Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
April 29th 2022 -Volume
11 Issue 30 28th Nissan 5782
Parshat Kedoshim
I meet a lot of
holy people. Most of them don’t have long white beards or black hats. Truth is
I stay away from those types. I’m not a Rebbe groupie, not a big running around
and getting bracha or photo-op guy. And to be honest I kind of have a hard time
connecting to those saintly miracle Rebbes, Rosh Yeshivas, kabbalists and
miracle workers, especially the ones with all the Gabbaim and gatekeepers. They
don’t do it for me. They never really have. Don’t get me wrong that’s not that
I don’t buy into them, their holiness and power and connection to Hashem to do
great things. It’s just I guess I feel for those things to work I need to
actually feel connected to them and I just don’t. It doesn’t really work for
me.
But this year, I
have really gotten to connect to a whole new cadre of gedolim, of great people.
Of the holiest of the holy. For those of you that have been regular readers
here and certainly you few hundred (!) daily tourist status watchers and Rabbi
Schwartz tour stalkers can guess who I’m talking about it’s none other than the
salt of the earth Shemitta farmers that I meet regularly on my tours. They’re
mind-blowing. They’re holy. They have changed my appreciation of the power of
the Jew and his faith and even more than that they have given me a better
appreciation of my relationship with Hashem. Because I have seen God and He is
a shemitta farmer. I have come to know Hashem through them and He is my Father.
He is my friend. He is my confident. He is there for me and is as real as the
juicy orange that I’m delectably biting in to- and squirting all over my shirt
from it’s juiciness. And He’s just as sweet.
See, that’s what
a meeting with a holy person is supposed to do to you. It’s supposed to change
your life. Change your outlook. Make you feel holier. Inspire you to become as
holy as they are. And then the brachos and salvations come. They come
because we begin to realize that it’s all been bracha and we’ve already been
saved all along. It couldn’t get better because we have our Best Friend and Father
and Provider making sure of that.
Yehuda Itamar in
Moshav Amka near Nahariya is one of those guys. He wasn’t raised religious,
although his Morrocan upbringing was certainly strong on faith and tradition.
His father came here in 1949 started his olive and avocado farm, had a couple
of cows and built a life and family. As Yehuda grew older he connected more and
more to the Torah, it’s commandments and the understanding that if he really
believed in Hashem as being real, then it behooved upon him to observe the
commandments the way they were given to us on Sinai and passed down for three
thousand years since then. He had heard about Shemitta observance and decided
to bring the Rabbi over to explain it to them. His father after hearing the
whole conversation wasn’t convinced, yet he deferred to his young 35 year old
son who had provided him with quite a few grandchildren by then- which is
always a good card to hold in your back pocket. As well Yehudah had as of then
gotten the family into the market of growing and selling the highly profitable
and expensive lychee fruits that they had much success in. He therefore agreed
to go along with his son’s decision. And so they started observing Shemitta. But
that was just the start.
See, the first
shemitta he did 28 years ago, he really wasn’t satisfied with the way it went.
The Beis Din he worked with who took over his lands and distributed his fruits,
he felt were charging too much for the distribution costs. See fruits of
shemitta can’t be sold as they are considered ownerless, but the court can
charge to distribute them thus providing the farmers with some income for
collecting and taking care of the trees and fruits. What cost him 2 and half
shekel per kilo to provide them with they were selling for forty for the
distribution costs. He didn’t like that. But fascinatingly enough it wasn’t
because he felt that he was losing out on the money, or that someone else was
pocketing some on his mitzva. Quite the opposite. He wanted everyone to have
his fruits for free or close to free. Shemitta is about sharing the bounty of
the land with Klal Yisrael. Showing that even those that don’t have farms and
don’t grow fruits can have some “on the house”. Because it’s Hashem’s land.
It’s their Father in heaven that is sharing it with them. And he, Yehuda, was
just the gabbai to hand them out to everyone.
