from
the
Holy
Land
from
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
February 23rd 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 19 14th of Adar 5784
They had just shot off missiles into Khan
Yunis about 3 miles from where I was standing. The battery was still warm and
there was smoke rising in the distance on the shmoddered building with
hopefully a bunch Hamas guys dying painfully in agony under the rubble. I was
smiling as I was schmoozing with these Miluimnik brigade from this Givati artillery
unit. They hadn’t been home for a few months and had just been moved here from
further north up in Gaza Strip area. It was hard to believe that I was just
shooting the breeze with these heroes right there, a stone’s throw from the battlefield.
It's amazing what a few burgers and steaks BBQ can get you these days. Before
October 7th to get onto an Army base with my tourists I would need
weeks of security checks, passports, permits from everyone in the government their
mothers and fifty waivers signed in triplicate apostilled and signed by the
secretary of Defense and the entire US state Department. Today a few slices of
pizza and some doughnuts and Walla!, you’re on a top secret base checking
out the nuclear codes. It’s a new world.
The reason for this new phenomenon I’m pretty
sure is because the Army and government understand that the war we are fighting
today is different than anything we’ve ever faced before. It’s not just a soldier
war. It’s a civilian war. Our people were taken. They were raped, they were
burned, they were savagely brutalized, their bodies desecrated and mutilated,
and their homes and villages destroyed. This hasn’t happened in a hundred years-
since the 1929 Arab pogroms that took place in then all over the country and in
Chevron. Until now this was always considered the worst attack on the homeland and
there were 67 people killed in Chevron. There were 6 times that amount in just
the Nova festival alone let alone all the Kibbutzim. This wasn’t and isn’t a
war about soldiers or land. It’s about us. It’s our family and thus the
civilians get to come to the bases to give strength and support to our soldiers
who need it. And their need is not less then we the nation’s need to give and to
connect with these heroes who are putting their lives on the line to protect
and avenge us.
So there I was sitting schmoozing with the
boys. I asked them what Shabbos was like out there in middle of nowhere fighting
against the enemy. Yair told me that to be honest it was very weird. He
recalled how the first Shabbos they were there they were sitting around in the
afternoon after having traveled and moved bases and positions. He said how one
of them pointed out that they were trying to figure out if there were any
prohibited melachos that they didn’t violate over Shabbos. They had lit
fires, built, and taken down tents, carried publicly etc… Perhaps one of them
suggested they didn’t bake anything.
They said they knew that the military Rabbi
had told them that they should obviously do whatever they needed to do. There’s
not too many situations that are much more life and death than war. They were
even told not to even bother doing anything with a bit of a change, a shinui-
which would categorically transform any Shabbos violation from a Biblical
prohibition to a Rabbinic one. They didn’t need to use their weaker hand or
anything out of the ordinary. It was Pikuach Nefesh. Life is most important.
Yet they felt guilty. Maybe they could do a little change. A little backhanded
motions It just didn’t feel Shabbosdik.
One of the nice things about being a Rabbi,
that I had gotten used to while I was doing Jewish outreach for many years, was
how incredible it is when all of sudden, words come out of my mouth and I have
no idea where it came from. It’s like Bilaam’s donkey’s mouth being opened up.
On the one hand it is extremely humbling, On the other, it is so so cool when
all of a sudden the right thing to say just pops out. I turned to the soldiers
and addressed them and asked what they thought they would see if-or better yet
when God- willing soon, when the Bais Ha’Mikdash is rebuilt in Jerusalem. What would Shabbos there look like? Do you
know what would be going on? There would imaginably, jarringly to us, see
Kohanim slaughtering animals, lighting fires. They would be separating
offerings, lighting the Menorah, even, the Talmud tells us playing instruments
and music. Can you imagine that? And there was not even one little Yerushalmi kid
yelling at them and throwing stuff yelling “Shabbos! Shabbos! Gevalt!”
The reason for this is because it’s understood
that this is the service of Shabbos. It’s the Bais Ha’Mikdash. It’s what Hashem
commanded. Do you think for a minute the Kohanim felt bad? That perhaps they
thought they should do the service with a shinui? Of course not! In fact
it would be pasul if they did. It would be invalid and they would be liable for
the offense. They were doing the service of Hashem. They were fulfilling the
highest mitzva possible. They were bringing light to the world, a resting place
for the Shechina. A raiyach nichoach la’Hashem- a sweet, pleasant
smell to Hashem.
“Well you soldiers,” I said-or to be
more accurate the Divine words came out of my mouth and said- “are the
Kohanim Gedolim of our generation. You are doing the avodas ha’kodesh, the Divine
work of this world. You are saving lives. You are eradicating evil. You are
bringing light. That battery you shot off is the menora. That smoke rising in
the distance is the ketores. It is the heavenly incense. It is a rayach nichoach-
a sweet pleasant aroma before Hashem. There’s nothing to feel bad about. You are
doing the avoda of Shabbos. Bringing peace to the world. Our little BBQ we made
for you is our simple matnas kahuna. It is our priestly gifts. Go do your work
faithfully. Thank you for your service.”
