Insights
and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
March 3rd 2023 -Volume 12 Issue 20 10th of
Adar 5783
Parshat Tetzave/ Zachor
Splenda vs Sugar/ Yom Kippur vs Purim Top Ten List
It’s that time of year again boys and girls, not that I could tell
by your level of participation in our annual support the Young Israel of
Karmiel and weekly Insights and Inspiration fundraising campaign. I’m just
sayin…
Hello guys!! It’s Purim
time. It’s time to open your wallets, your credit cards. It’s time to get
happy. Happiness comes when you relieve that heavy drain that’s pulling down
your pants pocket in your wallets. Your underwear is showing guy from your
heavy wallert, like our African neighbors in the hood. From all of those grants
and money you made in your post-Corona bank accounts.
It’s time to be part of
settling the land of Israel. It’s time to get into the mode of sharing that Toras
Eretz Yisrael that you love weekly with so many and partnering with us in
sharing and spreading that light to the world. So where are you? Loosen those
clenched fists. Whip out your credit cards. Partner with us. Every bit helps.
Stand up and say Ani Yehudi and I won’t let Amalek bring me down. I will wipe
him out with my shekalim. I will make that Mikdash in Eretz Yisrael
happen. Because I hate to tell you this, but he’s working hard to prevent you
from being excited about building that ultimate campaign, by making you too
cold to even donate to our shul here in Karmiel. He says to Hashem “once
again, these guys will never build you a Bais HaMikdash- see how they don’t
even contribute to his fundraising campaign.” But you could show him.
Donate now! Below! Every bit helps… Every shekel and dollar shows your with us.
That Amalek is destroyed. That you’re ready for the big campaign. That you’re
part of our family.
OK, now that I got that out of the way, let’s get to the fun part,
or the even funner part that you’ve been waiting for. See, the reason why you
probably haven’t donated yet, is because you haven’t done the proper
preparations or hachanos for this great day coming up this week. It’s
like coming to Yom Kippur without Elul. It can’t happen. We tried to prepare
you subtly with our Parshat Shekalim drasha, but you didn’t get the not-so-subtle
hint.
See, for Yom Kippur it’s fairly easy for us to get ready. We Jews
are good at abusing ourselves and beating ourselves up for all the things we
did bad. We have the weight of the world on our shoulders literally. The reason
Mashiach is not here is because we didn’t bring him yet. We still have sinas
chinam. We haven’t watched enough Chafetz Chaim Heritage videos. We have
internet. We wear long shaitels. We have I-phones. We have too much gashmiyus.
We’re too comfortable in galus. We like to klop on our chests
hard and say how sorry we are and feel bad and guilty. That comes easy for us.
We fast, we afflict ourselves, we suffer in shul all day and count how many
pages we have left until we can eat. Yeah, we’re good at that kind of stuff.
But that’s just for Yom Kipurim. That’s the day whose power is like Purim. It’s
not the real deal. It’s Splenda.
The real day is this week and the work for this day is so much
harder. It’s so not natural to the Jewish psyche. Jews don’t get drunk. Jews
always like to know things. Ad d’lo yada-getting to the point of not
knowing is not who we are. Jews like their clothing and don’t dress up in
stupid costumes. Halloween, Mardi Gras and stupid goyish masquerade parties are
sooo, soooo not us. Either is just throwing money at whoever comes to us, by
the way. We are smart investors. We want our money to go to good causes. The
best causes. Not just to anyone that opens their hands.
We are not silly. With the exclusion of holy Breslavers who are
like the kohanim gedolim or Nazirites of Purim all year round dedicating
themselves to the Mikdash of Purim and never leaving its holy state- we don’t
jump up and down in the streets and randomly dance with people. Yet that is the
avodas ha’yom of this holy day. Purim is the real deal. It’s the sugar
to Yom Kippurs saccharin flavored sweet and low. It’s what it’s all about.
The Yid Ha’Kadosh explains the difference between these two
seemingly opposite days with a fascinating insight. Purim, he notes falls out
on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday while Yom Kippur only happens on the
other days of the week, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Shabbos. He explains
that these different days correspond and shed light on the essence of each of
the day.
