from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
October 30 2026 -Volume 17 Issue 4 19th of Cheshvan 5787
Parshat Vayeira
The End of Democracy- (Baruch Hashem!)
Click here below for print edition
(Weekly Newsletter - Parshat Vayeira 2026 )
On the other side you have the anti- Bibi crowd. It doesn't make a difference to them really anything besides getting rid of him. Most of it's personal and not political, by the way. So the facts don't really matter, Israel's security or better interests are irrelevant. They'll stop at nothing to get him out. Even if it means demonizing Chariedim, selling out to Arabs or allying themselves with foreign interests that are out to get us and even kill them. Their sinah/hatred is Kamtza /bar Kamtza level self-destructive. They'll die and sell the country out as long as Bibi comes with them.
The middle crowd is of course the Chareidim and Arabs, both really outsiders that have no real interest in the State or even it's betterment. It's about who can give us the most. Who will allow us to further our own personal agendas? Both by the way feel they're doing this in the name of Hashem or Allah. Both are basing themselves on the fact that the State itself is corrupt, is idolatrous, is anti-religious. Is a fraud and a sham and all about personal interests. They're the fastest growing voter bloc and will ultimately dominate the country. Imaginably if Qatar would find the Chareidim and give them free gas fill-up's as they did to the Arab voters in this past "democratic" election, Shas may not have gone down votes, Gimmel would've done better and probably most of these smaller burn-the-vote parties would've backed out. For the right price all of those important issues that they broke-off or didn't vote because of would've become irrelevant. Don't you love democracy…?
But, as I said, I think it's over now. I'm going to say something radical, like I always do, but I think it's going to happen. Or to be more accurate not happen. OK guys, ready? Here goes. There will no longer be another elected Prime Minister in Israel. Democracy is officially over. It may take a few more elections without results, but at the end no one is going to come together and form a government. The game is over. We're entering a new era. This is really the end of the end.
Before you knock me off and say that it's ridiculous. I'd like to first point out that there's a gemara that actually predicts and describes exactly that.
Sanhedrin 98A Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina says: The son of David will not come until the until the 'Malchus Hazalla'- the contemptuous kingdom will cease from the Jewish people.
Rashi on the spot say that refers to any rulership in Israel even a light and weak one.
Most of the commentaries understand that as Israel having a leadership that is under the same auspices as Edom- the western world. Democracy. Mashiach ain't coming until that last Golden Calf and the unfortunate pride we've been taking in the idea that we are "the only democracy in the Middle East" And we are a proud Jewish democracy. Until that idolatrous concept come crashing down. Which is exactly what I believe is happening.
See the problem with Democracy is that every citizen has a vote. If Israel would annex the West Bank into a one state solution and the entire Palestine was Israel, the next prime minister would inevitably be Palestinian. They'd have 2 million more voters and wouldn't even need Qatar's gas cards. It's why Israel is married to the two-state solution, even though the Arabs never once said they want it. In fact, quite the opposite, they're very clear they want River to the Sea. Even in this election the whole fallacy of this democratic process is clear. Arabs are controlling what's going on. Secular Israelis will literally follow them to the gas chambers even though they're cheating and not being democratic, because they want to bow down to this notion that this needs to be democratic here. And sadly, many on the right do as well. Mashiach can't come until this idea literally crumbles. Until it crashes and burns, which I believe we're seeing right now.
So if not democracy then what? How do we elect leaders? How is this country going to run? And don't tell me Mashiach, because the gemara is quite clear, that this has to happen before "Ben Dovid" comes… For that my friends, let's finally take a look at the parsha. Let's check out what Hashem's "Newspaper" had to tell us on the aliya of the day of the elections. Are you ready to hear a mind-blowing idea, that happened on perhaps one of the most consequential days in the Torah? It's the day that the redemption started. The day before Ben Dovid's spark came down to the world.
