Holyland Insights and Inspiration: baal shem tov

So the Baal Shem, of course asked him the question that any Jew would ask. The question that we've been asking for millennia, but these days it's every time we listen to the News, whenever we daven, when we look at the results of the primaries in America, the craziness in Europe and the absolute nuttiness and self-destructiveness of what we seem to be doing to each other here in Israel, while our enemies are laughing their tuchas off.

"Eimasai ka'asi mar- when are you coming already, man…"

I always liked the "man" at the end of that question.

As this most famous story of the Baal Shem, goes, Mashiach responds famously,

Ki'she'yafutzu ma'ayanosecha chutza- when your wellsprings pour out to the world.

When the teachings of the Baal Shem and Chasidus spread to the world. That's the way that Chasidim always understand the story. It's what started the Chasidic movement. It's the heart and basis of everything that it has been dedicated to and that the entire world, bot the Lithuanian and even secular Jewish world is somehow connected to on some level or another. It's Uman. It's Kerister. It's Carlebach. It's Kumzitz sing-alongs. It's spreading joy. Od Yoter Tov. It's Mashiach energy. It's Aliyah to Israel. It's the Sefat Emet. It's deep Jewish thought. It's Tanya. It's Chabad Houses and Tefillin stands. It's dressing like a Jew unabashedly in public. It's Jewish pride. It's a cry and a longing for unity and revelation. Those are the wellsprings of the Baal Shem. That's when Mashiach is coming.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, asks an amazing question on this story though, and turns it all on its head. This is the week when we read the story of Hashem turning the curses of Bilaam into blessing. It's the week when donkeys talk, when wicked people become prophets and where Mashiach first makes his prophetic appearance.

For you in America that are still reading Chukas, it's also a week when the tumah of death becomes holy. When the pure Kohen who performs the purification Red Heifer ritual becomes impure in the process. It's the parsha when we're meant to talk to rocks to have their wellsprings pour out rather than hit them. It's when Moshe and Aharon can't come into the land. It's the parsha when the other side of the Jordan which isn't part of Israel turns out and flips around and becomes Israel. It's the turnaround everything on its head week.

It's also the week when the 17^th of Tamuz will turn into a holiday instead of a fast day, God willing, this Thursday. But that's only if we understand the depth of bringing out that wellspring. And for that the Rebbi turns it all around on its head, with this incredible question and insight. Because to be honest. We really need to turn this whole thing around, don't you think?

The question he poses is that seemingly, the Baal Shem Tov who was a fairly learned guy, should've known that this question is one that is already posed in a story in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 98.) where Rav Yehoshua Ben Levi also asks Mashiach the exact same question using the same words. "Nu Man, when ya coming already?" And Mashiach there famously responds, that he is coming today. Hayom. Today however is a reference the Talmud tells us of the "Day- if we will listen to Hashem's voice". The Baal Shem knows this gemara, asked 1500 years before him by this 3^rd century Rabbi. So what's he being a nudnik for. Mashiach already said he'll come when we listen to Hashem.

Perhaps even more fascinating and revealing the Rebbi notes is that Mashiach in this story doesn't give the same answer to the Baal Shem Tov. He doesn't do the cryptical "today… if you…" thing. Seemingly the Baal Shem Tov was on track, as the answer switched. So the Rebbe quotes the Riyatz who explains this story, that what the Baal Shem Tov was asking and telling Mashiach… get ready for this… Is that day is already here. We've all heard the voice. We've all done what we need. We're here in the car. Where are you? When are you going to get into the driver's seat?

Slow down, a minute. What does that mean. Really? We're all there? We're all ready? We've all returned? I've heard of fake News before, but c'mon, what's the Baal Shem trying to pull over Mashiach's eyes? I mean I don't even think that CNN or Tucker could sell a lie that big. The problem is that it's not a lie. Because Mashiach doesn't deny that claim. He agrees with the Baal Shem Tov. He doesn't say, you're not ready. The nation hasn't done teshuva. Their a bunch of sinners. They have smartphones. They fight. They live in America comfortably. They don't have what it takes to kill their enemies. Mashiach doesn't tell the Baal Shem any of those things that I say all the time. And that pretty much every pulpit Rabbi preaches to their choir about what every else needs to do.

