Mashiach's Kippa- Parshat Vaeira 2025/ 5785

 

Insights and Inspiration from the Holy Land from Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz "Your friend in Karmiel" January 24th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 13 24th of Tevet 5785   Parshat Vaiera Mashiach’s Kippa It’s the old joke/truth/story about Mashiach. That when he finally comes nobody is going to accept him. The chasidim don’t want him because he’s not wearing a shtreimel. The litvaks because he doesn’t have a black hat. The Daati guys because he doesn’t serve in the army. (Although I think that they believe that he really will- while the more chareidi aren’t really that hung up that they believe he will have a shtreimel or black hat). The modern orthodox want him to have a college degree. It’s a problem he will have. But I guess that’s why he’s Mashiach. He’s going to have to convince everyone that he’s one of them. Or perhaps even more significantly and even more challenging, that we are really one of his. That, my friends, is perhaps an even more challenging job then wiping out Chamas, building the Bais Hamikdash or somehow convincing the Jews in the Diaspora that they should make aliya and leave their way too comfortable galus from the country that is on the cusp of finally becoming Made Great Again. If he can pull getting the Jews to all agree upon him to be Mashiach, that is the greatest mofeis/ miracle/ sign that he’s really the right man. Now the truth is if Klal Yisrael paid much attention to our leaders in the Torah, his job really wouldn’t really be that hard. I mean all our greatest leaders were outsiders. The first King of Israel, I pointed out to my tourists the other day, was King Shaul, who was certainly a tall strapping good looking warrior. Yet, at the same time he came from the tribe of Binyamin, that just a few minutes before were pretty much almost wiped out in a civil war by an army of hundreds of thousands of Jews from every tribe (of which Binyamin themselves killed in the first two battles tens of thousands of their brothers of those other tribes) in the worst civil war in our history following the story of the pilegesh/Concubine of Givah. What? You don’t know the story? I guess you need to come on a Rabbi Schwartz tour. But just imagine in America after the civil war of the North against the South, which the North won and got to keep their slaves. Imagine if the first president following that would be Barak Obama. It would be incomprehensible. It took almost 200 years until the racist laws were removed from the books and blacks could even sit next to whites on the bus. Yet, that’s the first King of Israel. The unlikely leader from the tribe of Binyamin that just lost the civil war. The next King, Dovid Ha’Melech, is even worse. A poor shepherd boy that hung out with the sheep all day. His own family pretty much left him behind. There were those that claimed he was a mamzer being born after his father separated from his wife. Others pointed out that his grandmother Rus wasn’t even really Jewish. His own father-in-law tried to take him out numerous times. And then of course you have all of those really bad scandals that one might arguably say makes Donald Trump look like Mother Theresa. There’s no way that Dovid Ha’Melech would’ve ever gotten into Brisk. And it’s highly doubtful his kids would be accepted in any school in Lakewood. Neither, for that matter, would that great anti-religious shepherd Rabbi Akiva who swore that he hated Rabbis so much that he wished he could bite them like a donkey (because a dog doesn’t break enough bones), and who ultimately passed the most draconian Chariedi draft laws in the history of Klal Yisrael, pulling his 24,000 Kollel Rabbis out of the Bais Midrash and forcing them to join that arrogant Israeli army of his student Bar Kochva to fight against the Romans and in which they were all ultimately killed. The Yerushalmi tells us that Rabbi Akiva himself took off his black hat and put on the green army uniform and was the Nosei Keilim- the bearer of arms/ general in that army. I wonder how many demonstrations there were against him in the streets of Jerusalem. And the list goes on and on and on. The origin stories of the greatest leaders of Klal Yisrael’s lives look more like a pathetic Hollywood makeover or critical Bible theory book perhaps,  than one of our Artscroll Gadol biography books. And Chazal as well don’t pull many punches in thus describing them. Although we do find throughout our sage two approaches in their descriptions, with some Rabbis trying to put shtreimels and black hats on all of our biblical great men and others knocking them down