Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
April 22nd 2022 -Volume 11 Issue 29 21st Nissan 5782
Pesach II- Acharey Mos
Tully is singing in the shower again. It’s funny how he does that. I always try to get him to sing with me at the Shabbos table, but he’s too shy. I guess he takes after Aliza in that way. But he still has the ‘Schwartz’ singing gene that is bursting to express itself. He even composes his own songs in there sometimes. At least I think they are his own compositions, and I hope he’s not just singing my songs off key. The whole house hears him, but we don’t tell him- until this E-Mail of course. We like to hear him sing. It’s cute. It’s funny. It’s loud. But we don’t mind. We’re just happy he finally agreed to take a shower and is spending some serious time in there. We’re even thinking of installing a karaoke system in there for him; microphone and dolby sound system and all. Whatever it takes to get him to take showers as often as possible.
But it’s not just Tully. Shhh… Aliza as well sings in the shower. Don’t tell anyone I told you. She’s also the shy singer type. I’m not sure about the rest of my kids. I don’t think they do. Yonah is musical, although a bit shy about it as well. I generally need to nudge him a bit to yank out the guitar and kumzitz us all. Rivka and Elka definitely sing but I think they’re very strict about this Kol Isha thing and they don’t want their father to hear them as well. I don’t know why people are self-conscious about singing. I never was, and I know I don’t have a great voice. But who cares? It’s fun to sing. It’s holy to sing. It’s inspiring to express those inner depths of one’s heart and emotions. Why hold them in. Let them explode out.
The holiday of Pesach, perhaps more than any other holiday, is really all about that song coming out. It starts at our Pesach Seder right away when we begin singing the order of the Seder. Kadei’-eysh U’rchatz Karpa-as Ya’a-chatz. Ma-gee-id Ruchtza Mo’o-tzee’ee Ma’atzah… Maroooooor, Koreich, Shu’ulcha’an Oh’ohreich, Tzafuuuun Bareich, Hale’el Ni’irtzaaaa….. C’mon admit it. You sang that sentence. How could you not?
We continue with the traditional singing of the Ma Nishtana. We then rush through a bunch of verses and Torah but admit it you keep checking to see when that Dai dai yeinu is coming. You don’t want to talk, learn or hear anymore dvar torahs. You’re not even interested that much in all of those little ping pong balls and dead animals and frogs in your Makkos/ plague bag you bought to throw at the kids. You just want to dai that yeinu out of the park already. And when you get there, you’re happy. It’s not just because you know that the meal is around the corner. You’re really not that hungry anyways. It’s 11:00 at night and you’ve been noshing on those karpas potatoes when nobody was looking anyways. It’s because you want to sing. And you don’t want to hide that song in the shower anymore.
Now nothing brings that song out even more than a few cups of wine in you. So when we finish our meal we really start to break it down. It’s Hallel. It’s Eliyahu Ha’Navi. Yahoo Yahoo. It’s Bentching, which you haven’t sung together as a family since you were back in NCSY or running a Kiruv Shabbat. Why is that by the way? You know it’s more inspiring and fun and meaningful when you sing bentching to Hashem together as a family. It’s why we do it at all these kiruv retreats. So why don’t you do it all the time. Why do we have to become so yeshivish? Where are we in a rush to go to? You love it by the Seder. Why on all other nights of the year do you only sing in the shower?
From there after that Chasal Siddur Pesach, we are in overtime. It’s the grand finale. Who knows One? Adir Hu- bimheira ah ah bimheira…kel bnai- kel bnai… It’s great and we close with the great Chad Gadya and jump up and sing l’shana hab’ah b’yerushalyim. It’s all about the music. It’s all about getting that song out. It’s all about getting it out of the shower.
Pesach continues with 7 days of Hallel. My secret pleasure? Davening for the Amud in a litvishe yeshivishe shul on Chol Ha’Moed,. Taking the amud as the chazan and singing the whole Hallel. I have yartzeit the 2nd day of Chol Hamoed (here in Israel), so I’m entitled to lead the services. Now when I say sing the whole Hallel, I mean the whole thing- not just pischu li and hodu. From the Meki’mi mei’ei ei’ afar dal, btzais Yisrael, yevaraich es bai’eis yisraeh’eh’eh’el, Ma Ashiv (of course) the whole thing all the way to the last kei’li atah v’odeh’ec’hcha… At first you have the few yeshivish guys in the back trying to daven it nusach style loud over my singing voice and rush through it. Little do they know I will just sing slower and louder than they do. By the time we reach the end, they’re all in. It’s a choir. It’s heavenly. They don’t even notice that I’ve switched to nusach sefard. Except for that one guy- and there’s always that one guy- that left early out of frustration that he couldn’t beat Rabbi Schwartz.
