Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
June 20th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 32 24th of Sivan 5785
(Don't miss special Rabbi Schwartz weekly parsha video shorts are back this week! check it out below!!!)
It's something that really irks me here in this country. I really don't understand why. I know that some people have a challenge pronouncing some Jewish names. They're not all that easy. I remember when we first moved to Norfolk Virginia and we had our first Kollel family that made a bris. It was a big simcha. All our not-yet-observant students who had been attending all of our Intro to Judaism classes and Torah Shiurim coming. It was a big Kollel Kiruv event.
Everyone loved the Adler family. They loved the Kollel. This was the first Kollel baby boy and for many it was the first time they were ever at a Bris. There was total silence in the room, besides of course the crying of the newly snipped baby, as they awaited to hear the name of the baby and the blessings.
"Vi'yikareh shemo bi'yisrael- And he should be called in Israel…
Yerachmiel Yechiel Michel…
Yes that's chhhh chhhh chhhhh three in a row. The entire room sounded like they were choking on a cat caught in their throat. I was gonna fire in Adler on the spot. That's not a name you give a baby in Norfolk Virginia. It's barely a name you can get away naming your child in Passaic, NJ, where our baalei teshuva graduated to… as did the Adler family many years later. So yes, I understand that there are some Jewish names that are difficult to pronounce or even spell. But my name really shouldn't be.
Now I can understand that in English, it may be confusing. There are some people that spell Ephraim incorrectly with an "F" instead of the more biblical and easier on the eye "ph". But in Hebrew there really is only one way to spell my name. It's aleph pei reish yud mem. Yet I can't even tell you how many times even seemingly knowledgeable Israelis like to put two " yud s' at the end of my name. Maybe they're scared that without both yuds they might just call me ephrim, I don't know. I just don't get it. Michnasayim- pants doesn't have two yuds. Yadayim- hands doesn't have two yud s. Neither does shamayim- heaven. I asked someone once what he was thinking and he said that the word ofanayim- bicycle, does actually have two yud s at the end. But I'm not really a bike guy. I do go to the gym, but am more of a treadmill, weights, swim a few laps and then hit the shvitz and jacuzzi type. I stay away from bikes. I just don't get it.
Now what does this have to do with this week's parsha? Where am I going with this? I'm sure some of you are already guessing. See in this week's parsha we actually do have someone from the tribe of Ephraim who had an extra yud thrown into his name. It's none other than Yehoshua, the faithful servant of Moshe, who it seems was until that point called Hosheyah. That was his name before he went into Israel with the spies. Moshe, fearing that he would get caught in the evil plot of the spies, added in the letter yud from Hashem's name to give him extra protection from getting caught in the conspiracy. So it seems the tradition of adding an extra yud to the name of someone from the tribe of Ephraim when they come to Israel has an ancient source.
What's even more fascinating is that in fact all the spies that were sent o Israel have their names spelled out and are written in what's called ktiv malei; they've all got all their vov's dotted, they're alephs included, and yud s as well. Usually, the Torah tries to save some ink here and there and leaves out those vowels. But not when it comes to the spies. The one exception to that is Kalev ben Yefuneh and the commentaries note that his last name (or his father's name to be more accurate) Yefuneh is missing the vov in the name. There's a message in this. Something deep going on. Because Kalev, fascinatingly enough, is the one spy that we are told detours from the job that Moshe gave them. He heads over to Chevron to daven by our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. He has a ruach acheres from all of the other spies. A different spirit. He's the one that seemingly not only makes it out not only in one piece, but is rewarded with a promise that city of Chevron will be his portion. He succeeds in quieting the crying nation at least momentarily. He does this without any extra letters to his name.
The truth is this entire story of the spies is one of the most perplexing ones in the Torah and it's one that seems to have the most relevance to us today. On the one hand we are told that these men, hand chosen by Moshe were the greatest of the nation. They were the biggest tzadikim, the most righteous. Their names are written full. The name of Hashem is in all of them. Yet on the other hand Rashi tells us later on in the parsha that when they left they all were part of this wicked plot to bad mouth Eretz Yisrael. They reach a point where they even tell the nation the nations inhabiting Israel are
Chazak mimenu- they are stronger than us.
Or as Rashi quotes the Midrash, they are even stronger than Hashem.
We can't go up. We will never win. It's better to die in the wilderness.
Lo nuchal la'alot- we can't make Aliyah…
How do the greatest of the great fall so far, fall so fast. How is it possible that a nation that just a year beforehand had witnessed the miracles in Egypt, the splitting of the sea, that were eating Manna and saw water pouring out of a rock, that saw the destruction of Egypt and Amalek, that actually stood on Sinai and heard and saw Hashem face-to face… how could they lose everything in one minute? What happened?
