Somethings Never Change- and Need To- Parshat Eikev 2026 5786

 

Insights and Inspiration from the Holy Land from Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz "Your friend in Karmiel" June 31st 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 39 17th of Av 5786   Parshat Eikev  Some Things Don't Change and Need To Click here below for print edition (Weekly Newsletter - Parshat Eikev  )   It was 97 years ago this Shabbos. "We thought they were our friends" is what they testimonies all say. We would go to their weddings, they came to ours. The Gerrer Rebbi came to Israel and he was impressed with the incredible relations the Jews of Chevron had with their neighbors. The Slobodka Yeshiva was flourishing. There were students from America that were studying there. Sure there was noise from Jerusalem. The Zionists were starting up with the Waqf and trying to put up a mechitza by the Kotel to daven and the Arabs weren't too happy. But that's just radicalism. Here we live in peace. Here we get along with them. It's a new era. Torah will protect us. We just wish those radicals would be quiet already and let us stay here in galus in Israel and study Torah like we did in Europe. Let us grow our crops on the fields of our ancestors. And continue to sit on the floor on Tisha B'Av and mourn the destruction and exile we're still experiencing.   In fact, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, whose own nephew, the Slonim family who were the leaders and founders of the community, and were descendants of the granddaughter of the Baal Ha'Tanya, Menucha Rochel, were killed in that massacre that Shabbos. The story the family retells is how broken he was afterwards because a wealthy American father was concerned about sending his son to the yeshiva there and Rav Tzvi Pesach assured him he had nothing to worry about. That bachur was killed along with 23 other bochrim, that black Shabbos as the Arabs rioted pillaged burned and raped our country in what was always until 3 years ago considered the worst massacre and pogrom to take place in our country. 133 Jews were killed 339 wounded and the country was changed. This Shabbos 97 years ago. The Black Shabbos of Eikev.   Today those numbers seem small. There were more that were killed and kidnapped from Kfar Aza alone on Tisha B'Av. There was almost ten times as many in the following days that were killed. Yet, back then the population of Israel was 150,000. The number killed was .1% whereas our population in 2024 was close to 6.5 million and the death and tragedy was not even .015 percent. Yet, the message and lesson hadn't changed in close to a century. It never changes. It's the earliest lesson and perhaps the only message that is more emphasized than any other lesson and message Hashem and Moshe repeatedly tell us. The nations in the land will hate you and kill you. They're not your friends. They will never be your friends. Your job is to finish them off. Your job is to build a Bais Ha'Mikdash. Your job is to wage war against them.   Chazak V'Ematz, Chazak V'Ematz Chazak V'Ematz. No other message is repeated so many times that Hashem tells us that we need to be careful and have strength to carry out. Don't stop short. Don't get lulled into a quiet peaceful ceasefire. Don't think that they will ever give up the land and allow you to remain that way. As long as I don't have my home, Hashem says, you're not going to have peace and quiet in yours either.   The week of the massacre followed, Shabbas Nachamu, as it does this year. It follows as it does every year the holiday of Tu B'Av, the 15th of Av. It's the parsha of Eikev every year as well. The Talmud tells us that from Tu B'Av and on the nights become longer.  U'dlo mosif- He who does not increase, does not gather, does not add to the light. Yasif- he will be gathered in, or as Rabbi Yosef explains, his mother will bury him. He will die untimely death. In a pogrom. In a massacre. In a way that is befitting to someone who has themselves just gone to sleep in a grave, as we said last week and the Jews of the Desert did every year after Tisha B'Av, until they realized the redemption had arrived and it was time to enter the land.   Tu B'av commemorates various historical "holidays" of this nature. Perhaps one of the most striking that I literally just learned yesterday in my Nach Yomi limud (two perakim a day since Shavuot and almost done with Melachim Beis!). It is the story of the last king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel Hoshea Ben Alah. He does something tremendous and is considered a righteous king for this act. He does it on Tu B'Av. For a few hundred years the majority of our nation, that didn't live near Jerusalem didn't see the Bais Ha'Mikdash. It's pretty much incomprehensible when we think about that. We all know, or at least should know that the first Temple lasted for 410 years, however since the death of Shlomo Ha'Melech and the rebellion and secession of Yeravam Ben Nevat with the 10 tribes, most of Klal Yisrael didn’t and couldn't go to the Temple. Thus, we only all worshiped there for about 20 years of Shlomo's rule. Yeravam made sure of that. He put up big blockades and checkpoints and no one was allowed to go. And somehow we became fine with that. We were good just living in Israel in a sometimes-religious country but mostly not.   Yet, on that Tu B'Av the righteous King Hoshea tore down those walls. The gates were opened. He proclaimed that anyone that wanted to was now free to head to Yerushalayim. We could see Hashem. We could be Oleh Regel. We could worship in the Temple, bring our sacrifices, redeem our ma'aser and tithes and come with our wagonloads of first fruits. We could have it all back. And the Jews celebrated. They made it a Yom Tov. They sang songs of praise. Maybe even sand Bar Yochai and made bonfires. We like new holidays. They're fun. And there wasn't even Chanuka or Purim yet as those don't happen until after the destruction and exile. This became the first post-biblical national holiday.   Yet, somehow… we missed the point. We didn't add light. We didn't go to the Temple. We didn't go to the Temple Mount. We didn't make Aliya... Our parties I'm sure continued each year. The maidens danced in the fields. But like our Palestinian neighbors we like usual never miss and opportunity to miss an opportunity. We chose our graves over redemption. We chose our yeshivos in Chevron over the Bais Ha'Mikdash. As the Chasam Sofer tells us we chose Tzfat and Tiverya and Meron over Yerushalayim and thus the earthquake happened in Tzfat years before. We're still choosing today Lakewood over Eretz Yisrael, and the Kotel over the Temple Mount and Bais Ha'Mikdash. We're not adding light. We're frozen in the darkness.   It is a result of that uncelebrated and recognized holiday of Tu B'av that we didn't take with us past the day, that the exile of the ten tribes began. Sancheirev comes to the land. He exiles ten tribes and most of the Jewish people are chucked out of the land never to come back again, until this very day. They're "disappeared." Until this very year, in which things have changed we have never had a majority of Jews living in Israel including during the second Temple period as well. We weren't mosif after Tu B'Av… so we were yasif… we died untimely deaths in putrid impure bloodstained lands that we were never meant to live in. That were places were no matter what mitzvos we do, how much Torah we learn, how many shuls we build. The light of Hashem, that only rests on One Place can never shine out from. Although it makes our graves there quite comfortable. It's like Air-conditioned coffins.   