Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
September 1st 2018 -Volume 8 Issue 45 21st Elul 5778
Parshat Ki Tavo
Food for Thought
It was embarrassing. Every single Shabbos, every
house I went to it was the same thing again and again.
“What! You don’t eat chopped liver? How can you not eat chopped
liver?! You’re such a chopped liver type of guy! I can’t believe that you don’t
eat it? I went out special to buy chopped liver, because I thought that for
sure Ephraim Schwartz is a chopped liver person. I’m in shock. Are you sure you
won’t try some?”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I even started
eating Shabbos lunch in yeshiva rather than go out for meals when I was studying in Israel in my yeshiva days. Don’t
worry, that didn’t last too long. Although I wasn’t a chopped liver person,
chulent was essential and yeshiva chulent didn’t even have meat in it. They put
in some chicken, but really, who are we fooling? Unless there’s a dead four
legged mammal in the crockpot it ain’t chulent.
So I finally caved. I closed my eyes and started
eating liver. If everyone says that I’m a chopped liver person, there must be
something to it. At first I mixed in some of the egg salad that was usually
conveniently placed right next to the liver in those little ice cream scoopy
balls with a pretty shaped red pepper and a cherry tomato on top. I worked my
way up to putting it on crackers with mustard on top. I advanced to burying it
was buried in my pastrami and corn beef sandwich with pickles on club; which
incidentally became the “Ephraim Schwartz” Essex on Coney special. I finally
arrived at the point where I truly even enjoy the non-chopped liver with onions
in a delicious wine sauce. Mmmmmmm, You’re getting hungry now. I know. Yes I
will now eat my liver here and eat my liver there. I will eat it everywhere. In
a box, with a fox, on a train in the rain, with a goat on a boat. A chopped
liver guy is what I am, if you’re serving any just call me- I’m Ephrai-am. Oy…
It’s an interesting thing about human beings,
how different people have different tastes. There are some people that are
picky eaters. I have a nephew that only eats hot dogs and schnitzel. There are
others that are more adventurous. There are people that actually eat
cauliflower and broccoli and even having cravings for it. I’m not one of those.
No one ever confused me as one either. There are some people that like olives.
I don’t and can’t understand how people do. Trust me I’ve tried and that one is
not happening. I’ve had people that didn’t like chulent. I questioned their Jewish
lineage. But as my mother taught me the old Hebrew saying goes.
“Al taam v’reyach ein mitvakeayach- on taste and flavor one can’t
argue.”
Yet it’s a strange thing. Why is it that some
people like some things and others another. Why is it that some foods some
people crave and the same food might make another cringe? Why would Hashem
program us like that? I know there must be some spiritual lesson in it for us.
I especially think before we come into Rosh Hashana when we taste all types of
new weird fruits and eat those fish heads, leeks and black eyed peas that
Artscroll tells us we must, we should understand why it is that some of us will
be excited about different tastings while others will be sitting and
contemplating how badly they really want to be a head and not a tail. I mean a
tail is cool also right? And do I get extra points for they eyeballs?
Well what do you know, this week’s Torah portion
gives a clue and the Baal Shem Tov really lays it out for us in what I believe can
be a truly life-changing idea that can transform how we look and appreciate our
food. Almost as much as eating chopped liver can. See the Parsha begins with
the mitzva of Bikkurim, bringing the first fruits to the Beit Hamikdash. After
the long procession with the rest of the people from his village and arriving with fanfare to Yerushalayim one goes up to the Temple Mount and then gives the
Kohen his adorned basket and is obligated to say b’kol ram- in a loud
uplifted voice, words that we recite at our Pesach Seder
Devarim (26:5-10) And he shall answer
and say before Hashem your God,” My father was a fugitive Aramean.
{although some Rishonim read this as referring
to Yaakov, being a fugitive for his life from Lavan the Arami, others
read this as referring to Yaakov being an Arami- they never told you
that by your Pesach Seder I bet…}
He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and
sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation.
The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us;
they imposed heavy labor upon us.
We cried to the Hashem, the God of our fathers, and Hashem
heard
our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression.
Then Hashem freed us from Egypt by a
mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and
portents.
He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a
land flowing with milk and honey.
Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil
which Hashem, has given me.”
It’s a nice speech. It’s historical, it’s praise
of Hashem and after years of Pesach Seders we all know the words. But truth be
told what does this really have to do with the basket of mangos and avocados
that I just schlepped here. Also why does this have to be done in a raised
voice? We don’t find that any other declarations need to be done loudly.