See, Mashiach, like the Baal Shem Tov, had a far better eyesight then we do. He wasn't like Bilaam that was shesum ha'ayin- that could only look at Israel with that negative eye and find all of our problems and things that aren't really about every single Jew in the world. Rather, like Hashem opens up before this idiot donkey-sleeping with goys to see, the Baal Shem and Mashiach see lo hibit aven bi'Ya'akov- there is no sin in Israel. There's no trouble in Israel. We all hear Hashem's voice. Are tents are amazing! They're perfect. That flame is burning so bright in each of us. All that other stuff. It's just external. It's the shmutz that may have gathered on the unbelievable perfect shining glorious diamond that is even the most far Jewish neshoma. We really are there. We just don't see it yet. We don't have the Baal Shem's vision.

Mashiach thus tells the Baal Shem, that he will come as soon as his ma'ayanecha spreads and pours outside. The word ma'ayanecha is not just wellsprings, but it's also his ayin- his eyesight. He will come when we all start to see the world and our fellow yid with those special holy eyes that only sees the holiness in each Jew. That sees the Jewish people, who a few minutes after Bilam's curse turned blessing is sinning with the daughters of Moav. That sees us even after the vicious fights and battles of Korach of brother against brother. That can look at our nation this week on the 17^th of Tamuz when Moshe came down with the Tablets 40 days after we received the Torah and saw and heard Hashem on Sinai, and still advocate for us and get us forgiveness, as Moshe did. When we can take those wellsprings and vision of the Baal Shem Tov and Mashiach as we look at our brothers and sisters even to the outskirts- the chutza- to the furthest Jews in the world. That's when he will come. That will be the redemption.

Mashiach first appears in the Torah when even Bilam can see this. It's to show us that if he can see it we should as well. It's what Moshe and Aharon needed to learn by just talking to the rock and believing that miracles can just happen for our nation because we are so holy even when it seems we're complaining and fighting, because we're not rebels, like he said, but rather beautiful gems, with the holiest souls that could never be tainted. If we see that and we have that vision, then eiver la'yarden can turn into Israel. Then the impurity of death, can become pure again. Then the whole world will see Hashem's presence, that we claim we want to see and have been davening for so long to merit to be able to feel. But it has to start with seeing Him in each other.

The Navi tells us that the fast days of Tisha B'av and the other fasts related to the destruction of the Temple will turn-around and become days of celebration. In the case of Tisha B'Av the turn-around for the day of the destruction of the Temple will be the day that it is rebuilt. What would therefore be the turnaround for the day of the 17^th of Tamuz when the walls of Jerusalem were breached? Seemingly, I always understood that it would be the day when the walls will be rebuilt. Yet, this year I heard from my Rebbi a different take. He suggested that we don't want walls around Jerusalem. Walls are a sign of weakness. They limit us. They keep us in ghettos and gated communities. They keep the holiness of the Bais Ha'Mikdash on that mountain top. We don't want walls.

Rather, what will happen god-willing this week when the 17^th of Tamuz turns around into a holiday. The walls of Jerusalem will be breached once again. Yet, this time they will go from the inside outside. Yafutzu ma'ayonesecha chutza- the wellsprings will pour forth through them. The vision of the Baal Shem Tov will become the way the whole world sees us. They will see the one united holy spark that we see in one another. They will see how wonderous the tents and dwelling places of Israel. Our doors are not opposite one another; we don't want to see anyone else's flaws. Rather we want to see the Mishkan the Beit Ha'Mikdash, the Mashiach in everyone. When we see that it will pour out to the world and Mashiach will come. Hashem will return. Because we all have heard Him. We've heard His voice. We've done the "Today" show. It's now time to start broadcasting it out.

Have a spectacular Shabbos and may we all have a festive 17^th of Tamuz!

