Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
July
17th 2015 -Volume
5, Issue 36 1st Av 5775
Parshat Matos/Masasey
A Place to Call Home
Do you know
those moments in life when you relive vicariously some of the most incredible
experience and events of your life? All those amazing feelings and emotions
come flowing back with tremendous in a wave of déjà vu. Like when you’re
standing at a friend’s wedding Chupa. The bride and groom walking down
the aisle-and it was just you not so long ago right there. Or by a young man’s
bar mitzvah as he makes the final bracha on the Torah for the first time
and everyone shouts out “Mazel Tov!” and everyone throws candies. It was just
me there- Where has the time gone? Holding a new born baby, sending your child
off for school for the first time, the first day of camp, a bris… OK maybe not
the Bris. But everything else is pretty amazing. As a tour guide who gets to spend quite a bit
of time with families that are experiencing Israel for the first time, I recall
my first times visiting these sites, our holy and most beautiful places Hashem
has given us, anew each day. It is one of the most beautiful experiences, one
of those gifts that Hashem gives us when we connect with another’s Simcha.
It really becomes our Simcha, our celebration. That most perfect moment
of our lives comes back to us and we didn’t even have to prepare or pay for it.
It just happens when we connect with another in their most special of times.
I had the
fortune of experiencing that this week. This past Tuesday I woke up at 4:30 AM
and drove to the airport where along with hundreds of others I welcomed in 221
new Olim to Israel, 32 families, 53 singles, 95 children, two sets of
three generations, the oldest Olah was 90 years old the youngest 4
months old. This is just one flight of the estimated 4000 immigrants coming
this year on the 53rd Nefesh
B’Nefesh flight since 2002 that has brought over 45,000 Jews in that time.
The Jewish people are coming home. As I watched my Brother and Sister in Law
and their 5 children come off the plane waving a sign that quoted the prophecy
of Yirmiyahu “V’Shavu Banim L’Gvulam-And
your sons have returned to their border” tears filled my eyes. The Israeli army
band playing Haveinu Shalom Alaichem and Yerushalayim, The dignitaries
that welcomed us, the waving flags overwhelmed me. It was just 5 years ago that
the Schwartz family came off that plane. It felt like yesterday. The yesterday
that all of my ancestors waited and longed for thousands of years for. The days
are coming, the morning after the long night has begun. My tears of joy were
the tears of millennia of prayer and hope transformed into tears of joy, tears
of redemption.
I thought of Rabbi Akiva and the sages who sat
mourning the destruction of the Temple as foxes scampered out of its ruins and
our people were taken into exile. The Rabbis cried as imaginably did Rabbi
Akiva as well, yet he broke out into laughter and rejoicing. When asked why, he
responded Jewishly with the question as to why they were crying. When they told
them it was because they saw the fulfillment of this precise moment and vision
in the prophecy of Yirmiyahu, foxes and all. He told them it was precisely
why he was laughing.
“Until I didn’t
see the prophecy that Zion will be plowed to the ground I feared that we would
not see the fulfillment of the prophecy that “Once again Old men and women will
once again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, the streets will be filled with
young boys and girls frolicking, So says Hashem Lord of Hosts- If to the remnants
of Israel this may seem amazing, In my eyes is it amazing?”
I was crying
and laughing the tears of Rabbi Akiva.
There are
never coincidences in Jewish life and particularly not in our weekly Torah
reading. Every year at this time of year the week before Tisha B’Av when
we mourn the loss of our Temples and the destruction of Jerusalem, we read the
Torah portion of the conclusion of the book Bamidbar, our wandering in the
wilderness and the promise and mitzvah that we would inherit the land. It is
amazing that as we sit down and are mourning our temple and our Exile each
year, we are meant to read the portion of our obligation to return to
Israel. Nachmanides in this weeks Torah
portion on the verse in the Torah Bamidbar 33:50-57 is so beautiful and so
timely. The verses themselves give us the mandate and historical significance
of all we were put in this world for.