Finally, why does it start off “and he answers”? Who is he answering to
or for? He wasn’t asked any questions.
There is a fascinating Baal Shem Tov that
explains the concept of food, taste and the reason why Hashem created us with
diverse palates that can help us understand what this Bikkurim is all about. The
answer can perhaps be found in a psalm by Dovid Hamelech that describes our
redemption.
Psalm (107) Hodu LaHashem Ki Tov Ki L’Olam Chasdo- O
give thanks to Hashem, for He is good; for his loving kindness endures forever!
Let the redeemed of Hashem say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the
enemy….They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way; they found no city to
dwell in! Hungry as well as thirsty, their soul enwraps itself in them! Then
they cried to Hashem in their trouble, and He saved them from their distresses!
He led them forward the right way,so they might go to a city of habitation! Oh
that men would praise Hashem for His
loving kindness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He
satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness!
What does it mean that the hungry and thirsty
have souls enwrapped in them. And what is all this hungry and redemption
connection that Dovid is making? Yes we are hungry at the Pesach Seder to get
to the meal, but what does that have to do with this Psalm?
The Baal Shem Tov thus explains mystically what
he describes is a sod gadol- a deep secret.
Why did Hashem create flavorful food and drink that man should
desire to eat and drink? The reason is that they are the sparks of Adam
HaRishon the first Man, that were dispersed after he sinned from eating from
the forbidden tree. They needed to be gathered, elevated and restored to the
holiness from where they came. They are spread out in the earth, it’s fruits
and the animals that we eat. The part that each individual desires and wishes
to eat is because it is connected to his or her personal soul, that only they
can uplift, only they can restore to its holiness. This is the secret of the “children that are
in captivity”…
Sounds deep doesn’t it? Gives new meaning to the
snap crackle and pop that you thought your Rice Krispies were making to you. What
the Baal Shem is saying in simple chulent-eating-layman’s terms is that every
food has a spark of holiness that has been waiting for us to make a blessing on
it and bring it back up to Hashem. Each person has special and unique tastes because
his soul is “enwrapped” in that food. Dovid in his psalm is talking about
those sparks, those souls that are “wandering in the wilderness” with no
heavenly “city to dwell in”. In praising Hashem for that loving kindness
that he gave us that food, we are in fact the representatives, the shliach
tzibur of those sparks.
There is a great story about the rebbetzin
of the Sar Shalom of Belz how when she saw a chasid once quickly
mumbling a bracha and downing with relish some good kugel that she had prepared
for the chasidim that came to visit the Rebbe. She told him ruefully
“Do you know how much this piece of Kugel wen through to get to
your plate? As a little seed buried in the ground he davened that Hashem should
bring down rain upon him that he should grow. Once he popped out of the ground
he prayed that no bugs or worms should infest him. When he was finally cut and
ground into flour, oh how he prayed that his should merit to be baked by a
Jewish man, and be brought to a table where someone will bless upon him and finally
release the captive sparks whose desire is to return to their heavenly abode.
This particular wheat must have prayed very good to make it here to thee holy
Rebbe’s table, a table of god-fearing people, holy people. It has been waiting
excitedly for the final culmination of all its prayers…. And then you came and
grabbed it…”
Wow! Talk about food for thought. With this
understanding Reb Pinchas Friedman suggests we can understand the mitzva of Bikkurim.
When we bring our first fruits to the Kohen we are bringing all the sparks found
in them to the holiest place and we are their representatives. They have
finally made it. We speak for them, we answer for those sparks that can’t speak
in a loud voice and talk about how we-and them, were sent down to the lowest
place, we were buried in the ground. We were beaten, we were chopped up, we
were ground down. And Hashem took us- and them out, and he brought us here. To the
Land flowing with milk and honey, to the place that they have been waiting so
long to be redeemed to. They and we have finally come home.
In another week and a half we will sit down in
front of a plate of assorted fruits and vegetables, some fish, maybe a head of a fish or even a lamb if you’re
brave. Some of them strange looking, others calling to us. It is a strange
custom. Really, on the holiest and important day of the year, after we come
home from Shul and are literally praying for our lives, our health, our parnassa,
our children, the first thing we do is have a strange smorgasbord of culinary oddities?
