Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
July 5th 2019 -Volume 9 Issue 39-2nd of
Tamuz 5779
Parshat Korach/ Chukas
The True Jewish Stereotype
Now don’t get me wrong, I get just as frustrated as the other guy when the taxi guy drops me off a block away from my house because he doesn’t want to have to turn around. Or when I come into the bank and they charge me to deposit money in my account- even when I use the ATM. Or when the guy who’s supposed to fix my car by yesterday hasn’t gotten around to it yet. He had a bar mitzva to go to instead. Or when… or when…. or when…
But that same Israeli stereotype-game is a dangerous one. See, because everybody will play it against you as well. Oh those chareidim they are such…. Oh those mizrachnikim are not even… Sefardim are like this, Ethiopians are like this Baal Teshuvas are like that and don’t get me started on those Lakewood guys… I know each chasid has one about the other chasidim as well. Satmar are like that Belz are like this Gerrers are soooo… and Lubvitchers.. don’t even ask… And those are just the religious Jews and stereotypes But even as an orthodox Jew as we look at those who are not observant we stereotype them; conservative, reform, liberals, unaffiliated reconstructiadox and whatever new denominations I haven’t been updated on.
How do you feel like when you’re put in that box? Can you find yourself in any of these conversations? Are you a Boro Parker? No I’m from Flatbush. Not really Flatbush… Kensington. I’m not really a New Yorker, I’m from Monsey, from Tom’s River or Jackson- not Lakewood. I’m not really an out of towner I went to New York yeshivas. I’m not a typical BT- I was frum for many years. Yes, I’m from Passaic but I was actually raised frum and my parents were too. You can’t even tell. The Sefardim are really the only ones that pretty much are good with their stereotypes. Yeah I’m Syrian, what do you wanna make of it?!
OK now that I’ve offended everyone, I want to tell you a little Rabbi Schwartz tour guide and Kiruv –Rabbi-who-has-lived-everywhere secret that I have learned from spending a lot of time with all types of Jews. Everyone is different and everyone is the same. What I mean to say is we all have our little nuances our own individual idiosyncrasies. We’re a little more or less like others that are similar us. But we’re all pretty much in the same boat. But to those that aren’t from “the tribe” guess what? They look at us all as exactly the same. Particularly and dangerously the ones that have always wanted to kill us. The Nazi’s didn’t discriminate what material your kippa was made out of or whether you wore one at all. Neither did the Cossacks, the Romans and shhhh a little secret neither will Hamas, Hezbollah or the Alt-right nutty shooter who will come into a synagogue not indifferent if it is a conservative one in Pittsburgh or a Chabad one in California. They don’t care.
This is because they really see the one thing that is true about all of us that we sadly don’t. Sit back for this one and hold on to your hat, yarmulke, shaitel or bald head for all I care. They see that we are all holy. Yup all of us. Religious, not religious, black hat, Satmar, unaffiliated, liberal, neo-con. We’re all the nation of Hashem. We all have that holy spark that can never be extinguished. And that is what they are out to smother out, whether they can verbalize it or are even conscious of it or not. And you know what they are right.
Now don’t feel bad if you don’t see that in all of us; if you feel that there are Jews out there, that putting them in the same sentence as the word holy, would make about as much sense as the words vegetarian and chulent in the same sentence would. You won’t be the first to miss that. In fact none less of a figure than our greatest leader ever Moshe Rabbeinu might’ve missed that as well about us. Huh? Let’s take a look at the parshiyot and an incredible idea brought by quite a few of our sages and Rabbis and maybe even learn and be conscious of two descriptive words used in the Torah to describe our holy nation.
The two words that I am referring to are the words kahal and eida. Literally translated a kahal or kehilla is a gathering of people while eida is generally translated as a congregation, which if you think about it really is people congregating or getting together. The difference though, Rav Charlap in his monumental work Mei Merom notes, is that kahal is a joining together of individuals they are defined by their gathering. Eida on the other hand comes from the word eid-to testify or a witness. It is l’olam va’ed it is eternal. It is od-more than the sum of all of the parts. When the Jewish people are described as a kahal we are a rabble whereas when we are an eida we are not individuals anymore we are identified as a whole that bears witness to the define spark and the light and power we all share to reveal Hashem in the world.