to the gutter. Yet both views (which are both obviously true- as paradoxical and mystical as it sounds) all come to the same conclusion. They were great. They were superhuman. They overcame challenges and most importantly they were one of the people and they were there for the people. Parshat Va’eira begins the story of our Exodus. We are told that when Mashiach comes our redemption from Egypt will pale in comparison to what we are hopefully very soon going to experience. Yet, before this whole story begins the Parsha begins with a pause and rude interruption that at first glance doesn’t seem to have much of a point. It’s information that we have all been given before. But even more perplexing is that the Torah really only tells us part of the story. Let’s recap the first chapter of the parsha in a nutshell. It begins with Hashem telling Moshe that He will take us out of Egypt with the four terminologies of redemption that we all know, as we drink the four cups of wine on Pesach each year to remind ourselves of them. It then stops and tells us that Moshe and Aharon speak to Bnai Yisrael as Hashem commanded them, which seemingly we know from last week. Parshat Shemot concluded with the Jews all being angry at Moshe and Aharon because of that, and Moshe complained to Hashem about putting him in this situation. Moshe tells Hashem that there’s no way Pharaoh will listen to him if he can’t even convince the Jews to listen to him. So why is the Torah telling us this again? The next verse is that Hashem is vayitzavem el Bnai Yisrael- he commands them to the children of Israel, which Rashi tells us is to be patient with them. And then to command them and Pharaoh to send the Bnai Yisrael out of Mitzrayim. And just when you thought this was all repetitive and boring enough. After-all we’re all itching to get to the fun part of the parsha with the staffs and snakes and plagues of blood, frogs, lice and wild animals, the Torah then stops and gives a yichus lesson of the lineage of the first three tribes. Reuvein and Shimon are called the “houses of their fathers” and tells us of their children. While for Levi, it gives us their children, their grandchildren, their great grandchildren their great-great-great grandchildren. It also tells us of Moshe’s mother Yocheved. Which fascinatingly enough it never told us any of this beforehand. If you remember back in Shemot, when it tells us about the birth of Moshe it only tells us that an anonymous man of Levi took a woman and had Moshe. It kind of conveniently left out the very messy fact that the woman that Amram, Moshe’s father, married and was Moshe’s mother was in fact his very incestuous older aunt. It seems Hashem left that out of Moshe’s yeshiva school application or shidduch resume. I wonder why. Yet here, davka at this point, it all comes out. Now it’s not only Moshe’s sketchy yichus that comes to the forefront here. It also drops some information about his brother Aharon’s as well. He has a grandson named Korach… Yeah that guy… As well his son Eliezer marries the daughter of Yisro, who was of course a goy that converted but before that was the chief idolator of his time. They have a kid who is a zealot named Pinchas and that lousy reputation of coming from an idolatrous grandfather follows him as well. These, the Torah concludes finally at the end of this dirty laundry list, are the heads of the house of Levi for their families. Finally this really strange chapter concludes with a very seemingly pointless and repetitively and grammatically awkward pasuk. “That’s Aharon and Moshe that Hashem spoke to about taking the Jewish people out of the land of Egypt… They are the ones’ that are speaking to Pharaoh the King of Mitzrayim to send the children of Israel out of Egypt. That is Moshe and Aharon. And it was on the day that Hashem spoke to Moshe in Egypt.” It’s only after that we read all this that the Torah goes back and tells us once again of Moshe’s complaint about Pharaoh. Yet this time if you look carefully his tune changes. The second time, Moshe’s only worry is that Pharaoh won’t listen to him because he’s got speaking problems. It’s got nothing to do anymore with the Children of Israel listening to him. Hashem tells him that it’s not going to be a problem. Aharon will interpret, all will be good. And then, by the way, this is how old Moshe and Aharon are. What’s going on here? What’s with this chapter? This interruption. This repetition. What is the Torah trying to tell us before we get to the big fun story of our redemption? The Shelah Ha’Kodesh, the Chizkuni and other commentaries all seem to suggest that this parsha is really a contrast to the parsha