A colorful Argument- Parshat Teruma 5780 / 2020

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

February 28^th  2020 -Volume 10 Issue 19 3^rd Adar 5780

Parshat Teruma

A Colorful Argument

So I had an argument with my yeshiva bachur son, Yonah, last Shabbos. To be fair I kind of picked the fight. Hey, he's never home as he dorms in Jerusalem and I have to enjoy those interactions when I get them. Besides he's been getting kind of yeshivish lately and I always like to start up with yehsivhishe guys, the fact that he's my son just makes it like kishka in chulent. So I threw at him a question. Who has more reward in the World to Come. Is it the yeshiva guy or Kollel Rabbi that studies all day long and evenings and night too, or is it the simple working guy, perhaps even the tour guide, or anyone for that matter, doctor, lawyer, hi tech, taxi driver or falafel maker that works all day, keeps the mitzvos and maybe with his eyes half closed cracks a sefer or grabs a Torah class here and there if he could even learn anything? Which one is greater, who has more reward at the end of the day.'

Now he's my son so he knows I'm setting him up. He assumed of course that I was going to bring some Rabbi or saying in the Talmud from our sages that says working is better. So he already began his answer with the disclaimer that whatever Rabbi or Talmud I would show him that said anything he can show me that Torah study is more important and of even greater value. Sure you can always find a Rabbi here or there that says something but the overwhelming body of Jewish works and tradition certainly seem to say that Torah-study is of paramount value and the only real legitimate occupation that one should be busy with.

Now I'm his father and I'm still smarter than him. I knew that was where he was going to go. So I cracked out a Talmud that doesn't just quote one or two Rabbis and it's not just something that was said just here and there. It's something they said all they time.

Brachos (17A) The Sages in Yavne would regularly say (literally a gem in the mouths of the Rabbis) :

So this is the sages of Yavneh the Rabbis after the destruction of the Temple were sent to Yavneh to rebuild. They were led by Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai. These were the greatest and pretty much all of the leaders of our people. As well this is something they always said. You bump into a Rabbi from Yavneh this is what he told you. All the time. It's like Reb Chaim Kanievsky's Boo-Haa (that's the acronym for Bracha and Hatzlacha that he says to everyone who visits in him. It's pretty much all he says. Well this is what they always said.

"I who learn Torah am God’s creature and my counterpart who engages in other labor is God’s creature.
My work is in the city and his work is in the field.
I rise early for my work and he rises early for his work.
And just as he does not presume to perform my work, so I do not presume to perform his work.
Lest you say: I engage in Torah study a lot, while he only engages in Torah study a little, so I am better than he, it has already been taught:
One who brings a substantial sacrifice and one who brings a meager sacrifice have equal merit,
as long as he directs his heart towards Heaven. (with Reb Hai Gaon's elaboration)

Rashi on the Talmud notes equal reward means that the worker, layman or Am Ha'Aretz who can't even learn will get the same reward as the greatest scholars of Yavneh. That's pretty impressive. And seemingly incontrovertible.

Yonah wasn't going down without a fight though. He suggested that perhaps that was back then one needed to work to provide for himself and family. It was essential. But today the only reason to really work hard was because we are not satisfied with living frugally. Like the great Rabbis that we read books about who live in one bedroom apartments and have meager meals if anything. We want nice cars, big houses, camps, and all types of extravagances and thus we leave the beit Midrash and head out to the workforce. But if a person and his wife agree to live simply, perhaps even very, very simply and they share this ideal of a life dedicated to Torah study then they could probably get by on a Kollel check and her supplementary work. Oy… my father's blessing/curse of having a child just like me has been fulfilled.

But I don't give up. I told him that to me it is just as offensive to say that everyone who works today is only doing it for extravagances as saying that anyone that sits in Kollel is just doing it because they are too lazy to get what my mother would say is a "real" job. I'm not denying that there are people like that, but at the same time there are people in Kollel like that as well. But I believe that the majority in both camps are dedicating themselves to achieving the service of Hashem that they feel they were put on this world to accomplish. I really do believe that by the way… Although I don't believe that either camp thinks about it in those terms often enough. And that is the message of the great sages of Yavneh. That the primary role of the Jewish is to focus more on their chosen life roles and appreciate how that is the service of Hashem. If that is the case, then we will all get equal reward.

