Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
May 30th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 29 3rd of Sivan 5785
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Ivri was 21. He was married for a little over a year to Miriam.
They met when he gave her a hitch in his car near Shilo a few years ago. Their
wedded bliss, though, turned into a long-distance relationship when the war
started as they both served in the army. Ivri was in Lebanon fighting, while
Miriam was serving near Chevron. They had spent an amazing Shabbos together up
in the Golan on their extended Shana Rishona, as their first year of
marriage saw them separated from each other for most of the year, as Ivri was an
officer fighting on the front lines. They chose the North of Israel for their
getaway just in case he got called back and needed to return to his base
quickly. As they stood out in the Golan overlooking the magnificent views of
the glorious land Ivri turned to Miriam and told her that he knew how difficult
this was for her. But this is our job. We are the eternality of Israel. This
land, this view, our nation, they need us. For this we were chosen. For this
day we were raised.
Hillel was also 21. His wife of a year and half, Zahava, married
him in middle of the war. Yet like Ivri and so many of our soldiers, the mitzva
of Shana Rishona, staying home and rejoicing and spending time with one's
wife that the Torah mandates, falls away, as the Rambam tells us, when there is
a war of a mitzva that needs to be fought. In those times we even take a groom
from his Chupa to go fight. It was a challenging year for the couple, but the
war brought them even closer. Hillel would write letters, would call regularly
and their weekends and moments together were more cherished than many that take
those simple things for granted.
Ivri was killed in Lebanon leading his troops into battle by a
sniper. His father Ilan, himself a soldier that had been called back to service
since October 7th and was in charge of operations in the North, told
us how he had read the parsha of the binding of Yitzchak that previous Shabbos
and got stuck on it. He noted how Hashem had sent a ram to Avraham to bring as
his offering in place of his son, and how in this war, there are no rams. The
children themselves are going up to the mountain and giving their lives for
Hashem and for their nation. The fathers, like himself are not there with their
children on that mountain. Yet, Ivri, like so many of the 983 fallen soldiers,
have the faces of their fathers and the generations before them, as they take
up the sword to fight the battles of our nation.
Hillel, was killed just a few weeks later in Gaza along with his
two friends Eyal and Netanel, who were also
21 years old. A mine blew up in a building they were clearing there. Eyal and
Netanel didn't leave behind widows though, as Hillel did. They never merited to
find their bashert. I'm not sure what's worse or sadder. A young man who
never lived long enough to find that love and have a home, or one that did for
a short time, but was never was able to build a family and that would leave
behind a mourning 21-year-old widow, who had dreams of the life she would build
with her love.
Hillel and Ivri are buried next to one another on Har Hertzel.
They had military funerals with flags draped over their coffins as hundreds
joined their grieving families to share in their sorrow, to show their respect.
At most of these funerals there are people that attend that never even knew the
family of the fallen soldier. There are soldiers there from their units that
served with them. There are religious and non-religious, friends, neighbors and
strangers from around the country and even visitors from chutz la'aretz
that feel the need to be there and to connect. That understand that these are
our children. They are our korbanos
tzibur, our sacrificial lambs that Hashem is taking from us. They want to
feel the pain and hug the families and the widows and tell them how much we
feel for them. How much their sacrifice for us and for am Yisrael is an
inspiration. How their legacy will always live on within us.
I know about Hillel and Ivri, from my friend Gedalia who met
with Zahava and Miriam the other day. It seems that these two 21-year-old
widows met over Pesach by the house of his friends the incredible and well
known philanthropic Schottenstien family who had invited them over for a holiday
meal. At the meal Jay asked them if there was anything in the world that he
could get them. He was so moved by their story and their husbands' sacrifice. Since
the beginning of the war, Jay, together with my other friend Shai, had
spearheaded an effort helping our soldiers and all of the fallen families of
this war. He's been known to give out cars, I-phones, I-Pads and financial
grants to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for families. They make
birthday parties and bar mitzvas for orphans and weddings for soldiers. As well,
together with Gedalia, the CEO of the largest Jewish Publishing House, they
have sent hundreds of thousands of Talmuds, chumashim and sefarim
to soldiers on the front line serving. An offer from Jay Schottenstien for
anything that you want is like winning the lotto. It's rubbing the bottle and
the genie just popped out.
Now, before I tell you what they asked for, because Jay wasn't
going to let them off the hook, I want to describe them to you. They're young,
beautiful 21-year-old "dati" girls. These are not Bais Yaakov girls.