In creation the things that were created on Purim’s days are all
things that can have Tumah- impurity. Sunday the land was created, and
earthenware vessels have Tumah, Monday is the sky which has no Tumah.
Tuesday is trees and plant life and wooden things have Tumah, while
Wednesday the sun, moon and luminaries have no Tumah. And Friday
obviously humans and animals have no Tumah while Shabbos certainly is
all holy. Thursday though, when both days can fall out has a bit of both. On
one hand this day when the fish and birds were created, technically do not have
Tumah; as any vessel made out of them is not tamey. Yet the
Rabbis decreed Tumah by the Ozniah
bird feather vessels and by ostrich eggs because they can get confused with
regular vessels. Therefore, Purim and Yom Kippur can both fall out on
Thursdays.
So in a nutshell or eggshell to be more precise, Purim is the days
when Tamey things were created, Yom Kippur is days when only pure things
were created. He explains this idea with the Zohar that tells us that there are
two steps to purifying gold. First you put it on the fire and heat it up to get
out all the impurities and to purify it. The second step is to take the parts
that are left over and to go through it and get out all the gold that maybe
have been left or got scattered into it. That’s Yom Kippur and that’s Purim.
On Yom Kippur we heat ourselves up in that holy fire that burns up
all the bad stuff. The fire of atonement comes down from heaven when we do that
and purifies us. Purim though is the real fun. It’s when we’re rich and have
all of that gold already. We realize we have it all. We just need to sort
through all those golden sparks left in the wine, in the food, (in the Armani
Kef Sushi I just ate this week for those that watched my statuses), in the
world and elevate them. To get down in the mud and reveal Hashems’ light in the
places the rest of the year we don’t even want to get close to. That are too
dangerous for us. But not on Purim. It’s the day when we can do it all.
OK, Dvar Torah over. Enough of the spiritual holiness. Enough with
the davening and machzor page counting and crying and Mussar sefarim. It’s time
to get down and dirty. It’s time get you to the place where its all about the
money you will give. Enough with your serious berating mashgiach in yeshiva or
your frowning Rabbi with his serious sermons that you have heard too many
times. It’s time for your Purim Mashgiach and Purim Rebbe; your favorite Tour
guide/Rabbi from Karmiel giving you our annual Top Ten Purim Mussar schmooze.
This year it is why Purim is different than Yom Kippur. Why Yom Kippur is
Splenda. It’s time for some sugar and to taste the real deal. It’s kind of like
why all the holiness and Torah and mitzvas and Shabbos in Lakewood, Monsey
England and Boro Park or any place in Shmutz La’aretz is fake and
artificial as sweet as it might taste. I even went to Dubai for you guys just
to taste the best of the physical world for you-like the seudas Achashveirosh
so that I can come back to Eretz Yisrael and appreciate the real thing. See,
what I do for you… So here we go. Let’s hit it boys, I give you the long
awaited
RABBI SCHWARTZ’s YOM KIPPUR and AMERICA IS FAKE WHILE
PURIM AND ISRAEL IS REAL TOP TEN LIST
10) So let’s start with the easiest difference and
similarity. Both Yom Kippur and Purim get started historically when we are
fabulously wealthy and we think we are at the top of the world. Yom Kippur
happens right after we are fabulously wealthy having left Egypt and received
all of their booty on the banks of the Yam Suf. We then received the Torah but
very quickly, we mess up with the golden calf. Hashem gets annoyed that we want
to build golden calf shuls in the wilderness rather than just wait until we get
to Israel and build His Temple there. We’re so busy singing and dancing hakafos
around that bima of the golden calf singing “Thank you Hashem” for taking us
out of Egypt and the Holocaust for these gods of prosperity that we can make
for you in this midbar, that we forgot that it was not the point of it all. We
had been purified on Mt. Sinai in the fire and the voice of Hashem, but we
didn’t know that we had to pick up that Egyptian gold and bring it to Israel to
build a Bais Ha’mikdash with it. So Hashem decided to kill us all. Nice. We
needed purity. We needed to do the process of teshuva all again to cleanse
ourselves. We needed to fast and pray and then He forgave us and Yom Kippur was
born.