The parsha we read each year as well is Eikev on this Shabbos after Tu B'Av. There is perhaps no parsha that accentuates and replays more and more this Post Tu B'Av theme. I'm too tired to give you a dvar Torah. I'll just review the parsha and point it out to you again and again and again. Which is what Hashem is screaming at us about on this week. Consider it me Highlighting His notes for you that people in galus-like myself, by the way, because yes, here we're in Galus too- sometimes miss.   Two points He keeps making. One, the Land is good and everything we need to do is over here. Two- the goyim need to go and we need to liberate the country. So here goes.   And it will be as a result of us listening to the these mitzvos and observing and fulfilling them. Then Hashem will observe His promise and kindness which He swore to our ancestors and will love us and bless us…. On THE land He swore to give us.   We just need to listen. Listen to what? The mitzvos He gave us. What mitzvos are those? Take a look at the previous verse. Wipe out the enemies. Destroy their temples and idols. Burn them in fire. Don’t find or give them grace. These are all mitzvos that the Torah says we need to do Eikev. With our feet. Not sitting on the floor and mourning, but get up on your heels and start making them happen.   The parsha continues though, with our objections. The thing that's holding us down. (Ibid 17) If you will say in your heart, the nations are too great. How can I throw them out.   What will the world say? Trump? The UN. It's not politically correct. We can't just walk in and destroy everything. They were here first.   (Ibid 18) Don't fear them. Remember what I did to Pharaoh and Egypt. The great miracles and signs… the outstretched arm. So I will do to those that you are scared of./. Don't be intimidated by them, because Hashem your god who is in your midst is a great and awesome God.   When we don't listen to these words, then what we are inherently saying is that Hashem is not a great God. If we're scared of what the nations will say, then we are saying that we don't believe in the exodus from Egypt as more than a historical story to eat matza and drink wine and talk about. We don't believe it's us today. We don't believe He is in our midst. We don't believe what He is telling us. We're not listening. We're back in our graves.   Chapter 8 it continues, in case you weren't listening.   All of the Mitzva that I command you to guard is in order that you should live and multiply and and come and inherit the land. And He's not talking about Lakewood. Tom's River, Square Town or Boro Park.   He reminds us about how we wandered for forty years and we constantly tested Hashem and He always showed us and rebuked us in order that we get that He's our Father. He wants what's good for us. He will never abandon us and the land that He's taking us to is worth the trip. It's a good land, springs and rivers in hills and valleys, wheat barley and the 7 species. We will eat and we will be satisfied. And we will thank Hashem not for our delicious Meatboards. Not for our delicious Pizza or French pastries that we eat in other places but rather Al ha'aretz ha'tova asher nasan lach- on the good land he gave us.. Did you ever think about that? Whenever we bentch with a lot of kavana from a siddur of course, where are thanking Hashem not just for the food, but rather for the land, Who mentioned land and Israel here? We're living in galus for 2000 years. We're not in Israel. Why mention that now?   The answer is because thanking Hashem for food, no matter how delicious it is, but if it's in galus then it's like prison food. It's like praising and thanking the warden for your last meal before the executioner. It's thanking your captors in Gaza for a pita. It's not really geshmak. Only when we thank Hashem for the land of Israel and we turn to Him and think about the real meal that's coming for those not here yet, then can our hearts be full of thanks and praise and then we can ask for the Temple. Then we're finally uplifted and out of our graves. Because we're listening to His words.   Hashem then turns in the second aliya with the warning of what happens when we get to Israel and have that good. We become fat and we forget. We don't bother going to the Temple. We start allowing others to worship here. We stop listening. We ignore our Father. We think it's our strength. Then guess what? We get chucked out. We lose it all. If we're not mosif, we're yasif.   But what if we're not worthy? What if we're not frum enough? How can we believe Hashem is amongst us if we don't do the right things? If there are pride parades in Jerusalem If people have smart phones. If they go to the har ha'bayis. If our government is not frum and our court is anti-frum, anti-Torah? Hashem knew that was coming. He barvorned it as we say in yeshiva.   Don't worry, He says. I'm not giving you the land because I think you're tzadikim. I know you better than anyone. I know you’re the most stiff-necked people around. But that has nothing to do with it. I want home. These people living there are worse than you. They're Nazis. They're evil. I need the place cleaned and you guys are hired despite your failings because I love you and you're my child. I've loved you since Sinai. I've loved your ancestors. You've sinned and sinned and I've never abandoned you. Just come Home. Just build the Temple. Just say you care enough to take your heels and move here. I gave you second Luchos. I forgave and forgave and will forgive again. Just come home.   All he wants Moshe tell us is for us to truly fear Him. To see his awesomeness, and then follow the leader. Take the path of that awe and walk with it. Remove that orla from your hearts all that decay that has numbed you to seeing the truth. All that social media about politically correctness and all of those years of bad chinuch that may have led you to believe that He wants you to be frum outside of Israel. That mitzvos have meaning there. That all He wants is a Kotel.   The parsha goes on and on. You don't need a dvar Torah this week. You just need to read the parsha. You just need to see the gates are open. That there's nothing stopping us. That Hashem has comforted us. That Tu B'Av is over. That the light is starting to grow.   There is a tradition from the Baal Shem Tov that beginning from Tu B'Av we start to wish people with a ksiva V'chasima tova- the blessings for a new year. In fact the Komarna notes that "Chamisha Asar B'Av-" tu b'av is in fact the exact gematria of Ksiva v'chasima tova. Tu B'Av is 40 days before the 25th day of Elul when Hashem created the world on the first of the 6 days of Creation. Parshat Eikev is in fact the only parsha that uses the word Rosh Hashana- "Reishit Hashana"- the beginning of the year. It is that description of Hashem always having His eyes on this country. It's all He has on his screen. It's what he looked at 40 days before the creation of the world. It's the reishis that He looks at us and the Torah. That 40 day conception process began Tu B"Av.   I'll conclude with the end of that Rav Pesach Frank story above. For many years he felt broken that he advised this father to send his son to yeshiva. 40 years later, Rav Frank's son was once in café and he was talking to someone who he shared that story with. It seems he was relative of that father. He told Rav Franks son, that after the massacre the father was a very influential person and he put tremendous pressure on the US senators to put pressure on England to make changes in their mandate anti-Jewish and Israel behavior in Israe. They immediately switched the British Military Governor for a new one who was pro-Jewish and Israel. Within ten years from that story. The population of Israel tripled. He opened up the gates. A Jewish army had formed. There were 450,000 Jews in the 1930''s and during the Holocaust tens of thousands more came. It was all because of that boy. That advice. That sign of Hashem. It was the light that came out of the darkness of the graves of Chevron.   