of Shemot in terms of our redemption. Until now Moshe is really an outsider. He has no connection as being part of the Jewish people. It really doesn’t even tell us who his parents are. He’s pulled out of a river. He’s raised like a goy. He only first goes out to them later in life. They turn onat him and call him a goy. He lives in Midyan for 60 years or so and marries some shiktza there, the daughter of a priest. Is it any wonder that he can’t fathom why the Jewish people won’t accept him? Even the tribe that he’s from, the tribe of Levi, isn’t really that hotsy tottsy. After-all they as well really weren’t part of the “people”. They were never enslaved. They weren’t “sharing the burden”. They were sitting in kollel all day, while everyone else wasn’t getting killed. How are they going to make this happen? How are these two going to bring the redemption?  Hu? Who? Aharon and Moshe… They’re both not nogaya- they are “him”. They’re not us. That’s where we left off on last week’s parsha. This week the Parsha called Va’Eira- Hashem shows us right in the beginning how He will show us. He shows us by commanding Aharon and Moshe unto Bnai Yisrael. The word doesn’t only mean I will command but it also means to connect. Hashem shows the Jewish people and us, how our redeemer, how Mashiach, will always come from the one that seems like he’s on the outside. That seems like he’s not from “unzereh” beis avos- father’s house and shtibel. but rather comes from quite the opposite; from rather precarious and messy roots. He might have an Egyptian accent, he might be the product of an incestuous relationship, he might be married to a colored shiktza from Midyan, or the daughter of the Pope of Egypt. But guess what? That’s Aharon and that’s Moshe. They’re Beit Avot. They’re the house of Levi. They’re the ones that you need to connect to and realize that your redemption will only come when you humble yourself enough to recognize that. It’s not just a lesson for Klal Yisrael and us. It’s a message and lesson for Moshe and Aharon. It’s not fun to be alienated and isolated and have your kids not accepted in their schools or red any shidduchim. You just want to throw up your hands, as Moshe does at the end of last week’s parsha and ask if it’s all really worth it. How and why would Pharaoh ever think that he should let the redemption of the Jewish people come and for Mashiach to reveal himself, if the Jews themselves can’t see the spark of Moshe in each of themselves? If they don’t believe in him, that he’s also part of them. That all of us have dirty laundry that perhaps we’ve buried in our father’s house that we’ve forgotten about. How can Mashiach come if we can’t see that even the most unlikely and most unlike us frum bessereh Jews also needs to be pulled out of a tunnel in Gaza. That unless he or she is saved, then we’re all not really in there together. That maybe that guy in the slave pit, or maybe that secular looking intermarried Jew is really not just one of us, but maybe even our redeemer that has a message from Hashem that perhaps we need to listen to. Thus the Torah pauses a moment before the redemption and connects us with this lesson. It’s the prerequisite to the plagues, to the wrath of Hashem falling upon Egypt and the miracles that will happen for our ancestors. The Torah tells us where Moshe and Aharon come from and then tells us that that’s really who Aharon and Moshe are. It is them that Hashem sent to Bnai Yisrael to take them out of Egypt. It is then them who can speak to Pharaoh. They are Moshe and Aharon. They are us. The sefarim note that it doesn’t tell us who Moshe’s children are in this recording, despite the fact that it tells us who Aharon’s are. Because we are all the children of Moshe. It is on “that day that Hashem spoke to Moshe”, the Klei Yakar tells us it tells us, because Moshe’s prophecy unlike all of the other prophets is by daytime. He’s the mouthpiece of Hashem. He speaks to him in Egypt. In the lowest place of the spiritual world. But it’s daytime for Moshe. And we are all connected to him.  