Insights and Inspiration
from
the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
July 30th 2021 -Volume 11 Issue 42 21st
Av
Parshat Eikev
The Walking and Dancing Dead
Har Hamenuchos is a mess. We've been driving around for about a half hour here in Israel's largest cemetery and there is no system whatsoever. We're looking for Gush 11 Chelka 5. That's supposed to be like an address for deceased. One would think Gush 11 would be between 10 and 12 and within that portion 5 would be between 4 and 6. Not even close, we are learning because right after Gush 8 is 14 then 7 then 3 and 9. We finally did find Gush 11 between 6and 12 but that was only chelka 1 and 2. How do the dead people resting here find themselves around the neighborhood. In the we finally arrived at my wife's grandparents grave. It wasn't even marked with any Gush or Chelka, It was actually in Gush 3 and Chelka 3 on an unmarked flight down. We got there because I remembered there was some Breslav graffiti nearby as it was near the Grave of Reb Yisrael Odesser, the tzadik who revealed the whole Na Na Nachman letter thing. Mission accomplished we have arrived. Finding it as like a Harry Potter 9 and 3/4 platform in the train station and perhaps rightfully so. For it was time now for me to feel I was entering the mystical world.
There's something special about
davening by relatives kevarim for me. It's very different than praying
by the graves of tzadikim. By the great Rabbis who's tombs I visit with
tourists all the time- or at least used to- one feels the inspiration of the Rabbi
and their lives as an extra channel to Hashem. A little extra turbo on our
prayers. With my grandparents, my uncle, y great grandfather whom I'm named
after though it's something else. I'm commiserating with them. I feel their
presence looking down upon me. I feel as if I'm standing alongside them before Hashem's
throne and we are connected in a very deep intimate way. It's powerful and overwhelming.
It's holy.
As I talked to Hashem through them, I
told Him about my son, about his bride, about my family and children. I shared
my hopes, my dreams, my prayers for them. It wasn't davening. It was talking to
the ones that care about me the most. The ones sitting up in heaven who's
legacy I and my children are here to realize. In many ways we make them proud. In
many ways we know that we have disappointed them because they want the world
for us and we haven't achieved it yet. We're one. We're eternal. We are part of
a great destiny. And we have One Father above who cares the most that we
finally make it to the end zone.
This week's parsha begins with the
word that our sages teach us denotes joy.
V'Haya Eikev Tishma'un- And it
will be, because you will heed these ordinances and keep them and perform, that
the Hashem, your God, will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He
swore to your forefathers.
We are told that the word "V'ahaya"
always is a word of joy. There is a specific joy when we follow the
commandments that are discussed here before Hashem. What are those mitzvos? Rashi
tells us are the minor mitzvos that are generally trampled with one's feet. The
word eikev, the name of the parsha, has a double meaning. It can be translated
as the heel and it also means as a result of something. As well the period
before Mashiach is known as the ikvisa di'mishicha- the final days
before coming of Mashiach. In English we find that same dual meaning when we
say that something comes "on the heels" of something else.
The Ohev Yisrael of Apt though sees
something even deeper in the choice of the word Eikev, and the "heel
mitzvos" that the verse is referring to. He writes rather mystically that when
Adam Harishon sinned back in the Garden of Eden that sin permeated his soul and
the job of all mankind who are all descendants of his and possess those flawed
souls is to rectify that sin. Mankind's job is to bring return to the great
heights that Adam was at before his sin. To be that bridge that goes all the
way up from earth to heaven for which the Shechina can descend. That's what we
are here for. That's what life is all about.
In previous generations the great Rabbis
and leaders from our Patriarchs and Matriarchs down with their great devotion,
faith and service to Hashem have rectified most of that body of Adam already. The
head is the place of seeing and recognizing Hashem and transmitting and
speaking his Torah and studying it. The body is the heart the love and
connection they had. The hands and legs are the incredible mitzvos they
sanctified Hashem with. That's all been covered already. It's been repaired.
The generation before Mashiach though
is the bottom and final rung of that ladder. It is the heel; the eikev. We
are those heels. In many ways we are nowhere near the high level of spiritual
connection that our ancestors were. On the other hand- or foot- I should say
they are all resting upon us. We are the ones walking for them. The heel
doesn't see. It doesn't really even have feeling or emotion. In fact it's
pretty hard and deadish skin. It's barefoot and as close to the earth as
possible. But the truth is it doesn't need to be much more than that. The heel
needs one thing. It needs to just be connected to the rest of the body. It
needs to be willing to hold it all up. Its job is really one of emuna-
holding the faith. Even if it doesn't see, smell, taste or even hear it. It
just has to know that it's important and that everything above is counting on
it.
It is those heel mitzvas that we do
that the parsha tells us that Hashem will remember the covenant of our
ancestors with. It's because we are their base. We have pushed them all up and
completed the ladder. It's why as well they come to every chasuna. Because this
young couple is another step that raises them higher and higher as we come
closer and closer to the final redemption.
