From the River to the Sea- Parshat Beshalach

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

January 26^th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 15 16^th of Shevat 5784

Parshat Beshalach

From the River to the Sea

 It’s a bracha that has been recited by many since this war has begun. It’s one that I only pretty much recited until now when I flew back and forth from the States. To be honest it really didn’t have such meaning to me. The blessing is one that is recited on four occasions. It’s called the Gomel blessing- or in yeshivish shprach bentching Gomel. The halacha is that there are four that need to recite this blessing of thanksgiving. One who crosses over an ocean or desert, one who recovers from a serious illness and one who is released from prison or captivity.

 Now thank God, I’ve never been in prison or captivity although I did serve plenty of time in detention in the principals office, but I don’t think that counts. As well I have never been sick enough where it was life-threatening, though I might have said it when I went for my stomach surgery, just because they put me under for the surgery. So really the only times I have recited the blessing was on my overseas flights to America (and Africa!), which as well doesn’t seem too life-threatening.

 Actually, the last time I came back from America when I recited the blessing, I had in mind for the first time that Hashem saved me from that dangerous country of yours where antisemitism is up like a million percent and most of the people I passed on the street at these Free-Palestine protests want me and my nation wiped out and think Hamas or the Nazis didn’t do a good enough job. They after-all went to the right Universities that indoctrinate them. That’s not even to mention the “Der Shturmer-Goebel’s worthy TikTok social media and “legitimate” News outlets that should be quite frightening to most people that don’t suffer from 80-year-old short term memory loss of pre-Holocaust era propaganda. That was scarier than the flight across the ocean. Yet the blessing is as well for any life-threatening situation that one is saved from and so I might have said it as well for some car accidents as well that I came out in one piece from.

 Yet today here in Israel there are not too many soldiers that haven’t recited this blessing after every mission that they come back in one piece from. There are thousands, if not tens of thousands that survived the pogroms of October 7^th and the following days in which they and their families were in their words miraculously saved. Tens of thousands of missiles have fallen on this country, in cities like Ashkelon and Ashdod, all over the Northern border. It’s literally miracles daily and so many that “were right there’ just minutes before that were saved. And then there are those that I visit in the hospitals that were unfortunately injured. Whether they were soldiers, civilians wounded in attacks, and all of the usual non-war related cholim that have undergone serious surgeries and illnesses. Yes, the Gomel blessing is perhaps the bracha that Klal Yisrael is reciting more often than ever and like all things that are happening in these days of the final era before Mashiach comes it is something Hashem wants us to focus on.

 Now just in case you were skeptical, one need not do more than what we do every week this past year and just take a peek into this weeks parsha, which is of course the parsha of our redemption from Egypt. The highlight of which contains of course the Song of Sea that we sang upon being redeemed. The singing of that song our sages tells us is in fact the source for all the criterion for the recital of this blessing. We were freed from captivity, we didn’t suffer any of the sicknesses of the plagues that were placed upon Egypt, and we crossed the sea and the desert.

 And so in the song of praise we thank Hashem for it all. We recognize that He is our savior. The song begins with the word Az Yashir- then we sang, and our sages tells us that it is a song for all times. It is past and it is present, and it is even about the future. Its conclusion is that Hashem will rule forever and how we will build him a Beit Hamikdash where his Shechina will rest. It’s a song that we sing daily. It’s to a large degree the original Hatikva- the hope song that is full of praise that we await to sing when we are finally able to see its fulfillment.

 Rav Kook Zt”l however takes this blessing to a whole new level. He notes that the words of the blessing describe a fulfillment of an obligation that we have.  It is unique in that way, as other blessing of thanks just seem to be an expression of appreciation to Hashem that is about the moment or experience that one has undergone. Here the bracha almost puts us down in calling us undeserving or “obligated ones.”

 Blessed are You, Hashem our God, ruler of the world, who rewards the chayavim- the undeserving with goodness, and who has rewarded me with goodness.

 What did we do wrong? Why not just say and sing “Thank You Hashem”? Perhaps even deeper to an understanding of this blessing and maybe even this war as well is the question of why we even have to thank Hashem for this “salvation”? After-all isn’t He the one that threw us into the dangerous situation in the first place? He put us into slavery. He gave us the sickness or illness that we recover from. He imprisoned us. He sent these animals to attack us and enslave us. He gave us October 7^th and missile attacks. So why do we have to thank Him so much when we didn’t die or get killed?

 The answer though perhaps can best be found in the flowers I bought my wife this past Shabbos, and the ones I’ve started buying the past few weeks. I’ve stopped taking her and my family for granted. A week, a month and already more than three months of meeting so many families who have lost loved ones. Whose children will never grow up knowing their Abba. Of meeting soldiers who have lost their limbs and can’t walk, can’t go to the bathroom alone, don’t know if they will ever be able to see or hear again. The families of hostages that I’ve met who are still living on October 7^th and would do anything to have a phone call saying Good Shabbos from their loved ones. Who haven’t slept and refuse to do so until they can once again tuck their children into their bed safely and wish and kiss them good night. After spending a Shabbos with the families of refugees who haven’t slept in their own beds for over 100 days already and probably won’t for who know how many months to come, even my house, my own bed, my Shabbos table around my dining room suddenly has so much more meaning. There is so much more that I have never appreciated and taken for granted all these years, that I realize I truly am not worthy of. There’s so much that I have to thank Hashem for and that I need to say Gomel for.