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" A gutn mentsh vet di shenk nit kalye machen, a shlechtn vet der beys-hamedresh nit farrichtin.– A tavern can't corrupt a good man, and a synagogue can't reform a bad one.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

5. The book “Onomasticon” describes Israel’s geography during the ______ period.

Which of the following interchanges is named after a significant event from the Tannaitic period (period of the ‘Tannaim’)?

A. Somekh

B. Anava

C. HaTishbi

D. Tel Kashish

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kgml8SiNun0NnxNTDt0fqS9xioBPOORnA&si=XrIt06VRDIdweErm – So excited for this latest Dovid Lowy gorgeous release Kirvas! Mamash!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z5KWsMI93I&list=RD1Z5KWsMI93I&start_radio=1 - Gorgeous Eitan Katz Ma Tovu!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXXQjP1PGd8&list=RDqXXQjP1PGd8&start_radio=1 - Remember this oldie Shalsheles Ma Tovu?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91xWSl11f0c&list=RD91xWSl11f0c&start_radio=1 – And of course the Shwekey MA MA MA classic.. now you're good… Which did I forget?

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

The Registry -345 BC- I think its pretty obvious to all of us that study Torah to realize that it's a pretty important book that doesn't have irrelevant or unimportant things written in it. There's a message something that we need to learn and study from. A prophecy that speaks to me today. That being the case it is fascinating that there are a few chapters in the Books of Ezra and Nechemia that I imagine if most of us skipped through it we wouldn't feel we're missing out on much. Because they're just a list of names. Families. All those that went up with Ezra to the land of Israel. It's an Aliyah census.

Hmmm… Maybe these are important people and families? Is that why they're mentioned? Nope., well actually that's not entirely true. See, the families that went up with Ezra were all of the misfits. They were the mazmers, the chalals that came from illicit relationships, slaves that had been freed, criminals, abandoned children. Yup, these first Olim to Israel kinda looked like some of my shuls that I ran in the States. The West Seattle Torah Learning Center. In fact our sages tell us that Ezra wanted to clean out all of Bavel so he specifically searched and found all of these misfits that didn't daven in the regular shuls. All the other big machers and prestigious community members and holy rollers didn't want to come anyways. So he switched gears to take all of the shleppers.

Yet, he did something amazing with these people. He gave them jobs and positions of power. They were coming into the land of Israel and it needed to be reworked. It needed new leadership. The old school didn't get it. They were to ingratiated to the system. They couldn't see past the protocols that were put into place. Not past the bureaucracy. They couldn't see a new Israel that was different then ever before. He needed these guys. And by putting them into positions of power and responsibility, something they never had before, he gave them the confidence to build the future.

So their names are listed. Every single one. Three chapters of the books of prophets. They're eternal. They're forever. They're there to remind us and challenge us today. If we want the same for ourselves. Or do we just want to remain nameless and irrelevant and unremembered corpses in Bavel, in Persia, in London, or in Lakewood who may feel prestigious now, but in fact are totally disconnected from the eternal story of our nation. They're not about returning the Shechina. The shnorrers, mamzer, former slave who doesn't even know who his parents, is more important to you. Now if that isn't a prophecy worth recording, I don't know what is.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE EYESIGHT JOKES OF THE WEEK

Why did the smartphone have to wear glasses? It lost all of its contacts.

What did one pupil say to the other? I’m dilated to meet you.

What do you call a potato wearing glasses? A Spec-Tater!

What do you call an optician living on an Alaskan island? An optical Aleutian.

What was the innocent lens’s excuse to the policeman? "I’ve been framed, officer!"

Where is the eye located? Between the H and the J.

Where does bad light end up? In Prism!

What do you call a dinosaur with no eyes? A ‘do-you-think-he-saurus.’

What do you call a fish with no eyes? Fishually impaired.

What has four eyes and a mouth? The Mississippi.

How many eye doctors does it take to change a lightbulb? One… or two?!

Guess who I bumped into on the way to the eye doctor. Everyone.

What do you say to a pirate with two eyes? “Aye aye, captain!”

What do you say if they only have one eye? “Aye, captain!”

What did the right eye say to the left eye? “Between you and me, there’s something that smells.”

A man goes to the optometrist for his eye test and is asked what he can see.