From that verse on Moshe changes his tune. He has no doubt anymore about the Jewish people not believing in him in the rest of this process. He’s a beit Av. He as well is from our father’s house. It’s only his stutter that concerns him. Hashem tells him that he need not worry anymore. This is no longer about speaking skills. This is about revelation. It’s about connection. Moshe will speak, Aharon will speak. Pharaoh won’t listen anyways and the world will know that Hashem is one, his nation is one and the miracles and judgements will all take place. For we are all one down here, and thus the Oneness from above can reveal itself. What’s the message for us today? You tell me. Do we feel and relate to the children of Israel back then in Egypt? Can we not even imagine that Mashiach can come out of some secular Kibbutz? Do we believe that there are some Jews that probably don’t deserve to be redeemed? Do we feel that Mashiach can only be someone that looks like us? That he has to be someone that follows the takanon and rule book that my kids school or seminary will only allow you to be part of if he fits in that box. That Mashiach can only be someone who comes from a family that I would allow my child to marry and that I wouldn’t throw a shadchan down a flight of stairs for even suggesting. If we feel that way, then would probably have missed out on Shaul, we certainly would’ve never accepted Dovid Ha’Melech. We would neve have gone to the yeshiva or Rabbi Akiva and would probably still be in Mitrzayim waiting for a redeemer that had a black hat. It took us 210 years in Egypt to finally get the message. It took 86 years of severe persecution to finally just cry out and ask Hashem to send whoever and whatever it takes to redeem us. After 474 days of this war I’m ready. I want out. I want redemption. I don’t care what type of Kippa he’s wearing or if he even wears one at all. I want all of them home. I want all of you home. I want the ending that we have been promised and waiting for so long for. Va’eira- I want to be shown that glory. May this month of Shevat finally bring that awaited day. Have a blessed Chodesh Shevat and an amazing Shabbos! Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz  ************************ YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK   “A guter yid darf nit kain briv, a shlechten yidden helft nit kain briv” - A good Jew doesn’t need a letter of recommendation; for a bad one, it would do no good.   RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK answer below at end of Email   5. Solomon’s Pools are located in the area marked in the Oslo Accords with the English letter ______ Which Order of Crusaders settled on the Temple Mount? A. The Templars B. The Hospitallers C. The Teutonics D. The Lazarists RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK   https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vehi-shemada  -  Feeling a Little Pesach with the parsha this week here’s my Vehi She’amda which is amazing Dovid Lowy Arrangements  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOa15INaXvI  – Eitan Katz Latest song Lulay Torascha Kinyan Masechta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcpdkRLU2Zc – Hayom Kamti Samayach Hanan Ben Ari Latest… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buiNbNUqB2g  – Yechadshau Dudi Kalish RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK Megiddo Armegeddon- 609 BC – It’s a problem when you’re too sure Mashiach is on his way sometimes. I’m trying to work on this concept. The downfall of and end of the glory period of Yoshiyahu concludes with this sad story that we recall each Tisha B’av with the Kinna that Yirmiyahu composed on this fallen righteous king. Yoshiyahu after this entire teshuva movement that he had kicked off was on a high. The Temple had been restored. The idolatry had been removed. There has never been an era like this since his great-zaidy King Shlomo. The people were united. And thus he felt that Eretz Yisrael was living in a Messianic time. Yet, he was wrong.   See, despite his best efforts, our sages tell us, the Jews really still were harboring hidden idolatry. It was fake new. They had TV sets behind their sefarim shanks and unfiltered internet that nobody knew about on their other smart phones that they hid away while they only used their Kosher ones in public. But Yoshiyahu that it was all good. And thus when Pharaoh Necho of Egypt decided that he wanted to travel through Israel to attack Bavel and help his ally in Syria/Ashur (or alternatively to attack Ashur- it seems that there’s some debate about this historically although the Navi seems to suggest the latter case). Yoshiyahu told him that he was not going to allow him to do that.   Now, Pharaoh is not someone that you say no to. Not back in Moshe’s day and not in Yoshiyahu’s days either. He however was very polite about it. He splained that he had no intention of invading Israel. It was really just to get across to the North that was the issue. Yet, Yoshiyahu told Pharaoh that the Torah tells us that when the Jews are doing the will of Hashem, “A sword will not pass through your land”. And so he wasn’t going to stand for it. They went out to fight meeting in Meggido, here in the North of Israel in the Jezree’el valley. A great Tanach site by the way.  