 That, writes Rav Kook, is the essence of this special blessing. He notes that the four categories of people that recite this bracha all correspond to the different blessings and perhaps even challenges that we have noticing and appreciating the goodness Hashem is always providing us with. The first one, those that travel through the desert are the refugees. The ones that have no home. Perhaps all their lives they only saw the amenities that they didn’t have, or the nice ones that their friends did that they may felt they were lacking. They don’t have enough rooms, the ceiling leaks, they wish they would have nicer weather, they had a bigger backyard, a swimming pool. They want a nice hotel breakfast and bigger kitchen. Well try spending a few days in the desert. Or maybe even get thrown out of your house to a five-star hotel in the Dead Sea for a few months and then you will see and thank Hashem for all the goodness your own four walls in your home really are, leaky roof and all.

 The second, those that travel over the Sea is for those that perhaps don’t appreciate where they are living. They think they need to go to Cancun. They want a cruise. The land and country where they live is just not enough for them. They need adventure. The same old-same old humdrum daily life and grind of going to work and coming home is boring. Is mediocre. It’s doesn’t give them the high or the thrill they seek. They don’t get how amazing their existence is. How blessed Hashem has made their lives. They think they are lacking, when in fact He has taken care of everything that we could ask for. Soldiers fighting in the land and sea and that haven’t had a normal day can tell you that they would do anything to rewind and go back to their normal lives. That they miss that day-to-day grind. “Chozrim la’Shigra- back to the regimen” is what so many here want. Yet now it is with an appreciation like never before in the obligation we had to thank Hashem for how much and for how long he set us up in what was in fact a truly perfect and blessed existence before this.

The last two that recite this blessing are the ones coming out of captivity and the ones who have recovered from an illness. They are more personal blessings. The most personal ones perhaps. The one who recites this blessing after undergoing some type of medical emergency and life-threatening medical experience knows and understands how precious the gift of life and health is. He was given it anew. Whereas before this he might’ve wished that he was skinnier, prettier, stronger, more capable, more energetic. Where we might’ve said if only Hashem had done this or that for me… or made me this way or that way… After facing death, we all realize how incredible it is that we wake up each morning and can breathe. That we have life that we can accomplish things with. That we have family that are around us and care for us and that we can give to you. That we can hug and kiss and be embraced by. Because so many don’t. Because so many didn’t make it through. Because so many loved ones have been lost and don’t have the life that we do. And then we bentch Gomel and thank Hashem for what we didn’t realize or appreciate He has done for us until now.

 Finally, the last category is the prisoner. The captive. The hostage. The one who has perhaps thought that he needed to be a free-spirit. That felt trapped in life. That feels stifled by Torah, by Mitzvos, by community, by family, by obligations. That perhaps always lived with a gnawing sense that the life that Hashem has given us is one that hampers our “growth” our “becoming” our sense of being. They/we/I want to be free. Well welcome to 210 years of Egypt. Welcome to jail. To slavery. To Gaza tunnels with Hamas terrorists imprisoning you. That’s what being “not free” is really like. That’s what lawlessness and no sense of direction and being stifled feels like. Ask our soldiers who have spent days and days on high alert in far flung places how much they long to daven with a minyan, to be able to return to the Beit Midrash, to put on tefillin or wear tzitzis. How much they long to attach themselves to Hashem and to His light rather than to struggle in the murky darkness of a godless world. Then you can understand how much we’ve missed and not appreciated about the beauty and pleasantness of the ways of Hashem and how fortunate we have always been to be chosen to be the ambassadors of that light to the world.

 I remember one of the first times I was driving around with some Pizzas and cigarettes for the soldiers and one soldier came over to me and asked me if I had tefillin for him to put on. I apologized and told him that I didn’t. I wasn’t in the habit to drive around with my tallit and tefillin, and to be honest he didn’t really look like anyone that I thought would be interested. The tattoos, piercings and ponytail he was sporting didn’t scream I really need some religious rituals or Torah. But I was wrong. He rebuked me.

  “What type of Rabbi are you to come around with out Talit and Tefillin?” he told me.

  I guess I was the cigarette, Pizza type, but that’s not what he was looking for. He wanted Hashem. He wanted light. He wanted to connect. He realized how much he had been missing in his pre-October 7^th life. He had been “Gomeled.”. And now he wanted to sing the song of Hashem. The song of forever. Of ‘Hashem Yimloch L’Olam Va’ed.’

 While we are singing the song of the Sea, our enemies and the nations and individuals of darkness are singing a different song. It is “From the River to the Sea”. One of my great colleagues mentioned to me that their call  and song is one that we as well should be echoing. The story of our Exodus in the Parsha two weeks ago begins with Moshe visiting Pharaoh and the plague of blood by the Nile River. It concludes this week with the splitting of the Sea. Our redemption will come from the river to the sea God willing this week. It will as well return us to our true borders which are from the other side of the Jordan River all the way up to that other River past Iran, Iraq and Syria, the Euphrates and take us all the way to the Sea which is not only the Gaza strip but to the Sea of Egypt and beyond. When we have the river to the Sea we will be able to set the whole world free. We will shine the light of Hashem upon the world. We will build that temple that He has been waiting for. And finally we will hear the entire world respond to our Gomel as is traditional.

 Mi she-g’malcha kol tov, hu yi-g’malcha kol tov selah.- May he who rewarded you with all goodness reward you with all goodness for ever

 Have a grateful appreciative restful Shabbos

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

 ************************

YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

"Ven me zol Got danken far guts, volt nit zein kain tzeit tsu baklogen zich oif shlechts.- If we thanked God for the good things, there wouldn’t be time to weep over the bad.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

24.The "Ecce Homo" Arch was built according to the hypothesis in the study by the emperor_______.

