Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
January 22nd 2021 -Volume 11 Issue 15 9th
Shvat 5781
Parshat Bo
Plague-demic
It's impossible to read about the
story of our Exodus from Egypt without thinking about Pesach. I know it's only the
month of Shevat. We haven't even begun thinking about Purim yet. But yet this
year, more than other, I think the Torah portions of plagues and redemption
strike a relevant chord. Particularly after our last Pesach which was certainly
one of the most-if not the most- challenging and bizarre Pesachs we have
ever celebrated. Locked up. Isolated. Terror out in the streets. Not knowing
what tomorrow will bring. Remember all that toilet paper we were stocking up
on. It feels like moons and a lifetime ago. Yet here we are reading the story
once again not even a year later. Yet it feels like a lifetime later in a
different world that it once was Pre- Corona. It's a world of masks, of
lockdowns, of no livelihood, no trips to Israel or touring. A year that the
entire world went crazy in all areas. Are we looking at the tail end of this
yet, as the pundits are telling us and assuring us? I hope so, but I certainly
don't have any faith in any of them. I've had too many false hopes crushed
already. I'm not doing that anymore.
Yet, I do find it fascinating
that there are so many out there that do really believe that this time we are
really seeing the end of it. We have a vaccine. All will be good. Sure there
are mutations. Sure we haven't really had enough time to see what the long term
ramifications or effects of this will be. Yes, you will still need to wear
masks and social distance. No, we don't know when we will be opening up the
borders yet. But why not be optimistic? Why not believe that this time
it really is over…
Don't get me wrong. I've taken my
first vaccine and will be taking my second soon, but that's really more a
business decision for when my tourists return and to get my green passport that
will get me into places- if God willing that ever happens again. So I took it. But that's because my general
practice in life is that if it doesn't cost me too much I try to listen to the
person who I believe is the Gadol Ha'dor, Reb Chayim Kanievsky, who said that
we should all take it. He's pretty much got some link up there to heaven, that
I'm not sure he's even aware of, but the things that he says usually are on
target in almost miraculous ways. So even if I was skeptical about the efficacy
of this vaccine, if he said I should take it, that's all I really need. I
figure it can't be much worse than all the other chazerai I put in my
body. Can someone please pass the chulent and the Coke. It's right next to the
cold cuts platter.
Yet, I guess the reason I'm not
as optimistic or positive as everyone else, is that I'm burnt out already. Sure
I want it to be over. How much longer can this go on for? Yet I think about
Pharaoh in Mitzrayim. The plagues there went on for a year. One year. I'm sure
he and the Egyptian had plenty of false hopes throughout that year as well.
Wheww… there's no more blood in the river…. Thank God the frogs are finally
gone… We recovered from those lice all right, the weather is clearing up and
someone turned the lights back on. Can you imagine their joy when the plague of
darkness finally was over? That bright beautiful sunshine that greeted them the
next morning. Sure their coffers had been cleaned out by the Jews, but that was
fine. They were alive. They were in one piece. They could get back to business.
And then-"BOOM!"-Plague of the First Borns. Yeah… they also
had high hopes each time and what did it do for them? In the end they all just
drowned in the sea next week and there you go… As you can see it's been a pretty
dark week for me.
There is something fascinating though
that I noticed while reviewing last weeks parsha. I'll present it to you as a
riddle. It's about the plagues, and as I said we're getting in the Pesach mode
here and you always need to have plagues-games for the kids- which is kind of
morbid in itself if you really think about it. But I guess a riddle game is
better than them jumping like frogs all over the room- which they seem to be
doing anyways this past latest lockdown, or playing dead like the animals, or throwing
ping pong balls at each other. Let's stick to riddles. They're a lot quieter.
So here we go.
Your riddle of the week is… Drumroll….
What do the plague of Frogs, Hail, the Death of the First Born and Covid-19
have uniquely in common? Something that is not by all the other plagues. Something
that perhaps can give us a better appreciation of the essence of the challenge
that we face today.
Stumped? That's fine. It's not
something that we would necessarily think about- which is why it struck me as
being so interesting. See, by all three of those plagues in Egypt-and only by
those three-does Hashem use the word Magefa- which in modern Hebrew is
the word for pandemic to describe what took place. The reason why it seemed so
strange to me, was that I don't think at least the first two of those plagues
would have been my first guess to call a pandemic. I think if you asked most
people which of the ten they would call a pandemic, most would probably say dever-pestilence
where the animals died, or maybe boils, or maybe even lice. But frogs and the severe
weather conditions of hail are usually not what we would call a pandemic.
Even more interesting that the
plague of frogs is in fact the first time in the entire Torah where the word magefa
is used. According to the tradition of the Gaon of Vilna, the first time the
Torah uses a word reveals the true essence of that word. That would mean that
if we really wanted to understand the concept of magefa we need to
examine that plague. Why would frogs be called a pandemic, a word we generally
would ascribe to a deadly medical virus. Frogs seem to be the easiest and most
fun of all of the plagues. Sure they're annoying, but hey, no one really go
hurt from them.
