Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
August 8th 2013 -Volume 3, Issue 41–2nd
of Elul 5773
Parshat Shoftim
Holyland-Oleh Land
It is perhaps one of the most simple gravestones I have
ever seen. One would think that for a man who almost indisputably had the
greatest hand in establishing the modern State of Israel, we would find a
monument or plaque filled on both sides commemorating his life and his
accomplishments. Yet for Israel’s first and longest reigning Prime minister,
the man who headed the Hagana and united all the diverse military factions, the
visionary who oversaw operation Magic Carpet bringing thousands of Jews from
Arab countries home to Israel, who in his early life was the head of World
Zionist organization and the Jewish Agency, and who personally oversaw the
flourishing of the Negev and the establishment of Israel’s national water
carrier, the three line epithet on his modest grave was all that he wished it
to state.
David Ben Gurion
(1886-1973)
*Alah Artzah 1906
*moved up to Israel
All he had done, all that he had accomplished in his simple
eyes it all paled compared to his most significant accomplishment. He was a Jew
that moved to Israel. It was how he wished to be remembered. It was what gave
him all the inspiration he needed to build our national homeland.
This week my family and I celebrate our third
“Aliyah”-versary. We came as a family of seven with children and we moved to
the North. It’s a time in life when many advised it would be difficult. Your
children are the wrong age. Finding the right schools would be difficult. The
North is a hard place to live. It’s far away from everyone (we moved from
Seattle Washington so that really wasn’t too much of a concern). Making a living
is hard, the culture is different, the bureaucracy is crazy, housing is
unaffordable, the reasons and arguments not to come were strong. Yet compared
to what those early settlers had to go through, today’s Israel is a veritable
Garden of Eden. They, as their ancestors before them for hundreds of year, came
to Israel by foot, camel and dangerous seas to a country that was full of
swamps, disease, poverty and daily dangers from the hostile neighbors that have
always sought to destroy us. They came, as did we, because we felt that this
was our home. This is where we would be connected in the deepest way to our
history and our destiny. They came because just as much as Israel needs us we
felt we needed it.
The past few weeks Parshiyot describe the significance of
the land of Israel. Last week Parshat Re’eh describes the promise and the
beauty of the land and our religious mandate to rid it of all forms of Tuma’ah
and idolatary. Eretz Yisrael is meant to be more than a national homeland it is
the Holy Land (thus the title of this weekly E-MailJ), a land where God’s
presence can comfortably dwell. Next week’s Parsha will discuss the various
mitzvot of the land Israel. According to the Ramban-Nachmanides all mitzvot
were only given to be performed ultimately in the land of Israel. It is only
here that they can be experienced in their fullest spiritual expression. And
than we have this week’s Torah portion the center of this triumvirate; Parshat
Shoftim which delineates the establishment of a Jewish society in Israel, the
creation of a Torah justice system, its officers, its religious army, and its
righteous kings.
This is perhaps the most challenging of all the
commandments. In our tragic 3000 year history of being a nation there has been
not more than a few hundred years when we have succeeded in creating this holy
society. We have conquered land, we have expanded our borders, and we have even
rid the country at times of idolatry. We have also been observant of our
commandments. There have always been an enduring portion of the Jewish people
who have observed Shabbat, the holidays the prayers and rituals that make up
Jewish life even in the harshest of conditions. Yet our greatest failure has
been to create this society of a nation of God in our Promised Land. The world
needs a place which would serve as a role model of what it should look like if
only His presence would be reflected in the nation of Israel.
As someone who now lives in Eretz Yisrael, this failure is
constantly on my mind. What can and should I do to bring that Divine presence
back? The early Zionists, like Ben Gurion planned plotted and strategized in
order to build a modern state, to achieve UN and world recognition and to
create a country that would be a light to the world not only in terms of the advancement
of technology, wisdom and development but also as a secular humanistic ethical
society built on principles of kindness, justice and democratic principles. And
to a large degree they were and are phenomenally successful in achieving their
goals. Israel does stand out as that nation that shines not only in the
primitive Middle East but in the entire world as a leader in all of those
areas. But it is still not a Nation of God. And that’s not their fault- that
wasn’t their training or upbringing. It’s ours…It’s mine and yours who know
better and who can do better.
We have entered the month of Elul. In a few weeks we will
be standing before God and reflecting on our lives. Interestingly enough Rosh
Hashanah is not a time when we pray to a large degree for any of our personal
requests for the upcoming year. Although our sages tell us it is the day when
we will be judged. Instead the repeated theme of Rosh Hashana is for the return
of Kingship of God to the Holy Land. To have his presence once again rule the
world as it was meant to be. We daven on the most important day of the year not
for long life, health, Shalom Bayit, marriage, our children, or even for a
better livelihood. We pray for the big picture. For the day to come when we may
live a life that is a fulfillment of our chosen mandate.