What is another name for Pools of "Beit Hasda" (Bethesda Pools)?

a. Pool of Towers

b. Hezkiah's Pool

c. Sheep Gate Pools

d. Pools of Israel

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrCK7zLj2U0  - Check out this Famous Rabbi Schwartz and family Story of our Exodus from Egypt with my Va’Yosha composition

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuIB3ZKsXiQ  – Joey Newcomb’s latest One Note Niggun…

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxW57BL1EW4  – Yackov Shwekey’s latest Ten Li Koach- for return of Uri Danino and all hostages

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdZN0NYW0VY -  Kinos Be’eri wow… a lament for the kibbutz unreal…

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp-jJpj4dq4   - Gorgeous Eyal Golan latest Yeled Sheli

  

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

Dovid's Non- Prayer – This column has discussed how to pray and how to daven, this week’s parsha tells us that when the Jews were standing before the Yam Suf before it’s splitting and start to cry and to daven, Hashem tells them that they shouldn’t daven.

Ma Titzak eilai- For what are you crying out to Me? Speak to the Jewish people and let them travel.

 The Midrash on this verse tells us that Moshe asked Hashem what they should do if not pray. And Hashem responded

 “It is for you to sing song and praise to the One to whom the Kingship belongs.”

 It seems strange that at the moment of the greatest trouble when we are facing the army of Egypt with no where for us to go that it is at this dire moment Hashem tells us not to pray. What’s going on?

Reb Aharon Karliner asks another interesting question that I know has bothered me and I’m sure most of you that have recited the prayer before or after the recitation of Tehillim/ Psalms. There it states that we ask Hashem quite audaciously that He accepts our prayers

Ki’ilu amram Dovid HaMelech olav ha’Shalom b’atzmo- As if King David OB’M recited them himself. 

C’mon… You know that bothered you… Really? My simple prayers should be as if King David himself recited them! What’s that all about?

 So he answers with a story of a village of Jews who were facing a terrible decree from the king based on a false blood libel that levied against them. They realized that they the King would not necessarily be open to their request for clemency and even a hearing and so they waited for the opporotunity when they might be able to come into him. As they stood outside of the palace they saw a group of local peasants and farmers that were coming before the King with requests that he lower the taxes that they were suffering from as they had a very difficult year. The peasants though were typical ignorant polish peasants and they had no clue how to write their request and fill out the necessary paperwork to bring their request and gain access to the king. They approached the Jewis representatives standing there and asked if they could fill it out for them.

 The Jews seeing their opporotunity of course agreed and yet when they filled out the peasants petition rather than talk about the taxes they wrote about their own plight and the false blood libel and pending decree against themselves. When the peasants brought this petition before the King he took one look at it and asked the peasants what the meaning of all of this was. When they admitted that the Jews had filled out the form, the king smiled and laughed and appreciated the cleverness of the Jews and granted them an audience and accepted their request.

 Reb Aharon Karliner thus explains our prayer and how we must daven at certain times and moments that is perhaps the key to all of our prayers. He explains that when Dovid Ha’Melech davened he never davened for his own needs. He always directed his prayers for the Shechina, for Hashem’s praise.

Me’hulal ekra Hashem U’mei’oivai evashe’ah- I will praise as a I call to Hashem and I will be saved from my enemies. Dovid praised Hashem and then Hashem saved him from his enemies.

 When we daven we ask Hashem to not think of our prayers as we are davening for our own needs, our own troubles, our own salvation. Rather he should accept our prayers as if Dovid Ha’Melech is saying them to praise Hashem. We’re just saying the words. He wrote the letter, the plea; the petition. We’re like the polish farmers perhaps that don’t know how to write and we’re like the Jewish delegation that perhaps aren’t worthy to get an entrance to the King because we’re not sure if we’re worthy enough. But if we use the words of Dovid Ha’Melech and we come in with the praise of the King then we’re sure to be answered.

 That is what Hashem tells Moshe. Don’t daven for your needs. Just sing My praise and then you can travel. Then you’re in. Then the miracles will come.

 RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

734 BC The Exile continues- Things were getting worse and worse in the Northern kingdom of Israel. The previous kings Menachem and his son Pekachia were evil and as we said their pacification plan didn’t work as Pul the king of Assyria attacked and exiled the Eastern side of the Jordan and the land of Gilead with the two tribes of Reuvein and Gad. Pekachia ben Remalia Pekach’s general assassinated the King of Israel and took over the kingship with his men from Gilead and promised to make things better for the Jewish nation. Yet, like most politicians it was mere words. Hashem was running the show. He was trying to get us to teshuva. And yet our leaders didn’t realize this. Some things never changed.

 Under the rule of Pekach the next phase of the exile of the ten tribes continued with the continued attacks from Aram/ Syria from Pul who was more commonly and historically known as Tigleth Philesar the 3^rd. He attacked the North conquered and exiled most of the Northern Jewish settlements and tribes. Pretty much like has happened today. The Navi tells us of the tribe of Naftali which includes the settlements of Iyun near Mapal Ha’Tanur and the name of the nachal there today. Beit Avel and Kadesh which are around Kiryat Shmona, as well as Chatzor all the way down to the Kineret where Tiverya is. Basically, the entire Galile Panhandle. It’s hard to even fathom that here we  were just about 100-150 years before the destruction of the first Temple and almost 1/3 of Eretz Yisrael is already in the hands of goyim and our nation has been thrown out and are refugees.

 What is even more shocking though, is that it is at this time that Pekachia himself decides to create a civil war and fight against kingdom of Yehuda. As we will see next week this is not just a civil war but in fact there will be hostage and prisoner taking as brother fights against brother as the nations around us seek to destroy us… It’s the worst of times and getting worse.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY THANK YOU JOKES OF THE WEEK

Yankel was thinking about how good his wife was to him, so he prayed to god to give thanks. To the man’s astonishment, the booming Hashem spoke to him.

