Birthday Broigez- Parshat Vayigash 5783- 2022

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

December 31^st 2022 -Volume 12 Issue 11 6^th of Tevet 5783

Birthday Broigez

 

It’s New Years. People…goyim… use this opportunity to make New Year’s resolutions. They don’t have Rosh Hashana and teshuva like we do. They also don’t have that many mitzvos or aveiros or al cheits like we do. They pretty much just gotta stay away from biting into live animals and bowing down to idols. No big deal. We’ve got 613 commandments and a whole smorgasbord of Rabbinic laws, minor sins, chumras, good deeds and rituals to choose from. We have a whole month of Elul to work on these things. The only thing we have in common with them is that our resolutions generally last as long- sadly enough. By the time Chanuka rolls around we’re back to whipping out our cellphones by davening and bentching by heart-not out of a siddur. We’re speaking lashon hara again for those 15 minutes we accepted upon ourselves for from 4:15- 4:30 each day and are reconnected to Whatsapp and statuses. Hashem would be annoyed with us, but He arranged that the goyim should be making their kabbalos at this time of year. And when he sees their pathetic ones as compared with our highly motivated, sincere and holy aspirations- He decides to take ours any day-even if we haven’t kept them that well.

 

But for me this time of year is also my birthday. Happy Birthday me! And birthdays are as well a time of reflection and a period when we stop think about our lives, our mortality, our accomplishments-or lack thereof and what type of person I want to be before I become another year older. I’ve given you guys enough Mussar the past few weeks about moving to Israel and staying in the Diaspora. It’s the time of year to beat up on myself a bit. So here goes…

 

I came home last night after a long week of tour guiding, Baruch Hashem, looking forward to finally seeing my wife and family- abstinence makes the heart fonder they say. I highly recommend it. And boom within a few minutes of being home, I was yelling and screaming. I was annoyed and aggravated. It was a silly thing. Money issues always are. I needed to pay someone; my wife pulled out money from our account to pay someone else. I was short, I was scrambling. I was frustrated and upset. It was not a pretty picture. My dream of just coming home and decompressing and enjoying the family and my wife went out the window. It was just stupid. Or perhaps even more accurately it was just me.

 

After I got most of the details worked out, I was annoyed at myself.  I’m a smart guy. I’m pretty relaxed, fun, funny and even chilled. I remember when we were dating my wife asked me on the third or fourth date if there’s anything that gets me angry or upset ever. I seemed too chilled for her. I had to give it some thought. It was a good question. Nothing really bothered me much in life as a yeshiva bachur. A guy could sleep in my bed, make a mess of my room, eat my food, could come late- I was chilled. I was free. I was easy going. After a few minutes of deep contemplation, I told her that the one thing that I found in life that bothered me was when I saw someone doing something that would turn out really bad for themselves. Something that would just end poorly and would have dire consequences. If he would just listen to me, everything would be fine though. He would avoid all the grief, the downfall, the mess-up, the inevitable fallout that I saw clearly happening. But they just wouldn’t listen. They just ignored me. It could’ve all been rosy and perfect had they just listened. But noooo… they thought they knew better. That bothered me. That got under my skin. That would get me upset to no end.

 

She heard me at the time, but as I did, she didn’t think it was such a big issue. Little did she know that it would pretty much affect her for the rest of her and my children’s lives. That it was a daily occurrence when people weren’t listening to me and doing what I thought they should be doing. Aarrgghh… In yeshiva those things don’t come up that often. But in real life, in the real world being married, raising children, working, making and building a house, a community, reaching out to people, there are lots of things that people don’t like to listen to me about. That think they know better than me. And sucking up and biting my tongue has never been one of my strong character traits. You can ask all of my teachers in school. We Schwartzes are all opinionated and being the first born I got a double portion of that. It comes with being the smartest…or at least in my mind. My sister disagrees, but I don’t listen to her…

 

So after said crisis resolution above, I went for a little walk for some breathing time. A little inhale and exhale if you know what I mean. And I started to think about the parsha- my bar mitzva one this week and what I would write about. For some reason the words of the parsha and advice that Yosef gives his brothers before sending them back to his father Yaakov popped into my mind. Al tirgezu ba’derech- don’t get aggravated on the pathway home. Don’t get into all of the details and start fighting about who’s fault it was. Don’t start pointing fingers over who was right or wrong. Don’t start I-told-you-not-to-sell-him-down-to Egypting- one another. Chill. Just put on Rabbi Schwartz music and enjoy the ride. Be happy that the saga is finally over and just bring Dad down here to Egypt in one piece without throwing anyone into any pits or selling them as slaves.

 

It’s an interesting word rogez. It can mean aggravate, anger or fight. In Yiddish there is a word broigez- which means be upset. “Whaddaya all broygez about”. “Don’t get so broygez at me!” You hear that in yeshiva lingo a lot. It would seem that being broygez is a bad thing. Don’t get aggravated. Yet, Rashi who brings down the interpretation above that they shouldn’t fight with one another or be broygez, also brings down two other pshatim before that. He writes

 

“Do not busy yourselves with Halachic discussions lest you lose your way.

