Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
January 28th 2022 -Volume
11 Issue 18 26th Shevat 5782
Parshat Mishpatim
A Farmer’s Tale
Reb Leibel had a successful
business in Monsey, NY. ABC Rentals was a flourishing party supply rental company
that he had spent years building it up and he was finally seeing the fruits of
his labor. But those were not the fruits he was looking to reap. He wanted holy
fruits. He wanted the fruits that his ancestors for generations and millennia
had hoped to be able to partake in but were never able to. He wanted the fruits
of the Eretz Yisrael and all the holiness that a life in that Promised Land offered.
Yet, Monsey was his home. He had a family, children, a successful life and
community with all the frillings that galus sometimes provides for us-
at least when they’re not enslaving, oppressing, persecuting or throwing us
into gas chambers, which generally happens after we’ve had too many of the
frillings and forget where we really are meant to live.
But a drive down
the local avenue where he did his shopping one day changed his mind. There were
some “corner” youths that were hanging out on the street corner. They didn’t
seem dangerous, just some goyim with nothing better to with their time but to
start up with the passing cars; particularly those that were being driven by
the local Jewish residents. As he stopped at the red light, they started
jeering at him and threw at him the question that he had been struggling with
the last few months. But when it came from them- it seemed like it was like the
voice of an angel coming through what clearly resembled the mouth of the donkey
of Bila’am.
“Hey Jew- Why
don’t you go back to your own country!”
That was all it
took. A short sentence, a racial epithet, and the question that he himself finally
understood he was given the answer to. He came home that evening and after
discussion with his Eishes Chayil decided at age 38 to pick up the
family and make the move. It was time to finally go home.
Doron’s story was
quite the opposite story. He was a third generation farmer who’s family came in
the early days of the State from Iraq. They moved to the Moshav of Azarya that was named with an acronym by its original Olim from
Zaku, Kurdistan (near Iraq), O’ley Z’aku R’au
Y’eshuas Hashem- the immigrants
of Zaku have seen the salvation of Hashem. In the early years of his farming
career Doron had done what most of the farmers in Israel do in order to avoid
the Shemitta and still work their fields and support their families. They
availed themselves of the halachic loophole of Heter Mechira in which their
lands are sold to gentiles for the year and they work and manage the fields in
exchange for the profits that it produces. This is certainly not the ideal way
to observe the mitzva of giving the land a rest for the year- neither is the
Otzar Beis din method for that matter either, which also relies on many leniencies
in order to enable the farmers to work and produce fruits that are taken by the
Beis Din- Jewish court and are distributed. Yet this is the way that it was
done in most places in Israel and certainly just shutting down his eggplant and
vegetable farm which had just signed huge million-shekel contract with the Sabra
salatim company didn’t seem too feasible.
That all changed
one day when Doron bumped into some youth that were hanging out on the side of
the road by his field. Unlike the ones Reb Leibel bumped into, these were
really “brothers” whose long coats and hats were the only things black about
them. They as well threw a question at Doron that changed his life. It was a
few months before the start of the new Shemitta cycle and they wanted to
know if he was going to be observing Shemitta properly by allowing his
fields to lie fallow for the entire year. When Doron told them that he was
utilizing the heter mechira as he always had done in the past, they
looked at him a bit astounded.
“Don’t you
realize that for thousands of years your ancestors, our ancestors, dreamed of
coming to Israel to fulfill the mitzvos that were given of the Land? Now that
you’re here, how can you not do what they had been longing to actualize?”
Doron was given
pause. He thought about it. The words pierced his heart. There are so few Jews in
Israel that have the opportunity that he had. All of those frummies in Bnai
Brak or Jerusalem may be able to learn Torah better, daven harder, find all
types of halachic areas in which they can serve Hashem in their own special ways
that they can come up with. But how many people actually had farms that were
working the land of Hashem? Of those, how many of them lived in the biblically
obligated areas rather than the Arava or expanded areas of Israel? Of those how
many were religious and of even the religious ones how many didn’t take advantage
of selling their lands? The eyes and souls of those generations that sacrificed
before him seemed to all be looking at him to be the one that will stand up and
have the strength to give the land that rest that Hashem promised it will receive
in this year. To reveal to the world that the entire world is really never
ours. It’s Hashem. It’s why He gave us this land. To teach that to the world.
And he was really one of the only few Jews in the world qualified enough to
teach that lesson.