This week's parsha, which Chazal tell us happens on Pesach, begins right after the Bris of Avraham, the eternal covenant that all of his descendants still have until today. Last week, it was Yishmael that entered into that covenant along with all of Avraham's household. This week though we begin the true line of Avraham with the tiding of the angels that Sarah will finally have a child, Yitzchak. And it will be through him that the covenant will continue. But that's just the beginning of the day.
See it turns out that on the third aliya, which was Tuesday, the Torah tells us it was election day in the Torah as well. For the story jumps from Avraham to Sodom and to Lot. Lot, like Yishmael was also a contender for the legacy of Avraham and the covenant with Hashem. After-all he's Avraham's nephew and Sarah's brother. He's been with Avraham the entire time. He's the closest relative to take over that mission of Avraham. In fact he even moved to Sodom, Rashi tells us with the guarantee of Avraham that he would be there for him. He'll be on his right side.
Why's he there? Because he wants to bring Mashiach. He tried uplifting the land with his shepherds, although the time wasn't ripe yet. There was still work to do. So he moved out here. He's not necessarily the simple bad guy leaving Hashem and Avraham and going off the derech, as many of us have been given the image through out the years. We see that clearly from the sacrifice that he made on behalf of his guests and perhaps even more so, by the fact that the Torah tells us that the first thing he does is run for elections. On that very day of Pesach, Lot is elected to be the Prime Minister- or shofeit- of Sodom. A guy running away from Avraham and Hashem doesn't run for political office. He has an agenda. He has a platform. He's out there trying to save the world and bring Mashiach that is waiting in his loins to shine forth.
There are a few questions though about this narrative that I believe is worth considering. Number one, why is it coincidentally election that day? That seems a little bit strange. As well, why in the world would Sodom choose to elect a guy like Lot, an outsider, the right hand of Avraham and his primary student as their leader? This is the ultimate "insider city". They kill and torture anyone that's not from them, yet here, bizarrely enough they elect Lot as their leader. Finally, and perhaps strangely enough, it seems that right away they're ready to throw him out of office. To kill him. To take his daughters and his guests. Wow, talk about a short-lived campaign victory. What changed? They just enthusiastically elected him that morning. Were they a change government or not?
The answer perhaps is that they as well as Lot felt and heard the rumblings in the world of that incredible Pesach redemption day. Avraham, the savior of Sodom had wiped out Nimrod in what could've been an "end of days" war. Hashem has made an eternal covenant with him. Evil is being eradicated from the world. Egypt, Gaza, Avimelech, they're all coming around. The kelipos are being raised. There's a geula energy like never before. Things are happening that have never happened before and much like today, the world knows something big is going to happen. It's that platform that Lot comes to office. That there are snap elections taking place in Sodom. They're a city that wants to preserve itself. Maybe they as well smell in Lot that ruach of Mashiach. They recognize that the same old-same old doesn't work anymore. It's time for something new.
And thus Lot comes to office. His mandate, save Sodom. Bring Mashiach. Uplift the world. Conquer the land, that his shepherds tried to elevate, but that the time wasn't ripe yet to the final day where the glory of Hashem, who's miracles he had witnessed time and time again and been raised on will finally herald in. Yet, he fails. He misses the point. He's not Avraham. He's not Yitzchak. He doesn't have the strength to stand on one side of the world while the rest of the world is on the other. He's pragmatic. He wants to work within the system. He still believes in democracy and incremental change. At the end of the day, Lot is a follower and not a leader. And the fate of candidates like that, are is that their leadership is shilton ha'zola- it contemptuous, it's weak, it's not reflective of Malchus Shamayim. It can't reveal it either. Because at the end of the day it's more about you than Him.
