Insights and
Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
August 18th
2023 -Volume 12 Issue
45 1st of Elul 5783
Parshat Shoftim
A
King Like Us
It’s
Elul. Yup… The summer is over, although I still have another week or so worth
of tourists until my “bein ha’zmanim” vacation starts. Yeah… that’s when I
finally get to go away by myself for a few days to recuperate from a few months
of thank g-d non-stop talking, touring, hiking and sharing this awesome country
Hashem has blessed us with. My vacation starts when everyone starts getting
back to school, to yeshiva and to life… See you guys here the shofar we started
blowing this morning as a call to get back and get serious. For me, it’s the
recess bell. I can finally get away myself, which I do for a few days. I head
up to some little tzimmer in the Upper Western Galil that overlooks the Mediterranean
and the glorious mountains of the North and I don’t say a word for a few days
straight. Just chilling, kicking back in a jacuzzi with a beer and just watching
the sunset. That’s my Elul.
Now,
I know you’re looking at me strangely. I’m a Rabbi also. Shouldn’t I be in the
Beit midrash. Shouldn’t I be learning Mussar? Giving Shiurim? Chizuk? Making up
for all that Torah I didn’t learn all summer long? Well.. I’m a Rabbi.. So I am
good at coming up with inspirational excuses and justifications as well. See,
what I tell myself is that Hashem really isn’t in any of those other places
right now. Everybody else is missing the boat. The rest of the year Hashem is
sitting in His palace. Shivti B’Vais Hashem- the house of God is His
study halls, His synagogues, His Bais Ha’mikdash. That’s where He hangs out the
rest of the year. Elul though do you know where Hashem is? Ha’Melech Ba’Sadeh-
the King is in the field. It’s why we say this psalm every day in this month, because
in Elul- we’re not sitting in the Bait Midrash or the Bais Hashem. In Elul we’re
meant to be in the field with Him. In the hills of the Galil, in my Jacuzzi…
checking out His glorious sunset together with Him. See, I told you we Rabbis
are original and creative. It’s why I get paid the big bucks…
Yet
wherever you happen to spending this month of Elul; whether in the Bais
Midrash, in school, in shul or at work. There’s one thing that all of us have
in common. We’re preparing for Rosh Hashana. That Shofar we blow is waking us
up. Rosh Hashana that blast will be the coronation of the King. It’s when He
will get onto His throne of Din- of judgement. It’s when we will declare very
loudly together Hashem Melech Hashem Malach Hashem Yimloch l’olam Va’ed- Hashem
is our only King forever. We are His servants. His Kingship will reign over the
entire world. It’s time. We want it. We need it. Yechi Ha’Melech- Long live the
King!
Yet…
yet… yet… is it really… really true? How comfortable are we really with the
whole King thing? Let’s put Hashem on the side for a second. I know we’re not
really supposed to do that, but He does it Himself in fact. He’s been hiding
out for a while now. He gives us clues on how to find Him. Where to find Him.
But He created us as mortals that have a limited capacity to understand and
relate to things. We can’t imagine or wrap our brains around the infinite, the
immortal, something beyond time, space or this world. So He gave us mortal
physical and tangible examples that can serve as tools in how we could relate
to Him. How we can long for Him. What it means to be with Him.
The
classic and most utilized mashal- parable is that of a King. We know
what Kings are. There have been kings from time eternal in the world. They are
leaders, they are rulers, they are the ultimate authority, and they are meant
to be the singular representative of the nation which they rule. And so is
meant to be Hashem in our relationship with Him. Yet, let’s get back to my
question. Do we really want a king in the modern sense of the word? Aren’t we a
lot more comfortable with a democracy? Someone that is elected by the nation? Don’t
we feel that kings are a pretty lousy way to have a government. One man who
seemingly isn’t even elected, can make decisions and run a country on his own
whims, issue whatever decrees he wants, start whatever battles, tax or mete out
justice as he sits fit without any checks and balances whatsoever. This doesn’t
seem like a great system. I can’t imagine anyone- besides the Supreme Court of
Israel and it’s anti-judicial reform protestors that would want a system like
that… sorry I couldn’t resist.
Yet
fascinatingly enough the idea of a King is essential to us becoming a nation.
It’s the first mitzva the Rambam notes that we are meant to observe when we
come into the land. As the parsha tells us
When
you come to the land Hashem, your God, is giving you, and you possess it and
live therein, and you say, "I will set a king over myself, like all the
nations around me,”.
You
shall set a king over you, one whom Hashem, your God, chooses; from among your
brothers, you shall set a king over yourself; you shall not appoint a foreigner
over yourself, one who is not your brother.
