Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
February 28th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 18 30th of Shevat 5785
Have you ever wanted something so bad that you just couldn’t stop thinking about it? Sure, you could distract yourself with other things through out the day. We have lives after all. We have jobs, we have family, we have tours to give, shuls to run, cars to fix, phone calls to make. We have things to be busy with all the time. Yet, then there’s that thing that we are just dying for, that one thing that we are missing, that we are longing for, that just doesn’t stop entering our mind, that eats away at all of those distractions, that niggles on our subconscious and that at the end of the day is like a gaping hole in our heart that just can’t be plugged with everything else that we try to clog it up with. Have you ever felt that way about something so badly? Do you feel that way about something like that now?
I look at the world and I think that most of us have gone through something like that and maybe still feel that way now about something. I want to try to tap in and express that emotion, that I’ve been feeling to all of you. To myself. This weekly E-Mail is my weekly therapy. You guys out there reading this are just flies on the wall. Nice flies. Generous with your time, flies, to read these weekly thoughts. I wouldn’t mind if more of you were more generous with your sponsorships as well. I mean how cool would that be for me to get paid by you for this weekly Torah therapy, that you’re giving me, by just reading this. But, I’ll take what I can get. Although I am just mentioning that with Parshat Shekalim our twice a year annual campaign is starting. Check it out below…
But anyway, back to the therapy. Back to the longing. Back to that aching emotion of wanting something that just won’t go away. We’re going to deep this week, people. It’s been a rough week. But don’t worry or stop now. I need you here with me. I promise it will be a happy ending. It’s Adar after all. But let’s stop and think about what I’m trying to describe to you. Of that feeling, of that emotion and need. Think about that “older single” that’s been trying to get married for so many years of fruitless dating. It’s hard. They can’t stop thinking about it. They try to distract themselves. If they’re healthy they fill their lives with so many things. With work, with friends, with volunteerism, with chesed, with family. With babysitting for nephews and nieces. But it’s always there. When will I get married? When will I find love? When will I walk down the aisle? Build a home. Have a family? That’s the emotion I’m talking about.
The same is for someone that is married but that didn’t yet merit or weren’t blessed with a child. They try and they try and they go to doctor after doctor. But its just not happening. Again they try to fill their lives up with so many things. But everywhere they go they see families. They see children playing. They hear their laughter. They wonder if they will ever have their own. Who will say kaddish for them after they’re gone? Is their family line going to end with them? Will they ever have a baby to hold, to coddle, to love? To call their own. It’s not something you can run away from. There are not enough distractions in the world to remove that longing from your heart.
I’ve been spending a lot of time in ancient Shilo on tours lately. There, where the Mishkan rested for 369 years when we first entered the land and where the entire nation came and prayed, worshiped and sacrificed to Hashem, we have the story of Chana. Chana who didn’t have children for so long. Chana who saw her sister Penina with all her kids. Whose husband Elkana loved her and tried to console her. Chana, who understood that she could never be consoled. That Hashem created her to have children. To have Shmuel who would anoint the kings of Israel. Chana pours out her heart to Hashem there and it is from her we learn out what a true prayer is. It’s wanting something so, so, badly, and just pouring out your heart to Hashem for it. That’s the yearning that I’m talking about.
When one davens at the Kotel, or at many holy places around Israel, graves of tzadikim of which there are no shortage, I look at those people that have their faces buried in the “Wall”. Their tears and eyes swallowed up around their book of Psalms that seems smashed on their nose being held so tightly as they whisper their prayers. What are they crying for? Is it to get married? Is someone sick that they love? What burdens are weighing them down? A wedding they have to make and can’t imagine paying for? Do they perhaps have a child that has lost their way, that is hurting themselves, that is in so much pain and they can’t bear to watch them suffer anymore? A parent that is sick, a court case that is looming and doesn’t look good, a sibling that is going through hell. They cry, they pray, they pour out their hearts as they beg and implore and shatter the heavens with their tears. There’s a hole so large, a need so deep. When will it get filled? When will it be over?
