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Friday, January 20, 2023

Who Knows Four? - Parshat Va'eira 2023 5723

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

January 20th 2023 -Volume 12 Issue 14 27th of Tevet 5783

 

Parshat Va’eira

Who Knows Four?

 

I’m not a numbers person. I find them confusing. They’re boring. They’re too specific. There’s no room for the imagination. Math was my worst subject. Chemistry was a not too far second. There are too many rules. I’m don’t like rules, which makes is it kind of interesting that I became a Rabbi. Maybe it’s because I wanted to be the guy that has to inspire others about the many rules of the Torah, rather than the one that just dogmatically follows them. I’m not the dogmatic type either.

 

Yet, one of the nice things about Torah rules and even Torah numbers that Hashem has given us is that there are layers of words and meaning behind all the numbers and rules. Whether we reach the essence of the mitzva or of the number is irrelevant. Hashem wants us to taste or appreciate the ta’am of everything in the Torah, so He incorporated within its laws and words layers and layers of flavors and tastes that feed that spiritual thirst for something meaningful and inspirational in our study and practice. So all words in Hebrew have gematria numeric values, and then all those numbers can correspond back to different words that share those same numeric values. That’s cool! Even cooler is that every letter of the aleph beit besides having a numeric value, but the letters that spell each letter also have values that have meaning. It all comes back to the start. It gets deeper and deeper. Numbers are worlds and ideas. Mitzvos have numbers to them, time specific details when we fulfill them, yet each of those numbers, dates, times all have symbolism and depths that correspond to words and ideas. It’s why I like Torah. Why I love it, in fact. It’s the only place where numbers become words and fascinating.

 

The truth is Creation is really the same concept. We are told Hashem created the world with words. Asra- Maamarot- Ten utterings. Ten- number. Uttering- words. Hashem spoke and there was day and night, there was light, there were creations, land, animals, grass, trees and constellations. Hashem is a Wordsmith. He breathes into Man the spirit of life, which Rashi tells us is the power of speech. Yet at the same time the Creation we are told comes from the finite numbered book of the Torah letters. The DNA of the universe is letters that come from the Torah. From those utterances. Even deeper than that we are told that the Torah is made up of various names of Hashem and there are a bunch of them. We have the basic yud heh and vav heh name of Hashem that we’re not allowed to pronounce. It has a numerical value of 26. The goyim call it the tetragrammaton which always sounded to me like one of those Transformer toys. Yet the mystical works of Kabbala tell us that there are names of Hashem that correspond to 12 letters, 22, letters, 42 letters and even 72 letters! The last one is the name that Moshe used to split the Sea with. Those numbers as I said all have corresponding words letters. The math world and word world become one in the Torah and Creation comes into existence.

 

If your eyes are glossing over at this point, and you are wondering what I smoked this week. I’m with you. I hung out at a Ketores workshop with some tourists this week and I’m still feeling high. But the truth is this week’s Parsha begins with these deep philosophical thoughts and questions from Hashem to Moshe. We left off last week with Moshe complaining and trying to understand the reasons why He made it so hard and does so much seemingly bad to our Nation. Hashem responds this week that it is all about us revealing His name and understanding it like never before. Until now, revelation to the world and our ancestors with only with the Name (k)El Shaddai and now it’s with the four-letter name of Hashem. Now do you understand? Everything make sense? Seemingly for Moshe it did as after that conversation he heads off to do the job. But our sages tell us that the exodus from Mitzrayim isn’t just a one-time deal. The Torah is eternal. Time is fluid. Whatever happened to our forefathers just paved the road for us. Each of us in our own lives will have our own personal Mitzrayim/ Egypt that we have to go down to and be liberated from. Because each of us have a name of Hashem that we have to reveal that is inside of that Exile that corresponds to us and that only we can bring forth and reveal.

