from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
August 26th 2022 -Volume
11 Issue 46 29th of Av 5782
Parshat Eikev
Holiday
Vacation
It’s been a long summer Baruch Hashem. The
tourists are back in full force. It’s been non-stop. Day after day, week after
week. It’s beautiful. It’s amazing. It’s like yetizas Mitzrayim. Everyone is
coming. Those that didn’t make it are coming Sukkos. My phone hasn’t stopped
ringing and my whatsapp hasn’t stopped dinging. Am I available? Can I help them
find someone who is? Where should we go? Can you find someone that at least
could help me plan itinerary? The answer to the last question by the way is-
yes. My daughter Shani is amazing at doing itinerary and concierge planning for
all your reservations and trip ideas. She worked for another company for years
until Corona and now is in business for herself. She even hired my next
daughter (the Kalla!) to work for her. My father’s dream of having a family
business is finally happening. But instead of selling metal. We are selling the
Eretz that our Parsha tells us is avaneha barzel- it’s rocks are like
iron.
But I’m getting tired. In the beginning of the
season I was all friendly and nice and patient with my tourists. I’m so excited
to see you. Sure… take your time answering my questions. No problem come an
hour and half late and change up my whole schedule that I planned for you. It’s
alright if you want to daven for three hours by a kever. I’m so happy you’re
here. I’m so happy I’m not on my couch anymore. Here I am Ephraim Schwartz at
your service. Yeah… that was a few months ago. Now just get in the car and
let’s move. Answer my questions quickly it’s hot outside. If you want to daven-
that’s fine. But I have to get home before 3:00 AM after I drive you back to
Jerusalem and then come back up North again- so why don’t you just daven that
your tour guide doesn’t leave you here by the kever and pick you up tomorrow
morning. You can have an all nighter. It’s a really bug segula. Trust me, I
know. I’m a Rabbi. I would never make anything up.
But vacation is over the horizon. It’s a week
and a half away. You all go back and I take out my tzimmer that I go to up in
the western Galile and sit in Jacuzzi and overlook the magnificent mountains
and the sunset over the Sea and I don’t even have to point it out to you or
anyone. There’s nobody to talk to. I’m there by myself for a day or two until
the family comes up for Shabbos. It’s just me, Hashem and His land that he gave
me the privilege to live in, to guide in, to make my parnassa once again from.
And I just want to be alone with that thougt. And not talk to anyone for three
days. Then I’m good again. I’m recharged. I’m ready for the Sukkos mad rush.
For my High Holiday season in my shul. I’m almost there. My vacation is around
the corner. I need as the English say a “Holiday”. I’m all ready for it.
Which kind of brings me to this week’s Parsha.
I say kind of because I really just had to put it out there as this is my
weekly venting spot, and then I have to find a parsha connection to make it all
work. The science of a Rabbi Schwartz E-Mail. Well this week’s Parsha is all
about tour guiding, as I note every year. It’s all about Hashem selling Eretz
Yisrael to the nation. He gives us a guided tour of a land of milk and honey,
of streams coming out of the hills and valleys, of agriculture and of quarries
and holy sites. He then tell us that he as well is looking forward to His
holiday season that follows this. In fact this week we bless the upcoming month
of Elul when we begin our preparations for the High Holidays and it is as well
the only place in the entire Torah where Rosh Hashana is mentioned as the
beginning or “Head” of the year. Before I tell you where this is let’s pause
and see if you can figure out where?
Ok. Time’s up. I’m hungry and as I said I have
no patience anymore. I have to take a nap after my tour today before Shabbos
comes in and I have to daven for the tzibur (because everyone else is either
too slow or too fast or they sing too much or not enough for me. It’s hard
being the only one who knows how to do it right). So the answer is in quite a
not obvious place. The parsha tells us.
Devarim (11:10) Because the land that we
are coming to inherit is not like the land of Egypt from where we came… It is a
land of hills and valleys that will drink rain water. It is a land that Hashem
our God seeks after it tamid- always; mei’reishis ha’shana ad
acharis shana- from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.