They wore bandannas thingies on their head that certainly didn't cover most of
their hair, but that matched the pants that many of the girls in those circles
wear. The short sleeves on their shirts and open necklines certainly wouldn't
pass any Chareidi school inspection and neither would their nail polish. If
you'd see them in the street, you'd probably think they're not as frum as you…especially
if you're from Lakewood or Boro Park. But that's pretty much the way you think
about everyone over there…😊
They turned to Jay and told him together that they each really
wanted one thing. They each wanted a set of Talmud to donate in their husbands'
memory to the yeshivos that they had learned in. See, Hillel and Ivri
weren't just brave soldiers that fought valiantly for their nation and country.
They were both talmidei chachamim. They learned regularly and when they
were not fighting and sometimes even when they were, they were always studying
Torah. They each wrote regularly divrei torah to their spouses, to their
parents and teachers. Not a week didn't go by that Hillel didn't call his
grandfather and share with him his Torah thoughts. Torah was their lifeblood.
It was why they were fighting so hard.
The Torah taught them that this war was not about peace. It
wasn't about revenge. It wasn't about land, or even eradication of evil. It was
a war that Hashem had chosen them to fight in order to reveal his presence in
this world. It was a war to bring Mashiach. To shine light to the world. To not
just learn about Yehoshua, Dovid Ha'Melech, Yehuda Ha'Maccabi and Rabbi Akiva's
army of Bar Kochva but to be them. Hillel and Ivri will never have children or
generations to pass on that message or legacy to, but those Talmuds that their
friends and their friend's children and generations to come will learn from,
those same sacred books dedicated in their memory that gave them that light and
their life's mission, will forever pass on the teachings of their sacrifice and
their aspirations.
There is an incredible teaching in this week's Torah portion of
Bamidbar, the reading that always falls out before the holiday of Shavuos from
the of the Shem Mi'Shmuel of Sochatchov. The parsha and book of Bamidbar
begins with the counting of our nation of each tribe from age 20-60, the age
when one becomes eligible biblically for military service. At the center of the
parsha the Torah tells us how each tribe has a flag that identifies them.
They each camped according to their flag and so they marched to Israel. Rashi,
quoting the Midrash explains that the significance of these flags is that when
we stood as a nation on Mt. Sinai on Shavuos and the heavens opened up and
Hashem came down and spoke to us, He had accompanying with him 22,000 angels
and each of them had flags as well. We saw those flags and we wanted them also.
Interestingly enough 22,000 is the number of the count of the tribe of Levi.
Their tribe, of all of the tribes, even more fascinatingly enough does not have
a flag of their own. What are these flags? Why do angels have them? Why do we
want them? And why does that become the heart of our take-away from Sinai on
Shavuos?
The Sochatchaver explains that the concept of a flag is to serve
as a banner that unites and declares allegiance. It has no other purpose
besides to declare and raise up the glory of the team, the nation, country,
kingdom or cause that it is representing. It's what a "Go Mets" flag
says. It's a rainbow colored "Pride" flag. It's a yellow ribbon. It's
a "Free Palestine" Hamas flag. It's the Red, White and Blue and it's
the Blue and White with a Magen David in the middle and it's a swastika as
well. Golani brigades and Kfir brigades have their own flags as do Beitar
Yerushalayim and Maccabi Tel Aviv. A flag has one purpose and only one agenda.
Nothing else. No ego. No personal objective. It's about one thing. My entire
existence as a flag is to shine out to the world that message and symbol of
what is represented on me.
A malach, an angel, carries the flag of Hashem. They are
spiritual creations that bring and carry out the message of Hashem to the
world. The Jewish people upon seeing and witnessing the glory of Hashem on Mt.
Sinai said that we want that as well. The Sochatchaver notes that the words of
the midrash actually don't even say that we wanted to have flags. Rather that
we wanted to "become" the flags of Hashem.
V'Diglo alai ahava- we are the flags of the love of
Hashem. We make Him dagul Mei'rivava- He is "Flagged" by the
tens of thousands. That is what our role in this world is. That is the deepest
inner desire of every Jewish neshoma that stood there at Mt. Sinai and
that remains in our DNA until today.
The tribe of Levi doesn't have a flag because they are the
conduit for the Shechina to come down. They are the flagpole. We are the
flags. We each march with our individual flags together and wave that message
and glory of Hashem out to the world.
