Lapse of Leadership- Parshat Pinchas 5784 2024

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 26^th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 40 20^th of Tamuz 5784

Parshat Pinchas

Lapse in Leadership

There are many prayers that I have been davening with a lot more heartfelt kavana since this horrible war has begun. Since the beginning of this cursed year 5784 thus far. I daven for techiyat ha’meisim- the resurrection of the dead more than I ever have; to bring comfort and consolation to the so many families who have lost loved ones. In that same second blessing of Shemona Esrei I pause at the words matir asurim- release our prisoners. Hashem. Bring them home. It’s too long, the suffering they are going through is incomprehensible. Their families haven’t seen October 8th yet. Release them. Only You can…

 

 I daven for refuos- expedient healing for our soldiers, our wounded, those who require an emotional healing from all the trauma that we are in. Many ask me if Israel is suffering from PTSD. I tell them that there is not one person in this entire country that has PTSD since the war has begun. Not one. We are all still in trauma. It’s still going on. It goes on every day and it doesn’t end. Halevai we should very soon come to the point when we are at the Post Trauma stage that we have to deal with.

 When I say Barech Aleinu, I think about the poor farmers whose crops are dying on the trees and fields. The industries like construction that have been killed in this war, not to mention the many of my fellow tour guides who are having trouble putting food on their table because they can’t find tourists that want to come in. Hotels are empty. Tzimmers in the North are vacant. Tourist activities in the Golan are closed. The art galleries in Tzfat are shuttered along with our national parks that are burning from the barrage of missiles that land multiple times a day here, terrorizing its remaining citizens that the government of Israel has decided are not as important as those in Tel Aviv and the center and who have discovered that all the major sources of income for this region are out of business.

 Then, of course, there is the prayer of v’lamalshinim- destroy all evil; all of our enemies. SO many good choice words, prayers and dreams for those who seek to destroy us and are inflicting such pain on our people. Our family.

Si’akeir, u’si’shabeir, u’si’mager, vi’sachniem, vi’sashpileim- uproot, break, crush, disgrace, humble and subdue.

Baruch ata Hashem Shover oivim U’machnia zeidim- Blessed are You Hashem Crusher of our enemies and Subduers of the insolent sinners.

Every single word with kavana…

 Yet perhaps the most important bracha that I never really paid much attention to, to be honest, is Hashiva shofteinu- Hashem restore our judges and leaders to the times of old. It’s insane to look out at our leaderless world on all levels. It’s crazy. You guys out there in the States are looking at elections where I don’t think anyone thinks the choice is a normal one. Don’t get me wrong. Donald Trump is definitely who you should be voting for. But I don’t think anyone thinks he’s normal. That he’s dignified. That he’s worthy of leadership in any moral sense as a role model. He’s a meshugeneh but at least he’s ours. Forget about the other side, Bumbling senile Joe, Wacky, ditzy, Kamala and her Pali-loving squadniks. The fact that her husband is Jewish makes it even more frightening. We are our worst enemies always. Although it is quite funny that the closest a Jew would ever get to the Office is to be the “wife” of the President. It’s a crazy world out there between the Atlantic and Pacific.

 But it’s not just the US. It’s the whole world is going insane. Putin, Korea, the Caliphate that has conquered the EU continent. It’s the International Court of Justice, the United Nations, South Africa, Yemen, and of course Iran. It’s like watching all these crazy looking space alien creatures on Star Wars that are running this world. We’ve regeressed to the ancient world of crazy Roman tyrants, Caligula, Henry the VIII, Vikings, Genhis Khan, Hitlers… There’s really nobody normal in any public office today. There’s not even anyone that can even fake it half decently.

 The truth is I understand it. You have to be crazy to go into the public sphere in this world of fake news, AI, social media, and all the mishigas that goes around. The media will come for you. They will dig up stuff and make up the rest. They will go after your family, your E-mails. You have to be either insane, a megalomaniac, or demented, senile and delusional to put yourself and your family in such a situation. And that is the leadership of the world today and for the near future until Mashiach comes looks like.

 Now one would hope, that in Eretz Yisrael and the Jewish people would be different, smarter, above this. But sadly we’re probably just as bad, if not worse. Because we should and could be better. We are God’s gift to the world to teach them and be their light. Yet unfortunately, we’ve taken our leads from them. We are basing our values on theirs  at least “politically”. This is despite the fact that their values never apply to us, as they have a double standard when it comes to Jews. Referring to someone with the wrong pronouns is evil, but ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Kill the Jews’ and ‘River to the Sea’ is just free speech. Everyone could kill everyone and there are never repercussions. We can barely get away with killing murderers, rapists, and baby-killers without being tried in International Courts and condemned by UN resolutions.

 We accept all of this because we don’t have leaders. And thus as this prayer says we have yagon and anacha- grief and anguish. It’s the only prayer where it utilizes those words. Sins don’t give us grief and anguish. Neither do our prayers to be healed from sickness, parnassa problems and even exile and persecution. The only time when we have anguish is when we realize how lost we are without any leadership.

 This week’s parsha shares some of that anguish that we had when we were losing our first and greatest leader, Moshe Rabbeinu. Hashem takes Moshe up to a mountain, shows him the land and then tells him that he’s not going to be finishing his job. He won’t bring us to the land. Moshe starts to feel anguish, but not for his own loss, rather for us, his nation, the people he’s been shepherding for forty years. He turns to Hashem and his plea on behalf of our nation for future leadership is one that is worthy of much study and discussion. Our sages for generations dissect these few verses. For they contain the essence of what true leadership should look like and be concerned with and there is nothing more that we need to daven for.

 The portion begins with one of the strangest verses where everything turns around. You might miss it if you’re not paying attention.

