Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
August 25th
2023 -Volume 12 Issue
46 8th of Elul 5783
Parshat Ki Teitzei
The Lo and Kee of Becoming Me
All
alone. Quiet. Sheket. Not a sound. It’s just me. Me and Hashem, that is.
Me and Hashem within me. It’s just for a day or two or maybe three. I haven’t
figured it out yet. I haven’t booked my tzimmer yet. But that’s all I’ve
been thinking about for the past week or two. My vacation. My Bein Ha’zmanim.
My chance to recuperate and recharge after a thank Hashem, whirlwind of blessed,
few, non-stop few months of sharing our glorious Holy country with so many of
my brothers and sisters from the Diaspora.
It’s been amazing. It’s the best job in the
world. It’s a zechus and privilege, but after four months pretty much
straight running around and talking, singing, dancing, hiking and swimming…it’s
time for some quiet. Some “Me-time”. Or as they call it in Chasidus, some
hisbodedus.
Now
the chasidim centuries ago understood the significance of this idea and
would go out to the woods, alone and just reflect and pray. Our ancestors and
greatest leaders were all shepherds who had plenty of time for this essential avoda
of quiet, peace and becoming one with our Creator, His world and tuning out all
of the noise that distracts us from our souls.
Even
goyim get this idea. Midbar Yehuda is full of monasteries and small
caves where priests would go out to the desert and meditate. And even today in
the Far East you’ve got these gurus, Buddhist monks and “spiritual seekers”
that do yoga on the edge of a mountain and mumble things under the breath as
they clear their mind and spirit to achieve spiritual elevation. Although why
they need to have a fat, bald, idol with his belly button showing who they’re
praying is beyond me. It seems that Buddha idol probably would be more
comfortable and found in a Kosher deli with a pastrami on club with mustard
dripping out of the side. But hey? Who am I to judge?
Now
personally I don’t like forests much as a place to meditate. There are
mosquitos there that can’t seem to get enough of my blood and little pesky ants
and flies that annoy and distract me from getting to my inner me. Midbar’s
as well are hot and feel too much like my workplace and office. I’m there all
the time and probably might even just break into my auto-pilot tour guiding
shpiel about the Azazel sacrifice and Jews crossing over the Jordan
river and wandering for forty years. My sweet spot though is the upper western
Galile.
First
of all, its only about 40 minutes or so from my house. Close enough to run back
home if I forgot anything and for my family to come join me at the end of my
quiet time. And yet it’s far enough that they’re not nudging me or just
“popping in”. From up there in the mountains I can sit back and just take in
the incredible mountains and forested hills and their magnificent views, but as
well I can see down below the yam ha’gadol- the beautiful Mediterranean
Sea as the sun sets over its horizon. It’s there where I hear and feel my soul
being uplifted. Where the so-many inspired words of Dovid Ha’Melech’ psalms pop
into my brain and the tunes that he most likely used to sing them with flow out
of my heart. It’s the place where I find myself.
How
did that last paragraph sound to you? Did you feel it too…? Is there that
longing and awakening in your heart and soul as well? It is… right? It’s Elul.
The King is in the field. The day of judgement is around the corner. Yom Kippur
is right after that. It’s the season of getting real. Of finding ourselves. Of
finding Hashem within ourselves. It’s time to start removing all of those outer
barriers. As my good friend Yoni Tzadok who’s working on building the Bais Ha’mikdash
likes to say. It’s time to take off our shoes-like Moshe Rabbeinu by the
burning bush, and like all of those that would visit Hashem on the Temple mount
did, becoming one with the earth. Totally plugged in, connected and thus
charged “Up”.
Yet,
most of you don’t live a tour guide’s life, who has the luxury of taking off
this coming week. Quite the opposite, for most of you, you’ve just returned to
the “real world”. Your jobs, school, making lunch, getting the house
back in order and figuring out your holiday and sukkos plans. The noise
is loud over there. And it’s at this time when we all really need that quiet
and moments for the reflection that Elul demands of us. But fear not…Hashem
hasn’t left us hanging. He gave us the Torah portion that we read this week to
tap into it. To get that inspiration we need. And He even gave me such an
incredible powerful idea to share with you that could hopefully give you
something to think about in this loud busy season. The calm within the storm.
The ‘you’ within the noise.
