Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
December 10th 2021 -Volume 11
Issue 11 6th Tevet 5782
Parshat Vayigash
Eternal Snapshots
My tourists
range the full spectrum of the Jewish people. I don’t really do non-Jews,
although I have had a few exceptions. Gentiles are not really my speed as much.
Perhaps I’m a bit nervous that I might make too many Yoshka jokes that offend
them. Don’t get me wrong, I offend Jews as well. But that’s family already. If
we don’t get on each other’s nerves than what really is the point anyways. And
at least I’m not Israeli, so they don’t get that frustrated with me.
Now my Jewish clients, as I was saying, range the entire gamut.
I have large families, small families. Religious, non- religious and even religious
families that other families think are not non-religious. Actually, many of my
religious families think the ones not as religious as they are, are not really
religious. There are the young couples on a honeymoon and the seniors getting
away or coming in for a yartzeit. There’s the Dads and/or Moms that are coming
in to visit their son in yeshiva or their daughter in seminary. As well, there are the multi-generational
trips that are here for a family simcha; a Bar Mitzva, wedding and would you
believe in for an Upsherin!. But perhaps one of my favorite family demographics
that I really had been pushing a lot- at least before Covid closed the skies, were
the grandparents with their Bar and Bat Mitzva grandchildren tour. Those trips
more than any other that I did in many ways felt like the most meaningful.
I spent the past week, watching this Yigal Calek London Boys Choir
reunion that has been going around. For those not familiar with it, it seems
you have been properly vaccinated and filtered against any frum world viral
videos. I, on the other hand it seems is as susceptible to them as a Chinese scientist
returning from South Africa and hanging out in Maimonides hospital. I must have
received the link from everyone I know. I grew up on the London Boy’s choir
records. I knew all of the lyrics, jokes (“Chazer! where do you think you
are in America?)”, and verses from rarely quoted pesukim in Navi that only
Yigal somehow could make a niggun out of it. Lama Yashavta, Shimu Melachim, Pada
B’Shalom, Shema Beni and others. To see Yigal, who’s gotta be up there in his
years sitting together with his old choir boys, now grandparents themselves,
singing those old songs brought tears to my eyes. He’s a legend and his music
lives on despite the fact that most don’t know his songs anymore. But these
grandparents, choir boys still remembered every knaitch. They were there with
their own grandchildren who they had taught those songs to. They sang together
while the aged choir master waved his hands directing the harmony once again.
It was beautiful because the tradition had been passed down.
That is really the idea of the grandparent/ grandchild Bar or
Bat Mitzva tour as well. There is nothing more that a grandparent wants than
for his grandchildren to remember them. To pass on their legacy. To teach the
next generation who they were, what their values were, what inspired them and
what was precious to them. There is no better way to accomplish that goal then
by spending a week or ten days together with them in the Holy Land,
particularly with Rabbi Schwartz. I can’t think of another opportunity that
grandparents could have of spending that one on one time with their little
boychikel. There is no better place where one’s real Jewish values explode out
than in the Holy Land. Sure you can bring them to your condo in Miami for a
week, or take them on a trip to Disney World, but how much yiddishkeit are you
really going to share with them during those trips. Eretz Yisrael brings out
the neshoma of every yid that comes here. More often than not it will open
grandparents to share with their einiklach about their memories of the Israel
that was when they were younger, the 6-day war euphoria, the prayers for those
in Israel during the challenging times, the visits they had when they were
younger and that they wanted to have. It all comes out and it will remain with
them forever. And isn’t that the most important investment and trust fund you
can really set up for them?
This week, Vayigash, my Bar Mitzva parsha incidentally, perhaps
hits that idea home the most. The entire dialogue between Yosef and Yehudah,
and Yaakov and his children about the loss of Yosef and its impact on Yaakov is
described as death. Yaakov upon finding out that Yosef is missing declares that
he is going down to his grave mourning and is inconsolable. When Binyamin is
taken down to Yosef once again Yaakov expresses his fear that he will be bereaved
of his children. Rashi there tells us that someone whose children are missing
is called bereft. Yehudah’s entire argument with Yosef is for the sake of their
father whose soul is tied to Binyamin. Even Yosef when he finally makes his
great reveal his first question is whether Yaakov is truly alive. Is it
possible after all of these years, after all of that mourning that Yaakov was
able to survive?
The opposite end of those emotions is when Yaakov hears that
Yosef is alive. Repeatedly the Torah tells us that his is given life again. His
spirit soars. He recites the Shema. He is given new life and in fact next week’s
parsha titled Vayechi is about that life that Yaakov has been granted anew in
Egypt. When Yaakov sees Yosef he tells him
Bereishis (46:30) Amusa ha’pa’am- I can now die this
time-
acharye rao’si es panech
ki odcha chai- After I
have seen your face that you are still alive.