The answer is yes. Our job on this world and the lives and gifts that we are so
desperately praying for are so that we may lift up the sparks in this world and
make the world a better place, a holier place and to finally restore that
heavenly kingdom that it may shine once more. Every bite we take we ask Hashem that
“Yehi ratzon milfanecha -May it be your will that….” Each bite is another
spark. Each mouthful another prayer another spark uplifted. With each chew we
are one delicious swallow closer to achieving
our final redemption. So don’t grimace, imagine how long that fruit has been
waiting for you, that fish has been swimming around for, that chopped liver has
been praying to become your pâté. You can do it. Its been waiting for you
specifically because only you have the keys to release its soul. Who knows you
may be a fish head type of guy after all.
Have a scrumptiously delicious Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
********************************************************
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Besser ain freint mit
gekechts aider hundert mit a krechts.”– Better one friend with food then a hundred
with a sigh.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR
GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of
Email
Q. The remains of a sugar production
plant from the Crusader period can be seen in:
A. Acre
(Akko)
B. Kochav
haYarden (Belvoir)
C. Khirbet
Manot
D. Ma’iliya
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/ZcpbqMK2iWw - OK
I don’t know what to with this a Yiddish Chasiddish Sound of Silence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z1VIswTifY- Not
sure about this one either but I love the song Hishbaati Eschem sung by
hundreds of Japanese tourists in Israel
https://youtu.be/REKB078tpZ4- In
honor of Selichos this Motzai Shabbos Avraham Fried and Choir oldie singing
Machnisey Rachamim, awesome!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S HAFTORA
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Parshat Ki Tavo – What an amazing haftorah this week has! Read it, it’s worth it.
It’s in fact essential to appreciating the fact that we are truly living the
fulfillment of the prophecies of Yeshaya that he saw 2500 years ago. The
haftorah begins with words that we have paraphrased each Friday night in our
Kabbalat Shabbos.
Isaiah
(60:1) Kumi ori ki va orech u’kvod Hashem alayich zarach- Arise shine
for your light has come and the glory of Hashem has shone upon you.
We sing these words Friday night and do we ever realize that
they are not as much a prayer as a realization that we have almost entirely
arrived and realized this.
The prophet talks about the darkness that takes over the world.
Everyone is running around in the dark. Yeah… to the light of their smartphones
as they talk about the pathetic world leadership that we have
(ibid
(60:2) For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and a gross darkness the
kingdoms,
And guess what they all come to Israel for our light
(60:3-4) And nations shall go by your light and
kings by the brilliance of your shine. lift up your eyes all around and see,
they all have gathered, they have come to you
He tells us about the
miraculous return that we experience
your
sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be raised on [their] side.
Does he even see the miraculous flights of Nefesh BNefesh
Who
are these that fly like a cloud and like doves to their cotes?
Does he see the incredible foreign tourism and even
unprecedented United States support that fills our coffers?
for
the abundance of the west shall be turned over to you, the wealth of the
nations that will come to you.
And
foreigners shall build your walls, and their kings shall serve you,
And
they shall open your gates always; day and night they shall not be closed, to
bring to you the wealth of the nations and their kings in procession.
And
the children of your oppressors shall go to you bent over, and those who
despised you shall prostrate themselves at the soles of your feet, and they
shall call you 'the city of the Hashem, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.'
And
you shall suck the milk of nations and the breast of kings you shall suck
The one prophecy that we still await is the one that he makes
about our current enemy, incredibly calling them by name.
Lo
Yishma od Chamas B’artzech- and violence (Hamas) will no longer be heard
in your land, robbery and desolation in your borders.
But as all the other prophecies have been fulfilled I have no
doubt that this one will be realized as well soon. May we merit to see the
conclusion of the prophecy of Bei’ta Achishena- that Hashem hastens its
time readily in our days.
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
Moshe’s
Spies- 1311 BC- I say Moshe’s spies as
opposed to Yehoshuah’ which take place 40 years later. These spies which became
the symbol of the tourism ministry of Israel, ironically enough, because they
just came back kvetching about their trip and would seemingly be the last
people you should use as your logo for tourism. It would be like PETA using
Ronald McDonald for theirs. Yet they become an important message to give my
tourists about the their visit to Israel. Don’t kvetch, don’t complain, the
last ones that did, didn’t turn out so well.
Now there
are plenty of places where I try to give the message, lessons and stories of
the spies over. The first place is in Chevron were one can see the
huuugge Canaanite period walls that remain there by Tel Rumeida. As well
we can talk about how Calev, who received this city as his portion came here to
pray by the cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, Mearat Hamachpela, that
he not fall into the conspiracy of the other spies and really becomes the
source of praying by graves that is an appropriate message to give by any
Jewish grave that we pray by.
