The Giving Tree- Parshat Vayeira 2018 / 5779

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

October 26^th 2018 -Volume 9 Issue 4 17^th Cheshvan 5779

Parshat Vayeira

The Giving Tree

The Schwartz family moved around a lot. We were galus yidden. We started off our marriage in Brooklyn, NY. Midwood, to be precise. We were excited to find an apartment right across from my grandparents. Hey, free babysitting and my savta was a great cook that made sure we always had her special marble cake and kokosh cake and totod capulsta (stuffed cabbage for you non-Hungarians that have never tasted good cooking that only a Hungarian grandmother can make). We knew it was the right street because the address was 1818 Ave L. Two times chai. The L of course stood for life. Well actually that was my grandmothers address across the street. We were 1819, but that was the sign that I saw every morning when I went outside to Shacharis. And Gematrias are allowed to be off by one, right?

Our next destination was Des Moines, Iowa. It was a little different than Brooklyn. In NY we had a small one-bedroom apartment. When we had one child we put up a bookshelf in our living room and poof now we had two bedrooms. After our second child, we had become professionals and added one more bookshelf and now we had a three-bedroom apartment. But it was tight. In Iowa we bought our first house. It was about 4000 square feet 5 bedrooms with a huge basement, a front lawn with green stuff growing on it. They explained to us city folk that this was called grass and it grew on non-pavemented earth. We didn’t understand why they didn’t clear it and build a high rise complex on it. But people in Iowa seemed to like this thing called grass. When my kids came to our new house, they were like rats out of a cage running back and forth from one end to the other. Freedom!

Now I of course wanted to find significance to our house address once again. But 6207 Dagle street is not an easy address to find Talmudic references to. The gematria of 6207 is v’raz which means ‘and secret’. So I guess I would have to dig for a while until I found it. We had an Israeli guest once at our house and when he asked me my address and I told him, he said “Ahh you leev on degel street. Eez dere a flag hanging on eet?” And then I knew. A degel you see is a flag and we hoped that our house would be a flag and banner for all to come join us.

From there it was to Norfolk Virginia or Nahhfalk as they pronounce it down south. There I knew we had the right house as our address number was 1348. Can you do the math to figure out that gematria- Alef is 1000 if you need help…. Got it? That’s right 348 is samayach. Esmach in Hebrew meaning either ‘I will be’ or ‘make happy’. The street name Llewylen didn’t have much significance but if you read it in Hebrew it would be written loo Eilin- which would mean ‘if not for God’ or ‘Lo elin -he is to God’. I was pushing it, but certainly was happy in Virginia.

Then it was to Seattle. There we had three houses, the first two were rentals. Our first house was a mansion. It had 7 bedrooms, 4 decks overlooking Puget Sound. Maple and oak engraved walls and bookshelves, a private tennis court and basketball court a little meditation center with a fountain and a Jacuzzi, not a bad place at all. The owners, it seems, were stuck in China and they were desperate to rent it out, because if it was vacant it could not be insured. The previous tenants broke their lease and although the asking price was $5000 a month rent, we snagged it for $2000 a month. I didn’t need a gematria-which 4548 SW 54^th street didn’t really have- to tell me it was the right house. We had my parents and all of my siblings there for us for Sukkos right after we moved and I told my mother how glad she must be that I didn’t go to law or medical school, where it would’ve taken another 20 years before I lived in something like this. Thank God I stayed in Kollel… She was not impressed with the argument.

Our second house there 2731 Garlough was a little bit of a let-down after we moved out of our casa-de Schwartz and the West Seattle TLC (Torah Learning Center). But it served us well. Our minyan grew. We had big tent services in our large backyard and our family expanded as well. We finally bought a house in Seattle after 4 years of renting. Our newest house there 5121 Olga was a nice quiet dead end street. Emphasis on the word “was”. Much to our neighbour’s consternation, the not so friendly redneck with a rifle, the TLC wasn’t a quiet bunch. We had late Shabbos meals with 30 -40 guests a week. Holiday functions and classes and programs all the time. We had plenty of sleep over guests. 5121 Olga didn’t have much gematria significance that I could figure out. We had a daughter named Elka, there. I loved her. She was named after my grandmother Elka, but that was as close as I got to Olga. Seattle was not the place we were going to stay. So Olga became “I’ll Go”, and it was off to the Holy Land, the final stop for the Schwartzes.

We fell in love with our house in Karmiel the second we saw it. One of the American “nightmares” of moving to Israel is that you’ve got your big beautiful house in the States and here all you have are these stone forest apartment communities and a small three-bedroom apartment at best. We’d been there done that already. The Schwartzes wanted a house and Hashem sent us a beautiful one for cheaper than what a storage unit in Jerusalem would’ve cost. It was 6 bedrooms and three floors. It has a 2 bedroom attached suite, for guests. It had room for my wife’s store and even a few trees in the backyard. Although no real grass, but the fake Astroturf stuff is close and you don’t need to pay anyone to mow it. Best of all of course was the address. 10 Eshel. Can you have a better address than a street named after the tree that Avraham Avinu planted in this week’s Torah portion. 10 of course can be read ten in Hebrew which means “give eshel” The Giving Tree that was the new home of the Schwartzes.

Now this Eshel tree that our father Avraham planted was certainly not just a simple tree. The Torah doesn’t go out of its way just to tell us about the horticulture of our forefathers and what their preferred garden trees were. This is much larger than Johnny Appleseed. In English the Eshel is a Tamarisk or a type of evergreen tree. Why is this the tree of choice for Avraham?

