We all say that 516^th prayer. It is the most recited prayer of every Jew; the prayer that Moshe couldn’t say for the that third Temple, for Hashem’s great name. That is the prayer that we are constantly reciting. Out loud with all our hearts. That is the ‘just one word’ that we are waiting for. May Hashem answer that prayer and may that heavenly Temple built through the prayers of our forefathers and roofed by Moshe finally come down and join the Temple that we are awaiting for here in Yerushalayim.

Have spectacular and comforting Shabbos Nachamu,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Verter zol men vegn un nit tseiln.”- Words should be weighed and not counted.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q. According to tradition. Alexander the Great met Simon the Righteous (Shim’on

haTsadik, the high priest) in:

A. Jericho

B. Sartaba

C. Gaza

D. Antipatris

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/MfhNs2rveEM- Jackie Mason on broadway- It’s long and can’t tell you how “kosher” it all is but if you want “just one woyd” Listen from about the 11 minutes point to 16 minute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_xHmY6ttIo – Whats Shabbos Nachamu without Reb Shlomo Carlebachs live concert and song Nachamu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Je4NEIzupw  - Yaakov Shwekey a cool new video Your Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMbZMdtsWDs - an unreal- Real story by R’ Moe Mernick, The Promise of Reb Hershel

                                       

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S HAFTORA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat Vaetchanan/ Nachamu – I don’t know if you are allowed to have a favorite haftora. But if I took a vote I would think that this weeks wins the prize. After three weeks of gloom and doom and mourning for our Temple there is nothing that can be more refreshing and comforting then Yeshaya’s prophecy of Nachamu Nachamu Ami, my nation should be doubly consoled, says our Lord. It is the first of 7 haftorahs of consolation that we read until Rosh Hashana.

The consolation of the haftorah and the prophet are immense. He paints a world and an Israel different then we can imagine. The entire land is calling out Hashem’s name. the hills fall down, the valleys are raised, the grass the trees the entire land is calling out to greet Hashem as he returns to His land. The nations, all their threats all their intimidations and resolutions are naught. They are like dust. Hashem is no mere idol deity. He formed the heavens. The earth the stars. We are his people. And not a man will be left behind. Seu Marom Eineichem- Lift up your eyes above and see who has created all of this. Our sages note that the first letter of those three words spell Shema. That is what we should know and think about when we recite the Shema. The oneness of Hashem. His presence on this world and the realization of the final consolation that we await daily. Is it any wonder then why this is my favorite haftorah….

Yeshaya Hanavi Era of Prophecy (780-700 BC)- Yeshayahu was the author of his own book. It has 66 chapters and it his prophecies that make up the majority of the haftoras 15 in total. He was considered the greatest prophet since Moshe and he died (or more accurately was killed by King Menashe) at age 120 just as Moshe did.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

Mt Sinai- 1312 BC-  This columns function is not necessarily to connect to the weekly Torah portion. Rather it is to start from the beginning and chronologically go through Jewish history and talk about the sites in Israel where we can connect and speak about those events and individuals. Yet it is nice when like this week it falls out that we are reading the portion of the Ten Commandments (the second account in Devarim) and we are up to the Jews arriving at Sinai. As in earlier weeks I can’t take you to Mt. Sinai. It is certainly not in Israel and is in the Sinai desert which is Egypt’s since 1979. As well we’re not sure exactly where it is. Because unlike Mt. Moriah when man, Avraham brought his son up as an offering to God, which ultimately became the site of the Beit Hamikdash, our Temple. Mt Sinai, where God came down to this world to speak with Man, the only time in recorded history that it took place, is not nearly as significant. The reason our sages tell us is because this world it is more important what we do and how we act than what God does. At least from a Jewish perspective.

There is an accepted Christian and Muslim tradition that Jabal Musa the highest mountain in the Sinai desert would be the Mount Sinai. There is even a church Santa Katerina that is there on top. Now our sages tell us that Mt. Sinai was selected because it was the most humble and not the largest of mountains so my guess is that it’s not where it is.  

Yet there is no shortage of places in Israel to talk about the Mt. Sinai that count. That is the myriads of Yeshivot and Study halls throughout the country that the same Torah that was given 33oo years ago is still being studied. I have certainly included on my tours some of the most prominent Yeshivas. Ponivizh in Bnai Brak with its beautiful golden ark, The Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem perhaps the biggest yeshiva in the world with thousands of students of all ages learning and arguing and talking back and forth the complexities of the Talmud, the laws and the insights that we draw from the infinite eternal wisdom. There are Chasidic Beit Midrash like Belz with its magnificent building or Ger or Viznitz where one feels he has stepped in a time warp back to Europe of old as the chasidim argue learn and clarify the laws and the Torah.