The terrible tragic battle took place there where Yoshiyahu who stood at the forefront of his army himself was killed with 300 arrows that pierced him.   Yirmiyahu, who was a kohen, held his dying body and buried all the blood out of each wound and cried as his soul left him. It is at that moment that he composed the Kinnos we recite. It is a Kinnos that starts the destruction because its all downhill from here. Our sages tell us that Yoshiyahu who was buried in the city of David’s mistake was that he didn’t ask Yirmiyahu first about what he should do. Had he done so he would’ve realized that it’s not what Hashem wanted. It wasn’t time yet. The Messianic Euphoria wasn’t ready to be realized. It’s this lesson that I have to knock into myself as we sit here and wait for that day finally to come. May it be soon.   RABBI SCHWARTZ'S LINEAGE JOKES OF THE WEEK My bloodline has a history of stomach problems. Runs in the family.   What do you give a dog that graduates from university? A pedigree   I couldn't join the KKK, apparently my bloodline isn't pure enough. Turns out, my parents weren't even related.   Native American run deep in my bloodline. That’s why I can’t grow facial hair. I have Apache beard.   A potato had 3 daughters. When they were all grown up, the first one came to her father and said “daddy, daddy, I’m going to get married!” Father potato asked to whom? “To an Idaho potato!” Said the first daughter potato. Father potato said “Idaho potatoes are very hearty and good lineage. He will be a good provider for you, you have my blessing.” The second daughter went to her father and said, “daddy, daddy, I’m going to get married!” Father potato asked to whom? “To a sweet potato!” Said the second daughter. Father potato said “sweet potatoes are very loving and will care for you forever. He will be a good provider for you, you have my blessing.” The third daughter went to her father and said, “daddy, daddy, I’m going to get married!” Father potato asked to whom? “To Sean Hannity!” Said the third daughter. “Oh no!” Said the father potato, “he’s just a commentator!”   Fred came home from University in tears. "Mum, am I adopted?" "No of course not", replied his mother. Why would you think such a thing? Fred showed her his genealogy DNA test results. No match for any of his relatives, and strong matches for a family who lived the other side of the city. Perturbed, his mother called her husband. "Honey, Fred has done a DNA test, and... and... I don't know how to say this... he may not be our son." "Well, obviously!" he replied. "What do you mean?" "It was your idea in the first place" her husband continued. "You remember, that first night in hospital when the baby did nothing but scream and cry and scream and cry. On and on. And you asked me to change him." "I picked a good one I reckon. Ever so proud of Fred."   I wanted to find out more about my ancestors so I did a little digging and... ...got thrown out of the cemetery.   What do you call a protestor whose ancestors grew weed? A grass roots activist   If you find $60-80 to be too expensive for ancestry DNA kits, I have a cheap alternative...Announce that you won the lottery and you'll quickly find relatives you never knew you had!   An assistant to Donald Trump told him she had a fantastic dream last night. There was a huge parade I sent that ‘Ancestry’ site some information on my Family Tree. They sent me back a pack of Seeds, and suggested that I just start Over..   Took an ancestry test and found out I’m 50% Jewish. But I talked them down to 40.   What do you call someone with no German ancestry? Guten free.   The problem with Trump jokes: Republicans don't think they're funny, and Democrats don't think they're jokes *************************************** The answer to this week”s question is A – A fairly easy question. Solomon’s Pools which are named after Shlomo Ha”Melech as the pasuk tells us that he built pools for his wives near ein eitam and that is the general area. Yet the pools themselves are much more modern built by The Chashmonaim and Herod hundreds of years later. They served as the main source of water for the Temple Mount that Herod constructed. The area that it is in is Area A, which means that its under Palestinian Control and there are big red signs that say it would be dangerous to Israelis lives to enter there. Nice… The second question was even easier. Templars were called that because they watched over the temple. So that was fairly simple So I got them both right this week and the new score is Rabbi Schwartz 3.5 Ministry of Tourism 1.5 on this exam so far.

