Uncle Mendy-Parshat Bechukosai 2018/5778

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

May 11^th 2018 -Volume 8 Issue 2^th Iyar 5778

Parshat Bechokotai

{Behar and Bechukotai - for Diaspora}

Dear Uncle Mendy…

Dear Uncle Mendy,

As I write these final words to you, I’m picturing myself standing in front of your aron-your coffin. What are you doing there? How can you be there? You always told me that “Ephraim I’ll always be there for you”? So where are you now when we need you so much? How do you just leave us like that?

It was just two months ago when you sent me an E-Mail “Call Me”. When I did, you told me how we don’t spend enough time together. How you want to see the children. How you come in all the time and we never get a chance to spend the time like we used to. To see my children- your brother Olav hashalom- O”BM - my father’s grandchildren. Can we come for Shabbos? Can we spend it with you? I told you how incredible that would be and that I would make it happen.

After I hung up the phone I told my wife about the call. It was strange. We always had a love relationship. I always knew that I could call you and that you would take time and listen to me. But a whole Shabbos together? By your request? Where you sick? Where you dying? I was nervous.

 We had the Shabbos of our life with you that weekend. You told us stories of Babby and Zaydy, of my father. You played and talked to the kids. Yelled at me a bit about my shlumpy shirt. It was the greatest Shabbos, we could have had. My children could’ve had with their famous Uncle Mendy. He wasn’t Klal Yisrael’s Uncle Mendy that Shabbos. He was ours. He was the Uncle Mendy of my childhood. The one that I remember would visit us in Detroit. That we went to Cleveland to play with. That wouldn’t’ stop singing up my bar mitzva drasha until my Savta held a seltzer shpritz bottle to his head.

After Shabbos we went for a walk and you told me how much that Shabbos meant to you. How wonderful it was. How we had to do it again. I told you, that I really didn’t want to mention it but the truth is I was nervous the whole Shabbos that you had some bad news to tell me. Who knows some terminal illness or something god forbid. You smiled and told me that it is was a shame that we don’t’ do this often enough. And we will…

I told you then that you were my link to myMesora-my heritage and tradition. You were the person I looked up to convey all that my father never had the ability to, that Babbi and Zaydie never could or did tell us. So where are you now? Why are you in this Aron?

You used to tell me that you loved Eretz Yisrael. It was the most special place in the world to you. You would move here tomorrow even, you told me. There’s one problem however, you said. There are Israelis that live there….

 So now you are here with all the Israelis. Here on Har Menuchos. The last place I think any of us ever thought that you would be so soon.

You would sit on your porch in Rechavia and you would plan out your “golden years”. You didn’t have big plans for those years. You just wanted to sit on that porch and look out at Hashem’s beautiful land, His country, His city and His people… You wanted to bask in the glow of an oilam misukan b’malchus shadai- a world that had been made complete with the Kingdom of Hashem. But that world wasn’t complete yet. There was still too much pain, too much suffering, too much poverty, not enough Torah. You couldn’t sit on that porch of yours because you understood that Hashem had made you his gabbai on this world to fix it. And if you’re the gabbai of Hakodosh Baruch Hu, then you can’t just sit on the porch and enjoy your small little piece of heaven. Hashem didn’t bless you with what he gave you so you could make yourself a nice little home. He gave it to you because He wanted to make Him that home.

You would tell me that in the early years of your life, of your business, you worked for your family. Once you didn’t have to do that anymore, then unlike most people that would just sit back and enjoy, you understood that now you were working for Klal Yisrael. To pay the bills that they couldn’t pay, to provide the services that they couldn’t afford to provide, to heal the people that no one else even would admit needed to be healed.

Now unlike most people that are working for someone else’s good; someone that is employed in the non-profit world that would put in their hours and then come home to sleep. You felt an even bigger acharayus-responsibility in being the Parnas Hador then you did when you were working for your own good and family’s needs.

 I remember by Dina’s and Shmullys wedding the next morning, after a night of dancing all night, you came down to shacharis and I said to you. “Nuuu.. gut Gshloffen-did you sleep good?” You responded in words that I thought were just a joke “Oib ich shluf- Iz shoin gut-if I sleep, it’s already good”. Little did I know or perhaps even you knew, how true those words were and would be even more so in the future. Normally when I called America I have to wait for American hours. Morning time here in Israel which is 2,3, 4 ,5 AM in the States is not a time when I could talk to anyone. Except you… You were there in the evening hours as well… You were always there. Except of course when you were flying all over, which was also quite often. But even then. It was “Ephraim I’m getting on a place call me in an hour or two hours when I land.” You never slept, you had too much to do.

So how is it that you are sleeping now? I know you would say that after 120 you’ll be able to sleep. You still owe us 55 years. Hashem’s world still needs to be fixed. I still need you. Doda Ita needs you, your most loved possessions in the whole world Edna -Emir, Shmully-Dina, Yoni-Sho and Nati and Channy need you. You’re grandchildren who you loved more than anything and your great grandchild that will never know his Zaydi Zaydi all need you.

Your brother, my father, Yonah olav hashalom made you promise that you would take care of Me and Gitty. That you would always be there for us. And you were. You walked down my Chupa, you were by my simchas, by my Yonah’s Bris in New York and his Bar Mitzva in Israel. You walked down my Shanis chupa and danced all night long with me there. You even flew in a month ago for my first grandchild’s bris where you handed the baby to my father who was the Sandek. My father who you always called your brother, as my mother was always your shvester your sister.

You were there for Gitty’s Simchas as well, her chasuna, her bar mitzvas, just a week and a half ago you called her and told her how much nachas you got when Aron Shlomo and Noson- Chanies husband.- I’m just saying that because you probably forgot his name. You were never great with names. You always had Doda Ita to remind you. - But you told her how much nachas you had and how much it meant to you that they came to kever of Babby and Zaiydi for the yartzeit.