The truth is there is perhaps no figure besides Avraham that the Torah shares so much information and stories about until now. We're introduced to Lot back in Noach right away with Sarah and he's always there following with Avraham. He's the ultimate chasid. He copies everything his Rebbi does, but he hasn't built up the internal reservoir to be able to lead himself. He's always the one going "ito" with him, he's the one "also walking along Avraham". He's pragmatic. He joins his party. He's part of the coalition. But at the end of the day. He has his own agenda. He's got his own flocks, his own shepherds, his own way of doing things. The only time where we find actually that he gives up his own agenda is when he stays silent in Egypt. After-all there, Pharaoh's giving out big bucks to the "brother of Sarah". And guess what he is? The actual brother of Sarah, while Avraham is really not. Yet, he holds himself back and acts selflessly for Avraham's sake. Probably losing out billions in the deal. It's that merit that ultimately saves him. But it really doesn't change him. He's not a leader. He can birth Mashiach, perhaps, but he can't be one.
This all comes to play on that election day morning. Lot is sitting pretty. His mandate to lead Sodom to a new era has begun. He was elected to teach them a new way. Yet, Lot is nervous about losing that shteller. He sees the angels and urges them to sneak in through the backdoor. To leave the dirt on their feet so that people will assume that he just got here. We can't change the laws in one day. It's a process. I'm just getting started. There's a system. There's a democracy. There's a supreme court and laws here. Yes, I'm working to change that and we'll eventually get there. But for today let's just not shake things up yet.
Sodom hears about this and comes banging on Lot's door. This is the moment. Can he change them? Will he lead them? Will he put his life on the line and keep his campaign promises? Or is he just another politician that made big promises but ultimately upon reaching office sells out like everyone else. The Torah tells us in what is a very cryptic and seemingly unnecessary verse.
Bereishis (19:6) And Lot went out to them to the opening and the door closed behind him…
This was his chance. This was the opening. They demanded the men. Was Lot man enough to keep his promises. Was there going to be a new era here? Is he going to be able to stand up to the protests. Will he shine the light of Avraham in the world? Will he bring Mashiach. Will he like Avraham tell them there is no fear of Hashem here? Will he bring those angels and their light out to Sodom? It's Pesach. He's making the Seder. This is his chance to slaughter that idolatry of the society he's living in. To open up that door for Eliyahu Ha'Navi. To tell them that Hashem will pour his wrath on the nations. On Chamas.
But he doesn't the door closes behind him. He instead negotiates. He compromises. Take my daughters. It's not the chareidim, but it's a good scapegoat. Leave the angels alone. They're part of my coalition. They're one of us. They're under my protection. I'm with you guys too… But slow down. Let's find a middle ground.
And that's where he fails. The people of Sodom see through the bluff and politics.
Gesh Halah- come close- go away. It's a fascinating term.
Make up your mind Lot. Either your with us or against us. You can't be both. You came with this Echad- this One-ness to judge us, to lead us, and yet your judgement is just like ours. Just lite. They realize that Hashem isn't a halfway deal. They see that you can't claim to be the nation of Hashem and a Jewish state with desecration of Shabbos, with "Pride Parades", with churches and with mosques. That you can't claim to have a right to your biblical heritage land promised to Avraham Avinu from where we're meant to shine out the light of Hashem to the world and then hand it over to the Arabs. To give them voting rights. To bring them into your coalition. To allow them to desecrate His holy Mountain top where Yitzchak was offered as a sacrifice.
You're a phony Lot. You're not Mashiach. You can't inspire us or save us. The most you might be able to do is save a little hamlet city of Tzoar. But ultimately, we will perish with your leadership. So we may as well have a good time going down. We may as well try to take these angels down with us. The revolution- the mahapecha you promised is not going to be a spiritual one. Rather we're going to perish and be turned over, because you don't have the power of Avraham and his light to stand up and tell us what we need to hear. Because you don't believe we can handle the truth. And you're too scared of losing your power, your money, your new government job and car to stand up to us.
That's the folly of Lot. When the angels take him out, he delays. He looks back as Rashi tells us at all his money. At his big house in Tom's River. His Tesla. His dreams of growing and shteiging and serving Hashem and even being mekarev the people around him in his chesed house he built there. And he can't leave that all behind. He has to be shlepped out, by his payos. His merit? The one time he did give up on that money, back in Egypt. Then he could do that. There he had Avraham by his side. Yet, without Avraham, on his own, he didn't have the strength. At the end of the day, as Chareidi as he was… He was still a politician that wasn't ready to bring Mashiach and preferred to work within the system.
Judaism was never meant to be a democracy. It's a monarchy. It's a King that is faithful and brings the nation to Hashem. It's a leader that leads and that doesn't follow the will of the people. The fallacy of a democracy is that evil people have a vote. Silly people have a vote. Your enemy has a vote. It's a system that works and makes sense if the objective is creating a society that will carry out and represent the will of the people. It's why there are elections in Sodom. Yet, Eretz Yisrael is never meant to be a place where the will of the people is objective. It's about building a house of Hashem. It's about creating a resting place from where that light can shine out to the rest of the world. A democracy that is founded on the will of the people, rather than the will of Hashem is the opposite of that world.
Mashiach can't come until we get that shilton hazola- will crumble. Until we see that at the end of the day, it doesn't work. Sodom sees through it. So does Iran and Qatar. The world won't buy it. Just like they don't buy or claim to Eretz Yisrael in it's entirety, because we're too scared to say it. Just like they don't buy our right to even fight a war to eradicate our enemies sworn to kill us as a just cause, because they see that we're ready to hand over our own daughters and holy soldier sons to bring those same enemies humanitarian aid, to protect their children, to feed our murderers and house them in our prisons. It's a shilton ha'zola- it's a government that sells it's self cheap. And they're not buying it and frankly have never bought it. And slowly I think we're beginning to understand as well, that it doesn't work.
The light of Mashiach is burning higher and higher. Sodom and Amora were destroyed and hopefully Iran will be soon too. Ben Dovid is on his way. Let's open the door for Eliyahu. That's the only vote we should be casting. May the era of politics finally conclude.
Have an electively delicious Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Fun yener zeit planken hot men andereh gedanken.". - On the other side of the fence, you have a change of heart.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
21. A Mediterranean woodland tree with a smooth red trunk is called _______
What is Shrubland (“Bata” ( ?
a. A vegetation landscape characterized primarily by tall trees
b. A vegetation landscape characterized primarily by herbaceous plants
c. A vegetation landscape characterized primarily by annual plants
d. A vegetation landscape characterized primarily by bushes
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwaFpVljVgo – Meir Kahana's top 7 moments.., Check it out… A true prophet… HY"D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWCOVpohg-s&list=RDqWCOVpohg-s&start_radio=1- - Long but great Shlomo Katz and Hanan Ben Ari Shlomo Carlebach Yartzeit KumZitz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jskn5yhLZrs&list=RDJskn5yhLZrs&start_radio=1 – Baruch Shalom Hineini… in honor of his grandfather…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R46BwaCn-2A&list=RDR46BwaCn-2A&start_radio=1 – MBD 30 years ago singing Hineini… Ohel concert
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Moria+Mona –Moriah MBD singing that Mona hit.. back in the Kumzitz day…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Aliya Challenges- 3427 from Creation-333 BC – A fascinating unknown aspect of this period of time immediately after the building of the Basi Ha'Mikdash, the Navi tells us is that 2nd Aliya movement began. This time around it was Jews that were not so frum. They came to Israel to get away from the perhaps the intensity of the communities in Bavel. They came to Eretz Yisrael as an escape. They heard that it's more open here. That there were intermarried Jews here. That perhaps they can live in Israel and not be as religious as their communities back in Bavel Park were…
And they came in large amounts. Eretz Yisrael though, by the time they arrived had already undergone its spiritual revolution led by Ezra and Nechemia. They had divorced their non-Jewish wives and had rededicated themselves to the Temple and the service of Hashem. And yet here they were seeing these newcomers with their foreign wives and even worse than that, they were encouraging their children to marry out as well. This became a big problem. We were barely back in the land after our long exile and destruction and we were already messing it up.
It is into this world that Nechemia came down hard. Unlike the first round of Jews that he and Ezra were lovingly me'karev and brought close slowly. These new guys, coming to destroy the land were not going to get that treatment. Nechemia came down hard upon them. He castigated them publicly. He had them hauled into court. They were given lashes. They were forced to conform. Their wives were sent away and their children were not accepted into schools. Welkam to Eezrael. This is not a place to come to for an easier religious life and to feel good about coming to. We have a mission from here to accomplish. It's light to the world. It's holiness. It's about the chosen-ness of our nation. And Nechemia wasn't going to allow them to mess it up.
Seemingly it worked. The nation was cleansed and established. It was at this point in history and at this juncture that the final era of prophecy comes to an end. There will be a new system. It will be called the Men of the Great Assembly. Stay tuned next week for this transition.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE ELECTION JOKES OF THE WEEK
I really wanted to vote for Gimmel. I even went down to the ballots. I took their voter slip and then when it came time to put it in the voter box. I found that it was -as you said to me when I tried to get my daughter in your school… Too full and not enough room…
Israeli elections are kind of like Ikea. You choose what you like, but then realize you don't know how to put it together. So you then call the Arab to help you put it up.
The Arabs are claiming that they didn't steal the elections. They paid every Shekel for each vote they had promised.
The Arabs are demanding new elections immediately. They're claiming they used up all their free gas coupons they received.
If you told a Jew a few hundred years ago that a Jew would be able to vote for their own candidate in an election to establish a government in our country, they would find it very hard to believe. If however you told them that we had those elections every few months because the candidates couldn’t’ get along with one another and would constantly topple the government they would then find it much easier to swallow it.
We really have to do something about the relationship between the government and it’s criminals and prisoners. It just doesn’t seem fair that there are only 120 seats in the Knesset for them to receive an office and position.
We ask you please don’t reveal the results of the election to the Meretz party. Their families have not yet been informed…
So an Ashkenazi man dies and comes up to heaven and as he enters Gan Eden he sees that the entire garden is filled with smells of Matbucha and kibbeh and he realizes that he is entirely surrounded by Sefardim. When he asks the angel why there are only Sefardim here, the angel explained that they were all Shas voters and Maran had promised them Olam Habah if they vote for his party.
“But then why are there some Ashkenazim, sitting there in the corner” he asked. “Oh those” the angel said “They were part of the heskem odafim (the extra votes agreement”) that Shas had with Gimmel.
The way things work after the elections. The new mayor of the city decided that it was time to fulfill his election promise to build a new bridge for the city. He went to the local Arab contractor, Achmed, and asked for a quote and was told it would cost 120 million shekel. When asked what the breakdown Achmed explained-“40 million for material, 40 million for workers and 40 million profit”
He then went to the Boris the Russian contractor and asked him how much it would cost and he was told it would be 240 million shekel. When asked to explain Boris said that it was “80 million for material, 80 million for workers and 80 million profit”
Finally, to make it fair he went over to the Jewish contractor and was quite shocked when they guy told him that it would be 400 million shekel. By far this was the most expensive quote. When asked to explain Dudu said “It’s very simple. 140 million for you, 140 million for me and 120 million to the Achmed the Arab that will do the work for us.” Needless to say he got the contract…
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The answer to this week”s question is B – This is one of those questions, I would've skipped, as I had no clue as to either of them. But on this I have to answer, so I got this actually half right with a guess. The first part I got wrong. I guessed Eucalyptus because I had nothing else and it's kinda smooth and sorta red. But knew it wasn't right as it's not really indigenous to here. The answer though was katlav or strawberry tree or arbutus. Not that I or any of my tourists would care. The second they care even less about. I guessed B and it turns out the answer was Ba nd D. So half right. So half right/half wrong makes the new score Rabbi Schwartz having 14.5 points and the MOT having 4.5 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
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