from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
September 16th 2022 -Volume
11 Issue 5 20th of Elul 5782
Parshat Ki Tavo
TYH
I would say it’s probably one of the most
popular and most sung Jewish songs of the last 10 years or so. And it’s not
even one of mine. Not even my Eli-yahoo yahoo song… It’s one of the first ones
my grandson learned and sang. It’s not even that original or ga’onis’dik of a
tune or words. But its one that captured the hearts and souls of the Jewish
nation. It pretty much built the career of the Jewish artist that released it. It’s
a song that even started a whole movement along with bumper stickers logos and
emojis. And it’s one that I’m pretty sure everyone reading here has sung or at
least said the words in some capacity or another. And perhaps even do so once a
week. Any guesses what song I’m talking about?
“Ay tideh dai dai dai… Thank You Hashem. Ay
Tideh dai dai dai Thank You Hashem Thaaaank Yoooouu Hashem!” You hummed
that nicely by the way… It’s amazing isn’t it? How many times have you sung
that song lately? A lot right? Truth is that most songs you even get sick of
after a while. But this one just has something to it in it’s simplicity. In it’s
powerful message. It hits the core of all situations. Things work out for you
unexpectedly our response is Thank You Hashem. Even when things don’t work out
we stop and pause and whereas in the past we might have said Gam zu l’tova- I
hear not a few people responding with the good old TYH. I would even venture to
say that many of Joey Newcombs other songs are all based on this movement,
these lyrics, this idea of getting down to the core of it all. We thank Hashem
for everything. It’s as we all know what a Jew is all about.
We’ve all since we’re children heard the vort
that we are called Yehudim- Jews after the tribe of Judah because the name
Yehuda comes from the word praise. Leah named her fourth child Yehudah because “Now
I can praise Hashem because I received more than my share”. There were four wives
of Yaakov and each one should have had only 3 children to be fair. Yehudah was
her fourth and she thanked Hashem for the extra child. She felt Hashem’s love
more than usual. She recognized that she had gotten a gift. And that’s why
all Jews are called Yehudim. Because that’s
what we’re here for. To bring that message out to world. That all of humanity
and our existence is a gift from Hashem. We are here to recognize and thank Him
for that. You’ve all heard that idea before. Any Rabbi that has given a sermon
anyone that has ever attended a day school or yeshiva was taught that unique
Jewish value. This E-Mail is not to rehash all the same old same old. It’s to
give you something new and different to chew on and enjoy. And then to say wow!
Thank You Hashem for Rabbi Schwartzes weekly E-Mail… And then to say Hmmm…
maybe I should sponsor it one of these weeks…
Well this week we read the Parsha on Ki Tavo.
It’s a fascinating parsha because it has two extremes and they are both looming
in front of us. I thought to myself as I opened up my Chumash that it’s a real appropriate
name for the Parsha to be read annually right before Rosh Hashana because we
all should have a feeling and sense that something big is coming right in front
of us. I know me personally I feel very stressed and pressured because I have a
bunch of tours tourists, arrangements drivers, outsourcing, itineraries and
just hectickeit coming right around the bend in what will be one of the busiest
holiday seasons in the history of Israel. That’s not even to mention all of the
arrangements and preparations for The High Holidays for my shul. My sermons, my
davening, my chazanim, my shofar blower, machzorim and room for all of those attending.
Then we’ve got Sukkos, Kiddushes, Lulav Esrog, Simchas Torah. Oh and did I mention
we’ve got a wedding we’re making coming up followed by a Bar Mitzva a week
later…
OK, to be honest, that’s not really stressing
me as my wife is pretty much entirely taking care of all of that but that’s
what she’s stressed about. Besides all of the meals, our guests an upcoming
grandchild IYH and the arrangements and organization that will all take. The
money everything is costing. Yeah, she’s got it all on her plate as well. It’s
all coming and coming fast like a train in front of us. Ki Tavo Are you getting
just as stressed as I am reading this about all of your stuff going on in this
season. You are, right? You feel it coming. Yet admit, despite all of the
pressure and stress and nerve wracking cloud looming before us- (Oh yeah.. did
I forget to mention that we actually will have a day of judgement and stand
before Hashem and have to do teshuva and may be written in the book of life and
death…? Almost forgot about that…)- But admit it when you thought and think
about all of that, you break out in a tune in your mind. That song? TYH- Thank
you Hashem. Thank you for the brachos. Thank you for the holiday. Thank you for
my family. Thank you for so many tourists and business. Thank You Thank You Thaaank
Youuu Hashem!
