Counting to the Siren-ity Prayer- Parshat Shemini 2025 5785

 nsights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

April 25^th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 24 27^th of Nissan 5785

 

Parshat Shemini

 Counting to The Siren-ity Prayer

 

“So how was your Yom Tov? Really? Mitzi knew all of the four questions? She stayed up the entire Seder! What did she get for Afikoman? You went where Chol Hamoed? Cool… So anyways as I was telling you it was really nice over here in Netanya. Yeah… my tourists came up here to tour with me. Well one day I took them to

 

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! WHOOOOOO!!!!! WHOOOO!!!

 

My heart fell through my stomach. Yonah, who was on the phone with me, sounded like his did as well. Sorry. Gotta run. It’s a siren. Woah. He’s also having a siren in Beit Shemesh. What’s going on? Is this it? Is Mashiach here? Did Iran finally shoot some really cool huge missiles at us. Why didn’t my alert on my phone go off?  I hope Aliza’s alright. Where are Elka and Tully? I hope Shani makes it down to the shelter with the twins. It’s been months since we’ve had a siren. What’s going on? Is this the stinkin Houtim again? I thought Trump was taking care of them. I thought this was over already. That the only ones left to get their due justice are the ones in the Israeli government, intelligence (a real oxymoron) and army echelons that let all this happen in the first place. Poor hostages. Why is this siren still going? How come I’m the only one running out to my shelter?

 

Those were my wild thoughts yesterday morning at 10:00 AM as I ran frantically to our shelter. It was only when I sent Tully back in the house to get our cleaning lady and call her in to join us, after-all we will need here to clean up after this is all over. It took Aliza a long time to find good help in this country. It was only then that I chapped that it wasn’t a missile siren. It was Yom Ha’Shoah. It was a call for a moment of silence for the martyrs of the Holocaust. A moment of silence heralded in by a sky piercing terrifying siren. A siren that for the past two years has meant death, destruction, terror and trauma, as well as miracles and salvations. As I shamefully crawled out of my shul. I tried to look cool and pretended that I was just there to get some stuff out of our freezer. Of course, I knew it was Yom Ha’Shoah. How could I forget? I wasn’t nervous at all. I waved at my neighbor who also seemed to be carrying a frozen chicken in his hand for no reason. We smiled and nodded. We were both very cool and not nervous. Just two chilled neighbors getting chicken from our freezers…

 

I don’t know how many other chicken freezer guys there were out there yesterday. I also don’t know how many people ended up in the hospital with trauma from those Yom Ha’Shoah sirens that brought them back to those terrifying days of sirens, missiles and bomb shelters. How many tripped over their feet and fell downstairs running there. I believe that they say that more people have been injured getting to shelters than from actual missiles falling in this crazy war. But I can certainly tell you that everyone as the sirens went off thought the same thought. When is this going to be over already. Why are we remembering the Holocaust when we still seem to be in middle of one? When there are so many families that have had their loved ones killed, murdered and butchered. When our brothers and sisters, fathers and children are still being in tunnels by animals worse than the Nazis. When is Mashiach coming already? When will the great “day after” finally be here?

 

This week’s parsha of Shemini, is the parsha of the day after. But it’s not. The parsha, named after that great Eli Marcus singer group “The Eighth Day”, is really as well the first day. After-all it’s the first day of Nissan. It’s the first day after the 7 days of the dedication of the Mishkan. It’s the first day the Shechina came down to the Mikdash. Rashi brings ten different things that it is the first day for. According to one opinion in the Talmud, it’s even the first day of Creation (unlike the more commonly accepted opinion that its Rosh Hashana). Yet the parsha is called the 8^th day. It’s the day after the 7^th… October 7^th? Shemini Atzeret? Yup… It’s that day…is what everyone is thinking and has been living for the past year and a half. It’s the Shabbos after we left Mitzryaim, this past Pesach, and Mashiach is still not here. The Holocaust siren is still ringing.

 

Now one would think on this great 8^th or 1^st day, it would be a happy one. A joyous one. We’ve finally arrived. The Tabernacle/ Mishkan has been built and erected. Our sin of the golden calf has been forgiven. We’re on our way to the HolyLand; the land promised to our ancestors so long ago. We’re just a few days journey away. The month of redemption is here and ready to come to its conclusion. Yet the parsha begins with what our sages tell us is a bad ominous word.

Va’yehi- and it was on the 8^th day.

 

It’s like that tense chilling background music and tempo in a bad horror movie. We just think that we’re about to get out of the house with the axe murderer in it, but badda dumm badda dumm badda dumm… Vayehi… something scary is coming. It’s a lashon of tzar- of troubles yet to come on this Shemini day…

 

Sure enough, the music doesn’t disappoint. It never does. On this day and pinnacle of joy the two sons of Aharon are killed. A fire comes out on Shemini and burns them up. Moshe tells Aharon that he knew something like this was going to happen. He heard the background music. The great day only comes after a Holocaust. The Shechina descends when there are burnt houses. When there are dead children. The 8^th day comes when we think we’re already there, and it’s time, and we’ve done all we can, and we’re ready, and then Hashem shows us that…surprise…it’s not yet… there’s still one more thing that you haven’t done yet. I need to be sanctified with martyrs. I need one last tragedy. One great huge unexpected devastating blow. One more siren. B’krovai eh’kodeish- I will be sanctified with those close to Me.

