Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
October 5th 2018 -Volume 9 Issue 1 26th Tishrei 5779
Parshat Bereishis
Annoyed. That’s what I was, annoyed. Who needs
this parade. Why did they have to plan it on Sukkos? Don’t the realize that
this is the busiest time of year for tourists in Jerusalem. I have tourists
that I have to get out of their hotel and back again in the early afternoon and
the roads are all going to be closed because of this “International Jerusalem
March”. Really?! My tourists don’t like to walk to their hotel. They like to be
picked up and dropped off after to their front door. That’s why they take me
and not some hard-core hiker guide that will make them climb Masada. I know
where the good restaraunts are and I don’t make them walk a step more than they
have to.
Why can’t
they hold this after the holiday? Like
in a week or two when the country and city empties out a bit. Hey, it would
even be good for the hotels as it would fill them up with the 10’s of thousands
of gentiles that come from 35 countries all over the world, when all the yiddelach
have left already. How come no one is consulting me before they make these
plans? What type of chutzpa…. Yes, I was annoyed. I was not a happy camper, or
tour guide.
But I was wrong….I arrived back right in the
middle of this parade. We got dropped off by Tachana Rishona, the first train
station and we began to hike back to Mamila. The apartment we were staying at
had a window overlooking the whole thing and I watched from that vantage point.
Thousands of marchers from all over the world were singing ‘Am Yisrael “Hai”’- I
didn’t expect them to get that throat grating ‘ccchhhh’ sound for chai
that only years of chulent and herring with crackers can give you, but it was
cute to hear them try. It was inspiring even, dare I say. Is there another
country in the world where thousands of people from other nations will fly over
to, in order to march for hours in the sun with flags that are not their own and
shout, sing and dance- “We lav Eezrael, We Lav Jeruzalehm”. Korea,
France, Japan, Brazil, India, Spain, South Africa, Nigeria, Ukraine Ireland,
Hungary; even Germany for gosh sakes. It
was crazy.
“Ich bin Ein Berliner” JFK’s famous
speech that shook the world in the 60’s
supporting West Berlin against the Communist has now become Ich Bin
Ein Jerusalem. In that speech JFK said that one the proudest cries of the
world 2000 years ago was ‘Civis Romanus Sum’- I am a Roman citizen.
Well, guess what Rome? Guess what Germany? Guess what Spain, Babylonia, Persia
Turkey and Russia? Today it seems the proudest boast of your citizens is that
we are one with Jerusalem and Israel. Who would have ever thought, this day we
would come?
Even more mind-boggling to me is that it is one
thing to support and even love Israel. But every nation seemingly is inbred
with a certain degree of patriotism and affinity for their own country. Except
perhaps for college students in America. Ouch! No one goes to the Olympics or
the European soccer matches, or to the Eurovision or Golden Globes and rallies
behind countries that are not their own. No one has the chutzpa to walk around
carrying a flag for a different country declaring their love for it and
certainly not flying into march there with those flags. It goes against the
natural order of the world. We may make pithy statements supporting countries
when they have tragedies, like 9/11 or earthquakes, tsunamis, or wars and
persecution. We may even send support. But it’s peace time in Israel. It’s just
a regular Jewish Yom Tov. We are flourishing. There are no calamites
that require a rallying call of solidarity. Yet there are citizens from all
over the world, from all religions-even Muslim, that feel that their souls,
their future and their hearts are bound with the Jewish people, with our state
and with Yerushalayim. That is biblical, my friends. That is a fulfillment of
prophecies. And truth be told that is really Sukkos.
See we are told that on the holiday of Sukkos
all nations of the world would have sacrifices offered in the Temple on their
behalf. We have just gone through the Days of Judgement, of Rosh Hashana and
Yom Kippur. We move out of our homes to dwell in the shade of Hashem under the
stars and it is at that point that we recognize that our divine mandate, our
purpose in this world is not just our self-betterment. It’s not making a better
living, having our personal bucket list both materially and even spiritually
fulfilled. Its about literally and as non-cliché as possible, making the world
a better place. A holier place.
V’Yeda kol peul she’ata pealto, vyavin kol yetzur she’ata yatzarto- and every Creation
should know and understand that You created them, you propel them. You are the
King of the universe.
When we do that and step into our little private
Sukkas there is an aura that spreads out to the world that draws the nations to
us. The soul of the universe has been ignited. And like a magnet they are drawn
to the Jewish people, to Israel, to Hashem. We couldn’t stop this parade if we
wanted to. And the truth is it is our job to be the grand marshal waving our
holy batons at the front of it all.
