Insights
and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
November 11th 2018 -Volume
9 Issue 6 Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5779
Parshat
Toldos
It’s one of my favorite “lines” or “vorts” from
the Satmar Rebbe. He had lots of sharp lines, I liked this one, because to a
large degree it might be seem to be different than what many might assume to be
“the Satmar approach”. But that’s what made him such an incredible person and
leader. He was able to see beyond the external and supposed “righteous
indignation” and hit the nail on the head. He asked his chasidim upon studying
the famous story in this week’s Torah portion of our matriarch, Rivkah and her
pregnancy, why she was so concerned. Sure, Rashi and the Talmud tell us that
when the verse tells us that the children were Yitrotzizu bikirba-
crushing within her.
Rashi
Bereshis (25:22) Our Rabbis interpreted [the word Yitrotzizu] as an
expression of running (ratz) . When she passed by the entrances of the “yeshivas”
of Shem and Ever, Yaacov would run and struggle to come out; when she passed
the entrance of a temple of idolatry, Esau would run and struggle to come out.
It seems that Rivkah was nervous that she had
one child in her belly and the kid seemed to be running both ways; to services
and yeshiva in the morning and then to surf on the internet and who knows what
else at night. She thus said if this is the case what do I need life for? This
is not the kid I was praying for. She was thus reassured when she was told that
it was two different nations. It was twins and hey at least maybe one of them
would be good, right?
The Rebbe however asked that what was her
concern when she thought it was one child? Perhaps the child was running to go
study when they passed by the study halls and when they passed the places of
idolatry he was pushing to get out to demonstrate. To throw stones. To destroy
it. Like a good Satmar chasid.
The Rebbe answered that we see from here that
Rivka had “gut farshtanen” –she understood well that it’s
“nisht
de zelbeh kind vos loift tzum beis medrash is der vos loift tzu hafgunois-
The child that is running to study Torah in the Beit Midrash is not going to be
the same one that is running to demonstrate and to protests”
Boom. Ouch. Take that nasty angry faced black
hatted protestors that block my traffic and annoy me here in Israel regularly.
Enough said.
The truth though is it is a perplexing thing if
one thinks about Esau. Was he really doomed from the womb of his mother to be evil,
to be a murderer, to be a pagan? What are our sages telling us in this peek
into the womb of Rivka? Yaakov was always meant to be righteous, a nice little
Kollel guy and Esau from the get go was just the bad spawn. It doesn’t seem
fair. What about free-will? The Lubavitcher Rebbe asks an even deeper philosophical
question. How is it possible that from two such incredible righteous pious
parents comes a rasha- a true psychopath like Esau. For years they
prayed, they davened, they cried and implored and this is what they got? A kid
that from the fetus was pretty much a rotten apple?
He answers with an idea that is so deep, so
powerful and so relevant it is truly breathtaking. He notes that unlike
Yishmael who was not considered Jewish, Esau who had two holy Jewish parents
the Talmud tells us was considered part of the family. A yid, although a
really really flawed one. A mumar in the Talmud’s description. Truth is
our older brother was conceived with an even higher purpose than Yaakov’s.
Maimonides/ The Rambam in his philosophical
thesis called shemona perakim notes that philosophers divide people into
two types. The saintly person who is drawn to doing the “right and moral thing”
and the one that is drawn by his lust, his desire and inclination for immorality.
Their perspective (and is it ours too?) that the holier and greater man is
obviously the saintlier one; the one that doesn’t desire all the shmutz
that the other guy (us?) might.
The Rambam disagrees though
Rambam
Shemona Perakim (Chapter 6) When, however, we consult the Rabbis on this
subject, it would seem that they consider the one who desires sin, and craves
for it (but does not do it), more praiseworthy and perfect than
the one who feels no torment at refraining from evil; and they even go so far
as to maintain that the more praiseworthy and perfect a man is, the greater
is his desire to commit iniquity, and the more irritation does he feel at
having to desist from it.
