Insights and
Inspiration
from
the
Holy
Land
from
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
"Your
friend in Karmiel"
April
19th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 28 11th of Nisan 5784
Parshat Metzora -HaGadol
Lepers, Lambs and Liberation
Ten Plagues. Yup, ten of them. That’s what Egypt got as payback. Each one of the plagues, the various commentaries reveal, correspond to what they did to us. Our sages tell us it’s mida kneged mida- or quid pro quo. If you haven’t heard that before, you haven’t been by a real seder.
Frankly, by that point
of the Seder, though, most people are just ready for the meal and are looking
at the clock wondering if they’ll have enough time to eat that Afikoman before
midnight or not. So perhaps one of the most important aspects of the Seder,
discussing and figuring out how that all worked has pretty much just gotten
down to dipping your finger in the cup of wine (licking it of course, because
you’re really thirsty), and maybe having some fun throwing some toy animals
around the table-if you’re creative and bought those “seder sets” that you just
feel you have to use to keep your kids engaged and thought would be really cute
and entertaining. Frankly though they just want to get to the afikoman present
already. They said their Ma Nishtana, leave me alone. When do we eat?
Recognizing this
reality and in order that we don’t miss out on this important aspect of the
Seder, we have a custom to prepare the Hagadda the Shabbos beforehand. That’s
this week in case you forgot and were too busy dodging missiles to remember.
Yet, as we say in the Vehi She’amda song, and throughout the entire
Seder, it’s not just a recounting of the story of our Exodus. That’s for simple
Jews, or as the Rambam fascinatingly says for children or the mentally
challenged. The mitzva is to tell about the miracles. It’s about our Exodus in
2024. It’s today, not just then.
Well this year, the
year of our redemption, it’s time to do it really right. Let’s talk about the
plagues that we suffered through this past year from our enemies. From Hamas.
From Amalek. From those that stand up each generation and in this final
generation to persecute and try to destroy us. We don’t need to tell Holocaust
stories at the Seder this year. We have October 7th. We have Simchas
Torah 5784. Let’s talk about the ten plagues we suffered on that day and since
then. And then let’s talk about how Hashem will pay them back for it and
perhaps even what this entire process of redemption that is always preceded by
these tzoris and the parsha we read of tzora’as is really all
about.
So from the beginning.
Blood. Yes, we had lots of it that was spilled on that day. Yes, they killed
our babies. In their chant and on their pursuit of the river to the sea they
echoed what our sages tell us Pharaoh’s mantra was. “Li ye’ori v’ani asiteev-
The river is mine- I made it. Umm reality check Pharaoh… It’s not yours. You weren’t even around when the world was
created. Same for you Hamas. There was no such thing as a Palestinian when the
State was founded. Hashem was here long before Pharaoh and the Jews were in
Israel long before Hamas. But they didn’t care. They spilled our blood. And so
Hashem needs to spill theirs.
Tzfardeya- frogs. It’s interesting the word tzfardaya
comes from the word tzfira- sirens. Noise. The plague of the frogs was
primarily about the unbearable croaking and shrieking of the frogs that rang
out wherever they went. Well, we had our sirens that morning with their
missiles. Again and again, like there never was in the history of our country.
Just as back then there was never so much noise. It was terrifying. People that
were here and lived through it are still suffering trauma from those sirens and
many still stay evacuated in places where there won’t be subject to those deafening
alerts. They shudder whenever they hear one as it returns them to that
unforgettable horrible morning when everything changed for them forever. It
takes them back to “Egypt”.
Lice. They came up
from the ground. From tunnels. That’s what these maggots do. That’s where they
took our hostages. Burrowed in the ground that we thought was oh so safe and secure.
Yaakov didn’t want to be buried in Egypt because he saw, the midrash tells us
that we would have to roll through tunnels to be resurrected by techiyat
ha’meisim and those tunnels would be infested with lice. Do you think he
saw perhaps these tunnels as well? These maggots. The tunnels we have to go
through for techiyat hameisim?
Arov- a wild multitude charged into our country.
They terrorized our homes, our kibbutzim, our farms, our cities. They tore us
apart. They raped, they pillaged, they wreaked havoc. It wasn’t even that they
were hungry or about food. It was just to terrorize. It was just to impart fear
and to murder. Yeah, that plague is not a far stretch.
