Insights
and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
February 15th
2019 -Volume 9 Issue 20-10th of Adar
I 5779
Parshat
Tetzave
The Heimishe BeltWay
Now heimish people are very similar to yeshivish people. And in fact there are quite a few that consider themselves members of both camps, although that is not necessarily, or even regularly the case. There are plenty of yeshivish people that can’t don’t make upsherins for their kids and are very makpid about zmaney tefilah. They are certainly not heimish. If they live “out-of-town” they are certainly not heimish. If they don’t know where “out-of-town” is, they are baal teshuvas.
At the other end there are many heimisheh people that have smartphones, that think it’s cool to have keys shlepping down their pants and that go on vacations that yeshivish people wouldn’t be caught dead in. They wouldn’t even consider living in Lakewood-although their kids might. Those are your hardcore non-yeshivish but heimish ones. So how do you know if the person is heimish, yeshivish or both?
The answer is the gartel. See both heimish and yeshivish people wear hats and jackets- the heymish ones wear them even in the places they shouldn’t be vacationing. The difference though can be found in the gartel. That’s your giveaway. Heimish guys always have one. Hard core yeshivish guys though are generally litvaks (or formerly heimish guys that sold out and were traded to the other team after being far’kalted” by the yeshivishe yeshivas they went to) and they rarely wear that that black stringy silk-like belt or sash we throw on for davening. If he has a gartel he is definitely heimish. No gartel very likely not heimish.
Now as I told you consider myself heimish. That being said, I was raised in Detroit. I wore a tan suit and a grey hat with a feather for my bar mitzvah. (SY you can stop laughing now) That’s barely baal teshuva, fuggedabout heimish or yeshivish. It’s probably a whole new category called Detroit, but we’ll leave that for another column. I went to black-hat yeshivas though, and became yeshivish. Yet, there was something in me that always new I came from heimish roots. My grandparents were survivors; they were close to Rebbes on my father’s side. I always liked chulent and of course didn’t have my hair cut until I was three. Now my birth father, Yonah Klein, passed away when I was a very young child. My mother remarried to the most incredible man who is also my father and who raised me, which deserves a Nobel prize of its own, out in Detroit. But as I got older I would visit my grandfather, Zaydie Klein, and see his gartel. I would wonder if I should wear one as well. He would never tell me to, as he felt it was not his place to throw his minhagim onto us. But I played with the idea. It lingered.
A little after my bar mitzvah, there was a period that I put it on. I thought it was cool. Heimish was cool. But it kept falling down, I kept losing it. It was a pain in the belt. So I dumped it. When I got married, it was another moment in my life, when I played with the idea and put it on again. That also didn’t last too long. Despite my desire to be heimish, it was just an added thing to remember to shlep around with me and take off after davening, which I would generally forget to do, thereby littering the streets of Flatbush with my fallen gartels on my walk home. When my daughter was born, I decided to put on an extra pair of teffilin (rabbeinu tam), something my grandfather did as well. It was a more expensive investment then the $5 gartel, but I certainly wasn’t dropping them on my home.
My next big milestone though was when I moved to Israel. I didn’t put one on right away. I was too busy settling in and Aliyah itself was enough of an adjustment. But the thought did enter my mind. Living in Eretz Yisrael is starting a new life. Maybe I should make it a heimish one and put that string belt back on. When I went back to America for the first time a few months after being here, it really hit me how different my life was when I was in Israel. And on the long drive out to Deans, New Jersey to visit my father’s grave, in that real heimish cemetery out there where he is buried, I was conflicted if I perhaps should give it another shot. I was the link in that chain of gartels. (Although I actually think my father didn’t wear one as well, despite the fact that his father did). On the other hand, I had tried and failed about as many times as I had tried losing weight. It wasn’t happening. I got my answer though when I arrived at the grave. For there sitting on my father’s tombstone was none other than a nice black gartel. I don’t know if you ever received a message from the other world. But it is pretty freaky and cool at the same time.