 Vayidaber Moshe el Hashem Leimor- And Moshe spoke to Hashem to say…

 Pretty wild? We always have this verse of Hashem speaking to Moshe to say over what He tells him. Yet here it’s the opposite. It’s as if Moshe is speaking to Hashem in an almost godlike way. And who is Hashem supposed to say this over to? The Midrash tells us that in fact there are 175 places in the Torah where Hashem speaks to Moshe and in all of them it says “Hashem spoke to Moshe saying”, Hashem’s name is first. Here, Moshe, for the first time takes Hashem’s place. The Baal Haturim notes that in fact this is the only time and place where we find a prophet even using this harsh tone of ‘va’yidaber’ to Hashem, rather than ‘va’yomer’. He says cryptically that Moshe was reminding Hashem how many times Hashem spoke harshly to Him and now he’s turning the tables back to Hashem.

 Reb Zusha, a grandson of the Apter Rav suggests that what Moshe was telling Hashem was that until now, I was the one that took the harsh words that You spoke to me about Bnai Yisrael and translated them into softer words that they could hear. Into a “vayomer”. Which is why it always says “leimor” – say to them softly. Now that I’m dying, please make sure that they have a leader that could do the same thing. They need someone who can tell it like it is, but at the same time tell it in a way that they could absorb and accept it. The first lesson of this forthcoming request for leadership is that they need to be people that are communicators. That can speak the word of Hashem, but that can make it palatable to the generation they are leading.

 Alternatively, one can understand what the Baal Ha’Turim is saying is Moshe is requesting from Hashem to remember how many times He spoke harshly to him. And he is asking Hashem that the leader that will be appoint after him Hashem should rather speak to him a bit softer. Give Yehoshua a break. And that’s precisely what happens. As opposed to His conversations with Moshe, of the 12 times that Hashem speaks to Yehoshua, 11 of them are with the words “Va’yomer” the softer tone. Lesson number 2, a good leader prepares the groundwork and job for the person that will follow him. It’s not a job that you just walk away from. It’s not about leaving your legacy and building a museum to your own glory and being written in history books. It’s making sure that the people that you lead will have continuity, a future that will carry them on.

 Moving on before we even get to the specifics, we find an almost unique way that Moshe refers to Hashem in this request for a leader to replace him.

 Yifkod Hashem Elokei Ha’Ruchos L’Kol Basar Ish al Ha’eida- Let Hashem Who is the Source of the spirit of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation.

 What a strange title. Hashem is Hashem of course. He is the source of spirit, He’s also the Creator of the world, our Father, our King, and the One that took us out Egypt. What’s this new title for Hashem that is being utilized now.

 There is one other time, fascinatingly enough, that the Torah utilizes the title of Elokei Ha’Ruchos for Hashem. We read it a few weeks ago in the parsha, where Moshe falls on his face and asks Hashem not to destroy the entire nation because of the sin of Korach.

 “Hashem Elokei Ha’Ruchos l’chol basar,

Ha’Ish echad yechta, v’al kol ha’eida tiktzof- Will one man sin and You become angry on the entire congregation?

 Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev notes that Moshe used this title in order that Hashem appreciated that we need a leader that understands that the nation has righteous ones and those that are sinners. We all have spirit. Even a yid whose spirit drives him away from Hashem. Someone who is perhaps the leader of an opposition party, a secular one, An anti-Moshe one. Korach. An Anti- chareidi one. They are also part of our eida- our congregation. Our flock.

 We Jews are the heads of every alternate ideology. From Socialism, to Hollywood, Capitalism. We were more Greek than the Greeks, More Roman than the Romans, and more American than Americans. We are in Free Palestine, love Gaza, and enviromentalists and Save the Whales and the planet while you’re at it. We’re “greeners”. We are a nation of Ruach and that Ruach has at it’s core the spirit of Hashem  that is driven to make the world a better place. L’Taken Olam. That’s where that spirit comes from. Our nation requires a leader that can identify that Ruach for its core and turn and channel it to its proper place. That won’t get lost, distracted or overtaken by the externalities and the terrible false expressions of that “holy spirit”, but that rather can bring that spark home and elevate it. In Reb Levi Yitzchak’s words

 “He can be a leader that can love each Jew “l’chol basar- no matter what their “flesh” looks like. Whether they are tzadikim or resha’im. They are all one flesh. They all come from the same spirit.”

 There are more lessons. Moshe asks that the leader should be one that go out before them and after them. Jewish leaders don’t sit in ivory towers, or in basements… They are the first to go out. They take the bullet for their nation. For their soldiers. For their hostages. They understand that they are shepherds. They are royal shepherds and every sheep of the King needs to be returned to the fold. They have to understand that without the leader the sheep will wander. They will be hard to collect. And when they do wander the shepherd’s job is to bring them back. Not to sit back and just focus on the “good” obedient sheep that listen to him sing and whistle to them. The leader’s job is to go out and get the ones that are not following. That have their own spirit. That’s really what his main job is.  A shepherd that just deals with good sheep is not a shepherd. He’s not a leader we should appoint.

 There are more and more lessons here in this request. There are so many in how Moshe appoints Yehoshua. It’s a fascinating few verses that one can write an entire book on leadership from, that will outsell Covey’s “way to win friends and influence people”. But for us, in our generation before we achieve the final redemption, there is nothing we need that is more essential.

 Many of the sefarim throughout the ages that I perused on these verses, upon concluding their commentary all sign off the same way. They write that “in our generation there are no longer those types of leaders.” Each man does according to his own will. Moshe and Yehoshua had big shoes to fill. We haven’t found that person yet that can bring us all together.. They write that decades, centuries and even millenia ago, what can we say today…

 So we daven. Our eyes are to You Hashem to finally give us leaders again. To bring us to that day when we will finally see, as we say in that prayer

 U’mloch aleinu meheira ata Hasheme li’vadcha- when You Hashem will rule over us alone. When You will reveal justice and kindness which is beloved to you.

 This past year on Simchas Torah we began our first hakafa with those words.

 Elokei Ha’Ruchos Hoshia Na- The God of all spirits should save us.

