There are many prayers that I have been davening with a lot more heartfelt kavana since this horrible war has begun. Since the beginning of this cursed year 5784 thus far. I daven for techiyat ha’meisim- the resurrection of the dead more than I ever have; to bring comfort and consolation to the so many families who have lost loved ones. In that same second blessing of Shemona Esrei I pause at the words matir asurim- release our prisoners. Hashem. Bring them home. It’s too long, the suffering they are going through is incomprehensible. Their families haven’t seen October 8th yet. Release them. Only You can…
I daven for refuos- expedient healing
for our soldiers, our wounded, those who require an emotional healing from all
the trauma that we are in. Many ask me if Israel is suffering from PTSD. I tell
them that there is not one person in this entire country that has PTSD since
the war has begun. Not one. We are all still in trauma. It’s still going on. It
goes on every day and it doesn’t end. Halevai we should very soon come
to the point when we are at the Post Trauma stage that we have to deal with.
When
I say Barech Aleinu, I think about the poor farmers whose crops are
dying on the trees and fields. The industries like construction that have been
killed in this war, not to mention the many of my fellow tour guides who are
having trouble putting food on their table because they can’t find tourists
that want to come in. Hotels are empty. Tzimmers in the North are vacant. Tourist
activities in the Golan are closed. The art galleries in Tzfat are shuttered along
with our national parks that are burning from the barrage of missiles that land
multiple times a day here, terrorizing its remaining citizens that the
government of Israel has decided are not as important as those in Tel Aviv and
the center and who have discovered that all the major sources of income for
this region are out of business.
Then,
of course, there is the prayer of v’lamalshinim- destroy all evil; all
of our enemies. SO many good choice words, prayers and dreams for those who
seek to destroy us and are inflicting such pain on our people. Our family.
Si’akeir,
u’si’shabeir, u’si’mager, vi’sachniem, vi’sashpileim-
uproot, break, crush, disgrace, humble and subdue.
Baruch
ata Hashem Shover oivim U’machnia zeidim-
Blessed are You Hashem Crusher of our enemies and Subduers of the insolent sinners.
Every
single word with kavana…
Yet
perhaps the most important bracha that I never really paid much
attention to, to be honest, is Hashiva shofteinu- Hashem restore our
judges and leaders to the times of old. It’s insane to look out at our leaderless
world on all levels. It’s crazy. You guys out there in the States are looking
at elections where I don’t think anyone thinks the choice is a normal one. Don’t
get me wrong. Donald Trump is definitely who you should be voting for. But I
don’t think anyone thinks he’s normal. That he’s dignified. That he’s worthy of
leadership in any moral sense as a role model. He’s a meshugeneh but at
least he’s ours. Forget about the other side, Bumbling senile Joe, Wacky, ditzy,
Kamala and her Pali-loving squadniks. The fact that her husband is Jewish makes
it even more frightening. We are our worst enemies always. Although it is quite
funny that the closest a Jew would ever get to the Office is to be the “wife”
of the President. It’s a crazy world out there between the Atlantic and
Pacific.
But
it’s not just the US. It’s the whole world is going insane. Putin, Korea, the Caliphate
that has conquered the EU continent. It’s the International Court of Justice,
the United Nations, South Africa, Yemen, and of course Iran. It’s like watching
all these crazy looking space alien creatures on Star Wars that are running
this world. We’ve regeressed to the ancient world of crazy Roman tyrants, Caligula,
Henry the VIII, Vikings, Genhis Khan, Hitlers… There’s really nobody normal in
any public office today. There’s not even anyone that can even fake it half
decently.
The
truth is I understand it. You have to be crazy to go into the public sphere in
this world of fake news, AI, social media, and all the mishigas that
goes around. The media will come for you. They will dig up stuff and make up
the rest. They will go after your family, your E-mails. You have to be either
insane, a megalomaniac, or demented, senile and delusional to put yourself and
your family in such a situation. And that is the leadership of the world today
and for the near future until Mashiach comes looks like.