This week's Torah portion and the one that leads up to the holiday of Purim is about the building of the Mishkan/ the tabernacle for Hashem's dwelling amongst us. Last week we read the portion of Shekalim, Next week is the Shabbos before Purim when we will be inundated with all our charity appeals we then read about the shekalim half Shekels each Jews gave to count them and for the communal sacrifices that would be brought. There's a lot of money and charity talk around this year.

There is a fascinating difference though. The money for the sacrifices were an equal amount. We would compel everyone to give it. The rich couldn't give more the poor couldn't give less. We were all equal as a community. You know there was one rich guy that wanted a bit more honor and he said he would pay the entire bill, but we told him sorry. No can do. No more. There was a poor guy that didn't have anything to offer and we made him take a mortgage on his house to come up with the half shekel. Everyone has to feel and appreciate that they each have something to offer and that each are equally represented. The torah tells us that those sacrifices are an atonement and guess what? We all equally need that atonement.

On the other hand, the teruma for the Mishkan each one gave as much as they could. Rich people gave more poor people gave less. We didn't force anyone to give. In fact we went out of our way to make sure that there was no coercion. Hashem wanted it to be solely l'shmi- for the sanctification of His name. See because unlike the sacrifices when it comes to building a house for Hashem each Jew needs to feel that he or she has their own personal meaningful contribution. Hey I'm not rich, but I also get to have my name on the wall and it's just as prominent as Reichman, Rothchild or Rechnitzes. Because we each gave for Hashem what we had. We each gave with all our heart. We each were michavein l'shem Shamayim- we directed our thoughts for the sake of heaven.

I saw in an incredible insight into the covering of the Mishkan it was made out of the skins of some mystical multi-colored creature called the tachash. These many-hued skins were draped over the beams and it was the roof of the Mishkan that seemingly no one even saw as the colors were on the top to heaven. Now no name in Hebrew is abstract and no function in the house of Hashem is without meaning. What is connection and idea of this tachash, its names and its colors to the house of Hashem?

So the word tachash is from the root chash which is to feel, techusha is an emotion. We each have so many colored emotions. Some are red, some blue, some green pink turquoise, grey and balack and white. The midrash says that the tachash had 708 colors, the gematra of the word tachash. The roof of the house of Hashem isn't made out of the gold, silver, precious stones, half shekels or dollars. It is made up of the multicolored desires and drives that each of have brought to this divine home in building this palace for Hashem. It is the techushot that are closest to heaven and all of them are part of the same skin and they are all directed and closest to heaven.

The Rabbis who taught this lesson were the Rabbi of Yavneh. Yavneh is the word yibaneh- it shall be built. They understood that the only the way the temple would be rebuilt is if every Jew can find and express their place in it. The head of the yeshiva of Yavneh was Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai. On his tomb in the city of Tiverya is written his one epithet that is mentioned in Pirkey Avot. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakka was the one who saved Torah after the destruction of the temple. Besides knowing all of the Torah our sages tell us that he understood the languages of the trees, demons and angels as well at the pathways of heaven. He was no little fry. Yet with all of that his one saying was

Avot (2:8) if you learned a lot of Torah don't take credit for yourself; it's what you were born to do.

This same Rabbi Yochanan the Talmud tells us never had anyone greet him first. He was Rabbi- Shalom-Aleichem-how-are-you? Nobody ever beat him to the punch. For he understood that each of has our own role to play. Each of our jobs can be just as holy as the next one. That is how the temple will be built. We all need to stop giving ourselves credit for our own contributions whatever sphere they mean it. It's what we were meant to do. We will all get equal reward if we do. Just ask the Rabbi's of Yavneh. It's what they always say.