This week’s parsha introduces us to the role
and special clothing of the Kohanim; their uniforms. Because soldiers of Hashem
need uniforms. The uniforms by the way came from the donations of the people. I’m
just dropping that little piece there the next time you get an appeal for helmets
or vests for soldiers. That’s what we’re donating here. Bigdie kehuna-
priestly garments. Nobody asked why doesn’t the government or the Army take
care of that? They understood, that there was no army, no government. They’re
our kohanim serving for us and it’s an honor and privilege to clothe them. But
that’s just an aside.
The Kohanim we are told were chosen because
they replaced the first-borns after the sin of the Golden Calf. They restored
the honor of Hashem. They gave their lives for that. But on an even deeper
level they gave their souls. They became killers. They fought against the
sinners, the eirev rav who had incited the nation to sin and forget that
Hashem is the one who took us out of Egypt. It wasn’t Moshe, whose name isn’t
even mentioned in this Parsha. That was the miscontzeptzia that led to
the golden calf. Moshe didn’t do anything. It was all Hashem.
Even without Moshe we would still be redeemed.
We still have Hashem. We only really had Hashem. Because Hashem is in us. Moshe
was just there to reveal it to us. And the sin that the Kohanim fought against
after the Golden calf was to eradicate the notion that we needed a Moshe, a
golden calf, a government ,a peace agreement ,a United States or United Nations
to rescue us. The First Borns didn’t see it that way. But the children of
Aharon did. The tribe of Levi was there. They were called Levites because they
knew that Hashem was always being melave- accompanying us. He is the
only Melave Neshek- the armed accompaniment that we ever need.
Yet there is an even deeper reason why the tribe
of Levi and specifically the children of Aharon were chosen to be the ones that
would be given the honor of this service. The reason is because they were
willing to take the “sin” themselves rather than the Jewish people. For it was
Aharon who seeing the unrest of the nation and the turmoil they were suffering
that was drawing them into sins that they couldn’t step back from that brought
him up to the base and take the sin of the Golden Calf upon himself. The
Medrash states
“At the time that the Jewish people came to do the action,
they first came to Chur and said
‘Make us a god’.
When he refused to listen to them, they stood upon him and
killed him. They then approached Aharon and he feared and he said “Now what
will I do. They killed Chur who was a prophet, if they now kill me then the
prophecy of killing ‘a prophet and Kohen in one day’ will cause
them to be immediately exiled. It is better that the blame of the sin
should be placed upon me and not Israel…
Hashem then said to Aharon. You
“loved righteousness” seeking out to keep My children righteous and didn’t
want them to be found guilty of evil. Therefore, Hashem your God has anointed you.
By My life from all the tribe of Levi only you and your descendants will be
chosen for the High priesthood.’
It is to these Satan’s accusatory arrows that Hashem said, He would take the bullet for. He would take upon Himself the blame. He would put us on His back and redeem us and bring us Home. Those are the wings of the eagles. And that is the shoulder stones of Aharon of the eiphod that he wears with the names of the children of Israel that he carries upon himself as well. He carries us, he took the bullet for us as our soldiers today as well “violate” the Shabbos in order that we may keep it. That Hashem could rest amongst His nation.
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
CHIZUK/TZEDAKA
OPPORTUNITY OF THE WEEK
Just when you thought this E-Mail couldn’t get any longer… well here it goes. Don’t worry it’s not like I have any extra time on my hands to write another column here. In fact I’ve been meaning to do this already for weeks and it’s only now after 125 days of War that I finally have a chance to add this essential column which is dedicated to giving you readers an opportunity to have a meaningful part of helping out our country and nation by donating to a weekly link of a different organization, a cause, soldiers, refugees, supplies, Hostage families, widows, farmers etc… There are so many needs and I know that you want to participate and help them not just read about them. So each week I will feature in our E-Mail in this column another cause and link that you can contribute and make a meaningful difference to. (this of course should not come at the expense of your sponsorship of my weekly E-Mail or our upcoming Purim appeal in another month 😊) But this is a way that you can bring light and money to the so many that need it. Give what you can. But give regularly and if you can I’d really appreciate if if you send me a screenshot or message of your donation as I can then forward it to whoever receives it so they know that it came from our helpful readers. So here we go…
" Shpilt
tsu di shoh, iz kain zind nit duh.”- If it’s done at the right time, it’s not a
sin.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer
below at end of Email
28.The
language in which the sights in the "Madaba Map" are written is
___________.
What
is the name of the trail which begins in Nazareth, and the pilgrims walk in the
footsteps of
Jesus?