Rav Frank's son immediately came home and told his wife that they have to travel to their father to tell him She told him that they were going to go anyways next week. Today was Friday. It's erev Shabbos. But he refused. He said that his father had been mourning for decades over this story. He deserves to see the hand of Hashem. So he went and he told him Rav Frank hugged him and cried. He expressed his appreciation for him coming to tell him and not waiting until after Shabbos. They parted ways and he went home. That Friday night Rav Frank returned his soul to Hashem. It was the last message he heard. The geula can happen even when we don't see it. We just need to listen. We need to come to Shabbos, with the message of redemption.   Have a remarkably fun and exciting delightful Shabbos, Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz    YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK   " Nit mit sheltn un nit mit lahchen ken men di velt ibermachen."- Neither with cursing or laughing will the world change. RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK answer below at end of Email   10. The ANZAC Museum is located in the city of __________  What was the purpose of the establishment of the "11 points in the Negev" in 1946? A. Taking control of coastal aquifer reservoirs. B. Including the region in the Jewish state’s territory in a future partition plan. C. Strengthening the defense of the small Jewish settlement in Gaza. D. Controlling the route leading to Egypt RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK   https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eretz-tu-bishvat  – This week's parsha Rabbi Schwartz composition best song ever!!! You should be singing this song of the words of Hashem on the amazingness of Eretz Yisrael all week long! https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/kum -  Every four steps you walk this Bein Hazmanim is a mitzva if you're doing it here! Kum Hithalech Ba'Aretz my song is based on yesterday's Daf of Hashem folding up all of Israel under Yaakov to teach us that the whole Israel is 4 Amos conquerable. Dovid Lowy did both of these songs arrangements and Vocals… Rock Em!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb_-z7gCJVs - Joey Newcomb- Rely on Hashem… latest Bein Hazmanim release… https://24six.app/preview/music/content/446598/homeward-bound – Benny Friedmans latest release Homeward Bound… no video posted but just great song.. Only wish he and all of you would say those words… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXKsf5mdG-g – Elka's favorite new song and I'm loving it also… Eternal Tai! RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK Guardians of The Wall -333 BC- So the plan of Nechemia worked! He had broken through the walls of Jerusalem in order to convince the nation that the time was here to start to rebuild the city and protect it. He has the permission of Darius, although he didn't even tell them. He wanted it to come from them. They needed to do it on their own. And we did.   Now our neighbors were not too happy. They felt that Jerusalem was there. In the past they had terrorized the Jews and pretty much held us back, but now with the walls breached they plotted to up the terror a notch and truly begin to stop us from our project. It's kind of like what the Chareidim have been doing to the light Rail on Bar Ilan for the past ten years…   So they planned their big intifada, what they didn't know was that Nechemia had good intel. He knew what they were planning. And thus he prepared for it. Do you know that famous Carlebach song. Shomrim Hafked L'ircha kol ha'yom v'kol ha'layla- He established an armed watch guard over the city walls to oversee the work of the wall. The Navi tells us that the walls were built with half the nation holding swords and spears and the other half with hammers and nails. That's the way Jerusalem was rebuilt and there is a deep eternal message on a spiritual level as well. Can you figure it out?   Jerusalem needs both. It needs our soldiers and needs our wall-builders. Only when the two work together, can the city be united. Can we truly have Yerushalayim Shel Mata.   RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE CHANGE JOKES OF THE WEEK   Yesterday, I changed a light bulb, crossed the road, and walked into a bar. My life is a joke.   Alabama changed the drinking age to 34. They wanted to keep alcohol out of the high schools   My friend really changed when she became a vegetarian... it's like I've never seen herbivore.   What’s it called when a chameleon can’t change its colors anymore? A reptile dysfunction!   How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb? 10. 1 to change the bulb and 9 to tell you how much better they could've done it   How many cops does it take to change a light bulb? They don't, they arrest the bulb for being broke and beat the room for being black.   How does a Jewish mother change a lightbulb? "No, that's all right. I'll just sit here in the dark."   How many Yekkis does it take to change a light bulb? One. We are efficient and dont have humour.   How many divorced men does it take to change a light bulb? No one knows. They never get to keep the house.   The sweater my wife gave me was picking up static electricity, so I went to the store to change it. They gave me another one, free of charge   How many Trump supporters does it take to change a lightbulb? Look, we can change the lightbulb. That I will tell you. We're changing it, ok? And I understand what you're saying, I hear it all the time. People call me and say "Is the lightbulb really dead?". Thats what they are asking me, its unbelievable. The lightbulb is in big trouble, that I can tell you. But we are going to change it.   How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb? Wanna go ride bikes?   My wife the English Teacher explained, "You need to do more chores around the house."  I moaned, "Can we change the subject?" She smiled and said..."Ok. More chores around the house need to be done by you.   There are a pair of twins called Ving and Ling. Ving decided to go to the town hall to change his name. Ling decided to give him a lift there. When they arrived Ling reminded Ving that he would disgrace their family if he changed his name to Lee. Ving takes a form and quickly fills it out to change his name. He sends off the form, but immediately starts to regret it. He is told that to revoke his form he must pay a small fee. Ling takes out her purse and is about to hand over the money when suddenly… A man, their father, bursts through the door and embraces Ving and tells them, “Don’t stop, be Lee, Ving”, “Hold on to that fee, ling.” ******************************* The answer to this week's question is B- I feel a streak coming on here. This one was pretty easy. Not that I've ever been here, however I know and am familiar that the whole ANZAC thing, the Australian WWI horse brigade forces that fought against the Turks was in Beer Sheva where the memorial is for them. As well the 11 points question is pretty basic and important Israel history where in one night in order that they would be part of the Jewish State in 1946. As if there was Jewish life there, the Two State solution would have to include them. Those 11 points include, by the way Beeri, Urim, Chatzeirim, Tekuma, Nirim and other Kibbtuzim that sit on the Gaza Border that you may be familiar with… By the way what date did this take place. Motzai Yom Kippur. What was the English date? October 6th… Fast Forward 80 year… October 7th… Wow… pretty scary… So we're getting into decent grade level here with Rabbi Schwartz having 7.5 points and the MOT having 2.5 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

