Rachmonus Oif Unz- Parshat Lech Lecha 2018 /5779

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

October 19^th 2018 -Volume 9 Issue 3 10^th Cheshvan 5779

Parshat Lech Lecha

Rachmonus Oif Unz

It was right after the 6 Day War in 1967. The country was on a high. The 19-year-old State of Israel had just gone from prayers, tears and the terror of what all assumed would be the end of the young state to quadrupling its size and destroying the three major countries who had the full military support of Russia behind them. Pre-war estimates were that there would be at least 10,000 people that would be killed in the best case scenario. Parks in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were turned into cemeteries and coffins lined the streets in Meah Shearim in preparation for the mass funerals that would follow. But the unexpected happened. We won. The Kotel, Jerusalem was in independent Jewish hands for the first time in 2000 years. The West Bank, Chevron the Golan Heights all of the lands of our ancestors had been miraculously returned to us. Our fledgling army of about 50,000 soldiers plus our reserves wiped out the trained 4 armies of over a half a million.

Turns out our estimates for casualties were about as precise as American election pollsters as well. Less than 800 soldiers died in battle as opposed to the 10,000 minimal that were direly predicted. I guess the military commanders forgot to take God into account. There’s a reason they don’t teach Israeli wars in military academies. That Sukkos the residents of Jerusalem made their Sukkahs out of the coffins that were prepared for them. They knew they were in the shade and protection of Hashem and what better way to express that. Yes, it was perhaps one of the highest and most miraculous moments of our modern times.

Yet, one can always count on a good Rabbi to put a damper on things and to give the so-needed necessary reality check. The story goes- that’s what we tour guides always say when we are not sure about a particular story, so we can’t be blamed for it afterwards, if another tour guide made it up- about Rabbi Aryeh Levine, the tzadik of Jerusalem who met the prime minister, Levi Eshkol, after the war. {Truth is the story is brought down in that classic pre- Artscroll first Gadol book A Tzadik in our Time}. The PM asked Reb Aryeh what he thought about this incredible victory and the incredible miracles that took place in this battle. Although not a religious person, for at least 5 minutes after the war there was no one that could deny the incredible revealed hand of God in achieving this victory.

The Tzadik of Jerusalem whose heart and soul was only and always concerned for the Jewish people and the holy soldiers of its army told the Prime Minister

“The aibeshter zohl hubben racmonus oif unz- God should have mercy upon us.”

A bit taken aback the Prime Minister asked Rabbi Aryeh why he was so concerned. After-all we had just wiped out all our enemies. In fact, there was such fear and awe of the Israeli army and the Jewish people that when two chasidim were walking down the street, the Arabs would cross the street to avoid them out of fear. If an Israeli soldier got a bus the Arabs would get up and give him their seat. So why was the Rabbi so dour.

Reb Aryeh responded with an incredible teaching from this week’s Torah portion. In the Parsha this week the Torah tells us about the first World War. It was four Kings against five and the four decimated the five and as usual we Jews got schlepped into the whole thing when the nephew of our Patriarch Avraham, Lot, got taken captive. Avraham goes out to battle with the first Jewish army ever 318 of them (or according to our sages just him and his servant Eliezer whose name in Gematria/numerology equals 318) takes down all of these armies. Right after this huge battle, Hashem appears to Avraham in a vision in the night and tells him

Bereshit (15:1) Al tira Avraham anochi magen lach- Fear not Avraham I will protect you

Now why should Avraham be frightened? So much so, in fact, that Hashem had to appear to him and reassure him that he will continue to protect and defend him. The answer, Reb Aryeh said, was that Avraham knew that the enemy would never a Jew stay with such a victory. They would be back. It is against the nature of the world to allow the Jew to remain on top. At least until the time is right…

Reb Aryeh’s words unfortunately came to fruition. After the 6 Day War the Jewish State and its soldiers were the rock stars of the world. The cover of Life and Time magazine. Movies were made and we were the most macho people around. It was cool to be Jewish and Israeli. But before you could even sing Hava Nagila it was over. The UN condemned Israel as aggressors and “Occupiers”. Our neighbors got together and passed resolutions to never recognize us and promised to come back again and push us into the sea. The PLO started its terror attacks not just in Israel but on Jews around the world. And a few years later we were once again at war in the devastating Yom Kippur war attack.

It's been over 50 years and almost 10 wars since that prediction of Rabbi Levine and over 3 millennia since Hashem’s reassurance to Avraham. We’re still at war and yet we are still around. Hashem is still watching over us and defending us. We have still not yet arrived at the time when swords will be turned into plowshares and the world will finally join us in bringing in the era of world peace where the glory of Hashem will reign. It’s been this way since the beginning and perhaps one of the most important things to remember is that we have not yet arrived and shouldn’t have any illusions about where we stand. False illusions of having “made it” stand in the way of us achieving and bringing in the era that we have long been waiting for. In fact that is the way the entire story of Avraham and this war really begins.