Coming
to the land of Israel is not just about having a national Jewish homeland. It’s
about having a king. It can only happen when we have a king. Hashem will choose
for us one and it is through him that we will connect and understand Him. And
it is through us having that, that the whole world will then as well connect to
our Creator, our Father, our King.
But
if that’s the case then the mitzva seems to be phrased and given strangely. It almost
seems as if this is not the way it’s supposed to happen. Unlike our other
mitzvos this one is commanded as if it comes from us. When “we come” and “we
say”. Even our asking for a king is not really what it seems the Torah or
Hashem wants from us as the verse tells us that we are asking for a king “like
the nations around us”. Really? We want a Mussolini, a Henry VIII, a Caliguala or
a Pharaoh? A Biden or a Trump? A Bibi? Why is this holy and essential mitzva
that stands at the core of the entire world’s recognition of Hashem given in
such a base strange way?
Even
more perplexing is that on the one hand Hashem tells us that He will choose the
person that will be the king for us. That makes sense. After-all this is a
pretty important job and Hashem does have this prophecy thing going for Him in
which he can communicate to us who the right guy is for the job. Yet, in the
same sentence we are cautioned that we should not choose a foreigner or a
gentile over us? Huh?! I just thought You said that You were going to be finding
us the right man. Are we anointing the king or You?
The
truth is historically if one takes a look at Tanach fascinatingly enough it
seems that this mitzva really played out in the cautionary fashion that the
Torah tells us. We were in the land of Israel shockingly for over 400 years
before we actually had this conversation and a king. It didn’t take us that
long to bring the Bikkurim which are also commanded with the same terminology
of being obligated “Ki tavo el ha’aretz- when we come to the land”. We
kept Shemitta right away. We brought sacrifices in the Mishkan right away. We
even wiped out most of our enemies right away. So why didn’t we establish a
king right away?
Even
more bizarre is that finally in the book of Shmuel when we do ask for a king, seemingly
a fulfillment of this mitzva, the prophet Shmuel and even Hashem get upset at us
for asking for a king.
“And
it was bad in the eyes of Shmuel that we said give us a king to judge us” and
Shmuel davened to Hashem.
“And
Hashem said ‘Listen to the voice of the nation to all that they said so you, for
they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from reigning over them.”
What
did we do wrong? Are kings a good thing or not? Should we ask for one or
shouldn’t we?
The
Malbim has an incredible insight really really hits at the essence of all of
the above. He explains that the function of the world is that the Jewish people
come to Eretz Yisrael and shine out the light of Hashem to the rest of the
world from here. Hashem wants a dwelling place down below. Our job is to build the
world- like a ladder up to Him, from where the King can descend.
The
word Melech- king interestingly enough is three consecutive letters in the
Torah Mem, Lamed, Kaf. Yet its backwards. It starts from the Mem on the bottom
(Mem being the letter that means from) and it works its way to the Kaf. The 11th
letter of the Aleph Beit. The first ten Aleph to yud are the 10 sefiros of
Hashem coming down to us. The king which starts from us makes its way up to Him
and Hashem comes down from aleph to yud. By the way he doesn’t say this piece-
that’s from the “sefarim Ha’kedoshim” 😊.
What
the Malbim does explain though is that from when we left Egypt and even including
the first few hundred years we were in Israel, our lives and existence were
still supernaturally being controlled by Hashem in a revealed fashion. We were
living miraculous lives. The wars we fought were won miraculously. Hashem again
and again showed Himself to us. He answered our prayers and punished us when we
weren’t listening to the mitzvos in an open brazen fashion through the various
judges and their eras. The King was there. It was Him. He hadn’t handed the country
over to us yet to build and ask for our king yet that would come from below.
Yet as our parsha tells us the ultimate mitzva is that we reach a point when we
are ready to do that. When the nation will say “We want a king- just like any
other nation.”. We’re not asking for a king that is going to be like their kings-
rather we are asking for a teva’dikeh- natural, materialistic organic from the
bottom-up type of country in which we can have king over us that will bring us to
You. A king that starts from the field. A king that will bring us all to Your palace.
The
key word and difference between the mitzva in the Torah and what the Jewish
people asked for in the times of Shmuel, Rav Margalit, the Rav of Karmiel
explains, is that in the Torah we ask for a king alecha -over
us, whereas in the book of Shmuel we asked for a King ‘lanu- for us’. We wanted
a king that wasn’t going to be over us, rather one that work for us. Hashem warns
us specifically against that. He will anoint the king that we request. The king,
He tells us is one that He chooses is one we need to “place over us”.
On the one hand he will be one of our brothers. Yet, he is not someone that we
can expect to be “working for us”. He’s bringing us to Hashem.
Not
only that, but in general, the Torah notes,
‘lo
tuchal laseis’- you will not be able to give a stranger who is
not from you {that authority or position}.