 This is where having a tour guide as your weekly E-Mail insights writer kicks in. See the Eshel tree is unique as a desert tree that flourishes in the Negev and south near Beer Sheva where Avraham lived. Besides having big shady branches and leaves the eshel does something unique. It exudes salt that can absorb the moisture from the atmosphere. That water allows it to grow very tall and dig deep, strong roots. The salt meanwhile as well falls on the earth with the morning dew and prevents all types of weeds and the like that might damage the tree from growing. Pretty amazing, the wonders of Creation.  Which was imaginably the point of him planting it.

It's also pretty interesting in the big picture of this story in the parsha where salt seems to play a prominent role. Remember how salt, sulphur, hail and brimstone hit Sodom? Remember how the wife of Lot was turned into a pillar of salt. Our sages, quoted by Rashi tell us that the reason salt was chosen to be the medium of choice and not parsley, sage rosemary or thyme was that Lot had told his wife to offer their guests salt and she refused to. This was not because she was concerned for their high blood pressure. Salt reflects that special spice that without it the food is bland. Un kein taam. That was how the wife of Lot served her food. The message being of course ‘I made you food take it and eat it’. It’s the difference of going the extra mile. It’s sheli sheli vshelach shelach – what’s mine is mine and yours is yours. Take what you get and be happy. She was turned into a pillar of salt, which interestingly enough the midrash tells us that cows lick from every day and then it grows back again. The woman who didn’t give salt is an eternal salt shaker for cows.

Avraham as opposed to that plants an eshel- a “salt tree”. He plants a tree that everyone can come under. That will provide for all. It takes it all in. The salt attracts the environment and brings them all in. It also salts the earth and makes sure the bad weeds that come close won’t damage its roots. Pretty amazing and cool!

Our sages see in the eshel tree a lot more than a tree though. The Talmud in Sotah tells us a few different approaches. Reish Lakish suggests that it was an orchard full with all types of fruit trees, Reb Nechemia suggest it was an inn that he would welcome people into and offer a whole selection of food there. Perhaps even some chulent as well. It was there that he made the name of Hashem great in the world. They read the word eshel as sha’al- anything you asked for you got there and more. Rabbeinu Bachaya suggests that he even opened up a Sanhedrin to answer any questions you might have of faith. It was a one-stop shopping Walmart with a minyan for shacharis in the back.  It was all free. And it was all so that people would appreciate what a glorious Creator we have that gave this all to us.

There are others that see in ESheL an acronym for the three primary obligations of hospitality-achila- eating, shtiya-drink and either leena or liviya- sleeping over or escorting the person out. There is even a story I read about a great machnis orech- someone who would welcome in guests all the time to his house. Anyone that needed a meal knew they could find one by his house. His door was always open.  A great fire broke out though one day and his house and all his worldly possessions were lost. He went to the great Rabbi of his town, none other than Reb Chaim Volozhin to ask him why this happened. Reb Chaim asked the man if in addition to his hospitality did he also escort his guests out. Did he walk them to the door? Make them feel wanted; that it was hard to part from them? When the man responded that he did not. He fed them. He fed them well in fact. But after the meal, they left. What did he have to walk them for? Reb Chaim, then told him that the first two letters of eshel which he fulfilled are alef and shin- eating and drinking- achila and shtiya, which spell aish- Fire. You need to add the liviya-the escorting them out- to add the lamed to that word to put out the fire. Scary stuff…

Avraham Avinu planted an eshel not just to fill the need of some hungry yeshiva guys or seminary girls that needed a place to crash for Shabbos (Because the $25,000 you pay for tuition is not enough for them to cover some beans, barley and meat for a chulent for your children…). Avraham planted a tree for the same reason that the first thing Hashem does when He creates a world is to plant a garden and place man in it. Because He wanted to be kind to his Creation. He wanted us to learn from Him that we were put here to share goodness and blessing with the world. If that’s the motivation than obviously you go the extra mile. Obviously you provide salt and all that your guests request. Obviously you walk them to the door, offer them a bed and check in to make sure they are comfortable. And obviously you share with them-particularly those that have never experienced or been exposed to it- how meaningful a life connected to Hashem, Torah, and the Jewish people can be. You don’t have to be a proselytizer; I don’t think Avraham or any good kiruv/ outreach professional is. You’re just sharing the blessing of Hashem with someone who may not appreciate it yet.

To be honest with you, I don’t think I appreciated my own Shabbos as much until I was able to share it with others. To feel the way they enjoyed it. They were uplifted. They experienced it. I had always taken it for granted. It was just something I was raised to do. But once we began having guests, my life was enhanced as was my own Judasim. And all it took was a few small invitations. Our tree was planted.

This Shabbat is the Shabbat Project week around the world. Over a million Jews will be planting an eshel-(metaphorically of course- you’re not allowed to plant trees on Shabbos). That’s an impressive number. But there are 12 million Jews in the world. Lots of them have never experienced a Shabbos or a Jewish invitation. Other lots of them as well have never extended a Shabbos invitation to the first lots. Why not? You don’t have to go to Iowa, Virginia or Seattle to meet them. There are plenty of pavement lined sidewalks that could use a nice eshel tree in your neighbourhood. The story of Avraham’s tree in the parsha is the prelude to the most heroic moment in his life the Akeida- the binding of Yitzchak. One of the great chasidic rebbes once said we may not have the strength to offer an akeida up to Hashem. But if we want to tap into that great merit that Avraham achieved in that great act of sacrifice, we need to connect ourselves to him. It’s why Avraham’s tree planting endeavour is the prelude to the entire story We attach ourselves and identify with Avraham through the planting of our own giving tree. To host his children and grandchildren, who he prays for, over for Shabbos, for meals. To connect them to Hashem and to walk with them and show them the love that we have for his descendants, our brothers and sisters. Maybe then Hashem will return us to Gan Eden, to that first garden that He planted with the coming of Mashiach.

