Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
July 11th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 35 15th of Tamuz 5785
I'm tired. I'm burnt out. I've had enough already. It's just too much, too long, too painful, too exhausting and too tragic. This war needs to end. Yeah, I know that in the beginning of this whole thing, there was this song, that Am Yisrael is not afraid of a "derech arucha"- a long path and journey, but this is beyond that. This is around the world in 80 days for the 8th or 9th time already, and I'm not even serving in the army. I haven’t been doing hundreds of days of miluim/reserve duty. I haven't lost someone close to me, although each day, each loss, each morning that I open up my phone and look at the news and see another face, another holy soldier fallen, another bereaved father, mother, widow, orphans… I feel that another piece of my heart has been chopped off. Ad mosai? How much longer, Ribono Shel Olam? Tatteh… Until when?
To be honest, as I know most of you precious faithful readers know, I'm not a lefty, not a liberal, not a pacifist, or even a peace now type of guy. I've been accused of many things in my life, but that's never been one of them. Yet, lately, I'm feeling it. I'm losing the desire to see this war through, as I think most of this country and our nation as a whole is. I wouldn't call it yi'ush- hopelessness, as much as sheer exhaustion. I'm "ayef v'yagaya- tired and weary". When I finally pinpointed my sentiment down to those familiar words, I realized and remembered that it is precisely then when Amalek, our eternal enemy has power. It's when he attacks. It's really what this is all about. It's when this week I had a mindshift and perhaps even became a shtikel lefty. Let me explain.
See, one of the primary problems we, and I include myself in that "we", to a certain degree suffer from and that brought this whole cycle unto us is that we haven't paid enough attention to what our enemies tell us. October 7th happened because we didn't want to believe that they really want to kill us. It's why Oslo happened. It's the false conception that despite what they say and what their declared mandate is, if we gave them land, if we have them their own country, if we gave them the light of the "Western world" then ultimately they would come around. We couldn't and still can't really wrap our brains around the concept, that anyone can be so determined, so sucicidal, so self-destructive to really want to go down the path to war, to killing us, to fight until their bitter end. We can't accept that there aren't innocent civilians. We can't accept that their babies from birth and their mother's milk are being raised with an evil DNA that will do everything in their being to fight and attack us. We're getting better and better at listening and grasping that but it's still hard to swallow. To understand that when they say something we need to take it seriously and take them for their word.
Similarly, but on an entirely different level, we have to understand and start to accept that when Iran, Hamas, Hezbolla and all of our other enemies are telling us that they are winning this war. That we haven't really done anything. That they still feel that victory is within their grasp. That they have celebratory parades, parties and fireworkers. Rather than our knee jerk reaction to look at the rubble, the destruction, the starvation, the amount of people we have killed, wiped out, and military forces and tunnels that we have decimated, we have to look at what and why they are saying what they are saying, and realize perhaps that it's not just fake news, but in actuality, they're right. They have won. They are winning. The only way, that we will win this thing and it will be over is when we realize, that the war we are fighting is a very different war then they are. We are fighting for our existence. They're fighting, not to win, not to wipe us out, not even to take their land or our land, or for liberation. They're fighting to make us fight. To make us forget. They're fighting the battle of Amalek.
I'm not a big Golda Meir fan. One of the worst statements that I've decried in the past that too many people quote as holy grail and words of morality is that "we can forgive the Arabs, for killing our children, but we can't forgive them for them forcing us to have to kill theirs. " Even writing those words sends shivers up my spine. I don't think we can or should ever forgive them for killing our children, and the truth is I don't feel in anyway that we should feel bad or have any regret for killing any of their evil spawn. Fakert, quite the opposite, I believe part of greatest weakness is that we don't have the stomach to be able to do the job until the end. We have too much misplaced mercy. And it is that mercy that ultimately costs the lives of too many of our children.
Yet, that being said, I believe that there is something to be said for her words. There's something to be said for this "rachmanus" of Klal Yisrael, and particularly there is something to be said for what has always been the innate nature of the Jew to feel an abhorrence to war and to be at the forefront of every "Peace" movement in the world. This goes back to the 60's demonstrations against Vietnam back in the day and continues until today from the River to the Sea anti-war demonstrations in the "highest echelons' of the academia" from more often than not "Jewish" led organizations. Now I know that these are not religious or observant Jews, and it's been easy for me and you to write them off, as non-Jews, as "erev rav". But let's pause for a second and identify this source and perhaps even change our own mindset. Maybe there is something to what they are saying. Maybe I'm the one that's missing the boat.