Another explanation is: Do not take very long steps and enter the town where you will stay over night while the sun is still shining.”

 

Seemingly Rashi is bothered by the notion that if Yosef was just telling them not to fight, he should’ve just said al tariv- don’t fight. As well the Gur Aryeh notes he didn’t have to qualify the statement by specifying “on the road” they shouldn’t fight or argue. He should’ve told them not to do it at all. Thus Rashi explains midrashically that Yosef was telling them not to get aggravated in halachic matters-probably concerning his sale- while they are on the road. Because the road is a place where aggravation about anything can lead to danger. It’s one thing when you’re home, when you can walk out for some fresh air. When you can breathe a little, so if you get into an argument, there is a place to escape to and get out of the moment. But when you’re cooped up in a car or a on a camel and travelling, there’s no where to go. It can get messy. It can get dangerous.

 

Similarly, the second pshat in Rashi about taking long steps, is as well dangerous. Long steps- or pesi’ah gasah as it is brought in Rashi means moving fast. Moving arrogantly. Thinking you know it all and shooting from the hip. On the road there is no time to think. No time to really examine anything properly. You gotta keep moving. And if you are stepping fast and strong and not slow, steady and humbly calculated, you’ll get in trouble. You’ll end up in places that you don’t want to be. That you really never wanted to get to.

 

At the same time the middah of aggravation or being broygez Dovid Ha’Melech tells us is a positive character trait that has its place as well. In fact, many say it every night before they go to sleep in the bedtime prayer of Shema

 

“Rigzu V’al tech’e’ta’u imru al bi’livavchem al mishkavchem ‘v’domu sela- Aggravate and you won’t come to sin. Say in your hearts on your beds and be forever silent.

 

The great sage Reish Lakish derives from this verse a way to combat the yetzer harah- the evil inclination

 

“A man should always aggravate his yetzer tov against his yetzer hara as it says rigzu v’al techeteu

If one is successful good and if not study Torah as it says say’ in one’s heart’, if one is successful good if not then recite the shema as it says- ‘upon one’s bed’. If one is successful good if not remember the day of death as it says and’ be forever silent’.”

 

So now it gets hard to understand. Should I get aggravated or not? Is it a good thing and a weapon against the yetzer hara or not? And if the objective is just to get rid of the yetzer hara why not just remember the death day. That you’d better do teshuva. There will be a judgement day. Why start off with the fight?

 

The incredible answer and idea, that I heard from my Rebbi, Reb Motti Alon, is that aggravating one’s yetzer tov on one’s yetzer harah is only something to do when one is at rest. When one is on one’s bed at night. See, what the yetzer ha’rah tries to do to us is catch us on the fly. We have big plans. We want to change the world. We have great resolutions we want to make. The yetzer ha’ra then comes and asks us one question “Who do you think you are?”.  What makes you think you can do this? Who are you fooling? He puts us down. He gives us a reality check. He bums us out and makes us feel small and crushes our big aspirations.

 

The answer to that is to build up the yetzer tov and aggravate that yetzer harah with it. I’m a Tzadik. I’m a genius. I’m a holy person. I have a yetzer tov. There’s nothing more upsetting to the yetzer hara- or to me and you for that matter as well is when someone acts self-righteous. But when it comes to battling the yetzer harah that wants to engage with us in a fight about all of the bad things we’ve done and the shameful things about ourselves. Don’t get into it with him ba’derech- on the way. Just tell him, we’ll deal with that later. When I’m at rest. When I’m in bed.

 

If that doesn’t work because you really are feeling down about yourself, Reish Lakish tells us, then crack a book and learn a little Torah. Recite Shema. Do a mitzva that’s easy. You’ve just become an amazing person in that small act. You’ve just connected to Hashem. Boom. You’re a Tzadik. Life is bright. Now you can do more and more and more. Just don’t fight the dirty fight. Don’t get broigez on the road. You’re just on the path. No one expects you to be at the final destination yet. And if those little mitzvos don’t help you get there, then just tell yourself, you have a ways to go until your yom ha’misah. You have a lifetime to grow. To accomplish. To change. To make yourself and the world the person that you want to become.

 

Yosef tells his brothers on their way home, that it will be natural for them to want to start reflecting on the mistakes that they made. The Yetzer Hara will hit them up hard on the way home to Yaakov. He will come with all types of Torahs about how bad they are, how mistaken they were. He will bring halachic proofs, he will shame them, he will tell them about how arrogant they were and the fast haughty steps that they took in selling him down to Egypt. Don’t get into that, Yosef tells them. The road that you guys are on right now is to reunite me with my father. It is to bring us here united as a family. It is to reveal the light that we will need and find in ourselves to shine through Egypt and prepare us for our galus. We are on the Derech. It’s not a time for being broygez. There will be time for that later when we are at rest. When we are together. When we have the Torah. When my father will recite Shema with us, and we feel that the 12 tribes of Israel are complete and holy. We have a lifetime to get there to that place when we will reexamine this story and our sins. Our father Yaakov, will remind us before his yom ha’misah to deal with it. You will come to me later when we are old after that and we will talk and cry about it. But for now, we are still on the pathway to get there. And never get broygez on the road.