Purim, was similar as well, but coming from the other end. At that
era we were in galus, we were really accepted in Achashveirosh’s palace.
We had Ivanka. We had Kushner. We had Friedman. We even thought Trump
Achashveirosh liked us really, and our next door neighbors were never going to
line us up and shoot us and stick us in concentration camps. Yeah, America Persia
is not Egypt, Spain, Europe, or everywhere else in our history. We’re finally
good here.
We forgot that the reason why we’re in galus is to purify
that gold and send it off to Karmiel and Israel. So we dined on the vessels of
the temple there in chutz la’aretz and made big Purim seudos
there. This time though, Hashem wasn’t
going to wipe us out from heaven with some fire. He sent the goyim to do it for
us. He sent Haman and Amalek to wake us up. To get us out. To burn those golden
calves. To make us want to come home and build the Mikdash. It worked for five
minutes, but in the end most Jews didn’t come back. They forgot- like we always
do. They stayed there in Bavel, and so the second Temple was temporary. We
needed more Purims in galus and a few more holocausts until Rabbi
Schwartz came around to tell you what the day is really about so we get it
straight this time around. Got it,now?
9) One day of Purim is not enough and neither is one day of Yom
Kippur, So Hashem gave us two days. See Yom Kippur, our Rabbis tell us is
really the 9th and 10th of Tishrei. The 9th we
eat and feast on Erev Yom Kippur. It’s a taste of Purim almost, just to remind
you that Yom Kippur is not the real deal. It’s about Hashem purifying us,
rather than us bringing Him up from the bottom. Purim it works just the
opposite we fast on taanis Esther before Purim to get any of those remaining
Yom Kippur things out of our system. You know, it’s for those Jews that really
need a little bit of fasting, misery and selichos with an extra-long
davening to feel happy. So we’re happy to provide that for you. But get over
it. It’s a happy fast day. Purim is around the corner. The redemption is
coming. You did your teshuva. Now just elevate. Inebriate. It’s not dangerous
anymore. It’s holy. It’s a mitzva., Go crazy. Go Breslav. And pour that wine in
your cups and that money out of your wallet. Not because you need to buy your
atonement. You have that already. Rather it’s because you now see that all that
money has one purpose. Friendship, love, Eretz Yisrael. Me 😊
8) On that note about money by the way number 8 here is also a
fascinating connection. See on both days we win lotteries. On Yom Kippur the
centerpiece of the day is the lottery of the two goats. One is for Hashem one
is for Azazael. The Hashem goat goes up to the Bais Ha’Mikdash in a sacrifice.
Poof all burned up. It’s all for Him. Azazel goat is chucked off the mountain.
Ripped to pieces and thrown to the Esau angel with all of our sins. And then
Hashem turns that red string white and the apple has fallen in the above-and
beyond-all-“Time” square in the Bais
HaMikdash. Party time.
Purim is also a lottery-winning day. It’s the actual name of the
day. It’s not Ki’Purim- like the lottery. It’s the real deal. We won
millions. We won our lives back. We were dead. We were toast. And now we’re
alive and all the money of Persia was now in our hands. Shlalam la’voz-
their booty was there for us to be mevazeh- to make fun of. To do what
ever we want with. What we always needed to do with it.
Esau was mevazeh the birthright- he threw it all away for
some of Yaakov’s chulent. He rightfully saw that money is inherently worthless
when you’re hungry for something more in life, like a good bowl of chulent. But
he didn’t realize that money has tremendous value if we could use it to build a
temple to Hashem with it. If we can elevate it for a higher purpose.
Do you know what we do on Purim different than Yom Kippur’s fake
and earnest lottery where it’s all to Hashem?
Where it’s either sacrifice or Azazael. On Purim we won the real
lottery. We go out to the streets and just throw bills around to anyone that
wants it. We’re mevazeh that shelal, because it’s a mitzva.