The
Sifri tells us that any position of authority should not come from the nations
and even more than that it shouldn’t be a job where the person is being “given”
the position. It’s a job that should be “placed upon you. As it says som
tasim- you shall surely place.
Do
you know why we don’t like kings so much today. Why they’re politically incorrect?
It’s because we don’t like things put on top of us. We like being free. We like
not being told what to do. We are busy with our rights and what our freedoms
and liberties should look like. We want leaders- but not really. We don’t want
people leading us. We want people representing us. We want to place them instead
of us. We don’t want them to be on top of us or even leading us up. When I say
us, by the way I mean the 21st century civilized man. Jews though,
and certainly observant Jews-like me an you are a bit different but we’re still
missing it…
See
we do want someone above us. We want Hashem. We’re all very good at davening
and have a lot of kavana that Hashem’s kingdom should shine all over the world.
We want miracles. We want His light. We want evil to be destroyed. We want a
divine new world order. We want Him alone. But we’re missing a step, because that
can’t and won’t happen until we understand that we need a king from below
first. We need a flesh and blood king-just like the goyim have one- but a holy
one that will bring us to Hashem. That the Melech starts from down here. He
starts from the field. We have to be able to make that happen and then and only
then will Hashem’s kingdom reign.
Do
you know what we have to do make that happen? Do you know the only way we can
do this? The Torah tells us in the opening line.
“Ki
tavo el ha’aretz asher Hashem elokecha notein lach—and when
you will come to the land which Hashem has given you.
Vi’yarashata
vi’yashavta – and you will settle and you will dwell there
V’amarta
asima alai Melech- and I will say, I will put a king on myself
In
the English translation it’s not so clear, but in the Hebrew it jumps out at
you. All of these verses and this mitzva are in the singular form. Tavo- not
‘tavo’u’ plural. ‘Notein lecha-‘ not ‘lachem’ ‘Yarashta’, ‘yashavta’,
‘amarta’, ‘alai’- all of those words are singular. The mitzva of placing a
king is only when all the Jewish people are one, are united, when we all have
one voice, when we all agree that we need one candidate and that he is the one
Hashem has chosen. He is good enough to be our king. He will elevate us. He is mi’kerev
achecha- he could be just like one of us. He’s not necessarily the one that
looks the most holy- Dovid Ha’melech certainly wasn’t. He may not be the one
without any sins. He may not be the greatest scholar. Yet we are all humble
enough and united enough to say- that we don’t need the person to be anything
greater than one of us. The role of the king is to humble himself. To bring us
with his humility and ours to Hashem. We might even think a goy would be good
enough for that job, because after-all it’s just about us uniting and humbling
ourselves. That is how the bridge from down here will be built to the heavens. Its
about recognizing its His agenda not ours.
Mashiach
is on his way. The Talmud tells us that mashiach will come in a year that is motzai
shevi’s- the one that follows the Shemitta year. Well, the month of
Elul is the last month of this year that followed shemitta. The world
now more than ever is going crazy when it realizes that we need a real King. We
need a leader that will raise us up. That will bring Hashem down. We need
Mashiach. Yet, for Mashiach to come we need to all return to that one father
and speak with one voice. It seems impossible. We are living in one of the most
divisive eras that I can remember where everyone is so polarized. Yet perhaps in
that polarization we can all come to the one realization that we need to all
become a little humble. We need to step back a bit and stop looking for the
king in the palace. Perhaps we need to go out to the quiet peaceful field where
Hashem is this month and contemplate the world where He will come down to. The
world we need Him to shine out for. We can then come back and truly inherit and
settle the land as one. And then that shofar blast we hear by the end of this
month will not be one that just awakens us, but that brings the final
redemption.
Have a Royal Shabbos and a blessed month of Elul,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Vos a
ventke far fish iz chanifeh iz far melochim.” - What a fishing rod is to fish, flattery is to kings
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
2. According
to the bible, the name of the war where the Ark of the Covenant fell into the
hands of the Philistines is___________.
Which of the
following sites was a station during the wandering of the Ark of Covenant as
told in
the bible?
A. Usha
B. Kiryat
Ye'arim
C. Tzipori
D. Hebron
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://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/good-shabbos
–You’ve missed this song… admit
it… You don’t even know how you made Shabbos without it for so long.. Here it
is back again my Good Shabbos song…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqtEKhxd-XA
– Simcha Leiner and Baruch Chait with all Chait’s all time classics. If
you’re my age and you appreciate the old time good music it doesn’t get better
than this…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWXpPBxV12Q
– Mordechai Shapiros’ latest by Ohel Sarah so beautiful from Bonei Olam titles
“U’mibaladecha- only you”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYzAyBgKy6s
– Shuki Solomon and Koby Brumer-
Shir Emuna with Yishai Lapidot
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR
PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Let’s Play Ba’al-. Having rid Israel and Yehudah of any of
his enemies or potential usurpers that may have remained from the house of Achav
the only thing that remained was ridding the land of the worship of the
Baal. Introduced by Jezebel the wife of Achav this was the idolatry that
Eliyahu Ha’Navi had it out with the prophets on Mt. Carmel. Yet,
after Eliyahu’s death they had returned in full force under the kingdoms
of Yehoram and Achazya. It would be no easy task to find these sneaky
prophets, but Yehu had a plan and a fascinating halacha that he would
rely upon. One that is not permitted by any other sin.