The Midrash tells us that the reason why the Torah was given in
the midbar rather than in the land of Israel, is so that the nations of
the world will never be able claim that it's not a message for them as well. It's
so they won't make the mistake of thinking that Torah, Judaism and the light of
Hashem is just a personal Jewish religion thing; like Islam is Arab,
Christianity is for gentiles and Buddhism is for Indians. The Torah was given
in the midbar because it's a universal concept. It's the unity of Hashem
over the entire world.
U'malchuso ba'kol mashala- And His Kingship rules over all. We are there in the midbar
marching all over the world with that flag of Hashem proudly waving over our
heads.
The other reason, the Torah is given in the midbar, our
sages tell us is to teach us that in order to acquire Torah one needs to make
themselves, hefker, open and without any ownership or personal
acquisition; like a midbar which is open to all. To be a flag, one can't
have any other agendas or attachments. No mixed messages. No other causes. No
personal ego. One is fully in.
Do you want to know what that looks like? Take a look at the
flag draped over the coffins of Ivri and Hillel. Look at the coffins of all of
those 983 holy soldiers that have given their lives for the sanctification of
Hashem. That died with shema yisrael on their lips. Look at those that
marched to the gas chambers singing Ani Maamin, the ones that died in
the Crusades, that were tortured in the Spanish Inquisition. The students of Rabbi Akiva and the tribe of
Levi that were the first to be the flags of Hashem when they lifted up their
swords and called mi la'Hashem eilai as they killed the sinners of the
Golden Calf.
We Jews are counted when we reach military age in the midbar
because that's when we become flags of Hashem. It's when the Torah we learned
until then becomes more than just an intellectual or even spiritual fulfilling
pursuit, but it becomes the banner that we raise in our mission to bring the
light of Hashem to the world. When we leave everything else behind, even our
wives during our first year of marriage from our Chuppa, even our children and
family and jobs for 601 days. When we learn daf yomi in a tank, we light
Shabbos candles in Gaza and menorahs in Lebanon. When we sleep in midbar
and eat tuna and rice for months. We walk through mine-fields and tunnels. We risk our lives, our well-being, we give it
all and become hefker. We become flags of Hashem.
Days before Ivri was killed, he changed the name of the whatsapp
group of his unit. They had named it "ad masai- "Until when?".
Ivri removed the question mark and retitled the group replacing it with one
more word so it now read as a statement "Ad masai she'tzrichim"-
until as long as we are needed. And he wrote to them.
"These are the happiest days of my life, We're doing
something that truly matters. When the call to charge comes, we'll rise as one
- no questions asked. We have one land, one people. History has taught us,
through blood and tears, that the Jewish people have only one place to call
home."
When Miriam came home from Ivri's funeral there were flowers and
chocolates that were waiting for her there. Ivri had sent them. It was the gift
that he didn't know would be the last he would give her. He had always been a
romantic. He regularly sent her gifts, flowers, special notes. Just two days
before he was killed, she received a little 120 shekel "Bit" gift
money (from their joint account) at 2:00 AM with a note that said "A
small gift until 120 for difficult times from your loving husband…"
Enclosed with the flowers and chocolate (which she has since preserved to
always have with her), that he had sent to her that day when he had thought she
had a prospective interview to attend, not knowing that she would be at his
funeral, was his last note to her.
My beloved, I'm writing from the far north, hopefully for the
last time. I'm happy here, doing what matters for our people. Keep smiling,
hold your head high. Don't worry about me. Love you more than anything. Treat
yourself to some chocolate and enjoy the flowers. Forever yours, Ivri."
Ivri was our flag. Hillel was our flag. Miriam and
Zahava taught me yesterday that Ivri and Hillel were their personal flags
always raising them up and they were his. Yet, ultimately with their special
dedication they taught us and all the future generations that all of those
different flags all really declare one banner. The banner of the Torah, the Shana
Rishona, that first year when we became one with Hashem. The chupa
of Har Sinai when we took on that flag and became even higher than angels.
Shavuot, that wedding day, brings us back to that moment. Each time we learn
and study Torah, we enter that midbar once again. That place where we
lose ourselves in the glory of Hashem's word. In the light that we bring out
each time and word we study. May that flag soon wave over the entire world for
eternity
Have an uplifting Shabbos and Shavuous
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" Mit shnei ken men nit makhn gomolkhes.." .- You can’t make cheesecakes out of snow.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
20. Which sea does the Amud stream (Nahal Amud) flow into? ______
What is common to the types of springs we refer to as “Maayan Shekva” and “Maayan He’etek in
Hebrew?