Where is this all coming from? From this week's parsha of course. Where else? See last week's parsha of Chukas was a tiring one. It was probably the bloodiest and war-riest, parsha in the Torah. Battle after battle, just take a look. Let's start from the end, from where our parsha picks up from. We had our battle against Og when Moshe was a bit intimidated, but ultimately which he killed him and conquered us the Golan Heights. Before that we have the battle against Sichon, the mightiest king on the other side of the Jordan River thus conquering the entire transjorda, which ultimately becomes the Biblical homeland and part of Eretz Yisrael for almost a 1/4 of the tribes of Israel!. When we say V'shavu banim li'gvulam- that her children shall return to her borders, we mean that area in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and even Egypt as well that belongs to us according to the promise Hashem made to Avraham!. It's not just the Temple Mount and blowing up that golden pimple.
But even before those battles of the conquest of Israel, we have Hashem wiping out the Emorite army miraculously by smashing the mountains together. We have the army of Edom, and according to the haftorah we read with the story of Yiftach, even the army of Moav coming out to "greet" us preventing us from entering the land. Finally we have as well the battle against the king of Arad, who Rashi tell us was really Amalek, who had taken hostages from us, and who we wipe out. Yes, its war after war after war. As I said the bloodiest parsha in the Torah. Much like what we're experiencing today, we're jumping from Gaza, to Lebanon, to Iran, back to Gaza, to the West Bank to Gush Etzion. It doesn't end. War, war, war… Exhausting.
Which then brings us to this week's parsha. Parshat Balak, doesn't have any wars. It's a parsha that we don't even see or wouldn't know about, as it's mostly a bunch of conversations behind our back between, Balak, Bilaam, his donkey, angels and Hashem. It's a peek behind the curtains. It's a view of the acharis ha'yamim- the end of days. It's the prophecy of Mashiach. It's what awaits us after all the wars.
The last series of the three groups of prophecies of Bilam is perhaps the most significant one of them. As opposed to the first two attempts to curse us that Hashem pretty much hijacked his mouth and had him bless us instead, the last one Bilaam changes hist tune. He finally realizes that it's hopeless. He looks out at the Jewish tents and he becomes inspired. Accroding to the Rashbam he comes to the point where he is so blown away by our nation, that he is filled with love, blesses us from the bottom of his heart, and reveals to us and gives us a taste of the ultimate end of days. That prophecy is one of the end of the "first of nations" called Amalek. Its's the end of Edom. It's the end of Ashur. It's when every nation will recognize Hashem and His Kingdom. It's the era that the world has been waiting for from the beginning of time to realize.
The commentaries all ask, that seemingly Amalek is no where near being the "first" of the nations. He's a descendant of Esau, thousands of years after the story of the Tower of Bavel when all 70 nations came into existence. Its' fake news. It's like saying the Palestinians were here forever, or Naftali Bennet took us out of Egypt and split the sea (sorry couldn't resist). It's not true. And Rashi and the Onkelos translation as well as other commentaries explain, that Amalek is the first nation to attack us when we left Egypt. They are the ones that do have the credit that no other nation could ever claim. They are the founders of the first Israeli Army. It's because of them that we first had to pick up swords and guns. It's because of them, that our poor nation of slaves that left Egypt, formed into a nation of warriors, soldiers and military men, rather than the farmers, scholars, insurance brokers, nursing home owners, taxi drivers, real estate agents, falafel makers and most importantly Torah scholars and Kollel guys that we were supposed to become.
This Sunday is the 17th of Tamuz. It's the fast day of when the walls to the old city of Jerusalem were breached and the period of the mourning for the destruction of the Temple commences. It is a day that first has its roots in tragedy as is it’s the day that Moshe came down from the Mountain after the giving of the Torah and broke the Luchos as he found us dancing and worshipping the Golden Calf. Our sages tell us that if not for the sin of the Golden calf, we would never of had any wars. Every war we fight, every generation, every pogrom, every soldiers that's lost is all because of that sin. In the words of Rav Kook
"If not for the sin of the Golden calf, the nations that dwelled in the land Israel would've made peace with us and admitted to us. Because the "name of Hashem that appeared upon us" would've awakened within them awe and trepidation. There would never have been any wars. It would've been a world of peace as it will be in the Messianic era" {Orot Milchama chapter 4}
The sin of the golden calf has its root in that previous battle of Amalek. When we left Egypt the nations of the world, as we sang in Az Yashir, had that awe, had that fear and inspiration. We were on the way to reveal Hashem to the world. To build a home and house of prayer to Him for all of the nations of the world. We wouldn't need an army. We wouldn't have to kill anyone's children. The world would be inspired, would praise us, would join us in song to Hashem. Amalek changed that. They made us into fighters. Yes, it was a miraculous war, but in that war the truth is they won, despite what all of the Israeli media said at the time, and what it said on Wikipedia. They removed the name of Hashem from our nation, making us into fighters, into soldiers. The throne of Hashem is not complete until the end of time. Until today. The nations of the world will feel that they can attack us, and perhaps even worse than that, is that we feel that we need to have an army and to fight and to defend and conquer, rather then the awe and spirit of Hashem alone that will shine and uplift the world. We may have won the battle, but they won the war.