Well as I was saying Parshas Ki Tavo also has
two extremes. It starts off with the mitzva, the promise, the fortunate and
incredible tiding that Vhaya ki tavo el ha’aretz- and it will be when we
come to the land that Hashem has promised us. We are coming to Israel! Mazel
Tov! Hava Nagila!! After 40 years in the wilderness and 2000 years of galus
we can finally come home. The mitzva we are commanded is one of Bikkurim. The
first fruits that grow we have to bring to the Beit Hamikdash to Hashem and
sing one song. Can you guess what it is? That’s right. TYH. We have to thank
Hashem for finally bringing us home.
On the other hand, the parsha concludes and
shifts gears when it lists of 98 curses that are looming before us if we don’t
follow the mitzvos of Hashem. It’s not pretty. It’s terrifying, in fact. We’ve
experienced a lot of it. It looms before us as well in the parsha called ki
tavo- it’s coming.
The conclusion and last verse though is an amazing
pasuk that concludes this very polarized and mixed emotional reading.
“And you shall guard the words of this
covenant and fulfil it in order that you will contemplate that which you should
do.”
It’s about understanding and thinking about
why we’re here. That’s what its all about. It’s about life. It’s about Israel.
It’s about everything that happens to us and that stands before us. If we think
about where it comes from. If we understand that Hashem put us on this world to
shout out His song to the world and reveal that everything is from our loving
Father, then we’re good to go. Then we’re living. If on the other hand we are
just having life live us. If we just go through the motions. If we just do
things without contemplation then it’s just miserable. It’s just curse. It’s
not real. It’s rote. It’s fake.
Thanking Hashem for that first fruit is an
amazing mitzva with so many aspects that our Rabbis point out to us. Reb
Chatzkel Levinstein notes how the Talmud tells us that the farmer would tie a
string around that first fruit and there would be a whole preocession and parade
to Jerusalem. They would be greeted by everyone there. He would meet the Kohen.
There would be singing and dancing. And the most amazing thing he says is that this
could technically be all over one little measly fig. It’s just the first fruit
itself- although as we know and recite every morning bikkurim is one of those
things that have no measurement- ein lahem shiur. You can bring a basket full
or wagon full or just one fig. What’s the big deal of the one fig?
Answers Reb Chatzkel. It’s because it’s the
only thing that he has on his field. See, when one brings tithes and teruma ore
even leaves gifts for the poor, he’s got lots of other crops on his field. Here,
there’s nothing else grown yet. Its just that one fig. And the farmer stops and
takes that first and only gift and says “Hashem, that’s for You”. It’s Yours.
It’s my way of saying Thank You for just even bringing me to this land. Thank
You Hashem. That’s meaningful. That’s parade worthy.
The Rav of Karmiel, Rav Margalit, pointed out
and noted something else unique about this mitzva. The Torah tells us that when
this farmer comes to the Beit Hamikdash the Torah tell us that when he makes
his statement of gratitude to Hashem when handing over his fruit to the Kohen V’anisa
v’amarta- he should respond and should say. Rashi says over there that it means
he needs to raise his voice. He needs to say it out loud. He can’t mumble thank
you Hashem. He should sing it. When we thank Hashem it needs to be with
feeling. We’re not just davening. We need to bring out with our full kishkas
and heart.
He gives a mashal that I can say I’m very
familiar with. See, I’m the candy man or candy Rabbi in our shul. I have always
been in the many communities I’ve lived in and congregations I lived in. I want
the little children to know that the Rabbi isn’t a scary figure. He’s the guy
that gives them sweet candies. I also wan the kids to nudge their fathers to
bring them to my shul. The other Rabbis don’t give out candies. It puts me
ahead of the game. By the way, it’s the same reason why I serve a chulent
kiddush every week. The kids who got candies became adults and they want some l’chaim
and chulent as well. But when I give me candies, I have two conditions. One
they say good Shabbos to me first. They need to stick out their hand and say
hello. They need to give me a smile. I want them to look me in the eyes and
realize that I’m giving it to them with love. Sometimes they’ll tell me that
they want one for their brother or sister that is too shy to come on over. That
doesn’t work for me. They have to come themselves. I want to give it to them
personally. I want to shake their hands.
The second
thing is that they need to say thank you. They need to say toda. For that they
also need to look me in the eyes. They can’t just slip their candy in the pocket
and slink away like it never happened. Sometimes if they give a really nice thank
you, I’ll even slip them a second candy. Thank you’s are things that need to be
real. It builds relationship. It makes closeness. It makes us feel good and
cared for. We need to sing it. Otherwise, we’re just slinking away with our
candies.