To understand history, we have to go back to its roots. Where did the conflict begin? How did it spiral into a World War and how were we schlepped into it? The Torah, fortunately tell us. It is up to us however to read it carefully and appreciate the eternal lessons it is teaching us. The Torah tells us that after Avraham and Lot come back to Israel from their short, eventful, sojourn in Egypt during the famine that was in Israel, they settled the land and there was a fight between the shepherds of Lot and Avraham. What was the fight about? It doesn’t say. Or does it?

Bereshis (13:7) And there was quarrelling between the shepherds of flocks of Avraham and the shepherds of Lot’s flock and the Canaani and Perizi were then dwelling in the land.

So what was the fight about? Well Rashi quotes the Midrash that seemingly the fact the Torah adds in here rather randomly that the Canaani and the Perizi were living in the land obviously was the source of their dispute.

Rashi (ibid) Since Lot’s herdsmen were wicked, and they pastured their animals in fields belonging to others, Abram’s herdsmen rebuked them for committing robbery, but they responded, “The land was given to Abram, who has no heir; so Lot will inherit him, and therefore this is not robbery.” But Scripture states: “And the Canaanites and the Perizzites were then dwelling in the land,” and Abram had not yet been awarded its possession.

And there you have it. Lot’s shepherds were a bunch of crooks and hoodlums and Avraham’s shepherds were rebuking them. At least that’s the way I learned it when I was a kid. This year though I saw a different, perhaps more relevant idea. Who knows, maybe even a controversial political one. See Lot wasn’t a crook or criminal. He was Avraham’s right hand man. He was the only one that has been with him and Sarah this whole journey. From Ur Kasdim, Charan, to Israel down to Egypt and back again. Lot doesn’t leave Avraham’s side. He risks his life to save the angels of Sodom. And his shepherds are petty criminals?! Let’s try to see things from their perspective. Maybe they weren’t that far off.

What was their rationale? So Rashi tells us that the land was given to Avraham. Hashem told Avraham to go down to Canaan and upon his arrival Hashem tells him “Guess what? Your descendants will inherit this land”. Truth is the Torah tells in the verse right before this promise, that this land was in fact originally in the portion of Shem and the Canaani had just come there and conquered it recently. The Torah even uses the same word V’Hacanani az ba’aretz there as it does by the fight of Lot’ shepherds.

 That was what the fight was about. Lot’s shepherds made a claim perhaps like this. Hashem gave us the land. Who are these Canaani Palestinians anyways? They weren’t here before. This was originally our land. They have no right to be here. We are liberating it from them.  Hashem has miraculously brought us here. He has made us flourish. Look how many sheep we have. Check out all our crops, our technology, our startups, our yeshivas and our falafel stores. We are home. It is time for them to go. Avraham has no heirs. The time for Lot has arrived. Mashiach is within us. And you know what? They were certainly right about that last point.

See we are told Mashiach in fact comes from Lot, from his grandson Moav. From Ruth. From David. The Beit Hamikdash, Jerusalem is all within Lot just bursting to shine forth. But you know what? It wasn’t yet time. The work of uplifting the world, of serving Hashem on a personal level and a familial level was here. But we were not yet granted the land. We had no right to raise one hand against the “occupiers”, unless of course it is self-defense. As when Avraham goes to rescue Lot and will fight the world for him. At the same time, he won’t let his sheep take a blade of grass that is not his. For Mashiach is not here yet, and until that time when Avrahams’ descendants will enter the land and be commanded to conquer it we are meant to respect and live with those that are occupying it. We have a mitzvah to live here, but not to conquer it. That will only come later.

Perhaps one of the most ironic things about us a nation is that when we were actually commanded to conquer the land and wipe out all of the nations that were there in order to settle it. We failed. We stopped short. Hashem warned us that if we allowed them to remain they would be thorns in our side and they were. When we’re not supposed to conquer it we try to and when we were supposed to we didn’t. Oy…god bless the Jewish people… the aibeshter zohl hubben rachmonus oif unz…

There is certainly no commandment to conquer the land and throw out the nations that live here today. Despite the miraculous Jewish sovereignty that Hashem has granted us once again after 2000 years in Eretz Yisrael, the “Canaani and Perizi” still live in our land. We daven every day.for Mashiach to come and for that shofar to blast. We get a mitzvah for living here and settling the land. It’s the only place in the world that every time you take a walk around the block you fulfil the will of Hashem of showing that we are living here and not anywhere else because we are believers in the Torah, believers in the covenant He made with our grandfather that it would be ours. We have to defend ourselves to the upmost even if it is only one Jew that is in danger and even if the entire world is against us and will condemn us. But we still have no right to take even one blade of grass that hasn’t been rightfully acquired. It’s Achmeds, It’s Abduls. It’s not yet Avraham’s.  The aibeshter has rachmonus oif unz. Hashem is watching over us and bringing us closer and closer to that day he promised our grandfather. This land will be ours in its entirety. Are we ready to shine that light out, that we are meant to when we get it? That’s what we’re supposed to be preparing for. It’s why he has rachmonis on us. Maybe it’s time we started having a bit of rachmonis for Him as well.