 

So I have my lesson, and my Birthday Broygezoloution for the year. It’s nice when the parsha kind of screams it at you from a vort you just heard from your Rebbi. I need to stop getting broygez on the road. I need to not get aggravated. I need to see that yetzer tov and the good in those stressful situations and wait until it’s quieter and calmer.

 

I heard a story about how Reb Moredechai Eliyahu was once giving a class about how one needs to be calm and peaceful with their children and family always. Someone asked him in the class but is there ever a time when you should get angry? Where it’s appropriate to get upset and aggravated at your children? Yes, Reb Eliyahu, said the time to get upset and aggravated over something that happened is when you’re calm and at peace with it. Al Mishkavchem- When you’re lying down and feeling so calm that you just want to doze off. That’s when you could show your children that you’re upset at them over something that requires a response. That’s when you know you’re doing it right.

 

So Happy Birthday, me. I’m 52 today. Someone pointed out to me  that 52 is the gematria of Behema- a cow. As well it’s the gematria of ben- a child. A cow just does what comes naturally to it. A son, has obligations, a son comes from somewhere, a son can build a world. It is my hope that this year, I become more of a son and less of a beheima. And perhaps in that merit Hashem may make my 52^nd year which is also the gematria of bakol- with everything- a year that is blessed with everything!

Have a calming soothing Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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

YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Der ershter broigez iz der bester broigez..”.- The first quarrel is the best quarrel..

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

4) The 2nd president of Israel was:

Which of the following people is buried in the Mount of Olives?

A) Menachem Begin

B) Moshe Sharett

C) Golda Meir

D) Levi Eshkol

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

 

Forests and Bears- 706 BC – From Yericho Elisha returns along the path that he travelled with Eliyahu. He heads up to the city of Beit El where he had previously met the students of the prophets who had told him that Eliyahu would be dying. This time though he bumps into a group of young boys that start taunting him; 42 to precise. According to one Midrash these were boys that would make money bringing fresh water to the city of Yericho as the water there was toxic. Once Elisha purified it they were out of business and thus they taunted him. Others suggest that they were kids that were children of the followers of the Baal who had been killed. And yet another peshat is that they were children that were conceived on Yom Kippur. Regardless they were children that our sages tell us were beyond hope. Or not?

 

Their taunt to Elisha was the he was bald. Which is quite offensive as we hairless ones know. But others say that it is in contrast to Eliyahu who was quite hairy. Their taunt was that he was not as great as his Rebbi. Others suggest that they cursed Elisha with the name of Hashem Elisha turned that back on them and two bears came out of the forest and ate them all up. This was miraculous. How miraculous? According to Rav there were no bears in that area at the time and they miraculously appeared. According to Shmuel there wasn’t even a forest there. Or in the words of the Talmud- Lo Dubim V’lo Ya’ar- No bears and no forests which became popular slang in Hebrew today fascinatingly enough for when one wants to say it’s a bubbeh mayseh.

 

The Re’ma M’Pano and the Shel”a Ha’Kadosh teach us something fascinating they note that our sages say that this reaction of Elisha was a bit too much. He was later punished with sickness over this. And ultimately, he was reincarnated as Rebbi Yosi Min Yokras- who’s buried along side of the road from Tzfat to Meron and was a fourth generation Amora. Rebbi Yosi Min Yokras ended up cursing both of his own children and they were killed. His son because he asked Hashem to make a fig tree grow early and his daughter because she was too beautiful and was attracting too much attention. This was the fate of Elisha who had other children killed that came back to haunt himself.

 

The number 42 is also not coincidental. It stands for Bam in Gematria which representative of Torah V’Dibarta Bam, as we say in Shema. It is a rough story and it sets the tone for Elisha and his miracles and zealotry that he received from his Rebbi Eliyahu. From there he heads up to Mt. Carmel where he studied with Eliyahu. We’ll talk about that next week.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE AGGRAVATED  JOKES OF THE WEEK

While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant, and resumed their trip. When leaving, the elderly woman unknowingly left her glasses on the table, and she didn't miss them until they had been driving for about forty minutes. By then, to add to the aggravation, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around, in order to return to the restaurant to retrieve her glasses. All the way back, the elderly husband became the classic grouchy old man. He fussed and complained, and scolded his wife relentlessly during the entire return drive. The more he chided her, the more agitated he became. He just wouldn't let up for a single minute. To her relief, they finally arrived at the restaurant. As the woman got out of the car, and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, the old geezer yelled to her,

"While you're in there, you might as well get my hat and the credit card!!!"

 

Shloimy asks his father to explain the differences among irritation, aggravation, and frustration. His father picks up the phone and dials a number at random. When the phone is answered, he asks, "Can I speak to Yankel, please?"

 "No, there's no one called Yankel here," says the person who answered the phone.

His father hangs up. "That's irritation," he says.

He picks up the phone again, dials the same number and asks for Yankel a second time. "No, there's no one here named Yankel. Stop calling!" the person says.

His father hangs up and says, "That's aggravation."