Dever- Pestilence. They woke up that morning and all
their animals were dead in the field. Their horses, their donkeys, their
cattle. The one image too many Zaaka members told me about that morning that
they can’t get out of their heads, and perhaps one of the most powerful places
that I have brought people to on my Chizuk missions is the so many burnt cars
that lined the roads of highway 232- the highway of death. Our “horses” our
“donkeys” were all dead in the fields. The smell of death, the bullet-ridden 1000
or more cars, cars that until that day were our means of going to family get
togethers, to go to work in our fields, to celebrate the holiday. Those are all
now symbols and monuments of the plague that they laid upon us.
Shechin- boils. The sky was filled with smoke and
ash. The fires they set. They families they burnt alive. The boils and burns in
our hearts and souls that will never go away. So much fire. So much smoke, so
many burns, bullets, searing wounds we suffered from the whips they laid upon
us in Egypt… and since October 7th.
Hail- Firey brimstone
reigned down on our homes that morning. The sky was lit up that morning in the
non-stop barrage. Fascinatingly enough this plague started beforehand when the
Egyptians were warned it was coming and they were told that they need to bring
their animals into their homes to protect them. Their homes became shelters.
Bomb shelters from the barrage. They were holed up there just as we were on
that morning, cramped in small rooms with whatever possessions they had while
terror and fire hailed down outside destroying everything that they didn’t
manage to bring in with them. Hashem made the Egyptians suffer that morning and
learn to fear Hashem. And we suffered as well that morning learning that same
lesson.
Arbeh- the sky was black. It was swarming. The
locusts looted and ate and stole anything that remained. They controlled the
skies, the fields and they pillaged like a dark cloud. More and more and more. Arbeh.
They just kept coming. Like a big dark black cloud that blocked out the
heavens. That hid Hashem from us.
Choshech- and then the darkness fell. We were
immobilized. We were in shock. We couldn’t see our brothers. We didn’t know
what happened to them. Where they were taken. Were they alive or dead? Were
they in a tunnel somewhere in a cold deep dark dungeon? Are they still there?
Nine plagues down.
We’re almost there. We’re almost redeemed. The geula is coming. It is
Rosh Chodesh Nisan and Hashem tells us that we need to get ready. There is one
plague left. Then we will be born as a nation. The preparation that we need to
do is the Korban Pesach. We need to take a lamb and tie it to our bed and then
slaughter it. We need to roast it whole. We need to have blood on our doorposts
for that fateful night of the Seder. For we will be exiting that bloody
doorway- that mashkof- that we look at as we enter the new world. The
world where Hashem smites our enemies Himself. The world where we are born as a
nation as His “Firstborn”, His chosen ones.
Now I want to share
with you a fascinating idea that incredibly connects with this scene and this
imagery. Something I never appreciated before, but because of the way that
Hashem orchestrated our Torah reading this year where Shabbat Ha’Gadol falls
out on Parshat Metzora hit me like a ton of bricks. See, this scene and the
many of the words that connect with it are all found in this week’s Parsha that
discusses what seems to be the strange and certainly unique process of the
purification of the Metzora. Which of course non-coincidentally is the only
other place until now since the ten plagues where the Torah utilizes the word nega-
blemish or in Pharoh’s case before the last plague, Hashem tells us
Od nega echad
avi al Pharaoh V’Mitzryaim- one more plague/blemish I will bring upon Pharaoh and Egypt.
Now what is the
process of this purification? Fascinatingly, Rabbi Dovid Fohrman points out, it
contains almost all the elements of the Korban Pesach. In both cases we are
told that a hyssop brush and wood are dipped in blood. In Egypt it is dipped
there and put upon the wooden doorposts, while by the Metzora the blood it is
sprinkled on the metzora himself. By the Metzora two birds are taken and one is
slaughtered while the other is “sent free” in the field after being dipped in
the slaughtered blood of the first bird. In Egypt our firstborns are saved, and
we are born as a nation when we are “sent free” into the wilderness, while
theirs are slaughtered.