Have a spectacular Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Fun rachmones un fun pachdones ken men zikh nit oishailen.”- For compassion and for cowardice there is no remedy.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q One of the following roads was not an international road:
A) King’s Highway (Derekh HaMelekh)
B) Route of the Patriarchs (Derekh HaAvot)
C) The Coastal Route (Derekh HaYam)
D) The Mail Route (Darb-el-Barid/Derekh HaDoar)

RABBI SCHWARTZES COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/k67yR0hsiwo  - Adorable version in honor of Rachel Imeinu’s Yartzeit- Mama Rachel

https://youtu.be/E_hzOuAK5gY- Great New Shwekey video Yishtabach Shemo!

https://youtu.be/K0C2BeatCqs- One of the strangest shnorr videos I have ever seen….

https://youtu.be/-6hnYAEUV2M– Loving this holy song Nafshi Chamda Yishai Ribo and Motty Shteimetz

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS” CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat Lech Lecha – So this week we are introduced the father of the Jewish people our first Patriarch, Avraham Avinu. Now I’m sure this might seem like a funny question but put on your lomdishe hats for it and enter the Yeshiva world. Deep breath… thumb ready to twirl in the air. OK here we go. Was Avraham or for that matter all of our Patriarchs Jewish. Now all though I assume many of you would have in the past assumed that they were, the truth is there really was no such thing as being Jewish until after we received the Torah as a nation on Mt. Sinai a few hundred years after Avraham. So what status did our forefathers have prior to the giving of the Torah were they considered pre-Jew Jews, or maybe they were just Noachides.

Now no lomdusheh question is real without what the Talmud would call is a nafka mina- or difference between the two sides of the dilemma. So the difference would seemingly come in the observance of the commandments which are sages certainly find hints to in the text in all of our forefathers. Now obviously they were not commanded to fulfill the commandments, however our sages tell us that they were able to look at Creation and divine the will of Hashem and figure out the mitzvos and they observed them. The problem however becomes when it comes to Shabbos.

See a non- Jew or a Noachide are prohibited from observing the Shabbat. In fact the Talmud seems to suggest that they would be liable for a divine death penalty for observing it. So here we go. If the Patriarchs were Jewish then they could observe the Shabbat. If not how could they observe it? Seemingly they would be prohibited from observing it as Noachides.

Lest you think this is a theoretical question the Binyan Tziyon discusses a case of a baby that is found in a city that is half Jewish and half non-Jewish. So his Jewish status is in question and we give the stringencies of both… at least until he underwent a conversion. In a more practical and modern question what is done in a case today when someone has a conversion that is questionable or in doubt. Can he observe the Shabbat or not?

So the Cheshek Shlomo gives a brilliant answer, he suggests that what the Patriarchs did is wear tzitzit on Shabbos. See one is prohibited from wearing extraneous things attached to ones clothing on Shabbos when you go outside as it would violate the prohibition of carrying in a public domain- without the benefit of an Eruv of course. {This is a practical issue by the way when it comes to cleaners tags and possibly spare buttons attached to your clothing…consult your own Rabbi about that}. Now if they were Jewish they need to wear the tzitzit strings on their four cornered garments and therefore it would not be considered carrying, as they are part of their clothing. On the other hand, if they were not Jewish then the wearing of those strings would be extraneous and they would have violated Shabbat as every good gentile should.

And there you have it a lomdishe question, a lomdishe answer and perhaps an even practical nafka mina- another new term to use in your lomdus lexicon.

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

Bilam, donkeys and curses- 1272 BC – The famous story of Bilam and his famous donkey that were hired by Balak king of Moav to curse the Jews is one of the most memorable from the Torah. Who can forget the donkey that opens up his mouth to speak and attempts to warn Bilam of the impending doom he is facing if he continues on his path to kill the Jews. The donkey crashes into the walls and the hedges to try and prevent and Bilam engages him in conversation even until he sees an angel with a sword warning him away. Bilam continues to try to curse the people but all that comes out his mouth are blessings. It’s a great story, unique in that it is the only one in the Torah were there was no Jewish corroboration. Moses wasn’t there, the Jewish people weren’t there. It was just Bilam and his mule and Hashem. This story is really all Hashem’s revelation to us so its definitely one that I want to share with my tourists.

The question is where and how? Well certainly when we are down in Eilat we can stand on top of  Mt. Tzefachot and we can look into Saudi Arabia as well as Jordan, I point out to my tourists that we are looking at the route that Bilam took from Midyan which is in Saudi Arabia and Jordan which is of course Moab. As well from that point you can look out to the south and note that general direction were the hills of Edom and Amalek as well that Bilam curses. In the North by the Golan Heights you can point out Assyria in the general direction of Lebanon and Syria whom he curses as well. As well there are a few places I like to take people donkey riding, one is in the Judean Desert near St. Georges monastery there are usually some Bedouin guys that offer donkey rides to the lookout there. As well and perhaps more fun is in Kfar Kedem in Hoshaya. There they actually give you donkey licenses at the end of your tour and ride there which always fun since you are dressed up in Biblical garb as well for the trip.   

