Karmiel

Karmiel
Our view of the Galile

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Goyish- Parshat Shoftim 2022/ 5782

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

September 2nd 2022 -Volume 11 Issue 47 6th of Elul 5782

 

Parshat Shoftim

Goyish

 

Why do you dress like that?” I asked them. I was in one of my end of summer modes where I’m just ready to pick fights with my tourists. Don’t get me wrong I love Chasidim. I have plenty of Chasidish blood in me and I come from very haymish roots, my grandfather being close to the Tosher Rebbe and Reb Hersheleh of Spink. I even wear a gartel on Shabbos-when I remember. But I wanted to make a point. An important point, that I think most people don’t get. Particularly American Chasidim and Chareidim.

 

 “So what is it?”, I asked them. “What’s with the Shtreiemel, the frock, the white socks? Why don’t you dress like everyone else?” By the way this is not only a question for chasidim. You gotta love these cool litvaks that think they dress normal and fancy, like they walked out of GQ, when the truth is that they pretty don’t really fit in as well. Some have the tzitzis sticking out, others have their black hats which they think look pretty cool especially when they wear them on a tilt. Nobody told them that hats went out in the 50’s already. So, they’re also wearing out of date clothing that make them stand out and that really is not trendy to anybody but their chevra in yeshiva.

 

 Now the honest answer to why they’re wearing this clothing is that ironically enough they think it looks cool, . They think that the shtreimel with the hairs standing up are really cool. The beketcheh with the funny little designs- that’s not mamash black but a little tinge off-black and it even has some cute little flower design on it if you look really hard.are "chikav".  Or how about that tiny rimmed small black hat that really was made for a Bar Mitzva boy that you’re wearing? C’mon, do you really think you look cool in it? That would be the honest answer to why you’re wearing them. It has nothing to do with tradition, with religion, or with Hashem. It’s just about the yeshivish or chasidish fashion statement of the time. But nobody will admit that.

 

 My tourists fumfeh a bit. Well... it’s about not dressing like the goyim. It’s about tradition. It’s about keeping the customs of our ancestors…they mumble. I don’t buy it, I tell them. I think it’s much much holier than that. From the way that I understand it, the reason why we dress differently and even in yeshivos why our Rabbis put such an emphasis on wearing your hat and jackets so much, is so that we remember that we are not them. We are not like the people in the street. We are Hashem’s holy nation. We are exiled here. This is not our home. We are foreigners. We want to remember that always, and it will help stop us from assimilating. From thinking we are just like them. From doing the things that they do and going the places they go. We don’t belong here, and we want to remind ourselves that we stand out like a sore thumb.

 

 My tourists nod their head in agreement. It makes sense. They’ve heard that before. They know it’s an important value. They’ve now fallen into my trap. Well, if that’s true, I continue, then perhaps you can explain to me why you feel more comfortable walking around on 5th Avenue in the Diamond district, or in your tenements and buildings in the Bronx or your nursing homes in who knows what hole in the country you found them in Mississippi or in Tennessee than you feel when you’re walking around here in Eretz Yisrael. Why do you come here and feel that you can’t wait to get back to “your” normal country where they bag your groceries and thank you for shopping in Walmart? Where they speak “your” language, where they understand and share "your" mentality. Where you feel like you’re at home even in your funny white socks. But here, the holy land, the land that all of your ancestors dreamed of coming to, the only place where your neshoma really has a connection to, the only place where any mitzva you do really has any meaning. Why over here do you feel like you don’t belong. That it’s not your country. That you’re a foreigner.

