Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
December 31st 2021 -Volume
11 Issue 14 27th Tevet 5782
Parshat Va’eira
So I’ve been feeling a bit tired lately.
I’ve been hitting the sack pretty early, and just not feeling energized as I
used to. I thought perhaps because I was suffering from Chulent deficiency syndrome
that I can’t eat as many bowls as I used to. Perhaps it’s just depression from
having lost all of my tourists for the end of this month. Maybe it’s because it
was my birthday this week and I have completed the first year of my second half
century of life and I think that means I’m getting old. It probably was all of the
above, but the problem was that if that was the case there was really no one I
could blame in my family for it, so what good was that? That made it even more
depressing. Baruch Hashem though, that didn’t last for long.
It turns out that when I went for some
blood work test- the first since my surgery, that despite the fact that I have
been taking my daily multi-vitamins, it seems that I was short on iron. Iron, it
turns out is important because it makes hemoglobin that carry oxygen to the entire
body. When you’re low on Iron you’re low on energy and feel fatigued. Why was
low on Iron if I was taking multi-vitamins, you ask? Because the new “healthier”
“organic” “non-preservatives” vitamins my wife switched me to because she
believes in all of that stuff didn’t have iron in them. Boom! Someone to blame.
Isn’t Hashem good?
Now wanting to immediately remedy this
situation I quickly asked what foods I can eat that are high in Iron. I want
energy. I’m skinny now. I should feel lighter, healthier and more energetic,
right? A quick google search told me that Broccoli and Spinach we’re really
iron heavy. It’s amazing how much fake news there is out there… Give me
something tachlisdik please. Well, the next on the list was legumes or
what goyim call Baked Beans. Unzereh Yidden though know it by it’s
Jewish name of course Chulent! Ha… And I’ve been saying this for years. Yet
fascinatingly enough and much to my excitement the best food that’s hi in iron
and that I’m currently noshing on feeling more energized is none other than
that old Jewish classic chopped liver! Time to make a Pâté Party…
Now that I know what my medication
should consist of- and I guess my wife has rubbed off on me a bit, I don’t want
to take anymore unnatural vitamins for my health. I’ll just get that essential
Iron that I need naturally from those finely slaughtered natural donors that
Hashem created for us to eat on a cracker or melba toast. The next question
though is what type of liver is better for you? Chicken or beef? Now personally
I’m fine with both of them, but I was just curious. Well, it turns out that
chicken has almost twice as much iron as beef liver, about 7.62 mg of iron in 3
oz serving as opposed to 4.15 in beef. Incidentally that would be double that
in a 6 oz serving which is the minimal Jewish size serving. Google just gives
you goyish size portions. It’s like those recommended serving size on the side
of cereal boxes in that way. Goyish portions.
Now, you may be wondering what this
topic has to do with our weekly Parsha? But then in general you wonder where I’m
going with whatever topic, anecdote or musing I begin this weekly E-Mail with.
It’s half the fun of reading it; and writing it, for that matter as well. Well
would you believe that the entire secret message and idea behind our Exodus
from Egypt, and more specifically the plagues inflicted upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians
revolve around one question. Liver or Beef? Really. Let me show you.
One of the central and basic philosophical
questions that revolve around the story is that it doesn’t really seem that
Pharaoh has free-will. Hashem pretty much tells Moshe from the beginning that
He will harden Pharaoh’s heart. He will not let us go. Hashem will pretty much
not allow him to do so. There is a game-plan and an eternal revelation that
needs to take place and Pharaoh’s role in it is that he will go down eternally
as the symbol of the man that will not give in. He will bury his head deeper
and deeper in the sand. He will always try to find a loophole why this is not
from Hashem. Why he doesn’t have to give in. Why he can continue in his blind
recalcitrance. But the truth is, if Hashem really pulls the plug on his ability
to have free-will then why in fact is he culpable?
You know, today there is a tendency to
really explain away every one’s bad or even criminal behavior with placing the
blame on someone else. It was their society, their upbringing, their parents,
their race. They were never really understood. If only they had a good
therapist. If only they had gotten help sooner. If only, if only, if only… Whether
that is a legitimate outlook or not is debatable. But certainly when the Torah
tells us quite clearly that Hashem tells Moshe that He will harden Pharaoh’s
heart from the get-go the question really begs itself. Then why is he to blame.
He didn’t have a choice.
The answer my father-in-law Rabbi Yosef
Sorotzkin writes in his monumental work Meged Yosef in his Ma’amarim (just
scored some points with the shvigger!) is that it really comes down to
understanding the difference between Beef and liver. Pharaoh it seems chose
liver and that really was the essence of his downfall.