Finally I like to focus on the particular blessing that Bilam gave the Jewish people that we actually recite each day when we come into our synagogues. Ma tovu ohalecha Yaakov miskinosecha yisrael- how wonderous are your tents Jacob, the dwelling places of Israel. The Talmud tells us how he noticed how the entrance to the tents are not facing each other so that Jews don’t see into their neighbors tents and he marvelled at the sensitivity we had to modesty and respect of each others privacy. I mention this when we drive through the Jerusalem through the Ramot Polin neighborhood which has these egg box shaped houses, or beehives that were built so that the windows don’t face each other. Each as well has its own porch under the sky so as to make it Sukkah buildable. These strangely built buildings were actually noted as one of the worlds strangest buildings by travel and leisure magazine check it out. https://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-strangest-buildings#4

They don’t exactly say the blessing of Bilam but it is still pretty cool.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PRAYER JOKES  OF THE WEEK

One day, Chaim, Berel and Shmerel were hiking in a wilderness area when they came upon a large, raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so. 

Chaim prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength to cross this river." 

 Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across the river in about two hours, although he almost drowned a couple of times.

 Seeing this, Berle prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools to cross this river."  Poof! God gave him a rowboat and he was able to row across the river in about an hour, after almost capsizing the boat a couple of times. 

Shmerel had seen how this worked out for the other two, so he also prayed to God saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools, and the intelligence, to cross this river." 

 Poof! God turned him into a woman. She looked at the map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, then walked across the bridge.

(hope that makes up for last weeks joke- I try to be an equal opportunity offender)

Berel needed some supplies from the office cupboard that was seldom used and was secured with a lock. He didn't know the combination, so he walked into Rabbi Greenbergs office and asked him to try. The Rabbi walked over to the cupboard a placed his fingers on the lock's dial and raised his eyes heavenward for a moment. Then he confidently spun the dial and opened the lock. Seeing how impressed Berel was with this demonstration of what seemed like prayer, Rabbi Greenberg smiled and confided, "The numbers are written on the ceiling." 

Two young boys were spending the night at their Bubby and Zaidies house. At bedtime, the two boys said shema and then started to daven when the youngest one began praying at the top of his lungs, "I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE. I PRAY FOR A NEW IPHONE. I PRAY FOR A NEW TABLET

His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf."

To which the little brother replied, "No, but Bubby is!"

Prayer for Seniors

God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
The good fortune to run into the ones that I do,
And the eyesight to tell the difference.

A family was having guests to dinner. At the table, the mother turned to her six-year-old daughter and says, "Dear, would you like to say the blessing?"

"I wouldn't know what to say," replies the little girl.

"Just say what you hear Mommy say, sweetie."

Her daughter takes a deep breath, bows her head, and solemnly says, "Dear Lord, why the helck did I invite all these people to dinner?"

With all the instant messaging and texting lingo going around - with abbreviations like "LOL" and "OMG" and "BTW" - I asked a young lady named Kaila if she would be going to shul this Shabbat, and she replied to me "JFK."

"JFK? What does that mean?", I asked.

Kaila answered politely, "Just for Kiddush."

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

Answer is B–  This was another easy one. You can just tell from the name Derech Havot- the pathway of our forefathers that is a Jewish national road and not an international one. It is actually also called the derech hahar- the mountain road as it travels along the central mountain plain of Israel from the Chevron hills through Jerusalem up through Shechem and the West Bank which this question assumes rightfully so is part of Israel, although before 1967 this would have also been international as it went through the West Bank which was Jordan. The other roads Derech Hamelech is all through the Levant Egypt up the coastline and across the Jezreel valley to Jordan and Syria. The Sea route as well went from Egypt up through Lebanon to Turkey and the mail route of the Mamaluks also from Egypt through Lebanon and Damascus. so keeping score still I’m 3 for 3. Let’s keep the streak going.

Moments- Metzora/HaGadol 5776/2016

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

April 7^th 2016 -Volume 6, Issue 28 7^th Nisan 5776

Parshat Metzora/HaGadol

Moments

There are moments which mark your life. Moments when you realize nothing will ever be the same and time is divided into two parts, before this, and after this. It was the quote I was looking for and it best described my feelings. I’m not familiar with the slimy horror movie that google popped out when I searched for the quote, but hey our sages tell us that we have to learn from everyone and everything. So there you are.

I was looking for that quote to try to best describe my feelings about the wedding of our daughter last week to my son-in-law ‘Yankeleh’. I was reminiscing to him about my wedding. The excitement, the euphoria, the ecstasy and the pure jubilation of that moment. Five minutes before the chupa I was single, I was carefree, I didn’t have a worry or a responsibility in the world. I barely knew what those words meant. I could go where I want, when I wanted and didn’t have to explain myself to anyone-although it did upset quite a few of my Rabbis. Even better than that, I did not have to go where I didn’t want, or do what I didn’t want. I was free. I was single. It was all pretty much about me. And then 5 minutes later, it all changed.  My life was now meant to revolve around someone else. I had to tell her where I was going, when I was coming, what I had been up to and what ‘our’ ‘plans’ were going to be. I didn’t know what a plan was. I thought it was something you put on your windowsill and let the sunshine in on it and watered it every so often-which I usually forgot to do. I became a Ba’al HaBOSS. She was the Boss I was the Ba’al and not in the ancient idolatrous sense of the word either. In one moment my life had changed.