The first thought that ran through my head, was why wasn’t I thinking about how I was going to pay my bills next month on the way over. Maybe dad would’ve left me a check on that tombstone. Just joking. But seriously, it was a very powerful moment. I took that heavenly gartel-that a litvak might suggest that someone might have just happened to find and leave there, but that a heimish person would never even consider, and I wrapped it around myself. I said my tehillim, which were more powerful than ever and I felt a connection, not just to the father I never knew, but to my zeidy and my babby buried right next to him and to all the generation of gartel wearing ancestors before them.
I write about this story this week, because as I was flipping through the parsha and all of the clothing of the kohanim mentioned in it, one of them stood out. Can you guess which one? Yes, it was the avnet or gartel that the Kohen wore. It’s an interesting piece of clothing that is in fact unique amongst the bigdey kehuna. According to the Rambam the gartel was the only garment that was made out of “real” shatnez- the prohibited mixture of wool and linen that is generally forbidden for Jews to wear sewn together {although the choshen/ breastplate and eiphod/apron also were made out of wool and linen, being that they were hard rather than cloth the Rambam doesn’t count them}. It is for that reason the Rambam only permits you to wear that gartel during the service. Otherwise it’s a sin of wearing shatnez. In addition, as opposed to the other garments, each one which corresponds and is meant to atone for various sins; idolatry, licentiousness, acting with arrogance, the avnet is there merely to fulfil the mitzvah of hikon lifney hashem elokecha- preparing oneself before approaching Hashem. It’s the final touch of the Kohen. It is there for the hirhur halev- removing the thoughts of one’s heart that distance and distract us from being entirely focused on Hashem during the kohen’s service and during our own.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe connects those two ideas. The reason why klayim or shatnez is forbidden, we are taught, is because it is the mingling of two worlds. It’s like Kayin, who brought his flax as an offering and Hevel, his brother who brought sheep. The two don’t mix. It didn’t work out for either of these first two children of Mankind when they did. But when one stands before Hashem. When one unites his entire soul and world before Hashem then all things can come together. All things have to come together. The Avnet, that priestly gartel, is the last item the Kohen puts on of his clothing. It is a strange gartel. It is in fact our sages tell us 32 amos long about 45 feet. That’s one heck of a gartel. It serves no purpose in terms of clothing, as the pants the Kohen wears has its own pully string belt (you know the ones that always get sucked into your sweat pants- or am I the only one that happens to). The avnet is there for the Kohen to wrap it around and around and around himself, each time binding his thoughts and his mind to be entirely focused on his service to Hashem. He puts himself in a mind-set and a world where there are no two opposing forces. Everything is connected to Hashem.
So I wear my gartel these days. I actually lost the one that my father “gave” me. If you see it around Flatbush let me know. But my compromise that I made to myself is that I’m only really religious about wearing it on Shabbos. Shabbos is the most heimish of all days of course, it’s why we eat chulent.and herring on it. I find that it gives an extra boost to my davening. To my preparation for davening. When we daven to Hashem, there are so many distractions that pop up in our minds. It’s that one time (or three times) a day that I’m not checking my phone, giving a tour, “familying”, or learning and so every lingering thought, every daydream, every worry and arrangement I have to make seems to want a piece of that action. I’m sure the Kohen in the beis hamikdash had the same challenge. So Hashem gave him a gartel. He wrapped it around and around until everything went away. Until he was prepared for the unique divine encounter which is prayer.
We all could use a gartel. Chasidim joke that it separates between the lower physical parts of the body and the heart and up which is the spiritual. Litvaks who have a cold, physical, heart wear neckties instead to separate between their physical hearts and their spiritual brains. Arabs wear their gartels around their kafiyas (the shmatta around their heads) because even their brains are impure. We all need a gartel. We are all kohanim when we come to Hashem. May we merit to visit Him in his real heim…
Have a heimishe heiligeh
Shabbos!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
********************************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Di tefileh gait aroif un di brocheh gait
arop.”– The prayer ascends and the blessing
descends.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF
THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q The term “the eyes of the State of Israel”
refers to:
A. Mount Tabor
B. The Mitzpeh haYamim Mountain
C. The Hermon Mount
D. Mount Meron
RABBI SCHWARTZES COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/MCHyPnoGPPw
-Does this song sound familiar to you?
