Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
October 25th 2019 -Volume 10 Issue 1 25th Tishrei 5780
Parshat Bereishis
Our Dance of Life
I felt bad for Goyim. They never have this experience. The entire
concept of Simcha- joy that we have is foreign. This thought came to me this
Sukkot by a Simchat Beit Hashoeiva Sukkah party at my son’s school. I watched
the father’s and children holding hands and dancing together in a circle around
and around, again and again, faster and faster singing to the heavens with pure
joy. And I thought the closest thing that a Goyish child will ever have to this
is “Ring-around-a-rosie-a-pocket-full-of-poises”. What is a Rosie? Does
anyone know? Why do they have posie? Ashes-ashes-we-all-fall-down…Nice. Doesn’t
that just fill you with joy. How sad for them.
I watched my son’s Rebbeim taking the children’s hands and running
around the room with them in a music filled human choo choo chain singing again
and again v’samachta b’chagecha- and you should rejoice on your holiday,
Moshe Emes V’toraso emes- Moshe is true and his Torah is true, Tov li
Toras picha m’alfei zahav v’kesef- the Torah of your mouth is better to
me than thousands of gold and silver and finally ashreinu ma tov chelkainu-
How fortunate are we and how good is our lot. And I thought, would a gentile
child ever dance with his teacher. Not just a little circle-y thing, but really
pure ecstatic joy for 2 hours straight. How weird would that be to them. Is
there any other nation that has a law book that they would hug and kiss and
dance with as the source of all of their joy? Can you picture a Muslim dancing
with a Koran happily singing its praise?
Can you picture a happy Muslim-period? Oops… that one slipped by the
censors. Sure you might see some wacky Christians getting all “Praise-da-Lord-Hallelujah!”
at some places, but it ain’t Simchat Torah. And to be honest they are dancing
about some type of blind faith while we are dancing at the source of all
knowledge.
I sat in my shul and looked out at my chevra dancing around the bima
with our Torah. They were singing the words that we recite in davening Ata
Bachartanu- You have chosen us from all the nations. Vihivdialnu min ha’to’im- and you have
separated us from those that have gone astray, and gave us the Torah of Truth and eternal
life He placed in us-nota b’tocheeeeynuuuuu. And I got it. This is
something that a goy will never feel or experience. It’s bad enough they didn’t
get Shabbos, they don’t have chulent, they didn’t get true simcha that we have
by a Jewish wedding, they don’t have a land that will touch their soul on the
spiritual level like Eretz Yisrael does. The way it connects to every Jewish
soul as if it was longing to be connected to its place your whole life. But
even the simplest concept of true joy; a simchas Torah dance, a dance with your
rebbe as a child…. Even that they don’t have. How lucky are we with our lot.
It is with those
lingering thoughts in our mind that I enter this Shabbos when we start reading
the Torah portions again from the Beginning. The Tzemach Tzedek would say that
on Parshat Bereshis the joy in heaven is immense. It is the joy of a father who
brings his child to learn Torah to his Rebbe for the first time. I don’t think
he means the way we feel when summer vacation is over and we finally are
getting the kids out of the house and back in their Rebbi’s hair. Not in any
way to mitigate the immensity of joy upon that occasion as well. But this is
the joy of making the connection of your greatest joy, your future, your
legacy, your little boychik or maydeleh to his or her 3000-year-old
heritage back to Sinai. To all of their ancestors. You’ve linked their chain,
the chain you brought into this world. Maybe goyim get that when they take
their kids to play in their first little league game, or their first ballet
lesson… I dunno… I never did much of either. Sorry if that image is now
troubling you…But that is the way Hashem feels about us this Shabbos as we open
up the Sefer Torah and start learning that holy book anew. We are reconnected.
We have gone back to the Beginning. Literally and spiritually.
And what was the story of that Beginning? 7 days of seeing the good in
the world. Seeing the world with Hashem filling it out. Kvodo malei Olam-
his glory fills the world. Do you know what kvodo malei olam means? It
means that I’m not worried that global warming will destroy the world. That’s
not to say I’m not environmentally responsible. We have a mitzva to take care
of the world. But I’m not stressed or losing sleep that it will disappear, it
will overpopulate, there will not be enough, the icebergs will crash and the
ozone layer will melt me. I live in a world of kvodo malei olam. Hashem
created the world. He is good at what he does. He didn’t have to stop each day
and say “Wow this was a pretty amazing job that I did there! Pat on the back
there Holy One Blessed be He… You go G-d…” When the Torah tells us that
Hashem saw each day “and it was good” It’s teaching us the secret of
maintaining that happiness we have in life and in the world. See the goodness
in Creation. See Hashem in all. Feel the ruach elokim merachefes al pnai
hamayim- the spirit of Hashem floating over the water of life. That is a
secret of life that the Torah teaches us. It is the one that we start with.