Yes you were there for us always. But your job was not done. Your promise has not been fulfilled. We still need you. We have more simchas I”YH that we need you to be by. More chupas more brisim. More uncomfortable speeches that we need you to make and break down crying for in middle. As you would get all choked up knowing that you were the representative of my father, of Babby and Zaydie. That you were the person that was charged with being there for all of us. So how can you not be here? How can you be in this aron? How could Hashem have taken you so soon, so young, when there was so much you still had to do…

Shlomo Hamelech in Mishlei tells us “tzedaka tatzil mimaves-charity saves one from death”. Was there a greater Baal Tzedaka? I have read many obituaries and they all start off Reb Mendy Klein “askan-community activist”. They didn’t know you. They didn’t know that you were not really an askan. That you were a guy that liked to sit in the back of the shteeble with the “boys”. That you were never the macher or the person that even sought to be “Oisek b’tzarchei tzibur-deal with the communal needs”. There are other people like that. They seek the limelight, they seek the hock, the tumult, the negotiations, the politics. That wasn’t you. You would’ve been more than happy to sit on your porch, to learn with your grandchildren, to just be together with the love of your life.

No you weren’t an askan. You were a ranchman-one who was filled with compassion. You were someone that couldn’t bear to see people in pain, people in need, people that were suffering. You used to tell me that your objective was to put Tzvi Gluck-the founder of the organization that meant so much to you that helped children that had been abused, out of business. To even put the poverty crisis in Eretz Yisrael out of business- which would mean most tzedaka organizations- by providing people the tools and skills that they needed with Temech and other organizations. You wanted to put tuition crisis’s that are eating up American families out of business by getting legislation passed, and other means. This was not askanus. This was rachmanus. This was someone who couldn’t bear to see others in tzar-in pain. So where is the tzedaka that is tatzil mimaves? Is it perhaps that maves doesn’t mean physical death? That there are many people with so much money and no joy in life because they hoard it and they are to a large degree “Walking Dead” Reshaim afilu bachayehem nikraim meisim- the wicked even when they are alive are considered dead. And that you recognized that tzedaka is what gives you life in this world. It is what you are living for. It saves you from the ‘living death’ of one who does not use what he is given to bring more life into the world. To bring more of the shechina-the Divine presence into world.

The Gemara in Avoda Zara tells us that the world was created for 6000 years. The first 2000 is tohu-empty and barren. The second 2000 is era of torah and the third 2000 that we are now in is yemos hamashiach-the days of the coming of Mashiach. The Gaon of Vilna in shir hashirim explains that the world stands on three things torah avoda and gmilus chesed and after we were thrown out of our land weno longer have torah as it says in Eicha Malka vsarahea bagoyim ein torah- Her (Jerusalem’s)kings and princes are in the nations- there is no Torah  . We don’t have the temple service anymore, as prayer is merely in place of avoda, All that remains is gemilus chesed as chazal say when the Temple was destroyed the rabbis were scared the world wouldn’t be able to stand and Reb Yochanan Ben Zakai said we still have chesed. These last 2000 years, the force and power that will bring Mashiach is the koach hachesed. It is the aovda of the generation, and you were that paradigm. That’s what is holding the world up. That’s how you were holding the world up.

But it wasn’t just the tzedaka you gave. It was how you gave it. With humility, without the one thing that you hated more than anything and that was kavod-honor. You ran from it. You would tell me that your policy was that an organization that put your name on it when you wrote them a check would be the last check they received from you. I, as many, were in shock to see the recent ads honoring you from a major national organization. Many people told me that they had never even heard of you until that ad came out. It was the first time that I could remember that you had agreed to allow yourself to be “honored.  Although I know that you didn’t feel it was and that it went against every grain in your body. I told myself that the only reason you would even be willing to be moser nefesh-sacrifice your soul for your precious ideal- and I truly feel that you felt that way, by allowing yourself to be honored was because you felt that it would give the largest platform to stand up and talk about an issue that you felt needed to be talked about. Little did you or anyone know that it ultimately in fact become mesirus nefesh mamash-literally be the sacrifice of your life. 

How can it be that one of the greatest donors in Klal Yisrael and most people outside of Cleveland  and who aren’t in the fundraising business don’t even know who you are? It’s because Hashem granted you that wish that you should be able to maintan your matan b’seser-your hidden gifts. Your hatzne lechet, your humility and modesty.

You passed away on Lag Ba’omer. It is the day after the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died 2000 years ago. Those students our sages tell us were niftar because they weren’t noheg kavod zeh bazeh-they did not treat each other with honor. They worried too much about their own kavod-honor and couldn’t see the kavod in the other. They were niftar in the first 32 days of the Omer counting-32 in fact being the gematria of the word Kavod. Lag Ba’omer is the day that it all ended. It is when the light of Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai shined through the world. Rebbi Shimon was the one who saw in each Jew the ben melech-the prince. The most drunk bresalver dancing in the street is a ben melech, the persecuted, the distant, the Russians so far from yiddishkeit they are all benei melachim-princes. And he was repaired that flaw. Rebbi Shimon didn’t seek kavod himself, because he was too busy finding it and bringing it out in everyone else, and he continues to do that until today… That is the day that Hashem took you from us. What more appropriate day for the man who ran from kavod and brought out the ben melech in everyone he could find.

A rosh yeshiva told me that he wanted to write a thank you letter to Uncle Mendy after he received a generous donation and the check stated that all correspondence should go to the person who handled the checks. No letters of thanks were even permitted to go to him. He wasn’t the one giving the donation, he was merely the shaliach-the messenger of Hashem. In that way you were truly like Moshe Rabbeinu who has the same shoresh neshoma-“soul spark” as Rebbi Shimon, an eved Hashem- a true dedicated servant, a shaliach who saw himself merely being charged with handing out the blessing Hashem gave him. You didn’t feel you even deserved thanks or appreciation. It wasn’t your money it was the money Hashem gave you to disburse and fix the world with.