Yankel:” : “Hashem, I’m so grateful that you gave me my wife. If I may ask, my Lord, why did you make her so beautiful?”

Hashem-“ I made her so beautiful so that you could love her, my son.”

Yankel:” : And why did you make her so kind-hearted?

Hashem: “I made as such so that you could love her, my son.”

Yankel:” And why, did you make her such an amazing cook?

Hashem: “I blessed her with the talent of cooking so that you could love her, my son.”

Yankel: “Thank you, Hashem but forgive me but I must ask one more question. Why, did you make her so dumb?

Hashem “I made her dumb, my son, so that she could love you.”

Thank God we don't need to hunt for food anymore. I mean, I have no idea where pizzas live in the wild

Only in Israel will you find someone that tells you when you ask his affiliation “Baruch Hashem I'm an atheist”… Wait...

 There is this atheist swimming in the ocean. All of the sudden he sees this shark in the water, so he starts swimming towards his boat. As he looks back he sees the shark turn and head towards him. His boat is a ways off and he starts swimming like crazy. He’s scared to death, and as he turns to see the jaws of the great white beast open revealing its teeth in a horrific splendor, the atheist screams,

 “Oh God! Save me!”

In an instant time is frozen and a bright light shines down from above. The man is motionless in the water when he hears the voice of God say, “You are an atheist. Why do you call upon me when you do not believe in me?”

Aghast with confusion and knowing he can’t lie the man replies, “Well, that’s true I don’t believe in you, but how about the shark? Can you make the shark believe in you?”

The Lord replies, “As you wish,” and the light retracted back into the heavens and the man could feel the water begin to move once again.As the atheist looks back he can see the jaws of the shark start to close down on him, when all of sudden the shark stops and pulls back. Shocked, the man looks at the shark as the huge beast closes its eyes and bows its head and says, “Baruch Ata Hashem Elokeinu Melech Ha’Olam…”

 Right after takeoff, a pilot comes on the microphone to welcome his passengers. “Thank you for flying with us. The weather is....”

Then he suddenly starts screaming while still on the mic, “OH MY GOD! IT IS BURNING!!, IT IS BURNING!”

Then silence.

A few seconds later, he comes back on and says, “I’m terribly sorry about what happened. I spilled some scorching hot coffee on my lap...you should see my pants!!”

A voice from the back of the plane yelled, “Why don’t you come back here and see ours?”

 

Berel is at a looking to buy a horse, the horse trader leads him to a majestic white stallion. The horse trader said: "This horse can understand three commands, if you want it to walk, say “Praise Hashem”, if you want it to gallop say “Baruch Hashem” and if you want it to stop say “Please Hashem”.

Berel did not believe the horse trader, so he requested to try it out. He got onto the horse and then said: "Praise god." The horse started walking. He then said "Baruch Hashem" and the horse started galloping towards the end of the cliff. Berel panicked and forgot the phrase to stop the horse, it looked as if he was about to fall, he shouted out of fear: "Please Hashem” the horse stopped.

Berel, being relieved, said "Baruch Hashem”

 Thank you, student loans, for helping me get through college. I don't think I can ever repay you.

 "No thanks. I am a vegetarian." is a fun thing to say when someone hands you a baby.

 "Thank you for calling the NSA..." "The only government organization that **actually** listens to you!"

Be thankful for Doulas. They really help people out

I want to thank everyone here for teaching me the word "Plethora" It means a lot

I'd like to thank my legs for supporting me. My arms for always being by my side and my fingers... I could always count on them.

I once thanked a French guy to death It was a merci killing

 Thank you weight loss surgeons. What you do takes guts

**********************************

The answer to this week”s question is C– Wow! It never fails to amaze me how much information that I never need still is implanted in my brain. I thought for sure I got this one wrong and probably would’ve skipped it had I been taking the exam. But whadaya know… I got it right. I forgot the whole Christianity religion and gospel stuff, and to be honest really never paid much attention to it in  my course, as bubbeh mayseh- particularly from a religion that killed so many of us in the name of their false Messiah savior- was not something I ever thought I would need and certainly not guide. Yet, I remembered Hadrian’s famous Arch in the Old city on the Via Deloraosa- which is similar to the famous Titus Arch which was a victory Arch, as opposed to one that served a function as entrance to city wall. See the Roman’s didn’t have walls around the city. We shouldn’t either by the way. We as they did should just make it too scary for anyone to even think of attacking or invading us. Well it turns out that arch is also known as the Ecco Homo arch where Yoshka was shown before he was crucified and a whole derasha was given there.

 As far as part 2 I definitely didn’t have a clue about the pools but guessed Shepherds pool because I remembered something about some fake news “miracle” where Yoshka healed someone on Shabbos by bathing there and the Jews made a whole protest and it was a shepherds pool and I was right!  So both right this week again making the latest score is Rabbi Schwartz at 17.5 point and the MOT having 5.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

 

Bring Him Home- Parshat Bo 2024- 5784

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

 January 19^th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 14 9^th of Shevat 5784

Parshat Bo

Bring Him Home

 “Elka, can you get off the couch and come back to the Shabbos table now!”

“Tully, I’m talking to you too…”

“I know my E-Mail is long. I know that all of the books and sefarim that we read by the Shabbos table meal can be annoying and the couch is so much more comfortable. But I want everyone sitting here at the table. I don’t want you dozing off. I want you sitting next to me. No, we can’t just finish up the meal and read and learn afterwards. Daddy, needs time in between courses for there to be room in his tiny belly for the next few bites of chicken and kugel, that I’ll hopefully be able to eat- and keep down. So get back to the table and sit here next to me and listen.”