Torah is simcha, Torah is seeing the good. Seeing Hashem.
Parshat Bereshis as well reminds us that our story if we want it to end
up back again at the beginning at the joy of Creation. It is to a world where
there are no goyim and Jews either. It is a world when all are united in the
connection to Hashem. There is just Adam and Chava. One man One woman from whom
we are all descended. We have the image of Hashem. We are all partners in
Creation. We have the most significant job in the world. All of us. That is
happiness. It’s not just the joy of being in a world that is filled with good;
with Hashem. It is that I have a part to play in that. That I have the image of
Hashem upon me as does every human. That Hashem has charged me with creation.
With bringing the world back to that garden. Bringing the whole world into one
big Simchat Torah dance. Teaching them that dance. That is our Torah. That is
our new beginning.
There is a song we sing on Shabbos written by ARI’Zl it’s one of the few
writing that he left behind. There is a sentence there that says
yehei ra’ava kamey-may it be the will
before You,
d’tishrei al amey-that you should rest
upon us.
di’yisaneg li’shmey- that we should pleasure in Your
Name
Chasidim read the text homiletically. That it should be Your will that we
should take Tishrei- this month of Tishrei with us. This month when we
celebrated Rosh Hashana, The kingship of Hashem, This month of forgiveness, of
returning to Hashem to our Father our King on Yom Kippur and this month when we
spent a week together with Him in our Sukkas. And finally this special month
where we danced and danced around and around and celebrated how fortunate we
are. It should be Your will that we take this month of Tishrei with us so we
may continue to take pleasure and joy in Your name.
Have an Joyous
Shabbos and a Chodesh Cheshvan Tov,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“A ber lernt men oych oys tantsen.”– Even a bear can be taught to dance.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhctOTDHitE–
Meir Kay ‘Who’s in the Box?’ Cool and inspirational Experiment.
https://youtu.be/eaWYqrJXSPU
–First Shabbos of the
post-holday year great song from Simcha Leiner ‘Matana Tova’ and Yeshiva
Reishit.
https://youtu.be/CkPNZ36wp80
- Micha Gammerman Cute, funny and Brazilian
video/song ‘Rrrabim’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbsK8-kptnw– One of the all time most beautiful songs by
Shlomi Shabbat ‘Beresheet Olam’- and I even found it with English translated
lyrics for you guys..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwtMjb5evF4 – Idan Raichel Beresheet-
Middle Eastern catchy.. English translated lyrics..
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF
THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q The wall in the mosque facing Mecca is called:
a) Minbar
b) Mihrab
c) Minaret
d) Qibla
a) Minbar
b) Mihrab
c) Minaret
d) Qibla
New Column
Wow we have covered a lot
of ways to learn the Torah over the past few years- we did the pshat of the
week with Rashi, Gematria, Midrash, Haftorah, Lomdus, not bad… For this year’s
challenge for this column let’s focus on one Mitzva each week from the Parsha
some of its laws and ideas. We’ve improved our understanding of Torah
intellectually, spiritually, mystically and prophetically Now let’s make it
practical. After-all Torah is meant to bring to action, to observance. Let’s
see how it goes.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/MITZVA
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Pru
U’Revu- Be Fruitful and Multiply- It’s the first commandment
in the Torah. It’s the first commandment that Hashem
gives to Adam and Eve. Have kids. Like every good father, Hashem, it seems
wants grandchildren…J. Now seemingly this would be a mitzva that should
also be commanded to Gentiles. As Adam and Eve were not Jewish, However the
rule is that a commandment that is repeated to the Jews at Sinai is only a
Jewish obligation. Therefore since after the Torah Hashem tells the Jews to Devarim
(5:26) “return to their tents”- which is a polite way of saying ‘make
babies’, it is only a Jewish Mitzva.