Yaakov was meant to be that saintly one, Esau on
the other hand was charged and programmed from the fetus for the higher
purpose. He was at his earliest conceived with that inclination to run to
idolatry. At the same time, he was given the strength and internal power, as
everyone is to overcome that. Truth is until his bar mitzvah he struggled with
this, Rashi tells us they were indiscernible in their ways. Esau was probably
even Yaakov’s chavrusa in yeshiva-not that it is saying much, it was slim
pickings back then. But then he couldn’t do it anymore. He came home “tired
from the field”. The fight was too much. He would go out everyday and try to
overcome and he failed and he failed. Yitzchak loved him more because he saw
the incredible challenge and potential he had. He was tzayid bi’piv- he
was able to bring home the glatt kosher holy food that could only be uplifted
by someone who had truly overcome his nature. Someone who had at least when it
came to honoring his father overcame every weakness, challenge and tendency.
Yet, ultimately he gave up. He belittled his birthright. He gave it away to
Yaakov and didn’t want the fight anymore.
So Yaakov, the yeshiva guy had to leave Kollel and put on those precious
clothes of Esau-truly precious because they were made for the one that would
have that higher role of overcoming the challenges that the “big world” outside
of the walls of the Beit Midrash entails, and take on Esau’s role as well. The zelbeh bachur that sat in beis
medrash now has to go out to fight, uplift and deal with all the shmutz
the world will throw at him.
I picture Yaakov in those big shlumpy
clothes of Esau, kind of like I would picture taking the best boy out of
yeshiva today and throwing him into the army. He could barely close the snaps
on those green khaki camouflage pants because they don’t make them in XXXL 20
years of chulent-eating sizes. I picture it as taking a yid from the alteh
heim with the long payos and the simple, quiet Yiddish demeanor and
throwing him into Harvard Law School, into the boardrooms of the largest Wall
Street hedge funds. The polished suit doesn’t fit. It’s awkward. My tzitzis
keep falling out. It’s a nasty world. Their jokes and banter are crude. Any
concept of modesty and what was once professional dress have been thrown out of
the corporate window. It just doesn’t seem to be the environment where a Yaakov
should end up. As I’m sure Yaakov asked himself as encountered similar
challenges when he went out to that world. Shepherds are not the holy people
you want to hang out with.
But Yaakov came out of it all complete- shalem-
perfect. He didn’t come out perfect despite the challenges and muddied
environment that he was thrown into. He came out perfect and complete because
he overcame them. Yaakov became Yisrael. He fought with the angels, demons and
challenges that Esau had and he triumphed. He could put on the clothes of Esau,
that may never fit him, but at the end of the day he can and will go right back
into the tents of study and pick up his Talmud as if he never left.
The last Exile of the Jewish people that we have
been in for the past 2 millennia is the galus of Edom, Esau. The
challenge that we have and that we struggle with is how to put on those clothes
and still remain Yisrael. In many ways our role models, at least the ones that
we are toted about when we are growing up are the great tzadikim. The
saintly Rabbis, the Gaonim, the Rebbes, the ones that are truly holy and that
sit in the tents of Yaakov and shine their light out to the world. It is
important to have that light to come home to and to serve as our beacon. Yet at
the same time we each need to have role models of Yaakov’s that wear the
clothes of Esau. Of those that are able to go into the trenches and not get
sucked into the desires and pervasive immorality and even ideologies that
dominate the non-Torah world of Esau. We need tzadikim, that the Rambam
described, are even superior people and souls. That have even greater desires
for sin, for immorality, for all that the other world tantalizing offers and
that has the strength of belief and faith to overcome it all. It wouldn’t hurt
to have an Artscroll book or two written about them. It wouldn’t be that bad if
our children had a parent like that they could look up to. If we could become
that Yaakov. We can then finally conclude this long exile. We can fulfill our
final destiny. We can uplift the world of Esau and the Shechina can once
again shine.
