from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
October 16th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 51 14th of Tishrei 5785
Seeing Happy Clouds
OK Guys, Is everyone ready for the big holiday this year? Pesach we
have a whole month worth of cleaning of our house. Really Yeshivish people are
baking their own burnt matzas a month before already and even cutting wheat and
getting the water ready. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur we have the whole month of
Elul to prepare. Purim starts already from the beginning of Adar being happy.
While on the opposite end of the spectrum Tisha B’Av our mourning starts from
three weeks before and we get sadder and smellier without showers at the end by
the time we’re sitting on the floor mourning. Even Chanuka it seems like
already right after Sukkos the stores are already selling doughnuts here in
Israel already. It’s never too early to start with those sufganiyot.
Yet Sukkos doesn’t work that way… the second Yom Kippur is over we’re
banging nails and hanging decorations. We have to run out to the Shuk and pull
out our magnifying glass- so that no one suspects that we don’t know anything and
won’t marry our daughters, and pretend that there really is much of a
difference between this shape, and that black dot all the while extolling the virtues
of Etrogs with or without a pitum and or gartel and lulavs with or
without a kneppel. We’re cooking like mad. Everyone is coming over, We’ve
got three days until the chag and guess what? I’m out touring with my fancy
(and dedicated and committed to Eretz Yisrael to come particularly this year,
when who knows what might happen) American tourists who paid a million dollars
on El Al to fly here and don’t have to worry about any of the above. They have “people”
that take care of all of that stuff for them. They have more important things
to do. They have to tour with me and make sure I’m not home to have to do all my
Chag preparations. In the past. I had five kids at home that would do that for
me. It’s down to Tully and Elka now… And Elka went to Yerushalayim with friends..
Wish me luck brothers.
To make it even more fun, we’ve got missiles falling on our heads
in Karmiel. It’s amazing that we lasted until now without any. When Nasralla
was around we had an understanding. He would leave me and my city alone and I
would leave him alone. But since the Israelis took him out, these new guys
running the show over there didn’t exactly get the message. There must be a
beeper malfunction or something. So we’ve got missiles, sirens, a very
traumatized wife and dog… I don’t know which one of them is worse off. Yes… I
don know who I care about more. Chase doesn’t make chulent. Yup… It’s a fun
holiday that seems to just jump right out at us. Kind of like this whole year
did, to be honest… Yet, God willing this as well should be at the opposite extreme.
Yet besides all of those other details and preparations for the mitzvos
of the holiday, there’s one big mitzva that is perhaps the most encompassing
mitzva of the entire 8 days coming up on us. It’s more than Sukka, Its more
than eating meals, it’s more than the times we take our Lulav and Etrog and
shake it around, it’s more than all of the prayers and hallels that we say. It’s
a mitzva every single minute of the next 8 days. A Mitzva that for many this
year is going to be one of the hardest they have ever had to fulfill. One that
in fact, it’s pretty much impossible to fully realize in the matziv that
we are in. It’s the mitzva of Va’hayisa ach samayach- we are meant to be
only happy. Exuberant. Rejoiceful. Celebratory. Flying on cloud 9. Clouds of
glory, that is.
Are you feeling it…? Have you prepared for it? Can you get there?
This is not a just eat in the Sukkah, shake the Lulav, go to shul or even sukkah
hop or dance at a simchat beit Ha’Shoeiva for a few sweaty hours. It’s
not even going on a Chol Ha’Moed tour all day with Rabbi Schwartz, which should
make it easier for you. This is 24/7 every minute of the day for the next 8
days- and you Americans that haven’t yet merited to be living in the Holy Land
need an extra day as well, the only emotion we have to be feeling and
expressing is happiness and joy. Who’s up for the task?
How do we get there? How do we feel that this year, when Simchas
Torah is looming right in front of us and there are so many Shuls with empty
seats. With children in Gaza. With husbands in Lebanon who haven’t seen their
families for months. With burnt houses and bloody peace festival sites fresh in
our brains. With almost a hundred thousand of our brothers and sisters who have
been living in Diros Arai- temporary dwellings for over a year already, while
their houses, chicken coops and barns are being blown up? Only happy? Really?
How do we get there? How do I get there?
So Hashem sent me a gift this year. This weekly E-Mail is always the
merit that Hashem utilizes to send me something original, a new insight, some
mind-blowing inspiration, words of comfort and chizuk that will carry me
through the week. And as well give me something to speak about in my Shul, as
until this moment, who has time to prepare drashos for Shabbos. It’s the
selfish reason, why I have my shul to be honest. It’s the only way I merit
Hashem sharing this chizuk with me… It’s worth the investment and all of the
shnorring I have to do from you guys. And thank you so much for all of
those of you who responded to my appeal. The rest of you can just unsubscribe now…thank
you… Just joiking… I love you too… The other added benefit is of course that I
get to daven for the amud, as I’m not really good at sitting through
other people’s leading the service or drashos for that matter…
Now in past years, I always understood that famous Gaon of Vilna,
idea that many mention that to understand what a word means in Hebrew you have
to look at the first time the word is mentioned in the Torah. And as I’m sure
many of you will respond if I asked them where the first time the word Sukkah
is mentioned, you would tell me that it is found by Yaakov Avinu when he builds
Sukkot- for his animals after leaving the house of Lavan. There’s lots of Torah
about that. You’ve heard it all before. It’s about understanding that our
physical possessions are all temporary. It’s understanding that Hashem gives us
all the blessing we have. This year though I found an earlier source for the
word Sukka. One that I never noticed before and one that is mind-blowing and as
you will read, eye-opening.