So the next
shemitta cycle he upgraded his observance to a better Beis Din. He was more
satisfied with the way that they distributed it. As well he started putting out
the word that that his fields were open to all. And Jews started to come from
all over. It was a party. A fruity kiddush of Avocados and expensive lychees
every day all over his precious fields. People just coming and coming and
taking. Can you imagine what this means? We’re talking about what would
regularly be 10’s and 10’s of thousands of shekels worth of produce that he
would generally support his family with. That he would use to pay his bills.
That he actually even in the shemitta year had to expend time, effort and money
to grow and take care of, and everyone is just coming and taking what they
want. It did hurt a bit when word got out to the local Arabs as well and they
started coming and hoarding some of his precious fruits as well. But he Yehudah
just told himself that it wasn’t really his field this year and if that’s what
Hashem wanted to happen, it was His business; His problem.
The next Shemitta
though, Yehudah really wanted to do something special and different. His
children were growing older. The Moshav environment he lived in was one that
was challenging religiously as he was one of the handful of observant farmers
and members of the Moshav. His kids had friends that were involved in non-Torah
pursuits. They were getting exposed to things he felt would be detrimental to
the great spiritual aspirations he had for them. He wanted some extra help from
His Friend and Caretaker in heaven. He decided to double down on his faith. He
looked out at his 30 dunams of olive groves that his father had grown decades
before and decided that in observance of shemitta he wasn’t even going to step
foot in those fields. He wouldn’t water them, he wouldn’t check on them. The
land would rest entirely. It’s God’s field, let Him worry about it.
Now in shemitta
all opinions agree that one is permitted to water one’s trees and do the basic
things so that the trees won’t die. It’s prohibited of course to prune and to
do things that will make the fruits and trees grow better. But the Torah
doesn’t obligate one to lose ones trees. But Yehuda didn’t care. This wasn’t
about what was permitted or not. This was about impressing in himself the faith
and understanding that the fields and trees really belong to Hashem on the
Sabbatical year. They’re not his. So he left them. Over 250 trees starved to
death that year. Or so it seemed.
This certainly
didn’t go over well with his family. His
father’s brothers came knocking and calling that all of their families work was
for waste. He was crazy. He was a lunatic. A poshaya. Other farmers on
the Yishuv looked at him as well with nebach scorn and derision. But Yehudah
just smiled. He had nothing to worry about. It wasn’t his field. It was
Hashem’s.
After Rosh
Hashana for the first time Yehuda went back in. The trees were dead as a wooden
doorknob. 30 Dunams worth.
Ah well... he
sighed. That’s what Hashem wants. It’s His business. So he turned on the water
sprinkler systems just to see if there was any point. After-all, what else was
he supposed to do? And whatdaya know? There was techiyat ha’meisim! The
trees came back from the dead and started growing just like usual. His uncles
were shocked, his fellow farmers were as well. Three more farmers in fact
started keeping this Shemitta cycle when they saw this happen last time. But
for Yehuda, this was par for the course. Hashem wouldn’t abandon him. He never
had a doubt. And you know what, he told me proudly? My son just finished
learning his exams for Dayanut last week. He’s become a holy Jewish
rabbi and judge. To me, that’s the biggest nachas in the world.
There is an
incredible Moshav Zekeinim of the Baalei Tosafos on this week’s Torah portion.
The Torah tells us the famous mitzva of B’tzedek tishpot es amisecha- on
should judge one’s friend favorably. It is from here where we learn the mitzva
of giving the benefit of the doubt to one another. Not to distort our judgement
of others. The Baaley Tosafos though takes this verse to a whole different
place which when you think about it really transforms the entire Parsha. They
write
“If the
attribute of judgement (Middas Ha’din)
comes upon you from heaven, there is a positive commandment to find the
righteousness of that judgement. For when it says amisecha- your friend
that refers to Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu. And one should bless the True Judge.
And at that moment Hashem glorifies Himself amongst His angels. And thus one
should say it in a loud vouce. “And You are righteous in all that comes upon
us.”