Now
one would hope, that in Eretz Yisrael and the Jewish people would be different,
smarter, above this. But sadly we’re probably just as bad, if not worse. Because
we should and could be better. We are God’s gift to the world to teach them and
be their light. Yet unfortunately, we’ve taken our leads from them. We are
basing our values on theirs at least “politically”.
This is despite the fact that their values never apply to us, as they
have a double standard when it comes to Jews. Referring to someone with the
wrong pronouns is evil, but ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Kill the Jews’ and ‘River to
the Sea’ is just free speech. Everyone could kill everyone and there are never repercussions.
We can barely get away with killing murderers, rapists, and baby-killers
without being tried in International Courts and condemned by UN resolutions.
We
accept all of this because we don’t have leaders. And thus as this prayer says
we have yagon and anacha- grief and anguish. It’s the only prayer
where it utilizes those words. Sins don’t give us grief and anguish. Neither do
our prayers to be healed from sickness, parnassa problems and even exile
and persecution. The only time when we have anguish is when we realize how lost
we are without any leadership.
This
week’s parsha shares some of that anguish that we had when we were losing our
first and greatest leader, Moshe Rabbeinu. Hashem takes Moshe up to a mountain,
shows him the land and then tells him that he’s not going to be finishing his job.
He won’t bring us to the land. Moshe starts to feel anguish, but not for his own
loss, rather for us, his nation, the people he’s been shepherding for forty
years. He turns to Hashem and his plea on behalf of our nation for future
leadership is one that is worthy of much study and discussion. Our sages for
generations dissect these few verses. For they contain the essence of what true
leadership should look like and be concerned with and there is nothing more
that we need to daven for.
The
portion begins with one of the strangest verses where everything turns around.
You might miss it if you’re not paying attention.
Vayidaber
Moshe el Hashem Leimor- And Moshe spoke to
Hashem to say…
Pretty
wild? We always have this verse of Hashem speaking to Moshe to say over what He
tells him. Yet here it’s the opposite. It’s as if Moshe is speaking to Hashem
in an almost godlike way. And who is Hashem supposed to say this over to? The Midrash
tells us that in fact there are 175 places in the Torah where Hashem speaks to
Moshe and in all of them it says “Hashem spoke to Moshe saying”, Hashem’s
name is first. Here, Moshe, for the first time takes Hashem’s place. The Baal
Haturim notes that in fact this is the only time and place where we find a prophet
even using this harsh tone of ‘va’yidaber’ to Hashem, rather than ‘va’yomer’.
He says cryptically that Moshe was reminding Hashem how many times Hashem spoke
harshly to Him and now he’s turning the tables back to Hashem.
Reb
Zusha, a grandson of the Apter Rav suggests that what Moshe was telling Hashem
was that until now, I was the one that took the harsh words that You spoke to
me about Bnai Yisrael and translated them into softer words that they could
hear. Into a “vayomer”. Which is why it always says “leimor” –
say to them softly. Now that I’m dying, please make sure that they have a
leader that could do the same thing. They need someone who can tell it like it
is, but at the same time tell it in a way that they could absorb and accept it.
The first lesson of this forthcoming request for leadership is that they need
to be people that are communicators. That can speak the word of Hashem, but
that can make it palatable to the generation they are leading.
Alternatively,
one can understand what the Baal Ha’Turim is saying is Moshe is requesting from
Hashem to remember how many times He spoke harshly to him. And he is asking
Hashem that the leader that will be appoint after him Hashem should rather
speak to him a bit softer. Give Yehoshua a break. And that’s precisely what
happens. As opposed to His conversations with Moshe, of the 12 times that Hashem
speaks to Yehoshua, 11 of them are with the words “Va’yomer” the softer
tone. Lesson number 2, a good leader prepares the groundwork and job for the
person that will follow him. It’s not a job that you just walk away from. It’s
not about leaving your legacy and building a museum to your own glory and being
written in history books. It’s making sure that the people that you lead will
have continuity, a future that will carry them on.
Moving
on before we even get to the specifics, we find an almost unique way that Moshe
refers to Hashem in this request for a leader to replace him.
Yifkod
Hashem Elokei Ha’Ruchos L’Kol Basar Ish al Ha’eida-
Let Hashem Who is the Source of the spirit of all flesh, appoint someone over
the congregation.