Have a deliciously hospitable Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“A gast iz vi a regn, Men antloyft fun regn, bagegnt men hogl..”- A guest is like rain. Run away from rain and you get hail.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q A Prime Minister buried on the Mount of Olives (Har HaZeitim):
a) Menachem Begin
b) Golda Meir
c) Moshe Sharet
d) Yitzhak Shamir

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS” CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat Vayeira– Perhaps the kings of lomdus are the Briskers. One can even argue that it is their style of lomdishe learning that has become the standard method adopted by all yeshivos. The founder of the dynasty was Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (1820-1892) known by his classic work the Beis Halevi is one of the best places to start to study if you want to appreciate the art form.

On this week’s Torah portion he asks the question on the halacha that is derived from Avraham’s, perhaps politically incorrect, statement to his son Yishmael. When he is about to take his son Yitzchak up to be bound and brought up as an offering to Hashem, Avraham tells Yishmael,

“ Shvu lachem po im hachamor- you stay here with the donkey 

What is the significance of telling him to stay with the donkey? So the Talmud tells us that we derive from here that Yishmael is compared halachically to a donkey. Just as a donkey does not have any lineage. So to Yishmael and a gentile does not have yichus- any Jewish lineage. Therefore, when a Jewish man marries a non-Jewish woman or maid servant the child is not considered to Jewish, as lineage can only pass when a Jewish man marries a Jewish woman.

The Beis Halevi asks though, that why is it at this point in time particularly does Avraham have to teach this lesson. See, Briskers are never happy with just a simple periphery understanding of something. There must be a deeper connection and an essential part of lomdus is taking things apart. If Avraham and the Torah are telling us right here that Yishmael is not considered Jewish we need to understand why. It would probably make more sense to tell us this when Yishmael is born. Or when Yitzchak is born. They are both middle aged men by now. So what’s pshat?

The brilliant answer he suggests is that Avraham wanted to fulfill the mitzvah that Hashem gave him to it’s fullest. Hashem was demanding that he give up his son, his only son, the one that he loved, Yitzchak to him. Avraham demurred each step suggesting that Yishmael was also his son and that he loved him equally to Yitzchak. Yet he understood that the mitzvah and sacrifice he was meant to make would be one of a father giving up his only son. If Avraham still felt that he had another son behind, then the act wouldn’t be as great. ‘At least I got one more at home that I love’ he would tell himself. So what did Avraham do. He made the statement and taught the halacha that Yishmael was not his halachic child. He is not his yichus. He removed him entirely from his heart. He was a real Brisker. That is why the Torah tells us this now. Why it shares with us this seemingly innocuous statement telling Yishmael where he should remain. To reveal to us the greatness of Avraham in this incredible sacrifice of the Akeida.

Isn’t lomdus awesome?

  

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

Pinchas Baal Pe’or and the plague- 1272 BC – We’re almost ready to enter the land of Israel and boom we mess up. It seems we never lose and opportunity to lose an opportunity. The story of the daughters of Moav coming out to seduce the Jewish men is one of the most tragic in the Torah. Now this was not only about illicit relations. The Moavite women got them to worship this idol named baal pe’eor which was served by “relieving yourself” on it.Uch…! The ensuing plague took 24,000 Jews, the worst of the entire 40 years. Thank god it all came to an end with Pinchas pulling out a spear and shishkabobbing the leader of the revolt Zimri and the Midainite princess he was in the process of defiling himself with.

So there’s the story, I would say the last exciting one in the Torah. Where can I connect my tourists to it. Well whenever we drive by the Dead Sea area I point out the mountains of Moav which of course today is Jordan. I’ve had tourists that wanted me to take them there to Petra and the like. But I avoid Moav. Call it post-Torah learning Moabite trauma. As well when we are down at the bottom of the Dead Sea we visit the Sodom mountains and we talk about how the early roots of this country and nation Moav started here with the illicit incestuous relationships between Lot and his daughter. It seems it runs in their blood.

On the other hand, the heroism of Pinchas, the zealot I have a few places that I can talk about. Obviously in that hotbed of religious zealotry in Meah Shearim. But our sages tell us that Pinchas is in fact the same soul as Eliyahu. It seems that zealous streak doesn’t go away. So I can talk about Pinchas anywhere I would talk about Eliyahu. Mt. Carmel by Muchraka monastery, by his “cave” by Haifa, or by the Jordan River   by Kasser El Yahud where he went up to heaven in a fiery furnace. One more unlikely place that I mention this story as well is that it is mentioned in sefarim that the souls of the 24,000 that died in the plague were reincarnated in the souls of the students of Rabbi Akiva.  They almost entered Israel then and Rabbi Akiva thought that it was time to redeem them and therefore he felt it was time to finally fix the sin of the daughters of Moav. He made his student Bar Kochva Mashiach and they revolted against the Romans. But the time wasn’t ripe and the students had spiritual problems between each other that still needed to be fixed. So technichally I can mention this story, by the many Bar Kochva sites in Israel, near Beit Shemesh, in the Judean Desert by Darga and the hidden caves there or by Herodian to name a few. As well I can talk about it by the grave of Rabbi Akiva in Tiverya. So If you know enough and are a good tour guide you can always make a good connection.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE TREE JOKES  OF THE WEEK

A man crashed his new expensive car into a tree He now knew how the Mercedes bends

What do you call a Russian tree? Dimitree

How do trees calculate square roots. They use log-arithms.

What do you call a dead pine tree? A Nevergreen!

What is a trees favorite thing to drink. Root Beer

Why did the tree need to take a nap? For rest.

Where do saplings go to learn? Elementree school.

 How did the tree get lost? It took the wrong root.

Yankel is a small puny guy but he needs money for his family so he applies for a job as a lumberjack. "Sorry, says the head lumberjack, eyeing Yankel up and down, "You're just too small."
"Give me a chance to show you what I can do," Yankel pleads. "You won't regret it."
"Okay," says the boss. "See that giant oak over there? Let's see if you can chop it down."

