He Knows Better- Parshat Va'eshanan- Nachamu 2020/ 5780

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 31^st  2020 -Volume 10 Issue 40 10^th Av 5780

 Parshat Va'eschanan / Nachamu

He Knows Better

We thought that when we opened up the door for Eliyahu Hanavi by our Pesach Seder that he would be there telling us the geula had arrived. He wasn't… We thought maybe by the 7^th day of Pesach when the Jews miraculously crossed through the Red Sea and left Egypt, that we would also leave our locked rooms and houses and sing and dance to our redemption…We didn't. Maybe it was going to happen on Lag Ba'Omer. Maybe Reb Shimon Bar Yochai who was locked away in a cave for 12 years would bring the hidden light of Mashiach out with him from our mini-bonfires we made on our BBQ grills. But it was still dark. The geula hadn't come.

 

It didn't come on Shavuos either when Hashem revealed Himself to our nation and told us that we were His chosen nation. Forever. His precious child. His beloved. We're still in mourning. We're still in charon af- His disappointed bitter wrath is still upon us. Galus is still here. They are still killing us, His Temple Mount is still defiled. His nation is on the floor. Alone. Eicha yashva badad this year has even more significance. We are forlorn. Isolated. Quarantined, with hopes shattered again and again.

 

The world is going crazy. Cities burning, rioting, the anti-Semites coming out of the woodworks and Israel is seen by more and more people as being the root of all evil. Perhaps most painfully, by so many of our own so distanced and alienated brothers and sisters. We are a la'ag v'akeles ba'goyim- scorned and derided by the nations of the world.

 

For many people kinos is a moving exercise in mourning. The poetry, the lamentations that we recite, do the trick of conjuring up the horrors and atrocities. They bring tears to their eyes. I need more. I read stories of the Holocaust, testimonies, I watch the films and the footage, it's impossible for me to wrap my head around the evil and the horror from just words. It's unfathomable. It's like appreciating the glory of Israel from  just a weekly E-Mail from an unemployed tour guide. You need at least a video and pictures to even get a bit of a taste.  And so I watch them. And I have nightmares and I weep.

 

The Holocaust was just the most recent period of that evil where we have footage and films. But there hasn't been a century where even greater atrocities haven't taken place. It has been an endless cycle of starvation, torture, abuse, murder, annihilation. Old people, young children, young couples tzadikim, simple yidden it's a non-stop horror show with a few islands of peace and prosperity only to see that all come crashing down again. U'vchol zos shimcha lo shachachnu- and we still have not forgotten Your Name.

 

I remember watching a Holocaust movie, I think it was called the "Last Train to Auschwitz.". I will never forget the scene of this cute little child in her mother's arms crammed into this cattle car to the Auschwitz- mamash like we say in tachanun- ka'tzon la'tevach yuval- as sheep being transported to the slaughter. Her father was trying to calm and sooth the frightened girl and he asked her do you know what we say whenever we are afraid? Do you remember what we taught you?

 

Now being a good American boy raised on Hollywood Movies I was awaiting a rendition of Mary Poppins "spoonful of sugar " or a Sound of Music "favorite things" type of song. You can stop humming them now… After all these were totally assimilated secular German Jews with no visible connection or even knowledge of the faith of our ancestors. But that wasn't the case. I was wrong. There is no such thing as a non-connected Jew. He turned to his daughter and tearfully they repeated word for word.

Shema…Yisrael… Hashem… Elokeinu… Hashem… Echad… Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso L'Olam Va'ed. "That is what we Jews recite when we are afraid mein liebschaft. Never forget it."

 

Take that Julie Andrews. We remind ourselves that we have a Father in heaven. That we have a mitzva to love Him even if he takes our neshoma. To love Him with all of our heart. We read this wek Parshas Va'eschanan, which is always Shabbos Nachamu- the Shabbos of consolation to remind us that things will never work out the way that we think they shall, but they all come from a Father in heaven who has our best interests in mind.

 

The parsha begins with Moshe Rabbeinu pleading before Hashem to enter the land. But yet, he does not get his wish. It's not going to work the way you Moshe, the greatest and closest of all men, think it's going to work. Lo machshavosai-machshivoseichem.- My thoughts and ways are not yours- Hashem says. You're not God. Don't try to figure it out. Just love Me and know I love you.

 

The parsha continues with the prohibition to add or detract from the words of the Torah. We have lost so many who felt that they knew better. The times are different. We don't have to keep all of the laws. It's a new world. Hashem was talking to a nation in the wilderness, not to our "advanced" civilization in the 21^st century. Or the 17^th century 18^th century 19^th  or 20^th as those "enlightened" people have claimed throughout the generations. Their descendants have disappeared. Their "adjustments" led to obliteration as our ancient book said it would. Don't detract. Don't play God.