 

Non-incidentally the haftorah that is chosen for this week’s parsha as well is along the same theme. Fast forward a few hundred years from that 8^th day of the Mishkan in the 2^nd year when we left Mitzrayim to Dovid Ha’Melech’s greatest day and moment when he is finally bringing the Ark of Hashem to the Tent in Yerushalayim where the Beit Ha’Mikdash will be built. Dancing, singing, shofars, parades, all the way from Kiryat Ye’arim (Telshe Stone) to Yerushalyim. 30,0000 buchrim join him for this amazing event and day. This is the moment. The “Yom Ha’Shemini” has finally arrived. It’s Simchas Torah (at least conceptually). And then the music comes on in the background. Uh Oh… siren…

 

The Aron starts to fall of the wagon. Uzza reaches out to grab and catch it and BOOM! He dies. According to one interpretation in fact a fire came out and burnt him up. (It’s derived by the wording that here also it says that the dancing was “lifnei Hashem”, just as it does by Nadav and Avihu). Dovid is devastated. The party is called off. The Aron is placed in the house of Oved Edom Ha’Gitti and it sits there for three months until Dovid sees the blessing that takes place and brings it home to Yerushalayim. Yet, this second time that Dovid brings it the simcha gets taken to a whole new level of crazy. Dovid gets up and starts dancing and shaking and singing like a crazy drunken breslaver lunatic. He can’t be stopped. He’s going wild. He looks like that guy at the wedding in the middle that has no clue how to dance and is just jumping up and down and shaking and twisting… Obviously his wife Michal is a bit embarrassed by all of this and tells him to grow up already. He is the King of Israel and its time he started acting his age. But Dovid persists. He tells her this is why Hashem chose him, over her father. Ouch! It’s the tikkun we need. It’s the only way the Shechina comes down.  He learned his lesson and we need to learn it and ours as well.

 

There’s a fascinating alternate translation of Unkelos that seems to be brought in old volumes. The Rambam brings this interpretation as well as the Torahs Shlomo and other Midrashim. We are all familiar with Rashi and most commentary’s translation of Aharon’s response to his children’s death as being on of silent acceptance- va’yidom Aharon. He was like a domeim- like an inanimate rock that doesn’t speak or respond. Yet those other translations translate the word va’yidom has praise. “V’shibeich Aharon”. And Aharon sang songs of praise to Hashem. He thanked Hashem. It wasn’t sad holding back emotions and silent acceptance. It was much greater and higher than that. It was a recognition that Hashem has done something extraordinary here just now, that is beyond my comprehension. That is beyond and rationalization in this world. That when the Shechina comes down to this planet, it’s going to be a process of me throwing out of my existence anything that I thought I could comprehend about His ways. Only then can the 8^th day come. Only then can we be redeemed.

 

The sin of Uzza, the Abarbanel writes is that he lacked faith that the Aron wouldn’t fall. That Hashem still needs us to catch it for Him. That we still have some control and part to play in the redemption. In the Shechina coming down. That the 8^th day is the natural conclusion of the 7 previous days. That mind-set is why the 8^th day is described as a lashon tza’ar of tzoris- trouble, pain and tribulation. Va’yehi- “and it was”. is built on the past. The word V’haya though “and it will be” though is the terminology of  the future. It’s transcendent. The letters of V’haya are actually the same as the name the of Hashem yud-hei-vav and hei. Past present and future all come together. Moving beyond this world. Understanding that Hashem doesn’t need us to descend. We just need to remove ourselves entirely and allow His Shechina to come down. And the only thing stopping it from happening, is perhaps our reaching out and grabbing the Aron. By thinking we still have some control. By thinking that it’s our efforts that make it happen. By seeing the day that the Shechina will come down and the redemption will come as being just day number 8 rather then the first of a brand, new existence. The first, as the day of Creation was, when Hashem didn’t need our help to make it happen. When He made a world and just wanted to be with us basking in it together.

 

Dovid learns that lesson after Uzza’s mistake. He dances and sings and jumps and parties, because he understands that there is no “zich”. There’s no ego. V’naklosi od mi’zos. I could get even smaller and smaller and lighter and lighter. There’s only Hashem. The Shechina is coming down. The smaller I get, the more I dance, the more I’m not thinking about what other people will think of me, the more I realize that what Hashem is doing for us is beyond any comprehension. The greater the revelation will be. The better the song will be.

 

Hafacta mispeidi l’mchol li- You have turned my mourning into a dance; into a circle

Pitachta saki va’ta’azreini simcha- you’ve opened my sackcloth and girded me with joy

L’maan yizamercha kavod- in order that I will sing in Your honor.

V’lo yidom- I will not be silent. I will praise You. I will be nothing. And You will be all.

 

Fascinatingly enough, our sages tell us that the house that the Aron sat in of Oved Ha’Gitti. He himself was a descendant of someone special. He was from the descendants of the children of Korach. He was from the Levi singers in the Temple. Gat is in fact in Gaza. It’s a Pelishti city. The children of Korach were saved and swallowed up in the ground. There in that tunnel hanging over a high place in Gehenom they call out Moshe is true and His Torah is true. There they realize that there is nothing besides Hashem. Tunnels in Gaza do that to the biggest atheists. Holocausts, October 7^ths, Sirens, wars and tragedies at the times of our greatest simcha are there to bring us to the point where we recognize that the day ahead of us, around the corner is not an 8^th day, but the first of a new world. That Yom Ha’atzmaut is coming after Yom Ha’Zikaron. Atzma’ut not as in Independence Day, but rather as a day that we reveal our essence. That it is all Hashem.

 

We are in the days of Sefirat Ha’Omer. Each day is a count. It’s a build-up. We bless the month of Iyar which at first glance seems to be a month without any holidays in it (Lag Ba’Omer doesn’t count), but it’s in fact the month where every single day has a biblical mitzva to count. It’s a month with Yom Ha’Atzamaut and Yom Ha’Zikaron. A month of sirens and revealing our essence by remembering. zikaron la’yom rishon. Remembering that first day of Creation that we are climbing to. Remembering that the tzoris are beyond our comprehension and are all from Hashem. They’re good. They’re there to minimize us.