Half an hour later, the mighty oak is felled, amazing the boss. "Where'd you learn to cut trees like that?" he asks.
"The Sahara Forest."
"You mean the Sahara Desert ?"
"Sure, if that's what they call it now."  

Benny from Haifa passed away and was sent  down ‘below’. He was amazed, however, to discover lush vegetation, running streams, waterfalls and beautiful lakes everywhere. Everyone seemed happy. 
“You look surprised,” said the local angel. 
“Yes, I am,” replied Benny, “I expected this place to be very dry and exceedingly hot. Like a desert. But all I can see are trees full of all kinds of fruit, beautiful flowers, lots of vegetables, lush grass and water everywhere. This is not hell” 
“Well,” said the angel, “it used to be like you thought, but then the Israelis started to arrive and they irrigated the daylights out of the place!” 

The Cohen family was on very good terms with their Roman Catholic neighbors, the O'Briens. In fact,little Moishie Cohen and Christopher O'Brian from next door would play together from time to time. Or at least they used to.
Well , one late December's day, Duncan O'Brien, the non-Jewish father, came storming in to the Cohen's house holding poor Moishie by the ear. 'Your son is not going near my Chris again; he just has no respect for us and our religion!'
'What's the matter; what did he do?' inquired Mr. Cohen.
'I'll tell you'. said Duncan in a rage. 'He saw our Christmas tree and started making fun.'
'Really, what did he say?' continued Mr. Cohen.
Duncan said, 'He saw our tree and started asking all sorts of ridiculous questions - which kinds of pine trees can be used for a Christmas tree? What's the minimum required height? How close to the window does it need to be? Do too many decorations render it unfit? What if it's under a neighbor's balcony?!'

************

Answer is A–  Wheww.. I’m excited another easy question. Most of Israel’s 12 prime ministers are buried in Har Hertzl in Jerusalem in the area of gedolei ha’Umah-the great individuals of the nation- the presidents, PMs and Knesset speaker are buried. There are a few exceptions. Ben Gurion is buried in the Negev in Sdei Boker, Sharon on his ranch and Moshe Sharret- who I bet most of you have never even heard of, but was the second Prime Minister of Israel, in between Ben Gurions two terms is buried in Trumpledor cemetery in Tel Aviv. Menachem Begin though, my favorite Prime Minister, refused to be buried with all of those liberal socialist on Mt. Hertzl and ordered to be buried on Mt. of Olives right next to the two people he said were the “real" gedolei ha’umah; two fighter from the Lehi and Etzel, Barzani and Feinstien, who blew themselves up in their British cell rather than allow the British to hang them. And now I am 4 for 4!

Uncle Mendy-Parshat Bechukosai 2018/5778

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

May 11^th 2018 -Volume 8 Issue 2^th Iyar 5778

Parshat Bechokotai

{Behar and Bechukotai - for Diaspora}

Dear Uncle Mendy…

Dear Uncle Mendy,

As I write these final words to you, I’m picturing myself standing in front of your aron-your coffin. What are you doing there? How can you be there? You always told me that “Ephraim I’ll always be there for you”? So where are you now when we need you so much? How do you just leave us like that?

It was just two months ago when you sent me an E-Mail “Call Me”. When I did, you told me how we don’t spend enough time together. How you want to see the children. How you come in all the time and we never get a chance to spend the time like we used to. To see my children- your brother Olav hashalom- O”BM - my father’s grandchildren. Can we come for Shabbos? Can we spend it with you? I told you how incredible that would be and that I would make it happen.

After I hung up the phone I told my wife about the call. It was strange. We always had a love relationship. I always knew that I could call you and that you would take time and listen to me. But a whole Shabbos together? By your request? Where you sick? Where you dying? I was nervous.

 We had the Shabbos of our life with you that weekend. You told us stories of Babby and Zaydy, of my father. You played and talked to the kids. Yelled at me a bit about my shlumpy shirt. It was the greatest Shabbos, we could have had. My children could’ve had with their famous Uncle Mendy. He wasn’t Klal Yisrael’s Uncle Mendy that Shabbos. He was ours. He was the Uncle Mendy of my childhood. The one that I remember would visit us in Detroit. That we went to Cleveland to play with. That wouldn’t’ stop singing up my bar mitzva drasha until my Savta held a seltzer shpritz bottle to his head.

After Shabbos we went for a walk and you told me how much that Shabbos meant to you. How wonderful it was. How we had to do it again. I told you, that I really didn’t want to mention it but the truth is I was nervous the whole Shabbos that you had some bad news to tell me. Who knows some terminal illness or something god forbid. You smiled and told me that it is was a shame that we don’t’ do this often enough. And we will…

I told you then that you were my link to myMesora-my heritage and tradition. You were the person I looked up to convey all that my father never had the ability to, that Babbi and Zaydie never could or did tell us. So where are you now? Why are you in this Aron?

You used to tell me that you loved Eretz Yisrael. It was the most special place in the world to you. You would move here tomorrow even, you told me. There’s one problem however, you said. There are Israelis that live there….

 So now you are here with all the Israelis. Here on Har Menuchos. The last place I think any of us ever thought that you would be so soon.

You would sit on your porch in Rechavia and you would plan out your “golden years”. You didn’t have big plans for those years. You just wanted to sit on that porch and look out at Hashem’s beautiful land, His country, His city and His people… You wanted to bask in the glow of an oilam misukan b’malchus shadai- a world that had been made complete with the Kingdom of Hashem. But that world wasn’t complete yet. There was still too much pain, too much suffering, too much poverty, not enough Torah. You couldn’t sit on that porch of yours because you understood that Hashem had made you his gabbai on this world to fix it. And if you’re the gabbai of Hakodosh Baruch Hu, then you can’t just sit on the porch and enjoy your small little piece of heaven. Hashem didn’t bless you with what he gave you so you could make yourself a nice little home. He gave it to you because He wanted to make Him that home.