I don’t know if you have ever felt that need, experienced that longing or prayed that prayer. But we’ve all seen it. I think this year more than ever we’ve seen it on steroids. We watch these families of hostages being held in Gaza and we hear them. We feel that pain. We internalize their longing for their loved ones. Their fear. Their anxiety. Their anguish. It’s so powerful and reaches so deep that it has even taken over our own lives. We don’t sleep. We think about them. We just want them home. We feel they are ours.
We feel the pain of those who have lost children, fathers, siblings, soldiers loved ones. We want it to be over for them. We need it to be over. We try to imagine what so many mothers, wives, girlfriends, children are going through knowing that their_______ is in Gaza fighting, in Lebanon. That body bags are being brought back here all the time. That there are funerals all the time. Graves on Har Hertzel that are just swallowing up lives. They don’t sleep worrying that their loved one will be next. If that last hug and kiss that you gave them as they walked out the door would be the last time you felt their warmth close to you. Would they come back with two arms and legs? What type of trauma will they suffer? Will they be the same after all they will see and do? There’s no distraction in the world that can stop that longing for it all to be over. For them to be safe. For life to be what it was.
I think now you get what I’m talking about. But now I want to ask you about another longing that I’m not sure any of us really have. Or to be honest with ourselves- and that’s what we do here in Schwartz weekly Parsha therapy- ever really experience or care much about. Do you have that longing for the Bais Ha’Mikdash? Do you feel that you really really need that building? Do you dream about it? Do you find it on your mind and soul all the time? Is it to you like that single woman who wants her husband, like Chana or any childless person wanting a child? Like the parent whose child is in Gaza, whose father is there?
Or is it rather more like that Tesla that you wish you could be driving instead of that farkakteh old yeshivish Chevy that’s in the mechanic every other week. Is it the good American prime rib that you wish you could be eating rather then what they call entrecote in this country, but really just tastes like it fell off of one of those skinny cows in Pharaoh’s dream. It’s a land of milk honey and 7 species of grain and fruit… Hashem never promised us Prime Rib. But is that what the Bais Ha’Mikdash longing is for you? Don’t be shy. I’ll say it first. Yeah… it kind of is more like the Tesla thing for me.
Now I’m not talking about the Messianic era. That I think we all really, really, want. We want peace. We want love. We want light. We want Shalva- tranquility, like Yaakov Avinu did. We even want the so badly the eradication of Amalek, evil and darkness. And that they should suffer a lot while that happens. But the house of Hashem? The palace? The sacrifices? I mean that’s all good and stuff but are we really longing for it? Do we really lose sleep over the marble, the gold, the altar, the Holy of Holies, the Menora and show bread? Sure, it sounds cool. I’d love to hear the Levites Kumzitz and heavenly music. But that just seems like icing on the cake of the Messianic era. The cherry on the top. But I’m dreaming and longing for the cake. Who dreams and longs and can’t stop thinking about the cherry?
Yet, I think that’s where we have to take a pause and really understand what this whole Mikdash/ Mishkan/ Tabernacle/ House of Hashem is all about. Because ultimately that is really the core of it all. Longing for everything else besides that House, is like a woman going through a painful child fertilization procedure and just hoping for the shot to be over. It’s like someone that needs to get married and find their bashert and who is only hoping for the annoying dating process to be over. It’s the parent whose child is a hostage in Gaza who only is praying that their child has a good breakfast over there and isn’t too hungry. They’re missing the big picture. They don’t get what they really should be longing for. They’re missing the boat, big time.