Rabbeinu Bachaya notes that rather than the word booths as being
the source for the word Sukka, it actually has its root in another word. Actually
not a word, but in an unlikely name. The word Sukkah, he writes, comes from the
name Yiska. Yiska, the Torah tells us was the daughter of Haran and it seems
according to the Midrash was the alternate name for our Matriarch Sarah, before
she got married to Avraham, and yeshivished her name out. Who knows?
Maybe they asked Reb Chayim Kanievsky for a bracha for children and he made
them change her name…
Rashi tells us in his first pshat of the name Yiska that she
was thus called because she was socheh with Ruach Ha’Kodesh- she was
able to envision with the Holy Spirit and kulan sochin b’yofiya- and all
would gaze at her beauty. So there you have it. The root of the word Sukkah for
the first time in the Torah is to gaze, to perceive, to envision. The root of
the word Sukkah, and seemingly the essence of the mitzva is see and reveal
things that one doesn’t necessary appreciate on the surface without a deep
penetrating look. As well Unkelus by the parsha of Bilam when Bilam gazes-
Vayishkof- translates the word in Aramaic as “Itchisei”- he looked
deeply and beyond.
If you think about Sarah Imeinu, when the Torah gives us her name,
I think that we would probably look at her with sorrow. He father Haran, was
just burnt up in a fiery furnace by the evil king Nimrod. Unlike his brother
Avraham who was miraculously saved, he wasn’t that meritorious. He said Shema
Yisrael, just as his brother did. He was willing to sacrifice himself to be
martyred rather than to bow down to idolatry. Yet, it didn’t help. If one
thinks about it for a second, which I never really did before this year. Haran
was in fact the first person to be martyred on Kiddush Hashem- sanctifying
Hashem’s name. Yet like the so many kedoshim that died this year, he
wasn’t saved, and perhaps until that very last moment and breath that they
took, they didn’t know or appreciate how sacred their lives were. Until their
neshoma left them with Hashem Echad in their last breath.
Sarah, his daughter, however took that trauma, that holiness, and
she saw beyond that sorrow and grieving and questions of faith that her father
had. She perceived that there would be a future. That Hashem was good. That it’s
not the moment that defines us. It’s how we are given the ability to define the
moment. To elevate it. To see Hashem’s salvation ahead of us. It’s to walk out
of the fiery furnace, the death and destruction and to have beauty that shines
through that everyone can gaze at and be in awe of. It’s the beauty and faith
of the so many I have met, that understand as we all do that Hashem has a Plan
we don’t understand, but that we can perceive with our Ruach Ha’Kodesh. With the
miracles he does preform for us. Yiska/Sarah walks out of the death of her
father, the martyr Haran and she marries and connects to Avraham who was saved
from that same fire. From that Kibbutz. She connected to the miracle and not to
the tragedy. She walked in the tent of Avraham where she lived the rest of her
life and stood at the petach ha’ohel- she stood in his Sukkah. She
recognized that the world is just temporary. That life is whatever path Hashem
takes us on. And with that Sukka she went from being Sarai- not just the
princess of Avraham, but Sarah, the princess and Matriarch of our nation and
the world.
Of the four species that we take on Sukka, our sages tell us that
they each represent different body parts. The Lulav is our spine, the Etrog is the
heart, Aravot are shaped like our lips and the Hadasim/myrtles are eyes. The Haddasim
are unique though, because unlike the other species that all match up, as we
have one heart, one spine and two lips and thus two aravot and one of
each of the others, Hadassim has three branches and they each have
clusters of three leaves. This is seemingly strange because it doesn’t match up
with our two eyes. As well, funny enough a Lulav, Etrog and even Aravot
that aren’t kosher are called pasul-invalid. Yet when the Hadassim are
lacking in their leaves its referred to as a Hadas shoteh- a stupid or
foolish hadas… Hmmm… I don’t know how politically correct that sounds. What
would the leave activists have to say about that? Shouldn’t we refer to them a
foliage challenged perhaps.
The answer is that on Sukkos we are granted an extra eye. It’s the
eye of Ruach Hakodesh, it’s the one that we get when we enter the
Sukkah. It’s the eye that tells us that all that we are seeing in the world
outside of the Sukkah is not what it seems. The real world is one that has the
clouds of glory surrounding us at all times. That is watching over us. That the
martyrs are in a better place and are in fact right there in our Sukkah with us
at our table. They are there with our Ushpizin. With Avraham and Sarah. With
each of our Patriarchs through King David on the last night. That the real
world is a beautiful Sukkah. That Hashem is dwelling in our midst. It’s a world
that this year has seen tens of thousands of missiles that would have decimated
any other country and that statistically should’ve killed hundreds of thousands,
but that bounced off the clouds of glory that all of the Iron Domes, Davids
Slingshots and Arrows could never of pulled off and defended us from without
Hashem’s hand and protective clouds. It’s a world that is getting closer and
closer to Mashiach. That we are being prepared to step into that holy Sukkah of
Hashem, the Sukkat Dovid Hanofelet- that Sukkah of Hashem that has perhaps
fallen, but has never really been destroyed. That is in the process of being
raised and uplifted to heights we’ve never achieved before. It’s bringing the Shechina
back into our midst.