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS”
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Parshat Tetzave– One
of the most lomdushe things one can do is to uncover the reasoning behind why
two great sages argue over a given point in Torah. The most classical place to
hone those lomdisheh skills of yours are in the debates between the Rambam and
the Raavad. There are no shortage of arguments that the Raavad had with Rambam
who felt he wrote the be all and end all of Torah law- he even writes that
himself. And the Raavad’s attacks on him are many times pretty aggressive. The
commentaries on the Rambam jump to his defense, but at the end of the day there
is plenty of room for the lamdan to enter and offer his insight into
what the crux of their argument is about.
This
week is a great example and you already have half the story. See the Rambam as
I mentioned above, is of the opinion that the avnet is the only one with
shatnez, and it is therefore the only one that is prohibited to be worn not in
the time of service. The Raavad on the other hand writes that the choshen
and the eiphod also have shatnez. Since they are permitted
outside of doing the service, so may one wear the avnet outside of
service as long as he is in the mikdash.
The
Rebbe in that incredible sicha I mentioned above explains that those ideas are
connected. The Raavad understands that the mitzvah of wearing the avnet made
specifically out of wool and linen permitted entirely for the clothing of the
Kohen. It is why the choshen and ephod are also made out of them. Thus
it doesn’t make a difference if it is during or not during the service, the
prohibition of shatnez was never applied to the clothing of the Kohen.
The
Rambam on the other hand understands that the prohibition applies even on the
clothing of the Kohen. It is just that he is not liable for it while he is
doing the service, as there is a mitzvah to wear the garment. Once the service
is over, the regular prohibition returns.
Now
here’s where it can become even more fun. Take lomdus to a deeper level.
Now why is that one views shatnez one way and one the other? So again
the rebbe gives us insight. He suggests based on Rabbeinu Bachaya that there
are two ideas in the prohibition. One is that one force is holy and one is not
and you should not combine the two. The other is that they are two opposite
holy forces and although they can be brought together they can never be
mingled. He explains with two metaphors of two servants of the king they each
have different roles, and the butler should never be mixed with the toilet bowl
cleaner. Yet when they stand in front of the king both are equal servants. The
king is there and they are all honorable. There are no negative jobs in the
palace. Their differences are not recognizable. This is the approach of the
Raavad. Wool and linen both are spiritual forces in the palace of the king.
Whether they are being used or not and it is precisely for that reason that the
command was to make them out of shatnez. To show that in the palace they
are all holy.
The
Rambam however understands that each one has a separate role, both the plumber
and butler are holy. The glory of the king is that when they stand in front of
him they are equal. But when they are not doing their job, the butler shouldn’t
try to do the plumbers job and vice verse. Thus the avnet, which symbolizes,
not a particular job and does not atone for a particular sin. It is there as a
preparation for the service is the only one where the two are mingled together.
After the service is done each goes back to its own holy place and the two
don’t get mingled.
So
there you have it a lomdushe vort, not only to explain the debate
between the Rambam and Raavad but to give us a deeper appreciation of the
fundamentals of the mitzvah.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S
AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Fake Treaties and Givon 1272 BC –
As we get closer to the “deal of the century” let’s talk this week about the
“mother” of all such fake-deals the first treaty since we entered the land 3000
years ago. It sadly has become the harbinger for many of our treaties. False
hopes and pretences are what brought them around and generally they are more
failed then not.
The story of the Givonim
happens when they see that the Jews with Yehoshua are wiping out the cities
that we were commanded to miraculously. They realize they made a mistake not taking
the offers previously made for peace before the Jews entered the land. But it
was too late. Once we came into the land we were commanded to wipe out all the
7 nations and the Givonim were Chivis (that’s with the chhhh like chupa not
cheese). They were pretty much doomed.
So what did they do they
pretended like they were from far away and got the leaders of the tribes to
sign a treaty with them that we would not destroy them if they agreed to be our
servants. Not only that but that we would defend them if they were attacked as
well. If we had known that they were next on our hit list, we never would have
signed it. We were probably not even allowed to sign it as we were commanded to
destroy them. But they fooled us. When we realized the ruse and called them on
it, it was too late. They had already showed the rest of the world that we had
signed a treaty and it would be a chilul Hashem, a desecration of Hashem’s name
to break it. Despite the fact that we were tricked. See the world really
doesn’t care whether the other teams play fair. The only thing that matters is
that we do. Some things never change.