 

How do we leave our Egypt? Hashem tell us it is a 4-step process. V’Hotzaisi, V’Hitzalti, VGoalti, V’Lokachti- An I will take you out, And I will save you, And I will redeem you. And I will take you as My nation. 4-steps and we’re free. The number four is of course not random. It’s the 4 letters of the name of Hashem. On Pesach it’s the number that keeps coming up again and again. We have four cups of wine. We have four questions. We have four sons. Corresponding to this we are told that Pharaoh made 4 decrees against the Jewish people, taxes, labor, children killed, gathering of wheat. On a historic level we are told that there are 4 exiles- Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome. Yeah, the number 4 is a big deal. It’s everything.

 

Now I know that you’re thinking that there are really 5 terminologies that Hashem say He will redeem us with. There’s the fifth cup that we don’t drink; the cup of Eliyahu. The word V’Heveisi- and I will bring you to the Land. But that’s the end game already. We’re not entirely there yet. The truth is the number five is really always the bringing of all of the previous four together. In fact there are really only 4 books of the Torah. The fifth book of Devarim is the Mishneh Torah. It’s Moshe Rabbeinu’s repetition and recap of the previous four books. It brings them all home before we come into the land. At the seder and in our exiles we are busy with the first four steps first.

 

The Sefer Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh explains the number four. He suggests that the number 4 is both separation and connection. One is Hashem, it’s the start point of everything. Two is the expansion of that One ness. Three is another expansion connecting the first two together and forming something new. It is the Patriarchs. It is Torah, Avoda and Gemillus Chasadim- Torah, service of Hashem or prayer and Kindness. It is the relationship between man and himself, between his fellow man and between Hashem. On a mystical level it is Chochma Bina and Daas- wisdom, understanding and knowledge. Four, though is where it starts to get fun.

 

Four is when each piece, each line, each variable is heading in a different direction not connected to one another like a box but they are all connected only through another. It’s two parallel lines distant from one another going horizontal and another two parallel lines going the other way and when they meet you have a nice box connected that are both distant and connected. We have a structure. That’s what four is separation and unity. On the fourth day of Creation he notes, Hashem creates the sun and moon and stars to “separate” between day and night. To separate into holidays, months and years. We have time, which unites all of creation in a flow that is different things flowing but all coming together.

 

Not coincidentally enough he explains, the 4th Hebrew letter who’s name is Dales and of course has the gematria of four is the same word as Deles- door. A door is something that separates between two areas, outdoors and indoors or room to room and at the same time it is the connection between the two areas. C’mon you have to admit this is really cool…

By our Pesach Seder we ask who knows 4? The answer of course is that 4 are the Matriarchs- or the Muddahs as we sing at our Seder (right after ‘three are the Faddahs and two are the luchos that Moshe brought and one is Hashem, one is Hashem, one is Hasheeeem… in the heaven and the earth badda bumm bummmp bump…’). Why are there four mothers? Well Rachel and Leah are two opposite functions. They’re two different ways to serve Hashem Rachel is meant to be the wife and counter to Yaakov, Leah to Esau. They’re two parallel lines. They need to connect and be brought together and thus they each need a shifcha- a secondary line that brings the whole box together. There is a midrash called Tzavaat Nafatali that I saw mentioned by Reb Uri Sherki that in fact translates the two names. Bilha was called that because she was bahul li’nok- she was always trying to nurse. Zilpa on the other and is from the word Zeh Lo Poh- this is not here. According to the Midrash she was in fact taken from captivity. Displaced. Distanced. Bilha, nursing is connecting to the source. Separation and connection once again. Two polar forces that bring the tribes of Israel together.

 

Both Bilha and Zilpa each have two tribes. Those tribes are the conduit to bringing all of the other ones together. The children of Rochel and Leah. Yosef is close to these tribes because it is Yosef’s role to unite the brothers. The other children of Leah, though separate from them. They resist Yosef. It’s where our exile all begins from. The breaking up of the power of four. Ultimately though we become one. And thus we are redeemed with the 4 lashonos of Geula. We become redeemed.