 Hashem, we are in a world where You are the only one that can save us. There are no leaders, there are no rulers. There is only You. Melech Ohev Tzedaka U’mishpat. Send Eliyahu Ha’Navi, who we are told is the one who heralds in Mashiach. Who as well is the soul of Pinchas. And bring us that final leader Mashiach ben Dovid to redeem us. I don’t think anyone else can…

 Have a comforting Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Az men krigt zikh miten rov, muz men sholem zein miten shainker...”.- If you’re at odds with your rabbi, make peace with your bartender.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

15.The Israeli Prime Minister during the Six-Day War was_____.

Which war was given the nickname the Suez Crisis?

A. The Six-Day War

B. The Yom Kippur War

C. Operation Kadesh

D. The War of Attrition

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/achainu   – It’s acapella season again guys and I’m proud to share with you my latest composition Acheinu! Arrangedand sung by Dovid Lowy, if you’re like me and getting sick of the old Acheinu… this one is amazing and really sung and composed by me after visiting so many families…

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2sQAR9b3kI&list=PLVaIyPnsPoRwfSwi7uhu5Th4DV_tH-FVd&index=2  -  Ari Goldwag’s latest release album Darkness to Light acapella… here’s on of my favorites Yishai Ribbos Ata Zocher…

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPmmxHUPwEY  –  Shloime Kaufman’s latest Acapella from TYH Chazon what an original word song… Love when people come up with new words…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW-BAe2w2zw   - and here’s the original Ko Amar from MBD for this week’s Haftorah of consolation…

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

Musaf- An extra portion- This week’s parsha concludes oddly with the laws of the musaf offerings that were brought on Shabbos and all of the holidays in the Bais Ha’Mikdash. And you thought we were done with these sacrifices already back in Vayikra… What are they doing over here? And what is this extra prayer all about?

 The Gaon of Vilna notes that sacrifices are called Korbani Lachmi- the bread of Hashem. Why bread, I’d think that if we were bringing good animals then we should call it after the steaks we’re offering Him rather than the sandwich bread of the flour offerings that accompany it. He explains that bread is symbolic of the struggle and balance between heaven and earth. Between our physical mortal bodies and our divine spirit. Bread is not fruits or cows that are pretty much ready and easy to prepare and cook. To make bread one has to battle. You have to plant, plow, harvest, winnow, make it into flour, bake… it’s a lot of work. The word lechem is also translates as battle like milchama. That’s the fight.

 When we bring our sacrifices, Hashem says He understands that we are struggling at nullifying our ego and becoming subservient to Him. The bread of Hashem is when we go through that process that is signified by whatever sacrifice we bring. He sees the struggle. He understands that we are fighting our earthy materialistic drives and bringing something to Him. We are elevating our spirit over our bodies.

 In this week’s parsha, as we mentioned above, Moshe asks Hashem to provide a leader that will find that Ruach of Kol Basar- the spirit behind the flesh. The way that we do that is with the sacrifices. It is what Pinchas did when he went against the grain (excuse the pun) and acted zealously for Hashem. It’s what the daughters of Tzlafchad did by standing up and asking for their portion in the land. It’s what Hashem points out when we count each tribe and add the letters of Hashems name the ‘yud’ and the ‘hei’ to each tribe to show that spirit of Hashem and count them.

 Now ordinarily that “slice of bread” and that daily battle is enough. There are times though when a person needs more nutrition. More bread. More strength. That is when we work out. When we run a few miles, when we undergo an exhausting or demanding project. When we are soldiers fighting in Gaza and the Ma’nak”im- the army rations just won’t cut it. Then you need a BBQ and something bigger and better and healthier. That is what happens on Yom Tov and Shabbos, the Gaon explains, on those days there is extra holiness and revelation in the world. Our souls are fighting to come out even more. They’re on steroids. And thus our bodies want to get away from it even more and have to struggle more to become elevated. That’s the korban Musaf. That’s the additional prayer that we have to daven on these days. That we get to daven on these special days. It’s ur way of tapping into that extra holiness. It’s our way of fighting the greatest battle to bring down us much of the beneficence that we can of Hashem.

 It’s the bread of Hashem, yet its our bread that we bring to Him. May he accept our offerings and bring His Shechina back to it’s home…

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

701 BC- - Praying to a wall – “Mir redtzach tzum vant- I’m talking to a wall”, goes the yiddish phrase to describe how one feels in a conversation with someone that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Yet, as Jews we know and understand that the holiest place where we can daven for the past two millenia has been precisely to the Kotel, the remaining retaining wall of the Temple Mount where our Bais Hamikdash once stood. Is there a significance to the fact that we daven to a wall, and that all prayers go up to Shamayim from there? The answer is of course, Yes!

 

The Navi tells us that when Yeshaya comes to Chizkiya to tell him that he is doomed and will die from his sickness because he never married and was thereby cutting off the line of Dovid Ha’Melech and the future of the Jewish people, Chizkiya turned to the wall and davened. He said that he has a tradition from his father’s house that even if a sword is sharpened and ready to execute a person, one should never give up hope from the mercy of Hashem. ( yes there’s a  MBDsong about that… v’afilu cherve chada munachas al tzavaro shel adam…)

 What is the significance of the wall davening? So the Midrash gives us a few examples. It tells us that King David saw the Malach HaMaves with his sword outstretched on Israel to wipe us out and he davened and was saved. Yehoshafat was about to be killed by the soldiers of Aram and was saved as well. As well we find that Elisha turned to the wall when he was by the Shunamite woman and prayed for her son who was dead to come back alive. A wall prayer is one when you realize that there is no where else to turn. There are no doctors. The cavalry is not coming. No UN, No Biden or Trump. There’s only the top of the wall and there’s no where else to look. That is when our prayers are most powerful. That’s when they can accomplish the impossible and miraculous.

 As well the commentaries suggest that the wall refers to ones inner body. Chizkiya looks inside of himself and the walls of his heart and says that there are none that haven’t worshipped you or sinned. In that merit please answer my wall prayer. Alternatively, he refers to the walls of gold of the Bais Hamikdash of Shlomo. They are full of love. That’s what I feel for You Hashem. That’s what I know You have for me. Those are the prayers that each of us have when we stand at the Kotel and that is where our hearts and minds are meant to transport us wherever we daven, as we imagine in our minds that we are standing there. We are at a wall today. Hashem please answer our prayers.