Rashi on the verse of the plague
makes the question even more difficult. He writes that
Rashi Shemos (7:27)-Negef/pandemic-
Makeh- plague or striking. And any terminology of Magefa does not
mean death rather a term for striking…
Isn't it puzzling? What does
Rashi mean that magefa does not mean death? Throughout the Torah we find
the term magefa- referring to a pandemic that kills people. We find it
after the Golden Calf, after the spies, 24,000 died in the magefa after
the Jews sinned with the Moabite women by Baal Pe'or. How can magefa not
mean death? I did see an old version of Rashi that adds in the word "only"
into his text. That magefa doesn't only mean death. Yet, even
that seems not so accurate. Pandemic pretty much always by itself seems to mean
death. Yet, Rashi though in this particular case seems to be correct- as he
usually is. Here we have the first "pandemic/magefa ever and yet in
fact there really was no one that died by that plague of frogs.
There is another similarity
between the three plagues as well if you think about it. Check the verses, it's
pretty cool. It seems that one of the overwhelming aspects of each of those three
plagues the Torah repeatedly notes, is that there is a lot of noise. The plague
of frogs was all noise. It drives them crazy. It's deafening. The non-stop
chirping and shrieking. Remember how the CIA blasted non-stop heavy metal music
to torture information out of terrorists. Maybe here's where they got it from.
As well the plague of hail,
Pharaoh notes that the most troubling aspect is the kolot- the noise.
The non-stop thunder, lightning and rumbling of the heavens. It's because of
this that the Torah tells us that the plague of Hail is a magefa that
will go to their hearts. There's nothing like those intense heaven shattering
sounds, the Talmud tells us, to straighten out the crookedness of our hearts.
And finally even the plague of the first-Born the Torah describes the sounds of
wailing that fill the streets of Egypt. Screaming, yelling, cries and shrieks
fill the air. And yet for the Jewish people not even a dog barks. We have peace
and serenity. We have those noise blocking head phones on. We can filter it all
out.
Do you know what a magefa
is? It's not death, as Rashi says. It's a plague of noise. It's a plague of
panic. Of fear. Of screaming pundits. Of non-stop media alerts and updates and
numbers that grow and grow and grow and that paralyze us. Sure people die in a magefa,
in a pandemic. But that's just collateral damage. As Rashi says Negef-
isn't death, although people might die. It's more about the striking of fear
and panic in everyone. It's why the first time the Torah even uses the word negef-
there isn't even any death. It's just loud green frogs shrieking and terrifying
everyone. It's too teach us that the real plague of a pandemic isn't as much
the people that die, rather it's the noise, panic and extraneous fallout that
comes out of the fear its meant to create.
But it goes even deeper than
that. The word negef has the same root as the word guf- body. Our
bodies are what cover up that precious neshoma of Hashem that is the spark of
life in each of us. In the Talmud the word magufa- is that the seal on
top of a barrel that doesn't let the internal pour out and show itself. When we
leave Egypt the first mitzva the Torah tells us about is about the freeing of
slaves and that slave is described as coming into his slavery be'gapo;
only with his guf. Alone. No hope. Just the circumstances of the outside
world. The noise that led him down this road toward slavery and covered up and
distracted him from the special holy neshoma that lies within him that is
waiting to shine forth. Negef is when that that spark of faith is not seen
anymore. It's when the illusion of our bodies control over all that happens to
us is shattered. That is really what is the source of all plagues.
If, on the other hand, we know are
able to reveal what the true source of life within us is; that all comes from Hashem.
Then we can tune out all the noise on the outside that is plaguing the world.
We can have the serenity that the Jewish people had that first Seder night as
the world and Egypt were screaming. We can have light while they sit in the
darkness of their solutions and ideas of how this might be over, when this
might end, whether the vaccines will be our salvation or will kill us. We can
take comfort and hope that we are in the hand of the true Rofeh kol basar-The
true healer of all flesh. And we can remember that Promise He made to us back
then.
Kol Hamachala asher samti
b'mitzrayim lo asim alecha- All the
sickness that I placed on Egypt I will not place upon you.
Ki ani Hashem rofecha- because I, Hashem, am your Healer.
May just as then our great and
only true Healer, send a refuah shlaima to all those that need it and finally
take us out of the darkness of our exile.
Have a healing, peaceful Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
***************
Az
meshiach vet kumen, vellen alleh krankeh oisgehailt verren; nor a nar vet
bleiben a nar.." When the messiah comes, all
the sick will be healed; only a fool will stay a fool.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
13)
Remnants of a Philistine temple can be seen in:
a)
Khirbet Qeiyafa
b)
Yavneh Yam
c)
Tel Qasile
d)
Gilboa
https://youtu.be/S01ZU7CyAtI - V'Zakeini II- the follow up to Miriam
Israel's first song for Bonei Olam sung by Benny Friedman
https://youtu.be/5eCy5jyUhqA
-
Shomo Yehudah Rechnitz's long awaited third Shir Disc is out with all the top
singers- take a listen to this sampler album
https://youtu.be/Wvs0XeAnBBg - I think this is
one of the nicest songs I've heard in a long time… Shimi Spitz and unknown
composer that doesn't even play an instrument (like me) but just composes
heavenly songs that come to him. Hopefully this is the first of many.