How can it be that someone who was so dedicated to the mitzva of kibud av v’eim-Honoring ones parents, was not meritorious enough to be maarich shanim-lengthy years as well as yamim-days on this world. Babbi and Zaydi were your life. There wasn’t a thing you wouldn’t do for them. There wasn’t an indignity you wouldn’t endure- you would even scoff and be baffled that it would be considered anything less than the kavod Hashechina-the honor of the Divine  when you would serve them. You understood intrinsically that kibud av veim is on the side of the luchos Ten Commandments that is bein adam lamakom-between Man and God because you saw in your parent the shechina mamash. The mesirus nefesh they had, the hell they survived for you, their unwavering faith In Hashem that they transmitted to you was the Shechina itself. And you served them like  the Kohen gadol, the High Priest, in the Beis Hamikdash. How little we are compared to you in the way you fulfilled that mitzvah? How much you serve as role model that I don’t even think any of us can even come close to attaining.

The love and dedication you had in fulfilling that promise you made to Zaydi and Babbi that you would always take care of your sister Agi. How you never left her, how you supported and continue to support her. How you were her rock, her whole world. How her children, Ami, Yael and Yoni, like Me, Gitty and Rivky and Gedalia were like your own children. How you shepped so much nachas, gave so much of yourself and your resources because you always said that family is the most important of all. How can you leave us? We are orphaned, a second time. You were all that was left for Doda Agi, You were supposed to be there always…

I never knew my father. You were that figure that connected me to him, that I saw him in, that would connect me to Babbi and Zaydi and all of the generations of our mesora. You were the Ish Hamesora. You were the bridge that infused in everything you did an awe of gedolim our religious leaders,, of rabbanim, of rebbes. You were the only living person that I could turn to find out what our minhag-family custom was. What Zaydi did, what he would say. Now you are part of that mesora that I have to pass on and I don’t know it enough and never will…

The only answer to how you can be there in that aron in front of me, Uncle Mendy, is perhaps in that other great monument that was connected to your neshoma-your holy soul. Mama Rachel. Rachel was buried on the side of the road in order to be mispalel, to pray, for her children. To bring them out of  our long and bitter Exile,our galus, to bring the geula-our redemption. Rachel Immeinu touched you more than anything because you also cried for Hashem’s children. You also felt that immense agonizing never-ending pain of the downtrodden, the tzaar of a galus too too long. Hashem is misaveh betifilasam shel tzadikim- He is desirous of the prayers of the righteous and particularly Mama Rachel who unlike everyone else refuses to stop crying, refuses to stop working, refuse to loz up as long as there is still pain in this world. Perhaps, perhaps Hashem needed you to continue your work right next to our Mama. To keep turning up the tears to cry, to feel, to agonize, to implore and to never let anyone- even the basheffer, our Creator, say that it can’t be done, the time is not right.

So Uncle Mendy, your 120 years are not up yet. You can’t yet sleep, You can’t yet shluf, You are still on the job. Daven and cry, daven with Zaydi, with Babbi, with my father OB”M.. Daven for your children, for you einiklach, for me for Gitty, for Rivky and Gedalia. Daven for my mother your shvester and for my father your brother.

Daven for doda Agi, her pain is so great you have left her so lonely. For Ami, Yael for Yoni. Never stop davening and crying for Doda Ita. She was your life, your queen your partner your truest eizer knegdo. She needs you to comfort her, to console her, to be there with her always.

We are still so far from the tikun Olam that you wanted and needed. Klal Yisrael has so many tzrachim, so much tzar and pain still. Your job is not over. You have left the greatest yorshim inheritors with the greatest yerusha-inheritance, possible. They will have you in front of their eyes every day in the same way that you had Zaydi in front of yours. They will carry on your torch here in this world. And in that you have completed that job.

So maybe you are here in this aron because this is the only place that you can really bring the tikun to the whole world from. And if that’s the case Uncle Mendy, then as painful as it is and as empty as I feel… I can then say good bye,

I will love you always, and I ask your forgiveness, although I know that anything that we ever argued and fought about it was only because of the love we had for one another. But I ask you and beg you anyways. Because I miss you so so much.

Your nephew Ephraim.

This week’s Torah portion, the one that reconnects us to our brothers in the Diaspora contains the Torah portion that describes the frightening portion of the admonition that we are given if we don’t follow the mitzvos, if we don’t cherish the holiness of the land of Israel, if we don’t consider our obligations to take the blessing of the land Hashem has given us and share it with the needy. The warnings are graphic, they are scary. We have seen the fulfillment of many of them. This is what we are told to read before the holiday of Shavuot because, Shavuot is the time of Judgement for the trees of the Land. We read this, as we do the other admonition in Devarim before Rosh Hashana, so that “the year and its curse should end”. Shavuot shall come and we will read the Book of Ruth, the book of kindness, charity and compassion. In that book the spark of Mashiach is found. May Uncle Mendy’s passing inspire each of us to bring out that spark in each other, and may we finally bring that perfect world that he is now working upstairs as well to achieve speedily in our days.

Have a inspired Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Der toit klapt min nit oiffen tir”- Death does not knock on the door”

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q: A stamen is:

A. The organ of the flower that produces the pollen

B. The name of an insect that helps pollination

C. The part that connects the flower to the stem

D. The pollen

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGLA79z_Brk   - a beautiful shabbis medley including Kah Echsoif…My Uncle Mendy would’ve loved this

https://vimeo.com/268582166 - My Eulogy

https://youtu.be/M9mdDWCtXQ8 - Beautiful eulogies from his grandchildren

https://vimeo.com/amudim - Links to other friends and family members eulogies

https://youtu.be/wjm1yLVds5A  – My good friend the Rechnitz twins against the LA Lakers! At least something up beat!

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S HAFTORA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Bechukosai- As the Parsha that we read has the power to speak to whatever we undergo, it is like the heavenly newspaper to understand and focus on what is happening in our day to day life. This haftora as well serves that same function. So as I read the Haftora, this week, which certainly connects to the Parsha and its words of rebuke, warning, and exhortation to have faith in rough and challenging times. I see those same words screaming to me from the Haftorah that truly embody much of my Uncle’s life.