What is even more remarkable to me though is the
aftermath of this huge international parade and explosion of Eretz Yisrael/Jerusalem
passion. The goyim all leave and go home. We are left alone with Hashem for our
personal parade. Our Hakafot. Our singing and dancing with the Torah. In the Temple
there is only one sacrifice that is brought. It’s a small feast with us and our
Creator, who doesn’t want to part with us. I noted in my shul that the Torah
reading of Simchat Torah is not merely the culmination of the Torah. There are no
coincidences, rather if one looks hard you can find that all Torah portions relate
to the time of year and the special energy that can be drawn at that time of
year from the Divine spiritual train stops whose gates are opened up each week
by the Torah portions. V’Zos Habracha is the blessing of the Jewish
people; each Jew, each tribe, each soul. It is introduced with the verse
Devarim (33:3) Af choveiv amim kol kedoshuv biyadecha vehm tucu
l’raglecha yisa midabrosecha- also the beloved of the nations join Your
holy ones in Your hands, they planted
themselves at Your feet, bearing the yoke of Your utterances.
The Rashbam notes that this is the nations of
the world that join Israel. That recognize our role, our key role, in revealing
Hashem to the world through the Torah. Then it follows with the next step
Devarim (33:5) Vayehi bishurun melech bishasef roshei am yachad
shivtei Yisrael- and it is when in Yeshurun (Jerusalem) the King, when the
heads of the nation gather together and the tribes of Israel are one.
We see the nations come to us and then we join
together. It is then that we are each personally blessed.
It is amazing that after concluding the Torah
with the word Yisrael. With the description of the revelation of Moshe before
our eyes. We begin with Bereshis, this week’s Torah portion. In the beginning.
We received our blessing it is now time to create the world. To restore it to
Eden. To once again have the spirit of Hashem flowing their the universe.
The first Rashi in the Torah tells us that the
Torah begins with the story of the creation of the world rather than the first
mitzva of Jews at the story of our Exodus because
Rashi Bereshis (1:1)If the nations of the world tell Israel
that you are robbers for you conquered the land of Israel from the 7 nations
that dwelled here. They will say to them the entire land is from Hashem. He
created it and gave it to whom it was correct in His eyes. It was with His will
that He gave it to them and it was His will to take it from them and give it to
us.
In the past we have spoken about why this is a
good response and how this message is perhaps more relevant to us having
confidence in our claim then them. This year I noted how strange it is that at
the beginning of time, from the first word of the Torah there seems to be built
into Creation at its core; the connection and longing for the nations of the
world to recognize the centrality of our tiny little country to them and to us.
The nations of the world don’t really all care about who conquered Puerto Rico
or Micronesia, or Kuwait. Sure there might be small or even big wars here and
there because of the their own personal national interests, but for 4 and half
thousand years the entire world has been obsessed with our few hundred
kilometers of land. That is the first message of the Torah to us. The world was
created and programmed for the entire planet to question our existence and our
place in Israel. Their souls know that it is the key to the universe. The Torah
was not started with our mitzvos. It’s not a book of our laws, our ethics or
our history. It is a map to explaining to the world why we are in Israel. Why
Hashem created us all. To give it to them and then take it from them in order
to give it to us… to lift up the entire world to Him. To answer their question.
That’s what it’s all about.
And if we forget that, Hashem tells us at the
beginning of the Torah, don’t worry. They will come. They will parade. They
will claim Jerusalem. They will reveal to us our blessing and we can then
reveal theirs to them.
I wonder every time I go back to the States why
Jews still live in America. So much suffering, so many crises, so hard to make
a living, pay tuition, health care,
shidduchim challenges, so much anti-semitism and really no good falafel or
shwarma anywhere. My heart goes out to my brothers and sisters that are
nebach stuck in the Diaspora, amongst the nations, far from the homeland
our ancestors once dwelled in, as I am fortunate enough to do, and that all of
their grandparents dreamed they could live in. But yet they are there for a
reason. That reason is not obviously financial. It is not because of Torah or
education, no one can think that the Torah of Chutz La’aretz is better far away
from the avira d’eretz yisrael- the air of the land of Israel that makes
one more smart. It certainly isn’t for material reasons or spiritual reasons.
They are there because they have a job to do still. They are there to answer
the nations and reveal Hashem’s glory to them. To inspire those nations with
their Torah lifestyle to join the parade in Israel. For the nations of the
world to learn from their observation of these holy selfless Jews and their
families, how special our Creator is. How just and pleasant are His ways. How
their destiny is bound with ours and with Jerusalem’s. Their job is almost done
there though. The nations have already agreed to our claim. They know that
Hashem is here. That Am Yisrael is Chai. It is time for the true long awaited
final parade with a man with a long white beard on a donkey blowing a shofar
heralding in Mashiach to begin. Get your flag ready.