Parshat
Ki Teitzei is perhaps the busiest and nosiest of parshiyot. There are
more mitzvos than any other
parsha and they seem to be all over the map. Many of the mitzvos and directives
are mentioned for the first time in the Torah here, all the way at the end of
all of the five books. Many seem to reach at the core of our essence; like the
laws of marriage, divorce, raising children, animals, agriculture and even our
interactions with our workers and our housebuilding efforts. While other
mitzvos seem to be outdated, irrelevant and some are even in the future. Laws
of war and captive women and which soldiers have to fight, of converts from
countries that don’t even exist anymore, of purity, of executions and of tzara’as
and lashon hara.
There are minor laws and major laws. It’s a
noisy parsha that even seems a bit ADD. It feels like a Rabbi Schwartz tour
that’s just trying to jam in as much information as possible. Yet,
fascinatingly enough it’s the parsha that is most about us. It’s the one
that we need to read in order to be ready for the avoda of Elul.
In
my Email last week in which I spoke about the mitzva of establishing a king, I
shared with you an incredible idea that I had seen. The letters of the word
king “mem”, “lamed”, and “kaf” are consecutive letters in the
order of the aleph beit, just they are written backwards. They start at
the bottom from down here. They are crunched in between the first ten letters “aleph”
to “yud”- which come from the top; from the Alufo Shel Olam, from
Hashem that is One, and it comes down to this world in ten mystical sefiros
of Hashem hiding Himself to allow the finite to exist.
The
letters on the other side that follow the “mem” of melech- our king, are
“nun” and “samach” that spell “neis” which not only is the
miraculous creation of this world but is also the banner that is planted in the
ground that represents Hashem’s sovereignty over it. It’s like the flag that
Armstrong planted on his moon landing; “one great step for mankind”. The Melech
the king from one of us that bridges and serves as the ladder for Hashem to
come down. The meeting place between the two? Are the letters “kuf “and
“yud” or the word “kee” that is the title of not only our parsha
of Ki Teitzei but the next of “Ki
Tavo” as well.
After
that is parshat Nitzavim. We are fully standing and planted Ha’yom.
Hashem is here. From there Va’yelech- we walk together. Ha’azinu-
we hear the words of Hashem and finally V’Zos Ha’bracha- we have
achieved the ultimate blessing that has been waiting for us since Creation when
Hashem blessed the entire world. It’s the yom she’kulo Shabbos. We have
come full circle and returned to the Garden of Eden.
If
last week’s parsha spoke about creating the world and the system that prepares
the kingdom of Hashem to rest on this world, with the judges, the kohen and
Levi, the prophets, the eradication of evil, cities of refuge and the military,
this week- the parsha of connection, of “kee” is about preparing us
individually to become the people that we need to become. It’s the parsha that
hits every situation that will come our way. It’s the parsha and mitzvos that
clear out all the noise. It’s the parsha that lets me find me. Ki teitzei-
it’s how to bring out that inner me in the battles and challenges that distract
me from my inner soul and longing.
The
first mitzva is of the holy soldier, the one that has no sin in his hand and
that seemingly feels fine to head out to the world, as Rashi tells us that the
battle referred to is the milchemes reshus- not a mandatory or
obligatory war against a nation that threatens us. Rather it’s a war to expand
to grow, to become bigger and better. The Torah tells us that the Torah tells
us in that situation we have to be wary of the yetzer ha’rah. He’s
coming for us. We’ll be placed in situations that while we were in our
comfortable environment, cities and yeshivas we may never have imagined
ourselves being tempted by.
We will find parts of ourselves that we never
knew existed, that were perhaps hidden because in societies we lived in, were
too dangerous to even be a temptation as they are so taboo and looked down
upon. Yet out there, when we go out to really get into our kishkas they exist,
and we find that they have really been repressed rather than conquered. Hashem
tells us don’t worry. Don’t be shocked. Don’t let that become disappointed with
yourself. And don’t even bury it. Find it. Take it home. Work with it. Move
past it. It’s from Me. It’s a challenge I gave you and you can overcome it. You
can do it for Me. Because it’s not really who you are.
We
have those challenges when it comes to raising our children. The ones that may
not be turning out the way that we had thought they might. Don’t worry there’s
a “kee” in them also that starts of that parsha. There’s a point of
connection between the King and them. It plays out in our wives, our marriages.
