A Spin on Driedel- Parshat Vayeishev 2019 /5780

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

December 20^th 2019 -Volume 10 Issue 9 22^nd Kislev 5780

Parshat Vayeshev / Chanukah

A Spin on Dreidel

It's an ancient tradition that we try to do observe. We light our menora's, we have Chanukah parties, we sing holiday songs, and even compose a few and of course we eat latkas and beingn in Israel jelly doughnuts. And there is of course driedel. Now perhaps when we were kids this custom was fun as we sat around spun our sevivon / top and counted out pennies from the pot. The tradition has that it began when the Greeks forbid us from learning Torah. The Jews would secretly study and when the Greeks would come in they would hide their books and pretend to be playing dreidel. Although that may be the source it seems that the custom to play is only a few hundred years old or so. But that's good enough for me.

Now pennies or even shekels and spinning tops were just not going to cut it for my chevra in yeshiva. It was too childish and no fun or challenge. So it seems the yeshiva world- although some of our Rebbes would probably protest at us hijacking that distinguished title, came up with other alternatives to fulfill the concept. The dreidel became a deck of cards. The game was given some name that had some chassidic spiritual mystical element to it; Kvittlach. I think it's yeshivish blackjack. Poker with some herring thrown in for good measure. It involved some money changing hands. But everyone knew that Chanukah gelt is a mitzva, right? I guess the only connection that it had with the original custom was that when the Rebbeim would walk in they would hide the cards and money and pull out a sefer and pretend to be studying. So it's almost like the real thing.

I personally was never a gambler. Probably because any gelt that I did have I used to buy sufganiyot and shwarmas. I tried learning the kvittlach game once but it was beyond me. I still have no clue what an elevaroon is. Maybe an elevated macaroon?  Instead I went to visit my good friend in more of a "fun" yeshiva. Those were "my 'other' boys". My yeshiva was where I would learn. Theirs was where I would go when I needed to get away for a bit.

 It was late at night, after seder of course when I arrived there. My buddy Yanky was sitting down with some of my friends discussing the Chanukah night activity for the evening. These were not kvittlach people. At the same time the typical card games were too lame. One of them finally came up with a great idea. Monopoly! Now I was a big board game person. Risk, Stratego, chess, games that required using our yeshivish noggin and beating someone else with our incredible strategies. Conquering the world, killing kings capturing flags. We were good at that. Monopoly is a luck and throw of the dice game. What's the kuntz?

The boys smiled at me and pulled out the game. They replaced the monopoly bills right away with shekels. Now I know that shekels are painted to look like monopoly money. I tell my tourists so that it's that they shouldn't confuse it with real money. Otherwise your typical American could get sticker shock 100's of shekel for this and for that. But once you realize it's not real money, it's only shekels then it's not so bad.

But this was different. Monopoly with real money, albeit shekels is a totally different game. Do I buy this? Do I build? All of a sudden these question have real financial consequences? Hmmm. It sounded interesting. Not having any money, I sat down to watch (Ok maybe I chucked in a few shekels…Shhh…). The game became more and more intense as the night wore on. The trading got heavy, the arguments and under the table deals were heating up. And all of a sudden…Boom, the door opened.

 In front of us stood Rabbi G., the Rosh yeshiva. Now this was not my yeshiva. I wasn't too worried. But, it was still scary watching his face as he took in the scene before his eyes. He looked at Yanky with a stern glare and asked him what was going on. Without batting an eye Yanky turned to his Rosh Yeshiva and told his Rebbe,

"Can you believe this? He wants me to trade him Pacifc and Atlantic for Mediterranean and Park Place., what does Rebbe have to say about that?"

I will never forget Rabbi G.'s expression and response. He looked at Yanky. He understood his boys. He knew when to fight 'em, when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

"What!" Rabbi G. said, "Mediterranean?! Even Kollel guys don't live on Mediterranean…!"

Oy…. Those were the days. I think Yanky got his schmooze on the evils of gambling the next day, but in my opinion the wisdom, self-control and wit of that Rebbe, taught me an even more important lesson. One has to see the big picture of connecting with you students over losing it all over a game of monopoly. It's a lesson I will never forget.

It's Chanuka this week, My Chanuka box is out with all my Chanukah paraphernalia. Menora, silver polish, candles wicks, oils, and Happy Hanukah signs and of course dreidels. What is the deeper concept behind this dreidel? Now we know that there are four letters Nun Gimmel, Shin and Hey or Pey, which stand for Neis Gadol Haya Sham - A great miracle happened there or alternatively Po-here. The difference of course is depending on if you are playing in Israel or the Diaspora. Although I understand that Satmar and some other shall we call them "not-pro-Zionist" of our brethren don't use the "peh-here" ones even here in Israel either. It seems they claim it’s a Zionist invention. Although a gambling game of spin-the Jewish-top would seem like a lame place to start declaring religious indignation about foreign secular influences. But hey... I would never crash anyone's fun or party as Rabbi G taught me.