Have a awesome Shabbos and a blessed Rosh
Chodesh,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
********************************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Der vos zucht leichteh arbet gait zai’er mid
tsu bet..”- He who looks for light work goes very tired to bed.
RABBI SCHWARTZES COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF8CyHsm9Wc
– Conversation in a womb-the Abie Rottenberg A Classic in honor of this
week’s Torah portion
https://youtu.be/L7kjspXFrAw- this is a pretty cool and inspiring clip and speech, listen
to the end its worth it…
https://youtu.be/QUFyBcDZPuA- Parshat Toldos is not complete without Shmuli Ungars fantastic
Vayitein Lecha song, it will stick in your mind all Shabbos guaranteed!
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/rivkah
- Not
enough of you clicked on this last week. It’s really awesome give it a listen..In
honor of my sister Rivky and Luzy’s engagement and this weeks Parsha my latest
amazing composition. “Rivka Achoseinu”- let me know what you think.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF
THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q The buildings at the Suzanne Dellal
Center were once used as
A. Schools
B. Electric
power facilities
C. Houses
belonging to Aharon Shalush
D. The Saraya
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS”
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Parshat Toldos– Perhaps the favorite Jewish
work for lamdanim is the Rambam. The Rambam’s work of halacha, in
which he writes in the introduction if one learns you won’t require any other
books in your library, of course has therefore ironically spawned more sefarim
and books of lomdus than any other. It is because it is written with
such precision and every word was chosen with such perfect deliberation that
every nuance of term is meant to be dissected and incredible things can be
derived from its study. Things of course being lomdushe things. For there is
nothing that lamdanim like more than dissecting and figuring out the
nuances.
In
this week’s Torah portion when Rivka tells Yaakov of Esau’s plot to kill him
and urges him to flee she tells him he should stay away
Ad shov af achicha
mimcha v’shachach es asher asisa… lama eshkol gam shneychem yom echad.- until your brother’s wrath passes from you
and he forgets what you did to him (taking his blessings) why shall I lose both
of you in one day.
The Rav
of Brisk notes that Rivka’s fear for the life of not only Yaakov but also of
Esau who was certainly a wicked murderer, was because in her initial prophecy
about their birth she was told that they would both become great nations. The
midrash notes that their descendants will include Rebbi and Antoninus (Rebbi
Yehuda Hanasi the editor of the Mishna and Mark Anthony, who supported him).
There will be converts that come from Esau ultimately. But if Yaakov is killed
than Esau’s descendants will not have anyone to bring them close to Torah and
Hashem.
The
Rav’s son Rav Dovid Soleiveitchik Shlita, brings a corroborating Rambam. You
always need a Rambam in Brisk. The Rambam in describing the obligation of the
gentiles to fulfill the 7 Noachide laws, in which their fulfillment affords
them the status of the “righteous amongst the gentiles” that merits a place in
the world to come writes
Rambam (Melachim 8:11)
This applies only when he accepts them and fulfills them because the Holy
One, blessed be He, commanded them in the Torah and informed us through Moses,
our teacher, that Noah's descendants had been commanded to fulfill them
previously. However, if he fulfills them out of intellectual conviction, he is
not a resident alien, nor of 'the pious among the gentiles,' nor of their wise
men.
It’s
an incredible Rambam and certainly is one that needs a lot of contemplation.
The 7 Noachide laws which are the basic laws of morality and civilized society
only have the power to transform the nations into righteous if they are
premised on the idea that they come from Moshe, the Torah and the Jewish
people. Thus Reb Dovid notes, if Yaakov would be killed that would remove any
chance of Esau and his descendants ever achieving their fulfillment. That is
what Rivka was worried about. A yiddishe mama worries about all her
children, even Esau, particularly since she knew that he would have righteous
descendants. She just knew her Rambam as well. She was a lamdan. She
knew that there had to be a Yaakov around for those righteous descendants of
Esau of to come forth. Their own moral finding of God, wouldn’t be enough. And
thus she sent Yaakov away not to lose “both of them”.