Did you get that? From the beginning of the
year. Rashi notes, that is a reference to Rosh Hashana. In fact it’s the only
time where it is called the head of the year. The truth is it really doesn’t
even make that much sense here in that context, as a second before it says
Hashem seeks it out always. Constantly. Well, if it is constant, then what is
the year-to-year thing? I thought it’s always. So Rashi explains that every
year Hashem seeks out on Rosh Hashana what the land needs for good times and bad
times. By the way this is the prelude to the 2nd paragraph of Shema
that we recite twice daily. It’s all about Eretz Yisrael. That’s what Rosh
Hashana is all about. That’s what everything really is about. The holiday
season has begun.
There is a fantastic medrash yalkut
that says that Hashem wanted to make a holiday every month of the summer. In
Nissan we have Pesach, Iyar we have Pesach Sheini, Sivan we have Shavuos,
Yet in Tamuz we would’ve had Rosh
Hashana and Av would be Yom Kippur. Yet because we sinned we lost the holidays
of Tamuz and Av. When we did teshuva in Elul we got them back and Hashem packed
them all into the month of Tishrei. Now you understand why we have so many
holidays in one month. The Panim Yafos though makes a fascinating revelation
based on this. He asks the question of how Rosh Hashana could be in Tamuz.
Isn’t it supposed to be the anniversary of when the world was created? Where
does Tamuz fit in? And what is Yom Kippur doing in the month of Av for that
matter as well?
He answers that Rosh Hashana isn’t the
anniversary of the creation of the world. That took place on the 25th
of Elul. Rosh Hashana is the anniversary of the birth of Man. It’s the 6th
day of Creation when Adam was created. That being the case, he says, it makes
sense that it would therefore be in Tamuz. For on the 17th day of
Tamuz when Moshe came down with the tablets we would’ve then had the Torah. We
would’ve been born anew. We would’ve rectified the sin of Adam. We could’ve
rebuilt and once again shined the light of Hashem back in the world. We
would’ve restored the world to paradise; to Gan Eden.
11 days after that 17th of Tamuz we
would’ve then entered Eretz Yisrael. It would’ve been Rosh Chodesh Av. When we
enter the land we are told V’Chipeir admoso amo- the Jewish nation achieves
atonement by being in the land of Israel. All our sins would’ve been forgiven.
We were almost there but then we sinned. The 17th of Tamuz became a
fast day and Tisha B’Av is a day of eternal mourning. We lost it. We have a
packed month of Tishrei instead. And our summer…. It’s a time to recapture and
get into the mode of appreciating the beauty and love for Eretz Yisrael. It’s a
land that Hashem is always looking at from Rosh Hashana. It’s the months when
we can once again get back to paradise if we understand two things.
The first thing is that this is the place that
we need to be. Not Egypt. Not Boro Park. Not Lakewood. Not Detroit or what my
father calls the other Jerusalem Boca and Century Village. It’s here. That’s
the destination.
The second thing and perhaps even more
important than the first is why we’re here. It’s all about fulfilling the
mitzvos here. It’s here and only here where those mitzvos have meaning and
connect to the source. Rashi tells us Hashem looks at Eretz Yisrael and it’s
here where he shines out the light and passes His decrees out to the rest of
the world from. It’s based on our connection here. It’s based on how much light
we shine out from here. It’s the mitzvos we do here, the Torah we learn here,
the shemitta we keep here, the Shabbos and holidays we celebrate here. The
summertime, these months are the holiday months to learn those lessons and to
internalize them. And klal Yisrael is getting it finally more and more and more
Baruch Hashem.
So yes, Rabbi Schwartz needs a holiday. But
the truth is do you know who else does? Our Father in heaven. Every year
parshas Eikev the week when we bless the upcoming month of Elul this week He
reminds us of that Rosh Hashana the way it was meant to be. The time it’s
supposed to be. He’s waiting for that Shofar blast that we will start after
next Shabbos to be the one that not only wakens up but rather that heralds in
our redemption. I’ll be sitting in my Jacuzzi overlooking the mountains of the
Galil and the sunset over the Mediterranean as well waiting for that blast.
Hashem will be hanging with me as well. Our vacation is almost over. It’s time
for the real holidays to begin.
Have an uplifting and invigorating Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
WE’RE BACK IN MISHPACHA!
After a few months of busy tour guiding hiatus was
finally able to get out the long awaited
MISHPACHA MAGAZINE
Tour guiding column
Check out this week’s edition and column as I explore the
Golan and Gilead region along Syrian borders of Israel. It’s this week’s parsha
as well- how incredibly timely.