Is there any moment more emotional than that? A father who had
thought his son dead for so many years, finally finds out that he is alive and
well. But even more significantly Yaakov sees that he is still his Yosef. He
hasn’t forgotten his teachings. He remembers what they last learned. He never
assimilated. He is literally still a member of the Tribes. That is the
knowledge that Yaakov expresses that he achieved at this moment and that he now
states he can die peacefully knowing. Bnai Yisrael is whole. His primary job on
this world to pass down the traditions of his father Yitzchak and grandfather
Avraham has been fulfilled. And thus he recites tearfully the Shema.
The Maharil Diskin suggests that until that moment Yaakov could
never really recite the Shema the way it was meant to be said. When he said the
words of loving Hashem with all of his heart and his life he felt sadness and
despair. How could he say that he would give up his life for the Almighty when
he felt that his life was a failure. He didn’t pass on the tradition to his
son. He hadn’t finished or accomplished what he was put here to do. The link
and chain had been broken. It was only now upon realizing that Yosef was still
alive and that his “bed was complete” could Yaakov finally say those words he
had been saying all of his life, but now finally with the proper kavana.
It’s a powerful and emotional parsha and story because it really
cuts at the essence of who we are. Our sefarim tell us that a male in Hebrew is
called a zachor- which also means a remembrance. The idea that we want to be
remembered is the core of who we are. I’m not at all referring to grandeur and
honor and even fond memories. I’m talking about becoming eternal. Becoming like
Hashem. The truth is as we know we really are eternal. Our soul which is a piece
of the holy spark of Hashem never dies. Our innate reality is aware of that and
it thus expresses itself in our desire to be remembered and kept alive in this
world. Because if we are remembered, than our souls live on, then Hashem’s
glory that we brought into this world continues to shine. Then we are forever.
So much of our lives are truly non-memorable. I noted to my
tourists this past week, that perhaps one of the saddest “advances” of modern
technology is the smart phone cameras. Back in those prehistoric days when I
was a child and when dinosaurs still roamed the earth we used to have real
cameras. We had a limited amount of film, of pictures we could take. We were picky
and choosy about what we used those shots of. We never “stam” shot
pictures of everything. Certainly not of the multitude of various kissy poses
that one can make for a camera. We then guarded our roll so it wouldn’t get
ruined. It wouldn’t get exposed. We waited for it to come back from the film
development store (K-Mart was my favorite place) and we excitedly looked
through the pictures, lovingly put them in albums and my children and
grandchildren spend many shabbosos perusing them and laughing about how nerdy
we dressed. We are remembered for eternity nerdy turtlenecks and plaid pants
and all.
Today’s kids take more pictures than ever before of every
possible event and generally non-event that they do. They post them for more
people to see than humanly necessary on every group, post and social media place
that they can. And then they are up somewhere in some cloud never ever to do
much more than take up space on someone’s hard drive. Sure, there are those Snapfish
albums that we never get around to making, but who are we fooling. 99.99% of
those “important pictures and life events are gone forever. Game over. No real
memories. We’re living in the moment. We have a desire to have memories and to
memorialize our lives, but at the end of the day a few clicks with an i-phone
and lots of selfies will never carry down to the next generation.
Calek and his London Choir are playing in the background. My trip
with some Bubbies, Zaydies and their einiklach last week is still sitting with
me. I look at the video of those former choir boys as they sing shema beni
musar avicha- listen my son to the lessons of your father and I turn to my
grandchildren and I start humming to them. I think of Yaakov embracing his son
and every Jewish parent and grandparent singing those special songs to their
children. It’s time we put away our selfies, and start building those real
memories for our children. The spark inside of us wants to be alive forever. We
can build those memories.
Have a memorable
Shabbos
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
This week's
Insights and Inspiration has been sponsored by my holy Machatonim Nachum and
Chaya Duchin in appreciation of the wonderful weekly Divrei Torah (and Whatsapp
videos!) and as a merit for a Refuah shelayma for- Binyamin Yoel Ben
Esther, Nachum Aharon ben Tzirel, Chaya Nechama Sarah Bat Chana Pesha, Moshe
Shmuel ben Miriam Yehudit.
As well as for all of the tefillos for
bracha and shidduchim for Yitzchak
Katriel ben Chaya Nechama Sarah, Sariel Aryeh ben Miriam Chana, Yonah Yocheved
bas Chana Pesha and Rochel Leah Miriam bas Faiga
May Hashem should bring Moshiach, rebuild the beis hamikdash and
we should see the avodah lehalacha in the beis hamikdash.
THANK YOU
And may we share in many family simchas together!