 

The other side of that coin is probably just as significant. Don't add to the Torah. We are permitted and even obligated to make fences around the Torah. We have Rabbinic commandments and decrees that have kept our people and our faith holy and the Torah teaches us to abide by them. Yet, we must never present them as Torah commandments. We need to know the difference between chumras- stringencies, adaptions that we implement to strengthen our Torah laws and experiences and what is the word of Hashem and the Torah. We have lost many who were taught that these were equal. Once they have fallen in a side stringency that became too challenging for them, they threw out the rest as well. This goes back to Chava in the Garden of Eden who told the snake that she wasn't allowed to touch the tree when in fact that was just an added "fence" around that tree. The prohibition was only to eat. But the baby got thrown out with the holy bathwater.

 

There are some that would apply what I'm saying to going to minyan or other rabbinic customs in times of Corona where the primary obligation is to guard one's life. I'm not saying that or referring to that, although we did have a Kinnot-less Tisha B'Av morning service this morning. But that's because I needed to watch my holocaust movie…Sorry, about that-it just came out of my computer. But I think you do understand what I'm talking about. We've lost too many precious souls from the sin of lo sosif- adding on to "Torah Laws" without the appreciation of the worlds and levels of difference, just as we have from the lo sigri'u. the detractors of the Torah. Lesson and mitzva? Don't play Hashem. Just love Him and appreciate His holy words and holy ways are perfect the way they are. They are what gives us life. There is no need to second-guess them.

 

Which of course brings us to the Ten Commandments. There are so many mitzvos. Yet these ten contain them all. They are our obligations between us and Hashem and our fellow man. 5 and 5. They are equal. One can't be a holy Jew if he only focuses his life on one side of those tablets. You can be the kindest most generous, most honest, and most moral person in the world, but if you ignore the mitzva of Shabbos, the mitzva of having Hashem and his mitzvos, his holidays, his awe and honor guiding us than you're not doing what you're supposed to. Don't think you are. You're wrong. You're not Hashem and you didn't give only 5 commandments on 5 tablets. There are 10. At the same time one can be holy, and learn all day, and fear God and study Torah, but if one doesn't have respect for their friends. If we don't love every Jew and see them as a child of Hashem. If we are dishonest, if we speak gossip, if we look down on others. If we think we are holier than thou because we keep the first five commandments really really well. Then once again we are playing God. We are thinking that His ways are ours. That the second set of tablets were just written because Hashem wanted to be politically correct. He wasn't and isn't. In fact He hates politics.

 

The Parsha then gets to that Shema and it continues with that mitzva to love Hashem and His love for us for the rest of the parsha. Tisha B'av is that day when we experience the worst horrors. We relive 3 millennia of all that our nation has endured and yet we are recognizing that it all comes from our sins. It is all Hashem's plan. He loves us and our only wish is to have Him return to us. Is that crazy? After all Hashem has done to us… After all we have suffered? It would be crazy, if not for the fact that this has been going on for so long and we yet we still keep coming back to that same place. Shimcha lo shachahcnu- we haven't forgotten Your Name. We come to Hashem with broken wings, downtrodden, hurt and bruised because we know that He is with us in our pain. He shares it and he loves us more than we can imagine. We feel that so we keep coming back and reciting that Shema. We don't understand Him. But we have total faith in Him. We know He is the truth. And that He loves us.

 

The parsha ends off with Hashem telling us what is perhaps what has kept us going.

Devarim (7:7-9) It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that Hashem set His heart on you and chose you—indeed, you are the smallest of peoples;

but it was because Hashem loved you and kept the oath He made to your fathers that Hashem freed you with a mighty hand and rescued you from the house of bondage, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  Know, therefore, that only Hashem your God is God, the steadfast God who keeps His covenant faithfully to the thousandth generation of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

 

Reb Shloimeleh of Zvhill writes that Moshe was the most humble of all men, despite the fact that he was the greatest of all men and who even went up to heaven and spoke to Hashem "face to face" in order to bring us down His Torah. For it was precisely because he went up to shamayim and he saw and experienced how much love Hashem has for every Jew, how precious each one is before him, how important every single one of us is before Him that therefore humbled him before every Jew he met. For he understood how great they all were. How loved we all are. It was his honor and privilege to be standing before and to be called to serve such an incredible and loved people.

 

We are still awaiting that geulah. We know it must be close. But we do not want the redemption because of how difficult things are. After all we read on Tisha B'Av we know that there were worse times than the blessed lives we are living, despite our facemasks, and the rising hatred we are experiencing. We want the redemption, because we want a world that knows Hashem as we do. That knows the love that He has for all mankind. We want His palace back where it belongs. We want all Jews to feel that special love and the special privilege they have of being His nation on this world. We want the entire world to throw away their false gods, their hypocritical and violent ideologies. We want leaders, we want Mashiach. We want a world finally fixed. Rosh Hashana is not far away. May His kingship finally reign on the world forever and the shofar that we will blow will coronate the King that we do not need to understand; Hashem that we love.