What is this Mikdash? This Mishkan? Why is it so important? Why is it the core of everything? To be quite honest with ourselves. I pretty much have Hashem wherever and whenever I want Him. His Glory fills the world. He’s even in Lakewood. In Teaneck. In Boca. I’ve got a shul. I have Shabbos. I have Torah and Daf Yomi and mitzvos and tefillin and Sukka and even Purim with Shalach Manos. I mean, sure, sacrifices and fancy buildings and miracles would be nice. It would be great to not have to see that golden pimple or those horrible churches all over the Jerusalem. And yeah, I even daven and close my eyes and imagine it a little bit during shemona Esrei, or on Tisha B’av or after four cups of wine at my seder when I sing L’shana Haba… But l’maaseh, none if that is really anything that I can honestly say I’m longing for.
The scary part about that is, that if I’m not really, really, longing for it, if I can’t feel that my life is really, really, incomplete without it- that I’m bereft, that I’m like a mother without a child, like a husband without a wife, then why should Hashem feel any real need to give it to me. To bring us to that day. To leave us with our fairly contented “yeshivish car” existence, in galus, in Boro Park, in a secularly run “State” of Israel, without a King, without a palace. Why give us a Tesla, if to be honest, the Chevy works fine enough for us?
There’s a fascinating Ramban, in this week’s parsha that opened up my eyes to an incredible insight. He explains that the secret of the Mishkan and the Bais Ha’Mikdash is really the replication of that moment that we stood on Mt. Sinai and saw, heard, connected and were bonded with Hashem. It’s when He came down to us and we were One with Him. It’s heaven and earth uniting. The essence of Creation finally being realized. It’s the encapsulation of all that mankind has ever longed for. It’s the world being returned to the state of the Garden of Eden.
Read through all of the intricate details of each and every one of the vessels of the Mishkan in this week’s parsha. Do you know how each one ends off? They each are commanded to be built
“Ka’mareh asher hareiseim ba’har- like the image/ the vision that I showed you on the Mountain.
It’s all about a recreation of that Mountain, but eternally.
For 210 years we suffered in Egypt in the worst world. For over 2000 years since the Creation of the world, we had been exiled from Eden. There was a flood, the tower of Bavel, there was destruction and then finally there was the beginning of the light with the birth of Avraham. There was a return of our family to the land of Israel. The 12 tribes, born in exile by Lavan’s house to Yaakov, came home. But then we were thrown out. We were in a tunnel for so long. Our babies were killed. Were murdered. We forgot who we were. What we needed to really long for. We forgot Eden. We forgot Jerusalem. We just wanted the pain to be over. The fighting to stop. And Hashem heard our cry.
He took us out. He showed us unreal miracles. He reminded us who we were. And then He took us to that mountain and we experienced His glory. We felt His love. The world was fixed. All our “zuhama” -the spiritual poison injected in us so long ago and that had numbed us for so long, had been removed. Our souls leapt out of us. When we came to that mountain, Hashem said that He would give us the Torah and the Mitzvos through Moshe and we told Him that wasn’t enough.
Ritzoneinu li’ros Malkeinu- our will, our longing, our desire is to see our King.
We want to be one with You. We want You home. We want to be this way forever.
It was the most awesome experience in the history of mankind. It did something to us a nation. It implanted in us the deepest and most core desire to experience that once again. To experience that forever. To have the whole world feel and taste that and live with and like that eternally. But it wasn’t going to happen there. Our job to bring that day and share it with the world, to bring that hostage Shechina home, to release mankind from the captivity of our exile from Eden, would only happen when we came into Israel. It comes when we build and have that Bait Ha’Mikdash. The Mikdash that is the representative of that Mountain, of Sinai, of the voice of Hashem speaking to us but not from the heaven on the top of a mountain, but rather from between the angels on the Aron Ha’Bris- the Ark of the covenant that we built for Him with our own two hands. The Bris that states that we are His and He is ours. That is the Mikdash. That is the longing of all longings.
There on that mountain, the parsha told us last week, we brought sacrifices. We ate together. We were united as one man and one heart. All of the Jewish people were in one place. There was one of us, because only when we are one, can He be revealed as One to us. There was only one thing that we longed, dreamed, and didn’t stop praying for. It was that that moment should be eternal. It should be forever. The world will finally be fixed. That feeling, that emotion is the at the root of all our desires and needs. It’s fascinating when one reads the prayer of Chana to see this. She praises Hashem. She sings about He has raised her up. How He has given her request and she concludes her prayer
Va’yarem keren li’Meshicho- He has or shall raise the horn of His anointed one; of Mashiach.