Love Lost and Love Found- Chayei Sarah 2013/5774

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

 October 24^th 2013 -Volume 4, Issue 4 –20^th of Cheshvan 5774

Parshat Chayei Sarah

Love Lost and Love Found

 Her brother is a crook. Her father is not much better. Her grandfather was a pagan and actually ran a business selling all types of religious paraphernalia. She's kind of young and supposed to be a sweet girl, always helping people out and praying a lot and she's really great with camels. There are rumors though that there are fertility problems in the family. She has an aunt that was not able to have children until very late in life. So whadya say? I mean, I know your son is a very pious man and all. And that you're a pretty well off guy that could afford a lot better. But who are we fooling? He's not young anymore and the truth is your lineage isn't much prettier. And the story about you taking him up and almost killing him, didn't gain any major shidduch (matchmaking) points either. So nuuu..? Is it a match or not? Oh, and I forgot to mention it's probably going to be a hefty dowry to get this girl, so send lots of jewelry to impress.

And thus the first Jewish match was made. I imagine most of the average matchmakers would never have been able to pull of such a match like that; the son of the greatest man of the generation, Avraham, and the daughter of Besuel and brother of Lavan, or as he was named by his victims and relatives as "the swindler". Truth is it's probably a good thing they didn't do too many background family checks on most of our ancestors. We would probably not be too proud. Lots of skeletons falling out of lots of closets. Uncles, brothers, associates and cousins whose pictures we would probably pull out of our family albums and hide from the kids-so they don’t ask too many questions. We have no shortage of black sheep.

The problem is that we have a mitzvah to learn the Torah. So we can't hide that book. And sadly enough without any rose smelling perfume to cover up the stench, or even any Israeli smoky cigarettes or oily shwarma smells to overpower it-all our dirty laundry comes out. We had an uncle named Lot, one called  Yishmael, one named Esau, the leader of our tribes Yehuda fathered a child with his daughter-in-law- incidentally that is where king David came from, and on, and on, and on…It's all out there and there's no fixing our Shidduch resume. Even our great leader Moshe married the daughter of a once idolatrous priest. It's a real mess all around. If any of these people would be living in today's world there wouldn't be enough camels in the world that they could offer to get a shidduch/match. But yet they did find their "Bashert". The Jewish nation was thus born. Perhaps the lesson is to not neccesarily judge everyone by their families. We've all got some baggage.

The truth is though the story of the marriage of our forefather Yitzchak and our matriarch Rivkah in this weeks Torah portion is not a story of a girl from the "other side of the tracks" finding despite the odds her "true love" and running off to build their beautiful tomorrow together. Neither is it a story that tells us that one should not be particular or careful with "checking out" ones prospective spouses family and background. In fact it’s the first time in the Torah where we ever find someone making his messenger take a very graphic and serious oath. "Don't take a girl from the Canaani daughters". Avraham is a big believer in lineage. In fact her lineage is the only really condition that he gives that she be from his family. Not her looks, not her deeds, not her religious observance level, not whether she will cover her hair, light Shabbat candles, not even who she voted for in the last elections, just make sure she is from my family. Or as we say in Yiddish "fun unzereh".

To understand the Jewish concept of marriage the Torah is trying to teach us particularly with this first "shidduch", I believe we have to understand the revolution that took place in the approach to marriage with the advent of Judaism. Maimonides in his work on the laws of marriage begins with a history lesson.

"Before the Torah was given, when a man would meet a woman in the marketplace and he and she decided to marry, he would bring her home, conduct relations in private and thus make her his wife. Once the Torah was given, the Jews were commanded that when a man desires to marry a woman, he must acquire her as a wife in the presence of witnesses. [Only] after this, does she become his wife. This is [alluded to in Deuteronomy 22:13]: "When a man takes a wife and has relations with her.... This process of acquisition is universally referred to as erusin ("betrothal") or kiddushin ("consecration")."