In the houses in our prosperity that we build that perhaps we don’t worry
enough about the blood that might fall from our roofs if we don’t build fences
around them.
The
Torah tells us that even an executed murderer who is hung up after his stoning
for his sin, is immediately removed. According to the Rambam he’s executed
right before sunset and placed on a tree and right away taken down. The verse
tells us so that we should know that he is also the image of Hashem. As Rashi
says, he is like the twin brother of God. The Lubavitcher Rebbi asks, that if
that is the case why hang him at all? And he answers beautifully that the
reason is to show that even his sin that was the cause of his execution can be
“hung on the tree”. Which tree? The tree of knowledge. The original sin.
The temptation of the snake. Of our yetzer hara. Yet that hasn’t removed the
image of Hashem from him anymore. After his death which is his atonement, he
returns to that image and is the “brother of Hashem”.
The
next mitzvos are of finding lost object of our “brothers” or seeing
their animals fall. The Torah tells rather than just merely commanding us to
return or to assist them tells us “lo tireh”- we shall not see these
things happening and hide ourselves from them. There’s no more hiding. There
are no more ignoring parts of ourselves that we don’t think exist. Do you know
who our brother is? We just said in that previous Rashi. It’s Hashem, the Alshich
Ha’Kadosh says. There’s a donkey in us, there’s an ox, there’s our clothing, we
fall, we stumble, and now Hashem tells us that we have to return to Him. To
bring those failures and challenges back to their Source. To the tree. Becoming
one with Hashem means digging deep into ourselves and finding our deepest
essence and elevating it.
Do
you want to hear something else cool? Hold on to your hats for this one… Both
of those mitzvos and in truth as you pursue the parsha will find many other
mitzvos as well begin with the word “lo”- do not. Do you know what the
letters “lamed “and “aleph” are? Lamed is the middle of that
bridge that is the king. It is the heart. It word that means “to” and
towards. And aleph as we said is One is Hashem, at the top. Lo don’t hide. Lo
tireh- if you find your inner-self you can reach a point where you won’t
see evil. Lo- dig deep inside yourself- (or low- couldn’t resist...) And lo with
a “vav” at the end means “to Him”.
To
find oneself, our parsha goes on and on with all types of messed up ways that
we might be confused about who we are. Don’t wear the opposite genders
clothing, don’t mutilate yourself. There’s a few different parshas of
young girls that get into relationships with people that are wrong for them and
are seducing or taking advantage of them. Fascinatingly enough the commentaries
note that this also comes as a result of an identity crisis. The word for young
maiden throughout is spelled without the final “hei” at the end. It
could be read na’ar. We’re not seeing ourselves correctly. The father of
the na’arah- maybe not seeing who she really is. The one who seduces who
her, may see be seeing her as a na’ar. She may be seeing herself as
such. But it’s a parsha of “kee”. There’s a king inside of her that is
connected to that yud… to that yid… to a Father that wants to
come down.
Read
the parsha again and again with this idea in your head. It will absolutely blow
your mind. Every circumstance, every challenge, every excuse, is either a “kee”
or a “lo”. Know that there’s a natural connection to your brother the
Edomite. Be wary of it. Don’t deny or ignore it. Know that you can’t just
ignore or blow away the good that the Egyptians had for us despite their evil.
It’s part of us. Deal with it. Find it. Sanctify it. Know that we have a mitzva
to find ourselves together with our spouse. That even a failed marriage though
doesn’t mean it’s the end. The end of us, that is. It also may be part of
finding ourselves. Sometimes we can put it back together. Sometimes she will be
to another man. Sometimes we can never go back. But we can always still use the
experience and elevate it.
Finally
there are “kee s and “lo”’s in our workplace. We can’t separate
or escape to our workplace and our job there and become a different person.
It’s also a place when we “go out” that we have to find ourselves. It’s how we
treat our workers, it’s how we lend money, it’s how we act in our court when we
are sued, our scales and measurements. People like to think that we can
separate our business from who we are, from my personal life, but the Torah
tells us that we need to be fully engaged with ourselves always. Hashem is
coming down to this world and He wants His glory to be revealed in all areas.