Because with the money and fancy stuff in this world we show that we don’t need
to hold on to any of it. We can give it to everyone that asks. We’re loaded. We
won the real lottery. And when that happens, you just want to share it.
7) After that lottery on YK we moved on to the next
level of happiness, we danced and sang and went into the fields and solved the shidduch
crisis. Girls and boys would meet each other and realized we were are all of us
so holy. We got over all our shidduch issues and just wanted to build lots of bayis
ne’emans b’yisrael. Plastic tablecloths on Shabbos weren’t an issue anymore
to turn down a shidduch. It didn’t make a difference if you were
sefardic ashkenazic, Chabad, haymish or modern. We were all holy and we could
all marry one another. That’s great and
a good reason to dance and celebrate.
We lost that by the way as
well, after we lost the Bais Ha’Mikdash and it’s no longer the “happiest day of
the Jewish calendar” our rabbis told it was back then. Because today despite
how many Ashamnu’s we clop and fasts we afflict ourselves with or how
many pages we recite in the machzor, at the end of the day we still think our
daughters or sons are not good enough for the next persons… But that’s because
Yom Kippur as I said, is only “Ki”Purim. It’s not the real thing.
Now Purim, if you think about it, is really insane. You know how
the day and holiday ends. Rebbetzin Esther is married to a fat sheigetz
for the rest of her life. How’s that for not really caring about a shidduch? If
Achashveirosh is good enough for her, then trust me that girl that didn’t make
it into BJJ is good enough for your son and the bachur that didn’t get into
Brisk or who isn’t from the “top ten of Lakewood” is good enough for your
daughter. From that union, by the way ,of holy Esther to the worst shidduch
ever and actually a forbidden one- if
not for the fact that Hashem arranged it that she had no choice and therefore
no culpability in it-from that Shidduch came out Darius who allowed us
to return and build the Bais Ha’Mikdash.
What do you say about that? That’s the real deal. It’s not about
agreeing to marry someone that you think just underwent a Yom Kippur and is a baal
teshuva. It’s about seeing the spark- as Rachel, Eishes Rabbi Akiva did, in
someone that looks like Achashveirosh. Who is definitely not as frum as you.
Who may have... dare I say a smart-phone. It’s about realizing that every Jew
has a spark so holy that all that tumah that you may perceive about them, their
dress and even behavior is all kleynikeit when it comes to building a bayis
neeman. That’s the real party. Once you realize that, then you can get
married and spend lots of money and help out the people that come collecting at
the wedding for my Karmiel shul.
6) Every Jewish holiday has its food. Pesach has
matzos. Chanuka has got its latkes and jelly doughnuts. Tu Bishvat its fruits
and buktzer, Rosh Hashana its apples and honey and fish heads. Sometimes it
seems like our holidays were made up by some foodie God, or at least Hashem
with the consultation of his heavenly angel in charge of Jewish supermarkets
and Kosher caterers. Well Yom Kippur and Purim have their foods as well. OK,
Yom Kippur is really not so much food. It’s a fast day after-all but it seems
that the angel in charge of Yom Kippur complained and so he got the custom to
eat kreplach on Erev Yom Kippur. Purim also got the kreplach thing going, but
it got Hamantashen as well as every other delicacy in the world to eat at our
Purim feast. As I said real and fake…
Now the Kreplach thing- which for those of you that are not
familiar is like a Jewish wonton. Its dough with meat hidden inside that you
put in your chicken soup. Sefardim don’t have chicken soup so they are
oblivious to this custom. The reason for the custom is we are told that it’s
eaten on the days that we klop and bang. On YK we klop al cheit
on our chests for those sins. On Purim we klop for the name of Haman.
(PS that’s also why some eat it also on Hoshana Rabba when we klop hoshanas on
the floor.) What does klopping have to do with kreplach?
