from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
December 29th 2023 -Volume 13 Issue 12 17th of Tevet 5784
Spoiler Alert- You’re brain will explode at the end of this E-Mail and you will cry and be moved as I am.
We sat with Avi and cried with him as he told us the story of his son Naor. We looked at his picture, at his glowing beautiful face filled with so much light, with such a smile. It was just a few months the picture was taken at his brother’s wedding. He was with his girlfriend of 6 years, Sivan, who during shiva their Rabbi who came to visit them told them had met with the two of them to discuss getting married. They were so beautiful together. They had a life planned, a family to build, and on October 7th all of that came to an end as they were in the first home in Kfar Azza to be attacked and massacred by these Hamas monsters who terrorized them for hours, before brutally killing them.
It took three days until Avi got word that their bodies were found. 8 days until Sivan’s body was positively identified and 10 until Naor’s was. I didn’t ask why it took so long to identify the bodies. The pictures of what the bullet ridden, burnt small apartment they were staying in that Shabbos that Sivan’s parents arranged for them told me more than I ever wanted to know. Moshe and Baruch who had come in, as many good people are from America the past few weeks to visit and give chizuk to families whose lives have been shattered by this terrible tzara and war we are going through recited Kel Malei Rachamim- memorial prayer for Na’or and Sivan and we lit a candle for their souls. We sang Ani Maamin. We hugged and we kissed, and we cried together. And on my way out I gave them a small little flower pot with a poem on it from the Chesed Shel Emet organization that I’ve been working with along with a short poem, a list of contact information for all of the Organizations and Government rights and support that they may have and can access, as well as a thousand shekel gift card to stores that they can shop in.
I left the house and sat down on the bench and cried. It’s so hard. There’s so much pain. So much death that we are surrounded by these days. Every morning we wake up another 3-6 pictures of soldiers that were killed. Young boys, fathers, husbands, brothers, sisters. So many shivas, so many funerals. Ad Masai- how much more, Hashem? How much must your nation suffer? Later that evening we went to an exhibit in the Tel Aviv Expo of a recreation of the Nova festival. It was Aushwitz in Israel. Tables and tables of shoes, sneakers, sandals. There were boxes of glasses, of toys, knapsacks. There were tents with sleeping bags, racks and racks of clothing. It looked like Walmart, but each of the belonged to someone. They were all what was gathered from the 3000 people that were at the festival in which hundreds were killed and kidnapped from. They recreated the bar with the environmentally correct cups that they would give you a free chaser or bottle of water if you returned, rather than threw out, because for most of the people that were attending the festival the worst thing that they thought could happen in the world was that the planet would melt from global warming. Little did they know the real threat was the Satanic animals that were plotting the genocide of our nation a few miles away.
I looked at the burnt cars there, shot up and set on fire with their fleeing passengers inside. The seats had all been taken out and buried. The ashes gathered as well. And then I just walked through picture after picture of everyone that was there, the videos taken from phones of them dancing, living, singing just hours before. And now all there is left is an exhibition. Sadness. Pain…
Yet in all of this there is something else going on as well. There is life. There is light. There is hope. Am Yisrael Chai, is the song that is on everyone’s lips. We are alive. We are living. We are eternal. Before October 7th I don’t think many saw it that way. There was so much division, fighting, politics. The doomsayers spoke of civil war. Of the destruction of democracy. And yet divinely ironically when the worst moment that no one ever foresaw actually came. We shined life again. In the death and destruction we rose and continue rising like a phoenix from a fire. Am Yisrael Chai.
This week’s parsha, the last of the book of Bereishis before we begin Sefer Shemot that our sages refer to as the book of Redemption, is named Vayechi- and Yaakov lived. Yet, the parsha in fact is one that discusses his death. Life and death. Yet, there’s a fascinating Talmud that Rashi quotes on the verse that describes the death of Yaakov. The Pasuk tells us.
And Yaakov concluded commanding his sons, and he drew his legs [up] into the bed, and expired and was brought into his people.
Rashi notes that the Torah doesn’t specifically use the word “death” in regards to Yaakov’s passing
“… and our Rabbis of blessed memory said: Our father Yaakov did not die.”
The Talmud in Taanis tells us that there were two Rabbis Rebbi Nachman and Rebbi Yitzchak were eating, and Rebbi Yitzchak who had come to visit from Israel to Bavel and during the meal they were sharing he said over this teaching about Yaakov that he had heard from his Rebbi, Rebbi Yochanan. There as well Rashi even takes it a step further and says
“Elah hu chai l’olam -He is not dead- but rather he lives forever”
Rebbi Nachman turned to him incredulously and asked.
“And then was it for nothing that the eulogizers eulogized him and the embalmers embalmed him and the buriers buried him?
Rebbi Yitzchak responds that this idea is in fact derived from a verse
“… as it is stated: “Therefore do not fear, Yaakov My servant, says Hashem, neither be dismayed, Yisrael, for I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity” (Jeremiah 30:10).
This verse juxtaposes Yaakov to his seed: Just as his seed is alive when redeemed, so too, Yaakov himself is alive.
It’s a strange Talmud and back and forth. Seemingly Rebbi Nachman and Rashi understand that Rebbi Yitzchak is not merely talking metaphorically. Otherwise he wouldn’t have asked his question. We all know that there is eternal life. In many places our sages tell us that the righteous are called living even in their death. The truth is even in the beginning of the parsha and many places Rashi mentions Yaakov’s death and his passing. So did he die or didn’t he? As well what is answer of Rebbi Yitzchak to the question about Yaakov being buried and embalmed? What is the verse about the children of Israel being redeemed eventually have to do with Yaakov physically dying or not?
The answer though really is to understand the word Chayim- life in Jewish thought. Being alive in Judaism means being connected to the function of our existence. An animal is called a chaya- because its mere existence fulfills it’s purpose. Its job is to breathe. As long as it does so it alive. A human though has chayim- life, only as long he is perpetuating what he is here to do. In Jewish life that is to reveal the light of Hashem in the world. When one dies, he can’t do that anymore. He is meis- dead. Interestingly enough the word for death meis are the last two letters of the word emes- truth. They’re just missing the alef- which represents the number One. Hashem. One is meis- dead when they are disconnected from Hashem Echad- the Oneness of the our Creator, what the Kabbalists call the Aleph of the world.
Our sages tell us that someone that doesn’t have children, is like a dead person. This is not just someone who doesn’t have physical children, but also someone who doesn’t leave a perpetuating legacy after themselves. Which incidentally someone who never merited to marry or have descendants can still do through creating eternal legacies in the acts that they do. Many great Rabbis never had children, but adopted children, founded organizations, created Torah works, institutions, had students all which continue to perpetuate and reveal the light of Hashem even after their passing. Death only occurs, when ones light is extinguished. But as long as the flame is still burning, that person is still chai. They are still alive.
Parshat Vayechi, is not the story of the death of Yaakov. It is the story of how he is still alive. The parsha tells us the story of his blessings to his children and grandchildren. How he lit that torch in each of them, before his passing. How he gave each one of them the strength and the power to move forward and keep his flame alive. The Torah doesn’t use the word death when it comes to Yaakov, because he is still chai. He is eternal because we his children are still here.
Rebbi Nachman understands this concept as well, he asks though but isn’t there something to be said for the fact that they eulogized him, they embalmed him, they buried him. Isn’t there a point to mourning? Isn’t there some form of closure that is necessary? To move on. To get back to normal. There are so many today that are undergoing this terrible situation that they don’t even have a body to bury. They have children captured in Gaza, that may be dead. That Hamas may be holding their bodies. Isn’t there something to be said to be focused on that?
Vechi b’kdi sapdu oso- is it for nothing that they did that?
His question comes after the destruction of the 2nd Temple. When we lost it all. When we were exiled. When so many murdered and were killed. Isn’t there something to be said for a holocaust museum. A monument? To embalm and preserve the dead body a bit? The tragedy, the horror..?
To that Rebbi Yitzchak who had come from Israel told him that Rabbi Yochanan told him that there isn’t. Just as when we were exiled after the second temple Yirmiyahu prophecizes and takes out his harps by the river of Babylon and sings Am Yisrael Chai, the children of Israel are still alive. We aren’t dead. So too Yaakov is not dead.
This morning I got a phone call from Avi, Naor’s father. His voice was trembling. He wanted to thank me and he had something special that he had to tell me. I broke down as well. I asked him to put into writing and this is what he sent me.
“Dear Rabbi Schwartz,
I wanted to tell you that yesterday was one of the most moving days of our lives. It was my dear wife Galit’s birthday yesterday. We sat all day in the house depressed and broken. We couldn’t find it in ourselves to celebrate. Our dear son Naor was not with us. Naor was murdered on October 7th on Kiddush Hashem. At around 12:00 you arrived with your friends from America to hear about our dear son. We spoke with you about what a giving boy he was with boundless love and respect for everyone. We looked at pictures. We told you how close he was with his mother and how hard it is for us that he is not with us. It was very emotional and meaningful to us.
Before you left you gave my wife a small present. That evening we opened it up and we were in shock. We were in speechless…. We felt that Naor had sent you to us. The gift was the same that he would give to his mother every year on his birthday. There was a gift card to shop for clothing in her favorite store. We felt that Naor sent angels to us on her birthday to bring her the present that he always would give her on this day. He wanted that his mother shouldn’t be sad and for her and us to understand that he is always with her and watching over her and will never forget her. And he sent angels to our house . This was very meragesh… Thank you angels for giving us this gift. We will never forget this day…
With love always Avi.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Have a strengthened Shabbat Chazak
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Az men ken nit iberharn dos shlechteh, ken men dos guteh nit derleben.- If you can’t endure the bad, you’ll not live to witness the good.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
20.The Hebrew date of the declaration of the Independence of Israel is ___________.