The Last Tisha B"Av- Parshat Va'Eschanan Nachamu- 5786 2026

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

June 24^th 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 39 10^th of Av 5786

 

Parshat Vaeschanan/Nachamu

 The Last Tisha B'Av

Click here below for print edition

(Weekly Newsletter - Parshat Vaeschanan Nachamu  )

 

I'm writing this on Tisha B'Av. It's a different Tisha B'Av for me this year. I really, really, really am hoping there's a shofar that sounds before I finish the end of this E-Mail. It's not just because I could use a coffee right now either. Although, it would be nice. And that's even after a week of doing decaf. Everyone has their preparations. Mine is decaf. But it's not working.

 

Rather, this year Tisha B'Av instead of the usual lashon harah, sinas chinam, Chafetz Chaim, loving everyone videos that I'm really sick of already. Nor was it the sad holocaust stuff. It wasn't even Nova, Gaza Hostage stuff- which is the new holocaust. Who remembers the old days when the only thing to watch was Entebee videos… The good ol' days. Today it's just same old, same old. This year, there were quite a few different ones with a different theme, that I don't think I've ever experienced on a Tisha B'Av before. There was the OU one with Jen Airley, mother of Binyamin a soldier who was killed Hy"d, visiting people that were actually making things for the Bais HaMikdash. Getting Red Heifers, learning and practicing Korbanos, making the lechem hapanim-show bread, carving doors and weaving curtains, and chiseling stones. I was blown away. I felt Mashiach coming. Klal Yisrael was making the moves and truly taking action to prepare and herald in the geulah in ways I believe the Chafetz Chaim and others only dreamed of.