And then we reach tonight. We are crossing the Sea. This is moment when everything explodes. Hashem even gave us that shower sound effects with the splitting of the sea and the water cascading gently on the sides of us. By the way- I know that this is too much information for you, but it’s me so we can say this. No one’s listening. Mom, skip this paragraph. I just want to say it is so nice and cool to be able to stand in the shower and not have to turn off the water to soap myself up. I can just turn the nozzle the other way and the new skinny Rabbi Schwartz who fits into a small corner of the shower can have the water still spraying to the side and not get wet. Mamash Kriyas Yam Suf. Water flowing next to me and I’m soapily singing and not getting wet. Cool!
See, showers do that to you. Our personal song comes out. Rashi writes on the verse Az Yashir Moshe- Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang.
Az k’shera’ah es ha’nes ala b’libo she’yashir- then when he saw the miracle it went up in his heart to sing, and so he did.
What is Rashi trying to tell us with this explanation? It would seem that is the simple understanding of the text. The Jews sang when they saw the miracle. But the Shemen Ha’tov notes that Rashi is telling us something amazing here. It was alah al libo- it went up in their heart. They couldn’t hold it back. They needed to express themselves and words alone wouldn’t suffice. It was musical. It was a symphony. It was beyond this world. It was something that could only be actualized in the form of music. With a niggun.
But it wasn’t just a song that they sang collectively. It was personal. The words of Az Yashir are individual songs. Ashira La’Hashem- I will sing to Hashem. Azi – Hashem is my strength. Zeh Kei’li- This is my God. Elokei Avi- the god of my father and I will lift Him up.
Do you know what the difference between when we left Egypt 6 days ago and the 7th day of Pesach is? When we left Egypt we left collectively as a nation. We were rescued even though we didn’t have any merits because Hashem loves the Jewish people. He promised our ancestors. He wanted us and our nation to reveal Him in this world. But we couldn’t see the downfall of Egypt. We were commanded to stay in our houses. Much like Lot and his wife with the destruction of Sodom that were not allowed to turn back and see the city overturned. They weren’t saved because of who they were and their own merits and thus couldn’t witness the retribution of the evil-doers.
The 7th day of Pesach though it changed. Each Jew saw the Egyptian that had tortured him, that had perhaps killed and drowned his baby, that had murdered his family, that had beaten, whipped, and abused him and his family being destroyed right in front of him. Hashem brought him to me and showed me how He avenges my suffering. He does this, and I can see this because I have earned it. Because I have a song in my heart and belly that is waiting to explode. Because despite everything I may have done in the past and all the things that I should’ve done and didn’t I have faith. I’ve never lost faith. I just hid it away in the shower where nobody could hear me sing about it. And now it has finally come out.
It’s amazing if you think about it, that we have started this period of the counting of the Omer in which we have a custom to observe laws of mourning. We don’t get married and we don’t listen to music. But on Chol Ha’Moed and Pesach that doesn’t start yet. Because on Pesach that song can’t be held back. It comes up from our heart and it pours out. If we merit this Pesach, hopefully we will continue to sing. There won’t be anymore mourning. No more Omer customs. We will be back in the Bais Ha’Mikdash. We will have the Levites with their instruments and songs that accompany every offering. Even that yeshivish Litvak will sing.Tully will as well. We’ve brought that song out of the Water Closet, let’s sing it loud enough that it never has to go back in again.
Have a harmonious musical Pesach and perfect Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
Tsu itlechen neiem lid ken men tsupassen an alten niggen - To every new song one can find an old tune.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/shiras-hayam-the-song-of-the-sea-vayosha – This is actually the tune that we sang when we crossed the Sea. It’s amazing that I remembered it… My Shiras Ha’yam composition sung by the amazing Dovid Lowy!
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/melech-rachamon - And of course my Melech Rachaman which you can’t hear enough times…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd9HZtwAiaQ – Abie Rottenberg’s beautiful New Pesach song Al Hatzadikim. Whatta story!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO7ZzVidxeU – Magnificent Yeshivas Nehora singing Ba’aVur Avoseinu Amir Dvir awesome
https://youtu.be/BpVNeZmYkpo – And just for the fun of it Shepping Nachas does a bit of Pharaoh in pajamas
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
24) On the logo of which Israeli green organization does the ibex appear? _____________
The reason for that:
A) It is the most common animal in the Judean Desert and in the Negev Plateau
B) It is an animal with special characteristics such as the ability to survive and to sustain itself on a minimal amount of food
C) It is an animal that was in danger of extinction in Israel and its population was rehabilitated
D) It is an animal that appears in old texts and connects ancient times to the present day
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Shabbos Songs -Shevi'i shel Pesach - Moving straight from Pesach into Shabbos is about as high as you can get. We walk out of the sea singing to Hashem of the great miracles and we head straight to our Shabbos table and rip out our bentcher and take that inspiration and raise our traditional Shabbos songs to the highest levels ever. In fact our seforim tell us (that’s just my way of saying- it sounds good and I must have heard it somewhere before, but I have no clue where 😊) that the power of all of our songs that we sing throughout the year come from that first song we sang together at the sea. The song of faith, of joy, of Hashem’s love for us. That’s what it’s all about.