Click here to read article
https://mishpacha.com/lookout-for-peace/
share, comment, let me know what you think, tell them how
much you missed me and enjoy a taste of Eretz Yisrael with your favorite weekly
tour guide Rabbi
***********************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Kirtser geshlofen, lenger gelebt..”- The less you sleep, the more you get out
of life.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE VIDEO OF THE
WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/kum
- It’s Bein Hazmanim! Vacation time! Atime for hikes and to explore Hashem’s
country he gave us. In honor of that I
give you my latest and perhaps even most geshmak composition yet! Kum! Sung and
arranged by the amazing Dovid Lowy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itz81F8Ug5A
– Beri Weber’s
latest video release Chag Samayach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG0lbfGUpwU
– Yakov Shwekey’s two realeases
two weeks in a row. This one is Baruch
Hashem it’s Shabbos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NZRLrarukQ
– Very excited by this sampler
of Naftali Kempeh’s upcoming Elul Zman release
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Y4GtbAKmw
– and getting into the Elul Mode Wake Up yidden from
8th Day and the Thank You Hashem Crew!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
7) The majority of the
water supply at Masada was stored in _________
Their source
was from
A) the rainwater that fell on the mountain
B) From the springs of Ein Gedi that were
transported through aqueducts
C) From underground fresh water springs by the
Dead Sea
D) Flood waters that were directed and brought
via aqueducts to the mountain
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Awesome Shabbos- Parshat Eikev- The parsha this week tells us about the mitzva to have fear or
awe of God. Moshe describes this central mitzva in seemingly a very easy way.
Mah Hashem elokecha sho’el
mei’imcha ki im l’yirah as Hashem- What does Hashem ask of you
only to fear Him and to follow in his ways.
This doesn’t seem like such an
easy mitzva. Our sages even note that maybe for Moshe it’s an easy thing but
for us mere flesh and blood mortals that never spoke to Hashem and went up to
heaven as he did this does not seem like such a small task?
The Chasidic commentaries note
from the Baal Shem Tov that the Torah is referring to a specific time of year
when this easy. Do you know when it is? It’s in the mah days- the 45 days (the
gematria of the word “What” does Hashem ask of you). Those 45 days are from the
15th of Av until Rosh Hashana. The days of awe. The days when the
King is out in the field. The day when we can experience Hashem like no other.
During this time of year it is the easiest to be in awe of the greatness of
Hashem.
Similarly our sages tell us that
the word Bereishis- the first word of the Torah and creation is the same
letters as the words Yarei Shabbos- the awe of Shabbos. Shabbos is that day
when as well we stand in awe of our Creator. We recall how He created the world
each week. How He took us out of Egypt. How he gives us this weekly reminder
that He is in control of everything and we are here to fulfill His will.
Particularly these Shabbasos when we are within this 45 days of Awe we need to
tap into that feeling. We need to internalize the awesomeness of the day and
His love for us. If we do than we will finally see the day which is Kulo
Shabbos.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES
AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Elisha- 724 BC – After the rebuke of Hashem to Eliyahu, Hashem
pretty much relieves him of his duty. He gives Eliyahu some jobs to
anoint those that would restore and avenge the deaths of the prophets of Hashem
and try to get us back into shape. But in the end he will not fulfil those
roles. It will be his successor and primary student. Elisha Ben Shafat.
Who was this Elisha?
It’s not clear from the text exactly what tribe he was from. Rashi suggests he
was from tribe of Gad, Tosafos suggests that perhaps he was a Kohen. Eliyahu
meets him on his way to Damascus which quite a distance from Sinai
where he was at. If he was from the tribe of Gad which is located in Jordan
today, if that was the case it would be on the way.
Our introduction to
Elisha is that he is plowing with 12 oxen. Our sages see much symbolism in
that as is quite obvious. The number 12 is an easy give away. Elisha is
meant to bring the people under the yoke of Hashem. As well they point out that
Elisha comes from a wealthy family. 12 oxen aren’t cheap. When Eliyahu
passes by him he throws his cloak upon him. Elisha realizing this is a n
opportunity of a lifetime begs Eliyahu to allow him to say good-bye to
his family. He’s ready to go. But Eliyahu tells him that if he really
wants the job then he has to leave everything behind. Without even blinking an
eye. Elisha slaughters the 12 oxen and makes a feast for all the poor.