Even more fascinating
is that we are told that the blood of the slaughtered bird is poured over a
pail of water, from where the other bird is set free. Isn’t it amazing that as
well our final redemption from Egypt also takes place by the bloody waters of
the Yam Suf where we look back and see the dead Egyptians floating on the sea?
That takes place on the 7th day of Pesach, by the way- a seven-day
process of us being born as a nation and becoming free. And wouldn’t you know
it? The Metzora as well has a seven-day purification process until he is
returned from his isolation to rejoin, or perhaps even more accurately be
reborn again as part of the nation and the community.
Now lest you think
this is a one-way street, if you look back with new eyes at the story of our
Exodus from Egypt, you’ll be surprised to see that it all starts with a tzora’as
story as well. Moshe is forced to run away from Egypt when he stands up and
kills the Egyptian because as he says
achein noda ha’davar- Now I understand why the nation is in Exile.
They speak lashon hara. They’re going to snitch on me to Pharaoh. There are dilutrin-
people that speak gossip amongst them.
When the time for the
redemption comes though, Moshe himself is guilty of that same sin. Hashem tells
him that it is time to go back and redeem the Nation and Moshe responds by
saying that the nation will not believe him. They won’t believe that Hashem had
sent him. Hashem’s response is to give rebuke him by way of giving him three
signs. The first his staff turns into a snake. The snake being the symbol of
Lashon Hara, as it is the original sin convincing Eve to eat from the tree.
Next Hashem tells him to stick his hand in his cloak and it comes out with tzora’as-
the first time in the Torah where we find this spiritual malady. Finally,
Hashem tells him that if those don’t work then the water will turn to blood. So
there you have it leper, blood, wood and do you know how long Moshe was by that
bush in isolation? You got it! Seven days. Our original redemption is the birth
and purification of the Metzora
What is the connection
between these two processes and what are they all about? Rabbi Fohrman notes
that our sages repeatedly tell us that a metzora is halachically considered
like a dead person. The impurity he exudes we find in many ways is on the
similar level, where he is me’tamey anything that is even in his tent,
unlike other forms of impurity. On the one hand, this poor metzora is alive and
breathing still has a pulse. Yet, on the other hand he is considered as if he
is dead. He is isolated from everyone else. He’s all alone. Arguably he might even
worse than a dead person. Because he’s alive and aware of his situation. He’s
not dead up in Shamayim with all his ancestors. He’s here in this world,
with no one to talk or connect to. No one to love. No one to be there for him.
In fact, when Hashem
tells Moshe to go back and liberate the nation, He tells him it’s because the
coast is clear. The ones that wanted to kill him are dead. Now the truth is
that Dasan and Aviram that snitched on Moshe were very much alive, but as our
sages note, they had fallen off their high horse. They were like dead people.
That had lost it all. Just as when a Metzora loses it all, he’s just a corpse
with a pulse.
Do you know what the
process of purification for this malady is? For this sickness that one suffers
from when he speaks about others, or when he thinks and acts with ga’ava-
with haughtiness. When one thinks he’s better than everyone else? When you
don’t want to help anyone out and are only focused on self. The Metzora’s
problem is that he is all alone. That he isn’t connected to the rest of the
nation. What he really is experiencing as a result of this disease of the
spirit and his self-absorption is a form of death. To recover you need to be
born again. He has to recognize how all of humanity is one and a reflection of
Hashem.
To do that we essentially
send him back to the womb. He goes back to that small dark little tight, lonely
place and reflects on how essential human connection is to who and what we are.
How in pregnancy we experience being part of our mother’s body literally.
That’s how we are born. We are part of her body, like one of her limbs. We are
one and then although we separate, and we come out, and it’s bloody, and it’s
painful, and it’s traumatic, but we always will feel that we are one with our
mother. We are one with our siblings. We are a perhaps individual human beings,
but we are born to be connected as one. It’s why Adam and Eve were created as
one and separated. It’s why last week’s parsha of Tazria, of the women who
gives birth, precedes the parsha of Metzora.
On Pesach what took
place was the birth of our nation. The plagues we suffered were our birth
pangs. The plagues they suffered, separated us from them again and again and
again defining us more and more. We were being formed and born as a unique
nation just as Hashem told Moshe in the beginning of our story would happen. We
are His first-borns. As those final birth contractions come, we are told to
take the Korban Pesach. To take that lamb with its head bent over its knees as
one whole. Take it to the bedroom and tie it your beds where life is born from.