For most of the book of Shemos and prior to our receiving the Torah the term for the Jewish people as a whole was am Yisrael- the nation of Israel. After Mt. Sinai and most notably in the book of Bamidbar we find more and more this issue and concept of the Jewish nation becoming the eida. The book of Bamidbar begins with the mitzva to count the heads of adat Yisrael. The portion that describes the spies that were sent out tells us that they returned with their report to the eida of the fearful challenge that the conquest of Israel would entail. If we would’ve revealed the spark of Hashem in each of us we could’ve done it no problem. But instead the eida cried. We didn’t see ourselves as such. And thus Hashem wanted to destroy us. He would rebuild the eida from Moshe. But after Moshe talks Hashem down it is only spies that become their own eida. In their deaths and the deaths of all of those that mourned with them in the wilderness. There would be a testimony still. The next generation will enter the land and be the eida in their place. The testimony would continue. It is after-all eternal
It is no wonder that this story finally brings us to this week’s parsha, for those of you diaspora Jews that are still waiting to come into the land, where this concept of eida and kahal come up once again. Korach tells Moshe if indeed we are all holy and all one eida then why is there a need for Kohanim/ priests. He organizes the ‘kriei eida’- literally the most notable of the congregation but the term also represents the essence of the fight. We are all ‘kriei haeida’-called eida. We are all equal testifiers. ‘Kol ha’eida kulom kedoshim’- the entire assembly, every Jew is holy. Hashem is in us. Why do you view us as merely a ‘kahal Hashem’- a gathering of people that would therefore require a leader and a priest? Moshe once again falls on his face.
Moshe however speaks to Korach and his eida. This is Korach’s eida. This is not Hashem’s testimony. This is once again a separate congregation. You can either be the eida of Hashem and reveal his name by taking your place amongst the nation, or they will be the testimony, as the meraglim were, in their deaths. He implores them they were chosen from the eida. They can be the representatives of the eida. Don’t rebel against Hashem’s command. Hashem’s plan and command was that at this point it was meant to still work through Moshe. We are not in Israel yet. The time is not yet ripe.
The rest of the story is Hashem removing the eida of Korach. They got swallowed by the earth. There can only be one testimony in this world. It is the eida of Hashem not Korach and not his eida. The eternal mitzva is given not to be part of Korach and his eida. They are part of the Torah and live in infamy cying Moshe is true and the Torah is true from the ground below.
The eida rebels though they complain against Moshe.
Bamidbar(17:7) Vayehi bhikahel ha’eida- and it was when
the congregation gathered on Moshe and Aharon and they turned to the ohel
moed- the tent of the assembly. And behold the glory of Hashem appeared…
Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon remove yourself from this eida and I
will destroy them in an instant!
Which finally brings us to this week’s portion Parshat Chukat, read this week in Israel, which begins with the mitzva of the purity of Parah Aduma- the Red cow and then jumps ahead to the last devastating few months before we come to the land of Israel. The placement of this seemingly unrelated portion of the purity from coming in contact with death through the sprinkling of the ashes of the cow upon the impure, is not coincidental or bad editing. Neither is the title of the parsha, Chukas- a decree where an explanation isn’t given for it, nor, as Rashi notes, is one meant to search out a reason for the mitzva. The title is never just about the first mitzva, rather it is the secret of the entire parsha and perhaps of our entire journey in the wilderness and the essence of the Jewish people that we have been talking about.
The narrative after the parah aduma tells us poignantly that
Bamidbar(20:1) The children of
Israel, the entire eida, came to midbar tzin on the first month and Miriam died
there.
There is a hitch though. With the dying of Miriam the water supply that came miraculously from their ‘traveling rock/ well’ comes to an end. The people are, rightfully so, concerned. They didn’t need a tour guide to warn them about becoming dehydrated. Moshe and Aharon however at this point miss the boat.
Bamidbar (20:6) And Moshe and
Aharon come to the Ohel Moed from the presence of the kahal.
Bamidbar (20:7) gather the eida
and take your staff you and Aharon and speak to the rock before their eyes and
it shall give its waters. You shall bring forth for them water from the rock
and give drink to the eida and their cattle.
But Moshe and Aharon didn’t get it.
Bamidbar (20:9) And Moshe and
Aharon gathered the kahal- the gathering to the rock.
And he said to them ‘Listen now O
rebels shall we bring forth water for you from this rock?
It is for this reason, by the way, why Esau/Edom does not let us into his land. If Moshe had been successful in using and teaching us that together we possess the power of the voice of Yaakov then we would overcome the sword of Esau. But Moshe still raised his hand to the rock. He did not sanctify Hashem and teach them that lesson of faith that can be found in the entire nation as one. Esaud/Edom, thus responded that he was not scared of us. Moshe would not be bringing us into the land. The time when we actualize becoming the complete eida of Hashem was missed.
