Good Mourning- Parshat Pinchas and Matos 5779 / 2019

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 26^th 2019 -Volume 9 Issue 42 23^rd of Tamuz 5779

Parshat Pinchas/ Matos

Good Mourning

It’s a sad country. There are not too many places that I visit with my tourists where we don’t talk about stories of Jewish martyrdom. It’s difficult and painful to think that wherever we walk in this country we are inevitably walking upon ground that has been sanctified with Jewish blood. From the high fortress of Masada where the Jews the remaining rebels took their own lives rather than fall and be abused and violated by the Romans, to the ruins of Yerushalayim, the churban, and the city of David and the burnt rooms where one can just picture our ancestors going up in flames. If you can’t imagine it don’t worry the Burnt house in the Rova will show it to you in their high definition film recreation of those events.

We have the biblical wars and even the civil wars amongst brothers as we head into the Shomron and the area of Binyamin. The Bar Kochva revolts and their tunnels near Beit Shemesh and their tragic end. In Caesarea I speak about the martyrs, Rabbi Akiva and the other great sages that were tortured, burnt, and fed to animals there for public entertainment. And of course it never seems to end as we head up North to the prisoners hung by the British in Akko and the heroes and soldiers that gave their lives in the battles of ’67 and Yom Kippur in the Golan. Blood, tears, battles, wars, terrorists, for many this is the story that they take away from a tour to Eretz Yisrael. Perhaps now you understand why I feel the need to go speed-boating, rafting, jeeping or even hit a winery or two or three, towards the end of our day of touring. Otherwise I don’t if people would sleep at night.

On the other hand, though, I think that if you ask most of my tourists at the conclusion of their trip here how they felt about it, I’m pretty sure that none of them would describe it the way that I did above fascinatingly enough. Meaning, they just spent a week, two weeks, a month, however long they came for and they heard and talked about all of those things or many of those stories that I just mentioned and yet when you ask them how their trip to Israel was they would say that it was fun, it was uplifting, it was amazing and it was holy. You wouldn’t get those responses on a trip back from eastern Europe; from Poland, Lithuania, Hungary or other places where Jews were killed and our communities were massacred. Despite the fact that over there you pretty much have only a few decades of Jewish blood being spilled and a “few million” or so that were murdered. In Israel we have millennia of bloodshed and holocaust and hundreds of millions through the generations that were annihilated, and yet over here- besides when one goes to Yad Vashem, which is really a museum about what took place out of Israel, one leaves the country and the day of touring feeling uplifted, upbeat and inspired rather than sad, morose and depressed.

The answer to why that is, I believe, is more than just the fact that here we see the rebirth once again. We read and tell the stories of the destruction, the exile, the martyrs and the sacrifices but then after that we taste the fruits that are growing once again, we see the cities that have been repopulated, the ruins that have been rebuilt and the endless fields of wheat, fruit, and forests of trees that adorn our country once again. We see the words of the prophet Zecharia

So says Hashem the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women sit in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing.

Or perhaps even more accurately and fantastic the words of Yirmiyahu who witnessed the entire holocaust that was the destruction of our first Temple and our exile. Think of Yirmiyahu as the Eli Wiesel chronographer of that time period. The man who saw it all; the death, the horror and unimaginable brutality, and then listen to his words that we are living today.

And she shall gain through Me renown, joy, fame, and glory above all the nations on earth, when they hear of all the good fortune I provide for them. They will thrill and quiver because of all the good fortune and all the prosperity that I provide for her.

Thus said the Hashem: Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is ruined…in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man, without inhabitants, without beast—the sound of rejoicing and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride…

 In this ruined place, without man and beast, and in all its towns, there shall again be a pasture for shepherds, where they can rest their flocks. In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah, and in the towns of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and in the environs of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah…

In those days Judah shall be delivered and Israel shall dwell secure…

OK I know that you just glossed over that and barely read it… So go back and read it again slowly and let it sink in…I’m waiting…. J. Can you imagine Eli Wiesel writing something like that about Hungary? Germany? Poland… Can you imagine anyone writing that while the Holocaust is going on. And yet that is the words of Yirmiyahu who saw- as incomprehensible as it may seem- far worse. And we are living and seeing that and many other prophecies today.

But that alone is not the reason why I think the experience here is different. See, Eretz Yisrael is the culmination of everything. This is where with an act of martyrdom or of sacrifice, one comes to a recognition more than anywhere else that he is truly a korban in the fullest sense of the world. He or she has come to as close as possible to Hashem. In fact, it is the conclusion of the portion of Pinchas in the inspiring stories of the daughters of Tzlafchad that come to Moshe and ask for their portion of the land of Israel. They put aside their natural modesty, the kol kivuda bas melech pnima and they approach the leader of the Jewish people who has seemed to have left out their scenario -of having no portion, as their father was killed in the wilderness with no male heirs. And they question. They put it on the line because they know how important it is. It is the place they are meant to reveal Hashem from.