Have a equally amazing colorful Shabbos and Chodesh Adar

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Yeder vaist vu se drikt im der shuch..."– Everyone knows where his shoe pinches.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO  OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/layehudim - In honor of the Month of Adar I bring you my latest Purim hit hot off the press… Layehudim- Thank you Dovid Lowy for your amazing arrangements. Awesome awesome listen again and again… I promise you will start to dance..

https://youtu.be/vu5QtWsg63s   - Footage of the Clevelander Rebbe ZT"L in 2011 laying the foundation stone for his building in Ranaana

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2020/01/27/jew-walks-bar/ -  This is pretty interesting, funny and inspiring yeshiva guy comedian David Finkelstien short documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUeP4uuKrY– Mishkan video pretty interesting to see what it would look like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyWZwaxViTg- Chabad Mishkan cartoon I don't even know what is going on here…

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

16) An Ottoman aqueduct is found in:

1. Avdat
2. Zedekiah’s Cave
3. Kibbutz Lohamei HaGeta’ot
4. The ‘aqueduct beach’

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/MITZVA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Asu li mikdash– Building a Temple Shul  – This week we begin reading the portions of the Torah that describe the mitzva to build the Tabernacle/ Mishkan in the wilderness. The Torah however refers to this build not as the Mishkan only but rather as the Temple- the mikdash. Our sages and codified by the Rambam derive from this that this was a mitzva for "generations" to ultimately build a temple for Hashem where we would bring sacrifices and fulfill the mitzva of the pilgrimage holidays. The SMa"G derives this mitzva however from another verse in Devarim

Devarim (12:11) And it will be, that the place the Lord, your God, will choose in which to establish His Name there you shall bring all that I am commanding you: Your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the separation by your hand, and the choice of vows which you will vow to the Lord.

However this verse is preceded by a timeframe which is

Ibid (12:10) And you shall cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, and He will give you rest from all your enemies surrounding you, and you will dwell securely.

This would suggest that the mitzva requires that we settle the land of Israel and no longer have the threat of enemies. In addition, the Talmud tells us that we need to have a King and wipe out Amalek. We can't even elect a prime minister in this country and take care of a few terrorists so I don't think we're there yet today unfortunately.

Interestingly enough there are opinions and references in our sages that the third Temple will be built by Hashem. There is a heavenly Temple of fire up above that will come down. Yet many commentaries explain that those mystical statements are more of a reference to the spiritual house that will come down and join our Mikdash that we are building or that is only if we are meritorious, but not neccesarily in exception to our Mikdash.

The Zohar Hakodesh however does mention that there is a way to biblically fulfill this mitzva even today and that is in the building of our synagogues and study halls which it suggests stand in place of our Temple. The Rambam, himself writes that it is a mitzva although it is not clear if it is biblical or rabbinical. He does note however that when there are ten Jews in a community it is an obligation to build a place of prayer where the community is obligated to chip in for it. An interesting difference if whether this a biblical obligation would be that if it is biblical only a authorized Beit Din can compel one to "pay his dues" however if it is a communal rabbinical mitzva than the community board possesses the authority to do so as well. Other interesting differences would be if one is permitted to take donations from Non-Jews for the building of Synagogue which we are not permitted to do for the Temple. As well if one can have a gentile contracted to build the building where he would work on it as well for Shabbat. If it is a biblical mitzva then one could and even if it is a rabbinical one that is derived from the biblical one than there are opinions that would permit it. If on the other hand it is just a "hechsher mitzva" a preparatory mitzva that provides for us a place to pray and study than one would not be permitted to have them build it on Shabbos.

Certainly the way we build our synagogues are meant to reflect the building of the Temple. They should have an ark, a bima which is like the Shulchan/Table they had int eh Beit Hamikdash. There should be a preparatory ante-room /hall way before entering in the Shul and it should have windows that-preferably 12 that shine out. The Syngaogue like the Temple is also meant to be the highest place of the city. This obviously doesn't work when one has skyscrapers but ideally that is where is should be built and it is usually the case in most of the small yishuvim that are built in Israel. In fact, the law in Israel is that any city that reaches the status of a city has the benefit of having a shul, Mikva and even eiruv built and paid for by the city. It's nice to live in a country that doesn't have a separation of Church and State. Finally the awe we have of our Synagogues are meant to be the same as we would have for our Temples this is another mitzva of course, but it is in the merit of this mitzva that god willing we will be able to build our real Temple. May that happen pretty soon…

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

Micha and the Tribe of Dan  939 BC- This is one of my favorite stories to read to my tourists because I get to read it at one of my favourite places; Tel Dan. It's a fascinating story because the timeline isn't really clear. Part of the story according to some commentaries may even be going back to when the Jews were still in Egypt, the end certainly would seem to take place after the story of Shimshon so the story in essence can give you an appreciation of one of the most important and fascinating tribes that really gets the most facetime in the book of Shoftim; the tribe of Dan.