 Welcome to the weekly conversation by the Schwartz Shabbos table. I know and understand my children. The couch is so much more comfortable. They’re tired. So am I. Yet, it’s one of those pet peeves in my life- that they still haven’t gotten straight and that still is a weekly argument, that I inherited from my parents. The rule in my house growing up was that you don’t get up from the table until the meal is over. It’s rude. It’s like making a statement that the conversation going on is not important to me and you just want it to be over already and therefore if you got up from the table the rule was you couldn’t come back. No dessert for you, now depending on the week and what was for dessert was a decision that we had to make if it was worth it or not. I didn’t like that rule then, and now Hashem has fulfilled my mother’s curse to me that now I’m having the same conversations and arguments with them that she had with me. What goes around comes around.

 Yet to be honest, it’s something that I appreciate more and more these days more than ever. These days with most of my “Chizuk missions” that I’m running leaving from Yerushalayim in the morning I’ve found myself the last few weeks leaving my home Motzai Shabbos and coming home Thursday and even Friday. I don’t see my children, my wife, my bed and I really feel the need to bond over the weekend. I miss my bed and want to spend time catching up with it. Oh and with my kids and wife too… So the Shabbos table which has always been the bonding place for the family is even more important to me. And thus I don’t want anyone to walk away from it, or leave me. I want us all together for the limited few hours of Shabbos peace that we are fortunate to have.

 Last week though after a long endless few week of these missions which are just draining on all levels. Putting together various families, constantly recalculating where I’m going and who we’ll be meeting with and giving chizuk to, traveling back and forth and of course going from tears, horror, consoling and singing and dancing with soldiers and davening for everyone we meet is an emotional roller coaster. I needed a break. I wanted to get away. I was not up to coming home and giving three drashos over Shabbos and leading services in my Shul. I just wanted some sun and quiet for the weekend. Yet at the same time I didn’t feel like I could disconnect from everything that is going on. There’s too much going on. Too many families hurting. It’s an eis tazara for Klal Yisrael. Our boys are out there serving in Gaza, the hostages are still not home, and there are so many broken families all over. I couldn’t go on vacation and turn it off. So we decided to go for Shabbos to Ein Bokek to the hotels where many of the refugees are staying. At least we could be with them and give them chizuk and connect to what they were going through while we were getting some sun.

 The truth is it’s nice over there. If I had to be thrown out of my house than there are worse places to be then in a five-star hotel by the beach with a spa and delicious hotel meals and concerts and entertainment all the time. There was this funny clip from the comedian Adir Miller going around of this guy Yossi, evacuated from Ashkelon sitting in a Jacuzzi in the hotel being interviewed about his terrible situation. He told the reporter that he refuses to go home until the last Hamas terrorist is killed. He will remain there sipping his drink until the war is over. When the reporter came back to him and informed him that it was over Yossi asked him and what about Hezbollah? When he was told that Hezbollah and the northern front which was far away from his house in Ashkelon was as well all taken care of, Yossi took a long sip on his cocktail and  thought and said

 “And what’s with Houtim?!”

 Yeah… It’s really not that bad over there. And so we walked around and talked to the refugees who many have obviously undergone severe trauma and are dealing with unreal PTSD in many if not all cases and have been sitting in these hotels for 104 days already. I asked them what it was like. Was it really so bad being where they are. To be honest, I used up a lot of points staying in the hotel that Shabbos. The response they gave me was just 7 words. It was 7 words that hit my like a brick and I believe that it is the essence of everything that has been going and that Hashem wants for us to be focused on. They told me

 “We just want to go home already”

 They miss their homes. Shabbos is not fun in a hotel for more than a week. They want family dinners. They want home-cooked food. They want to bond. They want their own beds. They want to feel together. They want their own four walls. They need to feel like a person again rather than a guest- despite how nice and comfortable their temporary accommodations might be.

 Those words have been ringing in my head since Shabbos and I hear them a lot even louder from so many other places. I regularly visit Hostage square and meet with families whose children, whose brothers and sisters, whose parents and even grandparents are being held by these subhuman animals in Gaza. There are signs everywhere you go. On your shampoo bottles and milk cartons and the shops and street signs everywhere. Bring them Home Now. We want them home. Tachzor ha’bayta Achshav! During protests once when I was sitting there was someone with a big sign that said

 “B’chol mechir tachzireim Ha’bayta- at any price bring them back.

 It wasn’t a family member that was holding the sign and the person holding it seemed like a secular left-wing hopefully former Peace Now person, so I felt comfortable walking over and engaging them in a conversation. I asked him what he meant by “at any price”. Because personally I also agreed with the concept, and I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. We weren’t.

  See, my “any price” was that we every day blow up another village from the sky-without endangering anymore of our boys in green. That we slaughter men women and children madly until they return our boys or at least be inspired that the civilian houses that they are being held in feel inspired to return them to us. That we literally do not give one drop of water, food, and certainly not gas or electric to anyone over the Gaza line and lay siege until they die and hand them over to us. And finally, if that’s not working, we take out thousands of Hamas prisoners we have in jails here and hang them from the security fence daily and chop them up into little pieces until our hostages are returned. Any price means any price to me. It seems though we were talking different currency. His any price was just handing a bunch of terrorists back to them so they can come back and kill us again.

 Oh well, the contzeptzia still hasn’t been broken for some. Not everyone has come to the recognition that Hashem has been bringing us to the point where we have the level of hatred and vengeance, he wanted us to have here when we first came into the land and were told to wipe out the 7 nations and Amalek. All of them. Otherwise we will always suffer from them and they will be thorns in our eyes. I don’t like thorns in my eyes. I just want them home. And those that haven’t gotten that yet really need to join me on a tour of the Kibbutzim in the South to appreciate as they tell me- that there are no innocent civilians over there. They are all evil. They all need to be wiped out. Because the unspeakable atrocities need to be avenged.