 RABBI SCHWARTZ'S LEADER JOKES OF THE WEEK

 Donald Trump, Queen Elizabeth and Vladimir Putin all died and, as former world leaders, were being given a tour of hell. While there, they saw a red phone and asked what the phone is for. The angel there tells them it is for calling back to Earth.  Putin asks to call Russia and talks for 5 minutes. When he is finished the devil informs him that the cost is a million dollars, so Putin writes him a check.

Next Queen Elizabeth calls England and talks for 30 minutes. When she is finished the devil informs her that the cost is 6 million dollars, so she writes him a check.

Finally Trump gets his turn and talks for 4 hours. When he is finished the devil informs him that the cost is $5.00. When Putin hears this he goes ballistic and asks the devil why Obama got to call USA so cheaply. The angel smiled and replied: "Since Biden took over, the country has gone to hell, so it's a local call."

 I read on Facebook there is a Canadian political party leader that everyone loves. It's probably not tru-deau

 Never trust female leaders. They’re Ms. Leading.

 A spiritual Leader lay quietly. He was dying. The disciples had gathered around his bed and recited some holy verses trying to make his last journey divine and pleasant. They wanted to give him warm milk to drink but he declined. One of the disciples took the glass back to the kitchen and decided to add some brandy considering it good for health. He poured a generous amount into the warm milk.

Back at Spiritual Leader's bed, they lifted his head gently and held the glass to his lips. The very frail man drank a little, then a little more, and before they knew it, he had finished the whole glass down to the last drop. As his eyes brightened, the disciples thought it would be a good opportunity to have one last talk with their Spiritual Leader.

Sir....! the disciples asked earnestly, "Please, give us some of your wisdom before you leave us."

He raised himself up very slowly in the bed on one elbow, looked at them and said,

"Don't sell that cow."

As leader of the USSR, Gorbachev was allowed to conduct weddings

He liked to keep them brief:

Gorbachev: You want to marry her?

Groom: Da

Gorbachev: You want to marry him ?

Bride: Da

Gorbachev: Then so be it.

He was a master of the So-be-it union

 

Four cannibals apply for a job in a big corporation. Well“, says the boss, „if I hire you guys, you have to promise to not eat any of our staff.“

The cannibals promise that they will not eat anyone and get hired. Everything is going well for a while, and one day the boss calls them into his office.

“You’re working well and all, but we’re missing an office cleaner. Do you have something to do with that?”

The cannibals swear that they are innocent.The boss believes them and leaves the office and they all turn to their leader.

“You idiots!”, he screams. “Who ate the cleaner?”

One of the cannibals sheepishly raises his hand.

“You fool!”, shouts the leader.

"For weeks we've been feasting on directors, team leaders, project managers and human resource staff, and then you go and eat someone they'll actually miss!"

 

80,000 Free Palestine Yale and Harvard students meet in a football stadium for a "College Students Are Not Stupid" convention.

The leader says, "We are all here today to prove to the world that we are not stupid. Can I have a volunteer who will stand up to take their place as our next leader?"

A pink haired girl with a keffiyeh gingerly works her way through the crowd and steps up to the stage. The leader asks her, "What is 15 plus 15?"

After 15 or 20 seconds she says, "Eighteen!"

Obviously everyone is a little disappointed. Then 80,000 students start cheering, "Give her another chance! Give her another chance!"

The leader says, "Well since we've gone to the trouble of getting 80,000 of you in one place and we have the world-wide press and global broadcast media here, gee, uh, I guess we can give her another chance."

So he asks, "What is 5 plus 5?"

After nearly 30 seconds she eventually says, "Ninety?"

The leader is quite perplexed, looks down and just lets out a dejected sigh -- everyone is disheartened - the pink haired girl starts crying and the 80,000 students begin to yell and wave their hands shouting, "GIVE HER ANOTHER CHANCE! GIVE HER ANOTHER CHANCE!"

The leader, unsure whether or not he is doing more harm than good, eventually says, "Ok! Ok! Just one more chance -- What is 2 plus 2?"

The girl closes her eyes, and after a whole minute eventually says, "Four?"

Throughout the stadium pandemonium breaks out as all 80,000 protestors jump to their feet, wave their arms, stomp their feet and scream... "Give her another chance! Give her another chance!"

 

The new President of the US has just taken power. The former presidents tell him  that they have left him two letters. When you get into problems open the first letter. If you still have problems open the second letter". About 1 year into his leadership things are going badly for the new guy. He remembers the words of the former leader and opens the first letter, which reads 'blame all your problems on me. The new president does this and everything is fine for a little while. But sadly things go from bad to worse, so he opens the second letter, which reads 'sit down and write two letters'

 Someone asked me if I could have dinner with any world leader, living or dead, who would it be? I said, "Ayatolla Khameni... dead."

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 The answer to this week”s question is C– Finally!! It’s about time that I got one completely right! This one was fairly easy. I talk about the 6 Day War a lot. That was the war that we quadrupled the size of our country in 1967 in six mere days, as opposed to the 295 days that we haven’t even gotten a few miles into Gaza. Levi Eshkol was the prime minister that oversaw that miraculous moment in our history when the Har Habayit was returned to us, kever Rachel, the shomron, the Sinai, Gaza and the Golan Heights… The war in 1956 Suez campaign was called Mivtza Kadesh after the biblical city of Kadesh Barnea where Moshe sent out his spies from by the Sinai border. In that war which was 8 days and that took place in Rafah and Khan Yunis in Gaza as well, the Israeli army went in and slaughtered unapologetically tens of Egyptian and Palestinians in those cities including civilians. We lost 170 soldiers and killed 3000 and took over 6000 prisoners of war. Ben Gurion declared the third kingdom of Israel and yet the next day he backed down and handed it all back to them… Somethings never change, somethings get worse, and sometimes we never learn. But at least I got this one right, and so my score is now Rabbi Schwartz 9.5 and Ministry of Tourism 5.5 on this exam so far.