It is the story of Moshe being inspired by these women and asking Hashem, according to the Midrash, if his children will be able to lead the Jewish people into the land. If they will at least have the merit to have the gedula- the greatness that Moshe would not be able to achieve.

It is the mitzvos that Hashem gives us that are, seemingly strangely placed here in the end of Sefer Bamidbar, of the daily, Rosh Chodesh and holidays sacrifices. This would seem to belong in Vayikra. But it is here. For there is no more perfect place for these laws than to understand that our entrance into the land is premised on the idea that there will be a constant connection to Hashem. We are building Him a home on this earth. A place where we will regularly visit Him. Where we will bring our sacrifices to Him. Where no occasion, no day will go by without that special connection.
The parsha of Matos takes that idea to an even deeper level and more personal level from the national level where the laws of vows and personal acts of holiness are stated to the heads of the tribes to be given over to the Jewish people. There is a national connection, a tribal connection and these are the laws bein ish l’ishto, ubein av l’bito-between a man and his wife and a father and his daughter. The vows they make are real. They have connection, they obligate and they have the most personal and divine ramifications. That is what coming to the land of Israel means. These are the laws and narratives we are told about right before we enter the land.

All of these laws and stories are sandwiched in between the command of Hashem for us to avenge the vengeance of Israel from the Midianites and Moshe giving us over the command. It is perhaps the most incongruous pause in the entire Torah. The command was given in chapter 25:16 and the story doesn’t pick up again until chapter 31:1, That’s about 180 pesukim! All these laws and stories though convey the essence of the battle, the fights, the war that will define our entry into the next phase of our life. It will be the end of the era of Moshe. It will begin the era of Hashem and our own personal connection. When Moshe gives that command he tells us that we are fighting not for the vengeance of Yisrael, rather it is for Hashem. The Midianites were the cause of death of 24,000 of our brethren. But we are not fighting to avenge them. We are fighting because we are here to reveal Hashem in this world. We pause and think about the daughters of Tzlafchad, we read about Moshe and his wish for his children. We think about the national and personal connections Eretz Yisrael means to us. It’s no longer about “payback” it’s about the big picture of why we are here and what our role in the world is all about.

Do you know what differentiates the experience of the stories of all of those martyrs here? They died and their message was we are not complete without Eretz Yisrael. The world is not complete without us being here. Religious Jews, non-religious Jews, Zionists, Torah Scholars, rebels, the tribes of Israel they all fought and they all died in Israel for that concept. Whether they could express it or not. Their soul understood that this is the only place we can reveal Hashem from. Every Jewish soul upon hearing these stories and visiting those sites feels that sparked ignited within them. And as it burns brighter and brighter we feel closer and closer. It’s what their sacrifice has done to us. It is a true korban la’Hashem.

We are in the midst of the three weeks of mourning for that Temple destroyed as we wait for the Temple still to be built. Those of us here in Israel that have the privilege to be living in this land can spend their summer vacations not only visiting, hiking and enjoying the beauty of our physically restored land, but also can visit the sites that will inevitably ignite that spiritual longing as well. To think of those that were martyred and those that in their deaths for us to be here, revealed the inner longing for a Divine Home.

For those of you not zocheh to be here… That should make you sad enough…You shouldn’t have to wait for your Tisha B’av video to inspire you. These parshiyot that we always read during this time reveal to us what the truest tragedy of our exile is. They reveal what the truest longing for Eretz Yisrael was always about. That’s what we are meant to be reflecting upon. Those are the thoughts that will lead us back to our redemption.

I composed a song last year (It’s down below by the Youtube clips- listen and like!) It is the words that we lament on Tisha B’Av

Al Eileh ani Bochiya- On these I cry… my eyes pour water..
The prophet tells us that what he is crying for is not the horrible destruction but rather

Ki rachak mimeni Menachem Meishiv nafshi- My comforter who can console me is far from me...
The Alshich Hakadosh explains that is the inner essence of our true mourning. Not the horrors, not the loss, not the fact that so many have suffered. Yirmiyahu’s eyes were filled with tears beacause of the distance from our Father in heaven and that loss from achieving what we are here for.

Hayu banai shomemim- the rest of the children were forlorn
however… ki gavar oyeiv… {just} because of the victory of our enemies.