But the truth is that there is something sacred about the dreidel spinning game. There were great Rabbis like the students of the Baal Shem Tov, the Chasam Sofer, and (lbl'ch) Reb Chaim Kanievsky even recalls that his father the Steipler played dreidel with them as children. It's fascinating that when they went through the concentration camps storehouses where they Nazi's kept the items they confiscated from the Jews many dreidels were found. It seems that the Jews who were limited by what they could bring with them to these camps, somehow many of them felt the dreidel was something to bring. One can imagine the clandestine games in their barracks late at night. They may not have been able to light a menora, but at least they had something to remind them of the miracles of old and to give them faith that it could happen again.

There are many different insights about the dreidel game. The Bnai Yissachar sees it as the difference between Chanuka and Purim where as in Purim we spin the gragger from bottom, Chanuka the dreidel is pun from the top (excuse the pun). On Chanuka the miracle came openly from Hashem it was clear he was running the show. The Jews did not merit redemption or the miracle as most of them had assimilated. Hashem had to spin that dreidel from above. On Purim we fasted, we prayed and we repented. We turned the grogger and made the noise and Hashem in kind responded.

Rebbi Nachman of Breslav has an incredible insight into the dreidel game though. He notes that the dreidel is like life. We spin and we spin and we fall. Sometimes when we fall we are gadol- we are great we win. Other times we are Nun- nisht nothing, sometimes we pay, sometimes we lose half. But we pick ourselves up and spin again. Sometimes it's our turn and the next spin it could be my neighbors and other game players turn. Life is constantly spinning and we are constantly waiting to see where it will fall. Some spins are longer some are shorter. The one thing that unites all of the players though, is when you can't see the letters. When it is turning around and around and it all looks like one. That is the message we are meant to view life in. We are all on a dreidel and we are all part of the miracle. Today's shin could be tommorow's gimmel.

The parsha that we read this week before Chanuka Vayeishev (and you thought I'd forgotten about this part of the E-Mail…shame) is also like a dreidel and completes this message. The Rokayach notes that almost every single verse in the parsha begins with the letter vav, which translates as "and".  And this… and that… and this… and he came… and he settled …and he went… It’s a parsha on the move. It's a parsha that is constantly spinning.  The vav is like that little handle on the top of the dreidel that Hashem is spinning. Yosef is the favorite child. He got a colored coat. He got the first gimmel. But then he is thrown down in a pit. He falls. Shin. Yaakov is settled and happy. Gimmel. He falls in mourning for his kidnapped son. Shin Reuvein is the oldest, and he loses his postion, Yehuda is the leader and he falls. Tamar is on the bottom and then she rises up. They all ultimately rise again. It's one continuation. They're all spinning. It's ironic that the parsha is called Vayeishev- and he settled because no one seems settled after the first verse. But the Torah is not ironic. It is settled like our dreidel. It falls, but then rises and spins again.

Do you know how many verses don’t start with vav in the parsha? Eight. Yup. Eight days of Chanuka. Interestingly enough there is another book that also has every verse, besides eight, that start with the letter vav that connects it all together. That is spinning the entire story. It is the book of Ruth. There, as well, people are rising and falling. Elimelech, and his two sons are the leaders and they flee Israel and ultimately intermarry and die. Naomi who was once the big Rebbetzin comes back as a pauper. Rus is a former princess and she now is begging for wheat and charity. It's an amazing story. But the end of that story is the birth of the grandfather of King David; the beginning of the messianic line.

That messianic line had its start in our parsha. The beginning of the driedel game centuries before with Yehuda and Tamar the ancestors of Boaz. The great miracle is happening here. Do you know what the gematria of Nun Gimmel Shin and Hey is? 358. Do you know what else is that same gematria? Mashiach.

The top is spinning. This Sunday night we will light our menoras. We will sing Maoz Tzur. It's a song about all of our exiles. We start with Egypt, we go through Bavel, Chanuka and Purim. We conclude with the final exile that we still in and ask Hashem to bring Mashiach. Then we pull out our dreidel and watch it spin in the glow of those candles. May the dreidel of Klal Yisrael finally land on that winning letter. We want the gantzeh pot. It's time for the Nes Gadol.