Momentary Relaxation- Rega Ti'Rega! - Parshat Balak 2024/ 5784

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

 July 19^th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 39 13^th of Tamuz 5784

Parshat Balak

Momentary Relaxation- Rega Ti’raga!

I needed to catch that bus to the Kotel where I was meant to meet my tourists. I started to run up the block waving my hands frantically yelling “Rega! Rega! Na’ahag Regaaaahhh…!”. I hate when this happens…

  I’m really not a public transportation person. I don’t like buses, trains, or planes. I didn’t like them there in the States and even more so over here. I think I get it from my father, who even prefers to drive 30 or so hours from Detroit to Florida rather than fly for an hour and half. It’s not the sitting on the plane, bus or train with a bunch of people squished in if you’re lucky enough to get a seat. It’s not the waiting in the airport lines, the shlepping my bags or luggage down long endless corridors or in Israel up and down escalators that only seems to be working for some bizarre reason in the direction I’m not going. If I need to go up to the main street then only the down escalators are working and vice versa. Is this just me? I think there’s someone that is sitting in some room somewhere just changing this thing around every time I walk in the train section laughing behind a screen.

 As well it’s not even the small plane or public bathroom stalls that carry who knows what diseases. The coughing and tushy bumping and sweaty smells of the people getting thrown back and forth against you, or the loud annoying conversations on the phone that you really are not interested in listening to, but for some reasons Dudu wants the entire train or bus to know about his upcoming bowel problems that he’s talking to his doctor about. It’s just having the freedom and control of leaving when I want, stopping when I want, and not having to lock my destiny and plans on the whims, delays, scheduling of an airline, bus or train transfer. Right now, as I run up the block, as well the future of me making it for our morning tour is dependent on the hearing skills of the bus driver as my shouts of “Regah !!” get louder and louder and I wistfully watch those brake lights go off and see him pull out.  I knew I should’ve brought my car.

 He didn’t stop. I’m not sure if it was intentional. I try to give the benefit of the doubt. I know he saw and heard me. Ephraim Schwartz is not a quiet yeller. I think they heard me five blocks away. The entire street turned around and looked at the tour guide rabbi running with his knapsack to make that bus. But he didn’t stop. He was outta there. And I huffed and puffed and took my seat on the bus bench and started to check for when the next one would come while sending a message to my clients that “I was stuck in traffic” and would be there shortly.

 Now one of the nice things about Israelis and bus stops is that people feel the need to talk to you, commiserate and even share words of wisdom with you randomly. It’s not like NY where I think you can get arrested for randomly saying “Good morning” to someone you don’t know, as I believe they consider that perhaps rightfully so harassment or unwanted confrontation. Hey, you might use the wrong pronouns…Not so in Israel. We’re all family. We all need to share our wisdom and our love and caring for one another. So as I sit down next to this smiling elderly Chasidic man with a clearly cigarette stained yellowed graying beard. He offers me a drink, Kenny-Rogers-Gambler, style and a cigarette too and told me to relax, the next bus should come soon. When I complained to him exasperatingly that I couldn’t believe that the driver didn’t hear me yelling at him. He told me with aa wry smile that the word “Re’G’A’”- one moment, in Hebrew is the roshei teivos acronym for Reishis Goyim Amalek- Amalek is the first of the nations. The bus driver must have thought Amalek was coming and fled.

  “So, ti’raga”, he told me.

“Relax. Enjoy. That’s the way we wipe out Amalek. Get out of the ‘rega’ and targish ha’roga- get out of the moment and experience the calmness.”

 Yup, there’s nothing like the wise words of a wisdom you pick up by bus stops in Jerusalem.

 This week’s parsha of Balak is unique in the entire Torah. It’s the one parsha where we have an entire story that shares with us the behind-the-scenes plots and genocidal attempts on our nation of which we would have no idea of what was going on, if not for the Torah telling us. It’s a little microphone and video transcription of the meetings in Tehran between, Nasralla, Sinwar, whatever the Iranian leaders name is (c’mon don’t tell me you know either…). It’s watching them plot October 7^th. Listening to their hatred for us. The money they’re willing to shell out to kill us. The sacrifices they have no problem enduring and offering up on their altars in order to achieve their nefarious goals.

 There are no witnesses to these narratives between Bilaam who was hired to curse us by Balak. We didn’t have any spies or intelligence or bugs in the room or on their donkeys. Yet Hashem revealed this parsha to us and it was written as a separate parsha, that our sages at one point even felt was important enough to consider placing as a fourth paragraph to be read twice daily with the Shema every morning, because its story contains the essence of what we are all about and how we will be redeemed. It’s the story of turning the rega- in to roga. Getting out of the moment and experiencing the peace and blessing of faith.

 Our sages point out that the partnership between Bilam and Balak are in fact the collaboration of Amalek. It’s in their names. Take of the beis and lamed of each of their names- which is the letters that spell lev-heart, or to be more precise lev backwards. A heart that is turned around. And you are left with the ayin-mem of Bilam and the lamed-kuf of Balak- which of course spells Amalek- the archenemy of Hashem and of our nation. Neither of them are in any danger from the Jewish people’s journey to Israel. We were prohibited from attacking Moav by Hashem. We had no fight with Midian- down near the Houtis in Yemen. We were happy with a two-state solution. Let them keep their countries and leave us in peace. But Amalek is never happy when we, the Jews, are settled in our land. They know that from here Hashem’s shechina will shine down. That their game is over. Their rega has ended. Our roga and that of the entire world can finally begin.

