from
the
Holy
Land
from
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
"Your
friend in Karmiel"
March 8th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 21 28th of Adar I 5784
I’m
getting scared. Terrified is perhaps even a more accurate word. I don’t know if
I’ve ever felt this way before. I feel like I’m walking on nails. That there’s this
huge black cloud coming my way and it doesn’t seem like anyone else I talk to really
sees it. I mean everyone to a large degree understands that what I’m feeling is
accurate, yet like me we’ve been ignoring it. Trying to push it to the back of
our minds and shoo it away. Focus on happy/laughy stuff. Yet it’s getting
closer and closer. The war is about to really begin. And from everything that I
see and hear and am watching, it’s gonna be bad.
casualties I mean fatalities is over 35,000 in the first three days,
when- not if – the war breaks out. My friends that work in the hospitals and
Kupat Cholim here and around Israel have told me that they are having regular exercises
to prepare for 500 casualties a day minimally. This is what’s coming our way.
This is where we’re headed.
After October 7th these families learned that
ignoring tunnels and an enemy of subhuman and sub-animal monsters on your
border is just not a healthy thing for your family if you want them to stay
alive and not chopped up into little pieces and burnt to death. It’s just bad
homestead planning. So they’re not going back until they’re cleared out. They’re
not getting cleared out unless or until we invade and go into a foreign almost nuclear
Iran proxied country called Lebanon. When that happens, the fun begins. Welcome
to Gog and Magog.
Now this E-Mail is not here to frighten you. It’s really more about me just putting my feelings, stories, jokes and of course most importantly new songs down on paper and sharing them with you. It’s getting it off my chest and expressing in the wonder and awe how the inspiration of our Torah reading is always there to give me direction. Give me focus. Bring us light. Well this week as we bless the new month of the Adar Number 2 and Erev Rosh Chodesh is also parshat Shekalim and the Parsha of Vayakhel. There’s a lot going on in the Parsha, the reading and Shul this week. Hey, it’s the end of days, we have a lot to accomplish. Let’s take it apart half piece by half piece. Let’s become whole.
The parsh aptly named is Vayakhel and Moshe gathered the people. He made us one. Rashi tells us this takes place the day after Yom Kippur. After we were forgiven for the Golden Calf. We’re back before Simchas Torah again. We’re rewinding to before October 7th. We’re uniting the people to build a Beit Hamikdash. It’s like it didn’t happen. It’s perhaps what should’ve happened if we didn’t have that sin. We pick up the story of the building of the House for Hashem where He will reside with us where we left off in Parshat Teruma and Tetzave before we read the story of the sin. We gather together as one, not as if it hasn’t happened, but as a nation rectified after we suffered the ramifications of our failure to make it happen.
The way we unite, Rashi tells us is “al pi diburo” It’s through the word of Moshe, the word of Hashem. It’s with the mitzva of Shabbos, when we have faith and understand that all of our pursuits, drives and needs not only material and physical but even spiritually to build a house for Hashem and a Mishkan are only by the word of Hashem. We stop for Shabbos. We don’t have to do more. He’s there with us and taking care of it all. We just have to get out of that stress and push it all away and appreciate, that He is the one taking care of everything. We just need to relax and take faith. We don’t need to build the Mishkan on Shabbos. He’s building it and taking care of it. It’s not our home it’s His.
Fascinatingly enough the additional parshat that we begin to read this week as well which is the first of the four supplementary parshiyos that are added, Parshat Shekalim is the opposite message at first glance. The Talmud tells us that when the month of Adar begins we begin to be “Mashmia al Ha’Shekalim- the Jewish court would begin to put out word and collect money for the annual daily sacrifices. Each person would give a half Shekel. No more and no less. We’re all the same. There is no more individuality. There’s no nicer or worse half shekel. We’re all equal. We’re all only a half. What is the difference between the sacrifice and the contribution to the Mishkan where we are each charged to bring as much of ourselves as we can? Why shouldn’t Rechnitz, Reichman or Trump give more than Schwartz?
“Hikhalu v’amod al nafsham”- to gather and stand up for
our lives.