You would tell me that in the early years of your life, of your business, you worked for your family. Once you didn’t have to do that anymore, then unlike most people that would just sit back and enjoy, you understood that now you were working for Klal Yisrael. To pay the bills that they couldn’t pay, to provide the services that they couldn’t afford to provide, to heal the people that no one else even would admit needed to be healed.

Now unlike most people that are working for someone else’s good; someone that is employed in the non-profit world that would put in their hours and then come home to sleep. You felt an even bigger acharayus-responsibility in being the Parnas Hador then you did when you were working for your own good and family’s needs.

 I remember by Dina’s and Shmullys wedding the next morning, after a night of dancing all night, you came down to shacharis and I said to you. “Nuuu.. gut Gshloffen-did you sleep good?” You responded in words that I thought were just a joke “Oib ich shluf- Iz shoin gut-if I sleep, it’s already good”. Little did I know or perhaps even you knew, how true those words were and would be even more so in the future. Normally when I called America I have to wait for American hours. Morning time here in Israel which is 2,3, 4 ,5 AM in the States is not a time when I could talk to anyone. Except you… You were there in the evening hours as well… You were always there. Except of course when you were flying all over, which was also quite often. But even then. It was “Ephraim I’m getting on a place call me in an hour or two hours when I land.” You never slept, you had too much to do.

So how is it that you are sleeping now? I know you would say that after 120 you’ll be able to sleep. You still owe us 55 years. Hashem’s world still needs to be fixed. I still need you. Doda Ita needs you, your most loved possessions in the whole world Edna -Emir, Shmully-Dina, Yoni-Sho and Nati and Channy need you. You’re grandchildren who you loved more than anything and your great grandchild that will never know his Zaydi Zaydi all need you.

Your brother, my father, Yonah olav hashalom made you promise that you would take care of Me and Gitty. That you would always be there for us. And you were. You walked down my Chupa, you were by my simchas, by my Yonah’s Bris in New York and his Bar Mitzva in Israel. You walked down my Shanis chupa and danced all night long with me there. You even flew in a month ago for my first grandchild’s bris where you handed the baby to my father who was the Sandek. My father who you always called your brother, as my mother was always your shvester your sister.

You were there for Gitty’s Simchas as well, her chasuna, her bar mitzvas, just a week and a half ago you called her and told her how much nachas you got when Aron Shlomo and Noson- Chanies husband.- I’m just saying that because you probably forgot his name. You were never great with names. You always had Doda Ita to remind you. - But you told her how much nachas you had and how much it meant to you that they came to kever of Babby and Zaiydi for the yartzeit.

Yes you were there for us always. But your job was not done. Your promise has not been fulfilled. We still need you. We have more simchas I”YH that we need you to be by. More chupas more brisim. More uncomfortable speeches that we need you to make and break down crying for in middle. As you would get all choked up knowing that you were the representative of my father, of Babby and Zaydie. That you were the person that was charged with being there for all of us. So how can you not be here? How can you be in this aron? How could Hashem have taken you so soon, so young, when there was so much you still had to do…

Shlomo Hamelech in Mishlei tells us “tzedaka tatzil mimaves-charity saves one from death”. Was there a greater Baal Tzedaka? I have read many obituaries and they all start off Reb Mendy Klein “askan-community activist”. They didn’t know you. They didn’t know that you were not really an askan. That you were a guy that liked to sit in the back of the shteeble with the “boys”. That you were never the macher or the person that even sought to be “Oisek b’tzarchei tzibur-deal with the communal needs”. There are other people like that. They seek the limelight, they seek the hock, the tumult, the negotiations, the politics. That wasn’t you. You would’ve been more than happy to sit on your porch, to learn with your grandchildren, to just be together with the love of your life.

No you weren’t an askan. You were a ranchman-one who was filled with compassion. You were someone that couldn’t bear to see people in pain, people in need, people that were suffering. You used to tell me that your objective was to put Tzvi Gluck-the founder of the organization that meant so much to you that helped children that had been abused, out of business. To even put the poverty crisis in Eretz Yisrael out of business- which would mean most tzedaka organizations- by providing people the tools and skills that they needed with Temech and other organizations. You wanted to put tuition crisis’s that are eating up American families out of business by getting legislation passed, and other means. This was not askanus. This was rachmanus. This was someone who couldn’t bear to see others in tzar-in pain. So where is the tzedaka that is tatzil mimaves? Is it perhaps that maves doesn’t mean physical death? That there are many people with so much money and no joy in life because they hoard it and they are to a large degree “Walking Dead” Reshaim afilu bachayehem nikraim meisim- the wicked even when they are alive are considered dead. And that you recognized that tzedaka is what gives you life in this world. It is what you are living for. It saves you from the ‘living death’ of one who does not use what he is given to bring more life into the world. To bring more of the shechina-the Divine presence into world.

The Gemara in Avoda Zara tells us that the world was created for 6000 years. The first 2000 is tohu-empty and barren. The second 2000 is era of torah and the third 2000 that we are now in is yemos hamashiach-the days of the coming of Mashiach. The Gaon of Vilna in shir hashirim explains that the world stands on three things torah avoda and gmilus chesed and after we were thrown out of our land weno longer have torah as it says in Eicha Malka vsarahea bagoyim ein torah- Her (Jerusalem’s)kings and princes are in the nations- there is no Torah  . We don’t have the temple service anymore, as prayer is merely in place of avoda, All that remains is gemilus chesed as chazal say when the Temple was destroyed the rabbis were scared the world wouldn’t be able to stand and Reb Yochanan Ben Zakai said we still have chesed. These last 2000 years, the force and power that will bring Mashiach is the koach hachesed. It is the aovda of the generation, and you were that paradigm. That’s what is holding the world up. That’s how you were holding the world up.