 Have a lichtigeh Shabbos and Chanuka,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Ainem’s mazel iz an anderen’s shlemazel."– One’s good luck is another’s misfortune.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO  OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/al-hanissim  - My latest hit in honor of Chanuka, sung and arranged by Dovid Lowy Al Hanissim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psgiydX4f3k  – Dovid Lowy's (yes, the one and the same above who has begun arranging my songs )Newest awesome song for Chanuka Shiru! Enjoy….Check it out!

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/chasof-zeroah- And my composition for last year's Chanuka hit and still my favorite Chanuka song Chaasof Zeroa arranged and sung by Yitz Berry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRGlpowJQeM   - This week with the accompanying video- Makes it so much better worth the watch again… 613 AKA Pella Star Wars Chanuka- Couldn't stop laughing…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emIvBfzTsQk- Maccabeats newest Chanuka video Pan Fry

https://youtu.be/99N7696KO8Y   - Shmueli Ungar the Dreidel Song

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

5) According to the Book of Joshua, Jerusalem was within the tribal territory of:

A.    Reuben

2. Benjamin (Binyamin)
3. Dan
4. None of the tribes

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/MITZVA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Yevama Yavo Aleha– Yibum and Chalitza the Levirate marriage- In this week's Torah portion we are introduced to the concept of yibum, although in pre-Sinatic times, meaning before it was given as a mitzva. We are told the story of Yehudah, his children and Tamar. In a nutshell Tamar marries son number one and then he dies, she then marries son number 2 and he dies. When it comes to son number three Yehudah doesn't want her to marry him. So now she remains it seems from the text in limbo. The reason is because as long as a woman whose husband dies without children is not released from that relationship-via chalitza as we shall explain- she is obligated to "continue" that marriage with her husband's brother in order to perform the ultimate act of kindness which is providing and heir that will carry on the brother's name. In biblical times before the giving of the Torah this mitzva could be fulfilled by any close relative. Seeing she was not going to be able to fulfill the mitzva, she disguised herself and seduced Yehuda, her father-in-law and became pregnant with child. When word got out and she was sentenced to death for having "cheated" on her husband's brother, who was officially supposed to marry her, she refused to shame Yehudah, throwing the ball in his court, to allow him the prerogative to fess up. Which he did. The child by the way ultimately became the great granddaddy of King David. So all's well that ends well, I guess.

Now this mitzva, surprisingly enough to many of you is still in force today. There are a few differences though, First of all the only ones that are obligated to fulfill this mitzva and the women only becomes forbidden to marry anyone if her husband has brothers. If he does not have brothers, she's free to go. No other relatives and certainly not her father-in-law are obliged to fulfill this mitzva. As well the woman can be released from this obligation, or marriage really, as I'll explain by undergoing a process called chalitza. Once she does this process then she is again free to marry anyone else.

The idea behind this mitzva according to the Chinuch is because a woman and a man become like one in marriage, and that union is meant to produce and heir that will continue their work in this world. When a man dies without an heir then her husband's closest relative, his brother, fills that role for him, creating that legacy and caring for his wife and giving the two of them the eternality they came to this world to achieve. The Abarbanel takes a more pragmatic approach and suggests that this mitzva is more about assuring the wife that she will remain cared for by the family that she has become part of. By bearing her husband's child through his brother, she is assuring herself and her descendants a place in the family that she joined when she married her husband. Other's see on this many mystical aspects that take place in this union and the descension of souls and eternal rest that is achieved in this union. But I'm not a mystic so I can't fill you in all those details.

This mitzva is seen as one of the greatest acts of kindness and mercy one can perform. For the man (yavam) and the woman (yevama) are giving the most precious gift, their ability to bear children with someone they never chose for themselves in order to perpetuate the deceased's name. The truth is that this process is so obvious in the Torah as a natural act of kindness, that they couple does not even require a marriage. The brother just steps into his other brother's marriage, although rabbinically there was a process called maamar where they would agree to the union. It as a result of this that even today a woman in such a situation cannot marry someone else as long as they are in the yevama state. Yet despite the significance of the this mitzva today yibum is an act that is generally not practiced.

The reason why this is not practiced is that there are opinions in the Talmud that if one does not do this for the sake of the mitzva rather he does it for his own selfish and personal reasons, then it is preferable not to do this. Now although the general rule in the Talmud seems to be of the opinion that it is still preferable to do yibum because of the spiritual aspects of the mitzva and the ramifications of it and in fact that this was the ruling of the Rambam and most of the Sefardic authorities, the ashkenazic custom was not do preform the mitzva today as a result of this. The Torah does give an alternative and that is Chalitza which literally means the removal. In this process the woman and the brother arrive in the Court. A special sandal is worn by the man and it is removed and the woman spits in it in order to humiliate the man declaring that "This is what happens to the man who does not build his brother's house." After that process she is then permitted to marry any other man.