 

We count 49 days, but then the Torah tells us that we have counted 50 days. The 50^th day is Hashem’s day. It’s the day we don’t count. It’s the day that He tells us He never needed our counting. It’s the day that he comes down because we have gotten smaller and smaller and revealed more and more of Him. When that happens, there won’t be sirens anymore. There will be the sound of the shofar. Va’yehi will be vi’haya ba’yom ha’hu- it will be that day when we hear that great Shofar. When the only shelter we need will be the shade and shadow of Hashem.

Have an blaringly amazing Shabbos and a Chodesh Iyar Tov!

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

 ************************

YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

"Fun leydike feser iz der lyarem greser” - Empty barrels make the most noise.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

15. Israel’s memorial to victims of the "Twin Towers” disaster is located near the entrance to the city

of ______

What is the “N Settlement”?

A. The early 20th century Zionist plan for settling empty Negev regions, thus the use of the letter

N

B. The physical deployment pattern of Zionist settlement in the Land of Israel from the end of

the 19th century and into the20th century, which is shaped like the letter N on the ground

C. The response by Zionist institutions to the 1939 White Paper which included constructing a

series of settlements in the Jezreel Valley shaped like the letter N on the ground

D. Post-1967 Jewish settlement on the back of the mountain in Judea and Samaria which forms

the letter N on the ground

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/achainu  -   My acapella Acheinu… Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXQsMtzKWLg&list=OLAK5uy_melh80nXaghaaiEhQpcWWC7fHkexPBXxs&index=6 – - Naftali Kempeh’s latest Acapella I spend a lot of time at Shilo and this is Chana’s song..

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rVcWJF-Xl14  - Bardak Learning Makkos in honor of this great Makkos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rMZd_Gi3hc  – Yonatan Stern Akiva medley Acapella

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

Tzidkiyah- who?- 598 BC – With the exile of Yehoyachin, we have finally arrived at the final king of Israel before the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash; Tzidkiyahu Ha’Melech. Now although we know him as Tzidkiyahu, it seems that name was given to him by none other than Nevuchadnezzar who appointed him to be king after taking Yehoyachin into exile and locking him up in jail for his rebellion.

 

Who was Tzidkiyahu in fact? Well it’s not clear from the verses and there might even be contradictions. The simple pshat accepted by Rashi and most is that he certainly was the uncle of Yehoyachin’s and brother of his father Yehoyachaz’s son of  Yoshiyahu. Which brother though seems not be clear. The Gemara brings opinion that he was an older brother named as Shalum. Other suggest based on the verse that Shalum was younger brother. To make it even more confusing there are others that suggest that Shalum was really Yehoyachaz- the father of Yehoyachin, and Tzedkayahu was another brother named as Matanya. Maybe that’s why they called him Tzidkiya-who??? (sorry couldn’t resist…) Are you confused yet? I am… But welcome to the times before the end of the first Temple. They were confusing…

 

Now what makes this time even more confusing is that Yehoyachin was still alive and in Bavel and Tzikiyahu who was appointed king by Nevuchadnezzar was really never appointed by the people, many of who supported Yehoyachin. Tzidkiyahu was only 21 upon becoming King and thus there were those that felt that he was merely being a puppet king of Bavel. Can you imagine the accusations that went of Bavel-Gate and undo influences of foreign governments in the leadership of Israel. The truth is those accusations were correct, though. Nevuchadnezzar made Tzidkiyahu swear on a sefer Torah by Hashem that he would never rebel against him. Nevuchadnezzar recognized that any other oath would be meaningless.

 

The Gemara tells us that unlike Yehoyachin, Tzidkiyahu as his name insinuates was a righteous king; a tzadik. Yet his generation had fallen too far. This is the counter opposite of Yehoyachin’s generation before the exile of all of the sages and Torah scholars together with him, where the generation was righteous still but the king was wicked. Our sages derive from this that the power fo the Torah scholars can prevent the destruction despite their sinful leaders- and Yehoyachin as we discussed was really really bad. While at the same time, the righteousness of the leaders, like Tzidkiyahu does not have the power to protect it’s generation. This is one of the sources that is certainly utilized and become engrained in our nation’s psyche of the power of Torah to protect.

 

Yet despite Tzidkiyahu’s initial righteousness, as we will see his failure to heed the prophecies and warnings of Yirmiyahu and Yechezkel and listen to their political and spiritual guidance ultimately brought about his downfall…

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE SIREN JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

In the city, you ignore sirens and listen for gunshots. In the country, you ignore gunshots and listen for sirens.

In Detroit, you ignore both.

 

What do you call a pig with lights and sirens on it’s back? A ham-bulance

 

The police car, its siren blaring, raced in front of a speeding car and forced it to stop. A heavily built policeman got out and walked over.

"You name, please?" asked the policeman, taking out his notebook and pen.

"Certainly, officer," replied the driver. "It's Chaim Yerachmiel Shmerel Antschel Zelig Baruch Goldenfarbenstein."

The policeman thought for a moment, then looked at his notebook, shook his head and said: "I'll just give you a warning this time don't break the speed limit again."

 

A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead decide to rob a bank. Everything goes well-they have their masks on, the bank hands over the money-awesome. Exiting the bank, they hear sirens and see several cop cars round the corner, so they dash into a small alleyway. The cops are quick though, and are just about to reach the entrance. There are three empty potato sacks lying against the wall.

"Quick! Hide!" The brunette says, and the three women each crawl into a bag.

A police man comes down the alleyway, looking around for any signs of the women. The potato sacks stick out to him-so he gives the one with the redhead a kick.

"Meow!" goes the redhead, doing her best imitation of a cat.

"Just an alley cat..." The police officer mumbles, moving onto the next bag and delivering a quick nudge with his foot.

"Woof!" Goes the brunette, imitating a dog.

"Just a stray..." The officer mumbles again, heading to the last bag, and giving it a light kick.