 Many times I have visited as well Aish Hatorah which is a study hall full of students who many of them did not even know they were Jewish as their families had assimilated and they were raised bereft of any Torah knowledge but their Jewish souls couldn’t be quieted or put down. I visit the hesder Yeshivas in Gush Etzion, in Mitzpe Ramon and you see young men with knitted yarmulkas and jeans who serve in the Israeli army and yet build their foundations on the Torah study that they delve into and that gives them light in the darkest tunnels in Gaza that they fight to defend us from. And then I stop into any local Sefardic Shul for Mincha and Mariv and I see old men and young boys from all over the middle East, Syrian, Tunis, Morroco and Yemen and they are studying in between Mincha and Mariv, they are up early reciting psalms. And then I realize and show my tourists, why we don’t care where Mt. Sinai was. It’s message wasn’t a historic event. It is an ongoing program. It is alive. It is continuously happening. It is in each and every Jew and in every city.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S  HEAT WAVE JOKES  OF THE WEEK

It is so hot outside I heard the chicken in the oven and when I opened the door to take it out he screamed close the door it’s hot outside.

It is so hot outside I that my iphone texted me to take of its guard it’s too hot.

It is so hot outside I saw a fire hydrant chasing a dog

It is so hot I caught my air conditioning pointing its vent upwards to itself

It is so hot outside I saw my fan turn on the air conditioning.

It is so hot outside I walked through Meah Shearim with an Israeli flag just so they would pour water on me.

It is so hot outside I saw a chicken running to the butcher just so they would put him in the freezer.

It’s so hot outside I saw someone walk outside to light a cigarette and it lit by itself.

It’s so hot outside I walked into an ashkenazis house just to get the usual cool reception

It’s so hot outsider that they called up from Gehenom for some technical support.

 ************

Answer is D– I got this one wrong. And I should be somewhat embarrassed but only because I didn’t remember the gemara inYoma that says they met there. I always remembered it was in Jerusalem that they met for some reason., or outside the gates of Jerusalem. Probably heard that from a tour guide somewhere L… So not having Jerusalem as a choice I did the process of elimination thing. I figured it couldn’t be Antipatrus which is currently Tel Afek near Rosh Haayin, because that city was built by Herod, and named after his father a hundred or so years later. I also eliminated Sartaba which I knew had a Chashmonai fortress and was built by Herod later as well. Which left Gaza and Jericho. So I went with Gaza figuring it was a port and made more sense to come for Greece that way. I was wrong. It seems that Josephus writes that Antipatrus was built on the remains of and earlier city there that was the city that the Talmud says they met. Although it was not called Antipatrus back then, obviously. But the Talmud does call it that. So… I can’t really argue that the question is incorrect. Ah well… I probably would have skipped this question on my exam. If I could have.

Not Mourning Tisha B’Av- Devarim / Tisha B'Av 2018/5778

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 19^th 2018 -Volume 8 Issue 39 8^th Av 5778

Parshat Devarim /Chazon

Not Mourning Tisha B’Av

 

I have a problem with distorted history. You know how we always like to look back and think about the alteh heim. How great it was. How holy everyone was. How much better it was in simpler times. It may be great to build up the previous generations and give our children something to aspire to become and achieve. But let’s get real. Life was bad. Life was always pretty bad for the Jews. We talk about “golden ages” in our history, but anyone that reads a bit of history will realize that we haven’t gone a century or two without incredible persecution, anti-semitism and expulsion. As well we haven’t gone a century or two without Jews forgetting all of the terrible things that continuously happened to us mere decades before and deluding themselves into thinking “but now it’s different”. Now we have learned. The “world” will never allow it. We are more civilized, we are advanced, they are our friends. They need us. We are too influential. We have lobbies. Uh huh…As King Solomon and all the prophets teach us “same old –same old…”

I admit, I’m no different. It’s hard to wrap my brain around the concept that normal, nice, seemingly moral people, civilized nations, and regular Moms and Pops could become so hate-filled, so rabid, so evil as to do the things that were done to my nation. I read the stories. I guide in Yad Vashem. I have given classes on Jewish history and I have even shed tears as I read about all the different eras when we have been killed, massacred and been taken like sheep to the slaughter. It is an essential part of our prayers. When we recite tachanun each morning we beseech the almighty

“Habeit Mishamayim U’ri’ey- look down from heaven and see that we have become an object of scorn and derision amongst the nations; we are regarded as sheep to the slaughter, to be killed, destroyed, beaten and humiliated”

“We are exhausted but allowed no rest”

“Why should the nations say ‘Where is there God now?’”