 

Now don’t give me any baloney, about non-religious Jews, or anti-religious governments, or about scary Arabs and fears of your kids going to the army. Please… They’re killing Jews all over the place in the US. The goyim there will continue and only escalate the rapidly growing antisemitism rate that’s increasing exponentially each year. You’re smart enough to know that America isn’t different than everywhere else we’ve lived in 2000 years of Galus. That “Never Again” is “always again’. You have an updated passport “just in case” or for when that day happens eventually. Agudas Yisrael lobbying and frum congressman and the OU and shmearing all the politicians isn’t going to make much of a difference, and neither is the pizza you brought to the local Fire Station or the money you gave to the Police Benevolent Society – which helps you get off of speeding tickets. They’re making the same “gezeiros” against education over there, and it’s the frum guys that aren’t letting your kids into the right schools anyways. It's not even the Goyim.  Yeah…You really shouldn’t be feeling at home there. You’re even wearing the funny clothing to remember that. Think about that next time you put on your shtreimel or Borsalino.

 

But the problem and perhaps the biggest problem we’ve always suffered from is that we forget how special and different we are. How much we are not like them. How pretty much the worst thing you once were able to call a Jew is a “goy”. You look like a “goy”. You dress like a “sheigitz”. I think the English for some reason call them a “yuk” or a “beitz”. I never really understood where that comes from. It’s not a modern-day problem. It’s always been our problem. The Yiddish phrase is “vi tzi kristaltzach-yiddletzach”- what goes on in the goyish world eventually permeates and makes its way into our world. In most cases we even out-do them. We become more Goyish, more Greek, more Roman, more Spanish, more German, more patriotic American Yankee Doodle with our BBQ’s and flags than they do. And unfortunately for us, Hashem has to always send us reminders, because the funny clothes doesn’t seem to workto remind us that we really don’t belong there. We really are not like them. We really need to come home.

 

 This week’s parsha repeatedly, perhaps more than any parsha, keeps hitting this theme home again and again. Right at the beginning of the Parsha we start off with the need to set up judges and enforcement officers that are different than them. There are no bribes, no showing favoritism, it’s not about who has the better lawyer or deeper pockets. It’s about pursuing real true righteous justice. Judges that are tzadikim, courts that have no political influences. This is the trick, Moshe tells us, to inheriting and uplifting the land.

 

Right next to that it tells us not to plant trees next to our Beis Hamikdash where the court sits and not to worship in the style of the goyim on a one stone altar. This is despite the fact that our forefathers did it that way interestingly enough… It was the mesorah… It was tradition. But guess what? It became goyish. And we Jews don’t do the goyish thing. In fact the Maharam Shick writes that we shouldn’t even plant trees near shul for that reason. We certainly don’t put flowers on a grave. Goyish is bad and we Jews have to stop looking and learning from them how to do things.

 

 It continues and continues this theme. Don’t bring sacrifices with blemishes even ones that are passing and that go away. Interestingly enough, the Talmud tells us that it was this precise law in the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza that caused the destruction of the Temple when the Caesar sent an offering with that type of blemish and the Jews refused to bring it. For goyim blemishes are not a problem. Their sacrifices don’t have to be perfect. For us Jews that have a perfect God our sacrifices can be nothing but the best.

 

It then tells us about Jews that worship like the goyim do and how when they try to sell their politically correct ideology to us and get us to join them we need to kill them. We should have no tolerance for Jews that try to make us like goyim. It’s too dangerous. We’re too susceptible.

 

 Even when we try to set up our own “government” the Torah tells us be careful that what we do shouldn’t be like the goyim. Don’t look to them to have a king like theirs. Ours has to have a Torah with him all the time. He can’t be too rich. He can’t have too many horses. He can’t even have too many wives. We’re not looking for Henry the 8th. Even Shlomo Hamelech fell into the goyish trap of this one. The man had 1000 wives. If you make a cheshbon he was in sheva brachos every week of his life. Most of them were idolators. Stay away from goyim. Don’t become goyish. Even if you’re the smartest person in the world.