The answer that many of the commentaries suggest is that they obviously believed that Hashem could pull off anything. You have to be pretty much braindead not to see that. They saw the plagues, they saw the sea split, they saw the power of Hashem. They believed in miracles. They were tzadikim of course they did. What they didn't believe. What they couldn't wrap their brains around is that Hashem would give them the land without miracles. That they could go in there themselves and be the hand of Hashem to liberate the land. That they could work, plant, grow, drive a taxi, work in Hi tech, sweep streets, have a falafel stand and still be spiritual, be a tzadik, be holy. Be even holier.
They didn't understand, as Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai says, and as explained by the Chasam Sofer, that they can just recite Kriyat Shema in the morning and evening and that all the rest of their day working would be considered holier than if they were sitting in Kollel. That they would be fulfilling v'hagisa bo yomam va'layla with that work. That the Torah, the real Torah of living a physical material existence in Eretz Yisrael and following all of the mitzvos, is the real function of what we're supposed to be doing and revealing to the world.
They didn't believe that they could join the army, kill our enemies, fight, slaughter, burn, and liberate Eretz Yisrael and still be called bnai torah. Still be Chareidi. They didn't see the letters of Hashem inside of themselves. That they were written full. They looked at their brothers and sisters who not long ago were dancing around a golden calf and said this is a nation that perhaps miraculously Hashem will bring into Eretz Yisrael, but it can never happen through our hands. If Moshe is sending us in to spy and check out fortifications, it means he's leaving the job to us. He doesn't chap, how not holy we really are. How we need to stay here. How we will all lose all the holiness that we have built if we enter the land. The land will eat us up. They're stronger than the "Hashem" that is within me. Because He's not really in me.
Reb Moshe Shapiro in a shiur on this week's parsha asks how is it that we can believe that we are the generation of Mashiach? I mean we know that we are. All the signs that our sages have given us and that are brought down from the prophets have been fulfilled. The curses, the blessings, the return to Israel, the sprouting of the crops, the wars, the hatred, the teshuva movement, the Torah and knowledge. It's all there. We know it's the end game.
At the same time, our problem is that we can't possibly wrap our brains around the idea and concept that Hashem is really within us. I mean we know who we are. How far we are from the level of the simplest tehillim jew that sat in a shtetl 100 years ago. All the shmutz we've seen, the time we waste, the lashon hara we spew, the fights, the baseless hatred, the chutzpa, the lack of connection… We don't see the spark and holiness and the fullness of the name of Hashem, our "yud"', in Jews that don't even wear the same kippah or hat as us. Forget about the ones that don't even wear one. The ones that live on the kibbutz, our holy brothers and sisters who having never had the same Torah upbringing as us and as a result are certainly less culpable and more loved by Hashem then we that were given that and should know better, should appreciate more. We can't imagine that Hashem would bring us into the land, wipe out our enemies with our army, would bring us miracles and bring Mashiach and build the Bais Ha'Mikdash tomorrow mamash… just the way we are. That was the sin of the meraglim. That's our sin today.
So where did they go wrong? Where are we going wrong? How do we fix it, Rav Shapiro asks.
His answer is
that we're missing the boat. We're not going to be redeemed because of our
merits. We won't be redeemed because of teshuva. We won't be redeemed
and win our war and conquer our land because we deserve it. The reason why it
will and can happen tomorrow, is only because Hashem wants it to. He so
desperately wants it to happen. We don't have to do anything besides not mess
it up. Besides not telling Him that we can't go. That we don't want to go. That
Hashem can't make it happen through us. Through our holy soldiers. Through the
ones with tattoos, with earrings, with ponytails, that maybe never kept a Shabbos
or put on tefillin in their lives. We can't say that it can't happen through
them and us because we don't see the extra letter yud in their heart and
souls…in their names. Or in ours.
Do you know when the tzadikim became reshaim? When they had the opportunity to come to Eretz Yisrael and they said they couldn't do it. Until they had that opportunity, they truly were righteous. They had reached the pinnacle a Jew could reach in galus. They had finished all of their basic training. They had everything they needed to perform all of the mitzvos in the one and only place where they would have eternal meaning, and they would bring down the shechina to the world. They just had to see in themselves that they were the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Of Sarah Rivka, Rachel and Leah. They had to connect to Chevron.
When they said
they couldn't, they didn't want to, they didn't see that in themselves, it was
then that they became wicked. They were soldiers that refused to fight, doctors
that refused to treat patients, tzadikim who refused to realize the function of
all the Torah and Mitzvos they had learned to do, the mitzvos they had accepted
upon themselves to keep in the one land they were meant to be kept.
Kalev felt he was missing something. He had a ruach acheret from all of those other tzadikim. He was the only one of those princes and spies that did, and thus he went to connect in Chevron and walked out understanding that he didn't need to do anything else. Hashem was with him. He knew we could take it all. It was the will of Hashem and would happen.
