from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend in
Karmiel"
January 3rd
2025!! -Volume 14 Issue 10 3rd of Tevet
5785
It was an only in Israel moment. There I was in my gym
after a nice, good workout. I’m not a fan of the whole gym thing. I’d much rather
be touring with you guys all over Israel. But what can I do? El Al is charging
like a million dollars a flight these days from what I understand. So even my billionaire
clients who manage to come in don’t really have too much leftover money to tour
with me…Although for some reason they seem to forget that the whole point of
coming to Israel is only to come on a Rabbi Schwartz tour of the country. It
really doesn’t even count as if you came here if you don’t tour with me. But
hey, I get it. No hard feelings. Especially to those that canceled on me last
minute… You’ll be back. I’ll charge you double then. It always works out in the
end…😊
Now particularly on Chanuka, the holiday of our victory over
the Greeks and their whole, body-adulation thing, it seems particularly sacrilegious
to go into a gym. It’s why Jews celebrate by eating doughnuts and latkas
deep fried in oil. No, baked in the oven doesn’t count, Aliza… Even grated in a
food processor barely counts. “Hant gi’gribben” is really the only way
to go. Everything else is just Parve chulent. But what can I do? I’m getting old… 54, today
by the way, thanks for the wishes. Gematria “Bi’livavcha”- with your
hearts. And I need that old heart of mine to keep ticking for a while longer.
There are still some of you that haven’t toured with me yet… So it’s off to the
gym, for Rabbi Schwartz.
So there I was after this good hour long cardio work-out. About
a half hour on this farshtunkeneh walking treadmill machine with great
views of Israel. Although not as good as walking the real thing. Another half
hour lifting these weights like Pharaoh in Mitzrayim, with my biceps, my legs,
my thighs and every other aching limb in my body that I didn’t even know
existed, but became painfully familiar
with. A quick swim. A little Jacuzzi and sauna/shvitz action- dry and
wet of course. Ok maybe more than a little. To be honest, that’s really the
only thing that keeps me going back. And now I’m back in the Shower room with a
bunch of old Russian and Israeli men in various stages of undress. Fading,
wrinkled tattoos, sagging bellies, some krechtzing, coughing, shaving-creamed
all up. It’s like a Mikva for retired chilonim. It’s an image that you probably
want me to stop trying to describe to you and that you frankly have no interest
in visualizing, thank-you-rabbi-schwartz, we’ll skip to the jokes now…
The funniest thing though is to hear the singing coming
from the showers. It’s old Russian folk songs, 70-year-old Israeli Kibbutznik
songs. But much to my surprise, from the shower stall next to me all of a
sudden I hear something a bit more familiar. Something that you really don’t
expect to hear in a shower. It started with whistling the tune, and then the
words started make their way through the splash of the shower and soap suds… He
didn’t know all of them, but the chorus everyone knows…
“Va’Hashem Yitborach Tamid ohev oti da dada dada da rak tov…
Yih’yeh li od yoter tov… v’od yoter tov… v’od yoter tov..v’od
yoter tov.. v’od yote’eher tov…
V’tamid yihyeh li ra’ak tov…”
I know, you’re singing that now… right? I can hear you here
in Karmiel. If you’re not, then you need to go to the gym more often. Actually,
you don’t. You just need to go anywhere in Israel these days. We’ve graduated
boys and girls, to the latest Gaza War hit. The evolution of this war can be traced
through the music that has gone viral at different phases of this 450-day war.
We started out with the Am Yisrael Chai thing, not the old one, but the Ayal
Golan version.
Ki am hanetzach l’olam lo mifached…
Afilu kishekashe lirot…
Dada dada tiddiday dai dai dai (who knows the middle words..?)
She’yisrafu hamilchamot…
Am Yisrael Chaii…ay… ay..
Im lo nishkach tamid liyihot me’uchadim…
Am Yisrael Chaiii…ay
ay..
B’aliyot b’yeridot gam ba’ shaot achi kashot…
V’hakadosh Baruch Hu shomer aleinu…
Da da da badeinu…
Ki ein lanu od medina…
Da da da something maneinu
Shmabadum gameinu…
Something something emuna…
Uhhh uhhh ahhh ahhh…
You get the point. That’s how we started.