The Torah portion is called Chukas because it is the whole portion. It is something that is an incredible, almost unexplainable decree of Hashem. Each Jew is holy. We each share a spark that is pure and all of our sins, like the sin of the golden calf can be purified by the ashes of the mother cow. The baby has that spark of the mother inside of it. And the root, that DNA can always be traced back and purified from where it came. We all come from one tree. There are branches that fall off and there are leaves that need to even sometimes be pruned . But the tree is eternal. The entire congregation is the tree of Hashem. Each Jew has that holy spark. Each Jew has the power when we become that eida to bring forth water from a rock with his prayers. When he is part of his people. When he sees that every other Jew has that same connection he does. If we miss that about each other than we are missing the tree of life and the blossoming almonds that sprout up from us.
This Shabbos is the yartzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I’m not a Chabad chasid. At times I was even against much of chabad’s actions and ideologies. However, there is one lesson, one teaching that he revealed and that has become the legacy he left over to the world. It is this lesson that every Jew is holy. Our nation will never become that eida which will herald in the Messianic era as long as there is one Jew left that has not been connected to our congregation. His life’s mission was bringing that message to every Jew. To tie them to Hashem with teffilin, That every Jewish woman should light that Shabbos candle and spark. That each Jew should reveal that love and bond we share rather than the differences that divide us. May we live up to that great legacy and may we finally become the adas Hashem, our Father has been waiting for.
Have peaceful and holy Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“A groyse oylem, un nito eyn mentsch..”- A crowd of people, and not one real person
among them.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YCRDatzSR4-
Really oldie Yehudah- the legend of the dove, haven’t heard this in years…
https://youtu.be/a9PSuMHy0iI - An
interesting tribute to the Lubavitcher Rebbe “the wind beneath my wings?”
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF
THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q The Nili underground
organization operated in:
A) The Warsaw Ghetto uprising
B) Jerusalem
C) During the British Mandate
D) The First World War
A) The Warsaw Ghetto uprising
B) Jerusalem
C) During the British Mandate
D) The First World War
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS”
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Parshat Chukas– Every word
of the Torah is significant. It has meaning and the nuances between two similar
words are critical for a lamdan to note as it will give the lamdan the material
needed to reveal the pshat a simple cursory reading- or as lamdanim say- a
“baalabatish” reading would miss.
Take
for example this week’s parsha we have the story of the Jews complaining once
again-what else is new- about the Manna this time.
Bamidbar (21:5-9) And
The people spoke against Hashem and against Moses, "Why have you brought
us up out of Egypt to die in this desert, for there is no bread and no water,
and we are disgusted with this rotten bread."
Yeah… not a great thing… So Hashem gets angry,
and I will write and bold the words in hebrew that I want you to focus on.
Hashem sent
against the people the venomous snakes- nechashim haserafim, and
they bit the people, and many people of Israel died.
The people came to
Moshe and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and
against you. Pray to Hashem that He remove the snakes-nechashim
from us." So Moshe prayed on behalf of the people.
The Lord said to
Moses, "Make yourself a serpent- serafim and put it on a
pole, and let whoever is bitten look at it and live.
And Moshe made a
copper snake-nachash and put it on a pole, and whenever a snake-nahash-
bit a man, he would gaze upon the copper snake and live.
Did you notice the nuances? Hashem first starts
off sending nechashim seraphim- which is venomous snakes or snakes and
serpents. Two things. Or two aspects of the snake. The Jews however ask Moshe
to remove the snakes. Not the serpents-not the serafim. Moshe seemingly
davens for that. Hashem however tells Moshe to make a serpent of copper. Moshe
however makes a nachash. What is going on?The great 16th century sage Reb Eliezer Ashkenazi explains that the Jewish people had committed two offenses. They had spoken against Hashem and Moshe. For speaking against Hashem the punishment would be the snake. It is like the original snake in the garden of Eden who also spoke against Hashem. For speaking against Moshe though their punishment would be fiery serpents, for our sages tell us in Pirkey Avot
Avot (2:10) Rebbi
Eliezer says-Warm yourself by the fire of the sages, but be beware lest you
be burned by its embers; for their bite is the bite of a fox, their sting is
the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss of a serpent, and all
their words are like fiery coals.