Do you know what
it means to judge Hashem favorably? It means that we realize that He’s our
friend. He loves us. He cares for us. There is nothing ever that He would do
that wasn’t for our benefit. Our Judaism starts there. It’s the lesson I
learned and felt after schmoozing with Yehudah in that holy field of his.
This weeks Parsha
is jam packed with Mitzvos. Mitzvos of all types in all areas of life and
ritual. It was said with all of the Jewish people gathered together. And It’s
introduction of Kedoshim ti’hiyu ki kadosh Ani- and you shall be holy for I am
holy, I am Hashem your God has an incredible message to it that I just understood
with this tosafos. Our sages tell us that Hashem observes all of the mitzvos.
He is us. And we are Him. We have tefillin. He has Tefillin. We have Shabbos.
He has Shabbos. He is holy. We are holy. We love our friends, because we love
Hashem, because He loves us, Because we are Him and He is us. And they are us
and we are them. If that meant any sense to you. Read it again and absorb if
you didn’t.
Hashem is our friend, we judge Him favorably
because we know He really is our friend. In the same way we love our friends,
because they really are our friends. Because the same Hashem that loves us and
told us that I am holy, said they are as well. They are our friends. We, all of
Klal Yisrael, heard this together. We accepted and saw it in one another. And we
all feel it when we meet someone like Yehudah who shows us how true and holy we
all can be.
The period of
Omer that we are in mourning of right now, is a time when we always read this
Parsha. The students of Rabbi Akiva died because they didn’t see that honor,
that Hashem in each other. Rabbi Akiva was the one that taught V’Havata
L’rayacha Kamocha- one should love their friend like themselves, yet his
students perhaps didn’t get the deeper meaning behind that teaching. Loving
your friend is as the Baaley Tosafos says there is no friend like Hashem. How
do we love our friend like ourselves? When we see the Hashem inside of Him. We
see our own holiness of Hashem inside of them. We love him like ourselves,
because we are him and he is us and we all have that same friend in heaven that
is with us.
The Midrash tells
us that Rabbi Tarfon was once bemoaning to Rabbi Akiva that there was nobody in
the generation that could accept proper rebuke. That paid attention to any
admonition that the Rabbi was giving. Rabbi Akiva retorted that he would be
better off bemoaning the fact that there was no Rabbis in their generation that
were truly capable of giving admonition and rebuke properly. For to give rebuke
doesn’t mean trying to get the other person to do what you feel is right for
them to do. Tochacha- is showing and revealing the holiness and godliness
inside of them. Introducing them to the Friend they have. The holy friend that
they perhaps never really knew before. That they weren’t aware cared for them.
That they didn’t know could bring back trees from the dead for them. That would
take care of all of their needs and give them blessings all the time. Rabbi
Akiva knew and saw that. Sadly his students didn’t.
The days of Omer
fall out in the farming season. It’s the time when the blessings and green are
all around us. It’s a time of year, perhaps even more so this year when we
think about the farmers, the trees and the field and the bounty Hashem is
sprouting out all around us. May He as well sprout the redemption very soon.
The land and His people are waiting.
Have a holy
Shabbos and a bountiful Chodesh Iyar Tov
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
***************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH
PROVERB OF THE WEEK
Chavershaft iz shtarker vi brudershaft.- Friendship is stronger than kinship.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE
WEEK
https://youtu.be/50pzvTOrgMA
– That season again! Acapella Shabbos Evolution by Y
studs
https://youtu.be/_uLKWBXlwjg
– Shira Choir Goes
Classical Acapella and Cool and Fun!