What
a Rambam!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S
AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Battle of Sichon
and Og- 1272 BC-
Another one of the miraculous battles of the Jewish people were against the two
huge kings and Giants Sichon and Og. The Torah tells us that the Jews were not
permitted to conquer Moav so Hashem let the Emorites take some of their land,
and the Jews conquered it from them. The battles were all miraculous. The first
one the Jews didn’t even know about until afterwards. The Emorites were hiding
in the mountains and Hashem shifted the earth moving the pointy edged cliffs
like puzzle pieces into the caverned ones opposite them and they were smushed
to death. We found out about when we saw the blood and their jewels floating
down in the Arnon river below. The river today called Wadi Mujib
is right across the Dead Sea opposite Ein Gedi. I like to point
it out as we note the incredible gorges and caverns that are on both sides of
the Dead Sea. These were formed by the Syrian African Rift and
what even geologists agree were subsequent land shifts that took place. I like
when science corroborates Torah, not that we need them and not that they got
the dating right on when the Torah describes it happened.
The next battles against Sichon and his
brother Og were also were miraculous. Moshe killed them both. Cheshbon
his capital city is right across from Kumran on the other side of the
Dead Sea a few kilometres south of Meidba. And the Bashan where Moshe
singlehandedly jumped up about 20 feet and hit Og’s heel, after Hashem made a
mountain collapse on his head is in the Golan Heights area. I obviously
point out this to my tourists each time I’m in the Golan as most people are
under the assumption that Moshe never entered the land of Israel. Yet, this
entire area as well as much of Jordan today on the eastern side of the Jordan
river valley were part of the first kingdom of the Jewish people and the
land of Israel. Two and half tribes, Reuvein, Gad and half the tribe of
Menashe, lived there and were obligated in the laws of shemitta and maasros.
Moshe was certainly here. He just never crossed the Yarden into Eretz Yisrael.
I, of course, mention Og as well in Tel
Dan by the gate of Avraham and speak about how Og informed Avraham of his
nephews kidnapping and he came here to attack them. One can really only
understand the story when you appreciate the geography of Og being up here by
Dan and that’s how he saw them bring Lot here and then went all the way down to
Chevron to tell Avraham.
But I definitely find and love to point
out to my tourists how Jordan today is sitting on occupied territory it. It
used to be our land there. May Hashem return it to us soon.
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S WORKPLACE JOKES OF THE
WEEK
Moshe
and Abe were partners in a very successful clothing factory. It had been in
operation for many years and there wasn’t much they didn’t know about the shmatta
business. One day, Moshe decided to take a trip to Israel.
As Abe had many friends in Israel, he surprised Moshe by getting him an audience with none other than the Prime Minister.
On Moshe’s first day back at work after his trip, Abe asked him, "So, Moshe, what kind of a man is the Prime Minister?"
Moshe replied, "I would say he's a 44 regular."
As Abe had many friends in Israel, he surprised Moshe by getting him an audience with none other than the Prime Minister.
On Moshe’s first day back at work after his trip, Abe asked him, "So, Moshe, what kind of a man is the Prime Minister?"
Moshe replied, "I would say he's a 44 regular."
Morris
Schwartz is dying and is on his deathbed. He is with his nurse, his wife,
his daughter and 2 sons, and knows the end is near. So he says to
them:
"Bernie, I want you to take the Beverly Hills houses."
"Sybil, take the apartments over in Los Angeles Plaza."
"Hymie, I want you to take the offices over in City Center."
"Sarah, my dear wife, please take all the residential buildings downtown"
The nurse is just blown away by all this, and as Morris slips away, she says to the wife, "Mrs. Schwartz, your husband must have been such a hardworking man to have accumulated all this property.”
Sarah replies, "Property shmoperty...my husband has a seltzer route."
"Bernie, I want you to take the Beverly Hills houses."
"Sybil, take the apartments over in Los Angeles Plaza."