There's something remarkable that happened last week. 10's of thousands of Israelis that are overseas in nice "safe" countries fixed the sin of the spies. Unlike the ma'apilim the day after the spy debacle who said that they can go up even without or against Hashem's will, without the Ark of Hashem, these young men are coming and doing the opposite. They are trying to come home to liberate the land of Hashem. To destroy Amalek. To destroy the concept that these nations, that this evil in the world propagates, that the nation of Hashem should be destroyed. That Jews everywhere need to be eradicated. Our enemies understand better than we do, that we are all the nation of Hashem. They see that extra letter in each of us. And they are determined to fight until the very end and lose everything that they have to make that happen, to prevent the shechina from coming down.
So these young men and women from around the world are rallying to the call and rising like a lion to say the opposite of what the meraglim did. They are coming to say and teach the world that anachnu chazakim mimchem- we are stronger than you. Hashem is stronger from us. We're out numbered, we're out-armed, they have thousands of ballistic missiles, they have 1000 times more money, more weapons, more technology, more allies than we do. We're alone. But we have Hashem, so we have it all. Alo na'aleh- we can go up. For the land is good and Hashem wants us here.
Shema Yisrael.
Ani Maamin.
Hoshiya es amecha,
anachnu bi'shem Hashem nazkir
Is there another nation in the world that tries to get on planes to come to a country that is being slammed by ballistic missiles? That is fighting against a nation that has no qualms about burning babies, shooting at hospitals, and taking hostages and they are fighting to get here. By boat, by plane, through Egypt… from Mitzrayim but this time for the final time… to ultimate redemption. To fulfill the covenant that our Father in heaven made with our forefathers. They may not look like them. They certainly, and all of us, certainly aren't even close to them. But after three thousand years, every Jew no matter how distant, knows that they are their descendants. We are their inheritors. We are the ones that the covenant will be fulfilled with. We are still alive. Am Yisrael Chai.
There is one word noun in Hebrew though that always has two yuds. It's never singular. It's the essence of who and what all of us are all about. It's Chayim. It's life. A Jewish life is one that contains two worlds. It's one that is not just our life, but the continuation of the lives of our ancestors. It is when the name of Hashem will be revealed from within. From between the letters chet and mem- from the separation of the descendants of Cham. It will happen here in the Eretz Ha'Chayim- the one land of real life. We just need to awaken that extra hidden yud inside of us, connect to our ancestors and come home.
Have a safe and miraculous Shabbos and a redemptive Chodesh Tamuz!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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RABBI SCHWARTZ WEEKLY PARSHA E-MAIL SHORTS IS BACK!
Well it kind of feels like Corona again with no tours… and SO in honor of the special occasion and with time on my hands and just an incredible insight, I decided to return to the good old days of a weekly Parsha video short…
So check this new season out with this mindblowing new Parsha timely idea at this Youtube link below
PARSHAT SHELACH and - The 23rd of Sivan the Holiday that Wasn't and Is…
You can get the weekly Rabbi Schwartz video by subscribing to my Youtube page on the above link. Or alternatively by Facebook friending me
Or shooting me a whatsapp to my phone number
011-972-50-597-0649
And I will add you to the Whatsapp group
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" A leyb hot nit moyre far keyn flig A lion is not afraid of a fly.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
22. According to the Bible, the first month of the Hebrew calendar is the month of ______
Which of the following holidays or festivals has a source in Old Testament stories?
A. Hanukkah
B. Lag BaOmer
C. Purim
D. Tu B'Shvat
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvGr09rk_co&list=RDSvGr09rk_co&start_radio=1 – Gorgeous Ari Goldwag new song Shelach Ahavscha- a love song for Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diHbMKOftyM&list=RDdiHbMKOftyM&start_radio=1&pp=oAcB - One of the most beautiful songs ever in my never humble opinion… done by Areyh Kuntsler and Simcha Leiner… Al Kol Eileh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j4zyNnqtQY&list=RD5j4zyNnqtQY&start_radio=1 – In honor of the Schlosser wedding and of course for a house of peace- Itzik Dadya Bayit Shel Shalom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_-cHEL_sPc&list=RD4_-cHEL_sPc&start_radio=1 – Yeedle's back with a new album… Here's a song that's starting to get into my kishkas… Kumi Ori
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3_HO1_yJgM&list=RDF3_HO1_yJgM&start_radio=1 - A beautiful Carelbach Shabbos by Yitzchak Ben Erza
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
586 BC -Tzidkiyah's Cave… or not?- Right outside of Shaar Shechem there is a tourist spot that in recent years has been fixed up nicely and is a place where many come and visit. It's called the cave of Tzidkiyahu'…but spoiler alert… chances are most likely that it isn't… But first let's talk about the legend. As we said last time, on the 17th of the month of Tamuz the walls of Yerushalayim were breached. Nevuchadnezzar returned to Bavel- Iran, and his general Nevuzadran was left to do the dirty work of destroying the Bais Ha'Mikdash… by the way this all took place in the year 5338 from Creation… Why is this important and why should you care? 338 in gematria is Shelach. It's Hashem sending us out. It's this week's parsha. It's the Meraglim's sin. The night that we cried. That will forever be connected. Just thought that would be a cool tidbit to throw at you… See this column and the Divine hand always sends me a connection even in this column to the parsha.