Yet, the story didn't end after the Golden Calf and neither did our opportunity. Rashi tells us that a year after that when we prepared to come into Israel and were a few days away from the Land of Israel, Hashem told Moshe,
Re'eh nasati lifneichem es ha'aretz, bo'u U'rishu et ha'aretz – See, I have Given you the land Go and inherit the land. {Devarim 1:5)
Rashi there tells us
"There is no one claiming it against you. And you will not need to go to war. Had Moshe not sent the spies, we would not have required any weapons."
We wouldn't need soldiers. We wouldn't need an army. No vests. No D9's. No tanks. No B2 bombers. We would have light. We would have truth. We would have the world anointing Hashem as it's King, and us as His nation.
Yet, he sent in those spies. We took the approach of conquerers, of settlers, of warriors and thus we failed. We had a soldier mind-set and thus we decided it wasn't pragmatic. We cried. We lost. We died in the wilderness. The temple would be destroyed. The first one, the second one. We weren't the priests of Hashem in the world. We were a nation that was trying to be like every other one. We didn't understand what Bilaam now sees and tells us in this week's parsha and this last prophecy, that we are an "am" that is alone, that is unique. That is unlike other goyim-nations. We are the leader and beacon of them all. We weren't meant to fight. We weren't meant to be soliders. We were meant to inherit from the nations as they see the awe of Hashem that emanates from our tents.
Amalek comes after that sin of the spies, and wipes out the tribe of Ephraim that tries to go up. They come again in last week's parsha as well after Moshe hits the rock disguised as Canaanim. Amalek has all types of proxies. They have one goal. One job. They want to make us into fighters. And they keep winning the war even though they lose each battle. This happens again after we come into the land with Shaul fighting against them, and not successfully demolishing them. The aftermath of this war is that he's meant to hand the kingdom over Dovid who will be able to bring the redemption and has to do the job for him. But that in itself is a problem. Because now Dovid can't build the temple. Because he's a soldier. He's a warrior. He's killed. The temple is one of peace. It's not something that's meant to be conquered or liberated with war. It's a place where the nations come willfully. It's where they come because they see they greatness of Hashem that shines from His house; from His nation. And thus they won that battle as well.
The last stand of Amalek is of course the story of Purim. It's when Haman wants to destroy us. Esther and Mordechai can't turn around the clock against Amalek then. The only thing they can do is once again create an Israeli army that will fight against them. We pick up our guns and our tanks and once again we are fighting in the army. We wipe them out. We hang their sons. But ultimately once again we don't go back to build the temple. Ezra goes with the shleppers a few years later, but most of the Jews don't bother. In our soul we know that's not the way it's supposed to be. We shouldn't be fighting for our Temple. For the light of Hashem will not bring them to awe through that bravery, heroism, dedication and even sacrifice. It's not meant to come through soldiers. It's meant to come from the awe that emanates from us. It comes from peace and not from war. Because war is exhausting. War is us hitting the rock. War is broken families, it's fathers and sons away from their homes, it's boys taken out of the tents of Torah of Yaakov, it's darkness, it's death. It's the opposite of light. It's not the Kochav Yaakov- the star of Yaakov, of Mashiach hovering over the tents of Yaakov from where even the Bilaams and Balaks can look down upon from their mountain tops and bless us. Can long for the day when they can join us in that house of Hashem.