See generally one cannot try to trick someone
into sinning in order to catch him in the act. Quite the opposite we are meant
to warn and try to get people not sin. Yet by idolatry since it is such a dangerous
sin and one whose prohibition is so well known, sometimes the only way to catch
the violator in the act is by tricking him and that is precisely what Yehu does.
He sends out a call to all of Israel that Achav
worshipped the Baal a little bit. I’m going to be doing it big time. He invited
all of the prophets and worshippers to the Shomron for a big sacrifice ceremony
that would take place. And they all came. Tons of them… Once he had them all
there he sent his new right hand man Yehonadav out to make sure there
were no faithful to Hashem in the house. Once he discerned that, he had them
all bring their sacrifice to Baal. He then set 80 guards out the door to
make sure that none of them would escape and then he went on in and had them
all killed, chucking all their bodies along the road.
From there he wanted to finish the job, so he
burned down all of the temples to Baal, he destroyed all their idols,
and he turned their places of worship into public bathrooms. Can’t you wait
until that special day comes soon when we will do that to all of the churches
and mosques and places of fake worship around Israel, finally purging the land
of the daily desecration of our holiest city and country. Hashem is pleased by Yehu’s
accomplishment. He sends the prophet Yonah to assure him that he will be
rewarded with two generations that will follow in his footsteps. The key words
though were that this was conditional upon him keeping the faith. Does he? Let’s
see next week…
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE KING JOKES OF THE WEEK
Moishe, a medieval Jewish astrologer, prophesied that the king’s
favourite horse would soon die. Sure enough, the horse died a short time later.
The king was outraged at the astrologer, certain that his prophecy had brought
about the horse’s death. He summoned Moishe and commanded him, "Prophet,
tell me when you will die!"
Moishe realized that the king was planning to kill him immediately
no matter what answer he gave, so he had to answer carefully. "I do not
know when I will die," he answered finally. "I only know that
whenever I die, the king will die three days later."
What do you call the knight the king didn’t need? Sir Plus
Did you know King Henry VIII had an insatiable sweet tooth and was
particularly fond of honey? It's why two of his wives were bee-headed
Shlomo, 75 years old, was taking a walk when he saw a frog in the
gutter. He was shocked when the frog began to speak to him.
The frog said, "Old man, if you kiss me, I'll turn into a
beautiful princess, I'll be yours forever."
Shlomo bent down and put the frog into his pocket and continued
walking.
The frog said, "Hey, I don't think you heard me. I said if
you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess."
Shlomo took the frog out of his pocket and said, "I heard
you, but at my age I'd rather have a talking frog."
If The Lion King was a cow movie instead, what would their leader
be called? Moofasa
Why was the King’s army so tired? Too many sleepless knights.
Why were there so many old chairs in the King’s castle? They were
never throne out.
Why was the king wet? He was the reigning monarch.
King Henry VIII had six wives. He beheaded two of them. Those were
his axe wives.
A king used to be drunk throughout the day, no matter what the
time, day, occasion was
Frustrated by his behaviour, the queen left the palace and vowed to
never go back. The king, drunk as usual and absolutely shocked by this news,
asked his minister, what caused such extreme move of queen
The Minister said, "Your highness"
********************************
The answer to this week”s
question is B -. Tanach
questions are my favorite. They’re the ones with the most tochen and that always
reminds me as to the real reason why I do this job- besides the money and fun
of course… It’s to bring the stories of the Torah to life. It’s only here where
they really have meaning and its amazing to be able to bring that inspiration
out to people. Now I don’t believe I ever toured or guided in Even Ha’Ezer near
Afek where the final battle of the Plishtim and Jews took place and where the
children of Eli Ha’Kohen died and the Aron was captured. But I do talk about it
a lot especially when I’m in Shilo. As well I go through the different stops of
the Aron when it was returned to Beit Shemesh and killed a lot of us there and then
it was sent to Kiryat Ye;arim or Telze Stone- where it stayed until Dovid
brought it back to Jerusalem. So we take the lead over the MOT this week with Rabbi Schwartz having a 1.5
point and the MOT having Half point as we start this latest Ministry
of Tourism exam.
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