Well on Yom Kippur it’s about banging away all the aveiros
until you get to that holy piece of chopped Jewish prime Rib underneath all
that fatty doughy exterior. Dough by the way is money. On Purim though, we bang
Haman. We kill Amalek. We already have the meat and steak and meat boards all
over our Purim seuda. Yet there’s a little dough left around a small
piece of meat rolling around in our soup. We have to get rid of that dough as
well and give it to the yeshiva guy dancing around drunkenly our Purim table
singing. Or alternatively to the Rabbi’s shul who is writing this E-Mail. We
may miss that little Krepel and keep it in our bank account for a rainy
day and not reveal the meat inside of it. We may think we need to hide it away.
So we eat Hamantashen with the delicious jelly, chocolate, poppy and even halva
(for those that like it) popping out of it. It’s calling to us. Get rid of the
dough. I’m really delicious. The dough is even sugary sweet when you do your avodas
ha’yom. Real- Fake. Are you getting the hang of this E-Mail yet.
5) We’re halfway there guys, And once we opened up the door to klopping
let’s talk about the difference between the Yom Kippur klop vs the Purim
one. On Yom Kippur we’re banging on our chests. We’re beating ourselves up. We
sinned. We’re guilty. We rebelled. We and our fathers… bang bang klop klop.
It’s all about us. It’s all about our sins. That’s important. That’s good.
That’s purifying, but it’s really not the real truth. It’s again Splenda.
See Purim we got it straight. It’s not us at all. It’s them. It’s
Amalek. We’re holy. We’re precious. We’re loved. We’re really perfect and
entirely untainted. Sure, we did a lot of bad things, but that’s not us. It’s
Amalek. It’s Haman. It’s galus. It’s them. I don’t need to beat myself
up. I just need to wipe them out. They are the ones that fooled me into
thinking I’m not holy enough. They are the ones that invited me to all their
(political) parties and served me food or lip service about how much they love
the Jews and support Israel and are a medina shel chesed that is a far
better place to be frum and raise your children we can better serve Hashem from
than Israel is. They keep cooling our holy spark that is longing to attach
itself to the shechina from Eretz Yisrael.with their Amalekite notion
that it will be tomorrow-machar. Just not today. Not now.
On Purim we klop them, not us. We just remove their name
and their remnant, their cows and their sheep and block out all their names and
noise and the sweet songs of the Bais Hamikdash and redemption will follow. A
good noisemaker by the way to use- if not the best- is a pushka with
jingling coins. Amalek wants our money to be spent there in their economy. Bang
and Klop out all that noise by shaking that pushka with us.
4) From noise and names and klopping we move to the next
similarity of real and fake which is of course the other part and highlight of
Yom Kippur back in Temple times; the recitation and hearing of Hashem’s name
from the mouth of the Kohen Gadol. There is probably no day that we say Hashem’s
name as much as we do on Yom Kippur. Hashem-Hashem of the thirteen middos
is recited again and again until nei’la when we really go wacko with it.
We bow on the floor and pretend we are back in the Bais Ha’Mikdash and hearing
that Name again. We are in the Holy of Holies. We are together with Hashem.
But to be really honest…Shhh… It’s only virtual. We’re really not
there. The name we recite is not the Name which can’t be mentioned today. We’re
splenda’ing it. Because we’re really not in the Bais Ha’Mikdash. We really
don’t have a Kohen Gadol We’re really not redeemed, as close as and as holy as
our Yom Kippur feels.
Purim on the totally opposite extreme as we know, doesn’t mention
Hashem’s name once in the entire Megilla. This week’s Parsha read before Purim
as well doesn’t mention even Moshe- the Ish Elokim’s name in it (had to
get some parsha thing in this week). You know why? Because Purim is real.
Because Hashem’s name isn’t just a recitation and connection to the above.