"POOOOE-TAYYY-TOOOEE" grunts the blonde.

 

Two blonde robbers were robbing a hotel. The first one said, "I hear sirens. Jump!"

The second one said, "But we're on the 13th floor!"

The first one screamed back, "This is no time to be superstitious."

 

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway... Glancing at the car he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting...

Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn,and yelled,"PULL OVER"

"No!"the blond yelled back, “its a scarf.”

 

So I got pulled over...I was driving home from the bar and of course Sirens were wailing and showing red and blue. I pulled over and the officer showed up to my window and shined a light in my eyes.

“Sir you have been swerving and your eyes are red have you been drinking”

“Well, your eyes are glazed have you been eating donuts?!”

We laughed and laughed!!! Yeah, I need bail money....

 

A blonde was driving down the highway. Soon she heard sirens and saw lights behind her, and was pulled over. A cop, also a blonde woman, approached her door.

"You were speeding, miss," she said. "May I see your license?"

The blonde driver rummaged through her purse for a minute before looking up in confusion. "Well, what's it look like?" she asked.

"It's a small square thing with your picture on it," said the cop.

The driver looked again and finally pulled out a small mirror and handed it to the cop. The blonde cop looked at it and handed it back.

"Okay, you can go," she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were a police officer."

***************************************

The answer to this week”s question is B-  So I’m back to 50/50 on this one. The first part was easy. The 9/11 memorial – the only in the world by the way that has all of the names of the murdered outside of the US is in the valley opposite Har Menuchos across the Highway, where no one really knows or gets to visit. The idea was that it’s memorial is a monument of a an unfruled flag made out of actual metal grids from the Twin Towers and when looking at it from the side it looks like a ner tamid memorial light that is up against our memorial mountain of Har Menuchos at entrance to Jerusalem.

The second part though I had no clue. I don’t even remember hearing about the “N” settlements. When I looked up the answer though, I understood why. See in my Hebrew course and they are more commonly known as the Choma and Migdal tower and wall settlements. But even then I don’t know why they wrote the 19^th century. As the Tower Stockade settlements were in the 1930’s and 40’s… So I dunno. I guessed C, but they said the correct answer is B… Not sure why.. Wo anyways… I’ll take the hit. Get half credit on this one and the new score is Rabbi Schwartz 10 Ministry of Tourism 5 on this exam so far. Oy….

 

A Scent-imental God- Parshat Korach 5784 -2024

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 6^th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 37 30^th of Sivan 5784

 

Parshat Korach

 A Scent-imental God

 

They were just those little kids play cards strewn on the floor amongst the rubble, broken glass, and burnt walls of what one could see was a beautiful home in Be’eri. They were word cards with picture on them. Perhaps from some Israeli picture word game to teach kids how to read. Right next to it was a broken train set, some dolls with burnt hair and smashed by some fallen bricks and shrapnel. My eyes welled up. Tears started flowing. I looked at the pictures on the wall of the family that once lived here, that were butchered, at the love and the smiles and the life that they permeated and I looked at those cards once again and I picked it up and kissed it and put it in my backpack to put into shaimos. Until October 7^th it may have been just a card game. Today, I felt, this little picture with a choo choo train on it that said rakevet, was like a torn burnt piece of a sefer torah that I needed to bury. That was too holy to leave there in the rubble.

 

I’m a sentimental person, I admit. I keep a lot of chazerai, that my wife would like to throw out. I think most of us are. We attribute feelings and emotions and memories with items from our past. With little souvenirs and chatchkes we’ve picked up from the various places we’ve visited and wandered. There’s a whole industry built on the concept. I’ve got a closet full of shot glasses from every place we’ve visited. Yet there are those that are not so sentimental. They call this stuff garbage and clutter that build up. Who needs chatchkies? We have memories, we have pictures, we’ve had fun. Why hang on to this old stuff? Why would do you treat it with such sanctity? What is it about this item that when you stroke it or fondly take it out, tears and memories well up? Is my wife right? Should I just get rid of it all?

 

Now the truth is there is no right or wrong necessarily to this seemingly ridiculous question. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. And it if it makes me feel good then who cares? The question only has significance when I try to look at it from a Torah perspective. What’s Hashem’s viewpoint about hanging on to seemingly mundane stuff. Does Hashem like chatchkies? Shot glasses? Those little glass snow globes? Or is it all shtusim-silliness; a waste of money and time?

 

Now Yeshivishe people are generally not sentimental. We’re trained pretty much from a young age that it’s all about Torah, Torah and Torah. Chasidim on the other hand are very sentimental. From a very young age they’re trained to fight over some chickpeas from the Rebbe or fruits from his Friday nigh tish. When it comes to memorabilia it’s even more apparent the significance they attribute to simple items. This is the chair that this Rebbe sat in. This is the Tehillim he used. The towel he wiped himself off with when he came out of the Mikva. There’s a whole industry that auctions off all these important holy items to rich chasidim and guys that made money really quick in Lakewood and don’t have anything else to do with it. But stam chatchkies- that haven’t been “rebbe-handled” of our own personal lives and memorabilia from our own past, I don’t even think Chasidim are into. What about Hashem? Is He Chasidish? Litvish? Or sentimental at all?

 

Now of course anytime we try to place human emotions on Hashem, its pretty dumb. Hashem is above all human emotions. He doesn’t have hands, feet. He doesn’t get angry or sad. He’s not even a He or She or gender neutral. He doesn’t have set pronouns. He’s fluid. He’s infinite. He’s God. It’s one of the benefits of being above time, place and this world and all it’s frailties. It’s one of the perks of being the Creator of all of this. Yet, the Torah repeatedly utilizes all of the above emotions and human features in order that we can relate to Hashem. So that we can understand what He wants from us. So that we can experience the goodness He desires and created us to realize. We can’t do that if He’s beyond us. Thus we are meant to understand His ways with the souls and emotions He programmed us and with and utilizing the Torah’s words and teachings to navigate the confusion and mixed emotions and desires we have.