The children missed the point. They were so overwhelmed with the sadness of their persecution and what they had undergone, they couldn’t see the bigger tragedy. The loss of the shechina. This year we will not recite those words on Tisha B’Av. It falls out on Shabbos. The great Rebbi Yehudah Hanasi’s opinion was that once Tisha B’Av has been pushed off- as we do not fast on Shabbos, then it remains pushed off. There is no fast on Sunday. There is no more mourning. It is over. The Rabbis did not agree. Until this year when Tisha B’Av falls out on Shabbos it is observed on Sunday. May this be the year that we merit Mashiach when even Rebbi will agree that Tisha B’Av will be observed on Sunday. As it will be a day of rejoicing and celebration at our temple rebuilt.
Have magnificent Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Men ken machen dem cholem grosser vi di nacht..” -You can make a dream bigger than the night.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO  OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/al-eileh-acapella  – My latest composition Al Eileh Ani Bochiya- Sung Acapella by the incredible Dovid Lowy! Listen and be inspired… and Like and share…

https://youtu.be/9bsgVmaS2gY   – Carlebach Al Eileh Ani Bochiyah… The classic!

https://youtu.be/lV5BFVeYyCs  – Al Eileh Ani Bochiya- Yossi Green version

https://youtu.be/G-HvhT8OPs0 –New Avraham Fried  “ If I am I and you are you” The Kotzker Riddle

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q    Ibex (Yael) can be sighted in Israel mainly in:
A) The Hula Lake Park (Agmon HaHula)
B) Carmel Hai-Bar
C) The Judean Desert
D) Ein Yael

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS” CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat Matos– Lamdanim are not necessarily Baalei Mussar- that would be a different column, maybe we’ll do that next year. However one of the things about Lamdanim is that they can look at something with discerning eyes and uncover things that perhaps the average baalabus might miss. If the result leads to Mussar then so be it. The main thing is to examine statements and ideas and take it to their lomdushe conclusions.

In this week’s Torah portion Rav Brevda finds an incredible lesson from the Baalei Tosafos. Hashem commands Moshe to avenge the honor of Bnai Yisrael from the Midyanim. Wipe ‘em out. This is a personal commandment to Moshe, the Baalei Tosafos notes, this wasn’t a command to tell the Jewish people to do it. This was his mitzva personally. Yet Moshe commands the tribes to do it and has Pinchas lead them in battle. Why doesn’t he do it himself? He answers that since Moshe was raised in Midian, after he fled Egypt from Pharaoh after having killed the Egyptian that was beating up the Jew, he therefore felt that it isn’t befitting that he should be the one to carry out the punishment against them. He received benefit from them.

That’s the Tosafos. Simple. Easy. Nice lesson. Move on..

Not so quick notes Rav Brevda. Let’s take this apart a bit. Moshe is standing a short moment before his death. This is very possibly his last chance to perform a mitzva. This was something Hashem told him to do. Moshe more than anything else wants to do mitzvos. In fact his entire plea to go into the land of Israel was not for the great falafel, or to go rafting down the Jordan or even to take Rabbi Schwartz as a tour guide- as significant as that is… Rather Our sages tell us that Moshe wanted to go into Israel to fulfill the mitzvos of the land that he couldn’t fulfill anywhere else. Can you imagine how badly he wanted to do this mitzva.

Even more than that, Rashi notes, that Moshe knew that after this mitzva he would die. As Hashem specifically said v’achar te’asef el amuv- after he will be gathered into his nation. And yet he did not delay at all, rather he moved forward on it. That’s how much fulfilling the mitzva meant to him. More than his own life…And yet, with all that, when it came to fulfill the actual commandment he did it by means of an intermediary. Through the Jewish people and Pinchas, because he felt he had to show appreciation to this nation. And the truth is isn’t wasn’t even the nation that he benefitted from. It was his father-in-laws house. It was 40 years before. He had no need to show appreciation to the wicked nation Midian, they after-all were behind the plague that killed 24,000 Jews in the last parsha. And yet for Moshe this would have been considered in the words of the Tosafos a “bogeid”- a betrayal.

That is who Moshe was. That is the sensitivity he had for the degree of appreciation one has to have. He understood that Hashem must never have meant for him to do it, rather he should appoint an agent to carry out. For a ‘well that one drinks out of you should throw dirt in’. That is the path of the Torah. That is lesson  you can derive if you take a lomdushe look at things rather than a mere periphery glance.

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

The Era of Shoftim 1245 BC – So the first story in the Book of Shoftim is the battle of the tribes of Yehudah and Shimon against the Canaani tribe of Bezek, Despite the fact that The tribes had conquered much of the land and settled it while Yehoshua was still alive there was still pockets of the 7 nations that were still around. The tribes were nervous who would lead them into battle. And Hashem commanded that Yehuda, the tribe of rightful kingship, be the one for the job. Yehudah brought Shimon into assist him. Shimon’s portion was within that of Yehuda’s, first of all. In addition he was the next in line. Reuvein was on the other side of the Jordan, Levi didn’t get a portion, so that left Shimon.

Yehudah leads them into battle and the trounce the enemy and their leader Adoni-Bezek rather than stay and fight, flees. Wimp. The Jews catch him and they choose to humiliate him for being such a coward and abandoning his people, and to send a message to others. So they chopped off his thumbs and toes, that way he could never hold a weapon again, nor could he ever flee. Little did they know at the time how appropriate that would be. For Adoni Bezek than states that is what he used to do to 70 kings that he fought against. He recognized that the Jewish people were carrying out the Divine punishment and even stated that. They earned him mercy from the Jews and they brought him to Yerushalayim where he stayed until he died.