He came home that
day and discussed it with his wife Ilana who had already been inspired to up their
shemitta observance a notch. Her father had died not long before and
when the Mishnayos to study for his yartzeit was distributed they had unknowingly
taken upon themselves to learn the tractate of Shevi’is about this special
mitzva and all of it’s intricacies. At first they figured they would tip their
toes into the process. Maybe some fields would be shemitta la’chumra (by
which the fields would be left entirely ownerless for all to take or to be
distributed) and the rest would be sold as they did in the past. Yet, as it got
closer and after a few meetings with the Rabbis from the Shemitta organization
that assists and guides farmers through the process of Keren Ha’Sheviis, they
realized that they had to be all in.
The only problem
was that they were a bit late in the game. See, Doron had already ordered 10’s
of thousands of eggplants that he had planned to plant before Rosh Hashana so that
they would be permissible during the first year they grew; as they would still
be considered 6th year produce. They arrived late however and he had
planted them after Rosh Hashana. A big mistake. They would now be forbidden.
Not only would they be unable to eat or sell them, but they were forbidden for
anyone to eat as they were grown in the Sabbatical year and they had to be destroyed.
Ouch!
Now you and I
might not appreciate the relationship between a farmer and his crops. Although I
certainly could understand that more than I do those people that buy or adopt
four legged animals that they seem to care a lot for and walk them every
morning and scoop up their stuff with. I never understood my wife’s connection
to the rabbit phase she once put our family through for a few years until one morning
one of my neighbors four legged felines ate them all in the great Karmiel
Schwartz rabbit massacre of 2015. But getting attached to eggplants? To salad?
I can understand sheep or even chickens despite their smell, because at least
you get a nice shwarma or schnitzel at the end of the day. But salad? Yet, I
could see in Doron’s teary eyes as he told me about how his eggplants that they
were more than just babaghanush to him. They were even more than just a
way of making a ton of money by selling them to salatim companies all over the
world. He was attached to them. He cared for them. He planted them and watched
them daily, growing and flourishing. And now he had to watch them die.
Yet, it seems
that Hashem wasn’t just happy with a passive euthanasia for these poor
eggplants of his. The rabbis had told him that all he had to do was just stop
watering them. Without water they certainly wouldn’t be able to sustain the
heat of the hot houses that they were being grown in and they would just wither
and die. It was just like pulling the plug. A DNR so to speak.
But bizarrely
enough these little guys didn’t pass on quietly. Much to his surprise and
perhaps even consternation, they continued to grow and flower. Weeks went by
and they got bigger and bigger. This was not good. They needed to die. They couldn’t
be hanging around much longer. Someone might eat them. It seems Hashem was
demanding an Akeidas Yitzchak” of him or
“Eggplate-us Doron if you will oyyyy… ”. So upon the advice of his
Rabbis, Doron got up early the next morning, just like our ancestor Avraham, he
took the special pesticide that they used on vegetables and he poured it into
the water pipes. There they would turn into gas after being pumped into those hothouses
that would now become eggplant crematoriums, that still stand tall there until
today as a reminder of the heroism of this holy servant of Hashem.
20,000 new
eggplants grown in shemitta would never see the inside of a sabra chatzilim
container. They would never be used a dip on a Shabbos table with challah. They
would never be carved out and have techina poured inside of them with paprika
to make them look pretty. They died however in the greatest Kiddush Hashem an eggplant
could ever achieve. The last song on their purple fleshy lips was ani maamin
be’emuna shlaima- I belief with full faith that Hashem is the Master of the
world. The entire land of Israel is His. He gave it to His holy nation so they
may shine that light out to the world, because this is the only place that we
can do that from.
The Ohr Hachayim
Ha’Kadosh notes an amazing idea in this week’s Torah portions that interrupts the
story of the Giving of the Torah from last week, with a whole litany of mitzvos
that range the entire gamut of Jewish life. Right at the center of those
mitzvos the Torah tells us two mitzvos.
Shemos (23:9-10) You
shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having
yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.
And Six years
you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but in the seventh you shall
let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat of it, and what
they leave let the wild beasts eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards
and your olive groves.
What is the
connection between the mitzvos of not oppressing the convert or stranger in our
land with the laws of Shemitta?
The Ohr Ha’Chayim
explains that the key to us never being strangers again in a foreign land and
being subjected to exile is by adhering to the laws and mitzva of Shemitta.