If this is the focus of what will be our prayers on Rosh
Hashana, then these days of Elul are meant to be the preparation for those
prayers. We are in a time when we each have to start asking ourselves what we
could be doing more to bring about that ultimate day, not only for ourselves
and our families but for the entire nation. Just as Ben Gurion the hero of the
modern state of Israel gave his entire life so that his Aliyah La’Aretz would
be one that left this country in a better place than it was before; a step
closer to the ultimate Redemption hopefully. So to must we plan and actualize
our dreams and the hopes and prayers of all the generations before us and the
will of our Father in Heaven to once again restoring the Malchut Shadai- the
kingdom of heaven to his holy city. May that day come soon Be’Ezrat Hashem
Have a truly blessed Shabbos,
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
Insights and Inspiration this week in which we
read of the mitzvah and halachot of
going to war, is dedicated anonymously in honor and appreciation of our brave
Israeli soldiers that serve, with meisrus nefesh, klal yisrael, as they stand
on our behalf in defense of our nation. May Hashem watch over them and protect
them from harm.
Chazak
U'Baruch!
RABBI
SCHWARTZES TOUR GUIDE COURSE QUESTION OF THE WEEK
(answer
below)
(can
you believe we actually need to know where Johns parents lived?)
According
to the Christian tradition where did the parents of John the Baptist live?
(a) Qumran
(b) Ein Kerem
(c) The Monastery of St. John in the Desert near Even Sapir
(d) Qasr-al-Yahud
*******************************************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZES FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK
""What matters is not
what the goyim say, but what the Jews do." "- David Ben Gurion
RABBI SCHWARTZES FAVORITE JOKE/LINE OF THE WEEK
Ben Gurion-"I'll
be seventy years old soon. Well, Nahum, if you asked me whether I shall die and
be buried in a Jewish State I would tell you Yes; in ten years, fifteen years,
I believe there will still be a Jewish State. But ask me whether my son Amos,
who will be fifty at the end of this year, has a chance of dying and being
buried in a Jewish State, and I would answer: fifty-fifty."
Nahum Goldman-"But how can you sleep
with that prospect in mind and be Prime Minister of Israel too?" .
"Who says I
sleep?" was Ben-Gurion's simple reply.
****************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ YOUTUBE LINK OF THE WEEK
In honor of our aliyah-versary my favorite aliyah videos
Maccabeats aliyah video-great historic clips and info
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh-hNOLqgt0
My personal favorite
Come back-try not crying- I dare you..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_kxWKB5vPM
Welcome to the newest olim July 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX3MRrzvAoU
************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-
Kibbutz
Sdei Boker- Established in 1952 in the negev
the Kibbutz is best known as the retirement place and “dream home” of David ben
Gurion and his wife Paula. It is said that he came here early in his career and
was taken by the kibbutzniks literally living the dream of bringing life to the
desert in fulfillment of all of the prophecys of our ancestors. Today one can
tour the Kibbutz and tzrif Ben Gurion where he lived worked, and mostly wrote
letters to young children from around the world who asked him the simple
questions of what life in Israel was all about.
In one of the letters he is quoted as saying
The desert provides us with the best opportunity to begin
again. This is a vital element of our renaissance in Israel. For it is in
mastering nature that man learns to control himself. It is in this sense, more
practical than mystic, that I define our Redemption on this land. Israel must
continue to cultivate its nationality and to represent the Jewish people
without renouncing its glorious past. It must earn this – which is no small
task – a right that can only be acquired in the desert.
When I looked out my window today and saw a tree standing
before me, the sight awoke in me a greater sense of beauty and personal
satisfaction than all the forests that I have crossed in Switzerland and
Scandinavia. For we planted each tree in this place and watered them with the
water we provided at the cost of numerous efforts. Why does a mother love her
children so? Because they are her creation. Why does the Jew feel an affinity
with Israel? Because everything here must still be accomplished. It depends
only on him to participate in this privileged act of creation. The trees at Sde
Boker speak to me differently than do the trees planted elsewhere. Not only
because I participated in their planting and in their maintenance, but also
because they are a gift of man to nature and a gift of the Jews to the compost
of their culture.
May we all soon merit to see the fulfillment of that dream….
Answer
is A- John
the Baptist…sigh…in hebrew known as yochanan ha'matvil. So although he hung out
in the wilderness by even sapir and the cave of the Franciscans there and he
allegedly was part the Qumran Dead sea Essenes/early Christians potentially, at
least that’s what savvy Israeli tourism
guides and sites who want to make money off Christian tourists will tell you,
although there is no evidence to that. As well according to the new testament
baptized the J-man by Quasr Al Yahud by the Jordan river. Yet, he was born in
Jerusalem to his nice Jewish parents Zecharia and Elizabeth and whadaya know an
angel even appeared by a spring and told em so…
John is certainly one of the
interesting Christian figures as they see in the man who foretold and heralded
J as being a gilgul/pre-configuration of Eliyahu Ha'Navi who we know will
herald the true Mashiach…hopefully soon..
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