With this law the world changed. People were no longer "living together" as an act of convenience, accommodation, for the purpose of procreation. Marriage was now given a new role. A man would "acquire" a wife. How hard are those words to our 21^st (and probably even 20^th century) ears to read, to relate to, to respect? But that's what it is. That's what God's description of the ultimate process of marital fulfillment is. Acquisition. Perhaps the way to understand it is by what it is called, rather than the description of its process-Kiddushin- consecration, holiness, sanctification. Marriage which done through the process of acquisition= Kiddushin/Holiness.

But isn't holiness something between God and I? Doesn't it happen in Synagogue? Marriage is about love, respect, shared goals, chemistry, children. Where does Hashem come into this process and what does He have to do with the process of marrying a woman.

To understand it all we really have to go back to the beginning, and I do mean "The Beginning".

"And Hashem said it is not good for man/adam to be alone, I will make him a helper opposite him."

Hashem never seemed to have a problem understanding why he created male and female elephants, dolphins, ants or even plantae (the fancy scientific word for plant life). All of a sudden He creates a single man and says "hey, this is not a good idea" and separates what seems to be this androgynous self-reproducing man/female-like being from one another and makes a female. What made him different from all the other beings? Why were we together and then separated? The answer is that man as opposed to all other beings was created with the spirit of God. He was given a Divine soul. The soul encompassed everything about God both male and female. Hashem Echad- God is one and we were created with that one-ness. The problem is that we were so great that Hashem said we would fool ourselves and begin to think that we were the only beings that would be ruling the world. God in the heaven and Man/God down here on earth. It seems that some of this tendency to think we are God still stuck with men today.  Hashem therefore split us up. He put man/woman to sleep and took a rib from him and built woman.

"He called her Isha/woman because she was taken from Ish/man"

He made Female/Eve to remind the guys that we're not God. We were created to bring the God from heaven down here on earth. We were created to make Kiddushin /sanctification upon this world. The process for doing that is realizing that we are lacking in our soul and our ability to achieve this goal when we are separated, when we are not one again. We reacquire what was taken from us to form the oneness that will bring that Kedusha holiness back.

Until the Torah was given it was an old story. Man meets Girl, they like each other, what a nice coincidence, let's go do what we gotta do together; a partnership of two different beings to meet their individual needs and desires.  This was a pre-Abraham world. This was a world that didn't know that there was a Divine soul in each and every one of us; the world that didn't know and understand that we were put here to bring heaven to earth and earth up to heaven. In the world of Avraham though, each man had to understand that life was not just about happening to meet someone and living life together. Man had to understand that he was lacking the part of his soul that he needed to fulfill his purpose on this world. Marriage is not anything that we "fall into". It has to be a calculated understanding that I am missing something and I need to acquire it back once again. Not only do I need to acquire it, but that  acquisition is something that is the most essential thing in my life. Without her I can't make it happen. I can't be holy, I can't fulfill my holy role. I am Livado-alone just a half of me down here while Hashem is waiting up there.

The acquisition though is unlike any other acquisition. This is not just like a laptop, car, cow or camel. This is my life. It's me... the return of me...it's us. The man makes the aquisition because she was taken from him, but in truth it is a merger. It is rejoining her once again and uniting us into that original soul. Accidental, coincidental, convenient and even mere emotional relationships can come and go. Holy ones that unite the two souls in kiddushin with that higher purpose are as eternal as their life mission and mandate. They last forever.

When Avraham was looking for the mate for his son, the first Jewish shidduch, the only criterion was someone that comes from a place that recognizes it has that Divine DNA. Lavan and Besuel, our Matriarch Rivkah's father and brother, with all their flaws, still possessed that one recognition. They were the children of Nachor who grew up with Avraham. They had within them as did Avraham the potential and spark that would ultimately be ignited. They weren't from the cursed son of Noah, Cham. Rather they were the descendants of Shem. Their offspring would be able to make Kiddushin. The first Jewish wedding is ready to happen.