There are so many lessons in this first story. The bravery of the tribes stepping up and working together. That Hashem punishes through the Jewish people. Warfare is something that is done to intimidate the enemy as brutal as it may seem. And perhaps most fascinating that he was ultimately spared once he recognized Hashem’s Divine hand.

Where is Bezek? In the Shomron between Shechem and Beit She’an not far from Sdei Terumot and below Gilboa flows the Bezek River. Not far from there is the ruins of a city called by Eusibius the 4^th century historian called Chirbat Abzek- which sounds a lot like Bezek and in fact ruins were found there from the period of time. I don’t really take people there as its in Area A, however the concepts of how to fight and respond to terrorism and our enemies is certainly something we spend a lot of time talking about. I’m not saying chop off thumbs and toes… But I don’t think providing terrorists with cushy prison cells and cable TV is certainly not the way to go either….

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S ALIYAH JOKES OF THE WEEK

(am I the only one that has been deluged with them this week)

Because Abe a new Oleh to Israel and was excited about moving here. As soon as his plane landed, he got a taxi to take him to his hotel. The taxi driver was very friendly and told Abe all kinds of useful information.
Then Abe asks the driver, "Say, is Israel a healthy place?"
"Oh, yes, it really is," the driver answered, "When I first came here, I couldn't say even one simple word, I had hardly any hair on my head, I didn't have the energy to walk across a small room and I even had to be helped out of bed every day."
"That's a remarkable story, truly amazing," Abe said, "so how long have you been here in Israel?"
"I was born here."

David leaves London and makes aliyah (emigrates) to Israel. As soon as he settles down in Tel Aviv, he goes to see the local optician.
"I’m having trouble reading," he says, "maybe you could check my eyes?"
The optician agrees and sits David in front of a large eye test chart. "Can you read the letters on the bottom line?" he asks.
"No," replies David.
"So how about the next line up?" asks the optician.
Squinting, David replies, "No, I still can’t read them."
"OK," says the optician, "let’s start at the top line. Read out the letters please."
"But I can’t," says David.
"Are you perhaps a teeny bit blind?" asks the optician.
"Certainly not," replies David, "it’s just that I’ve never learned to read Hebrew."

When Jacob was finally given an exit visa by the Russians and allowed to immigrate to Israel, he was told he could only take what he could put into one suitcase. At Moscow airport, he was stopped by customs and an official shouted, "Open your case at once."
Jacob did what he was told. The official searched through his case and pulled out something wrapped in newspaper. He unwrapped it and saw it was a bust of Stalin.
"What is that?" he shouted at Jacob.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'What is that?' - you should ask 'Who is that?' That is our glorious leader Stalin. I'm taking it to remind me of the wonderful things he did for me and the marvellous life that I am leaving behind."
The official sneered. "I always knew you Jews were mad. Go, and take the bust with you."
When Jacob arrived at Ben Gurion airport, a customs officer said, "Shalom, welcome to Israel, open your case, please!"
Jacob's case was once again searched and not surprisingly the bust was found. "What is that?” asked the officer.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'What is that?' - you should ask 'Who is that?' That is Stalin the bastard. I want to spit on it every day to remind me of all the suffering and misery he caused me."
The official laughed, "I always knew you Russians were mad. Go, and take the bust with you."
When Jacob arrived at his new home, his young nephew watched him as he unpacked. Jacob carefully unwrapped the bust of Stalin and put it on the table. "Who is that?" asked his nephew.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'Who is that?' - you should ask 'What is that?' That is five kilos of gold."

And for the ones that didn’t yet make Aliya…

Maurice was a good, well-respected elderly Boro Park man. He felt that death was close and asked his sons to take him to the Holy Land, to die there and be buried in Jerusalem.
The loving sons did as he asked, brought him to Jerusalem, put him in a hospital and waited for death to come. However, once in Jerusalem Maurice started to feel better and better and after a few weeks was again strong, healthy and full of life.
He called upon his sons and said: "Quickly, take me back to Boro Park."
The sons were somehow disappointed and asked: "Father, how come? You said you want to die in the Holy Land and be buried in Jerusalem!'
"Yes," answered Maurice, to die it's OK but to live here....!?"

Benjamin, a young Talmud student who had left Israel for London some years earlier, returns to visit his family.
"But Benjamin, where is your beard?" asks his mother upon seeing him.
"Mother," he replies, "In London, nobody wears a beard."
"But at least you keep the Sabbath?" his mother asks.
"Mother, business is business. In London, everybody works on the Sabbath."
"But kosher food you still eat?" asks his mother.
"Mother, in London, it is very difficult to keep kosher."
Then silence, whilst his elderly mother gives thought to what she has just heard. Then she leans over and whispers in his ear, "Benjamin, tell me, are you still circumcised?