 

It keeps going and going. When we come to the land don’t fall into the trap of all of the narishkeit of the goyim. Don’t try to figure out the future. Don’t sacrifice your kids on the altar of whatever religious or politically correct mishigas their society is telling you is common place. Don’t pay any attention to any of their pundits or future tellers and yay or nay sayers about what will be, what has to be, what should be. Stop listening to the stupid radio talk show hosts. It’s all baloney. We have Hashem. We work with faith. We don’t need to know what will happen because we know that whatever will be is good. It’s from our Father. It’s not from whoever is elected. It’s not from the President. It’s not from my man in congress. It’s not from the United Nations. It’s not even from Bibi and certainly not Lapid but not even from the Chareidi or religious parties. Tamim tihiyeh im Hashem elokecha- stop being so busy with all the future things that might happen if you don’t listen to what they’re telling you to do.

 

 Goyim have prophets. We have them too. Or we used to at least. But we also have fake ones that are like goyim. So stay away from anything that sounds sketchy. That sounds goyish. Oh and kill the ones that you know are false. They’re a danger. Because in general they will play on our biggest weakness to try to make us like the goyim. To try to make us comfortable in the goyish ways we’ve picked up. They tell us that we’re good Jews still and Hashem is happy with us and doesn’t mind so much if we don’t follow His ways. If we ignore some of the important commandments, like idolatry, like Greek culture, like lashon hara and sinas chinam, like staying in Boro Park, Monsey and Lakewood and not moving to Eretz Yisrael. Chutz la’aretz is not so bad. It’s not so important to move to the land Hashem promised us and told us to live in… The koach ha’torah will protect us.  Uhh.. huh…Yeah.. that’s worked out really well for us in the past…

 

There’s an amazing mitzva that’s thrown in here of lo sasig gevul rayacha- don’t encroach on your neighbor’s field. Rashi notes that the Torah already told us that it’s prohibited to steal, what’s this additional mitzva? He says that this additional one of stealing your neighbors land is only applicable in Israel. If you build on your neighbor’s field in America or in Monsey, you won’t be violating this prohibition. (although it’s still stealing). Why? Because guess what? It’s not really your land. It’s the goys. It’s their country that you just happened to be stuck in. Don’t ever make the mistake that you really have any real property rights on it in this regard. They can and probably will throw you out pretty soon. Only in Eretz Yisrael, the land you were meant to inherit is the land sacredly yours. Only here does it really make a difference if someone moves his fence an inch or two onto the border of your lot. Because here every inch only you can uplift. Only your neshoma can bring down the shechina to. Over there it’s just a tenting campground until the next step in your galus. Until you make it home. Don’t ever forget that in your shtreimel and black hat.

 

I’m not going to continue. You should go on yourselves and read the rest of the parsha. Make sure to spend time reading about how we should wipe out all of the goyim in Eretz Yisrael and all of our enemies that don’t make peace with us. That don’t come over to our team. We are the light of the world. The world we are meant to create that will shine out the light of Hashem to needs to be built on the foundation that we have that light. They are meant to be taking tips from us on how to receive it. We approach the High Holidays in this month of Elul. On the first day of Rosh Hashana, Hashem will judge us. The judgement on us is what will impact the rest of the worlds on the 2nd day of Rosh Hashana. But this is the month to remember who we are and what rests on our shoulders. The clothing we wear may not be enough of a reminder. It’s time to get on the royal garments the nation of the King should be wearing. His coronation is right around the corner.          


Have a super duper Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz


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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Oifen goniff in a tsilinder brent nit dos hittel.” - A thief with connections is not self-conscious..

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/lulay-heamanti-kavey  -  In honor of Chodesh Elul please enjoy my Elul Song that we will be reciting and you can sing all month long lulay hemanti

 

https://youtu.be/_wGZ6jVYH5Q  – In Breslav brent a fire…by Reb Yoel Roth for those thinking about Uman this year…

 

https://youtu.be/hin_J0qUV9s   Chaim Moshe Rechnitz with Moshie Mendlowitz Lo Eshkocheich

 

https://youtu.be/dsV06dl-3vQ   Beautiful rendition of the Viznitz Odeh by Motti Shteimetz by Dirshu

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V32CTcCBVU     Very Excited for my good friend Dovid Lowy’s newest EP release with 5 amazing songs. Take a listen…

 