What
a strange title. Hashem is Hashem of course. He is the source of spirit, He’s
also the Creator of the world, our Father, our King, and the One that took us
out Egypt. What’s this new title for Hashem that is being utilized now.
There
is one other time, fascinatingly enough, that the Torah utilizes the title of Elokei
Ha’Ruchos for Hashem. We read it a few weeks ago in the parsha, where Moshe
falls on his face and asks Hashem not to destroy the entire nation because of
the sin of Korach.
“Hashem
Elokei Ha’Ruchos l’chol basar,
Ha’Ish
echad yechta, v’al kol ha’eida tiktzof-
Will one man sin and You become angry on the entire congregation?
Reb
Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev notes that Moshe used this title in order that
Hashem appreciated that we need a leader that understands that the nation has
righteous ones and those that are sinners. We all have spirit. Even a yid whose
spirit drives him away from Hashem. Someone who is perhaps the leader of an
opposition party, a secular one, An anti-Moshe one. Korach. An Anti- chareidi
one. They are also part of our eida- our congregation. Our flock.
We
Jews are the heads of every alternate ideology. From Socialism, to Hollywood,
Capitalism. We were more Greek than the Greeks, More Roman than the Romans, and
more American than Americans. We are in Free Palestine, love Gaza, and enviromentalists
and Save the Whales and the planet while you’re at it. We’re “greeners”.
We are a nation of Ruach and that Ruach has at it’s core the spirit
of Hashem that is driven to make the
world a better place. L’Taken Olam. That’s where that spirit comes from.
Our nation requires a leader that can identify that Ruach for its core
and turn and channel it to its proper place. That won’t get lost, distracted or
overtaken by the externalities and the terrible false expressions of that “holy
spirit”, but that rather can bring that spark home and elevate it. In Reb Levi
Yitzchak’s words
“He
can be a leader that can love each Jew “l’chol basar- no matter what their “flesh”
looks like. Whether they are tzadikim or resha’im. They are all one flesh. They
all come from the same spirit.”
There
are more lessons. Moshe asks that the leader should be one that go out before them
and after them. Jewish leaders don’t sit in ivory towers, or in basements… They
are the first to go out. They take the bullet for their nation. For their
soldiers. For their hostages. They understand that they are shepherds. They are
royal shepherds and every sheep of the King needs to be returned to the fold.
They have to understand that without the leader the sheep will wander. They
will be hard to collect. And when they do wander the shepherd’s job is to bring
them back. Not to sit back and just focus on the “good” obedient sheep that
listen to him sing and whistle to them. The leader’s job is to go out and get
the ones that are not following. That have their own spirit. That’s really what
his main job is. A shepherd that just
deals with good sheep is not a shepherd. He’s not a leader we should appoint.
There
are more and more lessons here in this request. There are so many in how Moshe
appoints Yehoshua. It’s a fascinating few verses that one can write an entire
book on leadership from, that will outsell Covey’s “way to win friends and influence
people”. But for us, in our generation before we achieve the final redemption,
there is nothing we need that is more essential.
Many
of the sefarim throughout the ages that I perused on these verses, upon concluding
their commentary all sign off the same way. They write that “in our
generation there are no longer those types of leaders.” Each man does
according to his own will. Moshe and Yehoshua had big shoes to fill. We haven’t
found that person yet that can bring us all together.. They write that decades,
centuries and even millenia ago, what can we say today…
So
we daven. Our eyes are to You Hashem to finally give us leaders again. To bring
us to that day when we will finally see, as we say in that prayer
U’mloch
aleinu meheira ata Hasheme li’vadcha-
when You Hashem will rule over us alone. When You will reveal justice and kindness
which is beloved to you.
This
past year on Simchas Torah we began our first hakafa with those words.
Elokei
Ha’Ruchos Hoshia Na- The God of all
spirits should save us.
Hashem,
we are in a world where You are the only one that can save us. There are no
leaders, there are no rulers. There is only You. Melech Ohev Tzedaka U’mishpat.