**************************************************
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And most of all be inspired to come visit…
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SHABBOS DAVENING SCHEDULE
PARSHAT VAYIGASH
CANDLELIGHTING-4:05
PM
MINCHA
Followed by Kabbalas Shabbos- 4:20 PM
SHACHARIS-
8:30 AM
Followed by
Kiddush
FINAL TIME FOR
KRIYAS SHEMA- 9:02 AM
MINCHA – 3:50
PM
MAARIV- 5:23
PM (10 minutes after tzeis)
***********************************************************************
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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Oib di
velt vet verren oisgelaizt, iz es nor in zechus fun kinder.” - If the world will ever be redeemed, it
will be only through the merit of children.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
6) The Good Fence (ha’gader
ha’tova) separated between _______ and _________.
The
circumstances of its establishment were related to:
A)
Transfer of weapons to the Christian population in Lebanon
B) A
humanitarian gesture to refugees in the Syrian civil war
C) A
humanitarian gesture for the transfer of medicines to the Jordanian population
in the wake of "Black September"
D) A
humanitarian gesture to the Christian population in Lebanon
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/JUYF9cra2Vs
- This is it-
the famous Yigal Calek video with the Zayides doing the golden oldies. Its long
but well worth listening to every day for the rest of your life…😊
https://youtu.be/GpnqqjAlWjo
– London
old time reunion…
https://youtu.be/0PP2TkHugAE
– AND here’s the
original oilam…
https://youtu.be/ay3A_jkq9bU
– Ma Navu the
entire record of London Boys
https://youtu.be/oGjVonqqtII
– And the
original London School of Jewish song!.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Holy
Shame-Parshat
Vayigash- It
is perhaps one of the most dramatic moments in the Torah. The long-awaited
reunion of Yosef with the brothers that sold him down to Egypt has finally arrived.
In the two words that Yosef said to them “Ani Yosef” their entire preconceived notions
about the veracity of his dreams, the threat that he posed to the family, the
spiritual danger they saw him as and his unworthiness of having any role or
part of their family and the line of Am Yisrael fell apart.
V’Lo yochlu echav l’a’anos oso ki nivhalu mi’panuv- And his brothers couldn’t answer him
because they were flustered from his face.
Our sages see in this reaction of the brothers a Mussar lesson
for all of us to think about. If this is how shamed Yosef’s brothers were in
front of their own flesh and blood, how much more so must we think about how
shamed we will feel when we come before the heavenly throne after we die and
give an accounting for our lives and all of the excuses and false realities
that we created will fall by the wayside.
What’s fascinating is that the shame that the brothers
experienced wasn’t because Yosef rubbed anything in their face. He does tell
them that they sold him to Egypt, but they were all ready taken aback by his
mere uttering of the words that he was Yosef. It was the awe of being in front
of someone so righteous itself that made them feel inadequate and lacking. That
is the shame that we will have when we come up to heaven. But it is even deeper
than that.
The Nesivos Sholom reveals that Yosef is not merely an individual
but a midda- a spiritual attribute that he represents in the DNA of the world
and Klal Yisrael. Yosef represents desire- teshuka. His name, Yosef,
means “more”. It is our natural desire to have more and more. That desire
is meant to be used to drive us for more and more spirituality. To get closer
and closer to Hashem. Yet Yosef’s brothers sold him down to Egypt. They sold
that power of desire down to the lowest level. To the most physical and basest
of instincts. When they realized how Yosef withstood all physical desires and transferred
his teshuka to Hashem, to becoming a Tzadik, to following in the ways of
his fathers and the Torah, that’s what embarrassed them. That was what made
them realize how mistaken the paths that had chosen was.
The letters of the word Shabbos can be rearranged to spell boshes-
which means shame. Each Shabbos we are given the ability to take all of our
physical desires and to direct and elevate them to Hashem. The primary mitzva
of Shabbos is l’hitaneg- to enjoy, to have pleasure. To fulfill our
desires in the most spiritual of ways together with the Almighty in celebration
of his special day. When we do that and enjoy Shabbos we are faced with the busha-
the shame of what we have been wasting our time and our desire and drive
pursuing the rest of the week. It is the day when we finally get it. It is the
day of rest, but it is also the day when we experience the holiest of shame.
That epiphany is meant to inspire the rest of our week. It is for us to bring into
the week. It should make us long for the day to finally come when it is always
Shabbos. The eternal day of rest.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN
ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Shlomo's Judgement- 833 BC- As if to show us the fulfillment of Shlomo’s being granted the
gift of wisdom the Torah introduces us to his first court case. It is the
famous story of Shlomo and the two women of ill- repute that came to him each
claiming that the live baby belonged to them while the baby that had died
belonged to the other woman. Shlomo’s memorable response was to bring him a
sword and chop the baby in half. The “real” mother at that point cried that the
child should be spared and given to the other woman and thus Shlomo was able to
identify the true mother. Case solved and Shlomo’s wisdom spreads throughout
the nation.