Hashem’s name is me. Yisrael, V’Oraysa, V’Kudsha Brich Hu Chad Hu. We
are one with Hashem. Parshat Tetzave is all about the Kohein, his
anointing and inauguration and his clothing and the daily sacrifice that tells
us that Hashem is with us. He is us. I am that holy spark. I am
His partner in creation. The Kohen has connected us, but we are all His Kohanim
to the world. We are a Mamleches Kohanim. We are Kings like the Ha’Melech
in the Megilla because the King resides in us. It’s why King and Queen costumes
are the most popular- although in Israel Santa Klaus which they call the “roiteh
rebbe- the red rabbi” is a close second. Purim is when the name of Hashem
is revealed in us. Revealed in us, even in Persia. Even in America. Even in
Lakewood. Because we transcend time and space. Because even if we are there, we
are here. Because everything there, we’ve brought back home to his Mikdash.
We’ve donated to the campaign.
3) Moving along and staying on the topic of
campaigns and donations- is you haven’t gotten it yet. Yom Kippur starts off
with Kol Nidrei, all our vows and promises are null and void. Someone once told
me the pshat in this is, because we Jews are always good at making
pledges and promises. We hear of a campaign or a cause and we promise to
donate. We can’t stop ourselves. We’re moved and our yiddisheh neshoma
wants to be part of it. We sell aliyos and its even a special mitzva and
segula to do so on the High holidays because we need to express that holy
nature. But when it comes to paying it off… Ehhh… Not as great.
We have a rap sheet of promises and good intentions and Hashem
gives us schar for pledging and for all of those holy intentions, but we
need a clean slate before we start the next year and cycle of pledges that we
never kept. So we “Kol Nidrei” it which many feel is like your credit
card debt consolidation or Biden’s college student debt amnesty thing. So we
can start all over again.
There are no shnorrers on Yom Kippur. Money is muktza. We
just make pledges and promise to buy aliyos at auctions or when I was a
kid, they used to have little paper cards for donations to the JNF UJA or
synagogue that you would fold down an amount and hand it in to the Gabbai. As
I’ve been saying fake, lip service, words and pledges. Splenda.
Purim is real. It’s real yeshiva guys banging on your doors and
pestering you all day for more money after you’ve already given them. It’s
reaching in your pocket again and again and again. It’s answering all those
shnorr phone calls and giving your credit card information, until you know
the number and expiration and three digits on the back by heart as well as you
know asher yatzar.
The mitzva of the day is matanos le’evyonim. Just give and
give. We even have a mitzva to give food that can be eaten immediately by the
feast to someone; a friend or not a soon to be friend who’s not even poor or
needy. Food- not even money. Because money he still has to buy and it’s not as
real as some great shalach manos with wine that can be enjoyed. Purim is
dollars and cents because there are no pledges or promises on Purim. It’s tachlis.
It’s shekels, dollars, Euros. It’s about saying words are cheap on Yom
Kippur when my atonement is coming from above and Hashem. But on Purim it’s
about me doing what I can to do. It’s revealing that I already have in my
wallet everything I need to partner with Hashem in making this glorious
existence His. In spreading His Torah and Light in every cause I give to you.
I’m not davening for it. I’m footing the bill. Tachlis. Real. That’s
Purim. The link is below by the way…
2) Almost there. Let’s talk Ad D’Lo Yada. Lets talk drunk,
slammed, plastered, out of your box nuts and partying. Let’s talk about getting
to the point where there’s no difference between Haman and Mordechai and
between black and white, Klein or Gross, Jew or non- Jew. Let’s get as real as
it is.
See, on Yom Kippur the whole day is black and white. It’s sins and
repentance. It’s this is bad and this is good. It’s about being focused. It’s
about going and examining every thought, every action, every minute of every
day this past year and every part of me and who I am. We are making ourselves
into vessels for the shechina to come down to from above and its got to
be as pure as possible. It’s like cleaning your house for Pesach, except on Yom
Kippur we are that house. We have to entirely be focused and use our da’as
and knowledge to the best we can to and be cognizant of everything.
The problem is that our da’as is fake. It’s all subject to
the limited mental facilities that we have. The knowledge we’ve acquired and
the Mussar sefarim and pathways we’ve trained ourselves to guide us on how to
get there. There’s only so much we can do when we are holding on to “me”
and using our own limited faculties.