The Jewish people however assumed that Moshe
being the most modest of people certainly forgave them and they therefore were
only concerned about Hashem and thus only davened to remove the snakes. Hashem
though tells Moshe that he had forgiven them as soon as they confessed and
repented. It was only the honor of Moshe he was concerned with. The therefore
said Asei lecha saraf- Make for you-emphasis is on the you. For the sin of
speaking against Moshe. Moshe however had forgiven the people and he therefore
made the nachash, the snake because his concern was only for the sake of
heaven. Isn’t that amazing, how the story and the words become revealed.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S
AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
The Altar of Gad and Reuvein 1265 BC –
The land has been divided. The book of Yehoshua is coming to a conclusion and
the epilogue to the story is an incredible one though not well known. It’s an
important lesson and one that since the founding of the State of Israel is one
that has absorbed the State of Israel and is even more relevant today than ever
before. Come listen…
The tribes of Reuvein
and Gad return to the Eastern side of the Jordan River where they will settle.
As they approach the banks of the Jordan River they realize that they
will be separated from the rest of their brothers. They fear that they will
lose that special connection that they had achieved leading the rest of the
tribes in battle and conquering the land. So they built an altar. A monument to
connect and remind them of their connection with the rest of the nation.
The altar was built on
the banks of the Jordan opposite Shilo, but on the side of the rest of
the tribes. This was to show that they had no intention of serving on it. They
weren’t planning on starting their own Temple. It would remain empty to show
that they were not going to worship on it. Yet, their plan was misconstrued by
the rest of the tribes. They sent Pinchas and the elders to confront them. The
tribes however proved their sincerity. They convinced the other tribes they
were merely looking to stay connected. That as far as they live from their brethren.
They will always be one with them. That is the message and last story of the
book of Yehoshua.
This message is the
heart of much of the plaques that we see all over Israel from Jews from abroad.
They are the JNF forests, they are the dedication plaques on our
buildings, they are the old shuls in Tzfat or in Jerusalem that were
supported by their “sister communities” in the Diaspora. And they are
the reason why all the major cities have “sister cities” around the
world with Jews that want to remain connected to Eretz Yisrae; although they do
not merit to live here. Don’t get me wrong. Reuvein and Gad where certainly
living in Israel. The Golan was Israel and Jordan is now occupying the
rest of our land of these tribes. But they didn’t want to feel distant from
their brethren. And that lesson is one that is worthy to consider as the media
talks about this waning connection between Jews in the Diaspora and the State
of Israel. The book of Yehoshua is the book of our entrance to in Israel. It’s
conclusion is the longing of the Jews to stay connected and build monuments
that remind us that as far as we maybe. Eretz Yisrael and our people should
always be in our hearts.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S AMERICAN STEREOTYPE JOKES OF
THE WEEK
a pizza can get to your house faster than an ambulance.
-- there are handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.
-- Sick people must walk to the back of the drugstore to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy cigarettes in the front.
-- Banks leave both vault doors open, but pens are chained to the counters.
-- Expensive cars sit in the driveways and useless junk fills garages.
-- people use voice mail to screen calls and call waiting to catch every call they might miss.
-- Drive-Up ATM machines feature Braille lettering
A recent Survey found that when the question was asked “what’s your opinion about the food scarcity in the rest of the world?” Each nation had its own response.
- Russia: “Opinion? What’s that?”
- Africa: “Food? What’s that?”
- Europe: “Scarcity? What’s that?”
- USA: “rest of the world? What’s that?”
True Story-On a recent trip to Washington, D.C.my friend overheard a patriotic father pointing out a well-known building to his son. "You see that triangular-shaped octagon over there? That's the Pentagon.
If someone who speaks two languages is bilingual, and someone who speaks many languages is multilingual, then what do you call someone who speaks one language? An American.
True story-“I’m American and I’m sick of people saying USA is the stupidest country in the world. Personally I think Europe is the stupidest country in the world.”
Another true story- An American tourist last summer asks me quite innocently: "It's the 4th of July tomorrow. How do you guys celebrate it here?" OYYY.. I love America..
************
Answer
is D– Yeah this one was pretty
easy. Not that I had ever heard of this spy network or the amazing story of
their heroism before my tour guide course. But one you hear it you can’t forget
it. Especially if you visit and guide in Zichron Yaakov as I do, quite often as
that’s where the Aaronson family who helped the British against Ottoman Turks
in WW I lived. Their organization called by the acronym for the words Netzach
Yisrael lo Yishaker- the eternality of Israel will never be false is a quite
ironic name for a spy organization, but that’s what they called themselves. Ultimatley
they were captured (or betrayed by Jews that didn’t want to start up with the
Turks and they were tortured and the ringleader Sarah killed herself, with a
hidden gun. Crazy story, but the intel they passed on led to the conquest of
Allenby of Palestine from the Turks and thus the first Israeli spy agency was
born So the score is Schwartz 28 and 6 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on
this exam so far.
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