https://youtu.be/IcTYNZzgUZs
– Getting into Lag
mode with this Miron Song from two years ago acapella
https://youtu.be/epKg5I3DB2I
–
Whatever... Thought this was ummm.. you decide… Shemitta song…
No work for my tractor…
https://youtu.be/oaOUIfBClu4
– Kaiser Wilhelm visiting Jerusalem from tour guiding
question of the week
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
25)
A Jewish leader who came to meet Emperor Wilhelm II in Jerusalem:
_______
His journey expressed the worldview
of:
A)
Religious Zionism
B)
Political Zionism
C)
Spiritual Zionism
D)
Practical Zionism
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Separate -Parshat
Kedoshim - Shabbos Kodesh, Shabbos is a day that is holy. The word
holy is one that I think is bandied about rather loosely. Some take it very
seriously and believe it refers to someone that is ascetic and avoids all
things physical and mundane. Others believe that everything is holy, its being
kind its being generous. It’s a place or person where one can feel and connect
with the Divine. The truth is the word Kodesh literally means separate and
apart. It’s not connected to anything. It’s independent. If that’s the case
what does holiness really and practically mean. After all it is the first
commandment in our Parsha. We should be holy because Hashem is holy. How do we
become separate like Him?
The end of the Parsha has an interesting almost
conclusion of our Parsha and its myriad of commandments, when it tells us that
Hashem was mavdil us- he separated us from all the nations to be His. There is
a fascinating Midrash in the Yalkut Shimoni that writes
“Had it written that Hashem would separate the nations
from us, then they would no longer be able to exist anymore. Therefore it says ‘I
have taken you from the nations’. This is like one who takes out the good
from the bad and then he chooses more again. Whereas if one plucks out the bad
from the good he doesn’t choose out again.”
The sefer Ben Avraham was written by Reb Avraham Maizes,
a cool sefer I found in shaymos this morning, who was a great chareidi leader
in the early years of the state, a student of Reb Isser Zalman Meltzer and who
spent years in Siberia where he was sent and still managed to observe mitzvos
under great persecution. He suggests that by Shabbos as many know there is a
prohibition to separate the bad from the good. We can however take the good
from the bad. What is the difference? When one removes the bad, we are saying
that the good will stay the same it just has bad parts to it that are
disturbing it and bringing down it’s value. Taking the good from the bad,
though is elevating the good. It’s bringing it closer to me. It’s making it
holier and better.
The Midrash is telling us that the way Hashem took us out
and separated us from the nations was not to remove them, which would mean that
they would be thrown out and we would remain as is. Rather is was uplifting us.
It was making us closer and more special to Him. By doing that the rest of the world has the
potential still not be viewed as bad, but rather as not yet elevated. We have
yet to redeem them.
The Jewish people are separate because we are connected
to Hashem who is separated. We are uplifted. He notes that we say in davening 6
blessings or titles about the Jewish people.
1)
Ahavta osanu- He loved us,
2)
V’Ratzisa
banu- He desired us,
3)
V’romamtanu
mi;kol ha’leshonos- He exalted us from
all languages
4)
v’kidashtanu
b’mitzvosecha- He sanctified us with His
mitzvos, v
5)
’kayravtanu
la’avodescha- and He brought us close to
His work,
6)
V’shimcha
ha’gadol aleinu karasa- and He called
His great name upon us.
Six is this world. The 7th is above. That’s
how we rise above. Step by step, Hashem plucked us out. Then comes Shabbos when
we are above it all and separate. We are His. He is ours. It is Shabbos Kodesh.
Not connected to anything below and before because we have been taken out of it
and now we can uplift everything else. That’s how we have a Shabbos Kodesh!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN
ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
King Asa of Yehuda -775 BC After the civil war and sins of Aviya
the son of Rechavam a shining light rose up amongst the people of Yehuda.
A new king arose Asa, the son of Aviya was considered a righteous
king. His mother (or grandmother according to some opinons) Ma’acha was
the daughter of Avshalom and she spread idolatry all around the
land. She built a huge demonic idol in
the Kidron valley where all types of promiscuity would take place. It’s
hard to imagine that right outside the Temple mount looking across from the Tayelet
boardwalk at this valley of Gei Hinom of the Jewish abominations
that took place here. Well, Asa took care of all of that. He cleared the
country of all these illicit elements that had insinuated their way into our
nation and he made a big lag ba’omer bonfire burning the statues.
In the temple that had been plundered by his father Aviya, he
returned the holy vessels and he built up the country and their borders and
wall in the face of their surrounding enemies. Things were going well, but like
every good king, you need a good miraculous war to solidify your place in
Jewish history and Hashem was happy to provide him with one.