The truth is I could say that in that one moment, my life really began as well. Our sages tell us that under the chupa all the past misdeeds can be forgiven and atoned for. It’s a fresh new start. It’s not just a nice idea-that is incidentally derived from the name of the wife of Esau, who certainly could’ve used a fresh start. It’s real. It makes sense. It’s the moment of newness when you can redefine or as in my case really begin to define and find yourself. The past is before this. The future is whatever you make afterwards.

There are a few of those moments in life. The moment I found out my wife was pregnant. Wow, that really hit home. There’s gonna be a family now. This is for real. It’s not just the two of us anymore. There will be generations of little Schwartzlings running around. I was becoming a father. My father is a father. I was just me. OK, I was married me, but still a little bit like the old me. Certainly not the father type. It was one of those moments once again. Everything changed. Everything was new. When my son was born, it happened again. This time I was a father of a boy. I did the Bris myself, so I was pretty sure of that. When he became Bar Mitzva. When we moved to Israel. And last week… Walking my daughter down the aisle and handing her off to her Chatan…my son-in-law. That little cradle snatching son of a gun…Just joking. I love him. I looked into his young innocent eyes and realized that the two of us were sharing that moment. The past was now gone there was only a bright new and very different tomorrow before us.

This week’s Torah portion is about leprosy. While not really leprosy as this is a spiritual ailment that is reflected in blemishes on the body as a result of the spiritual anti-social behavior of the afflicted. But regardless it’s not the greatest Parsha or the most exciting Parsha to have a week after the wedding. Or a week before Passover as well. The truth is however the portion is really more about the purity of the Metzora, rather than his impurity. It’s about him-or her, starting fresh again. Starting a new and different life. It is about creating a moment, when there really isn’t any special moment. It all started as just a regular mindless day.

Who is our Metzora? According to our sages he is someone that talks a real a lot about other people. A gossip. He also alternatively might be someone that walks around all the time thinking the world revolves around him-or her. What our sages called a ‘gahs ruach’ A bloated spirit. Someone who’s full of hot air. Know anyone like that? Married to anyone like that? How about any Rabbis that write weekly E-Mails. Life could go on for this young man forever. But Hashem, our loving father, has decided to give him a moment. Yes, one of those moments. His life changes. He becomes afflicted. He gets thrown out of the camp ultimately. He loses his friends, his community everyone pretty much besides the loving Kohen that comes to visit him and help him back again.

That week is his moment. The process of purification is incredible. He goes to the Mikva, he shaves off all his hair and ultimately he brings his sacrifices. Rich, poor, each with their own offering, yet both will undergo the process of watching the birds and sheep slaughtered, having the blood sprinkled upon them; on their ears, their hands their toes and then they are atoned. Then they are new. They are no longer the same person. A new moment has begun and with it a brand new future. Who would’ve thought speaking a little bit of gossip around the water cooler could lead to a life-transforming opportunity.

The truth is all of the sacrifices that we focus on this book of Vayikra-Leviticus are precisely about that. There is nothing in life that could not and should not be a moment. Every sin, every mistake we make, every time we create unintentionally a barrier of impurity between us and our Creator has a sacrifice process so that it becomes a meaningful experience. A lesson that can raise us up. We go to the Temple, we see the glory, we stand in awe, we hear the music of the Levites and experience the warmth and love of the Kohanim. It becomes transformative. The opposite is true as well, anytime something fantastic happens, we want to bring a thanksgiving offering, we want to bring peace offerings when we want to reconnect. Moe than 1/5^th of the Torah is full of all of these different sacrifices, because the Torah and Judaism and ultimately our all-knowing Father in heaven knows that without them, we wouldn’t have these moments. We would just shrug it off and keep on going. And how tragic would that be. How tragic is it that to a large degree that is what happens to us now that we don’t have that Temple anymore.

This Shabbat, the one before Pesach is called Shabbat Ha’Gadol. It was the Shabbat before we left Egypt. The Shabbat when we truly had our first moment as a nation. Our sages tell us that being that the Jews left Egypt on Thursday, The Shabbat before is when we took our lamb, the idolatry of the Egyptians, the idolatry that we had been so mind-numbingly following and prepared it to be our first sacrifice. We put the blood on the door post and we were leaving Egypt behind. It was like our chupa. 210 years of assimilation, disconnect and same old same old get up in the morning make bricks, build a pyramid or two and get a few lashes on our back and hit the sack and start again, was all going to be over. The moment, our first moment was here. It is called Shabbat Ha’Gadol- because in truth it is the greatest Shabbat of the year, because we realized and tapped into that basic fundamental concept that life always has moments. Each Shabbat is a moment when we leave the week behind. When we turn it all off. When we start fresh again. Shabbat is great. And being that it is our gift, our treasure, then we are possessors of that greatness. We are the ones that can bring the world to that ultimate time. To that ultimate moment, when all of the past is the past and the future will be more glorious then we can ever imagine.

