Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
May 28th 2021 -Volume 11 Issue 33 17th
Sivan 5781
Parshat Behaloscha
A Very Good Week
It's
been a good week, Baruch Hashem. Despite the fact, I've been sick in bed all
week with some type of bug. But the goodness has been so good that it outweighs
any discomfort, and the truth is I've been laying on the couch for a year and
half already so now it was just a matter of staying in my bed. Do you readers
really care about this? Well anyways back to the good news… Tada… Yonah, my son
got engaged!! How amazing is that?! It gets even better than that though. His
Kallah, Batya Duchin's parents and family used to live around the corner from
my parent's home in Detroit. Although she was born here, as they made Aliyah
over 25 years ago to RBS, she actually knows how to pronounce orange properly
(not ahranje). As well she knows that the word car has an "r" at the
end of the word, and she even knows that "pop" is a sweetened
carbonated drink unlike many illiterate people across the United States that
think that it should be called Soda.
But
those are just side benefits, of course. Although I 've only met her twice- I
think Yonah, wisely wanted to keep her away from me until he was sure she would
say yes… I like what we've seen so far, she seems sweet, nice, smart and most
importantly she laughed at my jokes. That's pretty much all I really need
anyways. But Yonah, likes her…alot… and she seems to like him as well. Amazing…
I didn't think I'd ever see him like something more than the blatt gemara he
was learning, but he's been ear-to-ear for the past week. He's even cut quite a
few seders to help plan everything that needs to be planned; and for Yonah
that's saying a lot.
So it's been a good week, and know I have to
write an E-Mail with a headache and fever. I can't use an old E-Mail because I
already did that last week, and my pride doesn't allow me to do that more than
once or twice a year in extreme circumstances. Did any of notice anyways? It
was from 2011, So I'd be pretty impressed. But certainly with such a big simcha
I have to find and write something insightful from this week's parsha. I do
always say it's our daily and weekly Newspaper of events in our lives. So I cracked
open this week's parsha and started going through it.
Let's
see hmmm…. Lighting the menora…"you light up my life?" …Too
cheesy. The shaving and dedication of the Levi'im? Well Yonah, doesn't
shave much and he does want to be part of Shevet Levi that was dedicated
to teaching Torah his whole life… But it's a stretch. Korban Pesach Sheni? Even
I can't figure out how to connect that. The traveling of the Mishkan and camp?
The trumpets that would be blown? This is getting rougher than I thought. And
then finally I hit it!
"Then
Moshe said to Chovav the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses's
father-in-law,"
Ahhh
a son-in-law and father in-law dialogue! This could be good.
"Nosi'im anachnu- We are
traveling to the place about which Hashem said, I will give it to you.
Lechay Itanu- Walk with us –
V'Hitavnu- and we will be good
to you, for Hashem has spoken of –Tov- good fortune for Israel."
He (Yisro/ Chovev) said to
him,
"Lo
Eilech -I won't walk, for to my land and my birthplace- Eilech- I
will walk
He (Moshe) said, "Please
don't leave us, for because you are familiar with our encampments in the desert
and you will be our Einayim- eyes.
And
if you go Imanu-together
with us, then the-Ha'tov -good that Hashem will-Yeitiv-
be good to us we will-HeiTavnu -do good to
you".
Vayis'u
Me'har Hashem- and they traveled from the Mt. of Hashem.
Didn't
I tell you that it was a good week? 5 times in three verses we have the word
"good". That doesn't happen very often if ever at all. It's a very,
very, very, very, very good week.
But
let's examine this son-in-law father-in-law conversation a little closer. It
really does seem quite strange. Moshe asks his father-in-law to stay and Yisro/
Chovev rejects his offer. Moshe then seemingly repeats his invitation and the
second time, the Ramban tell us, Yisro accedes as it says "and they
traveled". What changed from the first time to the second time? You guys
figure it out… I'm going to take a nap, my head hurts.
Ok
I'm back. So I'm sure you noticed as well, that I left you lots of interesting
hints between the differences between the two conversations. The truth is the
Klei Yakar points this out and says a truly amazing explanation. He adds one
more question though. Yisro tells Moshe that he will not "Lech/walk"
with them" rather he will "Lech/ walk" to his own land. Moshe
though tells him that they are "Nos'im-traveling, and invites him to walk
with them. In the end though they all travel together. Hmmm… Also interestingly
enough in conversation (A) Moshe tells him that Yisro will walk Itanu-with us.