The Jews were of course
annoyed with all of this, because they were really banking on settling in the
land promised by Hashem. But Yehoshua went along with the deal and the
Givonites became the first Jewish Shabbos goyim and foreign labor workers (or Tailandim
as they call them here) for us schlepping water and chopping trees for the
temple. Ultimately that treaty came back to bite us as it brought us into a
huge war. But that’s next week’s column.
Where is Givon? Actually
it’s pretty easy to identify. Right next to Givat Ze’ev outside of Yerushalayim
there’s a Palestinian village under Area B on the other side of separation
fence. If you drive on 443 it’s not far from there. In the 1950’s there were
wine vessels that actually dated back to the time of Yehoshua that said Givon
on it. As well the arab name Al- Jib is reminiscent of the city name. It’s
near the other cities mentioned near there as well. Kiryat Yearim and Yerushalayim.
Right next to Al- jib in fact jewish yishuv called Givon Hachadasha. It’s
a secular yishuv. Frum people might not
want to name it after the crooked Chivites that fooled us and lived
there. So this is definitely a story I share when I drive along that area. As
well it’s a story I mention whenever we are anywhere near the Area’s A
and B’s and talk about the current “peace accords”. As Winston
Churchill said he who fails to learn the lessons of the past are doomed to
repeat it.
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S CLOTHING JOKES OF THE WEEK
Bernie called all his staff together
at the garment manufacturing plant that he had and announced that his
son-in-law was joining the business.
“My friends, he is to have no
special privileges and you are to treat him just like anyone else who is due to
take over your business in 2 years!”
Ira was at his shmatta plant
and his supplier called him.
“Hello Silverman? When are you
going to pay me for those linings?”
Silverman snapped back angrily “how
should I know? I’m a dress manufacturer not a fortune teller?!”
A week later he got a letter from
the textile company that said
“we cannot ship your order until
full payment has been made on your last order”
Silverman sent a letter a reply. it
said
“please cancel my order I can’t
wait that long.”
Yankel walked into the fancy
clothing store on 5th avenue and picked out a tie. The clerk wrapped
it up and handed back to him.
Yankel then said “I’m sorry I
changed my mind, I”ll have this pair of socks instead. “
“Ok” said the clerk and began to
wrap them up. He handed them to Yankel who then proceeded to walk out of the
store.
“Hey! Wait”the clerk shouted “you didn’t
pay for that!”
Yankel turned to him slightly hurt “What
are you talking about? I just exchanged the tie for the socks?”
“Yes” said the clerk “but you never
paid for the tie!”
“Of course not” said Yankel “Did
I keep it?”
Cohen made it big in the shmatta
business. He took a nothing business and in a few years made it into a world
class top of the line clothing company. As the years passed and he was nearing
his end he called his lawyer to help him prepare his will. He said
“Sol, I want a stipulation that
everyone of my employees who has worked for me for 25 years of more is to get a
special bequest of $25,000 dollars each.”
The attorney looked at him strangely
“Sam, you only went into business 15 years ago…”
“I know” gasped Cohen “but think how
nice it will look in the papers!
************
Answer is C– And this one I leigitimally got
wrong. Not only did I get it wrong, but I’ve been guiding it wrong also. So
apologies to all those out there. Unfortunately, you cannot get a refund for
the misinformation that I passed on. But for some reason in my course I
specifically remember our guide telling us that Mt. Meron was the “einei
hamedina”. Because from the army base on top we can look into both Syria
and Lebanon. It seems I guess that he was just using that term nonchalantly
co-opting it from its original usage, rather than authoritatively. The eyes of
the medina were a famous reference to Mt. Hermon- I discovered upon googling
it, by Danny Mass in the Yom Kippur War. Ah well there goes my streak. The score is Schwartz 15 and 2 for
MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam so far.
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