There’s a famous vort that technically we can
fulfill our obligation of reciting Shemona Esrei with the repetition of the
Chazan that repeats it on our behalf. We just need to pay attention and answer
Amein to his blessings. Yet, there is one blessing that we don’t just say
Amein. That the chazan’s repetition and an Amein isn’t good enough. That’s the
bracha of Modim; the blessing of Thank You Hashem. That we need to do on our own.
That we need to say out loud. That we should sing.
We read this parsha right before Rosh Hashana.
Right before we are going to turn to Hashem and ask Him for life. Reb Yisrael
Salanter says that before we get ask for all of the personal requests the first
thing we always say is zachraynu l’chaim- remember us for life. Life alone is a
gift. We can’t even begin to ask for all of our myriad of personal requests for
health, for parnassa, for forgiveness, for children, for miracles and for
redemption until we first appreciate the gift of life in of itself. Thank You
Hashem for giving me life. It’s the first thing we say every morning. Thank You
for restoring my soul to me. If we appreciate that, that should immediately fill
us with joy. Depression, sadness, anxiety, all of the curses in life. It all
starts the Torah tells us because we didn’t serve Hashem with Simcha. With joy.
Do you know why we don’t serve with joy? Because we didn’t bring Bikkurim with
that first fig. We didn’t say Modeh Ani on that first breath. We don’t realize
the gift we have and have been given. We didn’t sing Thank You Hashem.
It’s not just a song. It’s a an anthem. It’s
an elixir of happiness. It’s our hymn that we were given to teach to the world.
Hashem chose us to be the bandleaders of this song. So click on the link below.
Hold your childrens’ hands by your Shabbos table and start singing. Hodu La’hashem
ki tov ki l’olam chasdo- thank Hashem for He is good and forever is His
kindness. My good friend Sruli Besser in his weekly group shared that someone
pointed out that there are 24 letters and 7 words in that phrase. It’s to
remind us that we should be singing this song 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Aiii tidieh dai daii dai Thaaank Youuu Hashemm...!
Have a song-filled Shabbos
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
This week's Insights and Inspiration is sponsored by my dear friends
and tourists Ovadia and Chanie Waxler on the engagement of their daughter
Layala- who has grown up it seems since I last saw her… to her Bashert Yitzy
Litchfeld the son of Duvie and Shaindy of Boro Park.
Thank You Hashem for this incredible zechus she’hechiyanu v’kiymanu
l’azman hazeh!!
May the young couple be zoche to build a bayis ne’eman b’yisrael
and b’eretz Yisrael!!!
Asach nachas to all of the Bubbies Zaydies and siblings!
Mazel Tov!
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Ven me zol Got danken far guts, volt
nit zein kain tseit tsu baklogen zikh oif shlechts...” - If we
thanked God for the good things, there wouldn’t be time to weep over the bad.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE VIDEO OF THE
WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byo7t9hJXG4
- The song that captured the Jewish world
THANK YOU HASHEM!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0fvHMYmLIw&list=RD-0fvHMYmLIw&start_radio=1&rv=-0fvHMYmLIw&t=20
– Lecha Ailai By Ishai Ribo just perfect Elul
https://youtu.be/v8tQeAatW40?list=RD-0fvHMYmLIw
– Hanan Ben Ari Mashup concert!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTSD2opc47c
– And just as good and perhaps even the prelude the
TYH song is the classic also well loved tov l’hodos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmKmx-ACslg
– And the lead in or prelude to that is of course
the Carlebach Tov Lehodos La’Hashem
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION
OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
12) Many Monumental Catholic
Churches were built by the Architect _________
The common
charachteristic of his designs
A) Excessive colors, many golden mosaics and
icons next to the altar
B) Reenactments of biblical texts incorporating
ancient relics
C) Revival of Byzantine architecture,
highlighting the strength of the East
D) Emphasizing the victory of Christianity over
Judaism through architectural means
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Turning Curse to Blessing- Parshat Ki Tavo- OK we’re gonna get a bit mystical this week. It’s the High
Holiday season and it’s time to get High. We are told that each year we read
the parsha of Ki Tavo that contains the curses or rebuke and terrible
calamities that will befall us if we don’t do teshuva. If we don’t keep the
mitzvos. There are 98 of them in total. Yet the Megaleh Amukos notes that there
676 letters. That number is the gematria of the word Ra’os- bad and is a
reference to the word the verse that Hashem will bring upon on us the tzaros
ra’os- the bad troubles or the 676 troubles if we don’t follow the mitzvos.