What was determined to be the status of Jerusalem according to the partition decision of the land of
Israel in the United Nations?
A. All of Jerusalem would be under Arab control
B. All of Jerusalem would be under Jewish control
C. Jerusalem would be under international control
D. Part of Jerusalem would be under Jewish control and part under Arab control
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yesimcha - This week’s Torah Portion my magnificent Yesimcha Elokim and the blessing of children! Thank You Yitz Berry for vocals and arrangements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcLCe5iBvVc – The Gospel according to Berkley- Eretz nehederet’s latest Hamas spoof!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyI2GPDDLWc – Homeland Concert Bring them Home Caesarea Amazing…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Ww4cDVZng - Anushim K’Malauchim- Men like angels Motty Illowitz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYmghzgz5qM - Benny Friedman’s latest release Lo Lifached powerful lyrics..
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
Longing for Redemption – In the blessing of Yaakov to the tribe of Dan in this week’s parsha he concludes with three words that perhaps become the mantra of our nation and all we daven for.
L’yeshuoscha kivisi Hashem- I long for Your redemption Hashem.
No matter what we were going through, no matter how far a Jew is from their faith and observance, the words Ani Maamin that we long for Mashiach have been on our lips. It is the hope of our nation. Our national anthem in Israel of Hatikva- the Hope- is for that day to come .
In our Shemona Esrei there is a fascinating insight on that one blessing that connects directly to this longing. It’s interesting that many of the blessings conclude with the reason why we are turning to Hashem and ask Him to answer our prayers.
The first one is third blessing we recognize Hashem’s holiness because
Ki Kel Melech Gadol V’Kadosh- because You are the great and holy King
In the fifth blessing we ask Hashem for forgiveness
Ki Mochel V’Solayach Ata- because You atone and are forgiving
In the next blessing for redemption from troubled times
Re’eh Na- we conclude because You are the strong Redeemer. The same with the blessing for healing. It’s because You are the Faithful healing and merciful King. And it continues in many of the blessings.
The one exception to the rule is the blessing of Es Tzemach Dovid- the blessing for the sprouting up of the seed of Dovid. The prayer for Mashiach. There it concludes fascinatingly.
Ki li’yeshuoscha kivinu kol ha’yom- because we long for Your redemption all day.
We don’t ask Hashem to redeem us because He is the One who can bring Mashiach. Rather He should do so because we long for it to happen. Let that thought sit in your brain. It’s an amazing idea. In the same way that Hashem is the healer, the forgiver, the source of all Holiness. There is one thing though that we have. That we have the same power of Hashem to reveal. That is the coming of Mashiach. Mashiach and the redemption is waiting to happen. We just need to want it. We need to open the door.
Do you know what the bracha is really telling Hashem? It’s telling Hashem that we are coming to the doorbell that is ringing for us. We’ve been waiting for the Mashiach package to come. We’ve been waiting all day. We’ve been waiting for 2000 years. We haven’t given up hope. That is what Yaakov teaches us in this blessing. He wanted to reveal the end of days to his children and he does so in these three simple words.
L’yeshuoscha kivisi Hashem!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Short on Time this week… Will IYH pick this column up next week…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY MEMES/ JOKES OF THE WEEK
We’ve arrived at my favorite week of the year. Goyishe Chol Hamoed
Muhammed was an Ashkenazi Jew. Turning this statement into a pretty post doesn’t make it true it just spread lies that have important ramifications. Stop spreading lies.
For a group that inists anit-Zionism isn’t anti-semitism, the sure said the quiet part out louf when they planned a protest at a literal Holocaust Museum.
Gazalighting- Gaza-lighting/verb
Phsycological manipulation where one who commits atrocities uses the response to gain sympathy for their actions
Example:
Bob kidnapped a baby and chopped off his head and put it in an oven and then complained when he was arrested.
Harvard, UPenn, MIT… seemed to be more concerned with pronouns: He, She, They, Them,
Than verbs
Murder, Rape, Behead, Kidnap
2020 conversation with woke liberal
“I’m Unvaccinated”
“OMG, You’re literally trying to kill me!!”
2023 conversation with same woke liberal
“I’m literally going to kill you and commit genocide”
“Assalamu Aleikum, brother!”
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The answer to this week”s question is C – A no brainer. If you don’t know the answer to this don’t become a tour guide. Yom Ha’Atzmaut is Hei Iyar 1948. And Jerusalem under the partition plan was meant to be an international city… Yeah right… Thank God that didn’t happen. Actually until 1967 the old city was Judenrein and under Jordanian control. Imagine if they would’ve had the whole thing… Baruch Hashem we had the new city of Yerushalayim at least. It took us 19 years until we got back the Kotel and the Temple Mount. Now we need to finish that return to our borders with Gaza, Syria and Lebanon as well. So this is another one right making the latest score is Rabbi Schwartz at 14.5 point and the MOT having 4.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
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