But it seems that it is even deeper than that. For to a large degree Shemitta
is really like going into exile a bit from our own land. It is saying the
fields are not mine. Those aren’t my eggplants. Those aren’t my tomatoes or
vineyards. It’s Hashem’s land. I’m just a dweller here. A stranger that has
been offered eternal hospitality on the five star level in the greatest country
in the world. The fruit and food and livelihood that a farmer has during this
Shemitta year is essentially like the Manna that we received in the
wilderness. It’s lechem min Hashamayim- bread from heaven. It’s understanding
and revealing that all the fruits and vegetables that I toil and plant for the
6 years really as well just come from Hashem. He provides whether I plant and
work the field or not. He commands His blessing and I receive.
When we don’t
observe Shemitta, when we live here in Israel and we forget that we are
strangers in this world that are guests on the table of Hashem, when we think
we have to go into the kitchen and get our own meal, then Hashem sends us into
exile so that the guys on the street corner will remind us that we’re not home
there. We belong on the King’s table. We belong in the holy land.
During this year
of Shemitta, there are more and more holy farmers that I meet that share
the stories of what we might see as sacrifice and heroism, but they repeatedly
assure me is only blessing and even pragmatism. They have seen their fields and
parnassah flourish in so many unexpected ways. They have seen the
thousands of people that visit them and even come to them for blessings-as Rav
Chaim Kanievsky as well as other great Rabbis have recognized that the power to
bring all types of much needed yeshuot for so many who need them in all
areas of life, health, children and marriage. That power to break down the decrees of heaven
lies in the strength of faith that these farmers have. So the people come. And
the blessings do as well.
The portion that
follows the mitzva of Shemitta and of being stranger in a foreign land
is the mitzva of three times a year bringing all of our sacrifices and gifts to
Hashem on the holidays of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot to the Bais Ha’Mikdash.
May the merit of the observance of Shemitta that has returned us to our
land, bring us to the next stage when the shechina itself returns to the
place it belongs and we may once again visit our Father in Yerushalayim
rebuilt.
Have a holy restful Shabbos and a Happy Chodesh Adar Aleph!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH
PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Vildeh grozen vaksen iber nacht.” .- Crabgrass grows overnight.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
13)
The name "Mount of the Curse" (har ha’klala) was given to:
__________.
A controversial discovery at the
site was identified by the excavator as being:
A)
The Ark of the Covenant
B)
The site of Balaam’s curse
C)
Joshua’s altar
D)
The site where Jesus “Yoshka”
was betrayed
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE
WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iqtiYCZrlc
– Ilana
Tauvig, Doron (aboves wife) of the Shemitta farm and eggplants!
https://youtu.be/Jyb15mqfBBw
- Bo’ee Kallah- Yoni Z’s latest Chuppa beautiful song…
https://youtu.be/q6Km9gFqV0M
– Benny Friedman and Shuki Solomon’s latest collaboration
Shir Ha’tzedaka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri_RpM474Bs
- Motty Shteimetz a Shemitteleh Gevein- Yiddish and English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG30sBjmZ2I
- Yoel Gold- Saved by Shemitta story Cool!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Shabbos Shemitta or Not? -Parshat Mishpatim- Could you imagine a year without Shabbos? How about one
without Pesach Shavuot or Sukkot either? Incomprehensible, right? Yet Rashi in
this week’s Parsha quotes the mechilta that tells us that is in fact the
exactly what one might think the law is from the Torah. In fact it has to go out
of its way to tell us that it is in fact not the case.
Our Torah
portion this week which brings down a chulent of varied laws tells us the
mitzva of the Sabbatical/ Shemitta year, which we’re observing this year in
Israel. Right after that the Torah tells us the mitzva of Shabbat and the
Mitzva of the pilgrimage holidays. Rashi, seemingly troubled by the
juxtaposition of these laws, explains that one might think that in the Shemitta
year one did not need to observe the weekly Shabbat of Bereishit/Creation-seemingly
because the entire year is called by the Torah, Shabbat. Hashem therefore tells
us the mitzva of Shabbat to tell us that even in the 7th year one must observe
it. Similarly, Rashi notes by the holidays that one might think in the
Sabbatical year the holidays might be removed from their place and therefore
Hashem commands us about them as well even in that year.