A.
The trail of the Apostles
B.
The Nazareth trail
C.
The Gospel trail
D.
The Sea of Galilee circuit trail
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vatem - My latest release- an amazing gorgeous new song to be sung about our upcoming redemption… V’Atem- Wings of Eagles… thank you Dovid Lowy for arrangements and Vocals! Let me know what you think!!
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
Dressed for Sucess– This week we start getting closer and closer to the service of the Beit Ha”Mikdash/ Mishkan with the inauguration of the Kohanim into the service. Last week we described much of the vessels of the Mishkan which our sages tell us correspond to our modern day Mikdash Me’at- our shuls. It begins with the Neir Tamid- the eternal lamp that is the custom to have in our Shuls in the front before the Ark which of course corresponds to the Holy of Holies where the Aron is located. There are Menoras in our shul and of course there is the Kohen who is today represented by our Chazan; the Shaliac Tzibbur.
740 BC-When Jews go to the Goyim to solve our problems - With the return of the 200,000 hostages to Achaz’s kingdom of Yehuda that were taken by Pekachiah’s kingdom in the North after the civil war and where 120,000 were killed, Achaz became even blindingly even more rebellious and pathetically blind to his evil ways. He banned Torah study in Yehuda. He closed down the yeshivas, the Kollels and it wasn’t even to send them into army duty. It was literally a Communist shutdown, it was like the Inquisition and the decrees of Antiochus. But this was Jews led by a Jewish king.
Hezbolla terrorists from
Aram which is in modern day Syria the capital being Damascus and
their king Rezin. Jews allying themselves with our murdering enemies to
attack their brothers in Jerusalem. They swooped down from the North and
laid siege on Jerusalem. This was a mistake and again it’s not what
Hashem wants to see. Hashem thus sent the prophet Yeshaya (whom we will talk
more about) to assure the wicked Achaz that he needn’t fear. This step
that the kingdom of Israel was too much for Hashem. It’s one thing if we fight
amongst ourselves which is serious enough. But to actually bring our enemies of
Free Palestine into this against us is too much to bear. Thus he told Achaz
that Ephraim (the name for the Northern kingdom of Israel would be
destroyed and exiled within 6 years.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE UNIFORM JOKES OF THE WEEK
Last night, I gave my wife a medieval battle uniform to polish while I went to the bar...She always said she wanted a night in, shining armor.
"I'm an undercover
detective."
"Then why are you
in uniform?"
"Today is my day
off."
"You grew up in a
different world, actually an almost primitive one," the student said, loud enough for many of
those nearby to hear.
"The young people
of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the
moon, our spaceships have visited Mars. We have nuclear energy, electric and
hydrogen cars, computers with DSL, BPS, light-speed processing .... and," pausing to take another drink of
beer.... The old vet took advantage of the break in the student's litany and
said, "You're right, son. We didn't have those things when we were
young, .. so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little twit, what are you
doing for the next generation?"
The applause was
deafening. Don't you just love old vets...?
The tailor advised the
desperate fellow that he should pull his arm up in such a fashion that the
short- sleeved arm sits right at the hand. He contorted himself as recommended.
Then he suggested that he shift his weight in such a way that the cuff of the
all too short pant leg comes right to the shoe.
He paid for the
ill-fitted suit and went off limping down the street. Two gentlemen were
walking behind him and were observing how he was ambulating down the street.
One man said to the other, "Look at that unfortunate fellow, how
disfigured and misshapen he is!"
To which his colleague replied on a positive note, "At least he has a good tailor!"
There is a war going
on between the British and the French and in the middle of the war two soldiers
from opposite sides stop to talk and the Brit asks the French officer “why
do you wear red uniforms. Don’t you realize that they stand out and can be seen
a mile away?”
He responds respond “when someone is shot the blood
blends in and morale stays up. Why do you wear brown uniforms?”
**********************************
The answer to this week”s question is C– So another 50/50 this week; half right and half wrong. I got the first part wrong. But close not that it helps. The Meidba map found on the floor of a church in Jordan of the Byzantine empire and the cities in Israel from the 6th century I believe I thought was written in Latin. But the correct answer it seems is Greek. Not that I care… Part II though was easy. The Yoshka trail known as the Gospel Trail is through the entire lower Galil. Basically everywhere that Yoshka pished they made a stop. My good friend Chagi though as a result of this incredible desecration of our Holy Land memorializing this evil heretical Jew that founded a religion that killed millions of us throughout the generations- far more than the Muslims ever did, from the Crusaders and on, in response developed the Sanhedrin Trail. This trail also in that area follows the path of the Sanhedrin after our Exile through the cities and locations in the Galil. So I got that right and thus the latest score is Rabbi Schwartz at 20.5 point and the MOT having 6.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
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