https://youtu.be/AdVyy1yaSiI – Jared and Ivanka's little boychik
singing Hashem Melech!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/ ERETZ YISRAEL CONNECTION OF THE
WEEK
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S
AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Ish
Bosheth's Death/ Dovid's rule
begins - 872 BC-
After the death of his general Ish Bosheth
realized that the end was near. His people had abandoned him and his rule was
waning. Two of his generals Rechav and Ba'aana who had previously fled began to
plot their next steps. They figured particularly after murder of Avner and
Dovid not avenging that death against Yoav that they could curry favor with him
by finishing the job and killing Shaul's son, Ish Boshet who remained the only
impediment to Dovid's kingdom reigning over all of the tribes. But what they
didn't realize was that wasn't Dovid's style. Dovid took an oath not to avenge
against Shaul's descendants. It's Hashem's job, Dovid is not going to the dirty
work.
This story
finally brings to a conclusion the line of Shaul's reign. After this the tribes
all come to Dovid and his 30 year reign of all of Israel will begin. It had
been years since Shaul had died. 7
years, that Dovid reigned in just Chevron. It was time to move to Jerusalem and
finally after all of these centuries liberate Hashem's holy city.
John felt the bill was too hefty for such a quick job like that so he demanded
an itemized account of his charges. The mechanic went back into his office and
came out with the bill.
*One chalk mark: 1 dollar*
*Knowing where to mark the "X": 199 dollars*
One costs an arm and a leg. The other
caused alarm and an egg.
Needing to have an urgent work problem
resolved, he dialed the employee’s home phone number and was greeted by a
child’s whispered, “Hello.”
“Is your Daddy home?” he asked.
“Yes,” whispered the small voice.
“May I talk with him?”
The child whispered, “No.”
Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, “Is your Mommy
there?”
“Yes.”
“May I talk with her?”
Again the small voice whispered, “No.”
Hoping there was someone with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, “Is
anyone else there?”
“Yes,” whispered the child, “a policeman.”
Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked, “May
I speak with the policeman?”
“No, he’s busy,” whispered the child.
“Busy doing what?”
“Talking to Mommy and Daddy and the Fireman,” came the whispered answer.
Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise through the earpiece on the
phone, the boss asked, “What is that noise?”
“A helicopter,” answered the whispering voice.
“What is going on there?” demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.
Again, whispering, the child answered, “The search team just landed a
helicopter.”
Alarmed, confused, and a little frustrated, the boss asked, “What are they
searching for?”
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle…”Me!”
When Beethoven passed away, he was buried in a churchyard. A couple days later, the town drunk was walking through the cemetery and heard some strange noise coming from the area where Beethoven was buried. Terrified, the drunk ran and got the priest to come and listen to it. The priest bent close to the grave and heard some faint, unrecognizable music coming from the grave. Frightened, the priest ran and got the town magistrate.
When the magistrate arrived, he bent his
ear to the grave, listened for a moment, and said, "Ah, yes, that's
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, being played backwards."
He listened a while longer, and said,
"There's the Eighth Symphony, and it's backwards, too. Most
puzzling."
So
the magistrate kept listening; "There's the Seventh... the Sixth... the
Fifth..."
Suddenly the realization of what was
happening dawned on the magistrate; he stood up and announced to the crowd that
had gathered in the cemetery, "My fellow citizens, there's nothing to
worry about. It's just Beethoven decomposing."
The rabbi said, "Really? Last
night, I dreamed of the Protestant Heaven. It was a nice, proper suburb, with
neatly trimmed lawns, and houses all neatly lined up."
"And how did the people behave?" asked the minister.
"What people?"
The son-in-law interrupted, "I hate factories. I can't stand the
noise."
"I see," replied the father-in-law. "Well, then you'll
work in the office and take charge of some of the operations."
"I hate office work," said the son-on-law. "I can't stand
being stuck behind a desk all day."
"Wait a minute," said the father-in-law. "I just make you
half-owner of a moneymaking organization, but you don't like factories and
won't work in an office. What am I going to do with you?"
"Easy," said the young man. "Buy me out."
One
Saturday, the rabbi gets up to the pulpit and before opening his mouth, Yankel
is already cranking it out.
The
rabbi could not control himself... He shouts: “Yankel, I didn’t even start yet!
How could I have possibly put you to sleep already?”
To
which Yankel opened his eyes and replied, “Rabbi, — I trust you…”
Answer is C –Pretty easy as well. I'm not a big expert on Philistine sites. They don't interest me much particularly if there's not much Jewish things going on there. Yet Tel Kasileh located in the Eretz Yisrael museum in Tel Aviv is known for its Philistine Temples. Sure the Philistines fought in Gilboa and ran from Dovid in Kayefeh near Beit Shemesh and I guess Yavneh too is nearby to Plishtim. But I'm not familiar with any temples over there. So I got this one right to and the score now stands at 11 for Rabbi Schwartz and 2 for the Ministry of Tourism on this exam.
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