“Listen to our voice and be gracious-do not cast us off into the hand of our enemies to blot out our name”

Do these words have meaning to me living in my nice, comfortable, home in Karmiel and with the most powerful, dedicated and holiest army in the Middle East watching my back. Does is it have any semblance of relevance to you living behind your picket fences and manicured lawns with your kosher restaurants, shtibels, synagogues and behind the wheel of your well air-conditioned, blue-toothed stereo new or leased car. Did it mean anything to the Jews of Germany, of Spain, of the Communist revolution, France, England, Babylonia, Morocco, Yemen, Syria and Africa. Or were they feeling just as comfortable as we do. Were they as excited as I am when there’s a new groom, or a bris in shul on Monday and Thursday and we don’t have to recite tachanun. When we don’t have to recite those words above that seem foreign to us.

This Shabbat is the 9^th day of Av, we will eat, we will drink, we will sing songs. In the words of our sages one can have a feast like King Solomon in his times. But it’s Tisha B’Av? But our temples were destroyed? What about all of the tragedies? Shabbos there is no aveilus. There is no mourning. It’s like not reciting tachanun when we have a festive guest. On Shabbos we are afforded a taste of Olam Haba- the World to Come. On Shabbos we are halfway there to having our Beit Hamikdash back. Shabbos is the one day that I realize what life could be like when I am basking in the divine presence. There are no phone calls, no work worries, no obligations that take me away from connecting to my soul’s deepest desire to unite with my Creator, with my people, with my family, with the entire world in a song about Creation.

It is on Shabbos that I appreciate how much I am missing out on life during the weekday. During the week, I have to run out of davening, I have no time to learn, I am wiped after the day and have no patience for my family, my wife. I can’t think about the rest of the world because I am too busy taking care of everything that needs to be taken care of.  The messages I have to respond to, the responsibilities that consume us. Yet when those candles are lit an aura of tranquility rests on the world. I am uplifted. I close my eyes and sing Lecha Dodi and I for the first time truly long for a day that is always Shabbos. I long for the Mikdash. I come close to Hashem and want Him always with me from my table that is set like King Solomon’s; Shlomo HaMelech who built that first temple. I don’t need to sit on the floor and cry on Shabbos, I don’t want the Divine presence returned because I have it so bad. I want it because I have a small taste of how good it is and I want that ta’am- that flavor forever. I want the whole world to have it.

On Shabbos as well I connect to all of our history and ancestors. They may have not Shabbos clocks to turn on their lights, Air conditioners in their synagogues or crockpots for their chulent, but their Shabbos experience was not much different than mine. The Jews in even the worst conditions had that one day of tranquility. It started in Egypt when Moshe got us Shabbos off, recognizing that it was the key to us appreciating what redemption could be like. Jews in Babylonia, in Russia, in Spain even in the concentration camp testify that even if they were forced to do who knows what, Shabbos still brought with it some medium of hope of faith and yes even of respite. When I pray on Shabbos, when I look out at my Shabbos table, I think of the thousands of years that my people have “sung the song of Shabbos” to the world. And I think of a yom shekulo shabbos- a day and era that is all Shabbos. And I long for it.

Our Temples destruction, our exile from our land and all of the pain and tribulation our people have endured is because we have lost that feeling of the unity of the world that takes place on Shabbos. The lack of appreciation of the land of Israel that led to us to cry and wander in the wilderness upon hearing the report of the spies- that is mentioned in this week’s Torah portion of Devarim by Moshe in his final rebuke to our people, is a result of not appreciating how Eretz Yisrael is essential to achieving the Shabbos of the world. We can’t really have it without being here. The world won’t be one until we light those candles here. The idolatry, murder and abandonment of Hashem and the Torah which led to the destruction of the first Temple again resonates with the break of the nation with our Creator. We had Eretz Yisrael but we failed to connect it to Hashem. We didn’t have those songs of glory that bring that peace and harmony between Hashem and His people.

