Insights
and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
November 16th 2018 -Volume
9 Issue 7 8th Kislev 5779
Parshat
Vayeitzei
There are certain pleasures in the world that
only a frum person can experience. That is the topic I wanted to write about
this week. It started when I came into shul, it was a Monday. It’s a long tachanun
on a Monday. I finished repeating shmona esrey and was about to start vi’hu
rachum, when a chasan walked in. Kaddish! No tachanun. If it would’ve
been a Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday there would have been some joy. Tachanun
on those days is only about 3 or 4 minutes. But on a Monday or Thursday when
you just knocked off a good 7-9 minutes from our morning services the elation
was palatable. There wasn’t a face that wasn’t smiling. Someone commented to me
afterwards. This is one of those pleasures in life that a non-religious person
or a gentile will never experience. They may have cheese
burgers, Santa Claus and the Super Bowl, but the joy of unexpectedly getting
out of a few extra paragraphs of davening… that’s something only a frum yid can
appreciate. Ashreinu ma tov chelkeinu- Fortunate are we and how good is
our lot.
So that got me thinking what other uniquely frum
pleasures are there out there that no one else gets to appreciate. Of course
there is chulent-chili, stew, goulash and something called mélange, but
it isn’t even close to a real chulent. You’ve got herring, kishka,
chopped liver and kokosh cake. But that’s me I jump to food right away.
But that’s really not fair because every cultures got their own ethnic cuisine.
I was looking for distinctly religious pleasures. Not to say that chulent,
particularly my wife’s, isn’t a religious experience but you know what I mean.
So what do you do when you don’t know something.
I googled Uniquely Jewish pleasures that goyim don’t experience, and nothing
came up relevant. All it gave me was links about Shabbos goys. That meant that
this was a still undiscovered thesis waiting to be written. Google had left me
room to expand on this narrowly researched area. So I went to work researching.
But where? How? Thank God for Facebook.
So I put up a post and all my friends chimed in
within 3 hours I had close to 200 responses. There were some that were better
than others. I’ll give you the ones I like best and maybe throw in a few more
by the jokes below.
These four words being sung after the Torah
reading “Chadeish Yameinu Kikedem-Yisgade’eel”- no speech this week.
Gebrochts on the last day of Pesach- for Chasidim
Being in an unfamiliar town and finding a kosher
restaurant, or flayshigs in supermarket, or kosher crackers in a vending
machine
Having someone bring you some milk chocolate as
a present and realizing you’re the only one not flayshigs for the next 5
hours.
Lying down in bed and remembering as you’re
falling asleep that you really did daven mariv already.
When your host cries out its time to bentch and
he didn’t say a vort (or read Rabbi Schwartzes E-mail) at the table.
Really short selichos on Erev Yom Kippur
A cloudy Motzai Yom Kippur so you don’t
have to say Kiddush Levana and can run home and eat right away.
Finding a big piece of flanken on bottom
of chulent pot at a Kiddush that no one else realized
was there
Two words- Hoicha Kedusha (for my readers
that are frummly illiterate- that’s when rather than repeating the entire Mincha
amida you just say a quick kedusha and your done)
Being at a simcha and being able to eat
whatever you want because your spouse is on other side of mechitza
And on and on and on… Send me yours. It’s a
great topic. But perhaps the greatest pleasure in my mind that is Torah. I’m
not getting frum on you here. I’m not trying to pitch you or sell you
anything. And truth is that it’s not a pleasure that most of us get enough of
the time. It’s probably one that I can tell you that I personally don’t get
most times I crack a book, open up a Talmud or prepare a class or sermon. But
it’s a joy that you get like no other. When you work hard at a good vort
and poof it clicks. When the Talmud opens up after working on it a bit and all
the pieces you were struggling over all fit together into a glorious tapestry.
When something that you never saw before in the Torah or the parsha all
of a sudden reveals itself to you. When you hear a great class or shiur that
touches parts of your soul you knew existed but never thought could be
inspired. Could be blown away. It’s more than just a Eureka! lightbulb moment. It’s like you’ve just connected to something
older, higher, more incredible than you ever thought you could. You found your
place in the Torah. You appreciate that you have just gotten a taste of olam
haba- the world to come, in this world. You want to, and sometimes do, jump
up and dance. A goy will never have
that. That’s ours and ours alone.
That feeling, the moment, perhaps gets its first
appearance in this week’s Torah portion. Our forefather Yaakov is fleeing for
his life. He was at the top of his game until then. After his years in yeshiva
and Kollel in the tents of Shem, he got his father’s blessings, unexpectedly.