From there we moved on to lots of “Acheinu’”s and “Vehi
She’amda”s… We had that soldiers- coming-home-and-hugging-their mothers,
their wives, their little kids… their dogs? With that “gam ha’shaot achi
kashot ba’layla” song… Remember that “Mani Matara” insane crazy kid’s
song that was going around for too long… We had a little break with the “October
Rain” thing- PS its pretty funny that Shulem Lemmer Chasidic version shows
up on Youtube before the original version does. Yup… the evolution of war with
music. Much like a trip to Israel without a Rabbi Schwartz tour, a war without
a song doesn’t count. We’re the nation of Dovid Ha’Melech, after all. He set
the precedent for our nation, writing his book of Psalms for pretty much
everything that he went through. And he went through a lot…
Yet, here in the shower room of this gym was the one place
that I didn’t expect to be hearing this latest Israeli hit song. Certainly not
from the mouth of this balding, tattooed, chai necklaced, barely towel-only
clad 80-year old exiting the stall next to me. As I said… only in Israel. The country
where no matter how bad it gets, how bad we get… we all know that there’s
always only one way where we and it can go… Od yoter tov v’od yoter tov…
better and better and better.
Happy Chodesh Tevet, everyone. The month of Tov. The month
of not just tov, but tovot. Better and better. It’s the month
that starts in middle of a holiday. The only month like that, by the way. It’s
better and better because unlike many holidays that by the end admittedly most
of us are kind of getting over it already. We’ve had enough matza, enough “High
Holiday” season and teshuva and judgement, enough Sukka, even one day of Purim
is pretty much all we can take… Chanuka is a light that just gets better and
better. It’s sad the day after when there is no more menora. Although I
am pretty much doughnutted out. Because Chanuka is easy. It’s just light in the
darkness. It’s a holiday that tells us that it’s just gonna get better and
better and brighter and brighter. Od yoter tov and od yoter tov.
And we can never get enough of that.
This week’s parsha of Vayigash which is always layned
at the end or after Chanuka is really all about that message. It’s rock bottom
time for the tribes of Israel. The roller coaster ride since the selling of
Yosef has gotten as bad as it can get. And that’s really what it has been; A
emotional spiritual, trauma filled roller coaster. Ups and downs. The dreams
and fights and snitching of Yosef to their father that threatened their sovereignty
that they thought would be taken care of by selling him, but it doesn’t work.
Their father mourns incessantly. They chuck out Yehuda, but that doesn’t help. A
famine arrives, they go down to Egypt and then they get accused of spying. Yet,
they’re released. They’ve lost Shimon down there in Egypt along the way, but
hey, at least they got out. There is a bit of ominous music playing in the background
with finding of their money in their sacks. But they ignore it. We survived. We’re
out. We can live another day.
Yet, the famine strengthens. They’re hungry. They need to
go back. They bring Binyamin. Yosef greets them. He’s good to them. They have Shimon,
they have Binyamin, they’ve got food. They’re on the way home. Things can go
back as before and then… Boom. It all falls apart again. Down roller coaster
once again. Yosef calls them back. They’ve got a stolen goblet in Binyamin’s
sack. Yosef tells them that Binyamin needs to stay. This is the moment. It’s
rock bottom. Or maybe not.
What is Yosef really telling them in this story? The truth
is he’s giving them a good offer. They can go back to Israel. Ok, sure it might
be sad that Binyamin is not with them. But, hey, they’ve been that way before.
Sure, Yaakov will be upset, but the truth is he’s been inconsolable the entire
time anyways. Life can return to pretty much how it’s been before. They’ll just
be short one more brother. The question the brothers have to answer, and that
Yosef is posing to them and forcing them to answer is if that’s really good
enough for them. Or do they want more? Do they want “Yosef”- the name
Yosef, not-coincidentally, actually means “more, to add”. The challenge of
Yosef is if we’re looking for the “same old-same-old” or do we want od yoter
tov, even better and better and more and more.
When Yehuda stands up to Yosef and refuses to go back to
what it was beforehand, Mashiach has come. V’lo yachol Yosef l’his’apek-
and Yosef couldn’t hold back, the “better- that is “yosef” couldn’t be held
back anymore. Rav Moshe Shapira would say how when he was a child his Rabbi
described that moment of Yosef revealing himself as what it would be like when
Mashiach came. Here the brothers thought that this individual was the cause of
all of their problems. He was the epitome of evil. He was framing them, was
kidnapping their brothers, was just trying to destroy them. He was the root of
all their tzoris… He was the last person in the world that they expected
to be telling them the message of their lives. He as the chiloni in the
shower stall of Egypt next to them…
Yet in one second, he reveals to them that it’s exactly the
opposite. “Ani Yosef!” He’s in fact Yosef. He’s there to make it better.