But it wasn’t just the tzedaka you gave. It was how you gave it. With humility, without the one thing that you hated more than anything and that was kavod-honor. You ran from it. You would tell me that your policy was that an organization that put your name on it when you wrote them a check would be the last check they received from you. I, as many, were in shock to see the recent ads honoring you from a major national organization. Many people told me that they had never even heard of you until that ad came out. It was the first time that I could remember that you had agreed to allow yourself to be “honored.  Although I know that you didn’t feel it was and that it went against every grain in your body. I told myself that the only reason you would even be willing to be moser nefesh-sacrifice your soul for your precious ideal- and I truly feel that you felt that way, by allowing yourself to be honored was because you felt that it would give the largest platform to stand up and talk about an issue that you felt needed to be talked about. Little did you or anyone know that it ultimately in fact become mesirus nefesh mamash-literally be the sacrifice of your life. 

How can it be that one of the greatest donors in Klal Yisrael and most people outside of Cleveland  and who aren’t in the fundraising business don’t even know who you are? It’s because Hashem granted you that wish that you should be able to maintan your matan b’seser-your hidden gifts. Your hatzne lechet, your humility and modesty.

You passed away on Lag Ba’omer. It is the day after the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died 2000 years ago. Those students our sages tell us were niftar because they weren’t noheg kavod zeh bazeh-they did not treat each other with honor. They worried too much about their own kavod-honor and couldn’t see the kavod in the other. They were niftar in the first 32 days of the Omer counting-32 in fact being the gematria of the word Kavod. Lag Ba’omer is the day that it all ended. It is when the light of Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai shined through the world. Rebbi Shimon was the one who saw in each Jew the ben melech-the prince. The most drunk bresalver dancing in the street is a ben melech, the persecuted, the distant, the Russians so far from yiddishkeit they are all benei melachim-princes. And he was repaired that flaw. Rebbi Shimon didn’t seek kavod himself, because he was too busy finding it and bringing it out in everyone else, and he continues to do that until today… That is the day that Hashem took you from us. What more appropriate day for the man who ran from kavod and brought out the ben melech in everyone he could find.

A rosh yeshiva told me that he wanted to write a thank you letter to Uncle Mendy after he received a generous donation and the check stated that all correspondence should go to the person who handled the checks. No letters of thanks were even permitted to go to him. He wasn’t the one giving the donation, he was merely the shaliach-the messenger of Hashem. In that way you were truly like Moshe Rabbeinu who has the same shoresh neshoma-“soul spark” as Rebbi Shimon, an eved Hashem- a true dedicated servant, a shaliach who saw himself merely being charged with handing out the blessing Hashem gave him. You didn’t feel you even deserved thanks or appreciation. It wasn’t your money it was the money Hashem gave you to disburse and fix the world with.

How can it be that someone who was so dedicated to the mitzva of kibud av v’eim-Honoring ones parents, was not meritorious enough to be maarich shanim-lengthy years as well as yamim-days on this world. Babbi and Zaydi were your life. There wasn’t a thing you wouldn’t do for them. There wasn’t an indignity you wouldn’t endure- you would even scoff and be baffled that it would be considered anything less than the kavod Hashechina-the honor of the Divine  when you would serve them. You understood intrinsically that kibud av veim is on the side of the luchos Ten Commandments that is bein adam lamakom-between Man and God because you saw in your parent the shechina mamash. The mesirus nefesh they had, the hell they survived for you, their unwavering faith In Hashem that they transmitted to you was the Shechina itself. And you served them like  the Kohen gadol, the High Priest, in the Beis Hamikdash. How little we are compared to you in the way you fulfilled that mitzvah? How much you serve as role model that I don’t even think any of us can even come close to attaining.

The love and dedication you had in fulfilling that promise you made to Zaydi and Babbi that you would always take care of your sister Agi. How you never left her, how you supported and continue to support her. How you were her rock, her whole world. How her children, Ami, Yael and Yoni, like Me, Gitty and Rivky and Gedalia were like your own children. How you shepped so much nachas, gave so much of yourself and your resources because you always said that family is the most important of all. How can you leave us? We are orphaned, a second time. You were all that was left for Doda Agi, You were supposed to be there always…

I never knew my father. You were that figure that connected me to him, that I saw him in, that would connect me to Babbi and Zaydi and all of the generations of our mesora. You were the Ish Hamesora. You were the bridge that infused in everything you did an awe of gedolim our religious leaders,, of rabbanim, of rebbes. You were the only living person that I could turn to find out what our minhag-family custom was. What Zaydi did, what he would say. Now you are part of that mesora that I have to pass on and I don’t know it enough and never will…

The only answer to how you can be there in that aron in front of me, Uncle Mendy, is perhaps in that other great monument that was connected to your neshoma-your holy soul. Mama Rachel. Rachel was buried on the side of the road in order to be mispalel, to pray, for her children. To bring them out of  our long and bitter Exile,our galus, to bring the geula-our redemption. Rachel Immeinu touched you more than anything because you also cried for Hashem’s children. You also felt that immense agonizing never-ending pain of the downtrodden, the tzaar of a galus too too long. Hashem is misaveh betifilasam shel tzadikim- He is desirous of the prayers of the righteous and particularly Mama Rachel who unlike everyone else refuses to stop crying, refuses to stop working, refuse to loz up as long as there is still pain in this world. Perhaps, perhaps Hashem needed you to continue your work right next to our Mama. To keep turning up the tears to cry, to feel, to agonize, to implore and to never let anyone- even the basheffer, our Creator, say that it can’t be done, the time is not right.

