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 So, they’re also wearing out of date clothing that make them stand out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
************************
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!!
********************************
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment