from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
December 8th
2023 -Volume 13 Issue
9
25th of Kislev 5784
Of Brothers Lost
and Found, Of Then and Now
It’s not about them anymore. It’s about us. The past
few week’s Torah portions taught us about the world around us. The threats and
enemies who sought to destroy us; destroy our ancestors. There was Yishmael,
there was Lavan, Esau, the Philistines. There still are. The past few weeks
have brought home and made more real for the first real time to my generation
and those younger than mine, that
“Shebichol dor va’dor omdim aleinu l’chaloseinu”-
that in every generation they “will rise to annihilate us” is more than a song
that we sing by our Pesach Seder or by Kumzitz sing-alongs. It’s real. It’s
now. And it’s been forever.
But this week it’s no longer about them. The rest of our
story in Bereishis is about us. Our self-destruction and our reconciliation. Our
Exile and our Redemption. As we say on Chanuka, Ba’yamim ha’heim- in
those days, Ba’zman ha’zeh in our times.
Last week Dinah was kidnapped by our enemies. This week
Yosef is, by his own brothers. Last week Lavan was trying to trick us and steal
our sheep, our goats and was trying to keep us captive. This week we fool our
own father with those same sheep, Yehuda reneges on his deal and obligation to
his daughter in law Tamar with those goats and we sell our own brother into
captivity. Shimon and Levi were united last week as they took up swords to
defend their family’s honor; the honor of Israel over the violation of their
sister. This week we disgrace ourselves like harlots where both Yehudah and
Yosef find themselves in cesspools of licentiousness and Shimon and Levi are
ready to take up those same swords to spill their own brother’s blood.
And the story keeps going. While last week we began with
Yaakov dreaming of connecting heaven and earth of angels and ladders. Yosef
just dreams of everyone coming together, of ruling over one another, of bowing
sheaves of wheat. Our story has shifted. It’s no longer them against us. It’s
us against one another. It’s how our exile began. It’s why it began. Redemption
and even retribution against Pharaoh and those that come up against us will
only happen when that rift heals. When we come together again.
How did we fall so fast… so far? How did we lose that achdus
and sense of family and brotherhood that we had when we stood together against
Lavan, against Esau, against Shechem? When we were united. Our Parsha tells us
it came when Yosef spoke badly of his brothers, it came from jealousy, it came
from righteous indignation. But it wasn’t the hatred and the fight. It wasn’t
the theological differences. It comes down to three words, and if one follows
the text and the narrative it is those three words that follow the entire
story.
V'lo yachlu dabro l’shalom- and they couldn’t speak to him of peace
They couldn’t talk. There was no communication. It wasn’t
the fight. We Jews fight all the time. The problem was that they didn’t
fight. They held it in. They assumed that there was nobody there to talk to. No
one even worth fighting with. The Ibn Ezra notes that they couldn’t even talk about
matters unrelated to their argument. Matters of the household, what’s for
dinner, how about dem Mets.. nice new coat you got…The verse can even be read
homiletically. They didn’t speak to him- dabro is a harsh term, l’shalom
to reach a point of common ground that might have led them to peace. They had
written him off. And once you write someone off, then it’s not too far to throw
him into a pit. He’s no longer “fun unzereh”. He’s no better than a goy and
perhaps even worse.
Yaakov sees that and hears Yosef’s dream, he sees the
hatred and jealousy and his response is
V’aviv shamar es ha’davar- His father guarded the matter.
Davar… the matter… the
words… the conversation. This needs to be fixed. We need to come together. We
need to talk. The brothers head down to Shechem and Yaakov sends Yosef after
them with a mission.
Lech na re’eh es shlom achecha v’es shlom
ha’tzon- go please and see the peace of
your brother and the sheep.
Find that place of peace. The peace that they couldn’t even
talk to you about. Don’t make it about yourself even. Perhaps just talk about
sheep. Talk about your job. Talk about me. But find that missing peace.
V’hashiveini davar- and return that davar- that word, that conversation….
The holy Rebbi of Phshicha gives an even deeper insight. He
would tell his students that the eternal message that Yaakov sent him was to go
and see the peace in within your brother. Find that light within them. Shalom
is the name of Hashem- find and see that spark and godliness in them. In that
way you can connect to them. You will have what to talk to them about. You can
return the davar- the words.
But the brothers didn’t see that.
Va’yiru oso mei’rachok-
they saw him from a distance.
They couldn’t see past the colored coat, the colored shirt,
the different hat, the different dreams and visions. They couldn’t get close.
They wouldn’t get close. He was off the derech. He was far from them.
They threw him in a pit. They wrote him off and then they ate and drank, as if
the greatest tragedy in the world hadn’t just occurred. He wasn’t one of them
anyways. He wasn’t their brother.
In fact the angel that Yosef met along the way asked Yosef
what he was looking for Yosef said famously
Es achai ani mevakeish-
I’m looking for my brothers. For that brotherhood. For them to see that we’re
family. That we have a shared legacy and destiny. Yet, the angel tells him
Nasu mi’zeh- they left this. As Rashi says they left that
brotherhood. They’ve written you off. They don’t see you as one of them
anymore.
Even when Reuvein tries to save Yosef, he doesn’t call him
their brother, rather as the yeled. The child. His plea is don’t hurt a
young boy. Yehudah though does still see him as his brother, when he says what
will we gain by killing our brother. Yet even he doesn’t see that as a reason
to bring him. Rather it’s to send him away. To keep him far. To sell him out.
It is at that moment that the Yishma’elim come take the
stage. Yishmael, who himself was thrown out from his father’s house for one
reason. One reason only. Yishmael was chucked because as Sarah said, he was not
the brother that would inherit with Yitzchak,. His existence will threaten the
line of Yitzchak. The children of Yaakov. The 12 tribes. The revelation of
shalom in the world.
Yishmael was sent away, thrown away to the bush in midbar.
But he comes back when we’ve destroyed that brotherhood ourselves. He comes
back with a claim that we can’t answer. Why is he any different than us? He
comes back to take us down to exile. To kidnap our children, our brothers, to
sell them and use them as pawns. To remind us why we’re here. To make us look
close at that gaping hole in our hearts that our brother’s loss, pain and
absence has left. To make us wish that we could talk to him again.
The end of the story will occur at the end of this book
when through Yosef’s machination the coin flips. It will be the brothers that
are coming down looking for their brother, Binyamin. They return to deliver
Shimon who was being held hostage by Egypt- in the form of what they perceived
to be their viceroy who was in reality Yosef, their own brother that they had
refused to recognize. It’s what happens when you don’t recognize your brother
when he is with you. Hashem will make it and force your hand to the point where
you realize that we are all brothers. If there is no Yosef, there is no Shimon,
there is no Binyamin. If there is no Itai, there is Kfir, there is no Maia and
there is no Yanky, Yoily, Shaindy or Brachie. We’re all one family. We’re all
the children of one father and one Father. There was 12 of us. We lost one. And
since then we’ve been losing more and more.
By the end of Chanuka when we read Vayigash we will read
about the reunion of Yosef and his brother. When Yosef reveals himself. The
verse tells us he
Ani Yosef- I am Yosef is my father still alive. It still
isn’t over. The brothers still couldn’t answer. They still couldn’t speak. They
were shamed. They were frightened. They didn’t feel connected. And then it
finally happens.
Va’yomer Yosef el echuv
And Yosef said to his brothers.
Geshu na eilai- come
close to me.
Come close. Remember
when you couldn’t let me come close. How you only saw me from the distance. You
saw my flaws, my sins, my different color coat, shirt, my long hair, my
tattoos, my sins, my politics, my world-view different than yours. Come close.
See me with you. Feel me. Hug me, embrace me. Cry with me.
And they came close… finally. And he said
Ani Yosef
achichem- I am Yosef your brother that you sold to mitzrayim
Don’t worry. Don’t feel bad. It wasn’t you. It was Hashem
that made this happen. I was sent
L’michya- to revive
us.
Lasum lachem she’eris ba’aretz- so that we will have with what to remain in the land.
U’lhachayos lachem l’flayta gedola- that so what we will live and merit to be a great refuge.
We will return from being held hostage. From being
captives. We will be redeemed. We will be the brothers we are meant to be.
Va’yinashek l’chol echav va’yevch alehihem- And he kissed all his brothers and he wept over them. He
wept and cried over the years that they had lost together. Over the brotherhood
that for so long had been missing. For the pain their stubbornness had caused
their Father. Our Father. For the place that it had brought them. For the
future generations when this sin will occur again and again. It will be the
destruction of the Mishkan and the two temples. It will be the final exile of
Rome, of Edom, of Hitler and of October 7th.
V'acharey kein dibru echav ito- and after that his brothers spoke to him. The conversation
finally happened. We spoke. We were brothers. When that happened something else
amazing happened as well.
V’hakol nishma beis Pharaoh la’imor- and the voice went out throughout the house of Pharaoh.
Ba’oo achei Yosef- the brothers of Yosef have come. They
are brothers. They are one nation. That voice of Yaakov- that kol that will
reveal the light to the world, that the whole world is waiting for is finally
here.
Va’yitav bei’enei Pharaoh u’viei’nei avadov- and it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and they eyes of
his servant. For the entire world is waiting for us. They’re waiting for the
brotherhood to reveal itself. It’s a story then. It’s our story today.
This past week I visited the Kibbutz of Be’eiri, the
largest of the Kibbutzim on the Gaza border that was hit on the Shabbos
Ha’Shachor- the black Shabbos that was Simchas Torah. The horrors we heard
about, the destruction that we saw, the atrocities that were committed have
kept me up at night since then. And what we heard and saw was only a tiny drop
of what actually occurred. So much pain, so many tears, such darkness. When our
tour was over I asked my friend Yardy who was born and raised there and was the
only person that was non-military there- as he was singlehandedly trying to
salvage the crops of avocado and citrus of the Kibbutz and pick them along with
volunteers who came from all over to help, where we could daven Mincha he took
us to the Kibbutz shul. And it was then that I had the shock of my life and one
of the most powerful moments.
The shul was in perfect shape. It was untouched. All around
us on all sides was destruction. Houses burnt, bullet-ridden kindergartens,
medical clinics, grocery stores all looked like Gaza. Like Auschwitz. Yet in
the middle the shul remained standing without even a broken window. There
wasn’t a grazed bullet. I was astounded.
I would’ve thought it would be the first place the terrorists would’ve
attacked. I had imagined Kristallnacht, with broken glass, thrown and strewn
prayer books and chumashim, burnt talitot and desecrated sefer Torahs. Yardy
didn’t have any answer or explanation why this was left. Why the terrorists
never came here. Perhaps he suggested they assumed that nobody would be there.
It didn’t make sense.
But then I walked outside and saw the name of the Synagogue
emblazoned on the door. It was in wood in colorful letters. It said two words.
“Ahavat Yisrael”. The of Yisrael. The love of brothers. It was as if Hashem
looked down, just as He did, when He went to destroy the world with the flood
in Noach’s era- because it was full of “Chamas”. It was like when He came down
to talk to Avraham before destroying Sodom and turning those cities over. Yet,
here Hashem spared the shul. He wanted us to understand that where there is
Ahavas Yisrael, then Yishmael will never be able to touch us. We will be
protected. We will be on. He will be revealed. He will have His home here
amongst our Ahavas Yisrael- and the house of Pharaoh will find it good in their
eyes.
This year as we light and celebrate the holiday of Chanuka,
the blessing of those days in our time has more meaning than ever. The light
will conquer the darkness once again. Yet for that to happen we need to find
that shemen- the hidden cask of oil in our brothers. That fuel that every Jew
has, that unites us. That is DNA of our family. That makes us brothers and
sisters. When we ignite that spark as we see happening today like never before,
then the entire world will join us in our Menora. They will help us rededicate
our Temple once again. And then those days will be in our times forever.
Have holy hartzigeh Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Ganovim un farlibte hobn lib fintsternish.- Thieves and those in love both love darkness.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
17.Another
name for the "Big Maktesh" is ___________.
What is the
estimated size of the Bedouin population in the Negev?
A. 600,000
B. 150,000
C. 300,000
D. 450,000
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/maoz-tzur
- It’s not Chanuka without my Rabbi Schwartz Compositions here’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iky-KPl1-Og
– Ari Goldwag’s latest Live to Give
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAmdS9AnUts
–
Maccabeats We’re still here Am Yisrael Chai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSj9pOUJ6tI
- Y-Studs You can Light with me Chanuka
Acapella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXI0CLgK-Ds
- 613 Era-Luiton?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9PRlr2M4x4
– Dovid Lowy’s amazing new rendition of a Golden Oldie “Don’t hide from
Me”
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER
INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
Thanks and Praise – Chanukah is the holiday which the Rambam and Talmud tells us are
all about one thing, and it’s not latkas or doughnuts. Its L’hodot U’l’Halel-
to thank and praise Hashem. We will recite Hallel every day, we add in our
bentching grace after meals an extra paragraph about Chanuka and the miracles.
We say it again and again. I think its understandable to most that there is a
concept of saying thank you and showing appreciation. If someone does something
for you, then we understand that we “owe him” a big “thank you”. Yet a whole 8 days of holiday seems like it
is carried away. Songs, praises, again and again. Blessings, we seem to be
obsessed with the idea. What’s it all about?
I remember hearing an incredible speech one about how every country
and culture can be identified by its language and vocabulary. For example Italy
has a lot fo different words for Pasta. That’s important. Pizza too. In Eskimo
language there’s a lot of words for snow. Wet snow, dirty snow, soft snow hard
snow. It’s a big deal to them. Americans have a lot of different coffee names.
I’m just ana Americano type of guy. In Hebrew or the holy tongue there’s a lot
of different words for praise. For thanks for showing appreciation. Take a look
at Yishtabach, or the last paragraph of Hallel. There’s about 15 of them.
Because that’s what’s important to us. In fact we are called Yehudim- because
the tribe of Yehuda was thus named because Leah gave thanks to Hashem on his
birth. It’s at the core of our identity.
What is praise? What is thanks in Jewish thought? It is us
recognizing that Hashem does everything for us. That every moment we are alive
is a gift. That gift is our purpose. It motivates us to do something. It makes
appreciate that Hashem is standing with us. There are so many I have spoken to
over the past month who have witnessed so many miracles. They can’t stop
talking about it and they appreciate life differently than they ever did
before. We do this ove the entire week of Chanukah, it is the reason why we are
saved. It is the oil and fuel we are meant to reveal. This year more than ever,
we need to appreciate that.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR
PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
The Leper King and Chanuka?!– It’s Chanuka and our thoughts and prayers are for the rebuilding
of the Temple and the story of it’s rededication by the Chashmonaim/
Macabees. Fascinatingly enough the Ramban notes that despite the
incredible miracle and rejoicnng of the holiday in the year 165 BCE
within 50 years the Temple was back to it’s sorry impure state. The children of
the Maccabees became Greek again. They assimilated. The defiled it. The
essence of their sin, he writes, was that they tried to take too much for
themselves. They were Kohanim, their role was to serve in the Temple. It wasn’t
to be kings or rulers. The monarchy was always meant to be in the hands and
through the descendants of the tribe Yehuda; the house of Dovid
Ha’Melech. They took too much for themselves and they didn’t want to give
up the power that they achieved in their victory over the Greeks. That
was their mistake.
Similarly but at the opposite extreme we learn
this week about the downfall of Azarya/ Uziya. With his tremendous
success and even spiritual revival of the Jewish nation, the increase of the
economy, the agriculture, the military achievements and the expansion of our
borders, he like the Chashmonaim set his mind up to take more than his
portion. To take the role of the Kohanim in the Temple. In Divrey Ha’Yamim it
tells us that he entered the Holy of Holies with a pan of incense much
to the outrage of the Kohanim. As he stood there while they rebuked him he
broke out in Tzara’as a spiritual form of leprosy of which one of its
causes is the sin of arrogance. Taken aback he immediately left the Temple, as
he was the law mandates for a tamey person. He was taken out of the Old
City and he was placed in a place called “Beit Chofshit” and it
there he remained until he died.
Where is this Beit Chofshit?
Fascinatingly enough with this as well there is a Chanuka connection. Jewish
tradition places the location by Mt. of Olives in the Kidron valley
by a cave and elaborate burial place call the Cave of Beit Chazir right
next to Yad Avshalom. It is a burial cave from the 2nd Temple
period where the Kohanim of the Chazir family, mentioned in the Talmud
as one of the 24 families that would take shifts in the Temple. It is elaborate
and tradition has it that it is where the tomb of Zecharia, the Kohen
Gadol that was murdered in the Temple in the period of Yoash was
buried. As well tradition has it that Uziya’s grave was moved there from
the city of David where he was buried, as this was where he lived.
Yet the irony is certainly remarkable. Uziya
who was the King of Yehudah who tried to usurp the Priesthood from the
Kohanim is buried in a tomb of the Chashmonaim, who were priests that
tried to usurp the Kingship from Yehudah. The message for us today is
that one person can’t do it all in Judaism. We need our brothers. We need to
respect and appreciate that we each have different roles. If we do that, the b’yachad
ni’natzayach. Together we will overcome the darkness and reveal the light.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY
GAZA MEMES/ JOKES OF THE WEEK
Never ask a woman her
age, A man his salary A Pro-Palestinain activist from which river to Sea and a
Palestinian what Al Aktza mosue is built on top of.
@MuhammedSimry17 tweet-
Bombing has started in Gaza please pray for us.
@benny.wol- Yisgadel
V’Yiskadesh Shmei Rabba
Gaza Ministry of Health
Latest numbers
Total Killed 26,334
22,304 children
4207 women (or dressed
as women)
16 men
1 Hamas fighter
76 non-binary/gender
fluid/ two-spirit
I’m definitely ordering
my next phone from Gaza. I mean two months of battery life? Insane
For release a senior
Hamas Operative responisblie for the on the hour missile launches has been
elimanted. He has been identified as Allah Sh’aah (on the hour)
If you ever feel
helpless remember that the UN still exists.
The answer to this week”s
question is C – Another week
another time I got one half right and half wrong. I wasn’t sure of the other
name of the Mactesh Ha’Gadol. I remember it had one and they changed it, but
forgot why and what the name was. The answer is Machtesh Yerucham. I think it
was changed at the behest of the city of Yerucham to get more tourism there to
the actual city near the MAchtesh crater, but I don’t think it worked. Nobody
calls it that. On the other hand the Bedouin thing I got right. There are
300,000 of them. Which is a lot. There’s about another 150,000 of them everywhere
else in Israel if I recall correctly So another half’and half score making the
new score being Rabbi Schwartz at 12 point and the MOT having 4
point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
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