Have a comforting Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 " Kainer vaist nit vemes morgen es vet zein.."- No one knows what the morrow will bring.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

38) A special tax imposed on Jews under the rule of Islam:

A.  Jizya

B.  Tabu

C.. Dhimmi

 D. Jiftlik

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO  OF THE WEEK

  https://youtu.be/lojbNaK7pkc  - Tisha B'Av 2020 by the Kotel like you've never seen it before.

 https://youtu.be/um5o5RkUETE – Yaakov Shwekey heartwrenching Shema Yisrael in memory of Jewish children perished in holocaust

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dptj7zzIig   - Shabbos Nachamu needs to have Reb Shlomo's Nachamu everyone has to know all the words of his speech…Yeshaya Hanavi- the holy prophet Isaiah….

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLNecwP94KA- And of course the classic Tzlil V'Zemer nachamu version with young Shloimie Dachs Moishe Mendlowitz

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP6ZN_rlKc4- And Shlomo Yehudah Rechnitzes Nachamu with Moishie Mendlowitz

 RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/MITZVA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

 Parshat Devarim – Lo siechanem–Do not show favor to "them"–As Moshe command the nation to conquer the land of Israel and to destroy the 7 nations that have been "babysitting" our land until we come back, he tells us Hashem's command to wipe them out. All of them. We should not strike peace treaties as they will come back to haunt us- and they did. They always do… And we should not show them any favor. The Talmud in Tractate Avoda Zara (20.) derives three specific laws from this vague mitzva. The first is that we are prohibited to allow them to own land in Israel. 2) we shouldn't show them "favor" 3) we shouldn't give them presents for free. I'll elaborate on each one of them.

 But before we do so, I'm sure many of you are thinking well this is only the 7 nations and the times of Yehoshua when we conquered the land. But that's not the case. The Rambam, Chinuch and Tosafos all understand that this prohibition of lo sichaneim is upon all idolatrous nations. And yes Christianity is considered idolatry. The first principle though of selling and possibly even renting land to non-Jews in Israel though is applicable to all non-Jews even non-idolaters as that falls under the category of us being prohibited to let others settle in our land. We are never occupiers of this land promised to us by God. We are just taking what is our Divine heritage, allowing others to dwell there is denying the authenticity of our claim. As well that prohibition, the Torah tells us is for fear that we may come to learn from our neighbor's ways. That logic applies to any non-Jew that does not observe the Torah.

 The prohibition to give or sell gentiles land in Israel plays out in modern times in a few spheres. The first is of course in any peace agreement or land swap the government makes is it prohibited? Chacham Ovadia Yosef ruled that if military experts feel that this would save lives then it would be permitted as any mitzva is violated for pikuach nefesh. As well, since many of the Arabs already own land we are not giving them new land.

 As well this issue became and still is one of the central issues in regards to the question of "selling land" to the non-Jews for the Shemitta year in order to be able to use the fruits that grow here during that year without the sanctity of shemitta. In the words of the Netziv, those that do so and permit it are violating a Torah prohibition of lo sichaneim, in order to prevent the rabbinic commandment of eating Shemitta (at a time when the majority of Jews don't live in Israel, it is only a Rabbinic prohibition.) The Rabbis that permit it base their leniency on the fact that it is only a temporary sale. It is for the purpose of us settling the land. It is a matter of pikuach nefesh. Whether those leniencies still apply is certainly a major discussion today as well.

 The other prohibitions of lo sichaneim in regards to giving them presents. Once again this for fear of us becoming too close to idolaters and learning their ways. However, this law seems to be more lenient as the prohibition to give them presents is only when I'm not getting something out of it. So to give raises or bonuses or presents to your employees, or your children's teachers or your postman- do they even have those anymore- would be fine because when is receiving the benefit of good relations and the hope that they will be grateful and provide better service in turn. As well we are told that it is permitted to do so whenever there is a question that the non-Jew will hate you if you don't, as it is an accepted custom, or even mipney darkey shalom- just to increase peace would be permitted. So you can bring some Pizzas over to our men in blue to show your support no problem. The prohibition is really if we are trying to butter up and flatter them in order to develop a close relationship with them because of a sense of admiration for them. That is where it is problematic. Biblically.