************

Answer is C–  C’mon… everyone should get this one right. Anyone that has been to Israel has been to Ein Gedi or Masada and seen the ibex all over the Midbar Yehudah area. The Barchi Nafshi prayer and psalm written by Dovid Hamelech seemingly in Ein Gedi or at least the Midbar where he hid from Shaul mentions he’harim la’yaelim- the hills are for the ibex. Cool Ibex facts one male fights it out with the others to mate with a group of females. They can jump about 6 feet in the air without a running start. The males are the ones with the long horns and the beards the females have the smaller ones and they can live for about 20 years in the wild.  So the score is Schwartz 31 and 6 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam so far.

Giving it All- Parshat Balak /Pinchas 2019/5779

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 19^th 2019 -Volume 9 Issue 41 16^th of Tamuz 5779

Parshat Balak/ Pinchas

Giving it All

 He stood there in his coast guard uniform and he was dumbfounded. He had never seen anything like this in his life. All the members of the regional unit that he commanded were taking pictures and videos and were sending it to their fellow units across the country. What was going on? Tens, and then hundreds and then thousands of Jews were pouring onto the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia and North Carolina. They came in cars, buses, ships and boats. They were lining the shoreline with ATV’s and hiking up and down by foot. Speed boats and Jet skis usually used as re-Creational vehicles were now being used in service of our Creator. They had all shown up to do whatever they could do find the body of Rabbi Reuvein Bauman who had disappeared under the waves as he jumped in to rescue one of his drowning students last Tuesday.

The commanding officer had tears in his eyes as he walked into the Bnai Israel congregation before Shabbos. He said that although usually a search would be called off after a day or two, his men were going to continue. How could they stop searching when so many people around the world were praying, Emailing, and continuing to come in to search. Leaving their wives and families behind in their own communities in order to search for the body of a Jew they had never met before in their life and knew nothing about. There were counselors, therapists, crisis management people. He told the Rabbi, that he never knew any Jews before and didn’t really know anything about the Jewish people, but if this is what they were about, he wishes he were part of us as he had never seen anything like this. Mi K’amcha Yisrael- who is like Your nation, Israel, the Torah says, Goy Echad Ba’aretz. – One nation in the land

I did not know Rabbi Bauman or Reuvein Tzvi ben Esther Baila as most of Klal Yisrael knew him for the five days it took until his body was found, as we all recited tehillim for him. My brother who lives in Norfolk and whose children were there at the beach at the time that the drowning occurred kept us updated and posted throughout this national crisis. But I do know Norfolk. My family was privileged to live there for three years as we started the Kollel there which led to the development of the school that Rabbi Bauman taught in. I know many of the people searching, I know the community there joined together in prayer, and I know they are sharing in tragedy. But with that being said, I don’t feel that this was more personal for me than for anyone else in Klal Yisrael. We don’t have to know the person to realize and to reveal that inner knowledge that they are my brother and sister and their pain is my pain, their worry is my worry and their anguish is my anguish. We are a nation that has had those unifying nerves that we share, pricked again and again that remind us that we are one. Whether it is tzoros in Israel, a tragic car accident, a terrorist attack or a suicide, we feel the pain. We will walk around the world for each other. It is what family does. It is what family feels. It is what it means to be a goy echad ba’aretz- a singular nation in the land.

Now if that is the case, perhaps someone can explain to me why at the same time we are the most divisive people around. Why we can’t seem to agree upon anything. Why even after we have elections which tears this country apart, we still can’t figure out who should be Prime Minister. So hey, let’s do it all again. Why is it that we will fight, we will demonstrate, we will attack, malign, and pretty much destroy anyone that sees things different than us? Why the most famous Jewish joke is about the guy alone on the island who has two shuls the one he prays in and the one he wouldn’t step foot in. It doesn’t make any sense. On one hand we will give our lives for a fellow Jew we don’t know, on the other hand god help you once I get to know you and I find out you voted for the wrong candidate, you go to that shul, you follow that Rabbi, you serve or don’t serve in that army.

Perhaps this Jewish dynamic could be understood with one of the most interesting puzzles that we find at the end of last week’s Torah portion and the beginning of this ones. The story of Pinchas. For those not caught up yet and who haven’t read it yet like we did in Israel  (because you live in that country J), The leader of the tribe of Shimon, Zimri, gets up taunts Moshe with a Midianite princess in front of the entire people. The Jews themselves have begun to sin with the daughters of Moav that have come out to seduce them to worship their idol- Baal Pe’or. This is the fall-back plan that was devised by Bilaam when he couldn’t curse the Jewish people.  And it was working, a plague broke out 24,000 Jews were dead. The nation is in tears and Moshe Rabbeinu is shell-shocked. Things are not looking good.

And then comes Pinchas. Like a hero he picks up a spear and chucks it at Zimri and the princess killing them. Boom. The plague stops. Pinchas, the zealot is rewarded in this week’s Torah portion with the Bris Kehunas Olam- He becomes the only person not born a Kohen to become a Kohen. As well he is awarded with Brisi Shalom- My Covenant of Peace. Because he was zealous for his God and he atoned for the Jewish people.