So Uncle Mendy, your 120 years are not up yet. You can’t yet sleep, You can’t yet shluf, You are still on the job. Daven and cry, daven with Zaydi, with Babbi, with my father OB”M.. Daven for your children, for you einiklach, for me for Gitty, for Rivky and Gedalia. Daven for my mother your shvester and for my father your brother.

Daven for doda Agi, her pain is so great you have left her so lonely. For Ami, Yael for Yoni. Never stop davening and crying for Doda Ita. She was your life, your queen your partner your truest eizer knegdo. She needs you to comfort her, to console her, to be there with her always.

We are still so far from the tikun Olam that you wanted and needed. Klal Yisrael has so many tzrachim, so much tzar and pain still. Your job is not over. You have left the greatest yorshim inheritors with the greatest yerusha-inheritance, possible. They will have you in front of their eyes every day in the same way that you had Zaydi in front of yours. They will carry on your torch here in this world. And in that you have completed that job.

So maybe you are here in this aron because this is the only place that you can really bring the tikun to the whole world from. And if that’s the case Uncle Mendy, then as painful as it is and as empty as I feel… I can then say good bye,

I will love you always, and I ask your forgiveness, although I know that anything that we ever argued and fought about it was only because of the love we had for one another. But I ask you and beg you anyways. Because I miss you so so much.

Your nephew Ephraim.

This week’s Torah portion, the one that reconnects us to our brothers in the Diaspora contains the Torah portion that describes the frightening portion of the admonition that we are given if we don’t follow the mitzvos, if we don’t cherish the holiness of the land of Israel, if we don’t consider our obligations to take the blessing of the land Hashem has given us and share it with the needy. The warnings are graphic, they are scary. We have seen the fulfillment of many of them. This is what we are told to read before the holiday of Shavuot because, Shavuot is the time of Judgement for the trees of the Land. We read this, as we do the other admonition in Devarim before Rosh Hashana, so that “the year and its curse should end”. Shavuot shall come and we will read the Book of Ruth, the book of kindness, charity and compassion. In that book the spark of Mashiach is found. May Uncle Mendy’s passing inspire each of us to bring out that spark in each other, and may we finally bring that perfect world that he is now working upstairs as well to achieve speedily in our days.

Have a inspired Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Der toit klapt min nit oiffen tir”- Death does not knock on the door”

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q: A stamen is:

A. The organ of the flower that produces the pollen

B. The name of an insect that helps pollination

C. The part that connects the flower to the stem

D. The pollen

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGLA79z_Brk   - a beautiful shabbis medley including Kah Echsoif…My Uncle Mendy would’ve loved this

https://vimeo.com/268582166 - My Eulogy

https://youtu.be/M9mdDWCtXQ8 - Beautiful eulogies from his grandchildren

https://vimeo.com/amudim - Links to other friends and family members eulogies

https://youtu.be/wjm1yLVds5A  – My good friend the Rechnitz twins against the LA Lakers! At least something up beat!

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S HAFTORA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Bechukosai- As the Parsha that we read has the power to speak to whatever we undergo, it is like the heavenly newspaper to understand and focus on what is happening in our day to day life. This haftora as well serves that same function. So as I read the Haftora, this week, which certainly connects to the Parsha and its words of rebuke, warning, and exhortation to have faith in rough and challenging times. I see those same words screaming to me from the Haftorah that truly embody much of my Uncle’s life.

Jeremiah 17:7-8. Blessed is the man who trusts in the G‑d, to whom G‑d will be his trust. For he shall be like a tree planted by the water, and which spreads its roots out into a stream, so it will not be affected when heat comes, and its leaves shall be green, and in the year of drought will not be anxious, neither shall it cease from bearing fruit."

I wonder about his place right now and I read the words of the prophet that tells us

I, the Lord, search the heart, test the kidneys, to give everyone according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

Each person receives what is coming to him. Hashem sees the inside, the kishkas, not what is the outside. Only Hashem needs to know of the hidden kindness and will reward him undoubtedly.

Yirmiyahu then contrasts people that make their money unjustly, how the die at half their age… Yes he did die very young, but the prophet then tells us their death is one that is ignoble and dishonored in the end. Uncle Mendy’s departing with 1000’s of mourners around the world was anything but ignoble. In fact it was perhaps more honor that he ever had in his entire life.

His death the prophet tells us

As a Throne of Glory, exalted from the beginning, so is the place of our Sanctuary.

It is the honor of Hashem. That is all he lived for and that is the conclusion of the hafotrah and the prayers he is saying for our people up in heaven

Heal me, Hashem, then shall I be healed; help me, then I shall be helped, for You are my praise!

Yes the haftorah is a way to be consoled and finding meaning and messages for our personal lives.

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

In honor of my Uncle I include this oldie with a few new details

 Rachel’s Tomb- PART II 1550BC- It was just a few years ago that I remember going to Rachel’s Tomb on the side of the road in the streets of Beit Lechem. The bus would drop us off in the front and we went in. The arabs outside didn’t bother us. They tried to sell us stuff. After Bibi Netanyahu in the Wye agreements of 1998 gave the city to the Palestian authority that he had created and armed and pretty much forbade Jews from going there it was downhill from there. The Arabs emboldened by this free gift which was perceived as Israeli weakness made the place difficult to get to, unsafe and it was cordoned off ultimately.

One day about 12 years ago it was visited by my Uncle Mendy. He saw the place was full of garbage and when he inquired about its state he was told that there was a strike. It was unexceptable that the “Mama” should be so desecrated and under Israeli control to add insult to injury. He immediately got a private garbage truck to collect it all. That first step led to a long 7 year journey of rehabilitation of the building to its glorious structure that it is today. One of his conditions of the construction was that no prayers should ever be interrupted. The building and construction had to work around the worshippers. The “Mama” was never to be closed for business. As well he funded the Kollel that would study there all day. The Mama should always have the sound of Torah near here.