 

So let’s take a look at our parsha, and perhaps a few others while we’re at it. It’s a long Shabbos right? Plenty of time. Well, this week we have the parsha of Korach where we learn about the rebellion of Korach and 250 of the greatest leaders of the nation including according to the Talmud all the princes of each tribe, against Moshe. These great men team up with the two most notorious troublemakers who have been with us since Egypt, Dasan and Aviram, forming a coalition that is only worthy and possible in the Israeli Knesset. They claim that Moshe is guilty of nepotism giving the best jobs to his family members. They claim that the whole nation in holy and don’t need leadership or anything or anyone to connect them to Hashem. They don’t like the fact that he didn’t bring them to Israel and they’re dying here in the wilderness. They’re Jews. They don’t necessarily agree about what they don’t agree about, but one thing is certain. Ata Ha’Rosh Ata Asheim- You’re the head and it’s your fault.

 

Moshe and Aharon fall on their faces. They beg them to relent. They try to show them how misguided they are. How they can’t all gain from this. How they’re threatening everything. But they didn’t want to hear anything. We generally don’t. So Moshe decides to make a test. He could’ve done a lot of things, but fascinatingly enough he decides to utilize a ketores-incense cookoff or smoke-off to be more precise. Everyone brings a pan of ketores, and whoever Hashem doesn’t like He’ll swallow em up in the ground. It’s a strange story, because to be honest, why does he need the ketores at all for this? This is not like Eliyahu and the prophets of the Baal where Hashem sends down a fire and accepts one offering and not the other. Moshe could’ve just as easily left the ketores at home and just asked Hashem to kill whoever He doesn’t want. The point thus must have been to scare them off a bit. To give them pause. To let them back out before it was too late. The best way to do that was with this ketores. For it should’ve awakened memories of the last guys that messed around with it; Nadav and Avihu.

 

It was only 38 years before, according to the Ramban’s chronology of when this story took place, on the day the Mishkan was inaugurated that Nadav and Avihu the sons of Aharon brought a foreign fire with their pans into the Holy and a fire came out and burnt them up. The similarities between the two texts are all over the place. In both stories they bring a “fire before Hashem”. In both stories Moshe and Aharon “fall on their faces”. In both stories “a fire comes out from Hashem and eats them”. They both are trying to be “makriv – come close before Hashem”. Over here Moshe prays to Hashem that he shouldn’t have wrath-‘yiktzof’ on the whole eida- congregation” and the aftermath there is that Aharon is commanded not to mourn during the service lest “al kol ha’eida yiktzof- Hashem has wrath against the entire congregation”.

 

Yet perhaps the most remarkable connection between the two is, fantastically and perplexedly, Nadav and Avihu are called martyrs. They are kedoshim-holy, despite having been killed for sinning, and they are treated as such by being removed respectfully to be buried. As well here the incense pans are considered not just holy, but they are meant to be used as the covering plates of the altar itself. {The Meshech Chochma even notes that this is in fact the source where we learn the entire law of ma’alin ba’kodesh from- that sanctified items can only be elevated to a higher from of sanctity} Talk about sentimental… Don’t just throw them out or bury them somewhere, despite the fact that seemingly they were utilized as vessels of sin in one of the worst incidents of rebellion. Hashem wants them there on his altar to remind us of this story.To remind us that we shouldn’t be like Korach and his congregation that forgot the message of the incense. They were inscence-itive. If we want to fix this problem, then guess what? We need to get a bit scent-imental.

 

The Sefer Nifla’os Mi’Torasecha, by Rav Mordechai Aran, opened up a whole new world for me in an incredible discovery that he made. He notes that there are two places in Tanach where the letters of the name A’ma’le’k in the Torah appear as acronyms of sentences. The first is here in our parsha when Moshe tells the congregation of Korach to take those pans.

 

zos Asu Kach Lachem Machtos- this is what you should do take for yourselves pans.

 

The second place is in the book of Shmuel fascinatingly enough (and I’ll explain why soon- this is getting really cool). It’s right in the beginning when Hashem sends Shmuel to tell Eli the Kohen that basically he’s going to lose the Kohen priesthood because of his children’s bad behavior and abuse of the kehuna for personal gain. He tells them that the priesthood was a special service to be treasured because they were chosen for the special job to do the service of

 

al mizbichi l’haktir ketores- from upon my altar to take the ketores.

 

Why is this so cool? Well first of all, our sages tell us, Shmuel is a descendant of Korach. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why Korach was so determined to fight against Moshe. He saw that his descendant would be Shmuel, who is equal to Moshe and Aharon- as we say every Friday night in Kabalat Shabbos. But perhaps even deeper, we see that Shmuel’s first prophecy was really to tell Eli that he was going to lose the kehuna, because of the corruption of his children. They’re not worthy of the ketores. They forgot, it seems. Perhaps Korach saw in his genes that this was what his family’s mission was supposed to do. To take the kehuna and the ketores, away from the descendants of Aharon who will one day be corrupted.

 

But even more cool, is that Shmuel himself is the one that wipes out Amalek, when Shaul fails to kill the King Agag, the progenitor of Haman, Shmuel steps in and slices and dices him in half. It’s what we’re supposed to do to Amalekites by the way… Interestingly enough right before becoming an Israeli salad Agag calls Shmuel the Angel of death. Isn’t it amazing that the power of the ketores, our sages tell us is the secret how to ward off the Angel of Death? In fact the Midrash tells us that when Moshe received the Torah, each angel gave him a gift and the Angel of Death-which our sages tell us is the same as the angel of Amalek, tells Moshe this secret that ketores is the counter force to him. It’s his Kryptonite. It’s with this knowledge that Aharon in this week’s parsha in the aftermath of the Korach debacle wards off the plague that strikes the nation. Aharon, the Kohen and the power of the ketores are the secret to how we can win Amalek. When Aharon dies, non-coincidentally, the Torah tells us Amalek immediately comes to attack us. They know we lost our secret weapon. As well the name Mordechai who battles Haman and Amalek, the Talmud tells us has a hint to in the Torah from none other of a place then the ketores- mor dror, the spices of the incense.