Send Eliyahu Ha’Navi, who we are told is the one who heralds in Mashiach. Who
as well is the soul of Pinchas. And bring us that final leader Mashiach ben
Dovid to redeem us. I don’t think anyone else can…
Have a comforting Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE
WEEK
" Az
men krigt zikh 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
answer
below at end of Email
15.The Israeli Prime Minister during the Six-Day War
was_____.
Which war was given the nickname the Suez Crisis?
A. The Six-Day War
B. The Yom Kippur War
C. Operation Kadesh
D. The War of Attrition
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/achainu
– It’s acapella season again guys
and I’m proud to share with you my latest composition Acheinu! Arrangedand sung
by Dovid Lowy, if you’re like me and getting sick of the old Acheinu… this one
is amazing and really sung and composed by me after visiting so many families…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2sQAR9b3kI&list=PLVaIyPnsPoRwfSwi7uhu5Th4DV_tH-FVd&index=2
- Ari Goldwag’s latest release album
Darkness to Light acapella… here’s on of my favorites Yishai Ribbos Ata Zocher…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPmmxHUPwEY
– Shloime Kaufman’s latest Acapella from TYH
Chazon what an original word song… Love when people come up with new words…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW-BAe2w2zw - and here’s the original Ko Amar from
MBD for this week’s Haftorah of consolation…
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
Musaf- An extra portion- This week’s parsha concludes oddly
with the laws of the musaf offerings that were brought on Shabbos and
all of the holidays in the Bais Ha’Mikdash. And you thought we were done with
these sacrifices already back in Vayikra… What are they doing over here? And
what is this extra prayer all about?
The Gaon of Vilna notes that sacrifices are called Korbani
Lachmi- the bread of Hashem. Why bread, I’d think that if we were bringing
good animals then we should call it after the steaks we’re offering Him rather
than the sandwich bread of the flour offerings that accompany it. He explains
that bread is symbolic of the struggle and balance between heaven and earth.
Between our physical mortal bodies and our divine spirit. Bread is not fruits
or cows that are pretty much ready and easy to prepare and cook. To make bread
one has to battle. You have to plant, plow, harvest, winnow, make it into
flour, bake… it’s a lot of work. The word lechem is also translates as
battle like milchama. That’s the fight.
When we bring our sacrifices, Hashem says He
understands that we are struggling at nullifying our ego and becoming
subservient to Him. The bread of Hashem is when we go through that process that
is signified by whatever sacrifice we bring. He sees the struggle. He understands
that we are fighting our earthy materialistic drives and bringing something to
Him. We are elevating our spirit over our bodies.
In this week’s parsha, as we mentioned above, Moshe
asks Hashem to provide a leader that will find that Ruach of Kol Basar- the
spirit behind the flesh. The way that we do that is with the sacrifices. It is
what Pinchas did when he went against the grain (excuse the pun) and acted zealously
for Hashem. It’s what the daughters of Tzlafchad did by standing up and asking
for their portion in the land. It’s what Hashem points out when we count each
tribe and add the letters of Hashems name the ‘yud’ and the ‘hei’
to each tribe to show that spirit of Hashem and count them.
Now ordinarily that “slice of bread” and that daily battle
is enough. There are times though when a person needs more nutrition. More
bread. More strength. That is when we work out. When we run a few miles, when
we undergo an exhausting or demanding project. When we are soldiers fighting in
Gaza and the Ma’nak”im- the army rations just won’t cut it. Then you
need a BBQ and something bigger and better and healthier. That is what happens
on Yom Tov and Shabbos, the Gaon explains, on those days there is extra
holiness and revelation in the world. Our souls are fighting to come out even
more. They’re on steroids. And thus our bodies want to get away from it even
more and have to struggle more to become elevated. That’s the korban Musaf.
That’s the additional prayer that we have to daven on these days. That we get
to daven on these special days. It’s ur way of tapping into that extra holiness.
It’s our way of fighting the greatest battle to bring down us much of the beneficence
that we can of Hashem.