There is a fantastic Midrash that tells
us that Reish Lakish teaches us that Hashem will warn a person a few times and
if he does not repent, he locks their heart from repentance in order to punish
them from their sin. The proof he brings to this idea is Pharaoh, whom Hashem
warned for the first five plagues. When he didn’t listen, Hashem said to him
Shemos Rabba (13:3) You stiffened your
neck and hardened your heart I will add Tuma on the Tuma you have made. As it
says Ki Ani hichbadati es libo- I have hardened his heart. That Hashem
has made his heart like a Kaved- liver that the more that you cook it the harder
it becomes. So to Pharaoh’s heart was like liver that it didn’t accept the word
of Hashem.
In case you didn’t get the Midrash’s
double entendre the word kaveid which means heavy as in Pharaoh’s heart was
heavy, also can be translated as liver. Yup Pharaoh had a liver heart. What is
the difference between a liver heart or a beef heart? So, he explains, liver the
more that you boil it or cook it the harder and harder it becomes. Beef on the
other hand become softer and softer until it finally dissolves. It’s why we
have beef soup but never liver soup. Hashem warns and urges all of us to follow
his ways. He sends us personal messages. He sends us signs. He exposes us to
the people and the ideas in life that are meant inspire us. We all have Moses’s
sent to us in our lives that are there to give us direction and guide us on the
proper paths. The path of redemption and goodness. The question is what do we
do with all of those signs.
If we choose to have a beef heart, if we
allow that little bit of cooking, and warmth and heat to start to transform us
then it will naturally start to melt away all of those impurities. It will open
us up more and more and dissolve all of the fat that prevents us from becoming
better and stronger and holier. If on the other hand we don’t open ourselves up
to that and harden ourselves, then we are choosing to have a liver heart. A
heart that will just get harder and harder with each new sign, with each new Mussar
schmooze. Our free will is to decide what type of heart we want. Do we want to
dig in deeper and deeper? If so, then are hearts will only get harder and
harder. That’s what liver hearts do. If on the other hand, we know that we are
not perfect. We know that we have flaws and challenges. We know that we do
things sometimes or maybe even most times that we shouldn’t be doing, but we
are open to change. We are open to hearing. We want those signs and those Moshe’s
to soften us up more and more, then ultimately that beef heart of ours will
melt. It will cook. We will have an incredible stew at the end.
The Degel Machane Ephraim teaches us
from the Baal Shem Tov that the story and miracles that Hashem preformed in
Egypt upon which it says the purpose was to teach the Egyptians and Pharaoh this
lesson of what happens when they don’t listen, isn’t really about Egypt and
Pharaoh in as much as it is about the Pharaoh and Egyptian in each of us. We
all have that piece of us that just wants to bury our heads in the sand. That
doesn’t want to see the overwhelming damage we cause ourselves by ignoring the
signs in front of us of the dangerous paths we sometimes are treading upon.
There’s part of us that just wants to go back to sleep and hope that Moses is
not there in the morning again. But Hashem is not letting up on that easy He is
telling us in this story of Pharaoh. He will be keep sending us more and more messages.
He’ll give us more signs and more wonders that He really is in control. That he
won’t let us be enslaved anymore. That are hearts are made of beef, there is no
iron deficiency that we will ever need to fill by turning towards liver.
The redemption is around the corner. I
know this because we are living in a world that is full of liver hearts. The
world is woke. It’s a world that doesn’t want to be confused with the facts or
reality. ( I know that the anti-Vaxxers think I’m referring to the Vaxxers as
much as the Vaxxers think I’m referring to the Antis- when in fact I’m not
really referring to either, or maybe I’m referring to both). Everyone has their
minds made up. Everyone thinks they know what’s right. Who’s wrong. What should
be happening and what should be done. How we can and need to fix things. What
the world should think. There’s no room for any cooking of any ideas. The
hearts just get harder and harder. It’s Pharaoh all over again. And thus it’s
time to be redeemed from all of this. But to make that happen we need to exercise
just a bit more humility. We need to open our hearts and our ears to Hashem’s
call to us. We need to tell that Pharaoh inside of us to finally let us go. Let
us become. Let us be redeemed. Miracles await us, and the menu is in our hand.
Order the beef, it may have less iron, but it will get us out of the Iron
Curtain of Exile.
Have a liverating Shabbos
(excuse the pun) and a fruitful Chodesh Tov of Shevat
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
This
week's Insights and Inspiration has been dedicated by my special readers of
Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef, Yonatan and Michal Frankel in appreciation of the
weekly Inspiration and Insights we receive each week from this wonderful Torah
E-Mail
Thank
You!
