Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
January 12th 2017!! -Volume
7 Issue 12 15th Tevet 5777
Parshat Vayechi
Oh
Say Can’t You See
So how do you feel about the
situation in America today? Are you scared? Are you hopeful? Nervous? Optimistic?
All of the above? Then you’re probably like most Americans…confused. I find it
very telling that the platform for the current president was to “Make America Great
Again”. Was it great before? I don’t know let’s take a look at the last few
decades of American presidential slogans.
2008- “Change We Need”-
Barack Obama- Ummm. That worked out pretty good.
2004- “Let America be America
Again:”- John Kerry- Ahhhh sooo that’s where Trump got it from
2000- “A Reformer with Results
“George W Bush- and he even spelled the word reformer right.
George Bush Sr. campaigned on a “Kinder
Gentler America” and then killed about 35,000 people in Iraq. Mondale in
1984 said “America Needs Change” which seems to be ongoing theme. Ronald
Reagan’s question of “Are we were better off than we were four years ago?”
usurped Jimmy Carter’s claim that “It’s Not Just Peanuts”, and the first
president since Ephraim Schwartz came into the world Gerald Ford campaigned
under the slogan “Making us Proud Again”….Hmmmm it seems like we haven’t been
happy for a long time in this country. Maybe that’s the one thing that hasn’t
changed.
What were the good old days that
people are longing for, tell me? If presidential slogans are any sign of the
sentiments of the spirit of the times then let’s look back at perhaps those
good old day slogans that people are nostalgic about. Was it Hoovers “Chicken
in every pot” promise? Harding’s “Cox
and Cocktails” campaign-whatever that means. In 1896 William McKinley
inspired the masses with his profound “Good Money Never Made Time Hard”
campaign. I think Trump was originally gonna use that one. Maybe people are
longing for the election of 1884 when James Blaine’s campaign slogan was “Ma,
Ma, Where’s my Pa, Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha”, while his opponent
Grover Cleveland countered with the truly prolific “Blaine, Blaine, James G.
Blaine, The Continental Liar from the State of Maine”. And people think
Trump is a baby….He’s merely making America great again like it used to be when
all these other great men led our nation. Our nation…our nation…?
Do you feel America is our
nation? Do you care a lot about it? Enough to put signs on your lawns? To argue
and fight for the future of this country with anyone that disagrees with you.
You were born in America. They took in our hungry, our homeless, our weary and
war-torn. They let us into their schools, their universities, Hollywood. We
became doctors, lawyers, musicians- or rock stars (those are very different
things) Supreme court justices, vice-presidential candidates and hey today from
what I understand the White House may even be having a full time Kosher kitchen
for all the religious Kosher eating Jews in the higher echelons of the incoming
administration. We have religious freedoms, the likes of which we didn’t’ have
in many of our other long bitter places of exile…. Exile? Are we in Exile?
Europe was Exile, Babylonia was
Exile. Spain was Exile. This is America. Ohhhho Say Can You See? (continue
humming –you know you’re feeling patriotic right now) But really, is America
really different? One thing Jews have learned throughout our history is that no
place ever turns out to be different. But c’mon, it’s the 21st
century. We live in a civilized world. Uh huh…Than why are we longing for the
old one?
I just want you to hold on to
those words ‘Oh Say Can You See’ for a second. You see as we examine this
week’s Torah portion those words should have profound import. The parsha we
read this week, Vayechi, is unique in the entire Torah. Unlike other Torah
portions that begin with a break of space in between its start and the next
parsha, either a line or a new paragraph, Vayechi immediately follows the
conclusion of Vayigash, with the space of just one letter. I noticed that when
I was Bar Mitzva’d and read and it wasn’t obvious where to end. Maybe it was a
forewarning for me that I would be the type of guy that would never know where
or when to end his Torah drashot… Rashi notes this anomaly and quotes
our sages as saying
“Why is this parsha “closed”? Because once our
forefather Yaakov passed away, the eyes and hearts of the Israel became closed
from the troubles/suffering of the enslavement, for the Egyptians began to
enslave them.”
Their eyes were closed from the
troubles and suffering. Ohoy, Vay, couldn’t see by the dawn’s early light….