 

But what about the Temple Mount? The ugly pimple desecrating it. How can we do that? For that Reb Michoel Weichboard's Homebound video with yeshivish looking guys on it explained how the Har Ha'Bayis people going up and davening there thing is happening. Not only happening, but it's changing the face of the Temple Mount in the same ways that Hill Tops settlements are changing the make up and Jewish conquest of Eretz Yisrael in the West Bank. Arabs are staying away from the Temple Mount as more Jews go up there. That's cool! Ten years ago there were 400 people that went up on Tisha B'Av and they couldn't daven or certainly not bow down. This year there were 3500. That's a real number.

 

Now personally I don't go up there. Let's get that straight. Most of the Gedolim and Rabbis that I follow- blindly. Or actually not blindly. Rather biblically. Meaning, that I understand, that as much as it seems clear to me that there's really no kareis obligation in the places that they go. I mean think about it. The only place which one needs the Red Heifer for is the Heichal and that's no where near the place they walk which is the Azara at best which requires mere Mikva dipping. That area is 28 football fields with their end zones, while the heichal isn't even the size of one. No one's heading into Kareis territory. And we pretty much know that the heichal is by the Golden Pimple. Yet, even that being the case. The Rabbis say don't and the Torah says listen to them. So I do. It's why I don't wear techeiles either. I'm a traditionalist- at least to a degree.

 

Yet, the fact that they are going and that Rabbis with beards, that have their Rabbis that tell them to go and to see people bowing, to see them talking about the place of the mizbayach. To the talk of the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Rav Shmuel Eliyahu of starting yeshivas there, of slowly getting rid of the desecration pro-actively. Conversations like this haven’t ever happened since our exile. It filled me with hope and a true feeling that its happening. That the geula is coming closer and closer and our building will be there soon. Hashem's building.

 

The truth is the establishment of the State was as well the beginning of the process that I don't think most Rabbis and most of klal Yisrael and certainly not the secular founders ever dreamed would look like what it does today. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of frum Jews. Of Olim that keep Torah and Mitzvos. Of luxury style living houses. Of Kollels and Torah like never before. It all started back then 75 years ago when most Jews thought it was something amazing and cool, yet it took many decades until today where it's become mainstream. Where more and more Jews are coming home. Where the largest population of Jews is here. Where, like the Temple Mount, and the work being done to build the Bais HaMikdash it was a pipe dream that was halachically and perhaps even mentally borderline outsiders that took part of. It was only the looneys that made Aliya back then. Yet, today it’s a reality for most.

 

The truth of the matter the same is true with the Israeli army these days. Where as once you wouldn't catch any self-respecting chareidi young man in an IDF uniform. Forget about tzitzis and payos. Today there's probably more tzitzis and payos that are even being worn by "chiloni" soldiers, than frum. Yet as well it started with the handful. It started with gezeiros. It started with staunch opposition from the Rabbis and which there still is. Yet, somehow Hakadosh Baruch is pushing things in His direction. He's taking these outliers and perhaps non-mainstream people to do the work that He wants done, while at the same time perhaps maintaining the status quo in other places, until He's ready for them to join. Or not…

 

It's not just today either. Think about the fights between the Chasidim and Mitnagdim. Between the Mussar Movement and the anti-that. Between Beis Shammai and Bais Hillel? Ok that's a bit too much perhaps. But back then in all of those fights and truly deeply held halachic and hashkafic positions were brutal. Rabbis thrown in jail. Sent to Siberia. Yeshivos and shuls thrown out of communities. It was tough and makes our dumb demonstrations seem like children's playground "he-stole-my-ball" spats. Yet today, they're all on the same page. Litvaks learn Chasidus and go to Uman, and chasidim learn Reb Chayim's and go to Miami… Just joking. I meant Lakewood.

 

So what's the point of this? Why is my Tisha B'Av and yours different this year? What does this mean on a practical basis? Let's take a tour to the last Tisha B'Av we had in the midbar. Or more precisely the last one before we came into the Land of Israel, before that first redemption was finally realized. When that fifth cup of Vi'Heveisi- and I will bring you to the land took place forty years to the day from when we left Egypt.

 

So for 38 years, the Talmud in the end of Taanis tells us the Jews had a special custom. Presumably they took showers and listened to music that was non-acapella for the three weeks preceding and they even took their laundry to the local Ananei H'aKavod laundry mat. After-all the three weeks thing doesn't start for another thousand or two thousand years or so at least. Yet, they did have a minhag on each Tisha B'Av. Each year they would have all of the men 20-60 dig a grave and then go to sleep in it. Nice. See, there were 600,000 or so that needed to die in those 40 years. Every year, another 15,000 never got out of those graves. They stayed there. Their bones are still waiting to come home. It's what happens to Jews that don't want to come to Israel when Hashem tells us to.