The story goes how one gadol who’s child didn’t become the greatest Torah scholar to say the least and didn’t follow into his father’s footsteps once approached the Steipler Gaon and asked him how he merited to have a child like Reb Chayim Kanievsky while he personally wasn’t as fortunate. What did he do wrong? The Steipler told him that the difference was that at the asking Rabbi’s Shabbos table he recited a lot of Torah but singing wasn’t his thing. The Steipler on the other hand was always careful about singing and bringing that joyful Shabbos spirit to the table and it was in that merit that his son became Reb Chayim.
Fascinatingly enough most of the Shabbos songs that we sing were written between the 14th and 17th centuries. Many by Kabbalists in the darkest periods of Jewish history. In fact some even note that the idea behind many of the songs are that there are various laws of Shabbos that are included in the songs because in some periods it was prohibited to teach Torah or many did not have the opportunity to learn and study. This was a way of teaching those laws in the form of a song and passing on the traditions in the most memorable of ways.
As well the Zohar tells us that there is no Shabbos that Hakadosh Baruch Hu goes out to dance with the righteous in Gan Eden and when He enters, they receive Him with song and music. The Talmud in Megilla even tells us on the verse
And it was on the 7th day when the King was good with wine”- was the king not good with wine until the 7th day? Rava answers It was Shabbos when the Jews eat and drink and begin with words of Torah and words of praise. The nations of the world on the other hand only start with words of frivolity. From here we see that it is a good custom to begin our Shabbos with songs of praise to Hashem for His Mitzvos.
The Baal Ha’Tanya profoundly commented that words are the pen of the heart, while song is the pen of the soul. Just as something that is written with a pen cannot be erased so to the songs that we sing that come straight from our heart are forever etched in the heavens. They carry on from generation to generation. They connect to that original song we sang so long ago. So this Shabbos more than any other sing your hearts out. Praise and thank Hashem for Shabbos. For our lives and for our blessings. That is the song of the Redemption.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
This column will return after Pesach.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE SINGER JOKES OF THE WEEK
Don't marry a singer. I married one and it was just "me, me, me" all the time.
What do you call it when a singer gets a chance? An opera-tunity!
What’s a singer’s favorite sandwich? So-la-mi.
Mordechai Ben David was dining out one night when a young newlywed chasidish young man came up to his table.
“Reb Mordechai," said the yungerman, “my name is Shloimy Rosenberg. Would you please do me a favor?”
“What kind of favor?” Mordche asked.
Well, I’m here with my kallah and I want to make a good impression on her. I certainly would appreciate it if you would drop by my table and say ‘Hi, Shloimy!’”
“OK, Shloimy, I’ll try,” said the singer, smiling.
A little later he dropped by their table, and said, “Hi, Shloimy!”
Shloimy looked up at him and snapped, “Don’t bother me now, Murdche. Can’t you see I’m busy?”
Why are pirates such good singers? They hit the high c's...
Why are cats such great singers? They're very mew-sical!
What do you call a sad singer in a bath tub? A soap opera...
Just before Rosh Hashanah, a team of terrorists invades the shul and takes the rabbi, the cantor and the shul president hostage. Hours later, the governor stands tough; he won't give them a million dollars, nor a getaway car nor a jumbo jet. The terrorists gather the three hostages in a corner and inform them that things look bad and they're going to have to shoot them. Nevertheless, to show that they're not really a bad bunch, they'll grant each hostage one wish.
"Please," says the rabbi, "for the last two months I've been working on my Rosh Hashanah sermon. What a waste to die now without having carried it before an audience. I'll go happily if you let me recite my sermon. It's two and a half hours long, tops." The terrorists promise to grant the wish.
"Please," says the cantor, "after 50 years I've finally gotten the Hinneni prayer just right. What a waste to die and not sing it to an audience. It's only about 45 minutes long, then I'll go happily." The terrorists promise to grant the cantor his wish, too, and they turn to the shul president.
"Please," says the president with tears in his eyes. "Shoot me first!"
My dad always told me I should sing tenor. Ten or twelve miles away
(For My Detroiters!) What do you call a musician who drinks soda and sing at the same time? A pop singer.
What fish sings A tune-a
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Answer is C -Certainly after Chol HaMoed Pesach when close to a half a million people have visited the National Parks of Israel one should recognize that Ibex if not from the flag but from those silly cartoons that they have with him. Now although the visitors to Masada or Ein Gedi where we see them all over might take them for granted, in fact a in the 1950’s there were declared an endangered species and it wasn’t until the late 60’s until they started repopulating them. Today there are close to 1000 Ibex’s in the area of Midbar Yehudah. But I always like to point out that in the times of King David who hid here in Ein Gedi where he composed psalms of Tehillim, he specifically mentions ha’harim la’yaelim- the hills are for the ibexes. Their peaceful calm inspired him in the psalm of Barchi Nafshi we recite each Rosh Chodesh, and their beauty inspires us until today, So the score is now Schwartz 19.5 and 4.5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.
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