 

And of course, to put all of the pieces together in one big aromatic pan, our obligation to destroy Amalek is to destroy their memory. It’s not enough to just destroy them, it’s their memory. It’s to forget them. The purpose of Ketores is thus exactly the opposite. It’s to remember us before Hashem. We take those pans and we get scent-imental about them and put them to be the cover on the altar of Hashem. Hashem smells the ketores and He remembers us. Plagues happen, death happens, fires burn people alive, October 7^th and Beeri all happen when Amalek is still around. When the ketores which is supposed to be “ketores rokach- ma’asei roke’ach- blended incense- the work of a master blender, is brought improperly. The word rokach and roke’ach- in case you were wondering… are the same letters of our good friend Korach.

 

What is the ketores? What is it’s secret? Rav Kook notes, as do many others, that the ketores is not just the combination of all the spices and flavors. It’s that precise blend that takes even the foul smelling spices and not only blends it together into the most pleasant aroma by overpowering its bad smell, but it transforms the foulness and makes it smell good. Even more precisely, in his words, the power of the ketores reveals that even the things that may look or smell bad only appear that way to us because of their external hiddenness of the Hashem’s light and holiness. Joined together properly, though, even the most foul smelling chelbana spice precisely united with all of the other spices, become one sweet smelling fragrance before Hashem.

 

The key though is that they need to be joined together in the perfect exact measure. The law of the ketores is that if even one of the spices or measurements is off then you are chayav misa- it brings death. The symbolism and idea being that in order for the true presence and light of Hashem to shine, one has to see everything as having that light and coming from Hashem. The 11 spices correspond to the 10 statements with which Hashem created the world with the 11^th Hashem above them all. The only one that could do that job is the Kohen that doesn’t have any self-interest. The children of Aharon that are filled with divine love for every Jew and see their service and full-time job as elevating the universe and all its aspects, by bringing sacrifices that come from all of the different elements and forms of life and elevating them to Hashem.

 

Nadav and Avihu had this holy desire. It was the day that Hashem’s presence was going to finally rest in this world. Yet, they overstepped Moshe and Aharon. Their fire was foreign. The drive was holy, their act even was holy, yet for the ketores to work, to come out of this experience alive, it needs to be through the power of the love and humility of Moshe and Aharon. Through that selfless dedication and precise command that those master blenders possessed. Korach and the 250 leaders as well, made the same mistake. They claimed to see all of creation as holy. They felt that perhaps they could even uplift Dasan and Aviram. Perhaps, one can even suggest, that they felt that joining together with those two they were uniting the nation and revealing Hashem and blending the aromatic ketores together with “spicy” guys that only were wicked only on the outside. And maybe, Rav Tzadok HaKohein suggests they were even correct in that assumption. It’s why their pans were considered holy, just as Nadav and Avihu are considered holy. Yet, they over skipped Moshe and Aharon. They were missing the most essential ingredient. Their religious zeal for unity that comes from a true desire to reveal Hashem, left out the “chareidim”. And thus it wasn’t complete.

 

There were 250 pans that were brought and not one. Not the One, that will reveal Hashem. As Rashi tells us in the beginning of this saga.

 

Among the nations, there are many forms of worship and many priests, and they do not all gather in one temple. We, however, have only one God, one ark, one Torah, one altar, and one kohen gadol, but you two hundred and fifty men are all seeking the kehunah gedolah! I too would prefer that. Here, take for yourselves the service most dear-it is the incense, more cherished than any other sacrifice, but it contains deadly poison, by which Nadav and Avihu were burnt. Therefore, he warned them, “and it will be the one whom the Lord chooses-he is the holy one“ [meaning,] that he is already in his [state of] holiness. Is it not obvious that [the one] who is chosen is the holy one? Rather, Moses told them, “I am telling you this so that you should not be found guilty. For the one He chooses will survive, and the rest of you will perish.

 

We’re not like the goyim. Judaism isn’t a melting pot of all types and religions. It’s a revelation of the oneness that is in all of us. That can only come through one person, not 250. Only through “the one chosen by the One”.

 

They forgot this and thus Hashem was not complete. His throne is not complete. And that is when Amalek, which is the power to remove that unity from being revealed, attacks, brings plague and brings death and fire. They hit the weak. They hit the ones behind. They hit fake unity that is missing the some of the spices. Unity that bashes Moshe and Aharon, that is only there to usurp and not to reveal. They thrive and are like flies to the rot of  that flesh. The Baal Haturim even notes that the words to remember Amalek in the Torah

 

“zikaron va’sefer ve’sim ba’aznei- a remembrance in the book and place in their ears”

is an acronym for zevuv- a fly. Flies are drawn to flesh without life. To corpses. To death. Amalek is the Angel of Death and is this antithesis to the ketores, because it hovers around and says that there is no life in this one. There is no spark of Hashem in them. There’s nothing to be revealed. And thus the ketores can’t be complete. It’s missing and holy fire wreaks havoc and comes out from the holy to destroy and forge us all together. To give us something to remember and could never forget.