Do you know what that animal’s position
is when we roast him and bring that sacrifice? It’s in the fetal position. It’s
a baby.
We place it’s blood on our doorposts- that
birth canal that we will come out of and enter the new world. We take the
hyssop that lowliest and most humble of brushes and prepare for our birth. We
are commanded that there is a new measure of time called Rosh Chodesh, because
its our birthday. And just as the bird of the Metzora that flies free dripping
the blood of the slaughtered bird of loneliness and constraint that it left
behind and was extricated from soars into a whole new world, so too we march
out of the meitzarim- the constraints of the tzirei leida- the
birth pangs of Mitzrayim- Egypt and are born as a nation.
The past few years
have all been leading up to this Pesach. It’s been more than a few years
actually. The birth pangs of the Shoah led to the mass return of Klal Yisrael
to Eretz Yisrael and the cleaning us out of our galus in Europe where
for thousands of years we were disconnected from our home. For the first time
since the Maccabees a state of Jewish sovereignty was reestablished in Eretz
Yisrael. The land became pregnant and bigger and fatter with her nation growing
in her belly. The land returned and developed and the industry and construction
of all her limbs grew. The Torah spiritually flourished within as it seems like
the angel of Hashem was teaching and building yeshiva after yeshiva. And the
entire world flocked to drink from her holy nectar and breathe its air that
makes all wiser.
There were kicks and
complications along the way as the contractions got bigger and bigger. 1967,
the Yom Kippur War, Lebanon, Gaza, Gaza, Gaza. There were fights. We were
falling apart. We become Metzoras. So Hashem put us and the rest of the world
into isolation. Corona. Alone. Bidud. Contemplate. It’s the final stage.
And then the final contractions of our birth began on October 7th.
It started on Shemini Atzeret when we were alone with Hashem in the delivery
room. Only the Father is allowed in that room. All the other nations can’t come
in. For it is a painful delivery room. The delivery room of His First Born
child. The First-Born son He has been waiting over 3300 years for since we left
Egypt.
The Kabbalists mystically tell us the
difference between the birth of a son and a daughter. Whereas a female’s job is
to receive and develop the baby, the man’s job is to give and provide and fill
the world. Our Exodus from Egypt, and all our previous salvations are compared
to the birth of a female. They are only temporary. It’s cyclical. We received
it without any of our own merit. The ultimate redemption though is the birth of
a boy. It’s the first-born son. It’s the child that will have the power to give
to the world and not just receive the beneficence of Hashem. It will be
eternal.
There is an incredible
prophetic Midrash that is flying around in the Jewish social media. It tells us
of the end of days.
Rabbi Yitzchak said:
The year in which the King Messiah reveals himself, all the nations of the
world will be fighting with each other (Russia? Ukraine? China?). The King of
Paras [Persia/ Iran] will fight with the King of Arabia, and the King of
Arabia will go to Edom [USA?] to seek counsel from them. The King of
Paras will [attempt to] destroy the entire world, and all the nations of the
world will be screaming and confused and falling on their faces, and they
will experience pains like those of a woman giving birth. The Jewish
people will also be screaming and confused, and will say, To where shall we
come and go? To where shall we come and go? And Hashem will say to them, My
children – don’t be afraid - for all that I have done, I only
did for your sake. Why are you afraid the time for your redemption has come! Unlike
previous redemptions though, this will be the last redemption. For the previous redemptions were followed by
more pain and persecution, but this last redemption will have no more pain and
persecution after it.
The Talmud in
Sanhedrin (98a) Discusses the names of Mashiach. The final opinion though of
the Rabbis is that he is called the “Metzora of the house of Rebbi”.
Mashiach is considered like metzora. The Megale Amukos tells us that the
day Mashiach comes will be that of the Taharat Metzora. He points out
that’s why our parsha begins with the words cryptically
“Zot Tihiyeh Torah
Ha’Metzorah- this will be, in the future, the Torah of the
Metzora
Ba’yom taharato on that final day of his purity.
The verse from Daniel
that our sages tell us that he is a metzora as well speaks to our time.