 Finally, we have the prohibition of praising non-Jews. Again this is prohibition is based on the idea that by praising someone we are connecting to them and putting them on a pedestal. This is a dangerous thing. So to say what a great ball player they are, or what a brilliant scientist they are, or how beautiful they are would seem to be a problem. That's not to say they aren't all of the above. It's just something we should not be emphasizing as something worthy of praise and admiration. That being said the authorities all note that if one remembers Hashem in that praise then there would not be a problem. So for example to say that Michael Jordan is an awesome athlete is a biblical prohibition. But to say Hashem is amazing for creating Michael Jordan and giving him such superhuman skills to throw a ball in a basket from very far away, would be fine. As well noting that Leonardo Da Vinci, or Picasso or Beethoven are incredible artists would be a problem But to recognize the depth of wisdom of Hashem in the works that they produced that were granted to them from His inspiration would be praiseworthy. Interestingly enough we find that there are various gentiles praised in the Talmud by our sages. There are some that see in that it is to teach us lessons from them. Rav Moshe Shternbuch learns up that the prohibition in fact may only be upon Non-Jew one knows personally for the specific purpose of buddying up to them. Which would then pretty much permit much of the praise.

 Perhaps one of the greatest tragedies is that more often than not we are much quicker to find praise and beauty in our gentile neighbors than in one another. This is certainly one of the messages we need to do. It is a good exercise as well for us. If one sees something they feel is magnificent in a gentile. Try to find a fellow Jew to praise at the same time. That will certainly be a tikkun for our people.

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

 The Amalek debacle-878 BC –Shaul was king for just two years. In that shor time the Navi tells us he won wars against most of Israel's enemies. Ammon (Jordan). Edom (The Negev area), Tzova (Syria) and the Philistines (Gaza and the Southern coastline). If you think about these wars all in 2 years it's mind boggling. It's like our war of independence all over again. However unlike in 1948 where we won by the skin of our teeth and with great losses, Shaul Hamelech and that Jewish army shmoddered every one. It was now time for the final battle, against our first archenemy and Hashem's nemesis; Amalek.

 The obligation of a King of Israel is of course to establish his kingdom, to defend us from all our enemies and to set up a government and justice system. He then has two more obligations. The first is to wipe out Amalek, the second to build the Temple. The time for Shaul had arrived to take care of task A. Now Amalek is a nation that attacked us first as we left Egypt. They had no skin in our game. They were there because they wanted to battle against God. They saw in the revelation of the great miracles of our Exodus a threat to their lifestyle. It was the revealed hand of Hashem and that would "inflict a conscience upon the world. They attacked us again before we entered Israel. They are in an eternal battle with Hashem and more than any nation Hashem has ordered us to wipe them and any memory of them off the face of the world without any mercy. Shmuel gives the order and Shaul sets out to battle with his army of 210,000 men Things are looking good. Until they don’t.

 Amalek it seems is in the South Negev part of Israel more likely in the Sinai desert region in a place called Quesima. There Shaul wiped out Amalek, killing all the men women and children and destroying anything they possessed. Except… And that's where the problem starts. Except for the sheep and cattle which the people wanted to sacrifice to Hashem. As well he left Agag, the King alive. It is not clear what his rationale was. The verse says it was out of mercy for him. Which would seem strange if he killed all the other men women and children. Others suggest perhaps he wanted him to convert and be a bigger Kiddush Hashem and perhaps there were other Amalekites he allowed to live. Regardless it was huuuugge mistake. It seems Agag in the interim got a women pregnant and a few centuries later we have a guy named Haman running around plotting to annihilate us.

 Hashem appears to Shmuel and snitches on Shaul and pretty much says he's done with him. Shmuel meets Shaul at Mt. Carmel where Shaul seems to just not get it. First denying any wrong doing then blaming it on the people. Shmuel tells him his kingdom is done for. Shaul pleas and in the process a tunic gets ripped (either Shmuel or Shaul's depending on the commentary). This is a sign, Shmuel tells him, that the kingdom will be ripped from him and given to someone far better. Can you guess who?

 Shmuel then yanks out a knife and asks to see Agag. The Agag sees Shmuel and welcomes him as the angel of death. Shmuel whips out his sword and in a classic Samuri move gintzu knifes the guy into two. Wopp… End of Agag. Shmuel goes home in a disappointment and never talks to Shaul again. Shaul as well returns and from hereon it is downhill for this first king of Israel.

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S JOKES  OF THE WEEK

No Jokes today… It's the day after Tisha B'Av… really… shame on you for even looking…

Next week I'll give you double OK…?

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Answer is A–  Got this one right too… I spent a lot of time learning the important arab phrases for my exam. They always ask them. It's amazing how many of them I remembered. So Dhimmi is the second class status that all non-Muslims hold. Jews were dhimmis. Tabu is the registry for homes and the laws governing them. I have no idea nor do I even remember the term jitklit or whatever its called and couldn’t even find it on a google. But The correct answer which I actually remembered is jizzya or something like that. So another one right! The score is Schwartz 27 and 11 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam. I'm still passing but really not doing great on this exam.