As well
one can trace the route of the Meraglim from the
Sinai Desert there is a place called Ein Kadis in Arabic which some have
associated with Kadesh Barnea, this is not far from Nitzana a Nabatean
city there, where they left from. This would of course be called Midbar
Paran which the Talmud suggests was the earlier name of it was Midbar
Tzin and Midbar Kadesh, all which are in Sinai and the Negev,
that they went up from. The stream that they picked the large grapes from
called Nachal Eshkol, seemingly is Nachal Chevron, as it is named after
Avraham’s neighbour Eshkol who lived there. That stream flows down South to Nachal
Beer Sheva and out to the Mediterranean. It says as well they travelled in
the North until Lavo Chamat, this is certainly not the Chamat that is
near Tiverya as well not the hot springs of Hamat Gader, as both of these are
far away from the northern border of Israel. It would seem according to most
historians and archaeologists based on different insights from the Talmud that
we are clearly talking about a place that is currently way up in Syria or
Northern Lebanon of Tzadad or Labweh. The prophet Yechezkel gives
us borders that go much further than we have today and that would be occupied territory
by the Syrians that are currently in our biblical portions.
Finally of course anytime I take tourists to any farm
to pick fruit I point out the incredible miracles of the growth in Israel that
stunned our first meraglim here. I take them to the lush Jezreel or
Hula valley and point out that with the miraculous return of the Jews to
Eretz Yisrael we are the number one producer of agriculture in per dunam in the
world according the international organization of agricultural research producing
3 times as much produce per dunam as anywhere else. This despite the fact that
we have next to Japan the least amount of arable land for usage and the not
that much rain. I’ll take them to cow shed in the Golan Heights and note
to them that we have the highest milk per cow production in the world beating
out Holland and the US of A here in the land of milk and honey. In the vineyards
of Chevron hills, in the Golan or the Shefela or the Galile,
both upper and lower I tell them how we are serious players in
the world with our wines and grape production with nary a winery in the country
that doesn’t have a medal in some international wine competition. Our dates grown
in the Jordan valley are the sweetest in the world and this is a pretty
big planet in case you didn’t notice. See all this, my dear tourists and then realize
this is the country those spies saw, these are the fruits and blessing they saw
and it scared them. It was miraculous and they weren’t ready to live in that
miraculous world? Are we…?
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S REALLY FOOD JOKES OF THE WEEK
Little
Yossi and his family were having dinner at his bubbe's house.
When everyone was seated, the food was served. As soon as little Yossi got his plate, he started eating from it right away.
"Yossi, please wait until we say our prayer," said his father.
"I don't have to," Yossi replied.
"Of course you have to," said his mother. "Don't we always say a prayer before eating at our house?"
"Yes, but that's our house," Yossi explained. "This is bubbe's house and she knows how to cook."
When everyone was seated, the food was served. As soon as little Yossi got his plate, he started eating from it right away.
"Yossi, please wait until we say our prayer," said his father.
"I don't have to," Yossi replied.
"Of course you have to," said his mother. "Don't we always say a prayer before eating at our house?"
"Yes, but that's our house," Yossi explained. "This is bubbe's house and she knows how to cook."
A
Doctor was addressing a large audience in Miami. "The material we put
into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago.
Red meat is awful. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining. Chinese food is
loaded with MSG. High fat diets can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the
long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water.
"But
there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all, and we all have, or will,
eat it. Would anyone care to guess what food causes the most grief and
suffering for years after eating it?"
After
several seconds of quiet, a small 75-year-old Jewish man in the front row,
raised his hand and said, "Vedding Cake?
An
Italian, a Frenchman and a Jew arrive in Heaven and each is judged. The angel
escorts the Frenchman to his heavenly reward. They enter a beautifully arranged
banquet hall with all the foods that a French connoisseur could dream of. All
the delicacies of a lifetime.
The Frenchman turns to the angel and says "this can't be mine. I was immoral most of my life and was hardly G‑d fearing."
The angel replies "There is a hitch. Every day at 5:00pm they will bring in a large pot of soup boiling hot. You will be immersed in it. If you can take the pain you can partake of the banquet."
"Sorry" said the Frenchman "I just could not tolerate the pain."
The Frenchman turns to the angel and says "this can't be mine. I was immoral most of my life and was hardly G‑d fearing."
The angel replies "There is a hitch. Every day at 5:00pm they will bring in a large pot of soup boiling hot. You will be immersed in it. If you can take the pain you can partake of the banquet."