V’chayaleinu hu nasa- he has uplifted and carried our soldiers
Machoveinu savlam- he bears our intense pain
V’anachnu nechashavnu
nagua- and we were considered blemished
Muka Elokim- Struck/plagued (makkos) by Hashem
U’mi’uneh- and persecuted
The redemption is
here. The prophecies one after another are being fulfilled. Our Avoda is
to bring that Korban Pesach. To connect like we never connected before to one
another. To understand that we are all one whole. To see that baby, that is us,
as the First Born of Hashem. And then God willing Pesach Night just as 3336
years ago we will open up our doorways and walk out of our bloody doorposts and
walk from River to the Sea. But this time eternally liberated in the final
redemption of our nation.
Have a great Shabbas Ha’Gadol and a liberating Pesach of Geulah!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
CHIZUK/TZEDAKA OPPORTUNITY OF THE WEEK
Merkaz HaChesed of Sderot- I’ve mentioned this place beforehand and I actually visited with Avichai this past week as they are undergoing a tremendous campaign for Pesach where over 650 families require food and basic Pesach assistance for this holiday. Each family will be getting packages with over 700 shekel of basic holdaiy needs as well as 300 shekel vouchers. Please help out Avicah and the people of Sderot by donating to this campaign!
Founded
24 years ago the by my friend Avichai Amusi who had moved to the city of Sderot
by the Gaza Border with the aim of caring for the people of Sderot as well as
the residents of the towns and villages in the region The Chesed Center is a
not-for-profit organization that is based on the work of volunteers who bring
their enthusiasm to these projects. With so many familied moving back now the
demand is more than ever…
The Chesed Center incorporates the following areas of
assistance:
1. Distribution of food baskets – Some 670 families in
Sderot as well as those in the towns and villages in the Gaza Strip area
receive food baskets every week. The baskets contain in-season fruit and
vegetables as well as basic food commodities. About half the food baskets are
handed out at a special distribution center while the rest is delivered to the
homes of those needy individuals who are unable to come in person to the
center. In addition to the weekly allocations, special efforts are made at
holiday times (Rosh Hashanah – New Year – and the festivals celebrated in the
fall, Purim, and Passover) to make a substantial distribution of food on a much
wider scale and thereby they will have all they need to celebrate the festivals
and experience the true holiday spirit.
2. Soup Kitchen - The Sderot Hessed Center runs a
restaurant to provide a nutritional response as required on a daily basis. The
kitchen serves a hot and nutritious meal for about 80 diners, most of whom are
senior citizens, especially those who have been left all alone in the world;
Holocaust survivors; and the handicapped. The soup kitchen is designed to look
like a regular restaurant. The atmosphere in this restaurant is welcoming and
shows respect to its patrons just like family, and those same people who lack
the means to eat warm and nutritious food during the week can now enjoy every
day an hour or so of relaxation and contentment.
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!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCk04TvWeaY
And here’s the link to donate
https://thechesedfund.com/ameiricainfriendsofiyim/emergency-food-and-assitance-to-homeless-and-beraved-families-in-sderot
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE
WEEK
" Got
zol af im onshikn fun di tsen makes di beste..”- God should send upon
them the best of the Ten Plagues
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer
below at end of Email
3.
The name of the fortress that was built in Jerusalem during the Seleucid rule
over
the Land of Israel is_____.
In
which city are there remains of Herodian buildings?
A)
Scythopolis
B)
Beit Saida
C)
Sebastia
D)
Shivta
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF
THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vehi-shemada – My latest new release in honor of Pesach… You gotta hear this… It’s amazing, beautiful and Dovid Lowy knocked it out of the park…especially the shticky harmonies… You want to sing this by your Seder.