Additional our sages tell us that this
commandment is only on men not on woman. The Talmud understands this from a
verse the way the mitzva is described that we should be ‘fruitful and
multiply, fill up the land, v’kivshuha
-and conquer the land.’ Since it is not the way of ladies to go out and
conquer land it reveals that the obligation is only upon men. Philosophically
some of our sages explain that women are more naturally inclined to have
children, it is part of their nature and therefore do not require a specific
commandment to get married and have kids. Seems that guys are more laid back
about this thing.
As well our sages derive that since the
mitzva is to fill up the land, the requirement is the same as it was by Adam
and Chava. You need a boy and a girl. But not just a boy and a girl, rather two
children that can also have children. If God forbid one is infertile or if one
passes away before having children, you haven’t fulfilled the mitzva. As well
if a person has a few boys and no girls or vice versa he hasn’t fulfilled the
mitzva. Hashem wants us to have the joy of raising Teenage girls and running
around cleaning up the damage of little baby boys…
Finally, the last aspect of this mitzva
is the Rabbinic component. Our sages derive from other verses in the Torah that
Hashem created us to settle the land that we should have more than the
biblically mandated two children. Everyone is a mitzva. King Solomon tells us
in Kohelet (11:6) ‘in the evening you should not let your hand rest’. Keep
having children after you have fulfilled the mitzva. Some authorities suggest
that means another 2 minimally others suggest even four. King Solomon would
probably know as he had about 1000 wives and lots more kids. Although not all
of them gave him nachas.
Perhaps this mitzva is one of the
fundamental differences between Judaism and other religions. Whereas Christians
look at the act of having children as sinful and much of the secular world
looks at it as a non-spiritual act, the Torah makes it the first mitzva. We are
meant to become partners with God in Creation. That’s how the Torah starts off.
It is our first mitzva and it is perhaps the essence of all mitzvot.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S
AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Gideon Ben Yoash 1084
BC We left off before Yom Kippur for those that
remember with the story of Gideon and the battle of Midian. Gideon had
established himself as a leader and now it was time to face off against their
enemy the Midianites coming up from Saudi Arabia and joined by our
eternal archenemy the Amalekites.
The
enemy had gathered all through Emek Yizrael by Givat
Hamoreh. In the words of the Navi they were as numerous
as a swarm of locust as many as the sand on the sea no number to the camels
they had brought there to camp. The hill of Moreh, right next to Mt.
Tavor, was also called the ‘little’ Hermon, based on a verse in
Tehillim (89:3) “Tavor and Chermon will sing in your name.” The Jews on
the other hand numbered around 32,000 in the army that Gideon had formed from
the tribes of Menashe where they were camped in the valley, the
tribe of Naftali from the North and upper Galile. Asher from
the Coastline and Zevulun from the Lower Galil. (He didn’t
invite the tribe of Ephraim from the lower Shomron/ Shiloh in the “West
“Bank” area to join the fun and they kvetched about missing out on the
party later to him.)
There
are three parts to the story of the battle. The first is the double test that
Gideon gives Hashem to see if he will be successful. He places wool on the
threshing floor and asks that Hashem make the dew fall on wool but not on the
floor. When that happens the next morning he asks for a bigger miracle that the
dew should fall on the floor and not the wool. This is a bigger miracle as
anyone who slept in a sukka knows, your pillow and cover will be wet in the
morning as they are very absorbent. There are not too many threshing floors I
have visited in Israel, but my go to place for biblical experiences is Kfar
Kedem in Hoshaya and they have a great one there were they
demonstrate the threshing process.
The
next test was the one that Hashem gave back to Gideon. See Hashem was in the
mood to do a big miracle for the Jews. 32,000 were too much of an army for him.
It would seem like to fair of a fight, despite the fact that the Jews were
totally outnumbered. Gideon had asked Hashem where are the “great miracles” He
had performed for our ancestors in Egypt, so Hashem was going to show him. So Hashem told him to send home all those
that were a bit nervous and wadaya know 22,000 of them went packing home. There
were still too many so Hashem told Gideon to take them down to the Ein
Charod by the spring, a place I like to do this with my tourists. They
should drink. The ones that kneeled down and drank thirstily from the water
were sent home. It was a sign that they were used to getting down on their
knees and bowing to idols. The 300 ones that cupped their hands and brought the
water to their face to drink were the ones that were chosen to fight the
battle. Less than 1% of the original already outnumbered army. Now it’s miracle
time. Stay tuned next week…
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S ADAM AND EVE JOKES OF THE WEEK
An Englishman, a Frenchman and a Russian are looking at a painting of Adam and Eve The Englishman admires it and says, "Look at them, calm, reserved and proper, they were surely English."