"Hymie, I want you to take the offices over in City Center."
"Sarah, my dear wife, please take all the residential buildings downtown"
The nurse is just blown away by all this, and as Morris slips away, she says to the wife, "Mrs. Schwartz, your husband must have been such a hardworking man to have accumulated all this property.”
Sarah replies, "Property shmoperty...my husband has a seltzer route."
One
day an Yankel the auto mechanic was working under a car and some brake fluid
accidentally dripped into his mouth. "Wow," he thought, "This
stuff tastes good!"
The
next day he told a Berel about his amazing discovery: "I think I'll
have a little more today." His friend was concerned but didn't say
anything. The next day the mechanic drank a whole bottle of brake fluid. A
few days later he was up to several bottles a day, now his friend was really
worried.
"Don't
you know brake fluid is toxic?" said Berel. "You'd better stop
drinking it."
"Hey,
it’s no problem," the mechanic said. "I can
stop any time."
A
young man with his pants hanging half way down, two gold front teeth, and a
half inch thick gold chain around his neck; walked into the local welfare
office to pick up his check. He marched up to the counter and said, "Hi.
You know, I just HATE drawing welfare. I'd really rather have a job. I don't
like taking advantage of the system, getting something for nothing."
The
social worker behind the counter said "Your timing is excellent. We
Just got a job opening from a very wealthy old man who wants a chauffeur and
bodyguard for his beautiful daughter. You'll have to drive around in his 2013
Mercedes-Benz CL, and he will supply all of your clothes. Because of The long
hours, meals will be provided you'll also be expected to escort the daughter on
her overseas holiday trips.
The
guy, just plain wide-eyed, said, "You're kiddin me!"
The
social worker said, "Yeah, well... You started it."
Bernstein
walks into work one day at nine. He is very late The boss is furious. "You
should have been here at eight-thirty!" he shouts.
"Why?" says Shapiro. "What happened at eight-thirty?"
"Why?" says Shapiro. "What happened at eight-thirty?"
Hymie,
a wealthy American, retires to England and buys a fabulous English country home
with over 50 rooms. He brings in a local workman to decorate the place.
When the job is finished Hymie is delighted but soon after realizes that he's forgotten something. There are no mezuzahs on the doors. He immediately goes out and buys 50 kosher mezuzot and asks the decorator to place them on the right hand side of each door except on the bathrooms. He's worried that the decorator won't put them up correctly.
However, the job is carried out entirely to his satisfaction and so he gives the workman an extra bonus. As the decorator is walking out of the door he says "Glad you're happy with the job mate. By the way, I took out all the guarantees that were in those little boxes and left them on the table for you."
When the job is finished Hymie is delighted but soon after realizes that he's forgotten something. There are no mezuzahs on the doors. He immediately goes out and buys 50 kosher mezuzot and asks the decorator to place them on the right hand side of each door except on the bathrooms. He's worried that the decorator won't put them up correctly.
However, the job is carried out entirely to his satisfaction and so he gives the workman an extra bonus. As the decorator is walking out of the door he says "Glad you're happy with the job mate. By the way, I took out all the guarantees that were in those little boxes and left them on the table for you."
************
Answer is A– I probably would have skipped this one. I
really had no clue what this dance theater in Neve Tzedek, the neighborhood
that preceded Tel Aviv was originally used for. I took an educated guess
though. I was pretty sure that it wasn’t a power plant and the Saray- the
Turkish administrative center didn’t make sense. I thought that it had something
to do with Shaloush, I know he built and developed a lot of this area and I
felt that this might be too easy. I also remembered something about the
Alliance schools being in the area. So if I would have gone with my instinct
and answered this I would have been right! While taking this exam this one
would have gotten a check next to it by me to wait to the end to see if I
wanted to answer it. As you’re allowed to skip 5 questions. I hope I would have
chosen it to answer, so my record stil stays good.
And the score continues Schwartz is 5 for 5 on this exam so
far.