"Sorry" said the Frenchman "I just could not tolerate the pain."
The Italian too is taken to his reward a similar banquet with pasta al dente and all types of caponatas and all the best Italian foods. Again a similar dialogue takes place, the Italian admitting to a life of financial fraud and debauchery. He too is advised that at 5:00pm each day he will be immersed in a boiling hot pot of minestrone and again states that the pain would be too much to bear.
Finally the Jew gets taken to his eternal rewards. A Kiddush like he never saw with all the galeretta, herring, kichel, danishes chopped livr, kugelse and of course chulent imaginable. He too cannot believe his luck.
"I never went to Shul, hardly kept shabboss and ate trayf my whole life How can this be mine?"
Again the same response; "5:00pm each day, boiling hot chicken soup. If you can take the pain the banquet is yours."
"Fine said the Yidel, I'll take it".
"Excuse me" says the angel, “but
the Frenchman and Italian both declined, what makes you different?"
"I know Jewish functions" he replies "5:00pm is not 5:00pm and the soup is never that hot."
"I know Jewish functions" he replies "5:00pm is not 5:00pm and the soup is never that hot."
Harry
was walking down Regent Street and stepped into a posh gourmet food shop.
An impressive salesperson in a smart morning coat with tails approached him and politely asked, "Can I help you, Sir?"
"Yes," replied Harry, "I would like to buy a pound of lox."
"No. No," responded the dignified salesperson, "You mean smoked salmon."
"OK, a pound of smoked salmon, then."
"Anything else?"
"Yes, a dozen blintzes."
"No. No. You mean crepes."
"Okay, a dozen crepes."
"Anything else?"
"Yes. A pound of chopped liver."
"No. No. You mean pate."
"Okay," said Harry, "A pound of pate then and I'd like you to deliver all of this to my house on Saturday."
"Look," retorted the indignant salesperson, "we don't schlep on Shabbos!"
An impressive salesperson in a smart morning coat with tails approached him and politely asked, "Can I help you, Sir?"
"Yes," replied Harry, "I would like to buy a pound of lox."
"No. No," responded the dignified salesperson, "You mean smoked salmon."
"OK, a pound of smoked salmon, then."
"Anything else?"
"Yes, a dozen blintzes."
"No. No. You mean crepes."
"Okay, a dozen crepes."
"Anything else?"
"Yes. A pound of chopped liver."
"No. No. You mean pate."
"Okay," said Harry, "A pound of pate then and I'd like you to deliver all of this to my house on Saturday."
"Look," retorted the indignant salesperson, "we don't schlep on Shabbos!"
A
wealthy man threw a party in honor of his son's graduation from university. A
poor man happened to be in the vicinity, and joined the party. Amidst all the
commotion he was let in and seated at the far end of the table.
"Son," the wealthy man said, "share with us some of the great knowledge that you have acquired in the university."
"Well," began the son, "Copernicus proved that the earth turns on its axis."
"That is false!" came the objection from the poor man at the other end of the table.
"How do you know? Prove it!" shouted the student.
"It is very simple," replied the beggar. "If the earth turned on its axis, then the food that was placed at the head of the table would have by now come to this side of the room."
"Son," the wealthy man said, "share with us some of the great knowledge that you have acquired in the university."
"Well," began the son, "Copernicus proved that the earth turns on its axis."
"That is false!" came the objection from the poor man at the other end of the table.
"How do you know? Prove it!" shouted the student.
"It is very simple," replied the beggar. "If the earth turned on its axis, then the food that was placed at the head of the table would have by now come to this side of the room."
************
Answer is C– Sometimes you learn
things from your tourists. I had a family that asked me for a tour of a sugar
plant in Akko. I never heard of one and as far as I know there isn’t any. Now
in the Crusader halls down below the city there is a room called the Sugar bowl
where they found earthenware pots that were used to store sugar and finish off
the crystallization process but I wouldn’t exactly called it a sugar production
plant. But not knowing anything about Chirbat Manot, and pretty sure there was
nothing there in Beloviour the only Crusader fortress on the eastern half off
the country by the Jordan valley, although I have only been there with tourists
one. And certainly I still don’t know anything about Ma’iliya I went with Akko
based on my tourists suggestion. I was wrong. The answer is Chirbat Manot,
which is right near Nahariya. There they found the factory for sugar that was a
huuuuge source of income back then for the Crusaders as they sold Israeli sugar
all over Europe and it was quite expensive back then. Moral of the story.
Tourists didn’t go to tour guiding school.