Now, I'm not exactly sure how one sleeps in a grave. It can't be too comfortable, worse than your typical Israeli mattress for sure. Can you imagine that scene each Tisha B'Av. Hugging your family, your children, saying shema. The teshuva they must have done. The regret for their lashon harah and needless crying about a Land Hashem told them was good. How do you sleep? Yet the gemara tells us they slept. That's strange.

 

Even more than that was the next morning. The morning of Tisha B'Av. An alarm clock called out, they got a message on their phones. Maybe it was a siren or a shofar.

 

"Whoever is alive, separate yourselves from the dead'. And all who had the spirit of life in them came out"

 

Can you imagine the Modeh Ani, that morning? The hugging, the kissing, the new lease on life that each person got and experienced. It must have been awesome. It's like someone who survives an open-heart surgery, or has cancer removed and gets a clean bill of health. It's like peeking into Hashem's books Motzai Yom Kippur and seeing that you have been written in the "Life" Book. How many people had to bentch gomel that morning. You can imagine the singing, dancing and the festive reunions. And of course the nice Welcome home Abba steak BBQ parties that took place that night.

 

Except of course for the unfortunate 15,000 that died. Their houses were mourning. Were crying. Because their Abba never stepped out of the grave. They instead spent the day taking that dirt that he had dug out and buried him. In the midbar. Far from the land that they were heading to and that he was foolish and sinful enough to reject.

 

Now that was true for the first 39 years. Each year, there were less and less graves. Most were gone. Most had died. Whereas in the first few years 5% or 10% came out and there were more post burial parties then funerals, that changed. As more died, there were less parties and more funerals. Less gomels each year. Last year it was 50/50. This final year, there were only 15,000 left. Hashem had told them it was 40-year sentence and here we are in the final year. The last Tisha B'Av.

 

There wasn't a dry eye or a hope that they wouldn't come out. They knew the game was over. Their luck had run out. Nobody went shopping for any reunion parties. Everyone took showers and prepared shiva chairs for the next morning. Nobody wanted to get out of bed to go hear that call the next morning. And yet they couldn't stay away. And lo and behold. They all came out. It was a miracle. They were alive. The Geula was here. They were basically told by Hashem they could come into the land. Can you imagine the celebration? The party. The Simcha. Har Ha'Bayis was now Bi'Yadam… Am Yisrael Chai.

 

Except, they didn't believe it. It was a mistake. It's not time yet. We must have made a mistake. So what did they do? The climbed right back into the graves and buried themselves. They stuck their heads in the literal desert sand and didn't believe it was here. We're supposed to die in the midbar. We can't really be redeemed. It can't be true. It's osur for us to go into the land. And so they went back in to their graves to die in the midbar.

 

But guess what. They come out again alive. It was another miracle. They saw Jews returning to Eretz Yisrael. They saw missiles falling on Bnai Brak where you can't even find a parking spot. They saw crops growing in land that was desolate. They saw children dancing and playing in the streets of Yerushalayim. They saw soldiers with payos and Mashiach patches. And they say said. It's not the redemption. We still need to go to sleep in our graves. I switched subjects and contexts there in case you didn't notice…

 

They did this night after night. Miracle after miracle. They did this the tenth of Av, the 11^th, this Shabbos. They did this for a whole week straight. They did this until the 15^th of Av- Tu B'Av when at that point in time it became incontrovertible. It was undeniable. They saw the full moon and in the words of Rashi in the Gemara there.

 

"Rau ki cheshbon chadash michuvan"- that there is a new accounting going on. There's a new cheshbon. It's not their cheshbon. It's Hashem's plan. And as He tells us lo machsivosai machshivoseichem. My ways and thoughts are not like yours are. We think differently mortal and immortal. Infinite and finite. Master and servant. Don't try to figure me out. Certainly don't tell Me what I'm telling and showing you that it isn't real. Realize that the geula is already here. Stop hiding in your pathetic graves.

 

It's an amazing thing we're experiencing. We're in the "40^th" year before we're about to experience the geula. Hashem is showing us miracles. He's calling us home. He's shofaring to everyone with the spirit of life within himself to separate themselves from the dead and rise up. Make Aliyah. And yet, we say it's not real. We're burying ourselves again and again in our graves. We don't realize the cheshbon chadash has started. That the Temple Mount is returning to our hands. To frum hands, not secular ones that gave it back. That the army of Israel is becoming Torahdik. Where "Hoshiya es amecha" is the song being sung, not kochi v'otzem yadi. Where yidden are starting to prepare reunion parties already with the shechina. And yet so many of us, are still more comfortable in those warm graves, and saying it's not time yet.

 

We always read parshas Va'eschanan on Shabbos Nachamu. It begins with Moshe asking Hashem 515 if he can come into the land. Hashem told him it's not for you. You can't. Moshe asks again. Hashem says no. Moshe asks again. And again Hashem says, I have a purpose for you there. You have to be against Baal Pe'or. You have to have Adirei Torah. You have to raise up sparks there. It's not for you. Stay in galus. And Moshe asks again. And again and again. Because he doesn't want to take no for answer. Because he's full of Geula energy. Because he wants so much to even be a bird that flies into the land. A Israeli cockroach that scrounges through garbage. Because he knows that closer to Hashem and better for him and for the world, if he comes in. So he keeps asking. He doesn't want to sleep in a grave. He asks until Hashem tells him to stop asking. That's when the game is up.