He’s ready to go. And it was a good move. For as we will see in many ways
Elisha even exceeded Eliyahu in the miracles and acts that he
performed.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE VACATION JOKES OF
THE WEEK
It would be
great if I could take a 6-month vacation. Twice a year!
When you
start looking like the person in your driving license, you know it’s time for a
vacation.
A New York
Yid left the snowy city for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business
trip in Atlanta and was planning to join him in Florida the next day. When
Yaakov reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail.
Unable to
find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his
best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his
note was directed instead to an elderly Rebbitzin whose husband had passed away
only the day before. When the grieving Rebbitzin checked her e-mail, she took
one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor
dead.At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the
screen:
Dearest
Wife,
Just got
checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
Your
Loving Husband
P.S.: Sure
is hot down here.
As soon as Izzy
got home from work one evening, his wife Becky came up to him and said, "Izzy,
our au pair has stolen two of our towels."
"Oh,
really," said Izzy, not looking very interested, "that wasn't a nice
thing to do."
"You're
right it wasn't," said Becky, "they were the best towels we had, the
two we got from the Hilton Eilat while we were on vacation last year."
A travel
agent in Boca Raton Florida looked up from his desk to see an old lady and an
old gentleman peering in the shop window at the posters showing the glamorous
destinations around the world. Business had been great for the agent that week
and the dejected couple looking into the window gave him a rare feeling of
generosity.
He called
them into his shop and said, "I know that on your pension you could
never hope to have a holiday, so I am sending you off to a fabulous resort at
my expense, and I won't take no for an answer."
He took them
inside and asked his secretary to book two flight tickets and a room in a five
star hotel. They, as can be expected, gladly accepted, and were on their way.
About a
month later the little lady, Adela Diamond came in to his shop. "And
how did you like your holiday?" he asked eagerly.
"The
flight was exciting and the room was lovely,"
she said. "I've come to thank you. But, one thing puzzled me. Who was
that old guy I had to share the room with?"
Where do
sharks go on summer vacation? Finland!
Why can’t
basketball players go on summer vacation? They’d get called for traveling!
Where do
eggs go on summer vacation? New Yolk City!
Where did
the sheep go on vacation? The Baa-hamas!
Why did
Humpty Dumpty have a great fall? To make up for his miserable summer.
Where do
ants go for vacation? Frants
When math
teachers go on vacation, where do they go? To Times Square.
When crayons
go on vacation, where do they go? Color-ado!
Where do
bees go on vacation? Stingapore!
Teacher: Berel
please use the words “letter carrier” in a sentence.
Berel: Yes,
ma’am. “My dad said that after seeing how many things my mom was bringing on
vacation, he would rather letter carrier own luggage.”
The man
behind the counter in El Al was arguing with Yankel: “But sir, your ticket
is a child’s ticket! You must be at least 19 years of age to travel with it!”
Yankel said
“You see how horribly long your delays are? You should be ashamed!”
Little Chaim’l
returned to school after the summer break. He only had two days before his
teacher called his mother to inform her of his misbehavior.
“Wait just a
minute,” she said. “I had Chaim’l with me for three months and didn’t call
you once when he misbehaved, why won’t you do the same for me?”
********************************
Answer
is D - So this one was a tricky one. I really went
back and forth on it a bit and ended up putting down the wrong answer. This is
despite the fact that I was at Masada this past week (for the first time in a
while and guided there!). Part A of the question was easy. The water was stored
in water cisterns that were carved into the mountain and then brought up through
the water gate. Part 2 was tricky though. Because there really is two answers.
On the one hand the answer that I gave which was A is that the water that
landed on the mountain did go down into cisterns and they even carved gutters
into the mountain to gather it all, so that not a drop was wasted. As well
however there was water that was diverted from the flood waters of the Nachal
Ben Yair and Masada down below that was directed by aqueducts into the mountain
itself and were brought up to the mountain from the cisterns in the mountain.
That was the correct answer I believe. Perhaps since that answer also includes
the mountain water that flowed down into those aqueducts into the mountain they
like that answer better. I don’t know. I think its arguable. Especially since
the model on Masada shows the water from the top of the mountain being more so
than the ones brought frm the Nachal. Anyway, regardless it’s a huge
engineering feat. Over 10 million gallons of water filled those cisterns
annually. That’s huge and it filled all Herods Swimming pools, bathhouses and
fountains. So I got half on this one and
the so the score now is Schwartz 6.5 and 1.5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.
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