"Then what's frustration?" asks Shloiny The father picks up the phone and dials the same number a third time. "Hello, this is Yankel," he says casually, "Have I received any phone calls?"

 

A String Walks Into A Bar, He says, "hey bar keep, I'll have a beer".

The bartenders sternly replies, "we don't serve strings here".

The string walks away discouraged.He comes in a few days later and tries again, "hey bar keep, I'll take a rye".

The bartender, more aggravated replies, "I told you, we don't serve strings here!"

 The string leaves disappointed. The string figures he will try again a few days later. He walks up to the door of the bar and thinks for a second....This time he ties himself in a loop and messes up his hair. He walks up to the bar and says, "hello bar keep, I'll have a rum and coke".

 The bartender replies, "hey, aren't you a string?"

 The string replies, "no, I'm afraid not"

 

What is nice if you are close to it but gets irritating when far away? Someone holding the door for you

 

Two guys are out hunting deer.The first guy says "Did you see that?"

“No" the second guy says.

“Well, a bald eagle just flew overhead.”

“Oh.

A couple of minutes later, the first guy says "Did you see that?"

“See what?"

“Are you blind? There was a big, black bear walking on that hill, over there.”

“Oh".

A few minutes later the first guy says: "Did you see that?"

By now, the second guy is getting aggravated, so he says "Yes, I did!"

“Then why did you step in it?"

 

I asked my wife what three things she finds most irritating. She said, "well, I really dislike Sunday drivers. I'm not particularly keen on loud, abnoixious children. But mostly, I really hate it when I have to repeat myself!"

"Oh, yeah, absolutely!" I replied, "You can say that again."

You guys hear about the pepper shaker that was attacked by the salt shaker? Apparently the salt shaker was arrested and charged with aggravated as-*salt*

 

Someone told me today is "slap your irritating coworker day" but I don't think that's right

"Get slapped by your co-workers day" would be more accurate.

 

Bill and Tom went to the country club for a round of golf. Bill takes his practice swings and checks the wind then takes his swings again. After about 10 minutes of taking practice swings and checking the wind Tom starts getting aggravated and yells.

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BILL TAKE YOUR SWING ALREADY!”.

Bill turns to look at Tom and says.

“I’m sorry Tom it’s just that my wife is up at the club watching and I want to make sure this swing is perfect.”

Tom looks at his buddy then looks up towards the club and sighs.

“Man you can forget it this is a 350 yard shot, you’ll never hit her from here.”

 

A doctor and a lawyer are at a party...People at the party keep coming up to the doctor and asking him for medical advice. The doctor gets aggravated that he cannot enjoy the party because of the constant medical questions. He notices that his lawyer friend is sitting peacefully in a corner and hasn't been disturbed all night.

The doctor walks over to the lawyer and asks him how he is able to go to parties without being bombarded with legal questions. The lawyer replies, "anytime someone asks me for legal advice I send them a bill in the mail." The doctor is ecstatic and decides he is going to do the same. When he gets home he writes out bills for everyone who had asked his advice that night.

The next day the doctor can barely contain his excitement as he walks down the street to deliver the bills. When he opens his mailbox, he is surprised that he's gotten a letter from his lawyer friend. When he opened the envelope he realized the lawyer had sent him a bill for the previous nights legal advice.

 

In a courtroom one morning, Barry the Basher was being faced with multiple charges of aggravated battery. He had a reputation of assaulting his victims with a baseball bat. However, the opposing legal team discovered that all of their evidence was either lost or destroyed and were not able to tie him to any of the charges.

Due to the lack of evidence, Barry was deemed innocent and set free. When later asked what happened, Barry said, "The batteries were not included in the case."

 

Two old farmers have each 1 big meadow and only 1 sheep each. One farmer proposes to remove the fence between their meadows because the sheep are both lonely. The second farmer agrees, however he wonders how they could tell which sheep belongs to whom. The first farmer comes up with the idea to cut off 1 leg of his sheep, so the 3 legged-sheep is always gonna be his, and the 4-legged belongs to the second farmer. At nightfall they come to an agreement.

 

The next morning the 4-legged sheep wakes the 3-legged sheep up." Hey Buddy, Hey Buddy !!" he says enthusiastically " We are finally together! Wanna go racing ?!"

 

"Sure buddy, but it's not gonna be a fair race, you have 4 legs and I only have 3"

"Hmm, let me think... What if I bite of my leg, then we are even and can race all day."

" Good idea, lets race!"

 

So the 4-legged sheep bites off a leg and also becomes a 3-legged sheep, they race all day and have a lot of fun.

 

At dusk the two farmers stroll around their meadows and to their surprise they find their sheep both with 3 legs. "Sigh, let me just cut off another leg so I have the 2-legged sheep and you have the 3-legged" says the first farmer. The second farmer agrees, and they head back to their farms.

 

The next morning the 3-legged sheep wakes the 2 legged sheep up.

" Hey Buddy, Hey Buddy !!" he says enthusiastically " Wanna go racing again?!"

"Sure buddy, but it's not gonna be a fair race, you have 3 legs and I only have 2."

"Guess, I'll have to bite off another leg, so we can race all day."