 The Talmud tells us that Bilam’s strength lay precisely in that he knew the “rega” the one moment that Hashem gets angry every day. He felt that if he could play up and extend that moment, and hit us right then, he’d be able to win. They could wipe us out. Miraculously, it was on that day that Hashem withheld Himself from that moment and the curses that Bilam tried to throw at us were instead turned into a blessing. It’s a strange midrash. What does that mean that Hashem has a moment of anger? Do they not have anger management courses in heaven? Why does it take a miracle to stop it? Why does this happen every day? Hashem doesn’t have any good days? Obviously Hashem is beyond any emotion, so what’s this all about?

 Rav Moshe Shapiro brilliantly explains this concept on a very deep level. He notes that Creation and time begins anew each day.

  Ha’Mechadesh B’tuvo b’kol yom tamid ma’asei bereishis- He renews with His goodness each day the act of Creation, we say in davening each morning.

 Why does He do that? What’s wrong with the world that He put into place? The answer is that each day there has to be a sense of a renewal and fresh start placed into it. All the baggage of yesterday, the sins, the tzoris, the challenges and failures were in a different world than there is today. It’s a new morning. We wake up in a new house, a new world, a new reality. Yet just as in the first Creation of the world, our sages tell us that Hashem originally planned on creating the world with the Middas Ha’Din- His attribute of precise justice. So too every day when He recreates the world, that rega of din- of expected and demanded perfection is there. A new world demands that judgement. It needs to start with din. Let me explain.

 I’m sitting next to my wife right now and she’s telling me that the “new” car I got last week- it’s a 2007 Ford Explorer just like my old one that was going on me, but for the Schwartz family that’s considered new- is already dirty from my client’s pretzels (shhh they’re mine…). Why couldn’t I keep it clean for even one minute. For a “rega”…. When you get a new car, a new house, a new shirt there’s a sense that you want it to stay that way. It should remain perfect. You shouldn’t scratch it up -my daughter did that the first day on the “new” car sshhhhh… You shouldn’t have coffee stains on your shirt or the new counters. Keep it clean at least a bit, for at least a rega. That’s the moment of Creation of din every morning. But Hashem realized that the world can’t be sustained that way. There has to be free choice. There has to be the ability for us to mess up. And so after that initial moment, He combines that midda of rachamim, of mercy that allows us to fail.

 Amalek is that rega. They don’t want the world to get to that place of free choice. Their plan is to say that Hashem created the world, mankind and us only once. He’s now left it in our hands. Hashem is not involved anymore. The world was created for us and now we are its arbiters. There’s no Shechina to reveal. No holiness to bring down. No King to subject ourselves to. They view themselves, as Bilam says in his curse-turned-blessing, as the Reishis- they are the beginning of all. It’s what I want, what I feel, what I desire, what I accomplish. What I want in the moment. Time started and we are handed the car keys to do whatever we want with it. There is no continuous revelation. There is no renewed Creation. There’s only the rega…

 Yet a miracle took place. On that day Hashem did not get angry. On that day Hashem didn’t renew the world. He allowed the midda of rachamim to remain. He didn’t see any sins in Yaakov and faults in Yisrael. That day the world remained in its perfection, for Hashem carried us with our sins as if we hadn’t. It was the day that Amalek had no power over us. The rega was roga, the curse turned into blessing, the vision of a Messianic era was revealed in that failure of Amalek, as the star of Yaakov rose up. It’s that vision and curse-turned-blessing of Bilam that is the only source in the entire Torah of the world that we have been waiting for since Creation for the Shechina to descend will look like. Its where we know that there will be Mashiach.

 No one was there to see that world that was being born and revealed in the hills or mountains of Moav overlooking our camps as we stood on the cusp of entering the holy land. We didn’t see or understand the peril that was just avoided and the Amalekite plots to prevent our redemption. We may still have been under the conceptzia that if we left them alone, they would leave us alone as well. But Hashem was there while the curses were being fired at us. We could be b’roga. He was turning them into blessing. Tosafos notes that Bilam’s plan in that one moment was to say the word “kalem”- to destroy us. That we should be caught up in that moment. That we should forget that we have a King. That we should think that the world is all about us. Yet Hashem turned the letters of ka’le’m around to spell Melech-King. He reigned. We could be redeemed.

 The final battle of Amalek is in our generation. Bilam’s blessing was that they thought they were first, but instead at the end they will be destroyed. To win this battle and to destroy Amalek, we need to get out of their small minded seeing-only-the-moment worldview. We need to see beyond what is around us. To realize there are things that are going on that we don’t know about and will not understand. Worlds where there are donkeys that talk, angels with swords and curses that are turning into blessings. We need to know that there is a Melech that is soon to be revealed. That just as we don’t know the degree of the plots and curses that our enemies have against us, we don’t have to worry or fear from them even if we did have an inkling. Because this is all part of a larger divine plan. A plan that is coming to an end that will reveal the real Beginning.

  Ha’Magid me’reishis ad acharis- Hashem will reveal that He is there from the beginning to the end. He was there for us against, Bilam, He was there for us against the Romans, the Greeks, the Nazis and Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. The curses that we see are all really blessings. They are the darkness of a day coming to an end and new dawn that is being born and created. The rega we have been waiting for is almost here. We didn’t miss any buses. The bus that He wants us to get on isn’t going to take us to the Kotel. It’s going to take us to His new Home on top of that Mountain top. That’s the bus we’re waiting for. And it’s already on the way…

 Have a blessed Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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I would as well like to personally express my appreciation and the appreciation of the many soldiers and so many needy families whom I have been privileged to bring food, Chizuk, supplies and of course love and Ruach to since this war has started.

 As I’ve mentioned to many that have contacted me I am not running a campaign to raise money for this cause. I feel it is a personal privilege and the minimum I can do help these young men that are standing on the front lines of our nation. I however am more than happy to serve as an agent or shaliach for any of you that feel similarly and would like to send some love to these boys as well.  This is not a short war as our pundits and generals tell us and this is not a one time partnership. It’s week after week and really day after day that I try to do my part to visit the many bases and posts as I can and bring them stuff.

 Each week I will post here the names of those that have participated and whom the soldiers and families have asked me to express their appreciation back to for your love for them.