So there I was. Musing to my son-in-law about marriage, about life, about moments, and before you know it. I was imagining that great moment. I became and still feel quite excited about how all of it will change. Our Rabbi’s teach us that just as we were redeemed once in the month of Nisan, the final redemption and return will take place in Nisan as well. I’m game for another wedding next week. But this wedding should be the reunification between our Beloved and His nation. This wedding should have awesome Pesach sacrifices brought in Jerusalem, by all of His children that will hear the Shofar blast calling them home. The scattered around the world will see and hear Eliyahu HaNavi, before the Seder happens this year. Maybe even tomorrow already. The moment is close. The future is just ready to begin.

Have a momentous Shabbat of greatness,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S VIDEO OF THEWEEK

https://youtu.be/5kgbRusmqjs  – Very cool Temple institute reenacts the Pesach offering

https://youtu.be/Tzrrk2ToFr0    –A ‘Thriller’ Pesach Seder

https://youtu.be/QwKBIzzlzvY  –Aish Annual Pesach video- Justin Bieber Seder Mashup

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

                                                                                  

“Vos iz dem indik far a khilek tsi men koylet im af purim tsu der sude oder af peysekh tsum seyder?”- “What difference does it make to the turkey whether it's slaughtered for the Purim feast or the Passover seder?.”

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S JEWISH PERSONALITY AND HIS QUOTES IN HONOR OF THE YARTZEIT  OF THE WEEK

“‘'Believe me: In all my days I have taken care never to pluck a blade of grass or flower needlessly, when it had the ability to grow or blossom. You know the teachings of the Sages that there is not a single blade of grass below, here on earth, which does not have a heavenly force above telling it, Grow! Every sprout and leaf of grass says something, conveys some meaning. Every stone whispers some hidden message in the silence. Every creation utters its songs.”

“‘To be a lover of truth is a higher level. Someone who hates falsehood will see the falsehood that exists in every person, and he will come to despise them or even hate them, G-d forbid. A lover of truth, however, will see the truth in every person, and he will come to honor them and even love them."”- When asked by his grandson the question: "Is it better to be a 'hater of falsehood' or a 'lover of truth'

"Doctor my wife’s foot is hurting us." On a visit to the Doctor when he was asked what was troubling him.

Rav Aryeh Levine 9^th of Nisan this Sunday (1885 – 1969) - On the eve of Shabbat Hagadol, Nissan 10, 5729 (1969), Rav Aryeh Levine rendered his soul to his Creator. Following his casket were thousands of people, among them Rabbis and Rebbes, Roshei Yeshiva and their students, the President of the State of Israel, and thousands of men, women, and children. Jerusalem had never before witnessed such a large funeral.

Just exactly who was this Tzaddik, Rav Aryeh Levine, about whom so many amazing things have been said? Why exactly did everyone so greatly appreciate him? I will tell you a few things about this marvelous man that everyone recognizes as having been one of the greatest figures in Jerusalem, a man simply called Rav Aryeh, without any titles or qualifications.

A young immigrant from Lithuania describes how he went to visit one of the greatest of Roshei Yeshiva, the Gaon Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer of Jerusalem. Upon coming back home, he passed through some narrow streets in the Yemenite “Mishkenot” neighborhood near Mahane Yehuda. He was walking with my friend and we were speaking about the Gaon Rabbi Isser Zalman, who was the last remaining Rosh Yeshiva from the spiritual giants of the previous generation.

All of a sudden we sensed someone running behind us, and in fact someone was coming near. With a sweet and pleasant voice, he began to say, “Dear children, I beg you, please come to my home for some tea. It’s now fall, and the wind blows hard in Jerusalem. I can see that you are cold. I beg you, I’m asking you to do me a favor and come with me to my home!” Without waiting for a response, he took them by the arm and brought them to his house. In the darkened, narrow street he could not make out this man’s appearance, but inside his illuminated home he saw him for the first time. He was a short, portly Jew with eyes glimmering like crystal and filled with love and kindness. He face was radiant and smiling, and his white beard extended to his chest. He put some water to boil and served them a glass of tea with cookies. He chatted with them and asked various questions, encouraging us to study Torah with extreme diligence.

In returning to the yeshiva, they learned that the man who had served them, and indeed who had thanked them for giving him the opportunity to carry out the great mitzvah of hospitality, was Rav Aryeh Levine, the Mashgiach of the great Etz Chaim Talmud Torah in Mahane Yehudah.

Rabbi Aryeh Levine was born in 5645 (1885) in the tiny city of Orla, near Grodno in Russia. In his youth, he studied in the yeshivot of Slutzk, Halusk, and Volozhin.

At the age of 20 he left for Eretz Israel, where he continued to study in the yeshivot of Jerusalem and became familiar with the great men and sages of the city. Eventually Rav Aryeh himself became famous in Jerusalem, and the administrators of the Etz Chaim yeshiva named him as the Mashgiach of their Talmud Torah.