"Good idea, lets go race all day again."

The 3-legged sheep bites off another leg, both are now 2-legged sheep and race all day and have a hell of a lot of fun. Again around dusk the two farmer stroll around their meadows and AGAIN to their suprise they find their sheep both with 2 legs. A bit aggravated the first farmer cuts of both legs, and claims the legless sheep. The second farmer agrees again and they head back to their farms. The next morning the 2-legged sheep wakes the legless sheep up.

" Hey Buddy, Hey Buddy !!" he says enthusiastically " Wanna go racing again?!"

"I'd love to but I don't have anymore legs, I don't think I can race ever again."

"Nonsense" the 2-legged sheep says " I'll just bite off my 2 remaining legs, so we are both legless sheep, we can race around all day like caterpillars"

"Okay buddy, great idea, sounds like fun"

The 2-legged sheep bites off both his legs and they race all day like caterpillars, and boy do they have alot of fun again.Again at dusk, the farmers take their daily evening stroll, to their surprise they find both their sheep legless. Desperately, they try to come up with idea's on how to tell which sheep belongs to whom.

Untill the first farmer says : " Look, let me just take the Black sheep, you can have the white one

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

Answer is A -Yeah I knew this one. Yitzchak Ben Tzvi was the longest President of Israel and it’s second one. He was actually raised frum and went to cheder until he became a Zionist and lost it. But he was fundamental in the early founding of the State in all of  military units as well as the settlements. The only prime minister on Mt. of Olives is of course Menachem Begin who didn’t like all the liberals like Ben Tzvi in the great men of the nation plot on Mt. Herzl and instead said he wants to be buried with the real Gedoley Ha’Umah, two soldiers Barzani and Feinstien who blew themselves up in the British Prison in Jerusalem rather than giving the British the pleasure of executing them. So getting better at this my score is now Schwartz 3.5 and 0.5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.

The Perfect Partner-Parshat Vayigash 5779/2018

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

December 14^th 2018 -Volume 9 Issue 11-6^th of Tevet 5779

Parshat Vayigash

The Perfect Partner

Perhaps one of the biggest downsides of being a tour guide, and there really aren’t too many of them, is that it really doesn’t afford me the ability to have a chavrusa- a study partner. My schedule is too erratic. I’m never home for more than a few days. I start and end at all different times. It just doesn’t work. So all I’ve got is you guys and gals. And nothing personal, but you really don’t cut as chavrusos go. Don’t get me wrong, I love you. But I miss those days when I could have my regular one on one time with my intellectual sparring partner in our spiritual gym; the Beit Midrash.

It’s not a small price to pay either. I’ve had chavrusas since I’m 13 years old in high school. Back then though all I was really interested in was a guy I could schmooze the best with when the Rebbe wasn’t looking, or who could help me on my exams or with my homework. But as I got older, in my post high school beis medrash years, my chavrusa was the person that I would really develop my learning skills with. We would sit about 3-4 hours each morning together and plow through the pages of the Talmud, debating the nuances of the commentaries, the arguments and approaches of the different sages throughout the generations and offering our own solutions to questions and contradictions that needed to be explained. It was intense. Most of the time we would spend a week or more on a mere few lines of the Talmud.

 In the afternoon we had another few hours of study which was a little lighter. We focused more on “covering ground” and completing the rest of the particular tractate we were studying. There the chavrusa’s job was to keep me moving. Not to get bogged down in the minutia. We would get back to all our question another day. In the evening we had our night seder chavrusa who we would review the Rebbe’s shiur/class with. We had halacha chavrusos, extra-seder ones for optional learning and even a mussar seder chavrusa who we could work on our own personal ethical and spiritual development with. I skipped that seder a lot.

As I got older, married, and joined a Kollel, I switched my order of learning to studying halacha full time. As I studied for my semicha- rabbinic ordination, my study-partners had to be those that I could work with in not only learning and studying the various sugyas- (I guess topics is the best translation I can come up with, but doesn’t really do it justice, let me know if you have a better one)- but one that would help me remember it; that would be able to test me, challenge me and come up with practical ramifications of the 3000 year old law and 200, 300, 400, 500 etc… year old texts that we were studying.

There is nothing like a good chavrusa. They’re not easy to find, though. In my case I needed obviously someone that would challenge me, be able to handle my “exuberant” defense of my positions and insight and not back down, and someone as well that I felt I could learn from. He also needed to be a good schmoozer that in my down time I could banter with. If he was too serious or boring, then I would generally have to duck out occasionally for good conversation. When that happened I usually didn’t extricate myself quick enough and it was downhill from there.

I was lucky in many ways. I had quite a few great chavrusos. Tzvi, Ari, Yitzy, Yitzchak, Duvi, Chiely, Zevy, Leiby to name a few, just in case they’re reading this. The rest of my friends on this list could try to figure out who they were J.I even was privileged to have chavrusos with some of my Rebbeim. Mostly mussar seder though. I think that was the only way they thought they could get me to attend. It worked. The attendance, I mean. The mussar, I think the jury is still out on. Or not.