The dew of the heaven, the fats of the land. He won the jackpot. He goes to
learn for another 14 years in Kollel and then he is off to find his wife. He’s
got money, he’s got Torah, he’s got blessings, and then it all goes to pot. His
brother wants him dead and he must leave in Israel. His father never left, but
he is exiled. His nephew Elifaz sent by his brother Esau comes to kill him and
leaves him penniless. He’s lying out in middle of Beit El with nothing but a
dismal future leaving the holiest place on earth. And then he sleeps. He
dreams. Angels go up and down a ladder
Bereshit
(28:13) V’hinei Hashem nitzav oluv- Hashem is standing over him
Hashem blesses him that the land he is lying
upon will be his and his descendants. Hashem will watch over him, and return
him home and will never leave him until that happens.
Yaakov awakes in awe. He had just experienced the
most incredible pleasure that only a yid can feel.
Ibid
(23:16) Achein yesh Hashem bamakon hazeh v’anochi lo yodati- Surely Hashem
is in this place and I did not know
Yaakov knew that Hashem is always watching him
before this. But what about when it seems that things are so bleak. What about
when I am thrown out? When everything is gone. When I am going to step out of
the Beit Midrash for the next 20 years and barely able to crack a book. When I
am being chased, persecuted, killed. When the only company I have is the crooks
that I will be working with, when my life revolves around the sheep all day and
night. When I have bills to pay and am so so far away from my father, my land,
from the place where the Divine presence is meant to shine from? Will I be able
to find You there?
Hashem assures him that He is standing over him.
He is and will be standing over his descendants until they come home. There is
a gate to heaven with angels that will follow you down wherever you go, and there
will be angels that will bring you and your prayers back up through that gate
always. The ladder will start from you. From wherever you rest your head to
sleep at night.
Yaakov is blown away by the revelation. He takes
those 12 rocks that joined together to become one and takes an oath that he
will return. He will make those rocks into a house of Hashem. His children will
be those building blocks that will bring Hashem to this world. We will be able
to find Hashem and rejoice in Him no matter where you are as we know that there
is a ladder that is planted on top of our heads that we can always climb up. That
will always raise us higher.
There are lots of pleasures that we have that
goyim don’t but perhaps the greatest gift is when we are able to see the hand
of Hashem when things look the bleakest. When missiles are being shot at our
borders and a band of soldiers are saved because they got off the bus 5 minutes
before their bus was blown up. When our buildings are being blown up and the
only one to get killed is a Palestinian illegal. When we finally retake our
Temple and throw off years of persecution and we don’t have enough oil to last
for more than a day and it lasts for 8. Those are the real moments of yiddisheh
exhilaration. As we approach Chanukah, we’ll have latkas, we’ll play dreidel
and get gimmels and win that pot of chocolate gelt- goyim will
never get that either. But let’s enjoy that greatest pleasure. Let’s gaze into
those small little flames and remember the miracles that take place and the
gates of heaven that are always open and that rock of Yaakov and Hashem’s
promise that we will return. We will build Him that home again. This time it
will be forever.
Have pleasure filled Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
*****************************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Az du gaist oifen laiter, tsail di treplech -When you climb a ladder, count the rungs.
RABBI SCHWARTZES COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/omE3J8GXkZs
– inspiring new song
by SY Rechnitz and an even more inspiring video sung by Baruch Levine and
Simcha Leiner in the wake of the Pittsburgh attack
https://youtu.be/Eqwz6lMxmj8- Goyim eating Chasidish food
https://youtu.be/s5WI8nDU2VQ- Yoni Z video Ma Naaseh made me think of Yaakov’s dream
https://youtu.be/JQGLN1alhAs?list=PLJCT7aJVkqcE_XRwUavvtIPHmTbxVLjGS
The
morning song of the early chalutzim pioneers in Israel pretty amazing!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF
THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q The year in which Tel Aviv was
established:
A. 1906
B. 1907
C. 1908
D. 1909
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS”
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Parshat Toldos– A lamdan looks at a pasuk,
a verse or a story in the Torah, and unlike the pashtan who seeks the
simple understanding, or the darshan who looks for the midrashic explanation
or sub-story, he looks to understand the halachic nuances and their
application. It’s that appreciation that sheds light in general not only on the
narrative in the text, but can open up gates in understanding more global
fundementals and principles.