The word “hikhalu” is plural, yet “amod-to stand” is singular. The redemption comes when we come together as one. Rav Teichtel notes that it is why Purim is like a second giving of the Torah. Because again we were as one man with one heart. It’s why Esther tells Mordechai leich knos es kol ha’yehudim- to go and gather all the Jews. It’s the only way our salvation can happen. It’s the only way Hashem can be revealed. It’s what the Talmud tells us that in the future the Jews will all do teshuva for Hashem will bring someone like Haman who will bring terrible decrees against our nation and we will all repent and immediately be redeemed. Isn’t it interesting how the difference between Hamas and Haman is the changing of the Nun to the letter Samach- the next letter and level up. OK I know that’s just the English writing of the word Hamas. But in Hebrew do you know what the difference of Gematria is between the 2? It’s thirteen. Echad. One. That’s how we win. That’s how we all do teshuva. That’s why I shouldn’t be scared.
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. 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…
The Chesed Center incorporates the following areas of assistance:
3. Clothing store – This is a second-hand
clothing store, d offers for sale clothes, shoes, and other accessories. The
clothes are donated by well-known companies or collected by the local
residents, sorted and sold at a nominal price, a policy which shows respect for
the customers who come there to buy their clothes.
4. A charity furniture store - This store
offers second-hand furniture, which was donated to the Hessed Center, collected
by the Center's volunteers and distributed to the needy and families on low incomes.
In special cases, the Center succeeds in obtaining new furniture and these are
allocated to needy families.
5. A charity store for tables and chairs
– These chairs and tables are made available for festivities and celebrations
as well as for mourners, heaven forbid.
6.
Yad Sarah
NOW THEY NEED YOUR HELP MORE THAN EVER
WITH FAMILIES MOVING BACK TO SDEROT!!
And here’s the link to donate
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" Ven
tsu a krank iz duh a refueh, iz dos a halbeh krenk...”- When there’s a remedy
for an ailment, it’s only half an ailment.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer
below at end of Email
30.The
Zin River flows into the ___________.
In
which route was the Ancient "Derech Hamelech" (Path of the kings)
paved?
A.
The route between the Gulf of Eilat and the Coastal cities of Lebanon
B.
The route on the Transjordan ridge
C.
The route on top of the mountains
D.
The route between Alexandria and Gaza
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF
THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yiddelach
– In Honor of PURim MY latest new
release… Its; the only song I’m posting this week. You just have to listen to
it five times… If You want the Rap at the end… IT’s amazing… Tell me how much
you love it…
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yiddelach
– You want to hear it one more time…
Perhaps that is as well the idea of the half shekel donation
as well for our daily sacrifices that we contribute. Hashem is telling us that
the money we donate which is meant to serve as an atonement, as teshuva for our
sins is only half the job. We can’t just pay and be done. We have to Pay and
Pray. It’s two pieces of a whole.
He notes this is a contradiction for if it was enough
then how was there more? He answers with this idea. The “work” he says is of
course prayer. The work of prayer brought them exactly what they needed. How? V’hoseir-
because they prayed for more than they needed.
Great Vort! Great idea! So daven double and Hashem
will answer us all…
730 BC-The Last King of
the North- The Jewish Nation of
Israel is in tatters. We have civil war between the Northern Kingdom led
by Pekach which engaged Aram to help them, and which captured and
killed hundreds of thousands and even joined with the Philistines from Gaza
to ravage the Jewish cities of the Shefela. As well we have the response
of the kingdom of Yehudah led by the wicked king Achaz who turned the Temple
into a house of idolatry and cut a deal with Shalmaneser of Assyria
to attack and exile most of the Northern Kingdom. According to one
account already 7/8 of the ten tribes in the North had already been exiled by
the time the last and final king took over. The king Hoshea Ben Elah was
the one that brought us to our bitter end.
My wife sat down on
the couch next to me as I was flipping channels. She asked, 'What's on TV?'
I said, 'Dust.'
And that's how the fight started....
My wife asked, “Do
you know her?”