It’s the bread of Hashem, yet its our bread that we
bring to Him. May he accept our offerings and bring His Shechina back to
it’s home…
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
701 BC- - Praying to a wall – “Mir redtzach tzum vant- I’m talking to a wall”, goes the yiddish phrase to describe how one feels in a conversation with someone that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Yet, as Jews we know and understand that the holiest place where we can daven for the past two millenia has been precisely to the Kotel, the remaining retaining wall of the Temple Mount where our Bais Hamikdash once stood. Is there a significance to the fact that we daven to a wall, and that all prayers go up to Shamayim from there? The answer is of course, Yes!
The Navi tells us that when
Yeshaya comes to Chizkiya to tell him that he is doomed and will
die from his sickness because he never married and was thereby cutting off the
line of Dovid Ha’Melech and the future of the Jewish people, Chizkiya
turned to the wall and davened. He said that he has a tradition from his father’s
house that even if a sword is sharpened and ready to execute a person, one
should never give up hope from the mercy of Hashem. ( yes there’s a MBDsong about that… v’afilu cherve chada
munachas al tzavaro shel adam…)
What is the significance
of the wall davening? So the Midrash gives us a few examples. It tells us that King
David saw the Malach HaMaves with his sword outstretched on Israel
to wipe us out and he davened and was saved. Yehoshafat was about to be
killed by the soldiers of Aram and was saved as well. As well we find that Elisha
turned to the wall when he was by the Shunamite woman and prayed for her
son who was dead to come back alive. A wall prayer is one when you realize that
there is no where else to turn. There are no doctors. The cavalry is not
coming. No UN, No Biden or Trump. There’s only the top of the wall and there’s
no where else to look. That is when our prayers are most powerful. That’s when
they can accomplish the impossible and miraculous.
As well the commentaries
suggest that the wall refers to ones inner body. Chizkiya looks inside
of himself and the walls of his heart and says that there are none that haven’t
worshipped you or sinned. In that merit please answer my wall prayer. Alternatively,
he refers to the walls of gold of the Bais Hamikdash of Shlomo. They are
full of love. That’s what I feel for You Hashem. That’s what I know You have for
me. Those are the prayers that each of us have when we stand at the Kotel
and that is where our hearts and minds are meant to transport us wherever we
daven, as we imagine in our minds that we are standing there. We are at a wall
today. Hashem please answer our prayers.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S LEADER JOKES OF THE WEEK
Donald Trump, Queen
Elizabeth and Vladimir Putin all died and, as former world leaders, were being
given a tour of hell. While there, they saw a red phone and asked what the
phone is for. The angel there tells them it is for calling back to Earth. Putin asks to call Russia and talks for 5
minutes. When he is finished the devil informs him that the cost is a million
dollars, so Putin writes him a check.
Next Queen Elizabeth
calls England and talks for 30 minutes. When she is finished the devil informs
her that the cost is 6 million dollars, so she writes him a check.
Finally Trump gets his
turn and talks for 4 hours. When he is finished the devil informs him that the
cost is $5.00. When Putin hears this he goes ballistic and asks the devil why
Obama got to call USA so cheaply. The angel smiled and replied: "Since Biden
took over, the country has gone to hell, so it's a local call."
I read on Facebook
there is a Canadian political party leader that everyone loves. It's probably
not tru-deau
Never trust female
leaders. They’re Ms. Leading.
A spiritual Leader lay
quietly. He was dying. The disciples had gathered around his bed and recited
some holy verses trying to make his last journey divine and pleasant. They
wanted to give him warm milk to drink but he declined. One of the disciples
took the glass back to the kitchen and decided to add some brandy considering
it good for health. He poured a generous amount into the warm milk.
Back at Spiritual
Leader's bed, they lifted his head gently and held the glass to his lips. The
very frail man drank a little, then a little more, and before they knew it, he
had finished the whole glass down to the last drop. As his eyes brightened, the
disciples thought it would be a good opportunity to have one last talk with
their Spiritual Leader.
Sir....! the disciples asked earnestly, "Please,
give us some of your wisdom before you leave us."
He raised himself up
very slowly in the bed on one elbow, looked at them and said,
"Don't sell
that cow."
As leader of the USSR,
Gorbachev was allowed to conduct weddings
He liked to keep them
brief:
Gorbachev: You want to
marry her?
Groom: Da
Gorbachev: You want to
marry him ?