Have a spangtangulous Shabbos and a Chodesh
Cheshvan Tov,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
********************************************************
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“A shpigel ken oich
zein der grester farfirer..”– A mirror can be the biggest deceiver.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR
GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of
Email
Q. Wadi
Og is located in:
A) The Golan Heights
B) Lower Galilee
C) The Negev Mountains (Har HaNegev)
D) The Judean Desert
A) The Golan Heights
B) Lower Galilee
C) The Negev Mountains (Har HaNegev)
D) The Judean Desert
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/SKpx9BNWqOg- Jerusalem International
parade you gotta check this out!
https://youtu.be/Iq1c_EzxD_M- My
new favorite song I cant get out of my head from Reb Hillel Paley- Mah ehseh
lyisrael- the words are beautiful and this is “Ohchila la’kel” level hit by the
same composer
https://youtu.be/6NCH5lH0_CM- Great
video that’s been going around about the classic song “The man from Vilna£ by
Abie Rottenberg- watch who its really about
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K38c4eSEAU&feature=youtu.be&t=10326
– SY Rechnitz Mir Speech about Korach, Jews fighting and the
sad state of affairs in our yeshiva world
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS”
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
(New column this year- we have covered Pshat with Rashi, Midrash,
Gematriaot, Haftoras- this year we take the next step analyzing the Parsha and
exercising our brains with a bit of yeshiva lomduss, so get your thumb ready to
twirl as we share with you a little bit of yeshiva style quick genius
dissecting and thinking as we explore the Torah this year with the eyes of
lomdus)
Parshat Bereishit – This week we are told
about the Creation of the world. This is not merely a historical event. It is
in fact a mitzva to know that the world has a Creator. It may have started with
a Big Bang as the Ramban and other early commentary explains or it was a
perfect created world, but regardless it was all Created, caused and directed by
Hashem who continues to manage the entire universe. What mitzva is it to know
this and testify to this. It’s called Shabbos.
Yes, we stop everything all creating each week and we have a
positive commandment to Remember the Day of Shabbos. Remember and mention each
week that Hashem created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th
and infused it with holiness.
This positive commandment (number 4 of the big ten) is fulfilled
in its ultimate form with the recitation of Kiddush. Our Rabbis derive that the
way to remember Shabbos is to do so over a good cup of wine. However biblically
this commandment is fulfilled with the mere verbal mentioning of the day of
Shabbos and its holiness even if you don’t have any wine. In fact Rabbi Aryeh
Levine would walk around the Kotel each Friday night saying Shabbat Shalom to
each of the soldiers serving there in order that each of them would be able to
at least biblically fulfill the command of “Remembering Shabbos”.
Now this mitzva to remember Shabbos and recite Kiddush is on men
and women. Although women are generally exempt from mitzvos that are connected
to a specific time, they certainly have a mitzva and a custom to fulfill them,
such as when they sit in a Sukka, listen to shofar or even daven with a minyan.
But they are not obligated to do that.
Kiddush though is different there they have a biblical obligation to fulfill
the mitzva because the Talmud tells us we derive that from the comparison between
zachor and shamor- just as they can’t desecrate the Shabbos and are
obligated to observe it biblically- so they are obligated to remember Shabbos and
hear or make kiddush. They fulfill this obligation generally when their husband,
father or host comes home from shul and makes kiddush for the entire family.
There is a problem with this though the Noda BiYehuda asks. If the
man davened maariv, the evening prayer, than technically speaking when he
recited the verses of Shabbos of Vayechulu in his davening which
mentions the 6 days Hashem created the world and rested on Shabbos, he has
fulfilled his biblical obligation. If that is the case so when he comes home
and recites kiddush over wine he is only fulfilling a rabbinic obligation to
recite kiddush over wine. If that is the case then how can ones wife or daughters
fulfill their biblical obligation with the rabbinic obligation one being made
by the husband? Just as a man fulfill his responsibility for a biblical commandment
like shofar when a woman makes if for him because she is not biblically
obligated in it like he is. Here you have the opposite case, the man is not
obligated biblically anymore (because he verbally said kiddush, although not
over wine) but the woman is and she seemingly should not be able to fulfill her
obligation with reciting amen and listening to the man’s recitation?
Zught Rabbi Akiva Eiger a great answer, he says that when the
man walks into the house and the woman says Gut Shabbos to him- she fulfills
her biblical obligation as well, already. She has already recognized Shabbos
verbally in that mere recital. Therefore her obligation like her husbands is
only rabbinic and boom- his kiddush works for her as well. And there you have a
lomdishe answer.