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

10)  Area E1 is found in the   _________  region

The Palestinian Authority’s objection to building in this area is because

A)  It breaks the continuity between North and South of their territory

B)  Fear of losing out on employment opportunities by the Dead Sea Hotel District

C)  They believe it is the holy burial site of a Muslim leader

D)  It interrupts the continuity of their territory between the area of Beit Lechem and Yericho

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

 

Just Because- Parshat Shoftim There is probably no mitzva that is elaborated on in the Torah as much as Shabbos. There are myriads of laws, both positive and negative commandments. There are customs, rabbinic decrees. It’s all over the Torah. It is a day to remember Creation, it is a day to remember our Exodus from Sinai. Our foods recall the Manna in the wilderness, we remember the sacrifices in the Temple and pray for it once again. It is the sign and covenant and special bond between us and Hashem. As I said there is so much to every second and nuance of Shabbos, yet fascinatingly enough the Torah describes it as a Chok- a decree without a reason.

 

The Nesivos Shalom quotes the Rashba who notes that in this week’s Torah portion we are given the mitzva of Tamim Tihyeh Im Hashem elokecha- we should be pure and complete with Hashem. We serve and follow His mitzvos without question. Without explanation. Because He told us to. Sure, there are reasons and great idea behind everything and we are meant to find meaning in the mitzvos we do. But at the end of the day the reasons in Hebrew are called ta’amim- tastes of the actual thing. The essence of all of the mitzvos are really very far beyond us. Shabbos is the greatest example of that.

 

The Rav of Kobrin says that the Torah tells us that Shabbos is a sign between us and Hashem- l’olam- forever and for the world. But that is only the external aspect of it. It’s true essence is hidden in the Beit Genizai of Hashem. The hidden storehouses. We observe Shabbos primarily for one reason. Hashem told us to. We are tamim ito- we are pure and simple faithed with Him. We follow His will unquestionably, for He is the source of all life and that’s what He put us here to do. Observing Shabbos on that simple and purest way brings us the greatest blessing. It is what keeps us eternal. It is what reveals more than anything else Hashem’s presence in the world, in our nation and in the reluctance for Jews to ever abandon that god give role.

 

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

 

Aram Wars - 724 BC – Arabs talk big, but when push comes to shove, they don’t stand a chance against the Nation of Hashem. This is particularly true when Hashem is on our side and is out to show off some miracles. That’s when it really gets fun. This is true today, by the way and was true back then as well. Ben Hadad, the King of Aram made all of these threats against Israel and Achav and surrounded the city of Shomron. The prophet Michayahu Ben Yimla however assures Achav that he will win the battle miraculously with just the youth of the officers- the little untrained soldiers. Achav himself would lead them into battle. All of the rest could take it easy. The war would be a simple one. It would be a miracle.

 

Sure enough Achav takes 232 men and another 7000 soldiers to fight against Ben Hadad and the 32 other kings of Canaan that joined him for this battle. They numbered over 100,000. Ben Hadad was drinking and mocking demanding that his soldiers bring back the Jews and Achav alive. He wanted to humiliate us. He didn’t dream that he would be fleeing a few hours later. But in fact that’s exactly what happened. The Jews destroyed all of their army, their tanks (chariots) in an incredible win. Ben Hadad flees back to Syria but as the prophet Michayahu warns Achav- he will be back again. Sure enough they come back a second time.

 

The second battle takes place though in the plains by the city of Afeik. Afeik is a central location not far from Petach Tikva and Rosh Ha’ayin of today. There’s a national park there called Tel Afeik and it was a city that goes from the early caveman period where they found lots of remains, the Egyptian and Canaanite period where there was all types of writings and inscriptions found and it was even built up later in the Roman 2nd Temple period by Herod who named the city after his father Antipatrus. I really haven’t visited there much to be honest, but I do remember in my tour guiding course it was an impressive site. Although I don’t think you see much there., there were certainly many historic battles that took place there.