The story begins with a young man named Micha who stole some money from his mother. When he fesses up to her she is grateful and thanks Hashem and takes the money and makes an idol with it. Although this would seem to be strange behavior, on the one hand believing in Hashem and on the other making an idol, our sages seem to say that this took place in Egypt before the Torah was given and the Jews worshipped idols as the Egyptians did despite believing in Hashem. The Israel Museum has a fascinating display of "Jewish idols" as does the Dor museum and even underneath the old city of Jerusalem in the Herodian Road. Seemingly Halachically this should be destroyed but I guess we will have to wait till Mashiach to do that. Unfortunately, too many people see this as an interesting cool thing to see rather than as a remembrance of our ancestor's infidelity to Hashem. (Can you imagine holding on to proof of your infidelity to your spouse and preserving it?). Micha then takes this idol and makes a house of idolatry and appoints his son to be his Kohen/ priest. It's like that good old joke about someone coming to the Rabbi and wanting to make him a Kohen. He should've just gone to Micha.

The story continues after the Jews enter the land of Israel with an individual that seems might just be the grandson of Moshe looking to find a place to live and he lands up by Micha's house and Micha persuades him to stay and become his Kohen. This is even more fascinating if you appreciate that our sags tell us that Micha himself was an adopted child of Moshe who he pulled out of the bricks of the wall that the Egyptians had jammed him in. This would make Yonatan, Moshe's grandson his nephew.

The last stage of this story is about the tribe of Dan not being able to successfully conquer their portion because the Philistines would terrorize them all the time. The area of Dan was meant to be the Gush Dan area, which would include Tel Aviv, Bnai Brak and the Beit Shemesh area (in biblical times) all the way up the coastline to Netanya. In fact Gush Dan is the most populated portion of Israel today with close to 4 million people living there almost half the Jewish population in last than 8% of land of Israel. Pretty crazy. So we definitely have made up for lost time, although we still have terrorists driving us crazy these days up there as well.

So the tribe of Dan sends a group of spies to find a place to live. They come up to a city called Layish along the way stopping at Micha's inn in the portion of Ephraim in the Shomron. They bump into Yonatan and he gives them a blessing that they should be successful. The area they found is today in Tel Dan and one can see the old walls of that ancient city there. The land is beautiful great water from the Dan river and they decide they have finally found their paradise. They head back and get the tribe to come up with them and 600 men make their way to Tel Dan, right on the border of the Golan heights and upper Galile above the Hula Valley.They as well make a pit stop at Micha's inn and they convince the Kohen, Yonatan, to join them and to bring the famous Micha idol with them. Micha is not too happy about this turn of affairs but decides it doesn't really pay to argue with 600 armed men.

The men of Dan come up and conquer the city and burn it down. It's amazing to read this story and see the old burnt walls that they rebuilt the city with. It doesn't get better than that for a tour guide. There they build their own Temple and as long as the Mishkan/ Tabernacle was in Shiloh the Dannites had their own Temple there with an alternative form of Judaism-so to speak- until the exile of the 10 tribes.

It's a fascinating story and an incredible site where one can see that this continued to be an idolatrous city in the times of King Yeravam and even into the second Temple site by the Greeks and pagans. But we'll talk about them when we get to that era. Stay tuned!

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE JEWISH JOKES  OF THE WEEK

A poor Jew finds a wallet with $1000 in it. At his shul, he reads a notice stating that a wealthy Jew has lost his wallet and is offering a $100 reward to anyone who returns it. Quickly he locates the owner and gives him the wallet.

The rich man counts the money and says, "I see you have already taken your reward."