A few years back, he saw some Torah scrolls for sale at Soethebys auction. He was not a collector of Judaica, but these ancient scrolls that date back 700-800 years to the times of Maimonides, touched something in him. He was scared that they would fall in the hands of non-Jews or others that might not treat with the reverence and dignity that they deserve. So they were bought and brought to the Mama’s house to watch over them.

Today when you go to Kever Rachel and pray to our Mama, please have in mind the soul of the man who restored the dignity to her and to the tens of thousands that come to bring our prayers and tears to add to hers before Hashem. Reb Menachem Moshe ben Naftali Hertzka, I promise to always tell your story when I am there.

PART I (from a previous week)

Where is the tomb of Rachel? Most people would seem to say that is quite obvious right outside of modern day Beit Lechem where it says here tomb is. The truth is upon looking at the sources it might seem not so simple. On the one hand the Torah tells us that Rachel died on the way to Efrat which is Beit Lechem. In the South of Jerusalem. On the other hand in the book of Shmuel it mentions that the tomb of Rachel is on the border of the tribe of Binyamin which would put it in the North of Jeursalem. As well the Midrash notes that Rachel was buried there to cry for her children when they would be exiled from Jerusalem by Nevuchadnezzar. If that were true then she would be in the North of Jerusalem as that is the direction they were exiled- not South. So there are those that place it near Har Choma in the North of Jerusalem. Earliest sources for our location of Kever Rachel are Christian interestingly enough that mention the tomb there. We have some of the Rishonim and early journeyers to Eretz Yisrael that describe the building as having 12 stones according to the tribes of Israel that were established there and how visitors would write their names on the walls.

The Ramban- Nachmanides is perhaps most interesting in where he originally felt it was in the North of Jerusalem but upon coming to Israel and visiting the site, he changed his mind. Maybe he felt her spirit. Regardless Kever Rachel today is certainly one of the most holy places to pray in Israel. I always like to point out to people that Rachel is buried there to pray for the redemption. That is what she is crying for. It is therefore only appropriate that when we come there to pray for whatever it is that we daven for, that we as well pray for the Geula, the redemption, Mashiach and the return of our people to our home. That is what the Mama is crying for, shouldn’t we….

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S VERY MORBID DEATH JOKES OF THE WEEK

Berel went on vacation and asked Yankel to watch over his house. About a week later, Berel calls home and asked "How's my cat?"

Yankel hesitated and sadly told Berel his cat died.

"What?! You shouldn't have broken the news to me like that! You should have done it slowly. The first time I called, you should have told me she was on the roof. The second time I called, you should have said there was no way to get her down. The third time I called, you should have told me that you tried to get her off the roof, but she fell down and died," explained Berel
Bobby apologized and went about his day.

About a week later, Berel called again and asked "How's my Granny?"

There was a long silence and then Yankel replied. "Well, she's on the roof

Hillary Clinton goes to a psychic who tells her: "Prepare yourself for widowhood ... Your husband is about to die a violent death."
Mrs. Clinton takes a deep breath and replies: "Will I be acquitted?"

Zaydie Moishe is lying on his deathbed with his children, grandchildren, and older great-grandchildren all around, teary-eyed at the approaching finale of a very long and productive life. The old man is in a terminal coma, and the doctors have confirmed that the waiting will be over within the next twenty-four hours. Suddenly, the old man opens his eyes and croaks: "I must be dreaming of heaven! I smell your grandmother's strudel!"

"No, grandfather, you are not dreaming. Grandmother is baking strudel now."

"I know I will never have another taste of her delicious strudel after this one. Could you please go down and get me a piece?", the old man begs with what is left of his final breath.

One of the grandchildren is immediately dispatched to honor the old man's last request. After a long time, he returns empty-handed.

"Did you bring me one last piece of your grandmother's delicious strudel?" the old man asks.

"I'm very sorry, Zayide, but she says it's for the Shiva."

The Kollel Rabbis were discussing the unforeseen possibility of their sudden death. The leader of the discussion said, " We will all die some day, and none of us really know when, but if we did we would all do a better job of preparing ourselves for that inevitable event."

"Everybody shook their heads in agreement with this comment."

Then the leader said to the group, "What would you do if you knew you only had 4 weeks of life remaining before your death, and then the Great Judgment Day?"

A gentleman said, "I would go out into my community and do outreach work to those that do not yet know how special Hashem is."

"Very good!", said the Rabbi, and all the others agreed, that would be a very good thing to do.

One Rabbi then spoke up and said enthusiastically, "I would dedicate all of my remaining time to giving charity and helping the poor and the needy."

"That"s wonderful!" the Rabbi again commented, and all the Rabbis agreed, that would be a very good thing to do.

But one little tzadk in in the back finally spoke up loudly and said, "I would go to my shviggers (mother-in-laws) house for the 4 weeks."

Everyone was puzzled by this answer, and the group leader ask, "Why your mother-in-law's home?"

"Because that will make it the longest 4 weeks of my life!"

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Answer is A – This one was also pretty easy. Not that I would know what the part of the flower that produces pollen is called if you asked me on the street. However for a multiple choice question it was easy. Now in my course we learned botany, although I forgot most of it, except the avocadoes J… but the course was in Hebrew, so I knew what avkan was-the thing that produced ivka-which is pollen, like the word avak which is dust and a Talmudic word. But when you use process of deduction it’s pretty easy. It’s not an insect. Never heard of such an insect. It’s definitely not pollen. And it just didn’t seem like the part that connected the flower to stem. Not that I know what that is… but I couldn’t imagine that they would even bother teaching us that. Do you know what the part that connects flower to stem is. Bowl of chulent to the one who answers first.