“Speak to
the children of Israel and tell them, when you cross over the Jordan to the
land of Canaan, and you shall Vhorashtem –inherit/drive out the
land from all those who dwell in it and destroy all of their temples and
idolatry and their altars you shall demolish. Vhorashtem-And you shall inherit/rid
the land and dwell in it, because it is to you I have given the land Lareshes
to inherit it. And you shall settle the land according to the lottery of your
families….And if you shall not Torishu inherit/drive out the land
from the dwellers that live there and the ones that will remain will be as
needles in your eye (ouch!!) and thorns in your side (ouch ouch!!) and they
will terrorize you on the land you are dwelling on it.
I have
bolded the words that keeps repeating itself in this verse which is the root word Rash.
Rav Smason Raphael Hirsch describes this root as connected to the taking possession
or removal of one person or thing from another. A Rash is a poor
person who has lost everything. LiGareish means to chase out our
divorce. Midrash is the derivation of one thing from another Yerusha
is inheritance and on a more pleasant note Tirosh is wine which comes
from the removal of the wine from the grapes. The question here and in fact
debate between Rashi and the Ramban in our verses above is precisely about the
above usage of the word. According to Rashi the above is a description of how we
will be able to live in the land. If we chase out the other nations, then and
only then, will we be successful in
settling the land and fulfilling our mandate (which we have yet to do)
and the consequences if we do not (which we still suffer from). One is not obligated
to settle the land according to him, although it is the purpose of our
existence, rather the Torah is telling us how we will be successful in having
an eternal dwelling place there. And you shall dwell there is a conditional
promise rather than a commandment. Nachmanides- the 13the century sage Ramban,
who ultimately moved with great sacrifice to Israel and attempted to restart
the community in Jerusalem, disagrees vehemently with Rashi and he understands
the verse as obligating us to inherit the land. In his words-
“This
is a positive commandment to inherit the land given to us by Hashem to Avraham,
Yitzchak and Yaakov, and not leave it in the hands of other nations or in
desolation… And those that interpret the verse as a national mandate or a
promise (are mistaken) as can be proven by the fact that to conquer the land is
a battle that is a mitzvah… and this mitzvah is repeated numerous times in the
Torah and if you shall go conquer another land such as Shinar or Ashur you will
violate this commandment..
All
agree however that there is a mitzvah that will be fulfilled in living in the
land of Israel. The question is if one is obligated to do so or not.
It
is an interesting terminology the word that is repeatedly used being “to
inherit the land”. Generally we understand inheritance as being a passive
thing, yet here the Torah seems to not merely to tell us to conquer the land, and not merely to throw out
our enemies, but it should be a process of inheritance- re-connecting with
something that has been promised to our forefathers and us long ago. What is
the significance of this idea?
The
answer I believe can be found in the eyes of all of those coming off the plane
this week, in the eyes of the thousands that have come over the past decades,
in the hearts and prayers of two thousand years of the life of the wandering
Jew who gets thrown out and killed and persecuted in country to country to
country and then finds a new place to live and new place to aspire to greatness
a new place to become wealthy powerful, “successful” and influential, and even
a new place to build to Torah, Yeshivot, and a flourishing Jewish life…until the
cycle repeats itself. Generally to the incredible shock at how could this ever
happen to us here? Again? But? But? But? This was supposed to be different? We
are more advanced. They love us. They need us. It’s all true but the problem is
none of those other places were meant to be our inheritance. None of those
places were ever our home.
It
never fails to amaze me how many Jews I know are drawn to the communities and
perhaps even more perplexing to the cemeteries in Europe, to seek out their
roots, our history, where our family once came from. That’s not where we came
from. That’s not where any of your or my ancestors wanted to be. That’s not
where we are meant to feel any, and I do mean any, nostalgic or emotional and
even spiritual connection. No more so than the slimy Motel 6 you may have spent
a night in on a business trip that ultimately went bad. The only thing and
place that is meant to be meaningful is the land that was promised to us our
inheritance. Eretz Yisrael, the land of our forefathers. The only place that was
ever truly meant to be ours.
Imagine
you have a piece of land that or an heirloom that belonged to your favorite grandfather.
Something that was passed down for generations. And someone came and desecrated
it. They drew a swastika on it. They built house of ill repute. They turned it
into a landfill. What would you do about it? Would you be able to rest until you
were able to restore it to its former glory? How many cemeteries are people
investing in fixing up in god-forsaken Poland and Lithuania? How many monuments
are we building there and how many more Holocaust museums shall we invest in?