This is
truly a mind-blowing concept. Why would I think there would be no Shabbos or
holidays, just because it’s a Sabbatical year? Perhaps the clue is in the word
that Rashi uses “Shabbat Bereishit”. There are two aspects to Shabbos. One that
we remember that Hashem created the world and that it belongs to Him. The
second is, that he runs the world, controls it and gave it to us as a special
day to remember that He took us out of Egypt; “zecher li’yitziat mitzrayim”.
When a farmer observes the Shemitta year, to a large degree he is already
testifying that the land belongs to Hashem. He has shut down his business, he
allows anyone who wants to come in and take what they like each day. It is a
daily testimony to what Shabbos Bereshit is meant to mean to us. Therefore, one
might think that Shabbat Bereishit is extraneous.
As well, the
holidays as they are brought down in these verses, speak about the agricultural
aspect of the holidays; the spring, reaping and harvesting seasons of Pesach,
Shavuot and Sukkot. The idea being Rashi notes, that in a year that one does
not engage in these activities one might thing that the holidays are “moved
from their place”. Our farmer has moved beyond his fields already. He is
already in a spiritual state, there is no need for him to connect the holidays
with the agricultural seasons.
For both of
these days Hashem tells us, yes but Shabbat was given to you as a day of rest
as well. The holidays were given to you so that you may come see “My Face” and
celebrate with Me. Regardless if you are working your fields this year or not,
regardless if you already acknowledge My existence. I want you to celebrate
Shabbat and Yom Tov because it is our special time together. They are days for
you and I to bond. What a beautiful thought!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN
ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Tombs of the Known
(Enemy) Soldiers- 797 BC- The end of what should’ve been the reign of glory
of Shlomo and the building of the Beit Ha’Mikdash ended ignominiously. Shlomo,
being the 15th generation from the period of Avraham Avinu, is like
the full moon when Klal Yisrael is at its peak. From the middle of the month then
moon’s light begins to wane as did the spiritual level of our nation. Shlomo
himself was not necessarily held personally accountable for the sins of the inappropriate
and idolatrous wives that he had married from other nations, as he remained righteous.
Yet Hashem told him that ultimately his kingdom will not have longevity and will
be full of strife.
Two specific enemies that attacked and reigned terror on Eretz
Yisrael were Hadad Ben Adad, who was an Amalekite descendant-
interesting that the other Amaleki name we know is called Agag. I guess they
like the Aleph then double letter construct. And the second was Razon ben
Eliyoda who was based up in Damascus under the empire of Aram.
So basically was getting hit in the South from Egypt- despite Shlomo
having married the daughter of Pharaoh there and in the North from what is
today Syria in the Golan Heights.
Hadad actually had a bit of history with the Jewish people.
His father Adad and their men were wiped out by Yoav, Dovid’s general without
his permission. He only let the women live and killed the men. It seem he misread
or misinterpreted the verse that says to wipe out the memory (zecher) of
Amalek, rather he read it as the males (zachar) of Amalek. Dovid
then in an extraordinary act goes back to that
battlefield and takes the bodies of the enemy Edomites that Yoav had
killed and left there and gives them all a proper burial. With this a
tremendous Kiddush Hashem was made, that every human being no matter how evil
is created in the image of Hashem and deserves the dignity of a proper burial.
Today in Israel there is in fact two cemeteries
where the Israeli army buries enemy terrorists. The first is near Gesher
Adam in the Jordan Valley, the former bridge to Jordan. It
was established in the late 70’s when many terrorists entered Israel from the
refugee camps that were in Jordan to attack Israel. They were killed and buried
there. As well during the Lebanon wars a cemetery was established near Gesher
Bnos Yaakov and later moved near Amiad where as well there were
hundreds of bodies interred in graves there. Over the years in various
exchanges with our terrorist neighboring countries Israel has returned hundreds
of bodies to their countries. More often it was in exchange for the wonderful
peace we share with them or for bodies of our own holy soldiers that they had
been holding on to.
The Midrash tells us that in Messianic times in the battle
of Gog and Magog, in the valley of Meggido (thus the word Armageddon),
the nation of Israel will spend 7 months
burying the bodies of our enemies that will be killed here. Then the land will
finally be purified. Hopefully that day will be soon.
Next week we finish the life of Shlomo with his final
internal enemy and successor Yeravam Ben Nevat.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE FARMER JOKES OF THE WEEK
During his first day of work, the local Rabbi
stops by to bless the man's work, saying, "May you and God work
together to make this the farm of your dreams!"