 

Amalek and our enemies try to make us forget the miracles Hashem preformed from us. To cool us off. To remove the fire from those pans that want to forge and unite us into one. To make us un-scent-sitive. Incense-less. And so Hashem tells us to take those pans of incense and remember them. Remember that we need to unite. Remember that “uniting” means all of us, through Moshe and Aharon and through the Torah. Through finding and seeing the light in each of us and understanding that without even one spice the ketores is death. That for the redemption and for Hashem to be revealed we need to get scentimental. We need to see the holy spark in everything in Creation. In the burnt pans, the burnt cars, the burnt little choo choo train cards that are attached to the altars where Hashem took his sacrifices from us on the day that Amalek came to destroy our nation from Gaza.

 

We enter the month of Tamuz this Shabbos. Until this year this was a month that always brought in the fast day of the 17^th of Tamuz. Yet the prophet tells us that in the Messianic era that fast day that mourns the siege of Jerusalem and the beginning of the destruction will become a holiday that celebrates our redemption. May this year be that year that was prophesized and that we have waited for so long. We’ve been sieged too long. We’re all mourning and longing. We’re together. Our Mizbayachs are covered in ketores pans of the so many kedoshim that we have lost. Its time for the Angel of Death to finally be destroyed and slaughtered and for Hashem’s throne to finally rest and be complete.

 

 Have an aromatic Shabbos and Chodesh Tamuz tov,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Fun shikker and fun shenker shtinkt mil bronfen..”.- The drunkard and the bartender both smell of whisky.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

12.The wave of immigration (Aliyah) to the Land of Israel, that began following

the rise of the Nazis to power, is called

What is the estimated number of Jews and Arabs, who lived in the Land of

Israel, when the War of Independence began?

A. Around 600,000 Jews and 200,000 Arabs.

B. Around 400,000 Jews and one million Arabs.

C. Around 600,000 Jews and 1.3 million Arabs.

D. Around 400,000 Jews and 400,000 Arabs.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW_sZXoABqI  – Rak B’Yachad- an amazing song by the one and only Shai Graucher’s chesed/chizuk organization sung by Ari Hill and the orphans of this war. Uniting us all together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLIitRRHt0w  - Avraham Fried’s great Hebrew hits with Dadya, Daskal and Benny Friedman!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tA0wh9pj9Y  – Really amazing video of Chabad and Chevron with Avraham Fried

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBh8QgzMGI0   - What a special meaningful and heartwrenching song by Aharon Razel in memory of his friend Tzvika Lavi a special holy soldier that was killed in Gaza- Kazeh Ha’yitah

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

Impossible Prayers- There are things that it almost seems impossible to daven for. It’s easy to daven for parnassa, for health, for redemption, for wisdom and for teshuva. All of the basic things that we daven for each day in our Shemona Esrei. It’s one of the most essential aspects of being Jewish and observant is that we begin and end our day and even pause in the middle to recognize that everything comes from Hashem and we need to ask Him for His help. Yet there are some things that seem almost impossible to ask Hashem for. Things that seem to be miraculous. For example, I meet with many of the families of the hostages, and although many of them seem to think its unlikely that they may see their child again, that even if they do get them returned that they can be in one piece both mentally and physically, yet they still daven for that. But it’s a hard prayer. They know they are asking Hashem for a miracle. And miracles don’t seem to be easy to ask for.

As well there are others as well that are in that position, people with severe medical conditions that doctors determined are terminal and statistically unlikely that a recovery will take place. Others that perhaps have been diagnosed that they will never be able to have children, some that feel that it is unlikely that they can find happiness, can get married that can win in court. The cards are against you in the natural statistical world. Yet, Torah Jews believe that prayer always has the power to change things. In this week’s Torah portion we find this in two different places, both in the unlikely negative, which of course teaches us the positive.

The first is that we find that Moshe Rabbeinu turns to Hashem and asks Him not to turn to the prayer and incense of Korach and his clan. Moshe seems to be very concerned that this is a very real possibility bizzarely enough. He tells Hashem that he never sinned, that he never took anything from the people, that he’s only acting for Hashem’s honor. You only play all of those cards when you’re nervous that there’s a real threat that Korach’s prayer would win. Why would he be scared of this? After-all isn’t it obvious that he’s correct and that Korach is truly an evil corrupt person that is challenging the foundations of all of Judaism and the Torah being passed down correctly through Moshe?

The second place where we find this idea is in Moshe’s prayer to Hashem that He create something new that has never been before created. That Hashem have the ground open it’s mouth up and swallow them alive. That seems pretty bold. Moshe could’ve just easily had asked that Hashem kill them or prove them wrong. Yet, here Moshe pushes the limits. He asks for the impossible. He asks for a miracle to happen that is above nature. How  and why could and would he do that?

Rebe Simcha Bunim of Peshisch learns an important lesson from here. He suggests that it is precisely from Moshe that Eliyahu Ha’Navi learns that he has the power through prayer to bring the revival of the dead child of the tzorfati woman, whom he resurrects. For if Moshe Rabbeinu can ask Hashem for an extraordinary death and to change the ways of nature and the world, then we have a rule that the mida tova is meruba mi’mida perunos- that Hashem always behaves in a far greater way with his good attributes than those of retribution. If Hashem could kill extraordinarily and listens to prayers and changes nature to take away life, then He certainly will answer prayers to restore and resurrect life.