The yeshiva students loved Rav Aryeh. He never yelled at a child, but rather approached him and spoke to his heart in order for the student to become diligent in his studies. He lovingly would caress a student and ask that he study Torah as a favor to him. Thus these children, who did not want to cause their beloved Rav any heartache, studied with diligence in order for Rav Aryeh to be happy with them.

Rav Aryeh behaved with love and affection to all his students, treating them as adults. One day he was seen going to a certain neighborhood and asking where a particular boy lived. This took people by surprise, but it was later learned that this boy had gone to see Rav Aryeh at noon on the same day to ask him something. Rav Aryeh was busy at the time, and he had asked the boy to wait for him. The boy waited a long time, but Rav Aryeh still did not come to see him, for he had forgotten about him. That night when Rav Aryeh arrived home, he remembered the boy and the fact that he had told him to wait. The boy was certainly disappointed to have not seen him, and Rav Aryeh could find no peace of mind for himself. “Who knows what sorrow the boy may have felt by my failure to see him?” he said. He gave himself no rest until he decided to go see the boy and hear what he had to say.

Rav Aryeh had an extraordinary love for the Jewish people, and in his heart burned a great passion for every Jew. The door to his home was always open to whoever was in distress, and people constantly came to see him to relate their worries and problems, and he encouraged and consoled them. When asked to pray for someone who was sick, not only did Rav Aryeh pray for him at his home or in synagogue, he rushed to see the sick person and would pray by his bedside for his healing. R' Aryeh Levin was also known for his visits to the sick, especially patients who had no family of their own. "It was Reb Aryeh's practice to go to the hospitals of Jerusalem every Friday, to visit the sick who were confined there. First he would always go and speak with the nurses, to find out from them which patients received no visitors as a rule. At the beds of these forgotten souls whom no relatives came to see, he would linger, caressing each one's hand and giving him words of encouragement and cheer. He would sit for hours near the beds of the sick, especially at Bikur Cholim hospital in Jerusalem." "He was also a frequent visitor at hospitals for lepers, including a hospital in Bethlehem where most of the patients were Arabs. Reb Aryeh began this holy practice after he had found a woman weeping bitterly by the Western Wall. Reb Aryeh asked her, "what made her cry so intensely." She told him that her child had no cure, and was locked up in the leper hospital in Jerusalem." He immediately decided to visit the young child, and when he arrived all the patients burst into tears. It had been years, since they had the privilege to see any visitor from the outside world." His pious wife Chana Levin, cooked regularly for them, and he would take the prepared food to the hospital.

A Tzaddik once said, “There is nothing greater than the broken heart of a Jew.” Rav Aryeh Levine had such a heart.

His love for Eretz Israel was enormous. He always said, “The Torah and Eretz Israel are one.” His mouth never ceased to sing the praises of Eretz Israel and those of its sons/builders. In particular, he showed great love for the “prisoners of Zion” – young people whom the British authorities had imprisoned.

During the time of British control over Eretz Israel, various movements arose that wished to liberate the country from the yoke of foreigners. Many young people who dared fight the British were sent to the infamous Latrun Prison, where they were subjected to all sorts of physical mistreatment and many hanged. The only person who visited these prisoners – who encouraged them and lifted their spirits during the most trying times of their lives – was Rav Aryeh Levine.

He would pray with these prisoners and give a small course after prayers. He spoke of Rabbi Akiva, who sanctified G-d’s Name, and the fact that the Torah, Israel, and Eretz Israel are one. A person who was hanged for the Jewish people or Eretz Israel was like one killed for the Torah. “How I envy each of you, you who have merited to be among those whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has chosen to sanctify His Name on the soil of our Holy Land.” His words, which emerged directly from his heart, entered the hearts of his listeners. He treated the prisons like beloved children, and the prisoners treated him like a dear father. It is with just cause that Rav Aryeh Levine has been called the “father of prisoners.”

At the end of his life, the city of Jerusalem conferred upon him honorary citizenship. He was very much surprised by this honor, saying: “I don’t know why I deserve this! What merit do I possess? I only benefited from Jerusalem, and even more than what I did for her, Jerusalem has done for me.”

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q. Ezra and Nehemiah lived in the:

A.    Seventh century BCE

2. Sixth century BCE
3. Fifth century BCE
4. Fourth century BCE

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL RASHI OF THE WEEK

Our Parsha this week describes the process of the purification of the Metzora, one who has become tamey-impure and afflicted with a spiritual form of leprosy. Rashi understands that this occurs as a result of the sin of Lashon Harah-negative gossiping about others and he thus explains that it the reason why he brings bird sacrifices that make a lot of noise and speak way too much. He also attributes it to the negative character trait of haughtiness. He thus suggests that he must take a cedar branch which is a very tall tree and mix it with the blood of the bird along with a crimson dyed wool referred to as a tola’at and hyssop and sprinkle it on the Metzora.

There is a seemingly fascinating Rashi that seems simple, but as we have shown if one scratches the surface a bit there is an incredible life lesson as well. Rashi states “What is the remedy that he shall be healed? He should lower himself like a tola’at-which can also be translated as a worm and like an hyssop-a very low branch-which incidentally Maimonides notes is the Za’atar that Israelis seem to like on everything they eat.