 But it’s not just the hostages and refugees that need to come home. There are over 350,000 men women, boys, girls, fathers, brothers that are out fighting now. They’re living in tents, their sleeping on the wet ground, they’re under fire in Gaza, on the Lebanon border, on Mt. Chermon and Har Dov. They’re in tanks, in helicopters, they’re medics, they’re engineers, they’re warriors. And they haven’t been home for along time. And they miss their Shabbos tables. They miss their spouses. Their wives and children the other heroes of this war are struggling without them. It’s insane. Nobody is home. Everyone is in exile. Farmers don’t have their fields and crops, major cities, stores and shops and malls are closed. Tzfat art gallery street is a ghost town. It’s unreal. We need to go home is the cry. It’s the name of the war.

 And then it struck me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. There’s someone else that hasn’t been home either. Yet it’s not just for 1 day, or 104 days and not even for a year or ten years. It is the shechina. It is Hashem. It’s been over 2000 years that Hashem is not in His Home. That it lies in ruins with a golden pimple on top desecrating it. That may have been set up in many five-star hotels in Lakewood, Boro Park, or even before that in Poland, Lita, or Spain or Russia or Babylonia. Really nice hotels there that the Shechina was in. Beautiful Shuls with minyanim all the time and Beit Midrashs with Torah like it’s never been heard. But it’s a hotel. And the Shechina, Hashem just wants His own House, His own Shabbos table with His children.

 Well this week’s Torah portion the one that begins the story of our actual redemption (then and hopefully now as well). Also tells us about an interesting mitzva that was necessary for us to leave Egypt. To get out of the darkness. To move into the light. To come back to our land. It is the last moment of our exile, and we have one major command that Hashem says an eternal one. One that we should remember for all ages. One that is the secret of our final redemption. The mitzva is to sit together at the table in one house. It is to remember annually that all of this is about having a home. A bayis where we are all one.

 That last night when Hashem is wiping out the first-borns of all Egypt Hashem tells us that it is time for us to go into our houses. The word ‘bayis’-home is repeated again and again. We should place blood on our houses and doorposts. Reb Zalman Sorotzkin writes that blood will be the sign on our houses that Hashem will see as He goes out and slaughters the animals that terrorized us and slaughtered our babies and children. He will see that blood and remember the children taken from their houses, from their bedrooms and drowned and slaughtered and murdered and burned and raped. That blood that united us and made us realize that we are all one family. That we are one and He is one. The blood of the sheep that is their avoda zara- the idolatrous godless nation that we slaughtered and bravely took and posted on our bedposts, because we knew that without Hashem, we have no home. He has no place for His Shechina. That blood is there to remind us of what sadly our home has been built on. The sacrifice and martyrs who fell on Kiddush Hashem. Because they were Jews. Because the nations didn’t want Him to have a Home as well.

 It’s interesting that the word ‘Bayis’ consists of three letters that represents this idea. Beis- the first letter is the second of the aleph bet- it is the first letter of the Torah. It is the beginning that starts and connects to the Aleph the first letter that is Hashem. It’s where we start our work in the creation of this world for the aleph- what the kabbalists call the Alufo Shel Olam- Hashem the First can have a home to reside. The final letter of the word bayis is taf- it’s the last letter of the aleph beis. It’s the end. Our homes are from the beginning to the end. It’s what it’s all about. And in the middle is that one letter yud. It is the pinteleh yid. It’s the name of Hashem. It’s the Shechina. It’s our Shabbos table. It’s Hashem residing and sitting at the table with His children. Smack in the middle of our home. The yud in the middle of the bayis.

 But it’s not just the bayis - the home either and it’s not just Egypt. The parsha continues and tells us that when we come into the land there will be children that will ask what this is all about? What is it all this service for you, the wicked child will ask? Who needs it? Why do we need to sit at one table just us. Why can’t we bring the goy to the table and to eat our Pesach offering with us. Why can’t we just live with the rest of the world? Why not intermarry. Share our seder. Share our blood and unite it with their black South African apartheid, with their spilled blood in their wars in their Somalian, Armenian or Ukranian genocides. Why do we need our own home. What’s wrong with living in their countries. Some of them are still somewhat nice to us. We invested a lot in our hotels/ Batei Midrash and beautiful synagogues, schools, JCC. ’s and chesed organizations. We have shiurim everyday and Daf Yomi. Yes, there are wicked children that ask these kind of questions… Ouch!

 Hashem answers that we should tell them, that we’re not home. That He is not home there. That there will be blood there. That they will kill us. That He will save us when we all gather into the one Home that He needs to be as well. That we create a united home for all of us. A home where the shechina that yud will reside in the center.

 Rav Sorotzkin continues and tells us that this mitzva of eating annually the Korban Pesach has an incredible halacha to it. We can’t leave the Shabbos Pesach Seder table when we’re eating it. There’s a prohibition of carrying it outside of the house. Even with an eiruv. You can’t even leave the room and it eat in another room. Everyone each year must sit together for this meal. It’s a big meal. We have to finish it all together. You’re going to need guests to accomplish that task. You need to have people over for your Pesach Seder each year, otherwise you have leftovers and that’s a prohibition. You can’t carry your little plate and walk away. We need to sit together and understand that is a holiday about having a home. That our job in this world is to bring the Shechina home. That can only happen when we are all one. When we are a family. When we are all at the table with perhaps the people we never might have felt that we should sit with together. That we may not have thought were kosher or holy enough to be participate. With people that they may have thought were too frum for them. That didn’t care about them. That they thought we were perhaps only parasites trying to milk them.