 

So many people tell me. Our rabbis don't tell us to move here. Most of them have never even asked their Rabbi the shayla. Because they prefer their graves and frankly don't want to move. Chafetz Chaim heritage Lashon Harah videos and kumzitzes singing "Im Eshkoecheich" are so inspirational and moving. And you get to have meat-boards with them and not deal with rude Israelis either. Forget about joining the army. Yet there are some that actually do ask. Once. Maybe twice. But that's it. It's like asking the Rav if your chicken is kosher or your wife is mutar and then running out before he changes his mind. Got my psak. My get out of Gehenom free card if Hashem asks me after 120 years. I'm good to go. That's called burying your head in a grave and not getting out of it. That's not being Moshe Rabbeinu and asking 515 times if he can move here.

 

 Trust me if you asked your Rav in America, even in Lakewood, 15 times, even he would tell you to move already. Because he sees, that you can't stay there anymore. He sees that it doesn't work for you anymore. He understands what your soul is telling you. That it is in touch with the Shechina paging you. He hears the call that you hear that anyone that has nefesh chayim should step out of the grave and separate himself from the dead.

 

It's the last Tisha B'av in the midbar. The Har Ha'Bayis is almost in our hands. May this year Tu B'Av, this coming week, may all of klal Yisrael finally realize cheshbon chadash michuvan- there is a new accounting here. And may we all join all of the meisei midbar who have returned to life here in Yerushalayim Ha'Benuyah.

 

Have a consoling and geula revealed Shabbos Nachamu and an awesome Bein Hazmanim,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

 

This week's Insights and Inspiration is dedicated one again by my dear dear friends (every sponsorship gets you another dear😊) Tzipi and Ephraim Book, as zechus for shmira for all our holy Chayalim, and for all of Eretz Yisrael. May Hashem give us and them the strength to finally liberate our country and build the Bais HaMikdash with the Geula Shlaima!

Thank You!

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YOUNG ISRAEL OF KARMIEL

DAVENING SCHEDULE

PARSHAT VAESCHANAN / NACHAMU

CANDLELIGHTING -7:15 PM

MINCHA followed by Mariv -7:30 PM

SHACHARIS- 9:00 AM

Kiddush Chulent!

LAST TIME FOR KRIYAS SHEMA- 9:14 AM

SHIUR IN EIM HABANIM SAMAYACHA- 6:30 PM

MINCHA- 7:00 PM

MARIV 10 minutes after tzeis- 8:33 PM

 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 " Di grub iz shoin ofen un der mentsh tut noch hofen."- The grave is already dug and man still continues to hope.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

9. The national burial section designated for the burial of leaders on Mount Herzl is called_________

What was the primary reason for the construction of the Tel Aviv Port in 1936?

A. A commercial strike was declared by the Arab leadership, which halted operations at the Jaffa Port.

B. The Jewish Settlement’s decision to create an independent agricultural alternative to compete with Jaffa oranges.

C. The desire to host an international exhibition with guest nations (The Levant Fair).

D. The poor location of the Jaffa Port hindered the proper unloading of goods.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b86TCegZslQ  – Bardak is back with the Bein Hazmanim Tiyul video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x01JCnSSghA&t=2139s -  I know it's not Tisha B'Av and watching a video the day after is like eating matza pizza after Pesach. But this one is amazing and thought provoking and Reb Michoel Killed it this year dropping gauntlet about Har HaBayis…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Qlbbzk4T0&t=1200s  -  Ahraon Sokol as well knocks it out with this challenging video- The Geula is happening now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB1cgEpA4FQ&t=1440s – Here's the OU Jen Airley video mentioned above about the Bais Hamikdash in the Making… worth the watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-qxz077iTQ  – Titein Acharis -with Rav Paley- Nachamu tune… I cried…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBwnnbVJhk8 – And last but not least Rav Breitowitz discussing the sugya of Har Habayis… Don’t be and sound like an Am Ha'aretz… watch it.

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

Tear Down the Wall  -333 BC- Nechemia is coming. Darius has given him permission to return. To rebuild the walls of Yerushalayim. To unite the city. It's a temporary leave though. He wants him back. He needs his Jews. So Nechemia goes out in the middle of the night with a few friends and heads on over from Iran to Israel. Yet, he knows there will be opposition. There are Jews that are traditionalists and although it's only been 12 years since the Temple has been rebuilt, yet they don't want to do more. They don't want to rebuild the city. They're happy with the Status Quo. Maybe a Kotel is just enough for us… Is this sounding familiar to you?

 

So what does Nechemia do? The Navi tells us he goes to Shaar Ha'Gai and starts to break down the pathetic broken walls that were there. Where is Shaar Ha'Gai. Believe it or not, although today it's the entrance and intersection towards Beit Shemesh from Highway 1. That's obviously not what it's talking about. In fact today, underneath the Kotel Plaza which is built on pillars and arches from ancient second Temple days, they have discovered a whole underground city. The Shaar Ha'Gai is where the two valleys that Yerushalayim sits in the middle of, come together. It's there where Nechemia comes and starts to blow up the old walls.