The more and more that we have longings, the deeper and deeper that those longings get, the closer and closer we get to recognizing that the core of it all is to get back to that total revelation of Hashem, of Sinai, of the Bais Ha’Mikdash, of Gan Eden. All of our tzoris, and all our other longings bring us back to that first and most essential one.
I read this morning an interview with Eli Sharabi who had been kept hostage in Gaza for 500 days and was released only to find that his wife, his children, his brother his friends were all killed. He said that he never recited Shema before in his life until he was taken hostage. But there he recited it every single day. He tapped into that faith, into Hashem, into a God he never knew he had and he felt Him there with him. There’s Agam who found Shabbos there. Romi and Eliya who made kiddush on water. Keith, who never recited a bracha in his life yet there on his piece of moldy pita they gave him he recited a bracha he once had heard of Mezonos. Elokeinu Melech Ha’Olam. He found the King of the World. He saw Him. He was one with Him. They all found in that darkness that what they really needed was light. They needed Hashem. They needed to be close. It’s all they dreamt about and cared about. And we all feel that too…
Hashem has brought us all in this past year and a half of war to the point where none of us are really sleeping well. Where we are experiencing deep, deep ,pain at different times and to different degrees. Hashem has been pulling off the numbness, the coldness of the galus-anesthesia and we’re in touch with that hole, that cavity inside of ourselves that we are finding it harder and harder to distract ourselves from. That hole is the Bais Ha’Mikdash. That hole is telling me that everything else that I have is just a distraction. It’s busy things to keep me from longing for the real Home, the real return. It’s a hafrashas challa ceremony, it’s a stand-with-a- sign’poster demonstration, it’s posting on social media, a yellow ribbon on my car, it’s going to Amuka or a Rabbi for a beracha to solve your problems. It’s me trying to feel I can do something to put a band-aid on the pain I’m feeling to achieve the small goal that I want to realize. But to a large degree, it’s missing the big picture of all of this. It’s missing that the real source of longing that our soul has been craving for since it stood on that mountain is to be one together and forever with Hashem.
I told you that this E-Mail will have a happy ending and it does. The Geula is really right here. It’s happening. We’re in it. Hostages are coming home. Evil is being destroyed. Daily we are seeing those families reuniting. We cry as we see them embrace. We feel it in our souls, and it reminds us of that embrace we had with Hashem on that Mountain. We remember the “image He showed us on the Har”. The world is screaming at us on all sides. Half of them are screaming for us to build the Mikdash and the other half wants to see us destroyed. The world is not letting us sit idle and go halfway on this one. Their souls also remember that day and experience. They know our job, perhaps even better then we do. The Mishkan was built with chashukeihem- with their desire. Parshat Teruma, the donations for the Mishkan are asher yidvenu libo- is with the donations of our heart. Our hearts are overflowing. Our desires for a new world are more intense then ever. The month of Adar is here. It is the month of Simcha. Of joy, of rejoicing. Of the Jews standing up and decimating their enemies. It’s the month before Nissan when we are told that the Geula, the final redemption will happen once again.
We read Parshat shekalim the first of the four parshiyot and we recall that half shekel that Hashem showed Moshe on the mountain. The half shekel is that desire and understanding that we are incomplete without Him. Those are the coins that will buy the sacrifices that will be used in the Temple this year. Hopefully it will be money and donations we give to rebuild the Bais Hamikdash. This Shabbos we start the reading of the Torah to remind us about them. May this year, be the one that we fulfill that mitzva with more than just our reading, but rather with us donating and bringing our deepest hearts desire in the place that will return us to that moment when we stood at that mountain so long ago. That will find us a nation redeemed. To a world of Simchat Olam.