Now what happens to Tzidkiyahu' and how does he get to the cave. Well, the pasuk tells us that when the walls were breached Tzidkiyahu attempted to escape through a tunnel that went from his palace to the hills of the Judean desert by Yericho from where he was going to escape to Moav/ Jordan. Well that plan didn't work, the gemara tells us that while they were searching for him, Hashem sent a deer that they Babylonians started chasing and lo and behold just at that moment Tzidkiyahu' popped his head out of the cave and he was captured. From there he was taken back to Iran along with his ten children. This was not good news.
We'll finish the story of the last king of Israel next week, as I want to get back to the cave and its legend and history first. What is certain about the cave is that it seems to be a quarry of sorts that possibly dates back to the times of Shlomo Ha'Melech and where stones for the Mikdash, his temple could've come from. There was even a engraved image found that resembles winged lion or creature which had been assumed to look like the cherubs by the archeologists, but it seems that it's really more likely from the second temple period. As well it really doesn't make sense that has anything to do with Tzidkiyahu', there is no tunnel that goes from there to the City of David and actually it's the wrong direction to be leading to Yericho, as it's near Shaar Shechem which is North rather than South East towards Yericho. So there goes that story.
We have later traditions that Jews connected this cave to a place where Korach and his sons were buried and there were even historic treasure hunts there for all of his wealth that was swallowed up with him. But that would seem to be even a bigger bubbeh mayseh,as we know Korach was swallowed up in the Midbar.
What most probably is the source of the cave and it's significance is that it is most likely where Herod quarried the rocks for the Temple Mount walls and the Kotel and Mikdash that he built. There was certainly a lot of 2nd Temple finds there and it would make sense as it's quite close to the Temple Mount. Fascinatingly enough the name Tzidkiyahu's cave is mentioned in a Tosefta in Eiruvin as being a place where one can pass through even further then then the permitted 2000 amos of the techum of Shabbos. Yet, there is no source that tells us that this is actually the cave or even in they knew where the cave was, as its likely it was just using the cave as a hypothetical concept.
Regardless the cave is still a great place to come to, to sing songs and connect with the destruction of our Bais Ha'Mikdash. The acoustics are great there! It's as well a place where we can remember that first destruction and exile at the hands of Bavel and Iran, and daven that Hashem should avenge that destruction and rebuild the Mikdash once again.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S BEST IRAN WAR MEMES/JOKES OF THE WEEK
The way it looks now there will be flights from Tehran to Tel Aviv faster then United will be flying from Newark
Oh the irony 46 years there have been no flights from Tehran to Israel and now the only flights leaving Israel are to Tehran. Or maybe I should say Irany..
New name for the war "Gezel Sheina" (stealing sleep)
At the beginning of this war it was called rising up like a lion, after a week on the couch and fressing in a bomb shelter it feels like more a rising up hippopotamus.
In Iran there are so many Mossad agents walking around in the streets. When you bump into someone in the street and say "selicha- (excuse me), there's a good chance he'll respond "ha'kol tov, achi.."
Iran hit the Mossad building yesterday in Israel with a missile. Too bad that nobody was there… they're all in Iran.
The Joke in Iran is that no one knows where the Ayatollah is hiding… except Israel.
I'm wiped… I think I'm just going to record the siren tonight and listen to it tomorrow morning.
My Wife : "So, after a week of getting up a few times a night for the past week, do you understand why three months maternity leave is not enough…. Or do you need another week of this"
Only Israelis spend years trying to figure out how to get a foreign passport and citizenship so in case they need a place to escape to they can go, and then the second a war breaks out and missiles are falling they are all trying to figure out a way to get back here as soon as possible.
There are no Walmarts in Iran… Only Targets!
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The answer to this week”s question is C OK Easy shmeezy for frum guides… I should hope. Of course he first month is Nissan and the only "biblical" holiday above is Purim as the books of Kesuvim are part of the stolen xtian "Old Testament" although of course we know that all the other holidays have sources that great Rebbes and Ari"Zl and all types of good Rabbi will find in the Parsha and Toarah as well… So the score is Rabbi Schwartz 14.5 Ministry of Tourism 7.5 on this exam so far, which should me back in passing range.
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