The critical role of a study partner in one’s life is spoken about in the Talmud. I share the story with my tourists when we visit the grave of Choni Ha’Maagel, the great sage in the times of the 2^nd Temple. Choni, the inspiration for Rip Van Winkle incidentally, the Talmud tells us slept for 70 years. Upon awakening he returns to his study hall and can’t find anyone that was on his level to learn with him. The next generation was just not up to his level. So he prayed the famous statement that Patrick Henry co-opted and paraphrased.

Talmud Taanit (23.) O’ Chavrusa O’misusa- Give me a Chavrusa or give me death

His prayers were answered and his life was taken from him. Similarly, the Talmud tells us about the incredible chavrusa-shaft between those two brothers-in-law; Rebbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish. After one disagreement, they “broke up” and Resh Lakish, is so forlorn that he dies. Not long after Reb Yochanan does as well, when he realizes that there is no one that can replace Reish Lakish. In the words of the Reb Yochanan bemoaning his fate

Talmud Bava Metzia (10.) ‘When I would say something he would ask me 24 questions and I would have 24 answers and that would be the way we would open up the Talmud. All these new students do are bringing me corroborating proofs to what I am saying.’

Reb Yochanan wasn’t looking for sycophants. He needed a chavrusa that would sharpen him. Interesting enough, I just noticed that it is Reb Yochanan, in Tannit, who records the previous story of Choni as well. It seems it is a reflection of his own experience.

This week’s Torah portion is perhaps the source for the chavrusa process of study with the establishment of the first yeshiva that is recorded in the Torah. After the reunion of Yosef and his brothers, the brothers return to bring their father Yaakov down to Egypt to join them. Yaakov however sends Yehudah up ahead on an important mission.

Bereshis (46:28) And Yehudah was sent before him to Yosef  “l’horos”- to instruct before him in  Goshen.

The Torah doesn’t tell us what he was meant to instruct however Rashi quotes the Midrash focusing on the words ‘l’horos’- which means teaching laws  and before him as a reference to building a Beit Hatalmud- a Yeshiva from where Jewish law will come out from.

So here we have the first yeshiva being set up. The yeshiva will consist of two students. A chavrusa-schaft. Two unlikely candidates. Yehudah and Yosef. Incredible! I don’t think that there would be two more unlikely people that someone would throw together. Think about their history. Yehudah had sold Yosef down to Egypt and all that he had undergone in those 22 years were because of that sale. His imprisonment, his distance from his father, his family, his brother. Yehudah as well, was put through this incredible hoax, by Yosef. He was accused of being a spy, his brother Shimon was thrown into jail, he literally almost lost his World to Come as he had guaranteed to his father that he would return Binyamin’s to him and Yosef had him convinced that it was not happening. And you want to put these two together to build a yeshiva! To be study-partners?

Besides all that history, their styles were total opposites. Yosef was the tzadik. He withstood the temptation of the wife of Potiphar. Yehudah on the other hand was the Baal Teshuva. He failed. He sinned. Yet he admits and comes back. Yosef operates hidden, behind closed doors. Yehudah is out in the open. Yehudah was the king who lost his superiority after the sale of Yosef. Yosef on the other hand rises out of the pit to kingship. They are polar opposites. And yet they become the quintessential chavrusas, precisely for that reason.

See, the beauty of the study of Torah is that it is not about me. For Torah study to be true it has to be that way. One can’t inflict their personal baggage on the text. There can’t be any ego. But yet each one of us has brings so much of it to the table when we approach anything in our lives. L’havdil one can see that when it comes to archaeology in Israel. There are many Zionistic archaeologists that approach whatever they find with the intent of proving that Jews have been here forever. There are some that are religious and will see proof of authenticity of the Torah, its narratives, the stories of the Talmud and information contained there in all they find. Other atheistic archaeologists will try to prove the opposite. For many years, there were respected archaeologists that believed that King David or King Solomon, if they even existed, were mere tribal chieftains, rather than national kings. Ultimately they were quite embarrassed with all the discoveries that pretty much made the Torah version incontrovertible. But the study of Torah can’t be that way. It has to be pure. It has to be objective and can’t be subjective. And the only way to get that pure fire, in the words of the midrash, is by rubbing two hard stones together. Two opposing scholars who through their debate will reveal the pure light of truth of our Torah.

Yaakov sends Yehudah to form this first study-partnership and create a Beit Midrash that will instruct the Jews in how we will merit to leave the Egyptian exile that we were then entering. We will need the Yosefs and Yehudahs to get together. We will need the tzadikim, the righteous ones without sin to sit down and study with the baal teshuvas- the sinners who have returned. Not only to teach them, but to learn from them as well. We need the wealthy, successful ones, who have picked themselves up, to sharpen themselves in Torah study with those who have failed; with those who have lost it all. The quiet and the loud, the public and the private. The brave and the timid. The dreamer and the pragmatist. Each one possesses a truth the other doesn’t have and each one’s truth is incomplete because it is bogged down with the ego and personal agenda that detracts from the Divine mission. It is only when they unite. When they can put all that baggage behind them, when they can sit down and hash it out over the word of Hashem that the true light and redemption can come.