Finally the last Temple and the 2000 years of Exile that we suffer from. Yes, suffer even in times of tranquility. We suffer even though we may not feel, even though we may not even be persecuted. We suffer because there is no era of Shabbos in the world. We are plagued with sinat chinam, which although in the times of the Temple may have meant murder and Jews killing each other in civil wars, and thank God we have moved beyond that. But we have not yet heralded in an era of love harmony and peace that only the return of the shechina can bring.; That we can taste on Shabbos, when we are hearts and souls are open to one another and to the entire world. We are lacking an era when

(aleinu prayer) “Kol bnei basar yickri’u vishmecha-when all humanity will call out in your name, to turn the earth’s wicked to you…On that day Hashem will be one and His name will be one.”

It is a time when every Jew appreciates the essential role each of us has. When we can see the beauty in each other. When we can look at the entire world and realize that they all have a part of Creation. Each being is in the image of our Creator and we will see it as the whole world is sitting at a Shabbos table, just as my children sit around my Shabbos table and I see their beauty and blessing. That is what we don’t have. That is what we need to long and pray for on a Shabbos that is Tisha B’Av.

My brother sent me a beautiful little prayer from Rabbi Asher Weiss and I couldn’t not include it.

“May we have a litvishe head, a chasidishe heart, the honest and integrity of a yekke, the temimus and purity of a Hungarian (and their cooking- my addition) the honor of Torah and its scholars of a Sefardi and the love of Eretz Yisrael of a Religious Zionist”

The perfect Jew though is not one that has all of these. But one that is able to reveal the beauty of each of us and the Hashem in each of us. Let’s all have a Shabbos meal together. If we did perhaps we would then merit it together in Yerushalayim rebuilt with our Temple and our Father at the head of the table.

Have an amazingly holy Shabbos

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Zi veynt mit tsibele-trern”- She's crying onion tears

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q. The stepped stone building in G area in the City of David is dated to the:

a. Late bronze – Iron age I

b. Early bronze age

c. Persian period

d. The Hasmonean period

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/5bw-lJlyuqA      - The Children are waiting

https://youtu.be/tAZ8zdMCiuQ  - Time to Wake up- if only….

https://youtu.be/JrCFXs8K8Vs - The Promise -the story of Torah in Space

https://youtu.be/ARikT-8lKos - For those that know me this is the song that never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S HAFTORA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat Chazon – This is not a week for pulling punches. Moshe may have in his introduction to the parsha alluding to the sins by the names of the places that we camped, but he gets right into it afterwards lamenting the behavior of the people in their complaints, with the spies, and their lack of faith. In our haftorah Yeshaya doesn’t pull any punches. He is writing during the period when the ten tribes in the north were exiled and when Jerusalem and Yehudah were next on the slate for destruction and exile. And he gives it to them… to us…

“I have raised sons and they sinned against me. An ox knows its owner and a donkey his masters trough and Israel does not know my people does not comprehend.Woe a sinfulnation, apeople weighed down with inquity evil offspring, destructive children. They have forsaken Hashem, they have angered the Holyone of Israel and have turned their back to them”

And it gets worse. We are harlots, we have bloody hands, murderers, corrupt, thieves, every dirty name in the book. It’s Tisha B’Av. There’s no sugar coating today. As long as the Beis Hamikdash is destroyed it is as if we have destroyed it. The sins then are still haunting us. Sure we have more Torah and more services and more prayer than ever before, but the prophet tells us that

Ibid (1:11) “Why do I need your numerous sacrifices? Says Hashem…

Bring your worthless meal-offering no longer, it is the incense of abomination to Me, the new Moon and Sabbath and your calling of convocations, I cannot abide dishonesty with solemn assembly. My soul detests your New Moons and your holidays they have become a burden to me.”

Hashem wants us to be just to vindicate the innocent render justice to the orphan and care for the widows. It’s all about tzedaka. It’s all about taking care of the needy. The Torah the mitzvos, the holidays and the Shabbat are just means to get to the core which is taking care of one another. Ahavas Chinam. Loving our fellow man. Until we get that right, we are still missing the boat. We will still mourn and we will still not fulfill our mandate here on this world. It’s a rough read, but a necessary one. We read the haftorah with the Eicha mournful cantillation. If we allow the words of the prophet to inspire us then God willing this year Tisha B’Av will turn to a day of rejoicing as we have the Beit HaMikdash rebuilt.