The Frenchmen laughs and replies "They are barely clothed and beautiful, there is no doubt they would be French."
The Russian slowly shakes his head, "My friends, they are definitely Russian. No clothes, no house, no possessions, they have only an apple to eat and they are told this is paradise."
We are told that all marriages are meant to be as good as that first shidduch Hashem made in the Garden of Eden between Adama and Eve. In heaven, Adam and Eve asked the Almighty why they were the best pairing.
"Well," God replied, "Adam, you didn't have to hear all your life about all the men Eve could have married, and Eve, you didn't have to hear about how well Adam's mother cooked."
The worst part of the punishment about Adam and Eve’s blunder in the Garden of Eden? laundry!
What was Adam and Eve’s biggest problem during their marriage? They could never agree on who wore the plants in the family.
It is well known that after Adam took a bite from the forbidden fruit, he felt great shame and covered himself with a fig leaf. Eve, too, felt shame and covered herself with a fig leaf. What is not as well known is that immediately thereafter, Eve went behind the bush to try on a maple leaf, a sycamore leaf, an oak leaf…
Adam was bored in the Garden of Eden, so he says to God, “O Lord, I have a problem.”
“So what is your problem Adam?” replies God.
“O Lord, I know that you did create me and gave me all this wonderful food and put me in this beautiful garden, but I'm just not happy.”
“Why is that, Adam?“
“O Lord, even though I know you created this place for me and you gave me all these beautiful animals to be with, I am nevertheless still lonely.“
“OK Adam, I have the perfect solution - I shall create a woman for you.“
“What is a 'woman', O Lord?“
“A ‘woman' will be such an intelligent creature that she will know what you want before you ask for it. She will be so sensitive and caring that she will know your every mood and how to make you happy. Her beauty will be the equal of anything on earth. She will unquestioningly care for your every need and desire. She will be the ideal companion.“ answers the voice from heaven.“
“This woman sounds great to me, O Lord.“
“She will be, take my word for it, but she comes at a price, Adam.“
“So how much will she cost me, O Lord?“ Adam asks.
“She will cost you your left arm, your right foot, one eye, and one ear and half of your backside.”
Adam thinks about this for a good 60 minutes, working out all the pros and cons of having such a woman for company, but especially the cost to him.
Finally Adam says, “O Lord, what kind of woman can I get for just one rib?“
The rest, as they say, is history.
Adam and eve were in the Garden of Eden, and Eve had not been there long and Adam was trying to get a grasp on the female thing, so he asked God if they could have a talk. God replied, sure you’re my son and I love you can ask me anything.
So Adam asked, God you have given me the beautiful flowers and the sunset...But I look at Eve and she is so beautiful it takes my breath away... Why God, did you make eve so beautiful?
God replied, my son that is easy, I made her that way so you would love her,
Adam replied well, it worked but I have another question... I touch the cool water and rub the furry animals and they feel so good to me but I touch Eve and it is so wonderful my heart almost stops... God, why did you make her that way?
God replied well Adam that is easy I made her that way so you’d love her...
Well Adam replied, it worked, I do, but God I have one more question and I don't mean to question your wisdom or anything, but God she is stupid, why did you make her naïve, so gullible, so simple-minded? God replied my son that is easy I made her that way so she would love you.
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Answer is B– I’m proud of myself. I don’t think I’ve used this word since my tour guide course as I don’t tour mosques that often, but I remembered it. Or maybe I didn’t… I knew what all the other ones as well upon seeing their names. However if you would have asked me what the place where the Imam sits is called I don’t know if I would have known the word Minbar, or if you would have asked me what the word for direction or kavana- meaning directing your thoughts in the direction of Mecca where Muslims I certainly would not have known that it was called Quibla off hand. But upon seeing the word I remembered what it meant. Minaret I knew was the tower they call out to prayer from. That’s because I point it out to my tourists all the time as a sign we are passing an Arab Village. So I’m not sure if I got the Mihrab niche right because of process of elimination or because I remembered the word Either way, I got it right so the score is Schwartz 38 and 10 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam so far