When we left Egypt and came to the Sea we are told that it split before the people for two reasons. The first was that the leader of the tribe of Yehudah, Nachshon, jumped in first up to his nose. The second reason is because the Sea ‘saw’ the coffin of Yosef and ‘said’ that since Yosef was able to overcome his natural inclinations to fulfill the will of Hashem, it must follow suit as well and split. It is no coincidence that the redemption came in the merit of these two. The sea split “before them” because Yaakov had sent Yehuda 210 years prior to that when we first came down to Egypt to open the Beit Midrash “before them”. As well, we are told that the ultimate redemption will have two Mashiachs; Mashiach from the house of Yosef and Mashiach from the house of David (the descendant of Yehuda). That chavrusa, that Beit Midrash, that undiluted Torah is what will bring that Temple once again to be rebuilt.

So here I am chavrusa-less. I have my congregants. I have you, my readers, and I have my daily tourists, who I try to challenge. But you aren’t chavrusos. As much as I love you and wouldn’t trade my life for anything else. But I miss it. It’s my sacrifice, I guess, for the meantime. Something to look forward to when I retire. Hopefully that is still a long time away despite my becoming another year older ( I had to get that in somewhereJ). On the other hand, God willing Mashiach will come, The ultimate Chavrusa will finally come to its fulfilment. We are half way there. Mashiach Ben Yosef has done his work. May we see his chavrusa Mashiach Ben Dovid join him very soon.

 Have a marvelous Shabbos!

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“In shpigel zet itlecher zein besten freind.”- In the mirror everybody sees his best friend

RABBI SCHWARTZES COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/p3UiUDbkSqY   - Mind-blowing, to think 6000 Jews gather at Kremlin and sing Ani Maamin boys choir. Who wudda thought we would see this day…Truly Mashiach’s times

https://youtu.be/YBSDTrviNxI     I’ll be honest. I didn’t think I would watch more than 2 minutes of this but it is truly kept me transfixed. Let’s see if it happens to you. The Rubashkin Story a Nation United on the anniversary of his release

https://youtu.be/sN_S2RUGBds- Very hartzig new song at concert Hatei sung by Shea Rubenstien

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nEquYC2DzU -    Wasn’t easy finding this… Ani Yosef Achichem sung by Simcha Leiner a beautiful SY Rechnitz composition

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q The southernmost bird sanctuary in Israel is found in:

A. The Hai Bar in Yotvata

B. Yoash Mountain

C. Timna Mountain

D. Eilat

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS” CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat Vayigash– One has to be careful about being too “lomdish”. Or perhaps careful of getting carried away with your lomdus and then projecting it on the text. My Rebbi, used to call it having a “yiddisheh nose”. Being able to smell out whether a vort, or Torah idea was true or not. I’ll give you an example of course from this week’s Torah portion

The Torah tells us about Yosef and Yaakov’s long awaited reunion. The verse tells us that Yosef falls on his father’s shoulder. Rashi notes however that the verse does not tell us that Yaakov cried at all.

Rashi Bereshis (46:29) Our sages tell us that Yaakov was reciting the Shema

All of the commentaries pretty much are perplexed by this Rashi. Why is Yaakov reciting the Shema? Why isn’t Yosef, if it was time to recite it. Reb Chaim Soloveitchik Z”L answers in his traditional halachic and lomdushe manner, by noting that the entire way down to Egypt Yaakov never recited Shema. The reason being because that Talmud in Sukkah (25.) tells us that the Torah obligates one to say Shema B’lectecha ba’derech- in one’s walking on the path. Only when one is walking for your personal reasons are you obligated. However, if you are walking in the process of doing a mitzvah you are exempt. That being the case, then the entire journey down to Egypt which was a commandment by Hashem, Yaakov was exempt from reciting Shema. It was only when he arrived and met Yosef that he became obligated once again. And thus he recited Shema.

That part of the story is pretty famous. I recently saw an added part in the sefer Shai La’Torah that dramatizes it a bit more. There was an individual that was telling the Brisker Rav his own resolution of Reb Chaim’s kasha. He suggested that Yaakov was overwhelmed with such a powerful love for his own son that he feared that it would detract from his mitzvah to “love Hashem with all your heart”. He was sharing some of his heart with his outpouring of love for his son. He therefore recited the Shema to reinforce his love for Hashem.

When the Rav heard this he shuddered and responded

‘Mi’nemt Yaakov Avinu und m’macht ehm azoi vi zich; und noch dehm zogt min azah zelecheh verter- You takeYaakov, our Patriarch, and make him just like you and then you make up speeches about it.’

He continued and explained that by our forefather Yaakov there was no such thing as a personal love for his son that was separate from his love of Hashem. They were identical. He loved his son because it was an expression of his love for Hashem.

So as I said be careful, about lomdus. As Reb Kenny R used to say. You got to know when to hold em and when to fold em, when to lomdus them and when to not.