Have a very generous Shabbas Shekalim, a happy Chodesh Adar and a exuberant Shabbos!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Gelt iz keilechdik—amol iz es do, amol iz es dort. - Money is round, it rolls away from you
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
10. Privileges granted to various European powers by the Ottomans are referred to as ______
What is the importance of the Egyptian occupation of the Land of Israel in the 19th century,
from a historical perspective?
A. Some researchers see it as the beginning of the modern era in the Land
of Israel
B. The Egyptian occupation strengthened the position of the peasants in the
Land of Israel, creating local Arab nationalism
C. The Egyptian occupation increased the waves of first Aliyah due to its sympathy for
members of Hovevei Zion
D. The Egyptian occupation’s hostility to the West curbed the modernization begun by
Napoleon
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yiddelach - Purim is here let’s get started with Rabbi Schwartz’es Purim hits! Yiddelach from last year….
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/layehudim - And here’s my Layehudim by Dovid Lowy on vocals and arrangements start dancing NOW!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcQ_p97PQG8 - Thank YOU HASHEM kicks off Adar with the new Happy Clappy album!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhqVdWBrKo0 – Uri Davidi’s latest Purim Song La’Yehudim!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
End of Yehoyakim- 598 BC – It was the 2nd of Adar. Yup talk about the timeliness of this column. Yehoyakim had been returned to Jerusalem after being held hostage by Nevuchadnezzar which seemingly should’ve taught him a lesson. Yet, it seems we Jews and our leaders are bad at receiving messages. This is despite the fact that the Navi Yirmiyahu was literally screaming at us that we needed to get our act together and the destruction was imminent. Yet Yehoyakim continues in his evil arrogant ways. When the opportunity presents itself after Nevuchadnezzar loses a battle to Egypt in Ashkelon, Yehoyakim thinks he can rebel against him once again. Needless to say Nevuchadnezzar is not a happy camper.
Camped out in Ribla, which fascinatingly enough we discussed was also called Chamas… Ouch! There are some that place this in the South in the Northern Negev, whereas one opinion in Chazal is that it up near Turkey and Lebanon in Antochia. I guess Chamas is everywhere. There the Arab nations around us from Ammon, Moav, the Kasdim/ Chaldeans and Syrian/ Aramites all converge and tell Nevuchadnezzar the prophecies that the time for the Temple to be destroyed is here. Clean out the Temple Mount destroy the Jews. Nevuchadnezzar is wary though. The Sanhedrin come to Nevuchadnezzar and tell him the time is not ripe yet. So Nevuchadnezzar agrees to forestall the destruction but demands that Yehoyakim be handed over to him. Yup, he wants his head.
For those learning Daf Yomi, this is particularly relevant in this week’s Daf. Is one permitted to hand over a person to save everyone else. Yehoyakim not surprisingly is of the opinion that this is prohibited. The sages respond that Dovid Ha’Melech did no less when he demanded that Sheva Ben Bichri be handed over to Yoav or the entire city of Avel would be killed. Yehoyakim is reluctant and there seems to be different opinions as to what happened. According to some the Jews handed him over and Nevuchadnezzar had him killed. Others say he died while they were sending down over the wall. While the most dramatic opinion is that the Jews themselves killed him and handed his body over to the Babylonians. Yet what followed next should sound familiar to us…
The Babylonians paraded him through the streets chopped him up into pieces, stuffed him into the carcass of a donkey, fed him to the dogs…etc… etc… etc… October 7th style but in the year 598 BC… It seems that they haven’t developed any more decency or humanity since then. And if 2600 years hasn’t done the trick, what makes you think that something has changed or will change…
This end to Yehoyakim is the punishment for his sins and all of the sins of his grandfather Menashe in whose evil ways he followed. We’re down to the last two kings. The end is near and nothing looks good for the Jewish people.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE MONEY JOKES OF THE WEEK
Rebbi Goldberg posed a question to his 2nd grade class, "If I were to sell my house, car, donate my possessions to charity, and give all my money to the shul, would I get into heaven?"