Whereas in conversation (B) it is a more intimate, Imanu- together with us.
And
thus he explains. When a person walks some place it is a shlep. He is still
connected to the place he had left and is slowly removing himself from there.
Like Avraham's "Lech Lecha", which non-coincidentally is also from
"his homeland and birthplace". Traveling someplace though is moving
to a destination. We travel to Eretz Yisrael. Moshe told Yisro that we are
traveling, but you can join with us, although understandably you still might
feel connected to your homeland and you will be "walking away" from
it.
Yisro
told Moshe that you have it wrong. I won't be walking. If I come with you. I
will be traveling. It will be that if I go back to my old country that will be
the difficult shleppy walk away from you. I might have to go back there to
convert other people to take care of business and affairs. But that is the
walk. If I go with you it will be because I am already part of you.
Moshe
gets this message. He then tells Yisro that he will go together with us. We
need you. We need to learn from you about this journey you took. How you
managed to find the good. We need you to be our eyes when we forget how blessed
we are. "And thus they traveled…"
But
there is an even deeper idea here that is particularly relevant for a chasan
and kallah. It is that the strength of Yisro is in what our sages refer
to as an "ayin tovah- a good eye". In fact, the extra portion
in the Torah that is added in his honor is called "v'atah techezeh-
and you shall see". Where he sets up the entire justice system relieving
the burden from Moshe. The Sifri plays on the words in the above conversation
of Moshe, when Moshe tells him that you know our chanoseinu- our
encampments, that it also can be translated as knowing our cheinoseinu-
our grace. The grace Hashem gave us in the eyes of the Egyptians. We need you
to remind us how lucky and how fortuntate we are. Yisro is called Chovev here. Chovev
means "Lover". He is passionate about the Torah, about his
yiddishkeit, about the people he has joined. We need those eyes to always find
and see the good. It is the lesson and blessing from a father-in-law to his
son-in-law.
From
this point on sadly the book of Bamidbar turns downhill. We have the Misoninim-(kvetchers)
a few verses later who Hashem burns up. The ones complaining about the lack of
meat that die in a plague. We even find Moshe bizarrely enough complaining like
he never did before about what a pain in the neck the Jewish people are for him
and then we find Miriam finding fault in Moshe. Next week we have the spies'
fiasco, followed by Korach's rebellion, Bila'am's attempted cursing. Our
seemingly rather technical and almost boring book of Bamidbar with all its numbers
and details, just gets very nasty. And it all starts after this discussion with
Yisro. The Torah is contrasting the good eye that Yisro with all of the
debacles that follow because we didn't have that "good eye". We
didn't appreciate the good in what Hashem provides for us. We didn't appreciate
how special Eretz Yisrael is, how special the Jewish people are, how special
Moshe is.
Moshe
had hoped that Yisro's good eye alone could be enough to influence and shine
for us and stop that natural critical fault finding negative ayin ra-
negative eye. But it would take more than Yisro for that to happen. It would
take us working on our own self-development. Finding the ayin tov in
ourselves. Again and again and again. 5 times in one pasuk. That is the blessing
of a good week.
Baruch
Hashem if there is one thing I can say about both the Chasan and Kallah
is that they both are blessed with that natural ayin tova. Whether it's Yonah's
rebbeim that can't seem to stop coming over to me, or it's anyone that I spoke
to in the information gathering process about Batya, there is one word that
keeps coming up for both of them. A real "Gut"-zkeit. They are
just really, really pieces of pure wholesome good-ness (bli ayin hara…. pooh
pooh pooh). They see and find the good
in every situation. It's not taking lemons and making lemonade. It's not even
seeing the lemons as sour in the first place. It's all sweet. It's all good.
Very, very, very… Ok you got the point. I want to bless the young couple as you
begin your journey of life together, that you should always be traveling to
places and not walking away from things. That you merit to have that ayin
tova for one another for your entire lives. You guys are our light, our
eyes. You inspire so many with your goodness. May that goodness sooo shine out
to the entire world as you build your bayis ne'eman b'yisrael. Mazel
Tov!
PS
– I just got the results… It's pneumonia. Ironically enough they suspect I
got it from the only tour I've had in the past nine months that I took last
week from some bacteria in the water. Hashem doesn't want me off my couch it
seems. Whewww. Nobody better hock me this week about any grammatical mistakes…Remember
Ayin Tovah.