Sounds pretty scary. Yet there is a way out and a consolation as well.
The Baal Haturim notes that the
merciful name of Hashem of the yud-keh-vav-keh as well equals 26. The
number 676 he notes is the name of Hashem which is in gematria the number 26
squared or 26 times. Take a guess how many times the name of Hashem appears in
the Tochacha? You got it 26 times. So the secret of how to avoid the
curses is to tap into the name of Hashem, into His mercy. /in fact he says that
the name of Hashem appears 26 times in Shemona Esrei that we daven so
that we know the power of prayer can obviate the curses as well.
To make it even better the
Shvilei Pinchas notes that in the psalm we add for this month of L’dovid
it says Hashem’s name 13 times. We therefore recite it twice a day so again we
have 26 times the 26 of the gematria of the name of Hashem to protect us from
the curses.
Finally the Agra D’kallah notes
something even more fantastic. He tells us based on the Zohar that Shabbos is
in gematria 27 times the name of Hashem. It’s 702. It’s the curses not just
negated but one more extra 26 name of Hashem gematria to turn the curse into
blessing. He explains that it says the curses come it tells us tachas asher
lo avadata es Hashem B’Simcha- instead or under the fact that we didn’t
serve Hashem with happiness. The word Asher is one letter above Shabbos. The
Alef is the letter before Beis, the Shin is the letter before Taf and
the reish is the letter before Shin. Beis, Taf and Shin
rearranged spell Shabbos. Meaning the letters “under” or right after the word “Asher”
is Shabbos. The curses come because we don’t have the joy of Shabbos. We are
missing that joy. But with the joy of Shabbos we can turn them into blessing.
Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnefeld amazingly reveals that kabbalas Shabbos has…
can you guess…? How many words? Yup! 702. We start Shabbos with the songs and
psalms of joy. That’s how we turn the curses. That’s how we get the blessing.
That’s how we reveal Hashem in this world!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES
AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Achav - 724 BC – Perhaps one of the most fascinating figures of the
Kings of Israel and in Navi in general is King Achav. On the one hand we
find that this is a man who cares deeply about the Jewish people. He himself
personally goes out to find water and food for the people during the famine. He fights and leads battles in order to defend Eretz
Yisrael. We find that he’s strict about kosher, he davens, he brings sacrifices, he even repents personally and accepts rebuke. At
the same time we find he remains married to his evil gentile wife Izevel.
He allows her to murder the prophets of Hashem. And he runs after his personal
desires. What’s with this guy?
Fascinatingly enough Rav
Kook in his eulogy on Theodore Herzl notes that the Gemara teaches
us that Achav could’ve have even been considered Mashaich Ben Yosef.
For the role of Mashiach Ben Yosef, the first redeemer before the
Mashiach Ben David is to build and take care of the physical and
material well being of Klal Yisrael. His failing is that he is meant to connect
that to the spiritual well being as well; to the prophets, to Hashem. His
problem is that he doesn’t listen to rebuke, or as Eliyahu says he’s
bouncing in between both doorsteps. He wants his cake and to eat it too. That
is his failure.
Last week we find in the
battle against Ben Hadad, Achav heroically fights and destroys
them, but then he fails and makes a peace agreement. He caves and when he is
rebuked by the prophet Micha he gets upset and can’t see or accept that
he made a mistake. That it wasn’t his place to let them go free. That mood
described as zo’eif and sar- dejected and upset doesn’t let him
accept the rebuke.
This week we again find
that same mood overtake Achav as he covets the vineyard of his neighbour
and cousin Navos Ha’Yizraeeli. When Navos refuses him Achav
is again dejected and upset to the degree that he stops eating. His wife
Jezeebel tells him that she will take care of the problem for him. Now Achav
himself could’ve just as easily taken out Navos. Yet, as we said he
is righteous and frum in that way. Yet, he’s still bouncing. His depression
doesn’t allow him to take control and admit that he gets what he deserves from
Hashem. He doesn’t see the blessings that he has before him and the miracles.
He’s too focused on what he doesn’t have. That is the road to folly. That is
Achav’s downfall.