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/melech-rachamon
–
Composed this hartzig Pesach song two years ago… But you have to suffer through
the first 17 seconds of me singing to earn the right to hear the whole song…
but don’t worry it’s so beautiful you won’t even remember afterwards my
singing…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU6dgsylGYE
– Motty Shteimetz with this
incredible rendition of Chasal Sidur Pesach an ancient Chasidic tune from the
alteh heim..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L2vv9uXACk
–
613 Acapella a Funny Abba Pesach rendition Matza Mia…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1zqEOUCLGc
– Benny Friedman Pesach in Der Heim a medley of all of the classics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8c-iuwpkD0
– and here’s perhaps my favorite Pesach composition by Rebbi Nachman
Seltzer of Chasal Siddur Pesach… My Seder is not complete without it…
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
Seder Night- You know the old joke they say
about how when one davens to Hashem from America it’s a long distance call, while
from here in Israel it’s a local one. Well on Pesach Seder night we are told
that it gets even better than that. Hashem Himself and the entire Heavenly
hosts, the Zohar tells us, comes down and are sitting right next to us at the
Seder. It’s not even a phonecall. He’s right there at the table. The Targum
Yonasan tells us that this dates back even before we left Egypt to the times of
when Yitzchak gave the blessings to Yaakov which was on Seder night. It’s why
Yaakov brought him two goats. One for the Pesach and one for the Chagiga. It is
on this night when the blessings are best to be given and when Yaakov got them
from Esau. For as he says “All the gateways of heaven are opened on this night”.
It’s where everything can turn around. It’s when all decrees can be nullified. Historically
this has been the night of salvations throughout our generations.
The Mishna tells us as well that on Pesach we are
judged on the wheat and thus this is also an evening to pray for parnassa. There
are some that suggest that it is perhaps one of the reasons why we wear a
kittel. It’s like a day of judgement. It is a day of judgement. The best time
to have in mind it’s brought down is when we eat the Maror fascinatingly enough
as there is a hint in that the dove of Noach told Noach when he brought back
the olive branch that “my mezonos- my food should be bitter like Maror”.
Not that it should be bitter but rather that it is judged at the time we eat
Maror and we turn to Hashem.
As well the Ohev Yisrael notes that this is an evening
to pray for ones children. For even the wicked son has a place at the Seder. It’s
when everyone can be inspired by the miracles. There is a special light that
comes down to our table. And thus the evening should be maximized to share that
light and daven that it radiates in the hearts of all of Hashem’s children just
as it did in Egypt when we were all on the 49th level of Tumah
Finally, Rav Milchovitz notes that this is obviously
the best night to pray for the redemption. For it is this night that Hashem answered
our cries and our prayers in Egypt. There are some that think we are different
then previous generations because we don’t have Moshe Rabbeinu to rescue us.
But as he notes, the Hagada doesn’t mention Moshe. It’s all Hashem. It’s all
our prayers. And thus on this special night we should use all our power of
prayer to
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S
ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
722 BC-The Major Reform-
After that incredible Pesach of Chizkiya
everything changed. A spiritual reform took over the nation that was truly
Messianic. Everyone destroyed the idols amongst the nation. All of the altars
that had never been taken down before throughout the entire country were
removed. The nation flocked to the Temple. The Kohanim and the Levi’im swarmed
there and shifts were set up for the renewed daily services and the to deal
with the multitude of korbanos that the nation was finally bringing to the
right address. Even more than the sacrifices though was the tithes and priestly
gifts that hadn’t been given for so long. There were piles and piles, the navi
tells us all around Jerusalem. From Shavuot until Sukkot of that year mounds
formed all over Jerusalem of food for the Kohanim. Chizkiya then took the initiative
to set up and divide it amongst the Kohanim and Levi’im all over Israel. For
they had an important job as well to do.
Chazal tell us that in
the times of Chizkiya he instituted that it was no longer enough to just bring
sacrifices, Torah study was going to be of essence to our nations survival and
a mass Torah program started all over the country, led by the Levi’im and the
scholars. He stuck a sword in the door of the study hall and said “he who does
not study will suffer the fate of the sword”. What a powerful message that is
for us today. It’s not our army that will save us, it’s the merit of the Torah
study! 300 missiles that fell last week- or rather didn’t fall- were prevented
miraculously, not because of the the US, Jordan, or even the Iron dome or
Davids Slingshot and incredible Israel Air Force. It’s the merit of the Torah
that our soldiers and entire nation studies that brings the divine protection
from the sword. In the times of Chizkiya there was not a child from Dan to
Beersheva that wasn’t familiar in even the most difficult areas of study.
Which brings us to the
next stage as well which is also amazing for our times. For what did Chizkiya
do next with this strengthened nation? He attacked the Philistines in Gaza.