A
great example of this approach is in this week’s Torah portion when Yaakov
awakens from his dream where he saw the angels going up and down the heavenly
ladder. When he awakes he makes the statement
Bereshit (28:17) ‘Surely
Hashem in this place and I didn’t know!’ And he was frightened and said ‘How
awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of Hashemand this is
the gate of heaven’
According
to the Midrashim and Talmud the place where Yaakov slept was connected to the
Temple Mount, either through the land crunching underneath him, or via the
slope of the ladder that was directed towards it. Yaakov’s fear and awe was
that it is forbidden to sleep in such a holy place, there is a law of morah
mikdash- one is obligated to have awe of the Temple. The Rav of Brisk even
notes that Yaakov would have even been willing to forego all of the incredible
blessings and revelation that he received in that dream rather than violate
that Torah commandment. Which is pretty amazing in of itself!
The
question that he asks though is that there seems to be a slight problem. See
the Temple wasn’t built yet. Seemingly a critical part of the obligation to
have awe of the temple is that the temple had to have been built. Moriah was
just an empty mountaintop. Why would Yaakov have regretted that he slept there
and been willing to give up that incredible guarantee of the land of Israel,
that Hashem will protect him always and that he will return him back home, if
there seemingly was nothing significant about the place.
He
answers with a deep understanding of the entire concept of the awe of the
mikdash based on a precise reading of the Talmud. The Gemara tells us
Yevamot (6.) The
Talmud teaches us (Vayikra 19:30) You shall observe my Shabbos and you
shall have awe of my Temple- It says Shabbat observance and awe of the
mikdash to teach you that just as the observance of Shabbos, it is not Shabbos
that you are in awe of rather it is He who commanded it, also the awe of the
Mikdash it is not the temple that you are meant to have awe from, only He who
commanded it.
The
Gemara continues and discusses all of the laws of mora mikdash; not to wear
shoes, spit etc… The Rav however denotes that the fear of the Temple and its
subsequent laws in truth are not connected to the physical structure of the
temple. It is the Divine presence- the hashra’at HaShechina that emanates from
there that is the driving point of the law. That being the case, he notes,
Yaakov who precieved and actually had the shechina rest upon him in that place,
would be obligated in all of the laws of morah mikdash- having awe of the
Temple.
As
we mentioned last week, a brisker can’t resist a good corroborating Rambam
Rambam Beit Habechira
(7:1) It is a positive commandment to have awe of the Temple as it says
u’mikdashai tira’u- you should have awe of the temple. And not from the
temple itself should one have fear rather from He who commanded to have awe of Him.
And
thus we understand perhaps why despite that while the place itself where he
rested may not have been Har Hamoria (as it was in Beit El) and there was no Mikdash,
yet since this was a place where the shechina rested, it would have the
same halachic guidelines as if it was the temple itself.
And
there you have it; A story explained, a new understanding in the laws of the
Temple, an insight in a Talmud and a corroborating Rambam. A real lomdushe
shiur!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S
AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Gad and Reuvein and the
Eastern Jordan- 1272 BC-
Perhaps one of the most associated words with the early settlements of Israel
is chalutzim- Pioneers. Now generally in America when we think of
pioneers we think of Davy Crocket and his ‘coon skin cap or shtreimel J.
In Israel the original chalutzim were known for their kova-tembel-
their cloth “dunce caps” literally translated, which were those floppy cloth
caps that kept the sun out of their eyes when they worked the field. They were
called that, because they were generally considered simpletons. I mean you
gotta be simple-minded to move to this barren “cursed” land where nothing grew
for millennia and hoped to make it flourish. But guess what it did! The tembels
got it right.
Now the original chalutzim and term
as it is used in the Torah probably wore heavy metal armour and helmets. They
were soldiers. The first time the Torah uses that term is when the two tribes
of Gad and Reuvein approach Moshe and ask to receive their portion of Israel on
the eastern side of the Jordan River. In the lands of the Emori and the Bashan
that they conquered. They had lots of cattle and they needed grazing land for
them. Moshe thought they were wimping out of the big battles that lay ahead of
conquering the land of Canaan and wiping out the 7 nations that were there.
They told Moshe that they would go “chalutzim” before the nation into
battle. Moshe told them that “before the people” is not enough they must be
chalutzim before Hashem. And they take the oath and all is good.