While all the while the Temple Mount has a Mosque upon it in which “the thorns
in our side and the needles in our eyes” call for our destruction? Israel is
not just our homeland. We are meant to feel that we are here because it is our
inheritance. One doesn’t share their, the land, home or house that their
grandfather bequeathed them with a stranger and foreigner let alone a
terrorist. One doesn’t talk about a two tiered inheritance state. One doesn’t
rely on other people or the nations of the world to affirm our right to restore
my grandfather’s homestead the way it used to be. All of those discussions and
negotiations can only take place in a land that we conquered from foreigners,
not a land that has always belonged to me that others have just been squatting
in.
Not
everyone is a hero enough to come do what it takes to restore our homeland, the
land of our heritage. But even those who cannot should certainly never be able
to sleep at night restfully as long as they know it is still remains
desecrated. It still remains bereft of its children and its former glory. It
still waits to fulfill the purpose for which it was created. Our sages tell us that
he who mourns the Temple and Jerusalem will merit to see its rebuilding.
Mourning doesn’t just mean having an itchy chin for three weeks, not listening
to your favorite CD, or even buying new clothes, swimming or even not eating
meat for a week (all customs of this three week and intensified 9 day period of
mourning). Mourning means that your world feels incomplete. Mourning means
remembering the person you once loved and cared for and realizing how empty the
world is without them. When one truly mourns than one can receive the greatest
inheritance. You can rebuild. You can resolve to do everything in your power to
restore that glory. To bring it back. To assure that you and your descendants
will continue to have that inheritance for eternity. Tziyon/Zion Jerusalem is
waiting for us all to come home.
Have
a Shabbos of eternity and a Chodesh that truly is Menachem our Av-that consoles
our Father,
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
***************************
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
Classic Hillarious clip of Olim Chadashim with Uri Zohar and
Arik Einshtien
Olim Chadashim in army learn hebrew
Entebee Raid in Cartoon!
***********
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
While in the states I picked up a great book with yiidsh quotes and
wisdom and I have always wanted to teach my kids Yiddish so here we go each
week another great proverb in yiddish maybe you guys will learn it too!!
“Durch
shveigen ken men nit shteigen.”- Through being still one
cannot grow
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FAVORITE QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“Don’t give up on your dreams… Keep
sleeping"— Anonymous
" When I was a boy and I would see
scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the
helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day,
especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I
am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many
caring people in this world.- Mr. Fred Rogers ( Of Mr. Rogers neighborhood
and the world of imagination
“This is a good deal”- Neville Chamberlain
to Hitler, Bill Clinton to North Korea, Barak Obama to Iran
“Words Matter”- President Obama to Bibi
Netanyahu in regards to the two state solution
“Death to America,
Death to Israel.” ― Ayatolla
Alli Khammein
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S
TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
(New exam this week these questions are from the
most recent tour guide exam-let’s see how I do)
answer below at end of Email
Hezekiah, the King of
Judea is mentioned outside of the Torah on
A.
The
El Amarna writings
B.
The
Tel Dan inscription
C.
The
Sancheirev Prisms
D.