Someone who doesn’t see this is a shoteh- he’s not merely
blind. He has two eyes that he’s looking with, but he’s not gazing and perceiving
with that third eye. The eye of Ruach Hakodesh that we all have and have
been given. He’s living in the moment and not seeing beyond it. He doesn’t recognize
how much Hashem is doing for us, and how our Father is bringing us to the final
game. To His palace. To redemption. To being happy all of the time. Happiness
isn’t something that happens. In fact happiness is the opposite of happen-ness.
It’s adding the yud at the end of the ‘happ’ and transforming the
world from a place where things happen to a place that sees Hashem and his little
yud and becomes Happy. Cute? Right?
To become happy doesn’t take a lot of work, this year, if you think
about it for one second. More than any other year, we have seen that what has
been happening to us, to Jews all over the world, is that it’s not something
that is happening. It’s something that is surreall. It’s Ruach Ha’Kodesh. We were
given a third eye last year on Simchat Torah when we left our Sukkah. It’s an
eye that showed us that everything we thought was true about the world is over.
The redemption is coming. Hashem has fully taken over the wheel. We’ve spent a
year in shelters. We’ve spent a year davening. We’ve spent a year doing chesed
and emotionally and spiritually reaching realms we never did before. We’ve
spent a year entering the Sukkah of Hashem. We’ve gotten there. We’re home. We
can be happy. We have that third eye. We’re not shotim- fools, blind. Let
the rejoicing begin!
Have an amazing joyous, festive, redemptive Sukkos,
Warmly
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
This week's Insights and Inspiration is dedicated in appreciation
of the so many of you who have partnered with us this past High Holiday season
and answered our bi-annual appeal. Your contributions and friendship is so meaningful
and I can’t express how much it means to me and my shul. May Hashem bless all
of you and your families with an incredible year full of only good and
deliciousness…
*********************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" A lustiger dales gait iber alles.."- Happy poverty overcomes everything.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEOS OF
THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/ushpizin – In honor of Sukkos one of my most beautiful Sukkos songs.. and you know theres a need for a good hartzig one “Ushpizin”
answer below at end of Email
25.The governing center of the Palestinian Authority is located in the city of _______ What proportion of Israel’s population are Arab-Israelis?
A) Arounf 20%
B) Around .5%
C) Around 10%
D) Around .35%
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
25) The governing
center of the Palestinian Authority is located in the city of _______
What proportion of
Israel’s population are Arab-Israelis?
a) Around 20%
B) Around 5%
C) Around 10%
D) Around 35%
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S HAPPY JOKES OF THE
WEEK
Why was the mortgage so upset? Because
it was a loan
Why was the horse so happy? Because
he lived in a stable environment
To be happy with a man, you must
understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman, you must
love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.
Why are frogs so happy? They eat
whatever bugs them!
Some cause happiness wherever they
go. Others whenever they go.
Berkowitz was in the best hospital
in Long Island and was moaning the whole time, finally he was transferred
to a crummy hospital in Brooklyn, happy as anything, they ask him what the
problem was before, he said before I had nothing to complain about ...
HERE I CAN COMPLAIN!!!!
Shlomo and Hetty, an elderly widow
and widower, had been dating for about three years when Shlomo finally decided
to ask Hetty to marry him. She immediately said "yes".
The next morning when he awoke, Shlomo couldn't remember what her answer was! "Was
she happy? I think so. Wait, no, she looked at me funny..."
After about an hour of trying to remember, but to no avail, he got on the
telephone and gave Hetty a call. Embarrassed, he admitted that he didn't
remember her answer to his proposal.
"Oh", Hetty said, "I'm so glad you called. I remembered
saying 'yes' to someone, but I couldn't remember who it was."
At his 103rd birthday party, Zadie
Herman Rosenbaum was asked by his great grandson Shmueli if he planned to be
around for his 104th. "I certainly do Shmueli," Zadie Herman
replied. "As a matter of fact, statistics show that very few people die
between the ages of 103 and 104."
The answer to
this week”s question is A – OK! We’re
continuing this year with the same exam as last, up to question 25 but at least
Im off to a great start with the first question right. The capital of the PA is
of course Ramalla. Which should very soon hopefully get wiped out to the ground
killing all of the Hamas lovers inside of it. And the Israeli Arab population
is about 2 million or so which is about 20% of the Israeli Jewish population.
As well.. All of those that don’t like us living here should get killed god
willing soon. So here we start off the new year and the exam scor stands at. So
I got this one half right and thus the new score is Rabbi Schwartz having a
16 point and the MOT having 9 point on this latest Ministry of
Tourism exam.