Have a very very very very very good Shabbos!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" Az dos harts iz ful, gai’en di oigen iber." – When the heart is full, the eyes overflow.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
30)
The “Yad Labanim” house in memory of the fallen members of the Druze community
is located in:
A)
Isfiya (Ussefiya)
B)
Daliyat Al-Carmel
C)
Hurfeish
D)
Nabi Shuʿayb
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/dkuk1sIUWWk
– Touching Rabbi
Sacks tribute song for Tabbi Jonathan Sacks by Shomo Simcha and Reb Ruvi
"It's never too late"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt7ZT1enk_A – Amazing Rabbi Yoel Gold latest video Shabbat
is Shabbat.. what a story!
https://youtu.be/uCWi7mc5NgU
- Great new song Shir Ha'achdut by Shuki Solomon
with about 40 singers of all stripes joining in. Check it out!
https://youtu.be/p82a7Gz7D6c - Hot off the press.
Avraham Fried's latest song. "Elokaynee"
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/ ERETZ YISRAEL CONNECTION OF THE
WEEK
Aliyah Light – Parshat Beha'aloscha- Hey, it’s
the one parsha that has the word Aliyah in it, how could I not write about it. The
truth is though, the title of the parsha is not referring to the Aliyah to Israel,
it is talking about the mitzva Aharon has to light "up" the menora in
the Mishkan. But yet our sages tell us that the title of the parsha really has
to do with more than just the first few verses of the parsha, the parsha title,
just like any book title really encompasses the idea and theme of the entire Parsha.
And do you know what the entire parsha is really about? The Jewish people
finally making their preparations in the 2nd year in the wilderness
a year after receiving the Torah to finally come into the land. It is three
days before what should have been their Aliyah date. So perhaps the placement
of the mitzva of the Menora-which really does seem out of place here, as this
is not the Book that is talking about the service in the Mishkan-that was Vayikra,
really is placed here to give us some Aliyah tips.
Rashi notes that
this parsha was juxtaposed here because Aharon had felt bad that he his tribe
had not brought any sacrifices to inaugurate the Mishkan. Hashem assured him
that his tribes job of lighting the Menora would be eternal. The Ramban
explains that this refers to the eternal light of Chanuka that we tap into each
year when we light the Menora. It's Aharon's light. But yet, that would still
only be 8 days a year. It's not eternal. It's not all day. Every day.
The answer though
perhaps is that the eternal light of the menora is represented in the Torah. That
light is what gives us the strength to see every challenge through. In the best
of times and in the worst of times, a yid always has his sefer, his tehillim,
his blatt, his chumash and rashi to give him light. And it is that light as
well that is the secret and introduction to the Parsha of Aliya. The parsha
tells us of all types of challenges the journey to Eretz Yisrael will take for
the Jewish people. Some are concerned with giving up some of the material
comforts those good Egyptian pickles or Chutznik Corned beef. For others it is
the strife, the discord between Jews, the uncertainty in leadership, the lashon
hara. For other like the Pesach sheni they feel too tamei, or the road seems too
far. The trumpets and sirens of war are too frightening. So we turn back to
that Menora in the beginning of the Parsha with the eternal flame that points
to the center that Aharon does "Aliya" with. We see that light of Torah
that directs us to focus on what's really important. Why we are really here in
this world. Where we are meant to shine out our light, Hashem's light, from. When
we do that then nothing can stop our Aliyah. We will finally come home.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE
WEEK
The Wise Woman-
862 BC –
It had been 3
years since Amnon's murder by Avshalom who avenged his sister's abuse at his
hands. On the one hand the other children of Dovid were clamoring for justice
to be meted out to Avshalom, who had no right to carry out his revenge on his
own without the benefit of a trial. On the other hand Dovid had ceased mourning
for Amnon and missed Avshalom. Yoav noting the inaction of Dovid and how this
was tearing him apart decided to take matters into his own hands. So he paid a
visit to the wise woman of Tekoa.
The biblical city
of Tekoa is not far from the modern Yishuv of the same name in Gush Etzion.
There is in fact archeological ruins called Chirbat Tekoa in the Bedouin
settlement Tokoa. It's amazing it has kept the name over thousands of
years. Yoav leaves Yerushalayim to find this woman, so that Dovid would not be
familiar with her situation and she could present a scenario to him that would
direct his own behavior. This tactic worked before with the prophet Noson
having rebuked Dovid for his sin with Batsheva. Yoav uses the same tactic.