This story of Shlomo and the discussion over it has filled many
books. Was Shlomo correct in his judgement. May a King judge without witnesses?
Without evidence? According to many of the commentaries this was an exclusive
privilege of the King and in fact Shlomo had already discerned from each of the
statements of the mothers who was telling the truth and not. The trick that he
pulled off was merely to prove it to the people and show them.
As well there are those that see in the claim of the mother that
the child should die a tremendous insight that sadly we see today and
throughout history. If I can’t have my baby then nobody should have one. This
lack of being able to “fargin” the other person’s goodness and wellbeing
because we can’t have it is the root of the much of the strife that fill us.
The Malbim even notes that by the second mother claiming “no your son is the
dead son- and mine is the live one- she is showing what is more important to
her. That the other one should have a dead son rather than her a live one.
This case though fascinatingly enough is mentioned many times by
various Israeli Supreme Court justices in their rulings. They utilize this case
to try to navigate the challenge that courts face many time when there is the
rule of law, evidence and witnesses on one side of the coin, but on the other
side there is truth that sometimes is apparent although not necessarily upheld
or enforced by the evidence available. What should a judge do in those scenarios.
Do we rule based on the law? Or do we try to bring out the side of truth
despite there not being evidence to that matter. It is really the crux and
challenge of living in Galus without a King who has extraordinary judicial
powers. It is the complexity of trying to be democratic and yet at the same
time Jewish.
Although I do not often tour the Supreme Court of Israel
with tourists, although it’s a fascinating place to visit, this is the
discussion that I enjoy bringing up there. It explains perhaps the overreaching
that we find to a large degree of the Israeli supreme court judges. They feel
they are being Solomonic, perhaps. Yet it is also the place where we need to
most appreciate and daven that Hashem should return to us judges of the past
that can bring truth and justice together for us and all of the world.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE PHOTOGRAPHY JOKES OF
THE WEEK
What kind of photos do
lobsters take the most? Shellfies.
Why didn't the jury find the
photograph guilty of his wife's murder? They thought someone had framed him.
I was the photographer at a
vegan wedding this weekend. They kept getting mad when I told them to say
cheese.
Two seminary girls walk into
the local Jerusalem Sushi store. They request a tray of sushi, please." The
waiter asks them is this to eat or to post photos of on Instagram?
What do you call an
unpredictable, out of control photographer? A loose Canon.
Why was Cinderella so hopeful
about her photos? She knew her prints would come one day.
A woman has twins and gives
them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named
"Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him
"Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his
birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she
wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, “They're
twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
Zelda, a little silver-haired
lady calls her neighbor and says, "Please come over here and help me. I
have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get
started."
Her neighbor asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's
finished?"
The little silver haired lady says, "According to the
picture on the box, it's a rooster."
Her neighbor decides to go over and help with the puzzle.
She lets her in and shows her where she has the puzzle spread all over the
table.
She studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her
and says,
"First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able
to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a rooster."
She takes her hand and says, "Secondly, I want you to relax. Let's
have a nice cup of tea, and then," she says with a deep sigh, "Let's
put all the Corn Flakes back in the box."
As a
professional photographer, Judy Salzberg takes a lot of pride in her pictures.
Wherever she goes, she brings her pictures with her, to show off her work. She
and her husband Harold were invited to the Epsteins for Shabbat Dinner and Judy
brought her pictures along. “Wow,” said Mrs. Epstein, “these are
really nice pictures. You must have a great camera.” Fuming mad at the
implication that her whole talent came from her camera. Judy waited until the
end of the meal and then thanked her host, “Thank you, the Shabbos meal was
delicious,” and then as if an afterthought added, “you must have a great
oven.”
What's the fastest way to earn
money as a photographer? By selling your camera.
Why did the camera stop
dreaming about a career in photography? He couldn't remain focused.
What did the woman think about
her friend who was a photographer? She wished someone would shutter up.
Why did a man always rave about
how great his digital camera was? He couldn't think of any negatives.
What did the photographer say
to his assistant at the photoshoot when he was frustrated? I feel like I will
snap at any moment.
What did the photographer say
to his wife before they were married? I can really picture us together.
Why should you never try to
start an argument with your child on picture day? They are not in the right
frame of mind.
*********************************
Answer is D – So this one is debatable. Obviously as
all those who read my most recent Mishpacha article link above knows, the Good
Fence is the border between Israel and Lebanon. The truth is that it was
established for humanitarian purposes to help the Maronite Christian population
over there to come over. But it was also used to smuggle weapons to them so
they could fight in the civil war against the Shiite Muslims. I imagine though
that the correct answer is D for humanitarian purposes, but I think that the
argument could be made that Israel intended as well to use it to help them
fight. So another one right leaving the
score at Schwartz 5.5 and .5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on
this exam. .
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