As I stood under the Chuppa last
night I felt them all there. My Saba and my Savta, my Babbi and Zaidy, my
wife's grandparents, my Uncle Mendy who I told to bring my father Ob"m
along from Washington cemetery in New Jersey because I couldn't personally
invite him. I figured he would come anyways and wasn't schlepping back to America
to invite him personally. Who knows if they would let me back in this crazy
country these days… It was such a special feeling because I knew that they each
had brought their parents and grandparents. Who as well probably brought
theirs. Who knows how many generations were with us as my son said the Harei
at ikudeshet to his beloved. Who knows how many responded Amen to the
blessing of Tisamaychacha Yetzircha k'gan Eden mi'kedem- that our Creator
should make them rejoice as He once was in the garden of Eden. Maybe Adam HaRishon
himself was there and he knew that his tikkun is almost complete with this
latest marriage. This newest house in Israel.
We clapped and we danced all night
long. We danced with our heels and we jumped to the heavens. We concluded the
evening with l'shana ha'ba b'yerushalyim ha'benuya. That next year we
may all be together in yerushalyim rebuilt. Each new marriage and home in Jerusalem
is another brick in that great palace Hashem is waiting for. May the sound of
the bride and groom singing- in Jerusalem once again bring the rest of the
fulfilment of that prophecy to it glorious conclusion.
Have a spectacular
simcha and mazeldike Shabbos
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
This week's
Insights and Inspiration is dedicated and sponsored in honor of the wedding of
Yonah and Batya. May the two of you merit to fulfill all of your dreams
together in building a home of Torah, of light, of simcha and bracha and may
you continue to be a tremendous source of true yiddisheh nachas to your family
and all that are privileged to know you!
Mazel Tov!!
**********************************
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SHABBOS
SCHEDULE
SHABBOS PARSHAT
EIKEV
CANDLELIGHTING-
7:12 PM
MINCHA &
KABBALAT SHABBAT- 7:25 PM
SHACHARIS- 8:30
AM
MINCHA 6:55 PM
MAARIV ENDS-
8:29 PM (ten minutes after tzeis)
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
"
Men zol zikh kenen oyskoyfn fun toyt, voltn di oremelayt sheyn parnose gehat."
- If people could hire others to die for them, the poor could
make a nice living
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
39)
The term “lent” in Christianity is related to the:
A)
Three special days before Christmas
B)
Ascension of Jesus Yoshka into heaven
C)
Fast before Easter
D)
Death of the first martyr
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/choson-choson
– My latest song in honor of my Son
Yonah's wedding this coming week- getting on your dancing shoes for
"Choson Choson" . The words come from the Rambam in the laws of
marriage. The singer and arranger? The great Ari Goldwag!
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/pihah-pascha
– And my second latest song
composed for the Chasuna this week in honor of my lovely future daughter-in-law
Batya for her chuppa. Piha Pascha sung and arranged by my dear friend Yitz
Berry
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/mi-adir
- My Son Yonah's compostion for his Chuppa…beautiful
Mi Adir aung and arranged by Dovid Lowy!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/ ERETZ YISRAEL CONNECTION OF THE
WEEK
Do I need to
say More? – Parshat Eikev-
I call it the tour guide Aliya, although I rarely get it. It's the first Aliyah
of this week's parsha where Hashem gives his tour guide brochure of all of Israel.
Being the first Aliya it usually goes to the Kohein which I'm not. This week
though I got it three times. Because we read the Torah by Mincha on Shabbos of
the coming week and Monday and Thursday and we only read the first Aliya, so
this becomes the third Aliyah on those days. I got them all three times. Is
that a sign from Hashem or what?
Well it's late.
It's Erev Shabbos. I'm tired and happy I even got this E-Mail. So I'll just
give you Hashem's sales pitch. You really shouldn't need much more than that to
be inspired. So This week Hashem is your tour guide Eretz Yisrael Dvar Torah of
the week…
For the Hashem your
God is bringing you to a good land, a land with brooks of water, fountains and
depths, that emerge in valleys and mountains; a land of wheat and barley, vines
and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey; a land in
which you will eat bread without scarcity, you will lack nothing in it, a land
whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains you will hew copper. And you
will eat and be sated, and you shall bless the Lord, your God, for the good
land He has given you.
C'mon… isn't
all you really need to hear…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE
WEEK
Dovid Mourns- 840 BC – With the death of Avshalom and
the vanquishing of his army, it was now time to break the news to Dovid.
Achimatz, the son of Tzadok the Kohen, wanted to be the one to bring the news
to Dovid, feeling that Dovid would be pleased with the victory. Yoav on the
other hand knew that the knowledge of Avshalom's death- or murder by Yoav to be
more accurate- would be upsetting, to say the least, to Dovid. Instead Yoav,
sent the Kushite that had first spotted Avshalom hanging from the tree
by his hair. Achimatz however as well insisted on telling Dovid.