The Navi in Divrey Ha’Yamim tells us about the great battle of Maresha
that took place against the Kushite King Zerah who came with a million
soldiers and one thousand three hundred chariots who came for the Gaza
coastline to attack them. Maresha is located right next Beit Guvrin-
for those that have done the dig for the day there and visited the later period
Roman city and amphitheater. Most guides don’t really get into
the huge battle of Asa there but they should. It’s an amazing victory. The Navi
tells us how fortified by the words of the Navi Oded and Azariya,
Asa’s army chased them all the way down to Gerar which is on the
way down to Egypt in the Negev not far from Be’er Sheva.
They smote their cities took all their cattle and booty. It was amazing and
miraculous, and they came back to Jerusalem and celebrated.
With word and the high of this victory, Asa turned his eyes North
to the northern kingdom and began to make plans to bring our nation back
together again. Jerusalem was waiting for her children. For all of them?
Would he succeed?
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE JUDGING JOKES OF THE WEEK
Benjy had been arrested and was
now up before the judge.
The judge asks, "Do you
admit you broke into the same clothes shop 3 times?"
"Yes," replies Benjy.
"Could you please tell
the court what you stole." asks the judge.
"I stole a dress, your
honour," replies Benjy.
"Just one dress? But you
admitted to breaking in 3 times," says the judge.
"Yes I did, your
honour," says Benjy, "but on two of those occasions, I broke
in to return the dress I took before."
"Return the dress? Why? I
don’t understand," says the judge.
"Because my wife Bette
didn't like the design, your honor."
Having a $100,000 court case
which would decide the fate of Chaim's economic situation he suggested to the
lawyer that perhaps it would be wise to bribe the judge.
"Absolutely not, this judge
is very straight. He would surely decide against the party who sends a
bribe."
A couple of month later Chaim won
the court case. "You see" said the lawyer "it's good
you followed my advice and didn't bribe the judge."
"No, I didn't listen to you
I actually did bribe the judge, just I sent it in the name of the other
party."
Shmuel had a bad car accident
involving a large truck. Weeks later, in court, the trucking company's fancy
lawyer was questioning Shmuel.
"Didn't you say, at the
scene of the accident, 'I'm fine,'?" asked the lawyer. Shmuel
responded, "Vell, I'll tell you vat happened. I just put my dog
Moishele, into the..."
"I didn't ask for any
details", the lawyer interrupted. "Just
answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm
fine!'?"
Shmuel said, "Vell, I
just got Moishele into the car and vas driving down the road...."
The lawyer interrupted again and
said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of
the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just
fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I
believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."
By this time, the Judge was
fairly interested in Shmuel's answer and said to the lawyer, "I'd like
to hear what he has to say about his dog Moishele".
Shmuel thanked the Judge and
proceeded. "Vell, like I vas saying, I just loaded Moishele, my lovely
hundteleh (dog), into the car and vas driving him down the highway when this
huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the
side. I vas thrown into one ditch and Moishele vas thrown into the other. I vas
hurting, real bad and didn't want to move.
However, I heard Moishele moaning
and groaning. I knew he vas in terrible shape just by his groans. Den a Highway
Patrolman came along. He could hear Moishele moaning and groaning so he vent
over to him. After he looked at him, and saw vat terrible condition Moishele
was in, he took out his gun and shoots him between the eyes.
Den the Patrolman comes across
the road, gun still in hand, looks at me and says, "How you feeling?" "Nu, Judge, vat vould
you say?
When Rivkah was called up for
jury service, she asked the judge whether she could be excused.
"I don’t believe in capital punishment," she said, "and I wouldn’t want my views to
prevent the trial from running its proper course".
The judge liked her
thoughtfulness but had to tell her that she was perfectly suitable to serve on
the jury.