A. Both derive from the point of contact between a permeable layer and an impermeable layer
B. Both are the result of a geological fracture which exposes the aquifer
C. Both are only found in the Dead Sea Rift Valley due to the Syrian-African Rift
D. Both flow only when the water level reaches a certain height in the
rock cavity
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Rabbi Schwartz's Shavuos composition's playlist!!!
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vatem - The beautiful verses of our covenant with Hashem and the wings of Eagles Nesher's that will bring us home that Hashem told us about by Har Sinai
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eitz-chayim – Torah is a tree of Life in this great song (can you hear echoes of an old TV show in the background?)
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/torah-hakedosha - The prayer of the Torah to daven for us and remember Har Sinai… Gorgeous Dovid Lowy arrangements and vocals!
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/dovid-melech-r-ephrayim – In honor of the yartzeit of Dovid Ha'Melech composed this fun song on Shavuos a few years ago… everyone's gotta sing it…
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/kad-yasvun – Which of course is not as good as my Kad Yasvun composition with vocals and arrangements by the one and only Dovid Lowy!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
1760 BC – The Baal Shem Tov- Let's take a brief break from our weekly column and era of the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash for a peak at another era and individual, none other then the founder of the Chasidic movement, Reb Yisrael Baal Shem Tov who's yartzeit is on Shavuos.
The Baal Shem or Besht as he is known was born in Ukraine and was an only child to his parents. He was orphaned at age 5 and the last message he got from his father before he died was to "Fear no one but G‑d. Love every Jew with all your heart and soul, no matter who he is." These two directives would serve as the basis for Yisrael's service of G‑d and future teachings.
The Besht had a very challenging life his first wife died he wandered from city to city afterwards working as an assistant teacher for children and living in the hills in solitude. His student the Magid would say If only we kissed a Torah scroll with the same love that my master [the Baal Shem Tov] kissed the children when he took them to cheder as a teacher's assistant!" when he turned 18 he remarried once again and he began to study the works of Kabbala and received revelation from Eliyahu Ha'Navi and ultimately from Achiya Ha'Shiloni the Rebbi of Eliyahu. On his 36th birthday he began to reveal his teachings to the world amassing students and traveling around to simple fallen Jews that had not been successful in making it in the system… And shining and revealing their light.
His new way of life, his customs, his focus on the specialness and hidden spark of every Jew brought much antagonism from those great Rabbis that saw him as a threat and a possible False Messianic movement. The fights between the Chasidim and Mitnagdim were brutal and bitter and lasted generations perhaps until the Holocaust. Yet, ultimately today, each group has grown to learn from the other and the light wisdom and warmth of Chasidus and the Torah of the Non Chasidic world have come together. Shavuos the day of the giving of the Torah is when his light was extinguished, yet it is on that day as well, that his light moved on to the next generation and shines with us until today!
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FLAG JOKES OF THE WEEK
Why is the French flag blue, white, and red? In case a war starts, they can tear off the sides and surrender.
Pretty soon in America the only place you will be able to buy a Confederate flag will be the black market. Ahh the irony!
I broke up with my girlfriend because she was a communist. To be honest, there were a lot of red flags
I saw a rainbow flag covered in seaweed. AlgaeBTQ
What did one flag say to the other flag? Nothing. It just waved.
A young Mexican man named Jose was curious about America so he snuck across the border.
He wanted to go see a baseball game so when he went home, he could tell his family all about it. When he got there, the game was sold out, so he decided to climb to the top of a flag pole to get a better look. When he returned home, his family was anxious to hear about his experience:
"What happened?" asked his family.
"Well, America is the nicest place in the world!!" he said. "Before the game started, all the people in the stands and all the players stood up, looked at me and said, "Jose, can you see?"
Did you hear about the kid who bungie jumped from the school's flag pole? He was suspended
Turkey has the moon on its flag. Meanwhile the United States has its flag on the moon.
The colors red, white, and blue represent freedom until they are flashing behind you.
***************************************
The answer to this week”s question is C- Ok after a lousy streak here, things are finally starting to pick up, as I got this one right. A desert in Israel is not made out of sand as I point out to my tourists. It's also not a place that's barren. In fact in the Torah we find that it is a good place to graze animals, which a desert certainly isn't. Rather a midbar is more like a wilderness and is defined by the lack of rainfall there, which is really only a few days a year and less than 200 mm of water. The second part of the question was also pretty easy as the Israel trails runs across the country from Tel Dan in north to the shore of Eilat. It's not a straight line but rather goes to historical and beautiful nature sites and is a few months. Soooo I finally got both right picking up my score to now Rabbi Schwartz 12 Ministry of Tourism 7 on this exam so far, which should me back in passing range.
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