In our fields, in our jobs, in our homes, in our marriages…in us. ‘B’chol
livavcha, bichol nafshecha u’bchol meodecha’.- with our all…
The
conclusion of the parsha is Amalek. To remember. It is the future mitzva of our
parsha when we come to the land. It is the mitzva before next week’s ki tavo
el ha’aretz parsha-when we have come to the land parsha begins. Amalek,
tried to confuse us. They are gematria doubt- safek. They try to find
the weakness in us and capitalize on it to destroy us. They come when
“v’ata
ayeif v’ayagea”
when the “You” is tired and worn out. We’re too sick
of trying to find ourselves. We just want to be left alone. We were v’lo
yarei elokim- we had no more “lo” to Hashem. We didn’t see Him anymore
within us. This is the final battle. This is what we need to destroy from under
the heaven. It’s the only thing stopping heaven from revealing itself here.
It’s the first job of the Melech the king of Israel. It’s our job to never
forget that.
I
stare out at the heavens from my porch, and I think about that day right around
the corner. What the world will be like. What I will be like in that world.
It’s a thought the King in field wants us to have throughout this month as our
beloved awaits. Elul, our sefarim tell us is a conjunction of the aleph
lamed and the vav lamed- or “lo” with an ‘aleph’ and “lo”
with a “vov” backwards. The ‘lo’ of not being
distracted and the ‘lo’- bringing it all to Him. To our beloved. I’m dreaming
of my vacation and alone time, but in truth it’s a dream of an eternity of
peace and serenity and being that we are all deeply waiting for. It is the day
that will always be Shabbos. The day when the whole world will see heaven touch
earth. The day when the world will finally be redeemed.
Have a restful serene Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Fun
vaytn nart men laytn, fun neont zikh aleyn.- At a distance you fool others, close at hand just yourself.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
3. The name of
the holiday stating the baptism of Yoshka in the Jordan river is___________.
What is the
name of the wall which hides the altar in Orthodox churches?
A. Scaenae
Frons
B. Narthex
C. Iconostasis
D. Baptistery
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/lulay-heamanti-kavey
- It’s
Elul and this is the song that you need to sing every single day from the extra
psalm we add l’dovid… enjoy my Lulay He’amanti..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzSbTRJ3Emo&list=OLAK5uy_mafOhWusrNbGyjGsluNi29XJUx0nsxdUA&index=8
–Abie Rotenbergs’ classic “Who Am
I”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNd7u0CF5bs
– An awesome the one and only
Rabbi Schwartz song singer and arranger has his own songs too… This is his Ani
L’Dodi unplugged!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v41mYMiYiKc – Just started
getting into this great Elul Song with a fantastic Baruch Levine and Eitan Katz
hookup!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmNhTAlh4qM
–
Nissim Black and Gad Elbaz hook up for a new Ata Hu Ha’Melech- these guys
just love the KING
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR
PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
The End of the Era of Yehu-. Our sages tell us that one should never be too
sure of themselves. Until one’s final day the Yetzer Hara is working full time
and the greatest of men can fall as well. That’s what happened to Yehu.
Although he brutally fulfilled the will of Hashem and his orders from the
prophet Elisha to kill out the house of Achav and remove the Baal
from the land. Yet in his trick to get the prophets of Baal together he
overstepped himself. He made the famous statement that “Achav served
Baal a little I will serve him a lot.” And those words were the only opening
the satan needed to get in there.
Hashem had promised Yehu through the
prophet Yonah, the primary student of Elisha whom according to
our sages was the child that he resurrected, that as reward for his loyalty he
would have four generations of leadership that would descend from him.
Ironically enough Achav as well had four descendants that followed him
for his teshuva that he did. So Yehu thought he was good to go, and he failed
in one large area. He refused to remove and destroy the illegal temples and
golden calves that Yeravam had established in Tel Dan and in Beit
El.
His reasoning perhaps was that he told himself
that after-all Yeravam was anointed by the prophet Achiya Ha’Shiloni
who was the rebbi of Eliyahu Ha’navi himself. And he was right about
that. Hashem did give his agreement to a split kingdom. The kingdom of Yehudah
led by Rechavam wasn’t worthy. He just never wanted there to be two
temples. Yeravam should’ve humbled himself at least for the holidays and
come to Jerusalem. He should’ve allowed the Jews to bring sacrifices
there. It was forbidden to have two temples. There’s only one place Hashem
chose for us to bring offerings and greet him. It wasn’t in Dan or Beit
El or Lakewood, Boro Park or Bnai Brak either. That was his sin and Yehu
didn’t remove it.