Jeremiah 17:7-8. Blessed is the man who trusts in the G‑d, to whom G‑d will be his trust. For he shall be like a tree planted by the water, and which spreads its roots out into a stream, so it will not be affected when heat comes, and its leaves shall be green, and in the year of drought will not be anxious, neither shall it cease from bearing fruit."

I wonder about his place right now and I read the words of the prophet that tells us

I, the Lord, search the heart, test the kidneys, to give everyone according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

Each person receives what is coming to him. Hashem sees the inside, the kishkas, not what is the outside. Only Hashem needs to know of the hidden kindness and will reward him undoubtedly.

Yirmiyahu then contrasts people that make their money unjustly, how the die at half their age… Yes he did die very young, but the prophet then tells us their death is one that is ignoble and dishonored in the end. Uncle Mendy’s departing with 1000’s of mourners around the world was anything but ignoble. In fact it was perhaps more honor that he ever had in his entire life.

His death the prophet tells us

As a Throne of Glory, exalted from the beginning, so is the place of our Sanctuary.

It is the honor of Hashem. That is all he lived for and that is the conclusion of the hafotrah and the prayers he is saying for our people up in heaven

Heal me, Hashem, then shall I be healed; help me, then I shall be helped, for You are my praise!

Yes the haftorah is a way to be consoled and finding meaning and messages for our personal lives.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

In honor of my Uncle I include this oldie with a few new details

 Rachel’s Tomb- PART II 1550BC- It was just a few years ago that I remember going to Rachel’s Tomb on the side of the road in the streets of Beit Lechem. The bus would drop us off in the front and we went in. The arabs outside didn’t bother us. They tried to sell us stuff. After Bibi Netanyahu in the Wye agreements of 1998 gave the city to the Palestian authority that he had created and armed and pretty much forbade Jews from going there it was downhill from there. The Arabs emboldened by this free gift which was perceived as Israeli weakness made the place difficult to get to, unsafe and it was cordoned off ultimately.

One day about 12 years ago it was visited by my Uncle Mendy. He saw the place was full of garbage and when he inquired about its state he was told that there was a strike. It was unexceptable that the “Mama” should be so desecrated and under Israeli control to add insult to injury. He immediately got a private garbage truck to collect it all. That first step led to a long 7 year journey of rehabilitation of the building to its glorious structure that it is today. One of his conditions of the construction was that no prayers should ever be interrupted. The building and construction had to work around the worshippers. The “Mama” was never to be closed for business. As well he funded the Kollel that would study there all day. The Mama should always have the sound of Torah near here.

A few years back, he saw some Torah scrolls for sale at Soethebys auction. He was not a collector of Judaica, but these ancient scrolls that date back 700-800 years to the times of Maimonides, touched something in him. He was scared that they would fall in the hands of non-Jews or others that might not treat with the reverence and dignity that they deserve. So they were bought and brought to the Mama’s house to watch over them.

Today when you go to Kever Rachel and pray to our Mama, please have in mind the soul of the man who restored the dignity to her and to the tens of thousands that come to bring our prayers and tears to add to hers before Hashem. Reb Menachem Moshe ben Naftali Hertzka, I promise to always tell your story when I am there.

PART I (from a previous week)

Where is the tomb of Rachel? Most people would seem to say that is quite obvious right outside of modern day Beit Lechem where it says here tomb is. The truth is upon looking at the sources it might seem not so simple. On the one hand the Torah tells us that Rachel died on the way to Efrat which is Beit Lechem. In the South of Jerusalem. On the other hand in the book of Shmuel it mentions that the tomb of Rachel is on the border of the tribe of Binyamin which would put it in the North of Jeursalem. As well the Midrash notes that Rachel was buried there to cry for her children when they would be exiled from Jerusalem by Nevuchadnezzar. If that were true then she would be in the North of Jerusalem as that is the direction they were exiled- not South. So there are those that place it near Har Choma in the North of Jerusalem. Earliest sources for our location of Kever Rachel are Christian interestingly enough that mention the tomb there. We have some of the Rishonim and early journeyers to Eretz Yisrael that describe the building as having 12 stones according to the tribes of Israel that were established there and how visitors would write their names on the walls.

The Ramban- Nachmanides is perhaps most interesting in where he originally felt it was in the North of Jerusalem but upon coming to Israel and visiting the site, he changed his mind. Maybe he felt her spirit. Regardless Kever Rachel today is certainly one of the most holy places to pray in Israel. I always like to point out to people that Rachel is buried there to pray for the redemption. That is what she is crying for. It is therefore only appropriate that when we come there to pray for whatever it is that we daven for, that we as well pray for the Geula, the redemption, Mashiach and the return of our people to our home. That is what the Mama is crying for, shouldn’t we….

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S VERY MORBID DEATH JOKES OF THE WEEK

Berel went on vacation and asked Yankel to watch over his house. About a week later, Berel calls home and asked "How's my cat?"

Yankel hesitated and sadly told Berel his cat died.

"What?! You shouldn't have broken the news to me like that! You should have done it slowly. The first time I called, you should have told me she was on the roof. The second time I called, you should have said there was no way to get her down. The third time I called, you should have told me that you tried to get her off the roof, but she fell down and died," explained Berel
Bobby apologized and went about his day.

About a week later, Berel called again and asked "How's my Granny?"

There was a long silence and then Yankel replied. "Well, she's on the roof

Hillary Clinton goes to a psychic who tells her: "Prepare yourself for widowhood ... Your husband is about to die a violent death."
Mrs. Clinton takes a deep breath and replies: "Will I be acquitted?"