 None of us got it. Because we weren’t home. Because we wandered, we assimilated, we forgot in how much pain the shechina has been in being in captivity and exile. We had homes for 2000 years without that yud. Without Him. We would perhaps come back to Israel and visit the ruins and rubble of His destroyed house to pick up whatever scraps remained there. To see the nice museum an Kotel that they made out of His once beautiful palace. Just as they talk about turning Beeri or Kfar Azza into Israel Holocaust museums. Guess what? They don’t want that… They want their homes back. And guess what? So does Hashem…

 So here we are. We’re reading the parsha of Geula. Our weekly Torah lesson that Hashem spoke to us on a mountain 3000 years ago is more real than ever. The month of Shevat and this week’s Tu B’Shvat is when the sap begins to rise up the tree. The flourishing of our redemption has begun and it’s almost complete. The day of returning home awaits for all of us. For our hostages, for our refugees, for our soldiers, for all of our diaspora Jews and for Hashem. So it’s time to get off the couch and come to the table. The main course is about to begin and my E-Mail is finally over.

  Have a warm family Shabbos.

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

************************

YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Besser bay zikh krupnik, eyder bay yenem gebrotns.." Better barley soup at home than a roast at someone else’s home.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

23.The religion of the people from the Rajar (Ghajar) village is ___________.

In which of the following places are there remains of a Temple from the Iron age?

A. Muhraka

B. Banias

C. Tel Arad

D. Ein Gedi

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMdvVnOuIgk – Yonatan Razel Eis Milchama

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJp0MeIzKi4    – Eretz Nehederet Women Heroes- wives of reservists- the true heroes funny!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIzTFQzbSQo -  Hillarious Binyomin Miller Incomplet of Skinny Pinny fame

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3rtnQ_7y4 – AM Yisrael Chai Ayal Golan my song of the week that can’t stop singing with English lyrics

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYnZRH6Q6QY      – my friend Jeremy Gimpel Acheinu for the Bibers birthday

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

 Dog Eat Dog World– Short story on prayer with an amazing insight from Rebbi Meir Permishlan for you. This person once came to Reb Meir and complained and cried. He worked and worked and worked and slaved and labored to eke out a living and nothing helped. He was still under the water, whatever he tried wasn’t helping. He was sinking quick and he didn’t know what to do. Reb Meir turned to him and held his hand gently and quoted him a pasuk in this week’s Torah portion that described the moment that the Jewish people had their redemption when all of the Egyptians were getting killed.

 The Torah tells us that there were no dogs that barked that night.

 U’Lchol bnai Yisrael Lo yechratz Kelev Lishono- that for all of the Jewish people a dog did not wag it’s tongue.

 Reb Meir then read the verse homiletically.

U’lChol Bnai Yisrael- and for all the children of Israel… A lesson for all time is

Lo Yechratz- don’t wag yourself, don’t make yourself meshuga running around trying to scramble exerting extra effort to “make it”. Rather

Kelev Lshono- your heart (leiv) should be the same as your tongue.

  You just need to be sincere in your prayers. You just need to know that when you ask Hashem to help you, to heal you, to provide for you, to redeem you. That you really believe it in your heart as well. That you understand that He is the only address that can help you and give you what you need. If your Leiv is like your lashon- if your heart and soul are in synch and you are not just offering lip-service in your prayers then you have nothing to worry about. Hashem is our Father waiting to answer our prayers. We just need to make sure that they come from our heart.

 RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

The beginning of the Exile- Civil war had taken over the first Temple period with King after King rising up and killing the previous one. In the North kingdom of Israel Shalum be Yavesh rises up and kills Zecharia the son of Yeravam the 2^nd. Shalum himself reigns for one month until Menachem be Gadi kills him and he assaulted and attacked the Aramian/ Syrian city of Tiftza and committed atrocities against their women. He ruled for 10 years and led an idolatrous kingdom when Hashem sent the king of Asyria led by Pul against him. Menachem seemingly as they say here in Israel didn’t understand the language that needed to be spoken and tried by them off with a thousand talents of silver and paid off each soldier 50 shekels. And it helped somewhat but not for good and not for long… Because it was at this point that the Exile first started.

 Our sages tell us that it was at this time that the two and half tribes on the other side of the Jordan River were first captured and exiled. Ashur/ Assyria led by Pul conquers them and the Golan Heights, the Eastern banks of the Jordan River all fell to Assyria. The exiles were sent into Galus never to be heard from again as the first of the ten tribes to disappear. The East Bank since then which today is in Jordan is still no longer in our hands and hasn’t been entirely in our hands since then. The reason they were the first to fall, our sages tell us is because they were the least connected to Eretz Yisrael. They chose to stay there and asked Moshe to as well have their homesteads there. This is despite the fact that they were the first to fight and conquer the land at the heads of our troops.

 The reign of Menachem was handed down to his son Pekachiah Ben Menachem. He as well continued in his fathers ways and he himself was ultimately killed after two years by another Pekachia. This one was his own captain the son of Remalia, he was joined by the children of those that had been exiled from Gilead on the other side of the Jordan who felt they were abandoned by their King. The civil war is getting fiercer and fiercer. The situation is getting gloomier and gloomier. The decline of the 1^st Temple era has officially begun and next week we’ll see that it gets even worse.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY COMING HOMEJOKES OF THE WEEK

Berel is a  mathematician at Yale university. He comes home from a symposium to be met at the door by his furious wife.

"What's the big idea, coming home at three in the morning in this state?" she yells.

"Dear," Berel calmly responds, "what time did I say I would be home?"

"Quarter of twelve, that's what you said!" screams the wife.

"...Well?" demands the mathematician.

 

I'm coming home late tonight...

Mom: Why?