 Now out of all the prizes that he could have gotten it seems strange that he would receive either of those. After all King David was not allowed to build the Beis Hamikdash because it was meant to be a house of peace and he had blood on his hand. In fact, the rule is that a Kohen that kills someone is not allowed to serve, so why is Pinchas made a Kohen? And the peace prize? Really? If you want to give him the best warrior prize I get that, Make him the general of the army. The head of the Vaad L’Mishmeres Tzniyus- the guard of the modesty brigade. But peace prize?

The answer really is that what Pinchas did was all and only about peace, and was all and only about Hashem. The act of killing someone while in the act of being with a non-Jewish woman- a bo’el aramis, is not a judicial law. There are no court deliberations, witness examinations, or even warnings, or appeals. It is something that someone who is not a “zealot” is prohibited from carrying out and killing them. As well it is only permitted while they are in the act of cohabiting, bizarrely enough. Moshe himself doesn’t pick up the spear and kill him as he feels it is his not his place to do so. Pinchas acted with the permission of Moshe, really without thinking of any of the personal consequences to himself. He could’ve been lynched. This was the leader of a tribe and the whole tribe was sitting right there. He could’ve been lambasted by the Jewish people; who did he think he was? His grandfather from his mother’s side worshipped idols. Trust me, there are no shortage of Jews that are out to get the zealot. But he did it anyways. He did it out of love and passion for the Jewish people and to stop the tremendous desecration of Hashem’s name that was taking place.

Rav Charlap in his classic work Mei Marom, brilliantly notes that this extra-judicial law that is only applicable here is in fact only brought about by the Zealot himself. Meaning the sin itself is not sufficient to get the death penalty. If someone would sin with a non-Jewish woman privately, or if the zealot missed the moment and the offender separated already, he wouldn’t be killed. His punishment would be lashes. The reason why he is killed than is really about the opportunity that the Zealot presents. He is overcome with passion. His beloved- Hashem- is being violated. The innate holiness that zera Yisrael- that Jewish seed possesses is going to waste, to impurity to a non-Jewish woman. That love and passion, not rage or anger or god forbid hatred, but that love for Hashem and for the fellow Jew that is about to commit this act is what provides for the halacha that he may act upon it. In the words of Rav Shaul Yisraeli

“The law is one where the zealot doesn’t have to exert effort to subdue his natural spiritual emotions and passion rather he has the freedom to express them and to remove the abomination before him.”

Do you know what that emotion is like? It’s like seeing a child drowning in an ocean and you don’t pay attention to anything else. Not your own safety, not whether you will be successful or not, not whether it makes any sense. You just do what you have to do. Do you know what that act does? It reveals the spark in the Jewish people that we all have this connection and we can do what needs to be done. It will bring out thousands to look for a Rabbi that they have never met.  They’ll take off work and leave their families and they’ll keep looking and praying and not giving up hope despite the odds being very bleak. Pinchas merits to be the Kohen because his act wasn’t an act of murder. It was an act of revealing the powerful love one can have for Hashem and what an unstoppable force that is.

That is however not enough. His act is also one that comes from a love of the Jewish people and to do whatever it takes to preserve not just them physically, by stopping the plague that came as a result of Hashem’s wrath for their sin, but by saving them spiritually. By showing them what true love means. How devastating it can be for our people if even one Jew is allowed to publicly flaunt and defile that holy spark we share. How much we need to do to prevent that from happening. That is the covenant of shalom. Shalom/ peace is not just lack of war. That would be a cease fire. Shalom is bringing it all together. Revealing the shared completion that happens when we are all connected like a perfect puzzle and we reveal the face of Hashem that shines when that happens. That is how the plague stopped. That is how the redemption will happen.

There are a lot people today that believe themselves to be zealots. Some are religious, some are secular, some are socialists, some are Zionists, some represent ideas that are an anathema to Torah and Jewish values, and some are only about Torah. We are living in a more and more radicalized world. The one common denominator in most, if not all of these camps, is that there is no absolutely no love for the ones that they decry and oppose. They are the enemies. They are evil. They are deplorable and anti-Jewish. They’re not Pinchas.

The other thing that they share though, which gives me hope, is that in times of tragedy, the true spark does come out. The love does. The unity does. And the prayers do. Pinchas can be found within us when we act for one another. He seems to be lost though when we believe we are acting for Hashem. We need that bris of shalom. We need that Kohen that will inspire us and reveal it.

We begin the three weeks of mourning for our Temple this Sunday with the fast of the 17^th of Tamuz. It is a time more than any other throughout the year when we long for the Temple, the return of Hashem to His city. It is also a time when tragedy has always befallen the Jewish people. It’s not a good time to do wild activities. Every Jew knows there are always stories in the three weeks. Be careful. These are not lucky days. This year the community of Norfolk and other tragic stories in Israel and around the world seem to have gotten a head start. The tragedies are not just bad luck at an unlucky time of year. They are a call from above to unite. To get over our self-perceived zealotry and reveal that love for one another. We are told that Pinchas is Eliyahu Hanavi. He is waiting to bring us to Mashiach. To bring Mashiach to us. We just have to really appreciate and care enough that all of us, and only when it is truly all of us, are all there to greet him. May it be this year.