Yeshaya Hanavi Era of Prophecy (780-700 BC)- Yeshayahu received his tradition in prophecy from his Rebbe the prophet Amos. The Baal Shem Tov suggests that the power of Yeshaya was that unlike the prophet Yirmiyahu who when he heard of the impending exile of the Jewish people did not pray for them. Yeshayahu, whose name means Hashem should preform salvation, would pray on behalf of the Jewish people. Which is why Yirmiyahu, ultimately suffered at the hands of the Jewish people when he was thrown into a pit whereas Yeshaya was treated with respect.

ABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

70 date trees Eilim- 1312 BC-  The next stop leaving Egypt and after our first water crisis was in a place called Eilim, From there we entered into Midbar Sin- or the Sinai desert. The Torah tells us that there were 12 springs of water there and 70 date trees. The 12 obviously symbolic of the tribes and the 70 for the number of elders of the Jewish people.  Many archeologists and historians place this site to be El Arish in the Sinai Desert Others say that El Arish was Sukkot their first stop after leaving Egypt before the slitting of the Sea, but geographically that would be problematic-despite the fact that Arish is Arabic does mean Sukkas or huts. Currently it’s a great beach town in Egypt and the capital of the Sinai desert although for quite a bit of our modern history there were plenty of Jews there.

A few interesting factoids about the place are that it was actually proposed by Theodore Herzl to be the State of Israel and Jewish national homeland in 1903 when Palestine didn’t seem like a viable option. In 1948 the Israeli army came pretty close to there and it was almost ours. In 1956 the Sinai campaign it was actually under conquered and under Israel control until we gave it back after the war in our ceasefire agreement. Once again in 1967 it was under Israel control and then we held on to it until 1979 when Menachem Begin returned it to Anwar Sadat in the agreements ultimately destroying the Jewish settlements that were built there.

One place I don’t talk about Eilim is the yishuv Chad Nes that was built in the Golan heights to take in the members of the Sinai settlement that was there; Charuvit, Dikla, Neot Sinai Because Chad Nes never took in anyone from there. So I won’t mention it. On the other hand I do talk about the “girush- expulsion from Sinai when I drive through the Negev and pass points where we can see into Sinai near the Gaza border. As well no visit to the Begin museum in Jerusalem is complete without discussing the peace agreement and controversy that surrounded the return of Jewish although perhaps not biblical land. And finally I of course talk about the date palm trees whenever we are in the Dead Sea and Yericho Jordan valley area. Dates are known to grow the sweetest in the world in this area. The reason is because dates grow the best in the worse possible conditions. The Dead Sea has terrible earth, almost no rain and not a lot of agricultural minerals. And that’s why dates are the sweetest there. It’s also why Dovid Hamelech says that a tzadik grows like a tamar. A righteous person, doesn’t grow in the best conditions, yeshivos, communities[es1] , mikvas.the righteous person grows in the worst conditions out in the midbar where it is desolate. Only one person does the Tanach testify is a tzadik. Not Moshe, not Avraham, not Yaakov or Aharon. Noah-ish tzadik. Noach is the righteous person because he grows like a date tree in the worst conditions and the worst world.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S JOKES  OF THE WEEK

It’s Tisha B’Av shame on you for even checking out this column…!

See ya next week J

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Answer is A– This one is easy although somewhat controversial. The two answers that are wrong ar of course the Early Bronze which pretty much goes back to briyas haolam as it is dated as 3500 BC or so. As well the Persian period is also incorrect coming after the first Temple destruction and they didn’t really build much here. Interesting enough the early archeologists to Israel being the minimalists that they were assumed that this huge structure in the Ir David was fortified in the 2^nd Temple by the Chashmonaim that were fortifying Israel and its new expanded borders after the Temple rededication and Chanuka story. However most modern archeologists agree that the structure was certainly in use in the time of Dovid HaMelech and may be the Milo that was described that he filled up after conquering the cities. And many archeologists as well place it as being built by the Jebusites- Yevusim that lived in the city before it was conquered. It was perhaps where they taunted Dovid and his army with the blind and crippled people guarding the walls proclaiming their invincibility. Big mistake. Don’t mess with Hashem’s people. Either way the Yevusi or Dovid are both late Bronze early Iron period 1300-1000 BC.

I like when my weekly questions of the week happen to be timely (I take the questions in the order of the Tour guide Exam of the week). Certainly there is nothing more timely then going to the Ir Dovid to this area and seeing the burnt remains of the archives of Israel under the palace of Dovid Hamelech. May we soon see it rebuilt.