 

Can you imagine today someone blowing up the Kotel. A Jewish person? A Rabbi? Do you know why he does that? For the same reason it probably should happen today. Ouch! Because the purpose isn't the Kotel. It's the rebuilding of the Ir. It's the return to a Jerusalem that is large and united. And some times you have to blow up the status quo to build anew.

 

Nechemia, then turns to the people and show them the failing wall and encourages them to rebuild it. He brings them wood. He shows them the permit from Darius to do that. Which is amazing. Because it seems that just because he had the permission from Trump of his times. That wouldn't have been enough. They had to see the wall falling down and apart first. But his plan works. They come together and Klal Yisrael starts to finally take responsibility to rebuild the walls of Yerushalayim.

 

How do our neighbors respond? Stay tuned next week.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE TOMBSTONE JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

A wife inscribed on her husband's tombstone...

Rest in Peace honey.

Rest in Peace, till I join you.

 

An elderly man was trying to figure out what to buy his wife for Chanuka. Knowing they already had everything they needed he decided to give his wife a Tombstone. She opened the present and thought. "OOOOKKKAYYYYY.. Sure, Thank you"

She thought the gesture was nice and a little weird at the same time. The next year the entire family was celebrating Chanuka again together and the elderly man had bought great gifts for everybody but his elderly wife. His kids and grand kids were so thankful and happy.

After everything was done his wife said "Hey! What about me? You didn't get me anything?"

The elderly Man replied "Why would I get you anything this year? You still haven't used what I got you last year!!"

 

A lawyer’s wife died. At her grave, everyone was appalled.

The tombstone read, “HERE LIES PHYLLIS, WIFE OF ATTORNEY MURRAY WILLIAMS; SPECIALIZES IN DIVORCE AND MALPRACTICE”.

Murray burst into tears. His brother said, “You SHOULD cry, pulling a cheap publicity stunt like this.”

Murray said, “You don’t understand. I gave them my business card.”

His brother apologized.

“…and they didn’t include the phone number!”

 

What's worse than 2 dead babies in a dumpster? One dead baby in two dumpsters

 

Yankel, the Yerushalmi yid  with 12 kids was trying to rent a house. However, no landowner would allow him to rent their house due to the number of children he had. Frustrated, the man told his wife to visit the kivrei tzadikim in the cemetery and bring all but their youngest child with her.

He then visited a property and told the landowner that he would like to rent the place.

"Is this your only child?" asked the landowner.

"No, I have 12 children" replied the man.

"Then where are the other 11 kids?"

"In the cemetery with my wife," he calmly replied.

 

Dentist’s tombstone:

"Here lies Doctor Bob Greenberg, filling his last cavity".

 

What is written on Steve Jobs tombstone? iCame, iSaw, iConquered.

 

Engraved on a hypochondriac's tombstone? See, I told you I was sick.

 

A man comes to work at a cemetery. Two weeks pass, he comes to tbe boss and hands in his resignation. "What's the problem, Pete?" - asks the boss. – "Are the benefits bad, the salary? Are you afraid, maybe?"

"No, it's not that, Chief, - the man explains." - It's just... I can't take it anymore. I'm walking around the cemetery, and I see a writing on a tombstone: *Here sleeps*. Then, a few steps further, *Here rests*. Then, a few more steps and I see, *Here Such-and-Such found his peace*... And I've got to work!"

 

A mother and her 2 daughters are at a cemetery

One of the kids is curious and asks her mom “Mommy, why am I named Rose?”

Their mom replies “Because when you were a baby, a rose petal fell on your head.”

Her second daughter asks “Mommy, why am I named Daisy?”

Her mom replies “Because when you were a baby, a daisy petal fell on your head.”

Then, Rose looks at the tombstone and points at the name written on it.

“So why is that their name?” Rose asks.

Her mom sighs and says “We’ll always remember Samsung Smart Fridge.”

 

A distressed man is in the cemetery crying his eyes out and beating a tombstone while shouting "Why did you have to die! Why did you have to die!"

A nearby man comes up to him and asks him "I'm very sorry, was she your wife?"

The distressed man looks up at him and responds "it was her first husband".

 

After my friend died from an allergic reaction to peanuts, I went to his funeral. Everyone got upset when I put an Epipen on his tombstone.

So I explained: "It's what he would have wanted"

 

Three boys walk through the woods and suddenly hear cries for help. They follow the sound to the lake and see Trump drowning. The boys jump into the water and drag him to shore. Trump asks the boys how he can repay them.

The first boy says, "I want a boat."

The second boy says, "I want a truck."

The third boy says, "I want a nice tombstone."

Trump asks, "Why is that?"

The boy says, "Because when my dad finds out I helped save you, he's going to kill me."

 

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The answer to this week's question is A–  I got this one right! I probably wouldn’t' have remembered the reason for the port, but when given the choice it came back to me. Yeah nothing like a good Arab strike to make us figure our stuff out…The first one though was easy. The Cheklat Gedolei Ha"Umah- the portion where the great men of our nation is what it's called and where every Prime Minister, President, and head of Knesset has the right to be buried. Begin, however refused to be buried there, he wanted to be buried with "Real" great men so he's on Har Ha'Zeitim… So beack in the game strong here with Rabbi Schwartz having 6.5 points and the MOT having 2.5 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam