from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
November 8th 2024 -Volume 14 Issue 2 7th of Cheshvan 5785
The First and Last War
I bought a doughnut today. I’m ready for Chanuka. I used to find it funny that the second after Sukkos is over the bakeries are already trying to capitalize on “the winter holiday” season. In the States you had to wait until at least Thanksgiving before people got into the mode. But that’s goyim, I guess. They don’t need a lot of hachanos, preparations for their, l’havdil, yomim tovim…. We Jews need time to get ready. We need a month of Elul before the High Holidays. Three weeks before Tisha B’Av and the entire month of Adar to get ready for Purim. Although really frum people and most yeshivos already start that by Tu B’Shvat. Forget about when the women start cleaning for Pesach.
Yet, Chanuka didn’t really have or seem to require any prep time to me as a kid growing up in the States. But here in Israel, those jelly doughnuts were in the stores the second we blessed the month of Cheshvan. And having spent the past tour-less week picking olives in a magnificent olive grove down by the Sinai desert, I felt I had earned the right to start getting into the Chaunka mode gastrointestinally as well.
But it’s more than that. I’m ready for this war to be over with already. I was ready a year ago as well. I’m really not up to a holiday-free month of Mar-Cheshvan. I want to celebrate our victory over our enemies. I want to see miracles. I want the Bais Ha’Mikdash rebuilt. I want the tamey, the impure, the wicked, the sinners to be given over into the hands of the righteous, the holy, the pure, the oskei torasecha- the hands of those who only wish to toil in the Torah of Hashem. I want them all dead and I want our holy modern day Maccabees to shmodder their smelly bottoms. I want Chanuka in Cheshvan. Historically it is in this month that Shlomo completed building the Bais Ha’Mikdash originally, although it waited a year for its dedication. Well, we did the year already. Let’s Chanuka it now.
This war has been draining. It’s enough already. Soldiers, hostages, sirens, missiles and politics, politics, politics… Even the positive things that have come out of it are exhausting already. The Tehillim, the prayers, the resolutions, the chesed, the volunteerism, the tzedaka and the missions. It’s like after Corona’s first few months and the third vaccine already. Except that it’s not. Nothing has really changed in the big picture. Soldiers are still fighting, dying and getting wounded. The hostages are still not home. We’re still in bomb shelters, Work hasn’t come back. The trauma is just growing worse and worse daily and all the military people I talk to tell me the same thing. Despite the tremendous advances, the government and the Media claim that we have been making in “achieving our goals”, the end is still not in anyone’s sight. In fact I just saw on the News that they’re hoping to return the evacuated communities in the north by the end of 2025…. 2025!!
The only thing that seems clear is that it is certainly a long way ahead. It’s not in a month, two months or even six months from now. So, yes, clueless-American-tourist/client that called me this week about booking me for a Bar Mitzva tour in July. It is very possible that we still might be able to do a BBQ for your bar mitzva bachur with soldiers on a base. And yes, they probably will be able to pick him up on a chair and dance with him as well. So nothing to fear, your Chaim’l, as of now barring any early Chanuka miracles, will have his “chavaya”. Just don’t eat any jelly doughnuts early. You never know what type of powerful segulot to end the war they might have.
Now my mother doesn’t like it when I speak rough and gruff… I’m a Rabbi. Rabbis shouldn’t talk like this. Yet, I’m going to beg your indulgence for a moment and I’m going to say something radical now. War is stupid. War is dumb. War is idiotic. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s perhaps the craziest thing that exists in the world. Now, although that sounds pretty blunt and non-Rabbinic. It’s not me talking. In fact its direct quotes from the Hebrew of none other than one of the most brilliant Rabbinic thinkers of our generation, Reb Moshe Shapiro zt’l who passed a few years ago. In quite a few different essays of his that I read through this week, he discusses this bizarre phenomenon of war. His insight is deep and incredible as usual, but even more so it seems to be almost prophetic in describing the essence of all that we are and have been going through this past year and the footsteps that we are meant to be listening for.
As we’ve pointed out numerous times in our insights, we have a tradition that if one wants to understand the essence of something, not only do we have to examine the Hebrew word for it, but as well to look in the Torah for the first time that it occurs. In our parsha of Lech Lecha for the first time the word milchama- war shows up, and as well, he notes, the world war of the four kings against the five kings is in fact the first war in the history of mankind, which at that time was about 2000 years old. For 2000 years there was no wars in the world. And now led by Amrafel- who our sages tell us was in fact the same Nimrod who had previously united the world into building the tower of Bavel, and as well had thrown Avraham into the fiery furnace when he stood up against his idolatrous way, together with his three other kings started the first war of mankind. Not a bad resume… Today they might make him the next head of Hezbollah.
How do you convince a world to go to war, he asks? Seemingly it should be something that nobody in their right mind would ever do. We are raised to preserve life, to defend ourselves and to do whatever it takes to stay alive and avoid dangerous places where that might be threatened. Parents will to whatever it takes to protect their children. Why would any sane mother or father send their child out to do battle where the likelihood is that their child might be killed or wounded, forget about suffering tremendous life-long never truly healable trauma. It doesn’t make sense.
There is in fact, he writes, nothing that makes less sense or is more counterintuitive. It would be more logical that people would take up their swords and kill whatever king or world leader that is ordering them to go to war, rather than enter a battlefield or war zone where thousands will be killed. Yet despite this throughout history and particularly in the last century millions of intelligent people, people with human souls, families, jobs and loved ones have done precisely that. They’ve fought wars, they’ve died, they’ve killed and continue to do so. What is the rationale or understanding behind this?
What I find to be even more ironic and perplexing particularly today in 2024, is that all of those supposed peace-niks and left-wing anti war 60’s protestors in America and around the world are precisely the ones that are calling for war and supporting Hamas who started this war and their efforts. They do it in the guise of anti-wardom. They do it with calls for a supposed ceasefire. But what they are really saying is that Hamas is losing. They need support. They need for us tp bizarrely provide them with tools and weapons- or money for that, as we did for their tunnels, in the form of humanitarian aid, that they steal and sell. We need to support Iran’s effort to achieve a nuclear weapon. We can’t destroy it and prevent them from having the capability to fight the war that they have sworn to wage against Israel and the West. The peace-niks themselves are the ones that are therefore pushing a continuation of this “struggle”. Of this war never really seeing it’s conclusion. Of the enemies “right” to be able to live and fight (and kill, and murder, and butcher and terrorize…) another day.
There is an incredible quote from our sages in the Midrash on this week’s parsha
“Reb Elazar ben Avina says if one sees the nations provoking one another towards war be prepared for the footsteps of Mashiach”. (Bereishis Rabba 42:4)
The source for the Midrash is the description of thise first war of the world which at first glance doesn’t seem to be at all connected to Avraham- the only Jew in the world at that time. Yet ultimately that’s on whose doorstep it all ended up and of course how the war ended. It’s fascinating if one really examines the story. There’s this 12-year period where the five kings are serving the four. Seemingly nothing to do with the Jews of course. This follows with about 13 years of intifada and rebellion from the 5 kings against them. By the way, that’s about how many years this thing with Hamas and Gaza has been going on for. Finally, on the 14th year everything comes to a head with the breakout of this world war. The war reaches it’s pinnacle with the precision kidnapping of Lot, the nephew of Avraham. Avraham doesn’t tolerate kidnapping and he wages a personal war against all four kings and destroys them and rescues Lot. He didn’t need “Bring Lot Home” posters or protests to be inspired enough to chase and kill the kidnappers all the way to Damascus. He figured it out on his own.
Lot’s significance is that ultimately he will have two children one of them named Moav who eventually has a granddaughter names Ruth who converts. She has a descendant named Dovid, who’s last name ultimately became Ha’Melech, and thus the house of kingship from which Mashiach will come was saved. Whew….
Now we know today that “Jews is News”, but this seems like a stretch. For 25 years there’s a war going on, and yet our sages tell us that we can derive from here that the entire story was merely about us. About the Jews. About Mashiach. Talk about seeing the world through Jewish eyes…
Rav Shapiro explains what our sages are telling us. He points out that the only logical reason for one to go to war is because they feel that their existence is threatened. The greatest threat to all kingships in this world is the eventual Messianic revelation of the Kingship of Hashem. When that day comes, and may it be very soon, all kings will bend the knee and acknowledge not only Hashem’s Kingship, but as well our nations role as His chosen people to serve Him and reveal His greatness to the world.
Kings don’t like that. Nimrod’s original plan that failed was to bring unity to the world and with mankind united against Hashem, they could accomplish that Hashem’s unity is above in the heavens and man can rule down on earth. They had a Trump card- excuse the pun, which was that they were united, all of mankind together. That unity is the only thing that can reflect to the opposite extreme the Unity of Hashem above. And so, Hashem messed them up. He broke their unity. He gave them each their own language. Mankind dispersed and Avraham was given the job of now uniting all of mankind and drawing them near to Hashem. The job of bringing Mashiach.
Nimrod- who’s name actually translates “let us rebel”, then took it to the next stage. He was going to force mankind to serve him and bring them all under one kingship. Kings fight for one reason. Because their kingship is threatened. They ultimately fear losing their power, their identity, and they blame it on the other nation’s infringement of their values, their ideology and their lifestyle. The truth is they have a right to be fearful. But it’s not from the other nations. It’s from the ultimate revelation of Mashiach and Hashem’s kingship on this earth. That’s when they will lose it all. That’s what all wars are in fact about.
Our sages tell us that the heart of kings in the Hands of Hashem. They may declare war against, Ukraine, Korea, Mexico, Sudan or Iran, but ultimately the real fear and threat in their neshomas that they intuit,, although they can’t express and clarify it is that they hear the rumblings of Mashiach and know that their end is near. The King’s are representative of their nations. The nations will fight with another and go to war because as this first war teaches us, they wish to prevent Mashiach from coming. They know that as long as Lot is still around, the clock is just ticking until their time and rulership and existence is up. The world will be filled with light. There will no longer be darkness. The kings will be redundant as their will only be One King. All that they have worked for toiled, become, created and built will all be used to serve Hashem. They can’t allow that to happen so they lash out like blind men fumbling in the dark at whoever is closest to them. That’s the underlying spiritual nature and essence of all war. It’s those sounds and rumblings that are the true source of all of the rumblings and provocations.
When one sees the nations provoking one another, when there is World War I, know that this is ultimately about the Jews. It may not seem that way, but guess what, it will come to World War II; 22 years later. It will come to the Holocaust. It will come to the return of Jews to Eretz Yisrael. It will lead to the United Nations recognizing a Jewish State. It will lead to every day since then, them condemning us. Them being fearful of the ultimate loss of their kingships. Them making wars against one another. In Korea, in Vietnam, in Cuba, in India, in Afghanistan, on 9/11 and in Ukraine. It may not seem like it has anything to do with us. And it really doesn’t. It has to do with Hashem. It’s their sinking feeling that the whole world as they know and imagined it is coming to an end. A flood is coming. But this time it is a flood of holiness. Of miracles. Of Mashiach. And of course of doughnuts.
The goyim can’t really reiterate that. It’s echoing in their subconscious souls. But if you listen closely, as our sages tell us you can hear those footsteps. It’s the gloom and doom of the world coming to an end. It’s them talking about woke-ness or as we call it in the Torah Judaism- hitorerus… It’s globalization. It’s death to the West. It’s Worldwide Jihad. It’s international Axis of Evil. It’s global warming. It’s border invasions. It’s wars. It’s missiles. It’s international courts. It’s the media. Do you hear all that noise? Those are all footsteps of Mashiach. It’s the panic that the world is about to change.
There is a story about the Imrei Emes of Ger who once came into a town and saw all the townspeople tummuling in the street. He asked them what all the noise was about and they told him that World War I had just broken out (although I know they didn’t call it that then). He asked them again what was it that they were all excited and discussing. When they responded that they were discussing all of the news and the reports he rebuked them. He quoted our midrash above and told them that our sages taught that when we see the nations fighting with one another then we have only one thing that we are supposed to be doing. We’re not supposed to discuss. We shouldn’t hypothesize. We shouldn’t demonstrate. We shouldn’t argue. We shouldn’t forecast winners or losers. Our sages tell us that our job is only to do one thing. “be prepared for the footsteps of Mashiach”. That is our avoda. That’s the only thing we need to discuss and be involved in. Everything else is just noise. It’s the outside of the doughnut. There’s nothing inside the middle.
I think about that as I finish off my doughnut. It’s interesting. In America doughnuts have holes in the middle. They’re empty. It’s just sweet, tasty goodness on the outside. But the middle? The core? Efes…. Gurnisht. Empty air. Not here in Israel though. Here our doughnuts are dripping with jelly. The outside is really just a sponge fried in oil, or last week’s leftover challa. The good stuff, the sweet gooky juicy flavoured jam is all inside and dripping out, (usually all over my shirt). There’s something to ponder about that. The goodness is getting ready to drip out to the world. So go out and get your doughnuts. The best ones are sold in a place called Geula… And there’s something symbolic about that as well…
Have a peaceful Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Ven ain soldat volt gevust vos der anderer tracht, volt kain krig nisht geven”.- If one soldier knew what the other thinks, there would be no war.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
27. The name of a non-active volcano located in the Galilee is______.
Which of the following communities was abandoned/destroyed during the
War of Independence and afterwards?
A. Biram
B.Rehaniya
C. Fassuta
D. Shibli
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/kum – It’s this week’s parsha and time for Rabbi Schwartze’s amazing composition “KUM!”. Much much better than any silly yama yama songs that some people sing. Dovid Lowy on vocals and arrangements..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spdG-4kHI_k – Donald Trump celebrating the Jewish way…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUO94UjQrV4 – Lefties losing it after the victory… Love it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqEwD_EIc00 – Descendants of Nazis YM”SH singing Am Yisrael Chai…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxYcHAYHZjQ – Wow this is old.. the original Ani Maamin… from Pirchei..
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Amon- 639 BC – From bad things get worse. Menashe as we said was a bad King, He went off the derech of his father Chizkiya and brought the nation to new lows. Yet, as we noted at the end of his life he did teshuva. Some suggest this was for the last 20 years of his life which was half of his kingship, which was the longest of all of the Kings of Yehudah. Perhaps one of the impetuses for his teshuva (besides the boiling Babylonian Vat he was thrown in when he was taken captive, that we discussed). Was that right after that incident he became a father to his son. You know what fatherhood could do to some people… You want your son to be better than you. You want him to have faith.. You want him to be a good leader… Well it didn’t work.
The son of Menashe similar to the children of other kings that sinned and did teshuva, like Achav, it didn’t help for their children. Amon was raised in pretty much his father’s Baal Teshuva Kingship but seemingly he was drawn to his father’s reputation and evil past and decided when he became King at age 22 He was going to out do his father and he sensed as well that is what the people wanted anyways. So he once again closed up shop in the Bais Hamikdash, until there were literally cobwebs growing on the Mizabayach. He burnt a Sefer Torah and even committed incest with his mother…. Ewww…. Yes he was really really bad news..
He was so bad that it seemed his own servants eventually got fed up with him and conspired to kill him after only two years of his rule. Yet it seems that even in his death there were people that were powerful that had supported him. They avenged his death and gave Amon a royal funeral in Gan Uzza next to his father Menashe. Yet just when things seem like they can’t get worse and are pretty hopeless, Hashem shines a light of hope. The followers of Amon appointed Amon’s 8 year old son to be king in his place. They figured that being a little child they would be able to control him and do whatever they want. Little did they know what they were in for. Thus ends the short reign of Amon and stay tuned next week for the story of the child hero king Yoshiya.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE DOUGHNUT JOKES OF THE WEEK
Yankel walks into a bakery with his friend John the magician. John quickly palms 3 donuts and hides them in his pocket. He then snidely challenges the other Yankel who also claimed to be a magician to perform a trick of equal benefit. Yankel then calls the baker and asks for 3 donuts and if he'd like to see a magic trick. The baker does his part and provides the donuts. Yankel then eats the donuts and exclaims "Ta-Dah." The bakery is angered and asks "Well what's the magic trick?" Yankel replies "Look in my friend's pocket."
My wife asked me “Can you leave me some of your donut?”
I replied “Ok, I’ll leave you the hole!”
What the difference between a black guy and a donut? One of them already had a hole before the cop saw it
I allow myself only one donut per year. This morning I had 433 B.C., 1731, and 1952.
Why do golfers love donuts? Always a hole-in-one!
Where’s a donut’s favorite vacation spot? The Sahara dessert!
Why did the donut go to the dentist? To get a filling.
Why couldn’t the teddy bear finish his donut? He was stuffed!
Why did the donut go to a therapist? He felt empty inside.
Why did the croissants take the donuts and bagels to Disneyland? They thought it would be fun for the hole family.
What’s the best thing to put in a donut? Your teeth.
What are strange donuts made out of? Weird-doughs.
What’s the healthiest part of a donut? The middle.
I’m opening a grocery store that specializes in Swiss cheese and donuts. I’m calling it Hole Foods.
What kind of donuts can fly? The plain ones.
What’s the National Donut Day theme song? “Donut Stop Believing.”
A cream-filled donut and an eclair decided to get a divorce. It’s a sad story, but the real victims are their children. They’re in for a grueling custardy battle.
Where was the first donut cooked? In Greece.
What do do-nuts wear to weddings? Tuxedoughs!
What is a donut’s favorite day of the week? Fry-day.
What do you call it when you order the same donut every day? A do-rut!
What’s a donut’s favorite lullaby? “Sprinkle, Sprinkle Little Star.”
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The answer to this week”s question is A – Yeah, this season is not doing wonders for my score. I better start picking this one up. The truth is I totally didn’t know the first part of this answer. I guessed Meron and knew I was wrong, but I literally couldn’t even think of another mountain that might have been a volcano. The answer though is Karnei Chittin. Which is interesting and the truth is I didn’t even know that to be true. But hey… Anyone else out there know that? How bout any of you tour guides? Part 2 though I dd get right. I’ve toured Baram, there’s an old Talmudc Shul there and thus I have researched the place and knew that there was Arabs that had left and came back a few times and still claimed it even. I don’t even know anything about the other choices, so I went with the right answer on this. So I got this one half right and wrong again and thus the new score is Rabbi Schwartz having a 17 point and the MOT having 10 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
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