Mesha
Stele
.RABBI SCHWARTZ'S
COOL MIDRASH OF THE WEEK
The Midrashim on living and leaving Eretz Yisrael
are so beautiful and meaningful. The Talmud tells a story of Rav Yehudah Ben
Besiera, Rav Masya Bar Charash, Rav Chanina Bar Ahai, Rav Yehoshua and Rav
Yonatan who were all leaving Eretz Yisrael. When they arrived at tehri
destination they rent their garments and wept as they recalled Eretz Yisrael
quoting the verse of dwelling in the land and they said “The Mitzva of living
in Eretz Yisrael is equal to all other mitzvos combined. The Talmud takes it a
step further with the statement “It is better to live in Israel, even in a city
that is the majority non-jews (which can’t be too good for your children’s
education) than to live outside of Israelin
acity that is mostly Jewish.For he who lives in Israel is as if he has a
God and he who lives outside of Israel is as if he is living without a God. To
prove this is not even just nice philosophical ideas the Talmud concludes with
a even more fascinating and actual halachic monetary difference. “If a man
wishes to live in Israel and his wife does not he may divorce her and not be
obligated to pay and of his Ketuva money. Similarly if she wishes to live in
Israel and he does not He must divorce her and pay her Ketuva. The opposite is
true if they live in Israel as well and he wants to leave he must pay and if
she wishes to leave than he does not have to pay. My recommendation though is
to stay married and either move here and stay here. It’s nice to live with a
God J
****************
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S COOL THINGS TO DO IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-
That Yonah doesn’t
think I can come up with each week…
Greet new immigrants – This is a country of immigrants. Less than 70 years ago right after WWII and
the devastation of the holocaust this country had less than a half a million
Jews. Today we are almost on the precipice of being host to the largest Jewish population
on the planet. Who wudda thunk? Answer- Hashem and every believing Jew since
the time of our exile. Today with Nefesh BNefesh there are thousands coming
from, what should hopefully be the last bastion of Jewish life in the Diaspora,
North America. There is nothing more amazing and cooler than going to participate
in one of their programs and welcome these new Olim back home. But that’s not
the only place where one can do this. Every community in Israel has welcoming
commitees and buddy families that help welcome the new Olim, preparing them
meals assiting them with integrating into Israel and their new homes. I don’t
think any other country in the world has the excitement and enthusiasm and
certainly not the sense of fulfillment of prophetic return that these new
immigrants have that exudes from their very being. It’s truly remarkable to be
part of the that.
******************
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ALIYA JOKES OF THE WEEK
Abe a new
Oleh to Israel and was excited about moving here. As soon as his plane landed,
he got a taxi to take him to his hotel. The taxi driver was very friendly and
told Abe all kinds of useful information.
Then Abe asks the driver, "Say, is Israel a healthy place?"
"Oh, yes, it really is," the driver answered, "When I first came here, I couldn't say even one simple word, I had hardly any hair on my head, I didn't have the energy to walk across a small room and I even had to be helped out of bed every day."
"That's a remarkable story, truly amazing," Abe said, "so how long have you been here in Israel?"
"I was born here."
Then Abe asks the driver, "Say, is Israel a healthy place?"
"Oh, yes, it really is," the driver answered, "When I first came here, I couldn't say even one simple word, I had hardly any hair on my head, I didn't have the energy to walk across a small room and I even had to be helped out of bed every day."
"That's a remarkable story, truly amazing," Abe said, "so how long have you been here in Israel?"
"I was born here."
************
David leaves
London and makes aliyah (emigrates) to Israel. As soon as he settles down in
Tel Aviv, he goes to see the local optician.
"I’m having trouble reading," he says, "maybe you could check my eyes?"
The optician agrees and sits David in front of a large eye test chart. "Can you read the letters on the bottom line?" he asks.
"No," replies David.
"So how about the next line up?" asks the optician.
Squinting, David replies, "No, I still can’t read them."
"OK," says the optician, "let’s start at the top line. Read out the letters please."
"But I can’t," says David.
"Are you perhaps a teeny bit blind?" asks the optician.
"Certainly not," replies David, "it’s just that I’ve never learned to read Hebrew."
"I’m having trouble reading," he says, "maybe you could check my eyes?"
The optician agrees and sits David in front of a large eye test chart. "Can you read the letters on the bottom line?" he asks.
"No," replies David.
"So how about the next line up?" asks the optician.
Squinting, David replies, "No, I still can’t read them."
"OK," says the optician, "let’s start at the top line. Read out the letters please."
"But I can’t," says David.
"Are you perhaps a teeny bit blind?" asks the optician.
"Certainly not," replies David, "it’s just that I’ve never learned to read Hebrew."
***********
When Jacob
was finally given an exit visa by the Russians and allowed to immigrate to
Israel, he was told he could only take what he could put into one suitcase. At
Moscow airport, he was stopped by customs and an official shouted, "Open
your case at once."
Jacob did what he was told. The official searched through his case and pulled out something wrapped in newspaper. He unwrapped it and saw it was a bust of Stalin.