Good Shabbos!
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Korach-
1311- 1272 BC – The story of Korach in
the Torah is a strange one. It doesn’t tell us where this great fight between
Moshe and his cousin and the 250 sages that supported him in his fight against
the leadership of Moshe and the divine nature of his appointments, took place.
It doesn’t tell us what year, this took place in. and it doesn’t tell us where
they were swallowed up by the earth from. Our sages suggest this is because the
fight between Korach and Moshe wasn’t a one time thing. It’s an eternal warning.
Never be like Korach, anytime, anyplace. Fighting amongst Jews is wrong and it
will lead to destruction.
So what is a tour guide supposed to do if
he wants to talk about and share this important message with their tourists?
Well one can always make up places and stories 😊. But that’s not my style
when I’m not in a bind at least. I look for connections. One place where I
certainly talk about it is when we drive down the Dead Sea and I point out all
the sinkholes there that are swallowing up the ground and shore line. By the
former Mineral Beach one can literally see the buildings getting
swallowed up. As well in Tiverya by the hot springs there I
mention how the Talmud mentions that this the opening to Gehenom and the sons
of Korach were heard screaming from here Moshe Emes and Toraso Emes, as they
did not go all the way down as they repented. But sadly one can talk about the
terrible state of machloket and fighting that take place by walking down some
of the streets of Meah Shearim and Kikar Shabbos where
demonstrations take place and hatred for Jews battling each other can most be
seen. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m a big believer that there are disputes for
the sake of heaven, and freedom of demonstration is one of the hallmarks of a
democracy. It’s the baseless hatred and name-calling and desecrating and defaming
of Torah scholars and holy Jews that put their lives on the line for Klal
Yisrael that bother me, and Hashem. Politics is politics, but it should not get
personal. That is a message I share in those places as well as by the grave
of Rebbi Meir Baal Hanes who was taught by his wife Beruria to ask Hashem
to get rid of the sins and not the sinners when he davens to Him.
Of course if you are lucky enough to go to
the Mir Simchat Beit Hasho’eva you can hear about the taopic as well,
from my dear friend Reb SY Rechnitz. If you haven’t heard the speech click
below in the youtubes videos of the week. It’s worth it.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COUNTRIES JOKES OF THE WEEK
What’s
the best thing about Switzerland? I don’t know but their flag is a big plus.
What
do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards? A receding hare-line.
Yankel
is visiting Columbia. The customs agent asks him, “Do you have a criminal
record?” Yankel replies, “I didn’t think you needed one to get into Columbia
anymore.”
Why
does mexico never hold the Olympics? because everyone that can run jump and
swim is already out the country
I’m
American, and I’m sick of people saying America is “the stupidest country in
the world.” – Personally, I think Europe is the stupidest country in the world.
How do you get a Canadian to apologize? Step on their foot.
What’s
the Cuban national anthem? Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
Why
wouldn’t the Statue of Liberty work in France? Because she only has one arm
raised.
What
is Syria’s national bird? Duck.
An
Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman are drinking in a bar. A fly lands in
the Englishman’s pint. The Englishman is incensed, and pushes his beer away and
orders another. A fly lands in the Scotsman’s pint. The Scotsman looks at the
fly shrugs, and just drinks the fly down. A fly lands in the Irishman’s pint.
The Irishman is furious. He picks out the fly, and violently shakes the fly
over his pint glass while screaming, “Spit it out, you wee bum!”
I
asked my friend in North Korea how he was. He said he can’t complain.
Did
you hear about the Pole who thought his wife was trying to kill him? On her
dressing table, he found a bottle of “Polish Remover.”
A
Ukrainian immigrant goes to the DMV to apply for a driver’s license. He has to
take an eye test. The clerk shows him a card with the letters: C Z W I C N O S
T A C Z. “Can you read this?” the clerk asks. “Read it?” the Ukrainian replies,
“I know the guy.”
And
finally…
What
do you call someone from Israel that has to sneeze? A Jew.
************
Answer is D– New year, new exam
this year we are doing the winter exam of 2018. The first question was pretty
easy for anyone who has done any touring from Jerusalem down south as everytime
you travel down to the Dead Sea you pass by the signs in the Judean Desert for
Wadi Og. Many of my yeshiva educated tourists ask me if this has anything to do
with the famous biblical giant Og. The answer is no. Og the giant lived in
Bashan which is the Golan area. That’s Og with the Hebrew letter Ayin. This is
with an aleph and it is named after a plant like zaatar that grows wild here in
the wilderness. In English its called sumac and Arabic Ouja. But its nice to
start off the exam with an easy question like this. Let’s see how we do on the
rest of the exam, each week.