The 17th of Tamuz is the day that the walls of Jerusalem were breached. It's when our tents were broken open. It's the day that we felt we weren't protected anymore. That our light wouldn't be enough. That we needed to fight and to defend. That our enemies looked and saw us as another nation to be conquered, as another mountain top that they could raze, that they could desecrate, that didn't have a light that would shine out to them, but rather as illegal occupiers trying to be a quiet, patient, nation doing it's own thing and that wants to be left alone, rather than the beacon to the world and the builders of the House of Hashem that would bring the entire world to its fulfillment. And perhaps they were correct. Perhaps they still are today as well…
How do we change that? How do we get out of the war mind-set when we are in the middle of a war? We seem to have no problem having one war in the middle of another, yet getting out of one in the first place is something we have never been able to do. Perhaps one of the first things we should do is of course understand this bigger picture of what our goals need to be. It's not peace and quiet too do our own thing. That's not what the world is looking for. It's not what Hashem is looking for. It shouldn't be what we are either.
As well we need to focus on our tents. Our tents should be beacons of light. Rashi tells us that what inspired Bilaam is that the windows of our tents weren't facing one another. We weren't looking into each other's tents and trying to find their faults. We weren't busy with everyone else's different garbage. Each tribe had their own space. Every Jew has their own spaces. If we are busy looking into one another's tents. If we are so focused on looking down and revealing the flaws of each Jew, each tribe that's different than ours. If our tents are so filled with fighting, with criticism, with looking down on one another. With politics. With kol koreh's with fighting. Then how can we expect Bilam, Balak, the nations of the world to see that light and the awe. How can they see the One ness of Hashem. How can they ever expect that we would be able to build a house that will be one that will be comfortable and accepting of them, if we can't even build one for ourselves?
The haftorah that we read this week is the last haftorah that relates to the parsha. From next week until Simchas Torah all of the haftorahs are related to the destruction, the 7 weeks of consolation and then of the High holidays and Sukkos. In this final haftorah The prophet Micha tells us to remember What Bilaam said in this prophecy. To remember what our real mission is. To remember that all Hashem wants from us is to do justice, to love kindness and to walk with humility with Him. To reveal His light. There's no need for war. There's no need for sacrifices. There's no need for fast days, breached walls, armies or soldiers. We just need to fill our tents with light and love and the nations will come. I know that sounds lefty. But as I said, I'm tired. I don't want to fast. I want this to be over. I want that light. And Hashem does too. Just as he turned Bilaam's curse to bracha, may this year be the year when He as well turns the fast days of mourning into days of rejoicing. The portion of Bilam comes after all of the wars of last week. May they herald in the end of Amalek as well and the era of eternal peace.
Have a blessed and peaceful Shabbos!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" Az men krigt zich miten rov, muz men sholem zein miten shainker.- If you’re at odds with your rabbi, make peace with your bartender.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
25. The Muslim dynasty, which built the palaces that stand in ruins in the Davidson Archeological
park is ______
According to the Gregorian calendar, in which year does the Muslim calendar begin?
A. 622
B. 638
C. 632
D. 670
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://24six.app/preview/music/content/323026/this-is-why - This is song is just magnificent CamP Aguda 2025 YC Shur… every single word listen again and again. Worth getting 24/6 just for this song... But it really is a great app!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur7B3LowGMk&list=RDur7B3LowGMk&start_radio=1 – Shulem Lemmer singing a new day will rise!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YibFufPr6qo - The Rebbe and the Communists for 12-13 Tamuz…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZDZPHvHffM – AI Parshat Balak Bilaam donkey cartoon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3hsqFcJJqQ&list=RDP3hsqFcJJqQ&start_radio=1 – Am Ka'Lavi Yakum from this week's parsha feel the Hesder energy!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC0_R6pbgaA – Loving this Mordechai Shapiro Song… Doing my Best… Such amazing words…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Destruction Part I Zecharia - 586 BC - Hopefully this year this mourning day will be one of celebration. The 9th of Av is the day that we remember and sit in mourning and fast for the destruction of the Temple, yet in truth the entire three week period from when they broke down the walls and entered the city were terror, havoc and murder. We're talking October 7th for three weeks, and at numbers, according to Chazal were in the millions/ What took the Nazis years to kill Nevuzadran, the general of Nevuchadnezzar did in a few weeks. When Hashem said that this will be an eternal day of mourning, He wasn't pulling punches. It truly was.
On the 7th of Av, Nevuzadran entered the Bais Ha'Mikdash where they came upon the bubbling seething blood of the Kohen and Prophet Zecharia. Zecharia ben Yehoyada, (not to be confused with the author of the book of Navi Zecharia ben Berachia who was the prophet in the time of the Return to Israel 70 years after the destruction.) was the son of Yehoyada who was the teacher and savior of the King Yehoash 250 years prior to the destruction.