It is for that reason as well, why Moshe is so concerned with Hashem accepting Korach’s prayers. For even though Korach is a hundred percent wrong, and even though if Hashem listens to his prayers it might even destroy the entire foundation of Judaism, cause a tremendous chilul Hashem and  upset the entire balance of the universe. Yet, a heartfelt prayer by Korach could accomplish that. Hashem can’t say no. He may listen and answer those prayers, despite the severe consequences and fall out. Moshe understood how powerful prayer is and thus he was concerned. He therefore went the other way and asked for an extraordinary end to Korach so that we will know and understand how powerful tefilla is. Nothing is impossible before Hashem. There’s nothing that tefilla can’t accomplish. We should never give hope. We need to just up our ante and offer the tefillos that pierce the heavens and IYH all of our tefillos will be answered.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

701 BC-The Miraculous Night– 185,000 soldiers stood outside of the gates of Yerushalayim that Seder Night. The army of Sancherev had destroyed and exiled the ten tribes and most of Israel. We were a divided nation. Shevna even led a group to capitulate and offer “peace at any price”. Yet the prophet Yeshaya had promised Chizkiya that there would be a miracle. There’s a fascinating Midrash that tells us that four kings asked for Hashem to help them and were answered. Dovid told Hashem that he has no strength to fight the enemies and Hashem Helped him win. Asa said he didn’t even have strength to fight he could merely pursue them and Hashem should kill them and he was answered as well. Yehoshafat told Hashem that he couldn’t even pursue them. All he could do was sing praises for Hashem if he wins. And sure enough Hashem Wiped out Amon Moav and Edom on his behalf. Chizkiya though said that he doesn’t even have strength to sing. All he could do was go to sleep. And sure enough that’s exactly what happened.

 

In fact it wasn’t only Chizkiyah it was all of Jerusalem that night. They went to their seder they sang Vehi She’amda- that Hashem stood up against our enemies of all generations should Stand up again for us. They opened the door for Eliyahu Ha’Navi. They drank four cups, they ate matza, they remembered the miracles and then they went to sleep. The next morning it was all over. An angel came and smote them all. According to some Midrash, they were burnt up and souls left them while their bodies remained complete. Others say that they heard the angels singing that night in heaven and their souls left their bodies. Others say that the plagues of Egypt were all rained down upon them. It wasn’t only the devastating loss, but just like in Egypt the Jews got to keep all of the booty left behind. Sancherev fled with his head hanging low and ran back to his palace in Ninveh. There he was scorned by everyone and was ultimately killed by his own two sons, who he had thought about offering to his idolatry (according to one Midrash a plank from the ark of Noach) as a sacrifice.

 

This was a miracle that we recall by our Seder each year in the piyyut of Vayehi Bachatzi Halayla. Our sages tell us that the miracle and redemption was so great that Chizkiya could’ve even been Mashiach. It could’ve all been over. Yet, they sinned and didn’t merit because they didn’t sing Shira. They didn’t sing songs of praise to Hashem. They saw it as a great victory, a great miracle even perhaps, but they didn’t realize that it was history changing. That the victory had the potential to bring in and herald in a New world era. And thus we lost the moment.

 

 To a large degree it reminds me of the 6-Day-War. We were so close. Har Ha’Bayis was in our hands. And we lost it. We’re almost at that point again. We certainly are like Chizkiya who can’t even fight, cant chase or puruse and perhaps we can’t even sing or even sleep in our beds. We need the redemption now. Hashem please. Help us sleep, help us sing, help us win. Bring that day.

  

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S SMELL JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

A drunk man who smelled like beer sat down on a subway seat next to a priest. The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading.

After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, "Say, Father, what causes arthritis?"

"My Son, it's caused by loose living, too much alcohol, and a contempt for your fellow man."

"Well, I'll be," the drunk muttered, returning to his paper.

The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"

"I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does".

 

New Teslas don't come with a new car smell. They come with an Elon Musk.

 

My wife said she could smell an Indian flatbread from a mile away. I said that was naan scents.

 

What tastes better than it smells? Your tongue.

 

4 million of these people enter our country every year. They are uneducated, unskilled, and contribute nothing. They are a burden to honest, hardworking Americans and our government is doing nothing to stop them, not to mention they're dirty and they smell bad. THEY DON'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH!! Man, I hate babies.

 

What would happen if skunks lost their smell? They'd become ex-stinked.

 

My toenails turned green, shrank, and started smelling like mint. My doctor says I have a rare condition called Tic Tac Toes.

 

Home Covid Test.

1: Open a can of beer and try to smell it.

2: If you can smell the beer, drink it to see if you can taste it.

3: If you can taste it and smell it, this confirms you don't have Covid.

Last night, I did the test 15 times and all were negative. Tonight I am going to do the test again because this morning I woke up with a headache and feeling like I am coming down with something. I am so nervous.

 

This blonde decides one day that she is sick and tired of all these blonde jokes and how all blondes are perceived as stupid, so she decides to show her husband that blondes really are smart.

While her husband is off at work, she decides that she is going to paint a couple of rooms in the house. The next day, right after her husband leaves for work, she gets down to the task at hand. Her husband arrives home at 5:30 and smells the distinctive smell of paint. He walks into the living room and finds his wife lying on the floor in a pool of sweat. He notices that she is wearing a ski jacket and a fur coat at the same time.He goes over and asks her if she is OK.

She replies yes.

He asks what she is doing. She replies that she wanted to prove to him that not all blonde women are dumb and she wanted to do it by painting the house.

He then asks her why she has a ski jacket over her fur coat.

She replies that she was reading the directions on the paint can and they said...

FOR BEST RESULTS, PUT ON TWO COATS.

 

So I replaced all of the incense in the Friar's chamber with Marijuana. He's a High priest now

 

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 The answer to this week”s question is C– This is getting annoying already, this half right half wrong thing I’m in. This one I got the first one wrong when I went with the 3^rd Aliyah, and I was off by two. The Nazi ascension aliya or the Yekki Aliyah was the 5^th of Aliya. The third it seems was the Polish one after WW I but before the Nazis YM”Sh. At least I got the second part correct with the right answer being C the 600,000 Jews- the same number as when we left Mitzrayim and 1.3 million arabs we were outnumbered 2 to one in Israel besides the other arab armies from around that joined the fight to destroy us. Miracles of Miracles! May we see more of them. And so my score is now Rabbi Schwartz 7.5 and Ministry of Tourism 4.5 on this exam so far.