This mitzva became a very relevant mitzva in recent times after the Holocaust where tragically many people married and their husbands were killed before they had children. They were taken away perhaps to camps and survived the war but were unable to re-marry as long as they knew that their husband had a brother despite the fact that they had no clue as to his whereabouts. Halachically speaking they required chalitza from him to permit them to remarry. This was a major project of many of the great Rabbis after the war (along with of course finding information of peoples disappeared husbands, as well who's wives couldn't remarry until there was proof of death) in tracking down the siblings of the husband and preforming this ritual. Today the policy of the Rabbanut of the State of Israel is that they do not preform Yibum, for Ashkenazim or Sefardim. Rav Ovadia Yosef however disagreed with this ruling and would permit Sefardim to perform this mitzva.

This mitzva is certainly one of the more mystical ones of the Torah, yet it is through this mitzva that King David and the Messianic line is brought forth to the world. May we finally see that redemption and an end to all tragedies.

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

Civil War Yiftach's final action 982 BC –It is fascinating to follow Tanach and its stories through until the end. In the Torah there are two tribes that are viewed as the ideal brothers, the first that never fight in the Torah Ephraim and Menashe, the two sons of Yosef. We bless our children each Friday night that they should grow up like these two special tribes…. Ummmm… it's a good thing that no one learns Tanach, because these two tribes went at it like no one's business in the book of Shoftim. Let's see.

After Yiftach's victory over the Ammonites, the tribe of Ephraim which had previously complained to Gideon about being left out of the battle, now came to Yiftach with complaints as well. Except unlike Gideon where they at least got to participate in the end of the battle and everything was discussed respectfully, by Yiftach they didn't fight at all and they came with guns blazing. They told Yiftach how dare he go to fight without them and they threatened to come burn down his house. Big mistake. See, Yiftach was no Gideon, he was a hooligan, I mean the guy just shechted his own daughter possibly. He certainly wasn't going to take this from Ephraim. Particularly since for years Ephraim sat back and watched Gilead, Yiftach's area of the tribe of Menashe where he ruled, get run over by the Ammonites and they didn't raise a hand to help. So they went to war.

Yiftach and his band of merry men of Gilead killed 42,000 of the tribe of Ephraim. That is an incredible and incomprehensible number! To put it in perspective there were only 32,500 (men between 20-60) that entered the land of Israel less than 2 centuries before. Not only that but the fleeing troops of Ephraim across the Jordan River where stopped by Yiftach's men and when they tried to pretend that they weren't from Ephraim, their accent gave them away (they couldn't pronounce certain words), they were slaughtered by the banks of the Jordan River crossing. The lesson is, of course, to learn the accent not just the language. Lesson number 2 be careful who you elect to be your leader. Lesson 3 Don't complain and pick a fight with hooligans.

But perhaps the only real lesson that Chazal give us, is that Jews should not look down upon other Jews. The tribe of Ephraim, thought they were better than those that lived on the other side of the Jordan. They weren't really living in Israel in their minds. They weren't as holy. Maybe they were Sefardim and not Ashkenazi enough. Maybe they were not as Torah knowledgeable.  They weren't yeshiva educated. They were country hicks. Maybe they were good enough to serve in the army. To fight off Ammon. But they weren't good enough to be counted with the rest of the nation. It's a fight and argument that led to the first of many civil wars we will find in Tanach. Sadly, it's lessons haven't entirely been learned today as well.

Yitachs dies and the Navi tells us he is buried in "the cities of Israel". Our sages tell us that he had a debilitating disease and his limbs fell off. Each city it fell off they buried it there. The message I believe is that there is a little Yiftach everywhere. His limbs are amongst us. Just as we are told that each Jew has a bit of Moshe, each city has a bit of Yiftach. We can lead, we can do tremendous things for the Jewish people, but at the same time we a can destroy our families, our people and our legacy. That is the legacy of this shofet.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE DREIDEL GAMBLING JOKES  OF THE WEEK

What did the father dreidel say to his daughter when he came home from work and found her still in the shower? What! Your still not dry and ready?

What did the dreidel tell the doctor? I've been having these dizzy spells

Q: What do you call Hanukkah gelt that you gamble with? A: Chocolate chips. 

Q: Did you hear about the two dreidels that fell in love? A: They met at a spin class. 

Q: How did the dreidel feel about calling in sick? A: He felt a little gelty.

A rabbi, a minister, and a priest were playing poker when the police raided the game.

Turning to the priest, the lead police officer said, "Father Murphy, were you gambling?"