 

Ben Hadad assumed that Hashem’s power is only on mountains and hills like Har Sinai or the Temple Mount. Little did he know Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere. Once again, the Navi tells Achav he will be victorious and sure enough they are. Ben Hadad flees and decides to do the typical Arab thing. He figures he’ll appeal to the Jewish mercy and guilt us into good conditions. Jews are always uncomfortable with victory. We feel more at home with persecution and receiving our undue punishments. We have a hard time wrapping our brain around the idea that we really deserve to win. The land is really ours. It’s a mistake we make again and again and next week we’ll find out the consequences of this battle and victory.

 

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE FASHION JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

A fat fashion designer found a time machine one day.Thinking about how many opportunities of discovery await him, he went inside and clicked a button. He soon found himself in ancient Rome.

He noticed all the plebs wearing cool ancient clothes so he quickly went to the nearest shopping centre. Being fat himself, he asked the shopkeeper if they can sell him XL shirts.

That question made the shopkeeper curious, thus he asked the designer:

“Do you really want to purchase that many shirts?”

(it took me twice to get that one…)

 

Did you hear about the fashion designer who was on the phone while driving and nearly got into an accident? It was a clothes call.

 

Why can't fashion designers play uno? Because they always draw a cardigan.

 

What do you call a fashion designer that rejects everything? Calvin Deklein.

 

2020's fashion was really terrible. Probably because nobody had any taste

 

COVID is like fashion…

We started hearing about it in Italy…

Became popular in LA and NYC…

Florida ignored it…

And it was all made in China in the end.

 

How many trainers will it take to teach Tommy fashion design? None. Hilfiger it out..

 

Never talk to me about fashion. It just goes in one year and out the other.

 

My doctor really likes my choice of sensible footwear...I overheard him telling his colleague that I had "Serious healthy shoes".

 

Little old Yankel gets on a crowded city bus, every seat filled. A tough looking goy with a lot of prison tattoos is kicking his feet onto the seat opposite him, keeping it from being used. Yankel waddles over says 'scuze me' and pushes the tough bloke's legs off the seat.

Agitated, the tough bloke starts pointing to the prison tats on his face and says 'You know what these mean, little man?'

Yankel nods in a knowing fashion "means you got caught"

 

A guy goes into a bar wearing a shirt open at the collar, and is met by a bouncer who tells him he must wear a necktie to gain admission. So the guy goes out to his car and he looks around for a necktie and discovers that he just doesn't have one.

He sees a set of jumper cables in his trunk. In desperation he ties these around his neck, and manages to fashion a fairly acceptable looking knot and lets the ends dangle free. He goes back to the restaurant and the bouncer carefully looks him over, and then says, "Well, OK, I guess you can come in - just don't start anything."

 

I once met someone who refused to talk to people unless the conversation was about fashion.

He was very clothes minded.

 

My lawyer has such a good sense of fashion, he wins every court case

 

Where do fashionable ghosts shop? Bootiques.

 

Why do the clothes in Beauty and the Beast look so old-fashioned? Tailors old as time…OYY…

 

What do you call yoshka at a fashion show? A Cross Dresser…. YES!!

 

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Answer is A - Yeah this one I definitely would’ve skipped and the truth is I really should be ashamed of myself. I should’ve known this. It’s important information. And I I do drive by there regularly. I guess I just didn’t pay attention or think too much about the formal name of this area and so I didn’t connect the two. I will from now on. So anyways, this area is right outside of Yerushalayim by Mevaseret Adumim and Maaley Adumim. This is where the fights are going on about the Bedouin building and construction and the Jewish settlement as well. It’s called E1 because it’s East of Jerusalem. The Israeli want this area which is over the green line to be part of Israel and to expand the settlements there to enlarge Jerusalem. The arabs on the other hand see this as being smack in middle of their territory of what would ever be an Palestinian State separating the Shomron in the North and the Midbar Yehuda region in the South. I got this one wrong. I randomly guessed Dead Sea area and then went with the Jericho Bethlehem thing.  So the score now is Schwartz 7.5 and 2.5  for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.

 

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