Have comforting and inspiring Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Di kro flit hoich un zetst zikh oif a chazzer.” -The crow flies high but settles on a hog..

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO  OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/252RZTtjKd8    – Eliyahu Chait- Son of Reb Baruch Lecha Dodi! Love the video! Just in time for shabbos

https://youtu.be/LBrlhRdGti0  – ITRI yeshiva 50 year anniversary- That’s my son Yonah’s yeshiva I spotted him at 1:48 and 5:02 and a bunch of times from 8:40 and on… He’s 21 getting on the market soon! Check him out J

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eliyahu-hanavi  –The Rabbi Schwartz Fan Club fan favorite in honor of Pinchas is Eliyahu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0B1fnNXaCw&feature=youtu.be – Take the Three week Challenge…  

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q   Pistil (amud haeli) is:
A) The peak of the mound (tel) in Shilo
B) The part that connects the flower to the stem
C) The organ that produces pollen in a flower
D) The female reproductive part of a flower

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS” CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat Pinchas– There is nothing more exciting to lamdanim than when the Torah uses some extra words that seemingly are there to reveal some type of solution to a halachic problem. There are two parts that are exciting about that. Firstly, you have to figure out the halachic problem and secondly how the words provide the solution to that problem. An added bonus is if the words are one that the average –non lamdan-(baaalah bos-layman) might miss. As well if you can make it into a machlokes-dispute and find two problems each according to their own opinion being resolved by the text. Is that a lomdushe enough introduction? Ok here we go.

This week the Torah recounts (again!) the numbers and families of the klal Yisrael. The Torah throws in extra details here and there and those are the ones that your lomdushe Spidey sense should start tingling for. So the Torah tells us about Moshe’s parents

Bamidbar (26:59) And the name of the wife of Amram was Yocheved the daughter of Levi whom she bore to Levi in Egypt.

Got it? Let’s take this apart. First of all it doesn’t generally tell us the names of wives, so The fact that it tells us Yocheved is significant. As well Why does it repeat and tell us that not only was she the daughter of Levi but that her mother bore her to Levi. Isn’t that obvious and repetitious? Also who cares that she was born in Egypt? These are your puzzles. So what’s the problem and what is the solution?

The Nachal Eliyahu fills us in. He points out that since Amram, Yocheved’s husband is the son of Kehas who is the son of Levi. So then Yocheved, also a daughter of Levi, would be his aunt. This is a problem. For according to one opinion in the Talmud in Sanhedrin (58.) A Noahide is prohibited to marry his father’s sister. Since we are talking about the marriage before the Torah was given- as the verse specifically tell us this took place in Egypt- that would be the status that the Jewish people had seemingly this would be a prohibited marriage. That would put into question the entire lineage of Moshe Rabbeinu!

The Torah therefore tells us that Yocheved was the daughter of Levi – that she bore her- meaning that Yocheved came from a different mother than Kehat. She was the only one that was born to her mother- Levi’s second wife. And thus she did not share the same mother as Kehat and therefore she would be permitted to her nephew Amram who was only the son of her half-brother and not her full brother! So there we have part one, now for the extra credit.

Now what about the opinion in the Talmud that holds that a ben Noach is permitted to marry his aunt? Why would the Torah need to tell us all these extra details? See what I did there… I took our insight and connected it to a debate and now I can start all over again. So he suggests another solution. There is a law that it is prohibited for a man to have relations with his wife during years of famine. We derive this law from the fact that the Torah specifically tells us that Yosef had his children before the years of famine began. Which insinuates that during the years of famine it would have been prohibited to have children. That being the case than how was it possible that Yocheved was born when they came down to Egypt. Levi and all the tribes came down during the years of famine?

The answer is that the Talmud tells us that there is an exception to the rule. That is if a couple still has not had any children yet than those extenuating circumstances permit one to cohabit. Aha! If that is the case, then we understand what the Torah is telling us. Yocheved was born from a different wife- as it says she bore her to him- she was the only one born to him. Therefore, she was not the same wife that bore Kehat as we noted above and her mother was permitted to cohabit with Levi in the years of the famine as she was the only child of her mother.

C’mon, isn’t that amazing, or what?

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

The Era of Shoftim 1245 BC – After the death of Yehoshua the Jewish people divide up into tribes and settle the land. We have the Mishkan, we have taken care of most of the former “babysitters” of the land that were watching it for us until we returned and now it was time to fulfill our divine mandate of creating a country that would shine the light of Hashem out to the world. This period lasts for about 350 years until the first King of Israel will be anointed, even longer until conquer Yerushalayim and build the Temple. But these 355 years of us returning to settle the land really contain the important lessons and messages that we need to study as we have today as well returned to the land and await the Temple.