It’s all about “me” who I am, or more accurately who I’m not. Becoming who I
think I can or should become; which is in reality never as great as truly
possible. It’s about making small kabbalos and even limiting yourself-
because we never give ourselves credit for the infinite levels we can soar to.
It’s about being what we call “real”. But it’s in reality so so so so fake.
Purim, we move beyond that. On Purim when I’m smashed, I can
achieve the world. I can walk on a tightrope over Niagra falls if I’m drunk
enough. I can walk in a busy highway with cars all over no problem. I’m
invincible. I can bring Mashiach. I can be Mashiach. I can be Reb Chayim
Kanievsky. I can be the richest person in the world and I can throw money at
everyone. I can truly not hate anyone at
all. I can love everyone. I can kiss everyone. I can hug them. I can dance on
tables. There’s no Haman. There’s no Mordechai. The entire universe is full of
the Shechina. I’m in Nirvana. I’m alive because Hashem decided that I
have to be alive. He wants me to exist at this very moment because He’s giving
me life. Because He loves me. Because I can redeem the world. I’m unstoppable.
Sure it took a few cups or bottles to get to this place, but it’s the most real
place that Hashem wants me to taste on this special day. To, for once this year,
really be as real as I can be. To stop eating the tofu vegetarian chazerai and
to bite down into the juicy prime rib that Jewish reality is all about.
1) And we are here drumroll…. The number one big difference and
similarity between Yom Kippur and Purim is the holidays that follow them. Yom
Kippur is a prelude to perhaps one of the most fake holidays- the holiday of
Sukkos. Sukkos we get a taste of what the Bais Ha’Mikdash and redemption is
really like. It’s only a taste because than Israel and where he Yom Kippur that
was meant to prepare us for that is only a Splenda. We move out of our house
into our Sukkahs to “feel” “as-if” we are in Hashem’s presence and house in
those huts in the midbar or clouds of glory. It’s cute. It’s fun. It’s
even inspiring. But we all know that we just head back into our house in galus
next door where it’s air conditioned and where we cook all our meals. If we
don’t sleep in the Sukka, because it’s too dangerous or because it’s mitzta’er
and uncomfortable- then you really know how fake it all is. But what do you
expect our preparation for this great amazing holiday is premised on Yom
Kippur, where everything came from above and we just davened and did all of
those other almost real rituals? So a Sukka to recapture those clouds of glory
and huts in the midbar is as close as we can get.
Purim though, precedes and hearkens in Pesach. On Pesach we will
be redeemed. Especially this year, the year after the most amazingly and widely
observed land wise shemitta since the times of Shlomo Ha’Melech in the
first Temple- it’s happening. We will all be in a rebuilt Bais Ha’Mikdash. The
golden pimple desecrating our holiest spot will be obliterated. There will be
Korban Pesach BBQ’s to partake in. We will not only be seeing ourselves ki’ilu
yatzanu Mi’mitzryaim as we did in previous years, but we will be redeemed
and have witnessed miracle even greater than that when we return to
Yerushalayim. That’s because this year Purim we will not be faking it anymore.
We will have revealed the reality of the world. We will give real money to
Rabbi Schwartz’s annual campaign. We will embrace and give Shalach Manos
to people we may never have wanted to our felt connected to. We will sing and
dance and celebrate and inebriate as never before. We will have Simcha. We will
share Simcha. We will reveal the greatest Simcha. And then we will be home.
So there you have it my friends. I didn’t think I would get this
out this year. But I knew your Purim wouldn’t be the same without it. Just as
my Purim won’t be the same without you… So please start letting that joy flow.
The links are below. Be our partner. Be our friend. Share the love and Hashem
as well will join us as we dance together on the happiest most real Purim of
our lives.
Have an authentically
really real and happy Purim
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
T
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HELLO All,
IT”S
THAT TIME OF YEAR!!!