 This week I’d like to thank the Rosengard family, Reb Sruly and Ruchi Koval, Tami and Marcel Scheinman and William and Baila Adler and Faigy Schachner  Thank You!!

 You all have no idea how much koach this gives to our chayalim! Thank you for giving me the zechus to be part of it. And they have made me their messenger to say thank you to you!

 For those of you that wish to have me deliver on your behalf this chizuk to our brave chayalim and chayalot- Pizza, hot meals, Mike and Ikes ( they love those!) Cigerrettes, Nosh, energy bars and just lots of love that I’m in the mood to bring them. Feel free to Zelle or paypal me to Rabbischwartz@yahoo.com

 If you’d like to watch and be part of the fun vicariously you can as well send me your number and I’m happy to add you to my contacts and you can then have access to my daily statuses where I post them!

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Nit mit shelten un nit mit lachen ken men di velt ibermachen..”.- Neither with curses nor with laughter can you change the world.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

14.During which decade in the 20th century did Israel have a policy of Austerity

(“Tzena Period”)??_______ .

What is the large gleaming tower next to Tlalim Junction used for?

A. Security purposes

B. Weather forecasts

C. The production of solar energy

D. Agricultural research and development

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK


https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/achainu – NEW RABBI SCWARTZ SONG FOR THREE WEEKS – acapella my Acheynu- just when you thought that you’d sung the other version too long. Here’s my beautiful magnificent heartfelt Acheynu. Brin them home now please Hashem. Thank you Dovid Lowy for amazing vocals and arrangements!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYp5LCC1WrM -Jerusalem Youth Chorus on America’s got Talent singing Home… Wasn’t what I thought but still… What do you think?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v16YdKaDsKQ   –  Love this group… L’Karveini Eleicha from the Mizmor Shir group

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLIitRRHt0w   - Avraham Fried’s Hebrew hits with Freilach and friends amazing to hear the good oldies coming back…

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

Bilam’s Prayer- Can you imagine that the first thing that we would say when we came into shul in the morning would be “Allah Akbar”  or “Our Holy Father in Heaven hallowed be your name”, or Omani Padma Hummm”- the Budhist prayer that means “praise to the jewel in the lotus”. Yeah.. I don’t think so. Yet, in our shuls the first prayer that we say when we enter in fact comes from the evil prophet Bilam in this week’s Torah portion.

 Ma Tovu Ohalecha Yaakov Mishkenosecha Yisrael- How good are your tents Yaakov and your dwelling places Israel.

 What’s pshat? Tzi felt ois? Are we lacking our own prayers that we have to take this goys to start off our morning. Is there no shortage of Tehillim written by King David?

 The answer some suggest is that perhaps we utilize the prayer and blessing of Bilaam to remind us that the purpose of our prayers are not just about us and our great needs. Rather it is for Hashem to have a Beis Tefilla L’kol Ha’Amim- a house of prayer for all of the nations of the world. When we daven it’s not just for our own sake. Rather its to bring the shechina down where the entire world sees Hashem. That the houses and tents of Yaakov is just the starting place for that, but in truth the entire world is looking towards our synagogues and waiting for us to bring the geula- the redemption.

 How do we do that and accomplish that? The Panim Yafos tells us that the secret lies in the two phrases “the tents of Yaakov” and “the dwelling places of Yisrael”. He explains that a tent is a temporary place. Yaakov refers to those that are only able to come and pray and study Torah temporarily. They came daily three times and perhaps for a Torah class or chavrusa here and there. But the rest of the times they have to work for a living out in the field. The dwelling place though is that of Yisrael. Those are the ones in Klal Yisrael that are full time learners. There permanent homes are in the study halls. That’s where they dwell. Our secret is that we always have two parts to Klal Yisrael. We lift up the world by going out and as well by always having those that full time hold down the Torah and prayer fort by dwelling in the Beit Midrash.

Alternatively the Malbim takes this to a different place. He writes that the tents are the Jewish nation in galus. We haven’t settled yet. We’re on the move. We go from place to place. It’s before we enter the land. The dwelling place is of course the return the Israel. It’s the Beis Hamikdash. Its’ coming home. That is what Bilam blesses us with. That the tents and places of worship and Torah in the wilderness turn into the permanent home that all can daven and come to Hashem with. That’s the way we start off each morning. May that day come soon.

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

701 BC-  None of your Business –  One of the excuses why many Americans tell me that they aren’t moving to Israel is because of their children. They’re nervous if they will be able to acclimate here. The educational system here is different. They’re children have friends over there. They are doing well in school. They’re “shteiging”. Why upheave their entire world and move them to Israel?

 To make matters worse, they tell me, they hear about many children that move here that go off the derech. They lose the inspiration they had in America and they fall off the path. Don’t I know about all of those kids in Jerusalem, in Beit Shemesh, in other communities that lose their connection to yiddishkeit in Israel? What if they’re drafted- god forbid, in the army? Forget about it… They for surer can’t be frum there… Yeah… that’s what they tell me. As if the teens at risk is not a problem and crisis in America, in Lakewood and in Boro Park. No one goes off there… Here at least they’ll probably at least marry Jewish… But hey… at least they have an excuse, right? Or not…

 *See here the Navi tells us that Chizkiya had an even better cheshbon and greater fear than those American Jews do? He was a prophet. He saw that if he would have a child he would be not just not religious, but would be a murdering tyrant that would not only go off the path that his father had fought saw hard to develop in his mass teshuva movement in Klal Yisrael, but he would in fact take Am Yisrael back to the worst of the worst times in our history. He would be a sinner that took everyone down with him and would ultimately lead us on the path of Exile and destruction. That’s bad. And he was right… by the way. Chizkiya’s son Menashe, whom we will learn about ended up doing exactly that. So Chizkiya much like these American Jews decided to make his own cheshbon so that wouldn’t happen. He decided not to have children. What was the point. If you knew your child would be Hitler or perhaps even George Soros- who’s a tzadik compared to Menashe. Then just avoid the whole thing and the world would be a better place.

