Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
January 31st 2013 -Volume 3, Issue
17 –20th of Shevat 5773
Parshas Yisro
Going Places?
There’s an old joke Americans have about asking an Israeli
directions. It ends off with the Israeli answering something like
“Tamshich Yashar Yashar Vi’Sham Tisha’al”.
Which means-“continue going straight and then further straight and
then ask somebody else”.
I never really got the humor in that joke because if you’re
lucky, in fact that is the average Israeli response to your
unfortunate query. I scratch my head puzzled each time I ask directions and
hear that response. Yet sure enough as I continue to keep on asking people,
what do you know? Eventually I arrive at my destination.
The reason I qualify my statement with “if you’re lucky” is
because I remember when I first moved here I tried taking a different tactic
and it didn’t work. The first time after I was here for a few months and I was
pretty confident I could handle this on my own. I had called up Egged, the bus
company and they told me the number of the buses I have to take to get to my
destination in Ramat Shlomo. They told me where to switch buses and it sounded
simple. Hop on one bus to Rechov Bar Ilan and switch buses over there to get to
Ramat Shlomo. So I get on the bus, happy that I have no need to ask any
Israelis for directions. I get off on my stop at Bar Ilan, another bus pulls up
at the same time it says Ramat Shlomo on it, I get on and I am proud of myself.
And then we start moving. Funny, I thought, after 15-20 minutes or so. This
ride seems longer than what I had thought it would be. I took out my pocket GPS
on my phone and it seemed even stranger. Why was this bus heading in such a
strange direction? It looks like we are going to the other end of town. Hmmm…
All of a sudden the bus driver announces “Last Stop Har Nof." Uh
Oh. How did this happen?
I approached the driver and asked him where Ramat Shlomo was. He
looked at me quite strangely and said it’s the bus going the other way. I’m on
the wrong end of the line. When I pointed out to him that the sign on the front
of his bus clearly says Ramat Shlomo. He responded- without apology of course-
“Lama Lo Sha’alta” Why didn’t you ask”- It was my fault of course I should
have asked. Silly Oleh Chadash (New immigrant).
Later on that week I had to take a train. This time having
learned from experience I decided to ask. So I turn to the nice soldier
standing next to me and I asked him if this is the right train to Tel Aviv. He
responded quite confidently that it was and he is going there himself all I
have to do is follow him and we’ll get on together. Feeling better about
myself, I got on the train. Sure enough 20 minutes into what should have been a
2 hour train ride. I hear once again “Last Stop- Nahariyia” Uh Oh,
wrong way again. I look at my soldier friend who supposedly knew the way. He
looked back at me.
“Hayinu Tzrichim Li’Shol Kodem She’Olinu-We should‘ve asked
before we got on” he tells me nonchalantly. Thanks Buddy. You’re a
real help. Now you see why I decided to become a tour guide (last exam in week
and a halfJ). Somebody’s got to know where to
go in this country.
This week the Torah portion in its unique subtle way, shares with
us a lesson that puts the asking of questions and directions in a different
light. After all the great narratives of our miraculous Exodus from Egypt that
we have had over the past few weeks, the pivotal moment that this was all
leading up to has arrived. The Jewish people are now at Sinai. Yet before the
Torah tells us the story of the giving of the Torah and the Ten Commandments,
we are interrupted with a story of Yisro, Moshe’s father-in-law a Midianite
priest who comes to visit. It seems, the Torah tells us, he has heard of all
the great things that had happened and he wanted to check them out. Moshe fills
him in on the details of the great miracles, which ostensibly he had heard
already. And he then leaves. So why come for in the first place? (Never a good
question to ask your father-In-law incidentally J)
In addition, before he leaves he notes that Moshe is sitting and
answering the people’s questions day and night and he offers advice to appoint
other subsidiary responders to alleviate the burden from his son-in law. Moshe
acquiesces to this seemingly simple idea and implements it. A wonderful piece
of Jewish history and Torah, but it begs the question. Why do we have to hear
about this right now before the climax of our exciting Egypt to Sinai story?
What makes this even stranger is that many commentaries note that this story
actually takes place after the giving of the Torah. Yet the Torah interjects it
here for a reason. Why?