It seems was their anthem. But many of the commentaries note that something is
wrong with this Rashi. For the suffering and the slavery didn’t really start
after the death of Yaakov, in fact Rashi later tells us that it didn’t start
until the passing of the last of Yaakov’s children Levi. In fact it really didn’t
escalate until the last 80 years that they were in Egypt, when the new pharaoh
came and “didn’t know Yosef”, in the next book. So why is this parsha closed
now? And why particularly here in the beginning of this parsha is it closed,
when even according to what Rashi says, Yaakov doesn’t die until the very end
of the parsha.
Perhaps one may suggest, that the
Torah in “closing” this parsha called Vayechi-And he lived, not so ironically
for the parsha that talks about his death, is connecting it very closely to the
words that last week’s Torah portion concludes with that immediately precede
it. The Torah tells us that the brothers of Yosef had all been set up nicely by
Yosef. They settled in Goshen, they were the ministers of the sheep of Pharaoh,
nice cushy government jobs provided by their brother; their man in the White
House. The parsha concludes with these words
And Israel settled in Egypt, in the land of Goshen; they
took holdings, and they were fruitful and they multiplied there.
Rashi on the words ‘and they
took holdings’ elaborates- ‘and they bought houses and estates and
formed landholdings.’
Listen, what are we gonna be shepherds
forever? We got into the Real Estate business. We became moguls. We settled the
land. We became more Egyptian than the Egyptians. We had our little paradise
there in Boro Park… I mean Goshen. Kosher pizza, shwarma, wedding halls,
Yeshivot, Egypt was our new home. Israel was becoming a distant memory. I mean
it’s dangerous there in the Middle East, remember that whole fight and
kidnapping of Dina in Shechem. Egypt is civilized. It’s the new world. This
after-all the 15th Century BC. The Torah begins the idyllic era in
great malchus shel chesed- kingdom of graciousness of Egypt with the
national anthem that we didn’t realize we should have been singing.
Oho Say can’t we see… our eyes
and hearts have been closed… for the suhhh uffering… and troubles of Egypt are
coming…For this was not going to be the land of the free…it would be the home…of
the…. slaves…
If one looks carefully at Rashi
he doesn’t say that the suffering started. It didn’t. But with Yaakov’s death,
our eyes and hearts became closed to seeing that this was not meant to be our
home. We were in Exile. The troubles of the enslavement of the Egyptian began
with our self-delusional assimilation into their society and the belief that we
had made it. We were where we belonged. The word Vayechi- and we lived, is the
word that is closed. We thought we were living the life. But we know how the
story ended. How it always always ends. There is no life when we are not home.
There is no life when the shechina is not where it’s meant to be. It’s
all just another step, another wandering place, another respite in our long
bitter Exile.
Maybe it’s time to start focusing
our efforts on Making Israel Great Again. Maybe we should be putting even half
as much energy into our own spiritual campaigns, as we put into a country that
is merely a temporary resting place for us that really hasn’t been great in seemingly
a long time, and that will only really be great if and when we get out of there
and raise the entire world up with the light of Hashem from His holy palace in
Yerushalayim. We don’t need an embassy there as much as we need a Temple there.
That’s where our focus needs to be. I speak not only to my brothers and sisters
in the Diaspora, I speak to myself and all of those privileged to live here in
Israel as well. This is not the Israel we are praying for. It hasn’t arrived
yet. We are still in Exile despite at least living in our own land. We too have
not arrived. Od Lo Avda Tikvateinu- our hope has not yet been fulfilled
and has never been to be merely a free nation in our land. Rather it is to be
Hashem’s nation in His Land. That is our true anthem. That is the day that we
still long to see.
Have a
fantabulous Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
**********************
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/19EVMHFbGwI -Ani Yisrael by my great friend Gershon Veroba from
his awesome new CD cool video
https://youtu.be/BCh-yxlcEY8 – Gad Elbaz & Nissim Black great new video
and song L’Chaim
https://youtu.be/ieBhINqUAyQ – Pretty funny Avraham Fried Jewish Siri with
Mendy Pellin
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“A nogid a nar iz oich a har” -A foolish rich man is still a lord.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF
THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q. According to Josephus Flavius during the
Great Revolt a massacre did not occur in:
a. Tiberias
b. Migdal
c. Yodefat
d. Jerusalem
a. Tiberias
b. Migdal
c. Yodefat
d. Jerusalem
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ILLUMINATING RASHI OF THE
WEEK
There are many interpretations and
explanations that are given for various verses in the Torah. The genius of
Rashi is that he chose the one that best explains the simple understanding of
the pshat. If Rashi gives more than one explanation then it is because
each one on its own doesn’t fully explain the problem in understanding the
text. So pay attention when there is more than one explanation brought down by
Rashi it can truly reveal pearls.