To make them better. He’s there to reveal the potential that they never
even knew they had. The responsibility and sacrifice that they could take for
another. He showed them how the world that they had been living in was not the
one that they were brought to Israel to achieve. They needed to make it better.
Od yoter tov. They couldn’t go back to that. Not yet. Not for a long
time. Not until today.
Yosef, reveals to them the secret of what the essence of
the Jewish people is all about. What has kept us so long, miraculously and what
drives us and has always driven us.
“Ha’od?!” Do you want more? Do you want Od yoter
tov?
Then “Avi Chai”- then my father, our Father, is
still alive. Then I am Yosef. I’m here to add on and bring you to the
recognition.
Ki Li’michay
Shlachani Hashem lifneichem. That Hashem has sent me not to bring you back
to where you were, but to bring you to life.
A life of “Od.” Of more. Of better and better.
Yosef was given his name by Rachel and unlike all of the
other brothers the Torah gives us two reasons for his name. Asaf Hashem es
cherpasi- Hashem has gathered my shame. All of Rachel’s suffering, all the
tribulations and challenges that she faced, she recognized that it was all from
Hashem. Hashem gathered it. He’s been holding that burden next to Him; that
pain, that hurt. Yet she realizes something else as well.
“Yosef Hashem li ben acher.”
It wasn’t just so that she could finally have a child. It
wasn’t about atoning. It wasn’t about punishing her. It wasn’t about making her
fitting to have a child, to merit redemption. It was to bring her to the point
where she could say “Yosef Hashem li ben acher- that I can have more.
That I can have od. That I want even more and more. I want better and
better. That’s the power of Yosef. That is revelation of the redemption.
The job of Mashiach ben Yosef is to overcome Gog in the
ultimate redemption of our time. Gog is a roof. It’s a cap. It’s limitations.
It’s a two-state solution. It’s borders that don’t include Gaza. That don’t go
up to Damascus and Beirut. That leaves a “golden pimple” on Hashem’s Mountain
with us davening and having a lot of people for Birkat Kohanim by the remains
of its retaining wall on the bottom feeling that the most we can get are old
black and white video clips of us blowing a shofar on the bottom saying “har
Ha’Bayis Bi’yadeinu” when really it isn’t.
A nation that is not ready to be redeemed is satisfied with
a “Jewish State” that they can come visit from time to time. That they can send
their children to study and even a honeymoon in for a bit, or that they could
make Bar Mitzva trips to, but that can’t imagine “od”. They can’t
imagine the Shechina shining everywhere. They can’t picture all our
brothers and sisters living together here. In peace. In love. In single-minded
service to unabashedly revealing Hashem from here. An unredeemed people haven’t
yet connected or sung the song of Yosef. They haven’t yet sung Hallel 8 days in
a row, Yosef Hashem aleichem- Hashem should give us more and more. They’re
still standing quietly in a shower stall, trying to wash of all the sweat,
pain, the work-out, while the song of Yosef is being sung through the cracks hearkening
to us. Hashem Yitbarach tamid ohev oti…
When Yosef reveals this to his brothers, when they hug,
they cry, they embrace, the pasuk tells us how that voice and that sound
and that song goes out to the whole house of Pharaoh. And do you know what their
response is?
Vayitav bi’eieney Pharaoh U’vi’eienei avadov- and it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants.
It was better. Od yoter tov. He promises them the tuv of
Mitzrayim. See how many times you can find that word in this parsha. A lot.
More and more. It will get better and better.
We’re ready to start the process of elevating the world. The
month of Tevet is here. It’s V’zos Chanuka. It’s the last day of lighting the
Menora. But it’s not a sad day. It’s a day that concludes a week of lighting
one more candle each day. Each day got brighter and we said that was not enough
so we added one more candle and one more. Od yoter ohr and od yoter
ohr. More and more light. We did that for a week. And then we did one more
day because a week is not enough. We need to take it into the next week. By the
way this is another good answer to the famous Beit Yosef question of why 8 days
of Chanuka and not seven, as the first day wasn’t a miracle. But before the
answer, isn’t it amazing that the question everyone is busy with on Chanuka is
the question of the Beit YOSEF!! Yes, the question of Yosef is about one more
day… Od yoter yom… and he has od yoter answers than any other
question. But that in itself is the answer to his question. We have one extra
day to differentiate it from the menora in the Beit Ha’Mikdash that has seven
branches. Yet on Chanuka it’s the secret to the ultimate redemption. It’s od
yoter ohr. It’s one more light. On V’zos Chanuka we see that we can do
this. We can have even one more and one more and one more.