The poor Jew responds, "What are you talking about?"

The wealthy Jew continues, "This wallet had $1100 in it when I lost it."

The two men begin arguing, and eventually they come before the saintly, beloved Rabbi Katz.

Both men present their case. The poor man first, then the wealthy man who concludes by saying, "Rabbi Katz, I trust you believe me."

Rabbi Katz says, "Of course." The rich man smiles, and the poor man is devastated. Then Rabbi Katz takes the wallet out of the wealthy man's hands and gives it to the poor man who found it.

"What are you doing?" the rich man yells angrily.

Rabbi Katz responds, "You are, of course, an honest man, and if you say that your missing wallet had $1100 in it, I'm sure it did. But if the man who found this wallet is a liar and a thief, he wouldn't have returned it at all. Which means that this wallet must belong to somebody else. If that man steps forward, he'll get the money. Otherwise, it stays with the man who found it."

"What about my money?" the rich man asks.

"Well, we'll just have to wait until somebody finds a wallet with $1100 in it!"

Shoshana was jealous of her friend Shira. All of Shira’s young children sat quietly with her in shul during the rabbi’s sermon while her 7 year old twins Shimi and Shmueli couldn’t sit still.

About halfway through the speech, Shoshana leaned over to Shira and said, “How do you get your kids to sit so quietly?”

"Before shul I tell them, ‘Remember, if you aren’t quiet Rabbi Goldman will lose his place and will have to start all over again’”!

Moishe and Miriam sit down at the end of each month to go through their finances, although this isn’t really one of Miriam’s areas of expertise.

“Miriam,” said Moishe, “I know Pesach is coming and you’re making a lot of purchases but you need to make sure we have enough in our bank to cover any checks we write.”

“But we have plenty of money in our account,” said Miriam

“Really?” said Moishe. “The bank just returned this check."

"Isn't that nice of them,” said Miriam. “What can I buy with it this time?"

Do you believe in life after death?" Shimmy Rubenstein asked one of his employees.

"Yes, Sir." the new recruit replied.

"Well, that makes sense then," Mr. Rubenstein went on, "Because after you left early yesterday to go to your grandmother's funeral, she stopped in to see you."

Little Rivkah Kramer came into the house while her mother was busy cleaning for Pesach. “Mommy, can I have a dollar to give to an old lady in the park?”

“Why of course,” Mrs. Kramer said as she gave Rivkah the dollar. “That’s a very big mitzvah you are doing,” she continued. "But, tell me, is the old lady OK? Is she not able to work anymore?"

"Oh yes," came Rivkah’s reply. "She sells candy."

Little Rivki Shulman had misbehaved so much all week that her mother decided to give her the worst kind of punishment: she told her she couldn't go to the shul picnic on Sunday.

When the day came, Rivki’s mother felt like she had been a little too harsh and changed her mind. When she told Rivki she could go to the picnic, Rivki’s reaction was not what she had expected. She was all doom and gloom.

"What's the matter?” Rivki’s mother asked. “I thought you'd be glad to go to the picnic."

"It's too late!" Rivki said. "I already davened for rain."

At the local Talmud Torah School they brought in a fireman to talk about safety. He brought some visual aids with him including a smoke detector. The fireman pressed the button to demonstrate and asked the children if anyone knew what it meant when an alarm sounded from the smoke detector.

Little Moishie Mehlman immediately raised his hand and said, "It means my Abba is cooking dinner."

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Answer is C–  Ahh another easy one. I pass this one all the time on the way to Rosh Hanikra from Akko and make sure to point it out to all my tourists. This Aqueduct was built when Akko was rebuilt by the Turks in the late 1700's, destroyed by Napolean and then rebuilt again in the 1800's. It's pretty amazing to see it alongside Highway 4 as you travel up towards Nahariya as it runs about 13KM. It's a pretty amazing architectural engineering feat because remember water only flows downward and the slope has to be exact so that it doesn't have to go back up. The aqueducts in Casarea are 2^nd Temple Herod and Roman. Don’t' know of any by Tzedakias cave in Jerusalem or Ovdat so this was pretty easy. So the score is Schwartz 10 and 6 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.