In this week’s Torah portion there is a great
example of this. When Yaakov makes his request of Yosef to bury him, he tells
him
Bereshit (47:29-30) “Please do not bury me in Egypt, and I will
ie down with my fathers and you shall transport me out of Egypt and bury me in
their grave”
Rashi in explaining Yaakov’s request not to be
buried in Egypt notes three things
1)
It’s land will be turned into lice (during the
10 plagues)
2)
The dead of the lands outside of Israel will
only be resurrected with the pain of rolling through tunnels (to come to the
land of Israel where they will be resurrected.
3)
So that the Egyptians shall not make a deity
out of him.
The Klei Yakar explains that the three reasons
given by Rashi are all necessary to understand the pshat. For if the land of
Egypt was going to be turned to lice, seemingly Yaakov could have been spared
that pain, for we have a tradition that Yaakov and our holy people who’s bodies
have become totally purified don’t even have any deterioration of their bodies
after death, so for sure lice wouldn’t have power over them. It is therefore
that Rashi tells us that they would make him into a deity. For having seen that
the land is turned to lice and Yaakov’s grave remains untouched they would
deify him. Yet both of these reasons are not sufficient to explain why Yaakov asked
Yosef to bury him in Israel, as he did. Seemingly anywhere that’s not Egypt
that wouldn’t be struck with plagues would be enough? Rashi therefore tells us
that Yaakov also did not want to suffer the dead-man tunnel resurrection roll,
that would take place outside of Israel. Yet this in itself was not alone a
reason as well. For he wanted Yosef to know and be sure that if he couldn’t for
whatever reason bury him in Israel to take care of this problem, but at least
he should make sure that he should not bury him in Egypt because of the lice
and his fear of them deifying him.
Now that’s how you learn a Rashi!
Rabbi
Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550 –1619) – Rabbi
Ephraim son of Aaron was born in the city of Luntschitz in what is today
central Poland around the year 1550. He studied under the famed Maharshal
(Rabbi Shlomo Luriah) and became Rabbi of the city of Lvov where he served for
25 years.
From an early age he was recognized as a star orator and was
renowned for his fiery sermons. In 1601, Rabbi Ephraim became deathly ill.
During the course of his illness he added the name Shlomo to his name and
thereafter signed his name Shlomo Ephraim. He also vowed that if he survived
his illness he would compose a commentary to the Pentateuch.
Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim survived his illness and the very next year
wrote and published his commentary, named Kli Yakar. The commentary became
immediately popular throughout the Jewish world and was his most famous
publication, to the point, as with many other great Rabbis, that he is now
known simply as the Kli Yakar. More than 400 years later, the Kli Yakar remains
popular and is printed alongside the commentary of Rashi and others in many
Chumashim.
The year after the Kli Yakar’s publication, he was appointed
Chief Rabbi of the great city of Prague, where he also served as Rosh Yeshiva
and the Head of the Beit Din. Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim passed away in 1619. His son
and other descendants followed in his footsteps, also holding the esteemed position
of Chief Rabbi of Prague. Amongst his most famous students was Rabbi Yom Tov
Lipman Heller, also known as Tosfot Yom Tov.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TYPES OF JEWS IN ISRAEL OF
THE WEEK
Cowboys – Yeah we have our Texas here in
Israel as well. Up in the Golan Heights a few miles from the mess that’s going
on in Syria is where our buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play. OK so
we don’t really have buffalo over there, although we did try introducing some
in the Hula valley. Not many antelope either.