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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH
PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Gehakteh leber iz besser vi gehakteh tsores...” - Chopped liver is better than miserable
troubles.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
9) A
deciduous tree in the region of Gvaot Alonim is: _________
The
cause for the falling of the leaves phenomenon is related to:
a)
Excess water
b)
Lack of water
c)
Seasons of the year and climate
d) Parasites
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE77h6ZveSU
- This was going around the groups this week… A Yiddish
Sheva Brachos badchan… do you find this funny?
https://youtu.be/PU4JvCcUUFE
– It seems like
every week I’ve got a new Nissim Black Video- he keeps banging them out. This
one with the New York Boys Choir is an anti-bullying song. What a
collaboration!
https://youtu.be/cGdankJdnPs - I’m loving this Joey Newcomb medley by the Amudim Time to Heal a
thon this week
https://youtu.be/1idRnfnjADg
– Lipa in this strange video Gevaldig Shebegevaldig
Ok..?
https://youtu.be/ZaErtI83fNU
– Anybody remember this
Rechnitzer Rejects Classic “Cold Chopped Liver”
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
The Beginning of Redemption-Parshat Va’eira- Perhaps
the most exciting Parsha and certainly the most dramatized and known by
everyone is the story of these Parshiyot of the Ten plagues and our Exodus from
Mitzrayim. It’s a great story; the most important one in all of Judaism. Every
holiday, every Shabbos and almost every mitzva connects in someway to this narrative.
Hashem pulled out all His cards and put them on the table. It’s not something
He does often if ever and thus it behooves us to really really pay attention, because
its lessons are so central to our faith.
Yet we see that the great Rebbi Yehuda from
our Pesach Haggadah knocks it all down to an acronym of three words. De’tza’ch
A’da’sh B’a’ch av- That correspond to the ten plagues. The idea isn’t
merely just putting into short easy catch phrase that makes it simple to
remember, rather what Rebbi Yehuda is doing is categorizing the plagues for us
into three different groups and our sages throughout the generations offer many
ideas to explain the categories.
The first idea is that the first three
were done by Aharon the 2nd three by Moshe, three by Hashem and the
plague of boils was done by all three together. Others note how the first three
are below the earth from the river and sand. The next three of animals, pestilence
and boils were from and afflicted those on the earth while the last three were
all from the sky and above. On a more mystical level the ten plagues correspond
to the ten sefiros the top ones begin those of the mind the middle ones
of the heart and the last ones those of the lower spheres and parts of the
body.
But in a nutshell, they are all about
faith and how deep that faith is meant to penetrate our lives. It’s not just something
we understand intellectually or even emotionally with our hearts. It’s meant to
get into the Kishkas of a person. Deep in our bones we have to understand that
Hashem is controlling everything in the world and there really is nothing else
besides Him. It’s something we need to internalize in our hearts and our minds
as well.
Shabbos is the prelude to the redemption
because it provides us with all of that and more- the more being chulent of
course. It is the most dramatic break from the weekday. All of what happens in the world that we work in,
that we slave in, that we are perhaps even a bit enslaved by-certainly the
technology in our era, they all disappear. We’re free. We’re free to realize
that the lower physical demanding world is not in control of us. We’re able to
elevate our souls and our spirits to the highest of height. We sing, we rejoice
and throughout it all we recall the Exodus from Egypt. Shabbos touches us on
all levels, just as the plagues struck down the Egyptians on all levels. We
became free and each Shabbos again and again we experience the glory of that
expression.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES
AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
The
building of the Temple II- 827 BC- The
moment the entire world since it’s creation had been waiting for had finally
arrived. The Temple had been completed being built afte 7 years and Shlomo in
the month of Cheshvan and Shlomo waited another 11 months until the following
Tishrei to dedicate the building. The entire Jewish nation arrived in
Jerusalem. This was it. It was finally happening. The Ark of the covenant is
brought up from the City of David down below the Temple Mount by the Kohanim
and Levi’im. Everyone had their sacrifices ready to go. I like to stand at the
Southern Wall of the Temple Mount near the Davidson center and ask my tourists
to picture the scene. It’s awesome.
When Shlomo arrives and goes to open up
those gates, lo and behold they refuse to open. Can you imagine the scene and
the panic. Shlomo begins reciting Psalms. That famous Psalm that we recite each
time during the week when we return the Sefer Torah to the Ark. Se’u Shearim
Rasheichem- open up your gates and let the King of glory enter. Finally when
Shlomo invokes the merit of his Father Dovid the gates open easily. This was to
let the Jewish people know that David had been forgiven for his sin and that
this house would always be connected and named with him; The house of Dovid. The
clouds of glory descend into the holy of Holies. The flowers and trees all over
begin to sprout. The world has achieved it’s purpose in building a dwelling
place for Hashem down here.