By Tel Izrae’el
the home of Achav’s former palace we can look out at the vineyards down
below and imagine and appreciate why Achav would want them. Looking from
this incredible vantage point at the valley we can feel his desire. Yet at the
same time we can hear the words of the Navi and this weeks Torah portion of
what will happen when we don’t appreciate what we have. The first mitzva we
have is Bikkurim when we come to Eretz Yisrael to show our appreciation of
Hashem and His gift. It is a mitzva that is done with joy. Joy is the opposite
of dejected, resentment and jealousy. If we have that appreciation, we have
bracha. If not the parsha tells us we have the tochacha. Just misery.
Just a failed Messiah.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE GRATITUDE JOKES OF
THE WEEK
There is
this atheist swimming in the ocean. All of the sudden he sees this shark in the
water, so he starts swimming towards his boat. As he looks back he sees the
shark turn and head towards him. His boat is a ways off and he starts swimming
like crazy. He’s scared to death, and as he turns to see the jaws of the great
white beast open revealing its teeth in a horrific splendor, the atheist
screams, “Oh God! Save me!”
In an
instant time is frozen and a bright light shines down from above. The man is
motionless in the water when he hears the voice of God say, “You are an atheist.
Why do you call upon me when you do not believe in me?”
Aghast with
confusion and knowing he can’t lie the man replies, “Well, that’s true I
don’t believe in you, but how about the shark? Can you make the shark believe
in you?”
The Lord
replies, “As you wish,” and the light retracted back into the heavens
and the man could feel the water begin to move once again.
As the
atheist looks back he can see the jaws of the shark start to close down on him,
when all of sudden the shark stops and pulls back.
Shocked, the
man looks at the shark as the huge beast closes its eyes and bows its head and before
it takes a bit makes the blessing, “Baruch Ata Hashem…
Let's show a
little appreciation for smokers. If it wasn't for them, it would have been many
years until we could have charged our phones in cars.
How do you
show your appreciation towards black holes? Thanks for nothing!
How do
generals show their gratitude to their troops? They give tanks.
Q: What was
the seamstress thankful for on Thanksgiving?
A: Sew much.
Q: How do
you show bananas your gratitude?
A: By saying
“thanks a bunch!”
Q: How do
hot dogs say thank you?
A: Franks a
lot!
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Tank.
Tank who?
You’re
welcome.
I don’t
understand people who say, “I don’t know how to thank you!” Like they’ve never
heard of money.
Thank you
student loans for getting me through university...I don't think I could ever
repay you (and now I don’t have too!)
A preacher
went to visit a member of the community and invited him to come to church
Sunday morning. It seems that this man was a producer of fine peach brandy, and
told the preacher that he would attend his church if the pastor would drink
some of his brandy and admit doing so in front of his congregation. The
preacher agreed and drank up.
Sunday
morning the man visited the church. The preacher recognized the man from the
pulpit and said: “I see Mr. Johnson is here with us this morning. I want to
thank him publicly for his hospitality this week and especially for the peaches
he gave me and the spirit in which they were given.”
A religious
man was thinking about how good his wife was to him, so he prayed to god to
give thanks. To the man’s astonishment, the booming voice of Hashem spoke to
him.
Man: Hashem I’m
so grateful that you gave me my wife. If I may ask, why did you make her so
beautiful?
Hashem: I
made her so beautiful so that you could love her, my son.
Man: And why
did you make her so kind-hearted?
Hashem: I
made as such so that you could love her, my son.
Man: And
God, did you make her such an amazing cook?
Hashem:I
blessed her with the talent of cooking so that you could love her, my son.
Man: Thank
you, Lord, but forgive me but I must ask one more question. Why, God, did you
make her so dumb?
Hashem: I
made her dumb, my son, so that she could Love you.
I don’t
understand people who say, “I don’t know how to thank you!” Like they’ve never
heard of money.
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Answer is C – I debated even putting this question in here. What do you care about Italian churches. What do you care about architects and their places of idolatry. Truth is I deleted most of this information from my brain after I passed my exams. But I figured this column is to give you a feel of what we have to do to become tour guides and how much silly random information we needed to learn. I actually got this one half right- I think. The architect is Antonio Berluzzi. He’s a big one and made lots of churches here, so I remembered him. He’s probably the only one I remember. What the designs and his unique motif was I’m not sure. I guessed it was the incoportation of biblical texts as I knew that was true in some areas. Seeing Torah psalms written in churches is disturbing. But after googling a bit it seems the answer is he was trying to incorporate Roman and Italian stuff in the churches to show that Italy and Rome where he came from has rights politically to Palestine/Israel during the era that he designed this stuff between World War I and II. So I probably would’ve skipped this one but anyways I’ll take a half right on it. And thus the score now is Schwartz 9 and 3 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.
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