Reb Shlomo Vilna notes that if the function of the hyssop and the tola’at-worm symbol- is lowliness then why do you need both. Also he asks shouldn’t the hyssop be before the worm as it is higher up? He answers that the ideal that one should reach is to find the middle golden path of all of the attributes. We don’t go to extremes. However one who suffers from too much must go to the opposite until he can find his way back. He therefore should lower himself first like a tola’at, a worm, a nothing creature, yet then he should recognize that with his new found humility he can rise up a bit higher like the hyssop-still a lowly humble plant but yet something that has the potential to grow and even taste good on Pita J. Thus Rashi’s words are quite precise He should lower himself from his haughtiness- how? Two steps; first like a tola’at and then like a hyssop. See how amazing Rashi is!

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL HISTORICAL EVENT THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DATE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Death of Miram– 10 Nisan 2487 - 1273 B.C.E. This Monday.

Miriam, the sister of Aharon and Moshe passed away at the age of 126, 39 years after yetziat Mitzrayim (the Exodus) and exactly one year before the Children of Israel entered the Holy Land.

Miriam means "bitter sea," because she was born at a time when the Egyptians embittered the lives of the Jews. Despite the hardships, Miriam remained strong, and it was she who convinced her parents to remarry and have more children, in the face of Pharaoh's decrees. The result was the baby Moshe. It was Miriam who watched over Moshe as he was set afloat in the Nile River. Miriam is also noted in the Torah for leading a victory song after Pharaoh's army was drowned in the Red Sea.

The be'er shel Miriam (Miriam’s well) which miraculously accompanied the Jews during the 40 years of wandering in the desert, dried up when Miriam died. It was later restored in thezechus (merit) of Moshe and Aharon. This well is located today in the Kineret (MasechetShabbat 35). In Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 580:2 it states that today is a Taanit Tzaddikimin commemoration of her yahrtzeit.

It is in deference to her passing that the "Great Shabbat" is commemorated on the Shabbat before Pesach rather than the calendar date of the miracle's occurrence, 10 Nisan.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S CLEANING JOKES OF THE WEEK

You never know what you have…until you clean your room.

I love cleaning up messes I didn’t make. So I became a mom.

My room is not dirty. I just have everything on display. Like a museum.

A clean house is a sign of no Internet connection.

And the true, short story of every parent: “My house was clean. Then the kids woke up. The end.

A man comes to a great Rabbi and asks him if he is obligated to clean the cracks between the tiles of his floor one by one in case some Chametz fell there. The Rabbi responded yes, but it is a very important job and therefore he shouldn’t give it to his wife to do rather he should do it himself….

AND BONUS in honor of the person that noted that the cover or my book picture looks like the Sound Of Music here’s some Pesach Sound of Music songs

Our Passover Things

(To be sung to the tune of "My favorite things", from The Sound of Music)

Cleaning and cooking and so many dishes
Out with the hametz, no pasta, no knishes
Fish that's gefiltered,
horseradish that stings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Matzoh and karpas and chopped up haroset
Shankbones and kidish and Yiddish neuroses
Tante who kvetches and uncle who sings
These are a few of our Passover things.

Motzi and maror and trouble with Pharoahs
Famines and locust and slaves with wheelbarrows
Matzoh balls floating and eggshell that clings
These are a few of our Passover things.

CHORUS

When the plagues strike
When the lice bite
When we're feeling sad
We simply remember our Passover things
And then we don't feel so bad.

Just a Tad of Charoset
(to the tune of "Just a Spoon Full of Sugar")

Chorus:
Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down,
The bitter herbs go down, the bitter herbs go down.
Just a tad of charoset helps the bitter herbs go down,
In the most disguising way.
Oh, back in Egypt long ago,
The Jews were slaves under Pharoh.
They sweat and toiled and labored
through the day.
So when we gather pesach night,
We do what we think right.
Maror, we chew,
To feel what they went through.
Chorus
So after years of slavery
They saw no chance of being free.
Their suffering was the only life they knew.
But baby Moses grew up tall,
And said he'd save them all.
He did, and yet,
We swear we won't forget.
That......

Chorus

While the maror is being passed,
We all refill our water glass,
Preparing for the taste that turns us red.
Although maror seems full of minuses,
It sure does clear our sinuses.
But what's to do?
It's hard to be a Jew!!!
Chorus

:**************

Answer is C – This is a really not fair question. It seems simple enough until one gets in to the dating of everything. Conventional ‘modern dating puts the destruction of the First temple at 586 BC Ezra coming by the building of the 2^nd Temple would therefore be at the beginning of the 5^th century in the late 400’s or so. However according to tradition that he was 120 years old when he died then he could have been living in the 6^th century as well. Jewish tradition according to Seder Olam though puts the destruction of the Temple in the year 420 and its being rebuilt in the year 350 which would put him in the 4^th century as well. So I’m sure they were looking for the 5ht century answer and he certainly wasn’t the 7^th century but the other answers could technically and arguably be correct as well… What o you think.