 

On Sukkos we take our four species that correspond to the four types of Jews. They are the 4 parts of the body. Unity is when we can bring all of those pieces together. It’s when math and numbers and words merge. When 1 becomes One. We are coming to the end of the numbers game of our galus. Hashem has already brought almost most of us here to the Land. Yet our nation has not yet brought all the pieces that are the Hashem in each of us out to light yet. We are not yet seeing the Yud Hei and Vav Hei in every yid. We don’t see it in every aspect of Creation. We are still in Exile and only see Hashem as (Kel) El Shadai- the limited name of Hashem that created and runs the world, but we don’t see that really everything that we see and experience. Every person we meet, Every child of the Matriarchs is connected to Hashem. When we remove the blinders from our exile wearied eyes and find those sparks of holiness in everyone. We will see Hashem and be redeemed. We’ll be ready for that fifth cup. We will have arrived at V’Heiveisi. And the only number we will eve have to count again is One.

 

Have a numerically plentiful Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

 

This week's Insights and Inspiration is dedicated by my dear friend and fellow tour guide colleague Yossi Schick and his wife Toby in honor of the birth and Bris of their latest grandson Shmuel to their daughter and son in law Dina and Sloime Zelman. May the newest addition to the family be a source of much yiddishe nachas to everyone and may the parents be zocheh to be megadeal him l’torah l’chuppa u’lmaasim tovim!

 

Mazel Tov!!!

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SHABBOS DAVENING SCHEDULE

 

PARSHAT VAEIRA

CANDLELIGHTING 4:32 PM

MINCHA KABBALAS SHABBOS-4:45 PM

SHACHARIS - 8:30 AM-

EARLY MINCHA- 12:30 pm! New Minyan

MINCHA- 4:20 PM

MARIV-5:49 PM-10 minutes after tzeitz

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Verter zol men vegn un nit tseiln.”- Words should be weighed and not counted.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

7) Which Jewish text was finalized around 200 CE?

Which of the following people lived in a later period?

A) Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakkai

B) Rabbi Akiva

C) Rabbi Joseph Karo

D) Rabbi Judah haNasi

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/hachaya-yehalilu    – I am super excited as what my daughter Elka says is my best song ever. Composed after an Africa Safari and in honor of the animals of this Parsha that sing the song of Hashem I present to you my latest composition arranged and sung by Dovid Lowy- Ha’Chaya Halilu! Listen again and again…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrCK7zLj2U0   - Check out pre surgery Rabbi Schwartz and our Famous Pesach Makkos family video with my Shiras Hayam song!! In pajamas in middle of night

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-LSMt9XrJg    – I love this Rabbi Duchin Let my people go song…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMDgoyY4UU0  -  And why not listen to MBDs good old classic Let My People Go!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVWXATObXJw   Remember Meilech Kohn…? Well he’s back with this great Eish Tamid hit…

 

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

 

Jews in Jordan? 704 BC – See, I do this column not just for you guys that read and enjoy it each week, nor for your sponsorships which help my shul and community. It’s about forcing myself to learn something new each week, perhaps research a bit and it’s really amazing the things that I discover! Like this week for example. Come learn something new!

 

We left off last week with the King of Yehuda Yehoshafat joining Yehoram the king of Yisrael and even joining forces with the King of Edom from the South Negev all going to attack Mesha of Moav/ Jordan. They came through the South to surprise him. They ran out of water and when to Elisha who promised them a miracle and a victory. And sure enough the awoke the next morning and the Arava Valley filled with flooding from the mountains and they were good to go. That’s our few sentence recap.

 

Now for the rest of the story when Moav hears that they are coming they head down South to attack them. Yet, when they awake they see the reflection of the sun in the water and mistakenly think that it’s the blood of their enemies- us Jews and Edom that have died and drowned. So foolishly-or miraculously they leave behind their swords and weapons and come to collect all of the Jewish booty and loot. Well, they were in for a surprise. We were all pumped up for battle and we blew them away. The Navi tells us that we destroyed their army and just as Elisha prophesised we chased them up to Chareshet and destroyed their walls with catapults. They burned down their trees and fields and stuffed up their wells. They were pulverised. Don’t mess with the Jews when we are united.