 And yet what happened? Hashem made him sick. He was on death bed. Yeshaya comes to visit him and tells him that this is happening for one reason.

B’hadei kavshei d’rachamana lama leih- What business do you have trying to meddle with Hashem’s plans for the world.

 We have a mitzva to have children, we have a mitzva to live in Israel, what business do you have not fulfilling that mitzva because your concerned about a “yeahh.. but what if…” . Even if you’re sure that they will turn out bad. You possibly couldn’t be more sure than Chizkiya was? And yet our job is not to question or try to outsmart Hashem’s plans. Our job is to follow the mitzvos that He tells us and leave the big planning for Him. Chizkiya agrees to this Mussar of Yeshaya and yet he still tries to hedge his bets. He tells Yeshaya to give him his daughter’s hand in marriage and perhaps the merit and genetics of both of them together will somehow impact and change the prophetic outcome of his wayward progeny. Yet it as well doesn’t work. Menashe becomes Menashe. Yet, because of this teshuva of Chizkiya he lives for another 15 years. In those years he will still accomplish great things. It is not our job to question Hashem. It’s our job to live where He wants us to. Let Him take care of the rest. That’s not our business.

 RABBI SCHWARTZ'S BUS JOKES OF THE WEEK

So I was sitting on the bus just reading a book when somebody tapped me on the shoulder.

I turned around and saw an old lady. She said to me, "Sonny, would you like some nuts? I've got a couple hazelnuts and almonds if you'd like."

"Sure.", I replied. Then she gave me a handful of nuts and went back to sit with her friends.

"What a nice lady", I thought, while happily munching on the nuts.

A few minutes later, I felt another tap on my shoulder and there she was again, offering some nuts. I gladly accepted and she went back to her seat. After about 10 minutes, she tapped me on the shoulder, once again offering some nuts.

I asked her, "Why don't you eat them yourself?"

"Because we've got no teeth", she replied.

"Then why do you buy them?", I asked.

"Oh, because we just love the chocolate around them."

 

I was crossing the street right next to some freaky dressed Free Palestine button wearing college student in Kafyia when suddenly a bus swerved over and ran him over. As I got up and picked myself up I thought to myself, “Wow! That could have been me!”

Then I remembered I can’t drive a bus.

 

Two blondes are standing at a bus stop.

One asks the other: "Which bus are you taking?"

"Number 1. And you?"

"Two."

The bus with the number 12 pulls up and one of them says to the other:

"Look, we're going together!"

 

A blind woman got on a bus. Sadly, all the seats were taken.A man noticed that no one else on the bus was willing to give up their seat for the blind woman, so he kindly guided her to his seat and took a standing spot. As the bus started up, the man frowned at the others for their selfishness.

Later that day, the man came home in tears, covered in bruises.

"What's the matter?" asked the man's wife.

"I lost my job as a bus driver

 

So Achmed answers his door to find a somber-looking police officer standing on his porch. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, sir,” the officer says, “but it looks like your wife has been hit by a bus.”

The man replies, “Yeah, but she’s got a great personality.”

 

A woman steps in front of a bus and dies instantly. She finds herself at the pearly gates, being greeted by God himself.He looks the woman up and down, and says "Hm... Strange. It's not your time! I'm sending you back."

"Sending me back? How long until it IS my time?" she asks.

"Worry not, my child. You have many, many more years until it is your time. You will live until the ripe old age of 108!"

She's sent back to Earth and pops into her miraculously repaired body. She gets up, dusts herself off, and with a huge smile on her face immediately heads to the plastic surgeon. She proceeds to get a face lift, a tummy tuck, hair implants and more. "If I'm going to live to the old age of 108, I might as well look my best!" she happily thought.

After all the surgeries and cosmetic procedures and makeovers, she looks STUNNING. Beautiful pouty lips and a tiny waist and long luscious hair. She walks out of the salon and BAM. She's hit by a bus and dies instantly.Once again, she is at the pearly gates and again, is greeted by God.

"What in the world was that?!" she exclaims, "You said I was supposed to live until 108!"

God looks her up and down and says "Well I didn't recognize you!

 

So a cement mixer and a prison bus crashed on the highway near my house... Police advised citizens to be on the lookout for a group of hardened criminals.

 

A boy excitedly reports to his miserly father..."Papa!" the boy exclaims. "Instead of buying a bus ticket, I ran home behind the bus and saved a dollar!"

The father immediately slaps the child. "Spendthrift!" he screams. "You could have run home behind a taxi and saved twenty!"

 

Yankel is sitting on the bus and sitting opposite him is a man trying to bite into an apple.

"What's the matter?" asks Yankel.

"I left my false teeth at home", the man replies.

Yankel puts his hand in his pocket, "Here, try these", and hands him a set of false teeth.

"Thanks, but they're too big".

Yankel hands him another set, "Try these".

"Perfect", says the man. "It's incredible that on the day I leave my false teeth at home, I sit on the bus opposite a dentist".

"I'm not a dentist", says Yankel, "I work for the chevra Kadisha in a funeral parlor".

 

I went for my interview to be an Egged bus driver.

I said, "Sorry I'm late."

They said, "You're hired"

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 The answer to this week”s question is C– This one was really pathetic… But here I am shamefully admitting that I’ve been out of America too long. For some reason I always get the words austerity confused with prosperity in mind. I know… it’s mamash the opposite. The truth is had I paid attention to the Hebrew word ha’tzena- which comes from the word tzniut, modest and simple I would’ve gotten it right, merely by guessing that obviously the roughest economic patch of the country was our first decade back in the 50’s when they had rations and all types of limitations on food and distributions. I answered the 90’s and got that wrong. I did however get part B correct. It was easy the huge gleaming tower in the Negev not far from Dimona that can be seen from miles away is an incredible solar tower that beams the sun on miles of panels on all side providing most of the electricity for the entire Negev. So another 50/50 this time around. This is really getting frustrating  And so my score is now Rabbi Schwartz 8.5 and Ministry of Tourism 5.5 on this exam so far.