Turning his eyes to heaven, the priest whispered, "L*rd, forgive me for what I am about to do." To the police officer, he then said, "No, officer; I was not gambling."

The officer then asked the minister, "Pastor Johnson, were you gambling?"

Again, after an appeal to heaven, the minister replied, "No, officer; I was not gambling."

Turning to the rabbi, the officer again asked, "Rabbi Goldstein, were you gambling?"

Shrugging his shoulders, the rabbi replied, "With whom?

"My son is something else," Mrs. Finkelstein told her friend. "He traveled to Las Vegas last week in a $25,000 car and returned a few days later in a $100,000 vehicle."

"Wow! He won that much money?" her friend replied. "He must really know how to gamble."

"Well, not really," said the mother. "He went in our car, but had to return by bus."

When Rivkah was called up for jury service, she asked the judge whether she could be excused.
"I don’t believe in capital punishment," she said, "and I wouldn’t want my views to prevent the trial from running its proper course".
The judge liked her thoughtfulness but had to tell her that she was perfectly suitable to serve on the jury.
"Madam," he explained, "This is not a murder trial, it's just a simple civil lawsuit. Mrs F is bringing this case against her husband because he gambled away the entire $25,000 he had promised her for her birthday so that she could carry out a make-over on her kitchen."
"OK," said Rivkah, "I'll join your jury - I could be wrong about capital punishment after all."

Moishe meets Arnold at their social club and asks how Abe’s funeral went the other day.
"It went OK, Moishe," replied Arnold, "but at the end of the Rabbi’s eulogy, I had to try and stop myself from laughing aloud."
"Why was that?" asks Moishe.
"Well," says Arnold, "throughout his marriage to Miriam, she was always telling me what a mean man he was. He never had a steady job and the money he brought home to her wasn't enough for food and clothing, let alone holidays. Yet he drank heavily and often stayed out all night gambling. Altogether, a good husband he was not. But at the funeral, the Rabbi spoke of how wonderful the deceased was - so considerate, so beloved, so thoughtful to others. Then, when the Rabbi had finished, I heard Miriam say to one of her children, "Do me a favour, David, go see whether it’s your father in the coffin."

Rabbi Bloom gets on the train and as soon as the doors close, a priest gets up, goes over to the rabbi and says, "Good morning rabbi. I have a question to ask you. Why is it that everybody thinks Jews are smarter than Gentiles?"
Rabbi Bloom, who is not up for an argument, says, "I’m sorry, but I am just a simple rabbi and I’m not really able to participate in such a discussion."
But the priest insists. "Look, no harm meant rabbi, but I have a theory and I need to test it out in the form of a bet. I’ll pay you $100 if you can ask me a question that I can't answer. But if I can ask you a question that you can't answer, you must pay me $100."
Rabbi Bloom replies, "But I’m a poor rabbi - I only have $10 on me."
The priest hesitates then says, "OK, rabbi, it’s my $100 against your $10."
Rabbi Bloom realises he can't get out of this so he agrees, but on condition that he asks the first question. The priest agrees.
"OK," says Rabbi Bloom, "what animal has scaly skin, the body of a cat, the face of a squirrel, the ears of a mouse, webbed toes and swims under water?"
Surprised, the priest admits that he doesn't know and asks the rabbi for a few more minutes to think about it. The rabbi agrees.
2 minutes later, the priest takes $100 from his wallet and gives it to the rabbi. The priest then asks the rabbi, "So what animal was it?"
Rabbi Bloom replies, "How should I know?" and gives the priest $10.

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Answer is D–  So this question is also a bit tricky, but for anyone that tours Yerushalayim it is pretty essential. So on the one hand we have Dovid is really the first one it tells us that conquers Yerushalayim. On the other hand in the book of Shoftim it mentions the tribe of Yehudah fighting and conquering Yerushalyim. So it's a bit of a contradiction. So of course the commentaries deal with the question of which Yerushalayim is it? Maybe there are different parts. In the Book of Yehoshuah though when giving the borders of the tribe of Yehudah and Binyamin it mentions that they are both bordered by Yerushalayim. The Talmud tells us it was divided in between the two tribes, the line went in fact right through the Temple Mount. (Incidentally that's why some suggest it was chosen, so that no tribe could claim more importance. Yehudah representing the children of Leah and Binyamin of Rachel- which the same reason Washington DC which is not in any state was chosen) So the correct answer is that it really isn't solely in any tribe at least in the book of Yehoshuah. Reuven and Dan were just giveaway answers if you guessed those you should not be a tour guide.  So we continue with the score being Schwartz 3  and 2 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.