The children unanimously replied, "No."
The Rebbi then asked, "If I were to keep the shul clean, mow the lawn, and keep everything neat and tidy, would I get into heaven?"
Once again, the answer was a resounding "No."
Apparently perplexed, the Rebbi asked, "Well, then how can I get into heaven?"
Quick-witted five-year-old Berel piped up and replied, "You have to be dead!"
A young blonde girl in her late teens, wanting to earn some extra money for the summer, decided to hire herself out as a "handy woman" and started canvassing a nearby well-to-do neighborhood.
She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had
any odd jobs for her to do. "Well, I guess I could use somebody to paint the porch" he said. "How much will you charge me?"
Delighted, the girl quickly responded, "How about $50?"
The man agreed and told her that the paint and brushes and everything she would need were in the garage. The man's wife, hearing the conversation, said to her husband, "Does she realize that our porch goes ALL the way around the house?"
"That's a bit cynical, isn't it?" he responded.
The wife replied, "You're right. I guess I'm starting to believe all those dumb blonde jokes."
A few hours later the blonde came to the door to collect her money.
"You're finished already??" the startled husband asked.
"Yes," the blonde replied, "and I even had paint left over so I gave it two coats."
Impressed, the man reached into his pocket for the $50 and handed it to her along with a $10 tip.
"Thank you," the blonde said, "And, by the way, it's not a Porch, it's a Lexus...
To this day, the boy that used to bully me at school still takes my lunch money. On the plus side, he makes great Deli sandwiches.
What do you call a man who gives students money? Grant
It’s true women do make less money than men. But it’s their fault because they choose the lower paying jobs. Men, for example, choose the higher paying jobs like doctor or lawyer. Whereas women choose the lower paying jobs like women doctor and women lawyer.
A robber held up a well-dressed man pointing his gun and yelling, “Give me all your money!”
The man replied, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m a U.S. congressman!”
The robber retorted, “In that case, give me all my money!”
How were you able to donate money to Hamas in America without getting in trouble? Just pay your taxes.
I asked the cashier “Could you give me small change instead of bills? I need money for the bus “
She said “That’s fare”
What's the fastest way to earn money as a photographer? By selling your camera.
The reason why Saudi Arabia has so much money is not because of oil, but, because they wouldn't let their women spend it
What money do they use on Superman's homeworld? Kryptocurrency
What's the hardest part of being addicted to money? The withdrawals.
A factory owner is trying to come up with innovative ideas to save money and therefor save his business from going under.
The owner calls a meeting with all of his 200 employees out on the plant floor.
"Ok everyone, we are in deep trouble. I will give $2000 dollars to the first person that comes to me with a cost saving idea."
Immediately a guy in the front row shoots up his hand.
Owner says "Yes, Barry. That was fast, what's your cost saving plan?"
Barry says "make it $1000".
I‘m so good with managing money. I got a letter from a debt collector saying ‘outstanding payment’
My neighbour just finished writing a book on "How to make money."
Now he needs money to publish it .I told him to read the book
My local gas station started charging money just to put air in your tires. When I commented that this had been free for decades, the attendant just looked at me and said "that's inflation for you".
Growing up we didn't have a lot of money. I had to use a hand-me-down calculator with no multiplication symbol on it. Times were tough
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The answer to this week”s question is A – This doesn’t happen often, Thank Hashem, but when it does I will face the music. See, this one I got entirely wrong. I really had new clue about either part of this question and to be honest, I really don’t think I ever will need the information. If this was a real exam I definitely would’ve skipped this question, as you only have to answer 30 out of 33. But anyways the correct answer is the Turkish rights were called Capitulations and the Egyptian occupation they claim is the start of the modern Era of Israel… udder yeah udder nisht… whoe knows. Who cares. All I know is that as of now I don’t have a passing score on this exam so far which is not good… And thus the new score is Rabbi Schwartz 6 Ministry of Tourism 4 on this exam so far. Oy….