Bride: Da
Gorbachev: Then so be
it.
He was a master of the
So-be-it union
Four cannibals apply
for a job in a big corporation. Well“, says the boss, „if I hire you
guys, you have to promise to not eat any of our staff.“
The cannibals promise
that they will not eat anyone and get hired. Everything is going well for a while,
and one day the boss calls them into his office.
“You’re working well
and all, but we’re missing an office cleaner. Do you have something to do with
that?”
The cannibals swear
that they are innocent.The boss believes them and leaves the office and they
all turn to their leader.
“You idiots!”, he screams. “Who ate the cleaner?”
One of the cannibals
sheepishly raises his hand.
“You fool!”, shouts the leader.
"For weeks
we've been feasting on directors, team leaders, project managers and human resource
staff, and then you go and eat someone they'll actually miss!"
80,000 Free Palestine
Yale and Harvard students meet in a football stadium for a "College Students
Are Not Stupid" convention.
The leader says,
"We are all here today to prove to the world that we are not stupid.
Can I have a volunteer who will stand up to take their place as our next leader?"
A pink haired girl with
a keffiyeh gingerly works her way through the crowd and steps up to the stage. The
leader asks her, "What is 15 plus 15?"
After 15 or 20 seconds
she says, "Eighteen!"
Obviously everyone is
a little disappointed. Then 80,000 students start cheering, "Give her
another chance! Give her another chance!"
The leader says,
"Well since we've gone to the trouble of getting 80,000 of you in one
place and we have the world-wide press and global broadcast media here, gee,
uh, I guess we can give her another chance."
So he asks, "What
is 5 plus 5?"
After nearly 30
seconds she eventually says, "Ninety?"
The leader is quite
perplexed, looks down and just lets out a dejected sigh -- everyone is
disheartened - the pink haired girl starts crying and the 80,000 students begin
to yell and wave their hands shouting, "GIVE HER ANOTHER CHANCE! GIVE
HER ANOTHER CHANCE!"
The leader, unsure
whether or not he is doing more harm than good, eventually says, "Ok!
Ok! Just one more chance -- What is 2 plus 2?"
The girl closes her
eyes, and after a whole minute eventually says, "Four?"
Throughout the stadium
pandemonium breaks out as all 80,000 protestors jump to their feet, wave their
arms, stomp their feet and scream... "Give her another chance! Give her
another chance!"
The new President of
the US has just taken power. The former presidents tell him that they have left him two letters. When you
get into problems open the first letter. If you still have problems open the
second letter". About 1 year into his leadership things are going badly
for the new guy. He remembers the words of the former leader and opens the
first letter, which reads 'blame all your problems on me. The new president
does this and everything is fine for a little while. But sadly things go from
bad to worse, so he opens the second letter, which reads 'sit down and write
two letters'
Someone asked me if I
could have dinner with any world leader, living or dead, who would it be? I
said, "Ayatolla Khameni... dead."
**********************************
The
answer to this week”s question is C– Finally!!
It’s about time that I got one completely right! This one was fairly easy. I
talk about the 6 Day War a lot. That was the war that we quadrupled the size of
our country in 1967 in six mere days, as opposed to the 295 days that we haven’t
even gotten a few miles into Gaza. Levi Eshkol was the prime minister that
oversaw that miraculous moment in our history when the Har Habayit was returned
to us, kever Rachel, the shomron, the Sinai, Gaza and the Golan Heights… The
war in 1956 Suez campaign was called Mivtza Kadesh after the biblical city of
Kadesh Barnea where Moshe sent out his spies from by the Sinai border. In that
war which was 8 days and that took place in Rafah and Khan Yunis in Gaza as
well, the Israeli army went in and slaughtered unapologetically tens of
Egyptian and Palestinians in those cities including civilians. We lost 170
soldiers and killed 3000 and took over 6000 prisoners of war. Ben Gurion
declared the third kingdom of Israel and yet the next day he backed down and
handed it all back to them… Somethings never change, somethings get worse, and
sometimes we never learn. But at least I got this one right, and so my score is
now Rabbi Schwartz 9.5 and Ministry of Tourism 5.5 on this exam
so far.