Rashi and many of the commentaries
translate the word chalutzim as armed. The Baal Haturim notes the
similarity to the word Chalitza which is the process of removing one’s
shoe when one doesn’t want to fulfil his obligations for levirate marriage with
his brother’s widow. He suggests that since every soldier wrote a get before
they went to battle in case they didn’t make it back, it was like chalitza,
their wives could remarry and not marry be bound to marrying their
brother-in-law. I mention this when we
pass by Nachal Darga by the Dead Sea- I avoid the 6 hour intense
hike there J- where they found gittin- divorce
documents from the soldiers of Bar Kochvas army.
But the term chalitza, certainly
means remove, and as we know all Hebrew terms are connected in Lashon
Hakodesh- the holy tongue. So many suggest that chalutzim when it
refers to soldiers or even pioneers is a reference to single-mindedness, a
removal of all personal distractions and inclinations. A chalutz is
driven. That is his essence. They prepared their divorce documents so they
would not feel torn of their thoughts of their wives back home. This is the
idea of the pioneers then and of now.
There are all types of places to talk
about Israel’s early pioneers. Particularly around the Kinneret where
you have the farm for women farmers in chavat Kinneret. You have the
Chalutz movement, founded by Yosef Trumpledor that we talk about up in Tel
Chai and or by the cemetery of the shomrim there. In the Hula valley the
Dobrovin farm is a fascinating place to talk about the non- jewish chalutzim
that were there. In the Negev by Sdei Boker, where Ben Gurion
became so attached to these “heroes” that he ultimately joined them in his
retirement and decided to be buried there.
You of course have as well the modern day
“settlers and pioneers. They are all drawn by this single minded and holy
desire to settle Hashem’s land. Whether it’s in the Golan, where the
tribe of Menashe settled or in the Gush Katif museums that I take people
to in Jerusalem or in Avney Eitan in the Golan, or in the
many settlements in the “West Bank” or in Chevron. Jews as our
ancestors are willing to give up everything and in many case endanger their
lives and their families in order to settle Hashem’s land. Chalutziyot is still here, now we just
got to get back the area that was where the original chalutzim lived-
The eastern Jordan river bank, currently in Jordan.
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S JEWISH ONLY JOKES OF THE WEEK
A
Gentile goes into a clothing store and says,“This is a very fine jacket. How
much is it?”
The
salesman says, “It’s $500.”
The
Gentile says,“OK, I’ll take it.”
Two
Gentiles meet on the street. The first one says,“You own your own business,
don’t you?
How’s it going?”
How’s it going?”
The
other gentile says,“Just great! Thanks for asking!”
Two
Gentile mothers meet on the street and start talking about children. Gentile
mother 1 (said with pride):“My son is a construction worker!”
Gentile
mother 2 (said with more pride):“My son is a truck driver!”
A
man calls his mother and says, “Mother, I ! know you’re expecting me for
dinner this evening, but something important has come up and I can’t make it.”
His
mother says, “OK.”
A
Gentile couple goes to a nice restaurant. The man says:
“I’ll
have the steak and a baked potato, and my wife will have the julienne salad
with house dressing. We’ll both have coffee.”
The
waiter asks,“How would you like your steak and salad prepared?”
The
man says, “I’d like the steak medium… the salad is fine as is.”
The
waiter says, “Thank you.”
A
Gentile man calls his elderly mother. He asks,
“Mom,
how are you feeling? Do you need anything?”
She
says, “I’m feeling fine, and I don’t need anything. Thanks for calling.”
A
little old Jewish lady sold pretzels on a street corner for 25 cents each.
Every day a young gentile would leave his office building at lunch time, and as
he passed the pretzel stand, he would leave her a quarter, but never take a
pretzel. And this went on for more then 3 years. The two of them never spoke.
One day, as the young man passed the old lady’s stand and left his quarter as
usual, the pretzel lady spoke to him.
“Sir,
I appreciate your business. You are a good customer, but I have to tell you that
the pretzel price has gone up to 35 cents.”
************
Answer is D– This is another one I really wasn’t sure of.
Precise dates are just not my thing. I’m more of an early 1900’s type of guy.
Does anyone really care if it is was 1906, 1907, 1908 or 1909? Gimme a break,
what is this trivial pursuit? Truth is if you would’ve asked me I would have
said 1911. Why? I dunno, that’s what I thought I remembered. But thankfully
that wasn’t one of the choices, or I would have certainly gotten it wrong. 1909
was the closest date to that so I went with it. And whadaya know I was right!
So I still maintain by a hair my perfect score on this exam
And the score continues Schwartz is 6 for 6 on this exam so
far.
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