There would be no more threats coming from there. He wiped them out like never
before. And to make things even better, he then headed after our big enemy
Assyria, Sancheirev and refused to bow down and be robbed and persecuted by
them. They would no longer dictate what we can and can’t do. We are the nation
of Hashem like never before. And thus everything is set for the fateful Pesach
night miracle that will take place, that hopefully we will talk about next
week…
But C’mon isn’t this
great? This column really gives us a feel and taste of how the entire country
can flip around in one second, and the geula can be on it’s way…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE IRAN JOKES OF THE WEEK
Waiting for missiles from Iran makes me feel like I’m waiting for my Hot internet tech guy who will come some time between Friday and Sunday.
If you are Jewish
anywhere around the world and have been assaulted, insulted or harassed please
call 1-800-STOP-ISLAMOPHOBIA
Poll: What scares you
more?
a) No daycare or
school and the kids will be home on vacation and I haven’t finished Pesach
cleaning
b) Iran
Estimated time of
Arrival of Missiles in Israel
4:02 AM Magen Avraham
4:32 AM Gr”a
8:15 AM Rabbeinu Tam
1:30 PM Monday
Morning- Amshinov
Don’t be worried about
the Iranian missiles. It’s like an Israeli bank transfer. It takes a few days
until it shows up in your account.
9 hours until the
missiles fall in Israel is enough time to allow your dough to rise. Let’s get
started so we don’t get stuck with Matzas for the next holiday established.
If everyone is already
awake all night tonight, let’s just make the seder already…
Joe Biden- It’s
critical that Israel starts sending humanitarian aid to Iran before the closure
of Israeli airspace.
There are reports that
Iranian warheads are being loaded with cheerios and breadcrumbs
The Gaza Ministry of Health has justa
announced that Israel killed 20,675 Palestinian women and children in Iran
They sent UAV’s from
Iran but it will take a few hours… It’s like when contractions start and they
in the meantime until the birth, try to sleep a little.
The Iranian Army
didn’t take into account that Israel’s entire airspace had been covered in not
one, but two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil.
Cleaning for Pesach
reminds me of the war in Gaza. We move everything to the south part of the
house and clean the North and then when we come to clean the south the children
return to the north with their chametz. We either have to stop the Humanitarian
aid or control the entire house by Monday!
Iran: We’ve launched
missiles at you
Israel: Hmm we can’t
see any
Iran: Did you try to
refesh your sky some times it takes a minute because of the connection.
Israel: Yeah..nothing
Iran: Check your spam…
I don’t mean to brag
or anything, but this is like the tenth “end of the world” I’ve survived…
New Biden Speech notes
: “You say DON”T” really loud…
Update: The owner of
the local Makolet said Israel will bomb Iran in the next day or two. I will
update after I speak to my taxi driver.
Breaking News: The
final missile sent by Iran four days ago has nearly arrived in Israel. It has
just completed its’ fourth bus transfer and will be staying in a motel
overnight before taking to the skies again where it will be shot down by the
Israeli Iron dome system.
The UN is fuming
because of Waze recalculating being messed up all of the humanitarian aid ened
up in Bnai Brak as part of the Pesach Kimcha D’pischa distribution.
I have two nephews who
were called back to Gaza and they told me that a certain number of soldiers would
be allowed to return home for the Seder Night and the soldiers could decide
amongst themselves who it would be. It was unanimously agreed that whoever was
invited to their mother-in-laws would be allowed to remain in Gaza.
**********************************
The
answer to this week”s question is C– I
got this one half right as well. Surprisingly though I got the wrong half
correct. I really knew it when I answered that I was going to get it wrong.
Somehow I forgot the name of the Temple Mount fortress called Anotnia that I
should’ve really remembered. I remembered it was an A name But for some reason
I just said Apolliana instead. Oh well… close. Part Two though that I got
correct was Sebastia. I wasn’t really sure, but it made the most sense as I
narrowed out the other ones. I’ve never been to Sebastia as today it’s in
Shechem. But actually I remember when I wrote about it in our Tanach column, as
this was a capital city of Shomron in biblical days. That it later on was a
Heordian city. S0 it’s a half right for me.
And the score is Rabbi Schwartz 2 and Ministry of
Tourism 1 on this exam so far.
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