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?


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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.