"What is that?" he shouted at Jacob.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'What is that?' - you should ask 'Who is that?' That is our glorious leader Stalin. I'm taking it to remind me of the wonderful things he did for me and the marvellous life that I am leaving behind."
The official sneered. "I always knew you Jews were mad. Go, and take the bust with you."
When Jacob arrived at Ben Gurion airport, a customs officer said, "Shalom, welcome to Israel, open your case, please!"
Jacob's case was once again searched and not surprisingly the bust was found. "What is that?” asked the officer.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'What is that?' - you should ask 'Who is that?' That is Stalin the bastard. I want to spit on it every day to remind me of all the suffering and misery he caused me."
The official laughed, "I always knew you Russians were mad. Go, and take the bust with you."
When Jacob arrived at his new home, his young nephew watched him as he unpacked. Jacob carefully unwrapped the bust of Stalin and put it on the table. "Who is that?" asked his nephew.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'Who is that?' - you should ask 'What is that?' That is five kilos of gold."
Jacob did what he was told. The official searched through his case and pulled out something wrapped in newspaper. He unwrapped it and saw it was a bust of Stalin.
"What is that?" he shouted at Jacob.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'What is that?' - you should ask 'Who is that?' That is our glorious leader Stalin. I'm taking it to remind me of the wonderful things he did for me and the marvellous life that I am leaving behind."
The official sneered. "I always knew you Jews were mad. Go, and take the bust with you."
When Jacob arrived at Ben Gurion airport, a customs officer said, "Shalom, welcome to Israel, open your case, please!"
Jacob's case was once again searched and not surprisingly the bust was found. "What is that?” asked the officer.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'What is that?' - you should ask 'Who is that?' That is Stalin the bastard. I want to spit on it every day to remind me of all the suffering and misery he caused me."
The official laughed, "I always knew you Russians were mad. Go, and take the bust with you."
When Jacob arrived at his new home, his young nephew watched him as he unpacked. Jacob carefully unwrapped the bust of Stalin and put it on the table. "Who is that?" asked his nephew.
Jacob replied, "You shouldn't ask 'Who is that?' - you should ask 'What is that?' That is five kilos of gold."
*****************
And for the
one that didn’t yet make Aliya…
Benjamin, a
young Talmud student who had left Israel for London some years earlier, returns
to visit his family.
"But Benjamin, where is your beard?" asks his mother upon seeing him.
"Mother," he replies, "In London, nobody wears a beard."
"But at least you keep the Sabbath?" his mother asks.
"Mother, business is business. In London, everybody works on the Sabbath."
"But kosher food you still eat?" asks his mother.
"Mother, in London, it is very difficult to keep kosher."
Then silence, whilst his elderly mother gives thought to what she has just heard. Then she leans over and whispers in his ear, "Benjamin, tell me, are you still circumcised?"
"But Benjamin, where is your beard?" asks his mother upon seeing him.
"Mother," he replies, "In London, nobody wears a beard."
"But at least you keep the Sabbath?" his mother asks.
"Mother, business is business. In London, everybody works on the Sabbath."
"But kosher food you still eat?" asks his mother.
"Mother, in London, it is very difficult to keep kosher."
Then silence, whilst his elderly mother gives thought to what she has just heard. Then she leans over and whispers in his ear, "Benjamin, tell me, are you still circumcised?"
****************
Answer
is C: OK I know that many people don’t
know their Tanach and biblical history too well. I didn’t even when I just had
a yeshiva education. But it’s time to learn. Chizkiya was the King of Judea during
the conquest of Sancheirev of the northern ten tribes of Israel. Sanchereve
exiled the North and sieged Yerushalayim Pesach Seder night and the prophet Isaiah/Yehsaya
promised that nothing would happen. The next morning the entire army of
Sancherev was dead. Wadda boom wadda bing. If you know the story than you can
guess the answer. The prisms of Sancherev actually tell about the conquest of
Sancherev and how he came down to Jerusalem and sieged the city to the point
where Chizkiya was “like a trapped bird”. He kind of left out the rest of the
story. I wonder why? But the fact that he left it out in of itself is pretty
telling. As every other place he conquered such as Lachish he quite graphically
describes. It’s cool when archeology affirms the Torah and the narratives of
holy books. Not that we need them to of course.
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