Dovid meanwhile was sitting by the walls of
the city of Machanayim on the other side of the Yarden awaiting
word. When he saw Achimatz coming he figured it must be good news. Achimatz
told him of the incredible victory. But when Dovid immediately asked him about
the welfare of his son Avshalom, Achimatz realized this wasn't such a
good idea. He stammered and said he really didn't know. The battle was heated;
he couldn't really see it. The Kushi was next to come however and when Dovid
asked him he told Dovid that all of his enemies should have the same fate as
Avshalom. It was a politically correct of telling Dovid that Avshalom had died.
Dovid did not
take the news well. It was not proper to cry and mourn in front of the people.
So he went up to the roof and cried;
"Beni-my
son Avshalom Beni Beni Avshalom- would that I have died instead of you Avshalom
beni, beni-my son my son…"
8 times he
cried Avshalom's name as he continued his heartfelt lament. Chazal tell us that
with each of his cries he raised Avshalom up another level from Gehenam and
into Gan Eden. We generally have a rule that children can elevate their parent's
soul after death by reciting Kaddish and preforming mitzvos and learning Torah
for their souls. Generally, parents can't do the same for their children. Dovid
though was different. In some ways he was culpable for Avshlaom's death for it
was a punishment for Dovid for his sin with Batsheva. Upon reading the text in
the Navi, the reader can feel the pain of Dovid through the pages. His pain was
immense and all of his men and soldiers could feel it. They returned from
battle quietly in mourning despite their victory. The joyous victory was
spoiled.
Yoav sensing what was happening approached
Dovid and demanded that he stop mourning. The people just won. They fought
hard. They needed their commander in chief to recognize this and put aside his
own personal loss. This is even harder for Dovid, but yet he pulls through. Of
all of Dovid's tragedies this one feels like it’s the greatest. But it is these
tragedies and real emotions that pour out to all of us in the book of tehillim
he left us. It is our eternal consolation.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
TERRIBLE CEMETERY JOKE OF THE WEEK
One year, Yankel
didn't know what to buy his mother-in-law for her birthday, so he bought her a
large plot in the cemetery.
The following year,
Yankel bought her nothing for her birthday and his wife was quick to comment
loud and long on his thoughtlessness to her mother.
"So,
why didn't you buy her something?" she snapped at him.
"Well,
she hasn't used the gift I gave her last year," he replied.
Isaac was a
very successful marketing director. Sadly, his wife Rifka dies. At the
cemetery, Isaac's friends and family are appalled to see that the headstone
reads: -
"Here lies Rifka, wife of Isaac Levy, MCIM, Post Graduate Diploma in
Marketing and Marketing Director of Quality Marketing Services Ltd."
Isaac was standing in front of Rifka's grave reading the headstone when he
suddenly burst into tears.
His brother says to him, "I'm not at all surprised that you find this
distasteful. It's right that you should cry, pulling a cheap stunt like this on
our Rifka's headstone."
Through his tears, Isaac sobs, "You don't understand. They left out
the phone number."
Friends and
family were at Finchley cemetery for Moshe’s funeral. Just before the funeral
service commenced, Rabbi Zeller goes over to Ruth, a very elderly widow, and
asks, "So how old was Moshe?"
"He was 101, kin-a-hora," replies Ruth,
"two years older than me."
"So you must be 99?" says Rabbi Zeller.
Ruth replies, "Yes, hardly worth going back home is it?"
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."
An old Jewish
woman, on her 80th birthday, decides to prepare her last will and testament.
She goes to the rabbi to show it to him and to ask him for advice on a few
points, chief amongst them is her request that she not be buried in a Jewish
cemetery.
"But why
Mrs. Epstein?" the rabbi
asks. "You don't want to be buried with the rest of our people?"
"No," Mrs. Epstein said resolutely. "I
want to be buried at Bloomingdales."
"Bloomingdales?!" the rabbi said in disbelief.
"Yes. Then
I'll be sure that my daughters will visit me at least twice a week!"
One day a fundraiser for a Jewish institution came to the home of John
McLaughlin.
"We
have you down for a $500 pledge," said the fundraiser.
"But
that's impossible," said McLaughlin. "I didn't make a pledge.
And besides, I'm not even Jewish!"
"I'm
sorry," said the
fundraiser, "but our institution never makes mistakes. Are you sure you
aren't Jewish?" "How can I prove it to you?" said
McLaughlin. "I go to church every Sunday, my mother used to direct the
Christmas play at school every year, and my father, alav hashalom, is
buried in a Catholic cemetery."
*********************************
Answer is C- I don't know this from my tour guiding
course. I zoned out for most of the Christianity meshigas part of our course.
But I did know the answer from living in a goyishe country for 40 years or so.
Easter which is Pesach time is preceded by "Ash Wednesday" and Lent
which is Christians fasting and doing penance before the easter holiday when
they believe he "rose up" again. Hallelukah! It's the
"teshuva" before the "redemption". Shkoyach. Anyways I got
this right, that's what counts. So the score is 31 for Rabbi Schwartz and 8 for
the Ministry of Tourism on this exam.
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