As a result, Hashem brought our enemies upon us,
again as the prophet Elisha had foretold. Chazael comes down from
Aram- which is modern day Syria and Iraq and he attacks
the entire region of the Eastern Jordan. The Golan Heights today
which was Bashan and the lands of Gilead and all the way South
until to Arorer which is in Jordan today near the city of Rabbat
by a place that has been identified as Tel Avadon and Nachal
Arnon which flows from Amman down to the Yam Ha’Melach and
where the miracle of the mountains crushing the Emorites took place
while we were in Midbar before coming to Israel. Chazael
terrorized this entire area killing righteous and wicked together. Things were
not looking bright for the Northern Kingdom at the end of Yehu’s 28-year
reign. He will be replaced by his son Yehochaz and it will take time for
things to turn around.
In Yehuda things were not looking bright
either. Next week we turn back to their kingdom and find out who reigns after Achazya
who was killed by Yehu and the tzoris they have as a result.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE IDENTITY
JOKES OF THE WEEK
A guy went to a psychiatrist because he was having an identity
crisis
"Some days I feel like a teepee" he says.
"Then other days I feel like a wigwam. I dont know which
one is true"
"One day, teepee! The next, wigwam! Teepee! Wigwam! Teepee!
Wigwam! Teepee! Wigwam!"
The psychiatrist yells, "Get a grip, man! You're too
tense!"
Shout out to all my friends having an identity crisis. , You know
who you are, I think?
I encountered an eagle with an identity crisis...He's watching me
like a hawk.
Scientists have conducted blood tests on a frog to extract DNA and
confirm its identity.
They have discovered that the frog was:-
30% Russian
30% French
20% Italian
10% Spanish
5% British
4% Dutch
And a tad Pole...!
What did the woman with dissociative identity disorder tell her psychologist?
"Let me be Frank with you."
Today I gave a homeless man everything I had, my identity, wallet,
car, house, even my wedding ring. We basically switched places. You can't
imagine how good it felt to be free of debt for the first time
There's no 'I' in 'team,' But there are six in 'Dissociative
Identity Disorder.'
What do you call an identity stealing spaghetti? An impasta!
What was the true secret identity of Israeli Spider-Man? Pita
Parker
What do you call the identity of a person who secretly is a priest?
It’s an altar ego.
I have the only identity where if it was stolen... The person who
took it would ask for a refund
A frog goes into the bank and hops up to a teller. He can see from
her name plate that she is called Patricia Whack,so he says "Ms. Whack,
I'd like to borrow $30,000, please."
The teller asks for his name and the frog replies that he is Kermit
Jagger, son of Mick Jagger, and a personal friend of the bank manager.
Unconvinced, Ms. Whack explains she will need some identity and also some
security against his loan. The frog produces a tiny pink porcelain elephant and
hands it to her.
The confused teller says she will have to consult with her manager.
'There's a frog called Kermit Jagger at the counter who wants to borrow $30,000,"
she tells her boss. "And what do you think this elephant is
about?"
The manager looks back at her and says "It's a knick-knack,
Patti Whack, give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone.'
What do you call a baker who has no identity? John Dough
.********************************
The answer to this week”s
question is C -. I really hate
Christian questions. I don’t like the religion it’s a fake made up one full of
bubbeh maysehs and the stories are all riddiculus and their holidays are even
worse. I never understood why Jews should have Christian envy… I have no clue
what the name of the holiday is when he was supposedly baptized although I
visit KAsr El Yahud a lot and talk about where the Jews crossed the Yarden. If
it’s not Easter or X-mas I don’t know it. So I didn’t even bother guessing the
first part of this question who’s answer if you care is the holiday of
Epiphany- see you never heard of it either. The second part I got right though
by process of elimination. Scena frensca is roman theater architecture, nartex
is ante chamber of church and a baptistry is self explanatory, so the correct
answer is iconostasis or whatever- which is also can be guessed as it hold all
the icons they have in front of their church. So I got it half right on this
question and score is now Rabbi Schwartz having a 2 point and
the MOT having 1 point as we start this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