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

Septuaguint - 246 BC- This Sunday is the 8^th of Tevet. It was at one point a fast day but it got incorporated with the fast 2 days later of the 10^th of Tevet. It recalls a day that our sages tell us was as bad as the Golden Calf. It was the day of the writing of the Septuaquint or Targum Shivi’m in the words of our sages. Ever hear about it? Did you think it’s that bad?  Well you’ll be fasting for it this Tuesday why not learn about it.

See in about the year 300 BC or so a short little Greek Guy named Alexander who humbly called himself the Great came to Israel. With him comes all types of Greek culture. He’s good to the Jews but his generals that take over…not so much. The Egyptian King Ptolmey decides to have the Torah translated into Greek. He takes 72 Rabbis locks them into 72 rooms gives them a pen and boom get to work. Miraculously all 72 came out with identical texts, this was despite the fact that they all made politically correct changes to it. Although it was a miracle, our Rabbis saw it as a bad thing. For now, the Torah would become just another philosophy book on the shelf. Jews would assimilate more and more and Hebrew our sacred tongue as well would not be utilized by the next generation.

This phenomenon of the Septuagint and assimilating Jews during this period of the second Temple where I mention this can be seen all over Israel. In Jerusalem in the Herodian street under the old city one can see Greek writing all over the place and its influences. In the synagogues in the Ir Dovid and the north of Israel as well which id from a bit later period Greek is the commonly written language. In Tzippori one can see the illiterate Hebrew with words misspelled on the shul floors. In the cemetery in Beit Shearim we find graves that are inscribed in Greek with Greek epitaphs and names of daughters of Rabbis that are buried there that are entirely Greek; Atio and Atheon for example. Perhaps the place you see it most vividly is in the Israel Musuem where you see much of the assimilated Jewish Hellenists Mosaics and art that has been uncovered and at the museum of the Good Samaritan in the Dead Sea region as well.

It gives me, and my tourists, pause to see this striking Greek assimilation and it makes you think about what they might say about the plethora of English Torah books, if that’s a good thing as well. On the one hand it has certainly opened up Torah to many who would not have access. On the other hand maybe we should fast, and pray for the fact that we have lost Lashon Hakodesh as our mother tongue.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S JEWISH PARTNER JOKES  OF THE WEEK

One evening, Moshe and his partner Abe were having dinner together to celebrate a recent business deal. They were having a great time when suddenly Moshe began to find it hard to breathe.
He said, "Abe, help me, I tink I hev svallowed a bone."
"Are you choking, Moshe?" said Abe.
"No, - I’m being serious." 

In the early 1900s, an old Jew was traveling alone in his compartment on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The train stops and an officer in the czar's army gets on. He and the Jew travel for a while in silence. Suddenly the officer grabs the Jew by the lapels and demands: "Tell me: how is it you Jews so much brighter than everyone else?"
The Jew is silent a moment, then responds: "It's because of the herring that we eat."
The officer quiets down and the trip resumes. Soon the Jew takes out a piece of herring and starts to eat it. The officer asks him: "How many more pieces of that herring do you have?"
"A dozen."
"How much do you want for them?"
"Twenty rubles" [a big sum of money].
The officer takes out the money and gives it to the Jew. The old man gives him the herring, and the officer takes a bite. Suddenly he stops. "This is ridiculous," he says. "In Moscow I could have bought all this herring for a few kopecks."
"You see," says the Jew, "it's working already."

O'Sullivan, Cabot, Kelly and Mendlebaum was one of the most successful law firms in New York . Of all the partners, Mendlebaum brought in the most business.
Lunching with him one day, a curious friend asked, "Why is your name listed last? O'Sullivan spends most of his time in the south of France . Cabot is at his club's bar every afternoon, and Kelly is at the race track all the time. Since you bring in all the business, your name should be first."
To which Mendlebaum replied, "All my clients read from right to left."

This happened in the English class at a chassidic yeshiva. The teacher presented the students with a list of vocabulary words and gave them a homework assignment to write each word in a sentence. On the list was the word 'devout'.

One student returned the next day with the following sentence: "My father has long devouts."

Upon reading it, the principal asked the student if he was trying to make a joke out of the assignment.

 "No," the boy replied with a sincere look, "I looked up 'devout' in the dictionary, and it said, 'pious.'

At Mr Silver's Bar Mitzva, he asks his Rabbi to speak for five minutes. The Rabbi says he can’t talk because he left his teeth at home, so he sends his Shamash to run to his house and bring him his teeth. When he gets the teeth he gets up and starts speaking. 5 min. then ten, 20, 30, 40 and he keeps speaking. After an hour he finally gets down. Mr. Silver is not too happy and asks the Rabbi, "I told you to speak for only five minutes, what happened?" The Rabbi says "oy, my Shamash brought me my wife's teeth!

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Answer is D–  That was another easy one. I think I had it on an earlier practice test as well. But yes, Eilat is the southern most part of Israel and the half billion or so bears that migrate from Europe and Asia down to Africa and back again in the fall and spring make their way to that Arava valley to fuel up before hitting the Sahara dessert. Yoash is in Eilat mountains Timna has Solomons Pillars and the Hai Bar in Yotvata one can see birds, but its north of Eilat and not a sanctuary

score is Schwartz 8 and 1 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam so far.