Shlomo then turns to the people and gives
one of the most powerful speeches in Tanach. He declares that this is the house
where all prayers would forever go through. Prayers of thanks, in times of
need, it would be the place to come to for national crisis and for personal
challenges. It would be the place where Jews will eternally be able to connect
with their Creator. In person. Yet, it is not only Jews that Shlomo says this
house is for but it will be a house of prayer for all the nations of the world
as well. They will come, they will understand and get blessing through the God of
Israel. He is their Father and Creator as well and here is where they can bask
in His light.
As well he notes that this is the place
where sinners can fine atonement, where judgement can be carried out, from
where we will pray and find salvation for the battles and from the enemies that
will seek to destroy us. He blessed the Jewish people that they follow Hashem’s
mitzvos and be worthy of having this building in our midst. He concludes his
drasha with the prayer that we recite after we conclude our Hoshanas on Sukkos
and May it be Your will that the words that I have prayed before Hashem our God
day and night to fulfill the needs of his people Israel the proper thing for
each day on that day.
L’maan Daas Kol Amei Ha’aretz Ki Hashem hu
ha’elokim ein od- In order that all the peoples of the
world will know that Hashem is the God and there is none other besides Him.
After the speech the offerings begin, and
we will cover next week the exciting ands startling aftermath of this Temple inauguration
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE THERAPY JOKES OF
THE WEEK
A British doctor says: "In
Britain, medicine is so advanced that we cut off a man's liver, put it in another
man, and in 6 weeks, he was looking for a job."
The German doctor replies:
"That's nothing. In Germany, we took part of a brain, put it in another
man, and in 4 weeks he was looking for a job."
The Russian doctor replies: "Well, we took half a heart from a man, put it
in another's chest, and in 2 weeks he was looking for a job."
The American doctor laughs: "You are all behind us. A few years ago,
we took a man with no brain, no heart, and no liver, and made him President.
Now, the whole country is looking for a job!"
The boss looks over their
resumes, sees they are all equally qualified, and can't decide who to hire. He
decides to give them a test.
Boss: Fellas, I can't decide
who gets the job, you are all equal in every way. So here's a question, whoever
gives me the best answer gets the job. Give me your best sentence using thewords
liver and cheese.
John said : ...... Well, golly. I like liver but I dont like cheese.
Boss:... ok, not bad.
Tyrone said .... aight, I like
cheese, but I dont like liver.
Boss:... well, ok, thats not bad.
Yankel got the job when he said : Liver alone, cheese mine.
The chef said, "Well sir, you said you wanted your meal
de-livered."
Harry was walking down Regent
Street and stepped into a posh gourmet food shop.
An impressive salesperson in a smart morning coat with tails approached him and
politely asked, "Can I help you, Sir?"
"Yes," replied Harry, "I would like to buy a pound of
lox."
"No. No," responded the dignified salesperson, "You mean
smoked salmon."
"OK, a pound of smoked salmon, then."
"Anything else?"
"Yes, a dozen blintzes."
"No. No. You mean crepes."
"Okay, a dozen crepes."
"Anything else?"
"Yes. A pound of chopped liver."
"No. No. You mean pate."
"Okay," said Harry, "A pound of pate then and I'd like
you to deliver all of this to my house on Saturday."
"Look," retorted the indignant salesperson, "we don't
schlep on Shabbos!"
"Yes," said Grampa Moishe. Go tell Gramma
Sadie I want some of her delicious chopped liver that she made yesterday.
Ben went out and told Gramma
Sadie, who said, "Go tell Grampa Moishe he can't have any chopped
liver. It would kill him."
Ben went back in and reported
what she'd said. "You tell Gramma Sadie I want the chopped liver. I'm
dying anyway and it won't make any difference."
Ben went and told Gramma Sadie,
who said, "Go tell Grampa Moishe he can't have any. The chopped liver
is for the Shiva."
Answer is C – So I’m not sure what if I would’ve gotten this right or not. I wasn’t really sure where Givat Alonim was although I was pretty sure it was in the lower Galile area. So for the full in the blank section I just wrote Oak tree which is an alon. It is technichally correct, but I imagine they were looking for the specific type of Oak tree, because after all Givat Alonim already tells you that it’s an Oak. So I imagine the answer they wanted was the Alon Tavor which is the Oak Tree in the area that grows in this largest forest of Israel near there. So I’ll take off a half a point for that. Now I wasn’t really sure what deciduous means. It’s one of those words I know in Hebrew but not in English. So I definitely would’ve skipped this one. I guessed lack of water. But the real answer is climateI believe, as a deciduous tree is one that loses it’s leaves. In Hebrew they are called Noshrim- which I would’ve in fact known what they were. Trees leave their leaves by the seasons to conserve nutrients in the seasons when it is more cold and there is less sun. So this one was wrong. Botany was never my strong subject and the score is now Schwartz 6.5 and 2.5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam. .