You enjoy our weekly E-Mails. You love Eretz Yisrael, You
want to be part of spreading Torah well and sure could use some extra merits
and you just want to say THANK YOU RABBI SCHWARTZ and make me smile even more
this PURIM
So…. Twice
a year, we come to you my dear fellow readers, friends, tourists, neigbors and
Klal Yisrael and ask if you could become our partners in sharing this weekly
E-Mail and in our shul, the Young Israel of Karmiel. Baruch Hashem we have an
amazing congregation, that brings a special warmth and love of Eretz Yisrael
and Klal Yisrael that has been active in drawing 10’s of families to Karmiel
and uniting us all together. Yet our shul has many expenses and to a large
degree much of our budget comes out of my personal pocket and generous donors
and partners like you.
Our
weekly E-Mail, our classes, and programs and facilities serves as a hub for the
Karmiel community, anglos and Israelis. The light of our shul shines throughout the Galil!
Please consider making a donation and contribution at the link below
1) You can click right now on our link to our blog http://holylandinsights.blogspot.co.il/
and contribute via paypal on our website.
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Vos iz dem indik far a khilek tsi men koylet im af purim
tsu der sude oder af peysekh tsum seyder?”- What
difference does it make to the turkey whether it's slaughtered for the Purim
feast or the Passover seder?
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
13) The Jewish
organization "HaShomer" was founded during which Aliyah?
"The
Roaring Lion" Monument is located in:
A) Mescha
B) Sejera
C) Beit Keshet
D) Kfar Giladi
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/techelet-mordechai - It’s Purim time and time for my
and your favorite Rabbi Schwartz Purim compositions starting with of course my
Techelet Mordechai song!
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/layehudim
-Here’s my Dovid Lowy sung
and arranged composition that will be sure to keep you dancing all Purim
Layehudim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJFqkLCgMJ0
– One of my favorite not well known Purim
songs- I hear this and think of my Norfolk days where Rabbi Friedman taught me
this song.. Diaspora’s Ish Yehudi- such a holy drugged out song… I love it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7fr0WMNW2k
– Lipa’s
Hoshana’s for Purim…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ochb_fXAQ3I
- The Modzitzer Shoshanas Yaakov
the really best of all with Yakov Motzen geshamak!
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE HOMEWORK
JOKES OF THE WEEK
Why is the
Shabbos before Purim called Shabbos Zachor? BECAUSE THAT IS THE LAST THING YOU
WILL REMEMBER FOR A LONG TIME!
What was
Queen Esther’s royal gown made of? POLY-ESTER
Why do we
give out so much tzedaka (charity) on Purim? The Megillah says that this
holiday is called Purim because of the PUR, the LOTS, that Haman drew.
Therefore we give LOTS to the POOR!
What
bracha (blessing) did the Jews say upon seeing Haman hanging on the gallows? HA’EITZ!
Who had
the tallest family tree in history? HAMAN!
Top Five Purim Fears
Police
lights on your front lawn
Your
husband and car missing
A knock on
your door in the middle of the night.
Missing a
word of Megilla
A Yeshiva
guys asking to use your bathroom
Top five Drunk Yeshiva bochrim
Calls your
wife rebbetzin
Dances on
your shaky dining room table
“Rebbi I
just want to learn Toirah”
Weeps in
the corner for Mashiach
Calls his
mother to say he loves her
What do
anti-vaxxers and anti- drinkers have in common? Hint- You have one shot at
answering this question
********************************
The answer to this week”s question is D – I got this one right as well. Ha’Shomer the percusor to the Israeli
army and Israel’s first “protection society of vigilantes- mostly secular
socialist Israelis that arrived in the 2nd Aliya were the defenders
of Israel in the 1920’s. The roaring lion monument which commemorates the
fighters of Shomer is located in Kfar Giladi and remembers Trumpledor and his 7
fighters that died in the battle of Tel Chai. Now for the cool part about this
weekly E-Mail column. So you know when that battle took place? You got it this
Shabbos on the 11th of Adar in 1920. So this Shabbos is the
yahrtziet of those fighters and Hashem orchestrated this column this week to
have this question and for me to get it right on that day! So the score is now 10.5 for Schwartz and 2.5
for Ministry of tourism on this exam so far…
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