 

So I was curious where this Chareshet place was and so I looked it up a bit and fascinatingly enough many scholars suggest that this is the city of Al Karak just south of Amman across the Dead Sea. It certainly is an ancient city that has ancient walls. It seems that the name Al Karak is from the Aramaic word of Kirach. (kaf reish kaf) which means city. The Targum Yonasan translates Chareshet as Kerachah D’Moav. Karak is a distortion of that word. A cool story about this city is that in the late 1800’s the Turks wanted to settle A Bulagarian Jewish community from Israel there. They were living in Har Tuv, near Beit Shemesh at the time and they wanted Jewish commerce in that region near the Dead Sea in Jordan. There were even a few families that settled there until the early 1900’s when it fell apart. Pretty amazing! Who knew we had Jews in modern history Ever- La’yarden! Well it’s something else for me to now talk about as we drive down the Highway and look across at that former portion of ours that is now occupied by Jordan!

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE JEWISH MATH JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

Little Berel  tells his teacher he is fast at math.

So his teacher asks him “Ok. Then what is 2132 * 326?”

Berel quickly said “371

The teacher looked at him and said “That’s not even close”

Berel responded  Yes, but it was fast”

 

New York (CNN). At John F. Kennedy International Airport today, a Caucasian male (later discovered to be a high school mathematics teacher) was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a compass, a protractor and a graphical calculator.

According to law enforcement officials, he is believed to have ties to the Al-Gebra network. He will be charged with carrying weapons of math instruction.

 

Ever since I retired from being a math teacher, my whole life has been… dealing with the aftermath.

 

What did the triangle say to the circle? “You’re pointless.”

 

What’s a math teacher’s favorite kind of tree? Geometry.

 

Parallel lines have so much in common … It’s a shame they’ll never meet.

 

What do you call more than one L? A parallel!

 

Why wasn’t the geometry teacher at school? Because she sprained her angle.

 

I had an argument with a 90° angle. It turns out it was right.

 

Did you hear about the over-educated circle? It has 360°!

 

What shape is usually waiting for you inside a Starbucks? A line.

 

Why did the mathematician spill all of his food in the oven? The directions said, “Put it in the oven at 180°”.

 

Why was math class so long? The teacher kept going off on a tangent.

 

Why did the student do multiplication problems on the floor? The teacher told him not to use the tables.

 

Did you hear about the mathematician who’s afraid of negative numbers? He’ll stop at nothing to avoid them.

 

What tool is best suited for math? Multi-pliers.

 

Why did the girl wear glasses during math class? It improved di-vision.

 

What’s a swimmer's favorite kind of math? Dive-ision!

 

Do you know what seems odd to me? Numbers that aren’t divisible by two.

 

Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven, eight, nine!

 

A talking sheepdog rounds up all the sheep into the pen for his farmer. He comes back and says, “Okay, Chief — all 40 sheep accounted for”.

The farmer says, “But I’ve counted them and I’ve only got 36!”

 The sheepdog replies, “I know, but I rounded them up.”

 

I hired an odd man to do eight jobs for me. When I got back, he’d only done jobs one, three, five, and seven.

 

There are three kinds of people in this world. Those who can count and those who can’t.

 

Why didn’t the quarter roll down the hill with the nickel? Because it had more cents!

 

Why did the two fours skip lunch? They already eight!

 

How do you make seven an even number? Remove the S.

 

There’s a fine line between a numerator and a denominator… But only a fraction would understand.

 

What’s a math teacher’s favorite season? SUMmer!

 

Why is math considered to be codependent? It relies on others to solve its problems.

 

What math problem do German students have trouble answering? Do you know what the square root of 81 is? 9!

 

A research says that 75% of the people are good at Math. I am probably the remaining 35%

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The answer to this week”s question is  C – This one was pretty easy as well. Even if you don’t know the English dates which they don’t really teach in Yeshiva or Bais Yaakov. But you could pretty much guess that about a hundred and fifty years after the Churban which you should know was in the year 70 CE the Mishna was written. I mean how many Jewish books were “Finalized”?! Once you know it’s the Mishna- or even without that, you should know that Reb Yosef Karo author of Shulchan Aruch in the 1500’s is the latest of all of the other Rabbis who are listed who are all tanaaim. As I said easy! Got it right of course and so the score is 5.5 for Schwartz and 1.5 for Ministry of tourism on this exam so far…

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