A brief recap of the drama of that perilous period is due. Yehoash was the only surviving member of his family after his mother Atalya who was the descendant of the house of Achav and Omri of the Kings of Israel and who had married Yehoram the King of Yehuda, had everyone else killed when her son was killed by Yehu of Yisrael. Whewww… that's a long sentence and a lot of drama. She wanted to insure she became the King/Queen and in fact succeeded in doing that for 6 years, being the only Queen of Yehuda. She was bad news and introduced the worship of Baal to Yehudah. Her grandson Yehoash was hidden by Yehoyada in the Temple and when he was 7 was appointed King when Yehoyada started a revolt against Atalya and ultimately had her killed and a religious reform was started. Yet, ultimately after the death of Yehoyada, Yehoash went off the deep end and had his son Zecharia who was giving Mussar to the King and the Nation killed.
The background behind the killing of Zecharia is as well fascinating, as it seems that Chazal tell us that Zecharia who was the Kohen, and Dayan and prophet felt himself above the nation and thus they weren't ready to accept Mussar from him. They stoned him in the Temple courtyard where his blood remained boiling for 250 years until Nevuzadran came. Tradition has it that this took place on Yom Kippur itself when his yartzeit is.
Nevuzadran wanted to appease that blood and avenge it and thus he murdered hundreds of thousands of Rabbis, young men, kohanim and even children. But the blood kept boiling until this evil murderer himself couldn’t take it anymore and he asked if he was meant to kill them all. At that it stopped. Our sages tell us that Nevuzadran was so horrified by the middas ha'din he ultimately converted as a result of this story.
The "Tomb/grave" of Zecharia today is on Har Ha'Zeitim and is a monumental 2nd Temple Greek structure built over it. Whether this is truly the grave of this Kohen is under debate, and doesn't have a clear mesorah. The edifice is certainly not from the first temple time period. It seems that there was an ancient custom in Jerusalem though to go daven by his kever on erev Yom Kippur. This was perhaps the worst moment of the destruction of the Temple. Next week we finish that final destruction with the days following it.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S INNER PEACE JOKES OF THE WEEK
Inner Peace
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without alcohol,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!
And you thought I was going to get all spiritual ...
The path to inner peace begins with just 3 words. Not my problem
I saw that our local zoo has an interesting attraction : A lion and a sheep living peacefully in the same cage. I asked the zookeeper whether they ever fight. He said, "Rarely."
I asked what happens when they do. "We get another sheep."
Therapist tells his patient to write individual letters to everyone who wronged him and then burn them to gain some peace. Patient comes back the next week and says he's done what the therapist recommended. Then asks what he should do with the letters.!
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather, peacefully and in my sleep. Not screaming and wailing like his passengers.
So my congregant came over to me after my sermon and complimented me… I think, saying, "Rabbi, your words today were just like the peace and love of Hashem".
"Thank you," I responded, "Why do you say that?"
He explained, "Because the peace of Hashem is beyond all understanding, and the love of Hashem goes on forever."
In a competition to express luck, peace and quiet in a single sentence, the winning sentence was...
"My kids are asleep".
My wife asked if she could have a little peace and quiet while she cooked dinner. So I took the battery out of the smoke detector.
Rest in peace, boiling water. You will be mist.
Berel: My dear, Chanaleh what will you do after my death?
Chanaleh: I can't live without you. I would die as well and come with you.
Berel: huh.. I didn't believe what that that mekubal said. But now I do.
Chanaleh: what did he say?
Berel: He said, I won't live a peaceful life even after death !!!
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The answer to this week”s question is A- Yeah it’s a bad week. I got this one entirely wrong. And to be honest I probably may not have chosen it as one of the one's I could skipped. I definitely didn't know the answer, but I thought I had a good guess. I really don't know islam well. Most of my tourists aren't too interested, so why waste limited brain space on it? Anyways. I guessed the Abbasid dynasty and the right answer was the Ummayad, not that I remember much what the difference is? They're all Muslim to me… The second one I thought the right answer was 632 which I believed was a big muslim year, but the correct answere was 622 when Muhammed made his way to Medina from Mecca. Ah well… What cann you do. So the score is now Rabbi Schwartz 15.5 Ministry of Tourism 9.5 on this exam so far, which sets me back to a failing score… Uh Oh….