The era which is referred to as the tekufat hashoftim- the era of the judges, ironically enough is perhaps most described in Tanach as a period in time when ish hayashar bi’einav yaas’eh- each man did what was right in their own eyes. Yes, the period of judges which would imply law, legal systems, and rule of law were characterised the most by people doing whatever they wanted to. No rules. No laws. And failure after failure.

It is a fascinating period that really leads to the discussion about the authority that the judges had. Generally speaking, we have different types of leaders. We have prophets they were given messages by Hashem for the Jewish people. They had to prove their level of prophecy and once they were established their words had to be listened to unconditionally. We have the elders and Torah Scholars who led through their wisdom and tradition and understanding of the Torah. Their authority was in some ways greater than the prophets as they would show and teach their guidance from the Torah. At the same time though they could not claim to be messengers of Hashem. A prophet had no authority to make laws based on his own cognizance. He was merely a messenger. A Torah scholar could.

The shoftim were sometimes both of the above, sometimes neither. They had a different function. Their role was to not only judge and enforce the laws of the Torah, but to lead the people militarily as well. They were meant to be pious and spiritual people but they weren’t always the spiritual leaders of the people. In a large way they were like the Kings or the tribal leaders of the nation. They were similar to Kings in that they were appointed by Hashem although they had to be accepted by the people. They also had the right to punish and enact decrees at their own discretion. However unlike the Kings their position was not passed down to their children, which generally meant that the period of Judges was led by better men than the Kings of Israel were as they had to earn the respect of the people to be appointed.

I like to speak about this topic when I visit the Supreme Court building of Israel in Jerusalem or the Knesset. The system we have in Israel is in some ways similar to that of the ideal system of the Torah. The people to get to appoint our leaders. As well, the political and civil leaders are not neccesarily the ones that were meant to be the spiritual leaders. That is certainly true here. However in many ways it is a very flawed spiritual system with corruption and values that are not derived from the Torah, but rather from a flailing secular culture that is constantly changing it ethical and moral compass. We pray each day for the return of the period of Judges. May Hashem answer those prayers as we learn and study about that period in the coming weeks.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S “AGING APP” JOKES OF THE WEEK

(am I the only one that has been deluged with them this week)

Because their memories were getting so bad with old age, Sadie and Sam had to put things in writing to help them remember them. One night, Sam got up from the couch and said to Sadie, "I’m going to the kitchen for something to eat. Do you want anything while I'm there?" 
Sadie said, "Yes, Sam, some ice cream, please." 
Just as Sam set off she added, "And write it down." 
"Don’t worry, I can remember ice cream," said Sam. 
Then Sadie said, "I also want strawberries on my ice cream... Write it down." 
"No need, I can remember ice cream with strawberries," he replied. 
Sadie added, "But I also want whipped cream on top of the strawberries." 
Sam nodded, but left the room without writing anything down. 
When he returned, Sam was carrying a plate of cold roast beef with mustard.
"Now see what you've done," she said, "You’ve forgotten the toast I asked for."
Mr & Mrs Goldberg had just got married. On their way to their  home, Mr Goldberg said to his new wife “Would you have married me if my father hadn’t left me a fortune?”

A poor village family was visiting the big city for the very first time in their lives.  The father and son walked into a tall building and stood in awe. The son pointed at two metal doors and asked his father what they were. The father had no idea.
Suddenly the two doors slid open and a little old lady, leaning on her cane, walked slowly through the metal doors as they slid closed behind her. A few minutes passed. The light on the metal door rang and the door reopened. Out stepped a young woman, who briskly walked to the front door.
The father, hardly believing his eyes, whispered to his son, “Quickly, go get Mommy!”
Young Berel enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, "This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you."
The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?" Berel takes the quarters and leaves. "What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never learns!" Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store.
"Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?"
Berel licked his cone and replied,"Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!"   

A woman walked into the kitchen and found her husband running around with a fly swatter
"What are you doing?", She asked him.
"I"m hunting flies," he replied.
"Did you kill any?" She asked.
"Yes. Two males and three females?".
"How do you know?" She asked curiously.
Well "Two were on the cans of beer, three were on the phone!!!! 

Moishe and Yankel were two bacheloers sitting and talking. Their conversation drifted from politics to cooking. "I got a cookbook once," said Moishie, "but I could never do anything with it."
"Too much fancy cooking in it, eh?" asked Berel
"You said it. Every one of the recipes began the same way - 'Take a clean dish and...'" 

************

Answer is D–  Botany is not my strong point. Certainly not parts of the flowers. But I guessed this one right. Deduction is a good thing. First of all you have to give them credit. That Shiloh/ amud eli connection was cute. Eli being the Kohen Gadol who died in Shiloh. But since the rest of them were flowers you know the question was about flowers, besides that Pistil has nothing to do with Eli. So that was a dead giveaway. Now I knew that it was something to do with reproductive organs. But wasn’t sure if it was pollen or female. But then I remembered that pollen is avak- like dust. So therefore pistil must be female. And so it was.  So the score is Schwartz 30 and 6 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam so far.