But what about love? Yes, what about love. Wait my friends, wait. Of course this is love. In fact it is the first time the Torah ever mentions love between a man and his wife. Adam "knew" Eve, Abraham "took" Sarah, But no mention of love. Yitzchak and Rivka meet and finally we have find love.

 "And Yitzchak brings her to the tent of his mother Sarah (OB"M) and acquires her… and she becomes a wife to him… and he loves her."

To quote Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in the 19^th century "the more she becomes his wife the more he loves her". Love in its truest sense are once the man and woman connect in that deepest way. The word love in Hebrew ahava has in fact the same numerical value (13) as another word Echad-one.  Love is eternal because it is those two souls that have found one another and have committed to a life of transcendence, a relationship of holiness. They have become one. It's not the beginning of the story. It's the happily and holy ever after.

Have a lovely Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

                                                                                          

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RABBI SCHWARTZES TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

(answer below at end of Email)

Where is the ANZAC Memorial located

a)      Be'er Sheva

b)      Be'eri

c)      Ramle

d)     Mt. Scopus

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Me'arat Ha'Machpela, Hebron-  The oldest Jewish site in the world. That pretty much makes it a cool place in of itself. The first piece of land purchased in Israel. Even cooler. The place where the first was buried,where all our forefathers and 3/4 of our matriachs are buried, it doesn't get cooler. Welcome to Hevron the city that corresponds to earth (of the 4 basic elements of the world) and that is the foundation of the world. Here our sages tells us Adam and Eve are buried as well as the head of Esau. The current building which is on top of the doubled burial caves underneath where there were many archeological clay pots and other testimonies dating back to the early Israelite period, was built by Herod (same guy who built the Temple and you can see the similarities in the huge stones. After that it was built again and again by Byzantines, Arabs and Crusader and Mamaluks. From the period of the Mamluks for about 700 years until 1967 Jews were only allowed up till the 7 step outside. After it was conquered singlehandedly by then Chief Rabbi Goren it has been mostly put under the authority of the Waqf, particularly the access to the underground caves in the portion of Yitzchak and Rivka. Jews have access to those areas only ten days a year one of them being this Shabbos- known as Shabbos Chevron when thousands make the pilgrimage to this holiest of Jewish burial sites.

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RABBI SCHWARTZ YOUTUBE LINK OF THE WEEK

(In honor of Shabbat Chevron)

 Life in Hebron today the heroes that live there for us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gO2zCyewhI


The story of the resettlement of Chevron by the heroic woman who started it all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj_y93Cbv6M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMx8j67zKWI

 Chevron songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-V9uOlcuj8



RABBI SCHWARTZES QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Your birthday is the day that Hashem decided that the world could not exist without you."-Rebbe Nachman of Breslav

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RABBI SCHWARTZES JOKE OF THE WEEK

A mother is having a very tense relationship with her fourteen-year-old son. Screaming and fighting are constantly going on in the house. Finally she takes him to a psychoanalyst.

  After two sessions, the doctor calls the mother into his office and says "Your son has an Oedipus complex."

"Oedipus Shmedipus," The woman answers, "As long as he loves his mother."

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RABBI SCHWARTZES EXAM ANSWER OF THE WEEK

Answer is B: ANZAC or the Australian New Zealand Armed Corps were a battalion that fought with the British against the Turks in WWI here in the holyland. They were a Calvary brigade (horses) and perhaps the greatest battle they fought was the battle of Be'er Sheva (captured in the movie "The Lighthorsemen"). The Be'eri forest not far from Be'er Sheva was donated by the Australian division of the KKL (JNF) and is the location of the large A shaped Memorial to the soldiers that fell in WWI from ANZAC and from a distance it is also in the shape of a horse. Along the memorial are enjoyable hikes throughout the forest.