Zaydie Moishe is lying on his deathbed with his children, grandchildren, and older great-grandchildren all around, teary-eyed at the approaching finale of a very long and productive life. The old man is in a terminal coma, and the doctors have confirmed that the waiting will be over within the next twenty-four hours. Suddenly, the old man opens his eyes and croaks: "I must be dreaming of heaven! I smell your grandmother's strudel!"

"No, grandfather, you are not dreaming. Grandmother is baking strudel now."

"I know I will never have another taste of her delicious strudel after this one. Could you please go down and get me a piece?", the old man begs with what is left of his final breath.

One of the grandchildren is immediately dispatched to honor the old man's last request. After a long time, he returns empty-handed.

"Did you bring me one last piece of your grandmother's delicious strudel?" the old man asks.

"I'm very sorry, Zayide, but she says it's for the Shiva."

The Kollel Rabbis were discussing the unforeseen possibility of their sudden death. The leader of the discussion said, " We will all die some day, and none of us really know when, but if we did we would all do a better job of preparing ourselves for that inevitable event."

"Everybody shook their heads in agreement with this comment."

Then the leader said to the group, "What would you do if you knew you only had 4 weeks of life remaining before your death, and then the Great Judgment Day?"

A gentleman said, "I would go out into my community and do outreach work to those that do not yet know how special Hashem is."

"Very good!", said the Rabbi, and all the others agreed, that would be a very good thing to do.

One Rabbi then spoke up and said enthusiastically, "I would dedicate all of my remaining time to giving charity and helping the poor and the needy."

"That"s wonderful!" the Rabbi again commented, and all the Rabbis agreed, that would be a very good thing to do.

But one little tzadk in in the back finally spoke up loudly and said, "I would go to my shviggers (mother-in-laws) house for the 4 weeks."

Everyone was puzzled by this answer, and the group leader ask, "Why your mother-in-law's home?"

"Because that will make it the longest 4 weeks of my life!"

************

Answer is A – This one was also pretty easy. Not that I would know what the part of the flower that produces pollen is called if you asked me on the street. However for a multiple choice question it was easy. Now in my course we learned botany, although I forgot most of it, except the avocadoes J… but the course was in Hebrew, so I knew what avkan was-the thing that produced ivka-which is pollen, like the word avak which is dust and a Talmudic word. But when you use process of deduction it’s pretty easy. It’s not an insect. Never heard of such an insect. It’s definitely not pollen. And it just didn’t seem like the part that connected the flower to stem. Not that I know what that is… but I couldn’t imagine that they would even bother teaching us that. Do you know what the part that connects flower to stem is. Bowl of chulent to the one who answers first.

Jubilant Tomatoes- Behar Bechukotai/ Yom Yerushalayim 2017/5777

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

May 19^th 2017 -Volume 7 Issue 30 23^rd Iyar 5777

Parshat Behar-Bechukotai/ Yom Yerushalayim

 Jubilant Tomatoes

It is a big week in Eretz Yisrael this week. It is the start of the 9^th Yovel. Huh? What does that mean? It’s not a Jubilee year. Yes I know the Torah portion this week, does talk about the mitzva of the 50^th year being special. The year after the 7^th cycle of 7 years is a year of redemption, of freedom throughout the land the Torah tells us, but this is not a yovel year. So what am I talking about?

Now those of you who have been on one of my tours, should already have an inkling, as I mention this quite often. But for the rest of you who have yet to have made it on a Rabbi Schwartz tour, I’ll share with you a pretty awesome idea that will give you a bit of a teaser. Now certainly all of you are aware that this week is Yom Yerushalayim, right? Yeah even you guys in Lakewood and Boro Park now that this year because you know that your President is coming to Israel for that special occasion. And if Trump is coming you know it must be a big deal. Believe me. It’s a big deal. Believe me…. But the 50 year celebration of the return to Jerusalem after 2000 years to Jewish sovereignty is not merely a 21^st century celebration. It is in fact possibly the fulfillment of an 800 year old prophecy or prediction by one of the great sages of the 13^th century, none other than Rebbe Yehudah Ben Shmuel of Regensburg or as he is more commonly known as because of his famous ethical will, Reb Yehudah HaChasid- The Pious. In his work Sefer HaGematryiot he is quotes as given a historical timeline for Eretz Yisrael in it he writes the following (or as I have seen it paraphrased to be precise-as I have not been successful finding it inside).

“When the empire of which is on the Bosporus (Ottomans (Turks) which were not yet a powerful force in the time of Judah Ben Samuel) – will rise up they will conquer Jerusalem and they will rule over Jerusalem for eight jubilees. Afterwards the Jews will begin to return to Israel en-mass, yet Jerusalem will be without owner for one jubilee, until the 9^th Jubilee when it will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation – which would signify the beginning of the Messianic end time which would culiminate in the 10^th Yovel.”

Now I mention this to my tourists just to give them a recap of Jewish history. From the year 1250 the Mamaluks ruled Israel having wiped out the Crusaders that were here when Rebbi Yehudah wrote what he did. They were here from the year 1250 until 1517 when the Turkish Ottaman Empire rose and conquered Israel. The Turks lasted here exactly 4 centuries- or eight yovels until the end of World War I 1917, when Israel/Palestine came under the League of Nations appointed British Mandate to maintain the country until a Jewish State as promised in the Balfour declaration would be established. Jews however returned for the first time by the thousands and tens of thousands until the establishment of the State in 1948. Yet Jerusalem remained no-man’s land until this week 1967 exactly 50 years from the fall of the “Empire of Bosphurus”. That would then make the year 2017 the tenth yovel. The one in which the Messianic Era is meant to culminate. Ummmm start packing guys.

Now whether this is authentic or not, I can’t verify, although the dates certainly are. I have seen people debunk this, and claim they can’t source it. I actually saw it mentioned on Bibi Netanyahus facebook page a few years ago, although I can’t seem to bring it up now. But the truth is I don’t believe we need Reb Yehuda HaChasid, Bibi or Trump to tell us that Mashiach is on his way. We can merely look at the words and promises in this week’s Torah portion, a few statements from some of our sages and perhaps even read a letter from a tomato (!) to let you know what we are truly, I believe on the precipice of experiencing.