"Madam," he
explained, "This is not a murder trial, it's just a simple civil
lawsuit. Mrs F is bringing this case against her husband because he gambled
away the entire £15,000 he had promised her for her birthday so that she could
carry out a make-over on her kitchen."
"OK," said Rivkah,
"I'll join your jury - I could be wrong about capital punishment after
all."
An observant Jew who lived on Park Avenue, built a Sukkah on his
balcony. Some of his 'high society' non-Jewish neighbors brought him to court
They claimed that the Sukkah on his balcony was an eyesore and was having
negative impact on the value of their homes in this posh neighborhood. In
court, the man was very worried about the outcome. It was the eve of the eight-day
holiday, leaving him no time to make alternative arrangements, in case the
judge ordered him to take down the Sukkah. He prayed for help. And Hashem
listened. Judge Ginsburg, who was Jewish himself, had a reputation of being a
very wise man. After hearing both sides, he turned around to the observant Jew
and scolded him: "Don't you realize that you live on Park Avenue, and
not in Brooklyn? There is a certain decorum which is expected on Park Avenue.
You have no right to be putting up an ugly hut on this lovely street without a
building permit authorizing it. I hereby rule that either you remove the hut, or
I will fine you one thousand dollars. You have exactly eight days to do so!
Next case!"
In Florida, an atheist created a case against
the upcoming Easter and Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a
discrimination case against Christians, Jews and observances of their holy
days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized
days. The case was brought before a judge.
After listening to the passionate presentation
by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring,"Case
dismissed!"
The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the
ruling saying, "Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The
Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur
and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays."
The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But
you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant."
The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are
unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists."
The judge said, "The calendar says April
1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there
is no G-d..' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says
there is no G-d, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is
adjourned!
Herman Goering was interviewed shortly before
the Nuremberg trials. Goering was asked what he believed the outcome of the
trial would be. He immediately told the interviewer that he was sure he would
be found guilty and executed a short while later. The interviewer, shocked that
such a seemingly confident man would be so sure of his demise asked him why he
believed this. Goering looking puzzled by the question responds with. “What
do you mean. You can’t find a half decent lawyer in this country anymore!
A trial for murder is being held and all the evidence
indicate that the defendant is guilty But the body has never been found Just
before the sentence is concluded his astute lawyer stands up and says: "ladies
and gentlement, the deceased will enter the room in a few minutes".
There is a sudden commotion after these things
were said. A few minutes pass then some more and no one has entered the room. After
another couple of minutes the juries leave the room in order to make a
decision. When they return the judge asks if they have come to a decision.
"Yes your honour, we have found the
defendant- guilty of murder".
The defendant's lawyer immediately rises up and
shouts towards them: "how dare you convict my client? Just a couple of
minutes earlier, I told you that the deceased would enter the room and you all
looked towards the door! That proves that you had a reasonable doubt!".
“We would have bought into it if your client
had ever look towards the door".
Little old Yentl had gotten arrested for
stealing a can of peaches from a grocery store. She stood there on trial with
her husband Berel at her side. At the trial, the judge asks her why she stole a
can of peaches. She replies, "Your Honor, my husband and I don't have
much, and we are very poor. I was simply trying to do something about my
hunger."
The judge, feeling sorry for the old lady, asked, "How many peaches
were in the can?"
"6," Sadie responded.
"Then," the judge said, "you will spend one day in
jail for each peach, for a total of 6 days."
"Your Honor," Berel piped up, "she also stole a
can of peas!"
*******************************
Answer
is B -The Kaiser Wilhelm’s visit was
a big deal. They knocked down the Gate that was by Shaar Yaffo so he wouldn’t
have to bend his pointed hat down (see video above). Theodore Herzl came to
Palestine to convince him to support the Zionists efforts to get recognition
from the Turks. He told him that he should support an Israel franchise that
would sell to the Turks. His meeting didn’t turn out the way that he wanted it
to. Rule in life, don’t count on the Germans…
So the answer is imaginably political Zionism although one might want to
argue that it’s practical as well. So the score is now Schwartz 20.5
and 4.5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.
No comments:
Post a Comment