“Yes, ” I
sighed, “She’s my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking after we
split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn’t been sober since.”
“My God!” says my wife, “Who would think that a
person could go on celebrating that long?”
And that’s when the
fight started.
A wife wants a fancy
Porsche for her fiftieth birthday. She drops hints to her husband:
"You know we've
had a really good year, heck, good decade, fiscally. For my birthday, I'm
really hoping for something sleek, maybe baby blue. Something you can really
step on and it'll go from 0 to 200 in like .2 seconds..."
The husband nods
knowingly. So for her birthday, he buys her a scale.
And that's when the
fight started...
My wife told me she
wants to give her clothes away to starving children, I told her that if they
fit them they aren't starving. That is when the fight began
I tried to talk my
wife into buying a case of Miller Light for $14.95. Instead, she bought a jar
of face cream for $7.95. I told her the beer would make her look better at
night than the face cream. And that’s when the fight started.
A woman is standing in her room looking in the
bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, “I
feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a
compliment.”
The husband replies, “Your
eyesight’s near perfect.” And that’s when the fight started.
For his birthday, I gave my son an iPhone. My
daughter received an iPod for hers. For my birthday, I was pleased to receive
an iPad. My mother was given an iMac for her birthday. Thinking along the same
lines, I got my wife an iRon. And that's when the fight started…
Esther was throwing darts at her husband's
picture on a dart board and not even a single one hitting the target. When he
entered, saw and asked, “Honey! What are you doing?”
Esther said " Missing
you…".
And that's when the
fight started…
A man walks into a bar,looking all bummed out,
and orders a drink. After a few minutes he orders another. About thirty minutes
later he orders a few more drinks. The bartenders asks," Dude you look
really depressed. Is everything okay? "
The man
explains," My wife and I got into big fight. She says she won't speak
to me for 31 days."
The bartender
asks," Well isn't that a good thing."
The man replies,"
Sadly, tonight's the last night."
My Dentist friend just
divorced his wife who is a manicurist. All they did was fight tooth and nail
A married couple are
having a fight. Finally the wife screams at the husband to get out of the
house. She throws his suitcases at him and he packs his things. On his way out,
the woman says, "I hope you die the slowest, most miserable, most
agonizing death imaginable."
So he turns and says, "
What, so now you want me to stay?"
"Got in a fight with my wife last night" says one guy to his friend.
"Again", said the friend, "How did it end this
time?"
"Well, she ended
up on her knees, practically begging"
"Really, what did
she say?"
"Get out from
under the bed you coward"
A married couple were fighting when they drove
past a farm full of pigs. The husband then asked his wife, "Family of
yours?"
The wife looked at the
pigs, then replied, "Yea, in-laws."
Husband says: When I get mad at you, you
never fight back. How do you control your anger?
Wife says: I clean
the toilet..
.Husband says: How does that help?
Wife says: I use
your Toothbrush.....
The entire 15 years of marriage my wife
and I have only had one fight. And it's
still not over…
**********************************
The answer to
this week”s question is B– I’m in this sick rut. I’m just getting them half right or
half wrong depending on which way you look at the glass. Actually I thought I
would get it the other way right and wrong, but the truth is I wasn’t sure of
either answer. Nachal Tzin I guessed Yam Ha’melach but I wasn’t sure because it’s
really a bit south of there, and really the correct answer would’ve been to the
Arava which is the direction of the Dead Sea, but it seems that either answer
was correct, as in ancient times or even more recent times before the shrinking
of the Dead Sea the water from the Nachal got there as well. So that part was right.
The second part though confused me and I got it wrong. For some reason although
I knew that the coastal road was called Derech Ha’Yam and the mountain road
called Derech Hahar, I thought that one of those was also derech Ha’Melech so I
went with the Gaza Alexandria answer. But the truth is thee correct answer was
the Transjordan route. I probably should’ve known this. It is a biblical
question and the route Bnai Yisrael wanted to take. But I got it wrong. So
still in the Rut but I’m still passing this exam with the latest score is Rabbi
Schwartz at 21.5 point and the MOT having 7.5 point on this
latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
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