The answer, one may suggest, is that the Torah is telling us that
the prelude to our receiving the Torah is knowing that we have to ask. We have
to seek out. We need to find direction. And we should know that there is a
process to receiving those answers. Yisro heard about Hashem and the great
miracles of the Jewish people and he didn’t just jump on the train and move on
with his life. He came to ask questions from Moshe. How should this affect me?
What should I do with this knowledge? What is meant for me? The Medrash tells
us that Yisro’s answer was to go back to his people and teach them the ways of
Hashem. The Torah then tells us that not only Yisro, but all of the Jewish
people came to Moshe to ask questions. From morning to night. We are a people
that were seeking. We are a people that want and need answers. We want
directions and it is in that merit that we received the Torah.
As in everything here in Israel, there is always life lesson that
can be learned. Yashar Yashar ViSham Tisha’al- keep going straight and then
ask. There are so many areas in life that we get on the wrong buses and
thing we are heading the right way. Here in Israel, you sometimes learn the
hard way that it pays to ask. And then to ask again. To keep checking if the
things that we do and the decisions that we are making are leading us to the
places that we eventually want to get to. As true as this certainly is to get
around the city, it is even more so to make it through our journey of life. It
is important to have the right people to consult with. Not just any solider you
meet at the train station or friend that doesn’t have the life experience of
navigating the challenges that life presents; but true leaders and wise
individuals who have an insight and are objective. If our prelude to the Torah
was that we would have questions and there will be responders, than how much
more so is that true today when the challenges we face in our lives, our
marriages, our jobs, our families and most importantly our spiritual goals
require us to pursue the guidance we need. There’s no need to try to figure it
out on your own. We just have to stop and ask before we get on the next train.
Have
an absolutely marvelous Shabbos
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRiPa-ldiN0
************************************
RABBI
SCHWARTZES TOUR GUIDE COURSE QUESTION OF THE WEEK
(answer below)
With
which of the following periods is the Meshe Stele associated with?
(a) The Patriarchs
(b) The Israelite Period
(c) The Monarchy
(d) The return to Zion (Shivat Tziyon)
Citadel/
ShemV'Ever-Tzefat – On
the top of the mountain of Tzefat the Talmud tells us in the times of the
Mikdash each Rosh Chodesh there would be a fire lit here to let that would let
all the inhabitants of the area know that the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem had
accepted testimony of the new month. Word would get out by a series of bonfires
from Jerusalem ( Har Ha'Mishcha, Sartaba, Kochav Ha'Yarden(Groufina), Har
Tavor, Tzefat, and Gush Chalav). In the times of the Crusaders they built a
small fortress on this hill to overlook the their farms in the area. After
Salaadin came and destroyed the fortress and surrounding moat by setting it on
fire. The Crusaders came back again in the 12th century and rebuilt
it even greater making it one of two remaining Crusader fortress he left
untouched. Saladin eventually came back and sieged the fortress and allowed he
Crusaders to leave, but in the 13th century they came back making
the largest fortress in the Mideast with 3 concentricwalls 28 meters high ( the largest
reaching to Rechov Jerusalem today) with moats around. When the mamaluks and
Beibers came in the 1266 they laid siege as well and offered the Crusaders to
surrender but tunlike Salaadin reneged on his deal and murdered them. They
built a 60 meter tower with a huge water resivour underneath as well.
Eventually most of it was destroyed by earthquakes. The British used it as
military post and handed it over to the arabs in 1948 and they used it to throw
down explosives on the jews. Eventually we got it back and today it is a lovely
park. Right near the bottom is a cave that the Crusaders mistakenly attribuited
to Shem and Ever where Jacob the children of Noach where Yacko studied upon
running from his brother Esav, based on a misunderstanding that Tzefat was
connected to the city of Beit-El. Yet for generations Jews muslims and Christians
come to this cave and describe the spring tha flows as coming from the tears of
Yaackov. But we know better!
******************************RABBI SCHWARTZ QUOTE OF THE WEEK
'We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction."--Douglas MacArthur
**********************
Answer
Answer
is C- (skipped this one on my exam, can't
keep track of all the different archeological finds) The Meshe Stele was found
in Jordan in 1838 and its story of the Moabite kings Meshe's battle with the
Jewish kings of the house of Omri is significant because besides the external
corroboration of one of the stories and figures mentioned in Tanach, its
mention of Hashem's name and possibly even a mention of the David's house from
the 9th century makes it one of the earliest found today. The Meshe
Stele can be seen in Louvre in Paris today.
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