Let’s start with the letter from the tomato who really says it all

“"After the destruction of the Second Temple 2000 years ago, a message came from Heaven to all the flora and fauna of Eretz Yisrael to stop growing. The word went from cedar to hyssop, to vine, to olive, to flowers, to grain, to all plant life – The Master of the World has decreed that we stop growing until we receive new instructions. We were told that only when Klal Yisrael begins to return from golus will we come back to life. We were all very sad to see our people going off into exile – but we heeded the 'Word of Hashem.'  As He said in this week’s portion Bechukotai –

 'And I will make the land desolate.'

 We were told not to respond to enemies of Israel who will enter the land, and we obeyed – Romans, Byzantines, Moslems, Crusaders, Tartars, Saracens, they all came and we did not respond to their attempts to bring us to life. We were told that we would be informed in good time before the Children of Israel begins to return so that we could wake up from our long slumber. 

During that long period there were moments at which we thought that the end of our sleep is coming. We thought that our children are coming home. In the twelfth century we heard reports that 'they are coming.' The rumor went underground from root to root, the cedar to the hyssop, the vine to the olive, the tomato to the cucumber – we heard that they are coming home. Then we learned to our utter dismay that 300 Baalei Tosafot from the Rhineland arrived but no more. 

"We had other false alarms. The Ramban in 1267, Rav Ovadiah miBartenura in 1492, Rabbi Yehuda Halevy HacChasid and his followers in 1700 (different Rabbi Yehudah than the one mentioned above), the students of the Baal Shem Tov and the students of the Vilna Gaon, but we did not receive the message from Hashem. So we waited, we hoped, we prayed. Then, toward the end of the 19th century rumors began again beneath the surface of the earth. There was a report that after Mark Twain left Emek Yizrael that there were angels telling blades of grass: 'grow, grow.' We were skeptical at first. We didn't want to be disappointed. 

But the reports became increasingly urgent. Birds flying overhead, clouds cruising the skies said, 'They are coming.' You should have seen (but of course you couldn't) what was going on beneath the surface of Eretz Yisrael. We were all cautious but excited. More and more reports of sightings were coming in. 'They are coming – they are coming home' – and then the word came directly from Hashem:

Yechezkel (36:8-12) And you, the mountains of Israel, will produce your branches, and you will bear your fruit for My people Israel because they are about to come. 9. For behold I am for you, and I shall turn to you, and you will be tilled and sown. 10. And I shall multiply men upon you, the whole house of Israel in its entirety, and the cities will be settled, and the ruins will be built up. 11. And I shall multiply upon you man and beast, and they will be fruitful and multiply, and I shall settle you as in your early days, and I shall make you better than your beginnings, and you will know that I am the Lord.

'They are finally coming home! Grow! Respond to the work of their hands! Don't check their tzitzis, it makes no difference whether they are religious or not. Grow – they are My children and they are coming home. Grow, give out your fruits. Grow.' 

"You should have seen the joy and jubilation beneath the surface. You didn't know but we knew. You should have seen how they all started waking up from the 1,900-year slumber, stretching their roots, yawning, smiling. I had not seen such activity in millennia. We were told by the Master of the World that we are commanded to turn little, dry, arid, dusty, nearly dead Eretz Yisrael into a verdant, fruitful, agricultural world super power. And we did it with joy

"I don't understand how Jews don't realize that we are the bearers of a message that G-d wants all His children home”

So there you have it a letter from a tomato-{credit to the great Rabbi Sholom Gold for passing on this letter as it was communicated to him from his tomato}. The Talmud in Sanhedrin makes it even clearer.

Sanhedrin (98) And R' Abba said There is no clearer indication of the "End" than this, as it is stated: But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel, etc.

Rashi comments that when Eretz Yisrael gives out its produce in abundance that is the greatest sign that 'the end – the keitz' is coming.

But it is deeper than that. The commentary on the Tur Shulchan Aruch, the Bach (Orach Chaim, Siman 208) says that the Shechina, the Divine Presence, enters the Jew through the produce of Eretz Yisrael. They are the conduit to bring sanctity.  Rav Kook writes that "The produce of Eretz Yisrael brings 'internal sanctity.'" Be careful, he warns, of food from out of Eretz Yisrael. If one longs for Eretz Yisrael, then even his golus-produce gains in sanctity. "It is a mitzvah to taste with one's full mouth the delight and sweetness of the brilliant and fresh sanctity of (the fruit) of Eretz Yisrael. The tomatoes are spirituality, ruchniyut, not gashmiyut -merely physical and material sustenance.

 This week’s Torah portion shares with us the incredible horrific tochacha the troubles and punishment that will be inflicted upon the Jewish people for not fulfilling the commandments while we are in Israel. We have suffered them all. Not just 75 years ago our nation was at the brink of destruction. Yet like a phoenix we have arisen from the ashes. The Beis Halevi of Brisk wrote that when all the sages saw the foxes climbing on the burning embers of the Temple in Jerusalem and were mourning Rabbi Akiva laughed because he saw that if the prophecy of its destruction will be fulfilled so will the prophecy that it will be rebuilt. He explains that the connection between the two prophecies was that the first one foretold that the land would be desolate and barren and the nations of the world would not be able to settle it. He said if that is true than it is a sign that Hashem and the land will await for the Jewish people to return. Because Eretz Yisrael is different than any other country. It will only respond to us. It will await for us. So once Rabbi Akiva saw that it remained barren and it functioned differently he knew that day of the Return would ultimately happen.

The day is soon coming. I hope it will be this week. It would be pretty neat if The Donald and his Jewish family were here to see it. If you don’t believe that its right around the corner come visit and take a walk through the Shuk/market of Machane Yehuda. Look at the stacks and stacks and shops full of the fruits of the land of Israel. Rabbi Gold’s most famous quote describes it best. “If you want to talk to God, go to the Western Wall, but if you want to see him- Go to the shuk. The yovel year is here. It’s time to start packing. But no need to pack any fruits or vegetables. We’ve got all that you need over here.

Have a bright and mystically uplifting Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Fun fartrikenteh baimer kumen kain paires nit arois..”- From a withered tree no fruits will come out

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/qunVQoSNMsY - The Battle for Jerusalem 50 years ago this week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMXRtZsAusE – Reb Shlomo Carlebach on Yerushalayim and Reb Nachman

https://youtu.be/q7p6gpsNB4s?list=PL9w_0PxsHZzNV0oeCLVoWNfOHXCrzDZVW     –In honor of President Trumps visit-Reb Shlomo the whole world will come to Yerushalayim

https://youtu.be/51yRI9t85og   - Yerushalayim Shel Zahav- not easy finding a mens singer version and lucky me found Ari Goldwag knocking it out of the park on this one.

  

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q  The Sinai Campaign (war) took place in:
a. 1953
b. 1954
c. 1955
d. 1956

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ILLUMINATING RASHI OF THE WEEK

The Torah is truly an incredible work. Any moral code developed by man doesn’t even come close to the sensitivity our Divine author has and insight into human nature that only the “discerner of all hearts and innards” truly has. Yet sometimes we don’t neccesarily notice how true that is because we miss the nuances of the text. That’s where Rashi comes in and why our sages felt it was so important to learn Rashi when one reviews the weekly portion. Because he wrote his commentary in order to point out those little, yet big things that are essential to appreciating the incredible detail of the Torah and our commandments.

In this weeks Torah portion we are told about the mitzva of giving charity. The Torah tell us

Vayikra (25:35) If your brother becomes impoverished and his hand falters with you, you shall hold on to him-(ger)-proselyte and resident- so that he can live with you.

Rashi notes the nuance of the words in the verse of him faltering and you holding on to him with a very deep insight and an incredible moral and ethical teaching

And you shall hold on to him- Don’t allow him to to decline and fall, rather strengthen him fomr the time when his hand begins to falter. What is this comparable to? To a burden on a donkey. While the donkey is still in his place one person can grab him and stand it up. Once it falls to the ground five people can’t pick it back up again.

Rav Shach notes that Rashi is pointing out that the mitzva of charity does not begin when one sees a person that is needy, hungry, has lost their job or is in some type of difficult circumstance. The essense of the Torah’s command is to assist someone before they hit rock-bottom. When they are starting to struggle. It is the perfect introduction to the laws of the prohibition to take interest that follow. One might think this guy has a business he’s struggling with some cash flow issues. But he’s not a charity case. Why can’t I charge him interest. I’ll even give him a better deal then he would get at the bank or off his credit cards. The Torah is telling us that we are then missing the point. Charity begins before the person is needy, when his hand is only beginning to falter. That’s when one has the obligation to lift him up. To give him the break or assistance that he needs. To see him and love him as you would your own brother. As you would want someone to be there for you. Rav Shach adds an even deeper idea quoting the our role model of kindness, our patriarch Abraham, who upon seeing the three men/angels standing the verse then repeats he saw them and he ran towards them. The repetition of the word “He saw them” (Bereshit:18:2) teaches us that kindness means and starts with perceiving the needs of the others. The Talmud describes one who is not charitable as someone who “hides his eyes from charity”. Not someone who closes his wallet, rather someone who doesn’t see his friend, or even the stranger as someone he is responsible for caring for before he stumbles and falls and needs charity rather than a loan. Something certainly to think about. Which is why Rashi points it out for us.

 Rabbi Eliezer Menachem Man Shach (1899-2001) – As a young yeshivas student growing up there was one name that dominated and perhaps even defined the essence of what we were meant to strive for and become and that was none other than the person that could certainly be considered the Rosh Yeshiva of our generation; Rav Shach. He lived in a small simple apartment in Bnai Brak, he studied and taught all day, yet he was the address everyone went to for any personal crisis, for advice and who ultimately became the kingmaker in Israel in various elections and who set the path for any major decision that was needed across the Jewish world.

As a young child Rav Shach was absorbed in the study of Torah day and night. He left his family at age 11 to go off to yeshiva and did not return for years. He studied in all of the great yeshivas in Europe. Ponivizh, Kletz, Solobodka, Mir and  Novardok where he developed relations with all of the great leaders of the time and earned their trust and respect. In 1940 he fled with his family to Palestine and became the head of Eitz Chaim Yeshiva and ultimately in Ponivizh in Bnai Brak where he served until his death.

Despite what would seem to be his isolation from the rest of the world outside of the pages of Talmud, Rav Shach was knowledgeable and felt a responsibility to pass down and share the world-views that he received from his teachers to the rest of the world He became the face of Torah Judaism and founded political parties that were outspoken and unabashed about the role and significance of Torah in guiding every aspect of Jewish life. At the same time he was an extremely sensitive person known to literally break down in tears over any Jewish tragedy whether it was a religious Jew or not. As well he was outspoken and controversial about many issues that he saw as being a threat to Torah life in the orthodox qorld particularly, whether it was assimilation and modernization of Torah values through the incorporation of studies that he felt were foreign. He felt that every Jewish child had the potential to be the next Jewish leader and as a result all children should be taught and raised with that ideal and goal. He opposed various Chasidic groups when he felt their customs violated Jewish law and was particularly concerned with Messianic strands of Judaism that he felt were dangerous. Yet through it all his sincerity, his complete dedication to Hashem and his Torah as well as his caring for the Jewish people shone through and made whatever statements he made to be something that needed to be reckoned with if not ultimately followed.