The days are getting longer. The month of Tov has come. It
will be the month when the fast of the tenth of Tevet, of the beginning of the
destruction of the Temple will flip around and become the holiday of our
redemption. The month when we will all experience and sing v’tamid yihi’yeh li
rak tov…
Have a light-filled Shabbos and a
happy Chanuka
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
****************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Besser
dos besteh fun dem ergsten aider dos ergsteh fun dem besten” - Better the best of the worst
than the worst of the best.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
2. According to the Book of Kings, the city which
King Solomon received as a wedding gift from
his wife’s father is called ______
Which of the following sentences about Tel Arad is
true?
A. In Tel Arad the remains of a planned Iron Age
settlement were discovered
B. No ritual remains of any kind were found in Tel
Arad
C. In Tel Arad, remains of a planned settlement from
the Bronze Age were exposed
D. Tel Arad was identified with certainty due to the
"Arad Inscription" found in its immediate
surroundings
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES
AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
The Greatest Pesach Ever-
621BC – Having rid the land and the nation of all of it’s
idolatry and false priests, it was time to celebrate Pesach like never before. Yoshiyahu
the King sent out messages and gathered the entire nation to the Bais
HaMikdash, that was newly rededicated (Yup Chanuka connection, boys and girls..)
and now it was time to for the holiday when we recall how we first became a
nation and threw off all of our idolatry. The Navi tells us that there hadn’t
been a Pesach celebrated this widely since the times of the prophet Shmuel
centuries before.
From Shlomo Ha’Melech’s time until Yoshiyahu’s
grandfather Chizkiya the ten tribes and Kingdom of Israel never
even came to Jerusalem. They worshipped and celebrated in Beit El and in
Tel Dan where his temples were. Even when Chizkiya destroyed them
there were still many Jews that hadn’t repented and never came. But in the 18th
year of Yoshiyahu’s kingdom we got new life. There were 30,000 Korban
Pesach’s that were brought. Figure each one had a bunch of families that
shared them. Besides that there were 3000 cattle that were brought. Chizkiya
paid the bill for everyone. It was all on the house and no one had an excuse
not to come. And they came. They celebrated. They hung out there for the whole
holiday. It was a Pesach for the books. One could feel the redemption and the
Messianic experience as it was meant to be felt, for the first time in a very
long time.
The Navi tells us that
there was no other king like Yoshiyahu from the times of Moshe
that served Hashem the way we are meant to. With one’s heart, soul and
everything. He was great even before he read from that Torah scroll, but afterwards
he rose to an even higher level. The Talmud tells us how any judgement he gave
before that day that he obligated someone he paid for out of his own pocket.
Whereas before he read from the scroll he was independently righteous,
afterwards he turned his eyes to the nation and focused on uplifting them and
bringing them to repentance.
One would think with
such a great leader and with achieving such a great level. There’s no go down
from here… Unfortunately this is the last high point. Next week begins the
downfall of Yoshiyahu his mistake and a welcome back to Egypt…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY GYM JOKES OF THE WEEK
I just quit my job at
the gym because I wasn't big or strong enough. I've handed in my too weak notice
He said, “Try the
ATM outside”
I stopped going to the gym recently.It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off me.
I invited my girlfriend to go to the gym with me and then I didn’t show up.. I hope she gets the message that we’re not working out.
Where do Missionaries work out? Jehova's Fitness
The other said, "What
for?"
I replied, “like
with a rope?”
She replied,” no like skipping a meal”.
The answer to this week”s question is C – Well so much for a good start… I got this one totally wrong… which doesn’t happen often. Although I’m usually pretty good with Tanach questions, I had no clue about the Shlomo father in law gift… I actually peeked at the answer by mistake before I even started to guess, but I wouldn’t have guessed Gezer, which is a site I really don’t tour much. Probably would’ve gone with a city up North which he gave to Chiram. But even part B which I got wrong was really not great. I do tour Tel Arad, although not often. I think it’s a great site. I went with Iron age and the truth is it was the Bronze Age. I always get those mixed up. It’s really not something my American tourists care much about. But there goes my good start. The score is now a tie Rabbi Schwartz 1 and Ministry of Tourism 1. Hope this gets better….
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