Dad: I have a toothache, I'm going to the dentist.

Mom: Okay. What time is the appointment?

Dad: Tooth hurty.

Mom: ... Wow. I feel so bad…

 

A baby mosquito is coming home from his first flying lesson

Son, you did good?

Terrific! Everyone clapped

Why didn't the astronaut ever come home to his wife? Because he needed his space!

 

Sherlock Holmes comes home with a box of lemons...

Watson asks where he got them.

Holmes replies, "A lemon tree, my dear Watson."

 

A plumber comes home very upset and yells out to his wife- "honey, you would not believe the bidet I've had."

A Sarah, Yankel’s wife doesn’t come home one night. The next morning, the she tells her husband that she had slept over at a friends house. Yankel being the suspicious type then contacted all of her friends asking about it and whadaya know none of them said that she was there. A few nights later, Yankel doesn’t come home one night. Just like his wife, the next morning he tells her that he had slept over at a friend’s place. Sarah as well was suspicious and contacted all of the Yankel’s friends to ask about it and would you believe it, apparently Yankel was at 8 houses, 2 of which said he was still there!

 

James gets up from his barstool after a long night drinking alone and falls right to the floor. He crawls to the door, pulls himself up to open it, and falls through the door as it swings open. James continues this process as he crawls home pulling himself by his hands; falling to the floor with every pull. As he rounds the corner to his apartment, James pulls himself up to the door knob, inserts the key and twist it and the door open. As much expected, James collapses to the floor, unable to support himself in this drunken state. James finally makes it up the stairs to the room where his wife is soundly sleeping. He wrestles with himself while removing his clothes, attempting to be as quiet as possible. James decides that he cannot make it into the shower to clean himself off, and he pulls himself up into bed.

 

Unsuccessfully, James awoke his wife on his way into bed. She stared at him angrily and said, "You were out at the bar again, weren't you?"

 

"No," said James, trying to sound inconspicuous. "I was out at the movies with some buddies."

 

"Don't lie to me." Said his wife. "The bar called and they said you left your wheelchair there."

I came home from the bar the last night and was met by my wife asking, " WHAT DO YOU MEAN COMING HOME HALF DRUNK?!?!"

I said, "I ran out of money!"

Avram comes home from Shul one day in grief and despair. His wife asks what happened “Oy vey iz mir” he tells her - So much spending! So much money I am going to lose! Today our rabbi gave a speech: "For many years we are living among Russians but they still don't like us. And we don't even know why. I gave it many a thought and decided that it's because we don't drink vodka. Next time everyone should bring a bottle of vodka with him, we will empty every bottle into a big bowl and nobody will be allowed to leave until we finish all the liquor." So I need to buy a whole bottle of vodka! So much spending!

“What a G-d's fool is my husband!” - she answers – “Nothing could be simpler. Go buy a bottle of vodka. I will empty it into this here decanter, fill the bottle with water and seal it back accurately so nobody will notice. Then a single bottle of water won't make any difference in a bowl full of vodka.”

Avram cheered up, did as he's been told, took a bottle of "vodka" with him to the synagogue next time and humbly emptied it in the bowl like everyone else. The Rabbi took a cup, filled it from the bowl and sipped a bit. Then, in disbelief, sipped much more. Then put the cup aside and sighed: Well, that's why

 

Yanky a 16 year old Jewish boy is coming home from a party ...On the way home , he has to go past graveyard .But since he didn't want to miss the game on the TV , he goes through the graveyard which has a shortcut to his house .

 

The graveyard was covered with thick fog which was so much that he couldn't see the ground in front of him . Eventually, it happened.

 

He falls in a grave dug out which had a coffin in it . The height of the grave was too high for the boy to climb out . But Yanky is smart enough to tilt the coffin and climb on it .

After coming out of the grave , he continues walking for a certain distance , until he hears a THUD THUD THUD .When he turns back to see , he sees the coffin out of the grave .

Quickly , he starts running .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

He reaches his house and closes the door .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

He could now see the coffin on his driveway .He quickly runs up to his bathroom .The coffin crashes through the window .His parents are fast asleep .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

The coffin is coming up through the stairs .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

The coffin is in room .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

Yanky crying , starts throwing everything he can find on the coffin .Toilet paper, Shampoo , soaps , Perfumes , scent bottles and what not .

THUD THUD THUD

 

The coffin is nearing him . He now starts throwing the medicines . As a final desperate attempt , he throws the cough syrup at it .

Then , at last , the coffin stops .

 

**********************************

 

The answer to this week”s question is C– This one was also an easy one. I actually before Corona started guiding there and havea good friend there that shows me around this Allohite village that fell under our control in the 6-Day War. The Syrians claimed that the village was theirs as they were Allohites-which seemingly is a more peaceful and open-minded version of Islam at least theoretically. We never conquered it because we assumed it was from Lebanon who had never entered the war. Lebanon actually even claimed afterwards that it belonged to them. They on the other hand were quite happy being part of Israel. For many years the village was split in half and Hezballah stood right outside their doorsteps as the government and United Nations didn’t allow us to put up a fence. Today Baruch Hashem there is one that was placed there and built officially by the residents themselves after a terrorist attack there a few years ago. The have a great park there with a menora and signs and symbols of all religions and many of them even serve in the Israeli army. They don’t like our enemies more than we do and are actually quite patriotic as well. 

The part B of this question is also easy. As Tel Arad has an alternate Beit Hamikdash there quite small built in the times of the Melachim where they even found idols that were taken down and buried during the period of Yoash who destroyed all of the bamos. Yet seemingly they planned again on using them after his reign as they were just buried rather than destroyed. So both right this week  making the latest score is Rabbi Schwartz at 16.5 point and the MOT having 5.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.