Rav Shach died in November of 2001 and over 200,000 people attended his funeral. Since then millions have come to his grave in Bnai Brak making it a holy site in Israel where the inspiration of this great Tzadik assists our prayers in reaching the highest heavens.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TYPES OF JEWS IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

Farmers – For 2000 years the land was empty and bare. Nothing grew. It’s desert. It’s hard rock. It doesn’t get much water. Only 20% of the land is naturally arable. Those that read the Torah until our century thought it was made up that this was a land flowing with milk and honey and the 7 species. And yet just as the Torah in this weeks parsha predicts as long as the Jews are gone it will be that way, but when we return it will flourish like it never has. Today agriculture is a 30 billion dollar industry. Israel grows 95 percent of all of the needs for our own country here in Israel. It serves as 3% of our GDP and 4% of our exports. How’s that for what our sages tell us will be the sign that Mashiach is on his way.

Almost ¾ of Israel’s famers live in either Moshavs or Kibbutzim, the difference between the two being the former is privately owned land with co-operative purchasing and marketing, whereas the Kibbutz everything is owned and shared jointly. Initially the vast majority of the Kibbutzim and Moshavim were secular, but in recent years more and more are becoming observant and there are not too many that don’t have Torah classes and weekly services. Because of Israel’s diverse climates and topography we are able to produce a wide array of crops. Fruit and vegetables grown include citrus, AVOCADOS (capped and underlined as an inside joke for those that have gone on tour with me), kiwifruit, guavas and mangoes, grapes from orchards located on the Mediterranean coastal plain. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and zucchini are grown commonly throughout the country; melons are grown during winters months in the valleys. Subtropical areas in the country produce bananas and dates, while in the northern hills apples, pears and cherries are grown. Furthermore, grape vineyards are found across the country, as the country's wine industry has developed to become a world-player.

Israel has also become a world leader in agritech developing drip irrigation, alternate water resources, new types of seeds vairieties that grow crops with longer a longer shelf-life, as wells different soil conditioners that boosts local crops.

To a large degree our sages tell us that farmers are the most connected to God. They pray for rain, they see Hashem’s blessings and miracles. And certainly more than the rest of us they appreciate how amazing it is that this once barren land is now seeing the bounty that Hahsem has promised us it will produce upon our return to the land.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S  TERRIBLE FARMER JOKES OF THE WEEK

Where does a Jewish farmer become a man? At his Barn Mitzvah

Schwartz, an elderly man, is resting peacefully on the porch of his small hotel outside Boca when he sees a cloud of dust up the road. He walks out to see who could be approaching: It is a southern farmer with a wagon.
“Good afternoon,” says Schwartz.
“Afternoon,” says the farmer.
“Where you headed?” asks Schwartz.
“Town.”
“What do you have in the wagon?”
“Manure.”
“Manure, eh? What do you do with it?”
“I spread it over the fruit.”
“Well,” says Bernstein, “you should come over here for lunch someday. We use sour cream.

In the early days of pre-State Israel there was a Kibbutznik farmer who had just come over from the old country. Walking through his hay field, he notices a man kneeling down and drinking from his farm pond. The farmer shouts,"Trink nicht die wasser. Die keyen haben gesmacht orten." (Which means: "Don't drink the water, the cows ‘made’ in it")

The kneeling man shouts back, angrily, "I'm a Muslim, I don't understand you. This is Palestine, I speak Arabic and English. If you can't speak in the Sacred tongue of Islam, speak to me in English."

The Jewish farmer replies, "Use two hands, you'll get more."

There was once a Jew who wanted to buy a horse. He went to a few dealers, but without satisfaction. Finally, he came to a farmer who said to him, "I have just the horse for you. Here, try him." The Jew mounted the horse and said "Gidiyap", but the horse didn't budge.

Said the farmer: "I told you. This is a horse for Jews. You have to say to it, Boruch HaShem." The Jew was skeptical, but when he called out "Boruch HaShem" the horse sprang into motion. "Whoa!" said the Jew, but the horse kept going.

"Hey, how do you stop this horse?" he screamed to the farmer. "Say Shma Yisroel", the farmer shouted back. "Shma Yisroel!" cried out the Jew, and sure enough, the horse stopped.

Delighted at this extraordinary find, the Jew promptly made the purchase.

A few days later, he went for a ride on his new horse. As they galloped along, the Jew suddenly realized they were headed directly toward the edge of a steep cliff. He tried to stop the horse, but in his fright, he forgot the correct words. He tugged on the reins, yelled "Whoa! Stop! Halt!", but nothing worked. Then, remembering it was a "Jewish horse," he screamed out every Hebrew phrase he could think of, but the horse kept going.

The Jew saw that he and the horse would momentarily be over the cliff. In the way that Jews have always done in their final moments, he put his hand over his eyes and shouted the great affirmation of our unique faith: "Shma Yisroel, G-d is our Lord, G-d is one."

The horse stopped right at the edge of the cliff.

"Whew," said the Jew, taking out his handkerchief and wiping his forehead, "That was a close one! Thank G-d!-Boruch HaShem!"

  

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Answer is D – This is certainly a legitimate question, although it’s not something I often guide about since Sinai is not really part of Israel any more. But certainly the dates of the wars of Israel are significant. The Suez Campaign in 1956 was the result of Egypt closing the straits of Tiran by the Suez Canal, which was really an international violation of the Suez Canal. Israel responded in October of 1956 by parachuting deep into Sinai and launched its attack.  Britain and France demanded a cease fire once it became clear that Israel was really kicking their posteriorsJ. Israel backed off Egypt did not and then Britain and France launched an aerial attack and the joint forces captured all of the Sinai desert. In the course of the war hundreds of Egyptians were captured and much weaponry fell into the hands of the IDF. At the end of the war the Straits of Tiran were opened, free passage on the waterways was assured and the Egyptian threat was removed. An indirect outcome of the war was the immigration of the many Egyptian Jews to Israel. The war cost the lives of 172 IDF soldiers. America and the rest of the international community pressured Israel to retreat to the armistice border, and an international emergency force was stationed on the border between Israel and Egypt. American guarantees ensured that quiet was maintained in the region until this week fifty years ago right before the outbreak of the Six Day War in June 1967.