So the woman
approaches Dovid, as per Yoav's coaching and shares her "story". Her husband
died and her two children got into a fight and one killed the other. Her
insinuation here, the Midrash notes, is that Dovid's children fighting is also
for lack of a "father figure". The surviving son has fled and the
relatives of her husband are clamoring for his blood. They are doing so because
they feel entitled to avenge the son of her husband's death, and also they have
an ulterior motive that they will get the inheritance if the other son is out
of the picture. Dovid is moved by her story and step-by-step she gets him to
promise the son protection and that no harm will come to him. Once she gets
that from him, she reveals that this is really all about Avshalom. Boom!
Dovid puts two
and two together and realizes that this is all Yoav's doing. He sends for Yoav,
who confesses, and tells him to bring Avshalom back to Jerusalem, however he is
not to present himself in the palace at all. Dovid did not want to throw any
more water on this fire from Amnon's siblings. Avshalom has returned however
unfortunately for Dovid, this will still not be over…
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE MARRIAGE JOKES OF
THE WEEK
Shira
has recently announced her engagement to Zev and starts to receive mazel tov
cards from family and friends. On this particular morning, not only is there
the usual bundle of cards on the floor by the front door, but there is also a
large package. Shira opens the package, stares at its contents, and reads the
enclosed card. It's from her elderly grandma. So Shira calls her.
"Hello
bubbe, it's Shira," she says.
"Why
hello Shira," says her bubbe. "Did you get my package?"
"Yes
I did, bubbe," replies Shira. "Thank you so much for your
lovely engagement present."
"I'm
so glad you like it," says her bubbe.
"And
why shouldn't I like it?" says Shira. "Any future new bride
would love to receive such an attractive wooden sewing box full of reels of
cotton of all colors, pairs of scissors, needles and pins of all sizes,
thimbles, and a tape measure. But bubbe, what is it?!"
When
a woman says "What??"It's not because she didn't hear you. It's
because she's giving you a chance to change what you said!
In
a small village there was a shortage of marriageable men, so Shmuel, who was
not only miserly, but had big boils, told the local shadchan, he’d marry if the
dowry was big and the girl, special.
“I
have just the one,”
said the shadchan. “Her father’s rich and she’s gorgeous.”
“So
why isn’t she married?”
asked Shmuel.
“She
has an affliction. She goes a little meshugge – but only one day a year.
Otherwise, perfect! And her father will pay twice the usual dowry!”
After
thinking it over, “It’s a match,” said the cheap, ugly prospective
groom. “Introduce us.”
“Ok,
it’s a match! But ... we have to wait,” says the shadchan.
“So,
nu, until when?”
“Until
she goes meshugge again.”
A
shadchan (matchmaker) took a young man on a visit to a prospective family. As
they left the house the broker said triumphantly, "Didn't I tell you
what a wonderful family they were, and how rich? Did you notice the quality of
the silverware on the table? Pure sterling!"
"Yes,"
grudgingly
conceded the young man. "But don't you think it's possible that in
order to make a good impression on me they borrowed the silverware?"
"Ach,
what nonsense!" cried
the shadchan in exasperation. "No one would lend any silverware to
those thieves?"
I
had to really consider my boyfriend’s proposal before giving an answer. On
one hand, I’d get a really nice ring. On the other hand, I wouldn’t.
If you're wrong
and you shut up you're wise. If you're right and you shut up… you're married.
Marriage is
when a man loses his bachelor's degree and a woman gets her masters degree.
Never laugh at your wife's choices. You are one of them….
90% of marriage is just shouting "what?" at
each other from other rooms in the house.
"How is married life?" Yankel asks his old buddy Berel.
"It's quite simple," Berel responds.
"When we got engaged, I did most of the talking and she did most of
the listening. Later, when we married, she began doing all of the talking and I
began doing all of the listening. Now, ten years later, we both do all of
the talking and the neighbors do all of the listening
*********************************
Answer is B- Ehhh I got this one wrong. This is
despite the fact that I regularly drive through Daliyat El Karmel, the largest
Druze city on my way to the Muchraka Monastary where the story of Eliyahu
Hanavi on Har haCarmel took place. I guessed Hurfeish because I remember from
my tour guiding course that we visited a beautiful prayer center that they had
there and some war memorial. But that isn't a war memorial for the fallen
soldiers. I don't feel to bad. It's not like I'm going to take anyone there, as
it's really not on anyone's top things to see in Israel list. So the score now
is 22 for Rabbi Schwartz and 8 for the Ministry of Tourism on this exam.