But we have cow. Thousands of them up in the Golan Heights probably one
of the only places where you’ll see cows roaming around tanks. Israeli cowboys,
there are about a 100 of them or so just in the Golan, have to deal with cows
wandering into old Syrian minefields, avoiding army firing ranges or them
ending up in some army base.Israeli cowboys face their unique set of
challenges. For starters, they operate on a relatively small patch of land
mostly made up of nature reserves and military grounds, so everything they do
has to be coordinated with authorities. In summer, their primary role is that
of firefighters, putting out blazes caused by negligent hikers and military
maneuvers. They've had to euthanize cows that had limbs blown off by stepping
on mines, and in last spring's cattle drive one cowboy had to physically block
a gap in a military base's busted fence to prevent cows from roaming inside. The
cowboys are mostly in charge of the cows that are raised for beef in this country.
95% of the country’s meat comes from import as there is not a lot of grazing
land that is not used for planting and agriculture a much larger industry in
Israel. The largest grazing land is in the Golan, yet the majority of cattle
farmers are located in the Galil area although one can find cowboys all over
the country.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S REALLY TERRIBLE
COWBOY JOKES OF THE WEEK
If a cowboy rides into town on Friday and three days
later leaves on Friday, how does he do it? The horse's
name is Friday!
name is Friday!
So Shaindy from Boro Park went out West and was all ready for her first horseback
ride. She said to the cowboy, "Can you get me a nice gentle pony?"
"Shore," said the
cowboy. "What kind of a saddle do you want, English or western?"
"What's the difference?" asked the lady.
"The western saddle has a horn on it," said the
cowboy.
"If the traffic is so thick here in the mountains that I
need a horn on my saddle, I don't believe I want
to ride." Said Shaindy…
to ride." Said Shaindy…
Shaindy’s next stop was to the cowshed where she saw a whole herd of
cows out in the barn.
“Wow, you have a lot of flies buzzing round your horses and
cows. Do you ever shoo them?”
Cowboy answered her “No we just let them go barefoot.”
Cowboy answered her “No we just let them go barefoot.”
Back in the cowboy days, a westbound wagon train was lost and low on
food. No other humans had been seen for days and then
they saw an old Jewish cowboy sitting beneath a tree. The leader rushed to him
and said, "We're lost and running out of food. Is there someplace ahead
where we can get food?
"Vell," the old Jewish cowboy said, "I vouldn't go up dat
hill und down da other side. Somevun told me you'll run into a big bacon
tree."
"A bacon tree?" asked the wagon train leader.
"Yah, ah bacon tree. Trust me. For nuttin vud I lie."
The leader goes back and tells his people that if nothing else, they
might be able to find food on the other side of the next ridge. "So why
did he say not to go there?" some pioneers asked "Oh, you know the
Jewish -- they don't eat bacon."
So the wagon train goes up the hill and down the other side. Suddenly,
Indians attack and massacre everyone except the leader, who manages to escape
back to the old Jewish cowboy, who's enjoying a "glassel tea." The
near-dead man starts shouting. "You fool. You sent us to our deaths! We
followed your instructions, but there was no bacon tree. Just hundreds of
Indians, who killed everyone."
The old Jewish cowboy holds up his hand and says "Oy! vait a
minute." He then gets out an English-Yiddish dictionary, and begins
thumbing through it. "Gevalt, I made myself ah big mistake. It vuz not a
bacon tree. It vuz a ham bush."
One Sunday a cowboy went to Shul. When he entered, he saw that he and
the Rabbi were the only ones present. The Rabbi asked the cowboy if he wanted
him to go ahead and give his weekly Drasha/ sermon. The cowboy said, "I’m not too smart, but if I went to feed my cattle and only one showed up,
I’d feed him." So the Rabbi began his sermon. One hour passed, then
two hours, then two-and-a-half hours. The Rabbi finally finished and came down
to ask the cowboy how he liked the speech. The cowboy answered slowly,
"Well, I’m not very smart, but if I went to feed my
cattle and only one showed up, I sure wouldn’t feed him all the hay..."
**************
Answer is A – Back in the period of the end of the second Temple the
North was where the radicals lived. It was kind of like the Gush and Chevron
area is today. The rebellion against Rome started in the North. Migdal was
destroyed, Yodefat was where Josephus was based and was also destroyed although
his fighters all pulled a Masada by his urging and commited suicide and then he
chickened out and joined the Romans. Jerusalem obviously was a slaughter which leaves
Tiverya as being the correct answer and which Josephus tells us was spared by
the Romans because they did not join the revolt.