A few months later, the Rabbi stops by again to
call on the Dudi. Lo and behold, it's like a completely different place -- the
farm house is completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there are plenty
of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and
the fields are filled with crops planted in neat rows.
"Amazing!" the Rabbi says.
"Look what God and you have accomplished together!"
"Yes, Rabbi," says the farmer, "but remember what the farm was
like when God was working it alone!"
Back in one of the shtetels of Europe, the local
Rebbe was having a conversation with a poor farmer about the nature of belief,
and how even difficult financial times, everything comes from Hashem. The Rebbe
said to the poor farmer, "Reb Yid, let me ask you, if you had a horse,
and you were asked, would you give it to Hashem?"
"Yes," replied the farmer.
"And if you had a cow?"
"Absolutely."
"And a goat?"
"Of course."
"A wagon?"
"Rebbe, that's not fair!" protested the farmer. "You know I have a
wagon!"
A rabbi, a Hindu priest, and a politician went
hiking. Night fell and they were exhausted. The hotel on the map was nowhere to
be seen. They knocked on the door of a farm and asked if they could spend the
night.
The farmer said, “Of course, but I only have
a small room with two beds. One of you will have to sleep in the barn.”
The Hindu priest said, “I need no material
comforts. I will gladly take the barn.”
The rabbi and the politician were settling in
when they heard a knock on the door. They opened it to find the Hindu priest
standing there.
“So sorry, my friends, but there is a cow in
the barn, and I cannot sleep beside such a holy animal.”
The rabbi said, “No problem, my brother. I’ll
take the barn.
The Hindu priest and the politician were
settling in when they heard a knock on the door. They opened it to find the
rabbi standing there.
“So sorry, my friends, but there’s a pig in
the barn, and I can’t sleep beside such a filthy animal.”
The politician said, “OK, let it be
remembered that I sacrificed my comfort for the greater good.”
The rabbi and the Hindu priest were settling in
when they heard a knock on the door. They opened it to find the pig and the cow
standing there.
Morty Applebaum bought a donkey from an old
farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day. The next
day, the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry, but I have some bad news.
The donkey died."
"Well, then, just give me my money
back," said Morty.
"Can't do that,” replied the farmer. “I went and spent it already."
"OK, then. Just unload the donkey."
"What ya gonna do with him?"
"I'm going to raffle him off."
"You can't raffle off a dead
donkey!"
"Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell
anybody he's dead."
A month later the farmer met up with Morty and
asked, "Whatever happened with that dead donkey?"
"I raffled him off. I sold five hundred
tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $998."
"Didn't anyone complain?" asked the farmer.
"Just the guy who won,” said Morty. “So I gave him his two dollars
back."
"Are you the owner of that magnificent
animal in the field back there?" he asked.
"Yes," replied the farmer, an old Jewish man named Moishe.
"Then I simply must buy him from
you."
"I can't sell him," said the Moishe the farmer. "He doesn't look too
good."
"What do you mean? He's the most
beautiful horse I've seen in my life. Please!"
"Well, okay," conceded Moishe the farmer, "If you insist. Does
a thousand dollars sound reasonable to you?"
"Absolutely," said the man, and
he took the horse home on a trailer.
A few days later, Moishe the farmer heard
another knock on his door. It was the man with the horse. "You ripped
me off!" yelled the man. "That horse is as blind as a
bat!"
"I tried to warn you," answered Moishe the farmer. "I told you
he doesn't look too good.”
Why did the rooster cross the road? To prove it
wasn't chicken!
Why did the horse cross the road? To visit his
neighborhood!
Why did the farmer cross the road? To get all of
his animals back!
Answer
is C – OK So
how many of you answered Har Gerizim? Well you’re close but no cigar, as they
say. Har Gerizim or as it’s called today by the Shmoronim or Israel is called
Har Bracha. Har Eival was the mountain where the curses were directed to when
they were recited when the Jews first came into the land and had the historic
gathering between these two mountains. On Har Eival there’s a huge rock structure
that most archeologists now agree was the Mizbayach that Yehoshua built at the
time as they offered sacrifices at this gathering. It fits the size of the
Mizbayach that was in the Temple as well as the construction that didn’t have any
stones that were cut with a metal blade, the ramp leading up to it and even the
Kosher animal bones that were uncovered there are all quite compelling pieces
of evidence. I got this right although to be honest, it’s not a place I tour
quite often. So the score is now Schwartz 10.5 and 2.5 for MOT
(Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.