“I see empty airports, empty football fields, closed theaters, and closed pubs,” he says.

To which the optometrist replies, “Perfect — you’ve got 2020 vision!”

What happens after you rub ketchup in your eyes? You feel silly in Heinz sight.

Patient: “Doctor, I’ve got mustard in my eyes, and I can’t see a thing!”

Doctor: “Any other symptoms?”

Patient: “No, but I have the strangest feeling this has happened before.”

Doctor: “French mustard?”

Patient: “Yes, why?”

Doctor: “It’s dijon view.”

What do you call a lotion that makes your eyes wet? Moist-your-eyes-er.

A magician runs into a man who doesn’t believe in magic. “Prove to me that you can do magic,” says the skeptic. “I bet you can’t.” With that, the magician turns the man into an eyeball. Shocked, the man says, “Well, eye’ll be!”

What do you call it when an Apple user looks you in the eye? iContact.

Your eyes aren’t real.They’re just in your head.

Why are E.T.’s eyes so big? He saw his phone bill.

A man gets an eye exam, after which the doctor has a concerned look on her face.

“What’s wrong?” asks the patient.

“Well, your test results don’t look too good,” the doctor says.

“Can I see them?” says the patient.

The doctor answers, “Probably not.”

What do you call a pig with three eyes? Piiig.

What do you call a deer with no eyes? No-eye deer.

Looking for a good eye doctor…I can’t see mine anymore.

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The answer to this week's question is A– Baruch Hashem I'm back in the game here… I've been getting nervous. The Omnasticon written by Eusibius a Byzantine 4^th century Bishop lists all the places in Israel and is an important historical work in identifying Biblical sites. The Somech intersection not far from Karmiel is in between Usha and Shefaram where Rav Yehuda Ben Bava gave semicha to his 5 students and was shot to death by arrows there. So I go this one right and the test continues with Rabbi Schwartz having 3.5 points and the MOT having 1.5 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

Friday, May 30, 2025

Flagged! - Parshat Bamidbar Shavuot 5785 2025

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

May 30^th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 29 3^rd of Sivan 5785

Parshat Bamidbar

Flagged!

Ivri was 21. He was married for a little over a year to Miriam. They met when he gave her a hitch in his car near Shilo a few years ago. Their wedded bliss, though, turned into a long-distance relationship when the war started as they both served in the army. Ivri was in Lebanon fighting, while Miriam was serving near Chevron. They had spent an amazing Shabbos together up in the Golan on their extended Shana Rishona, as their first year of marriage saw them separated from each other for most of the year, as Ivri was an officer fighting on the front lines. They chose the North of Israel for their getaway just in case he got called back and needed to return to his base quickly. As they stood out in the Golan overlooking the magnificent views of the glorious land Ivri turned to Miriam and told her that he knew how difficult this was for her. But this is our job. We are the eternality of Israel. This land, this view, our nation, they need us. For this we were chosen. For this day we were raised.

Hillel was also 21. His wife of a year and half, Zahava, married him in middle of the war. Yet like Ivri and so many of our soldiers, the mitzva of Shana Rishona, staying home and rejoicing and spending time with one's wife that the Torah mandates, falls away, as the Rambam tells us, when there is a war of a mitzva that needs to be fought. In those times we even take a groom from his Chupa to go fight. It was a challenging year for the couple, but the war brought them even closer. Hillel would write letters, would call regularly and their weekends and moments together were more cherished than many that take those simple things for granted.

Ivri was killed in Lebanon leading his troops into battle by a sniper. His father Ilan, himself a soldier that had been called back to service since October 7^th and was in charge of operations in the North, told us how he had read the parsha of the binding of Yitzchak that previous Shabbos and got stuck on it. He noted how Hashem had sent a ram to Avraham to bring as his offering in place of his son, and how in this war, there are no rams. The children themselves are going up to the mountain and giving their lives for Hashem and for their nation. The fathers, like himself are not there with their children on that mountain. Yet, Ivri, like so many of the 983 fallen soldiers, have the faces of their fathers and the generations before them, as they take up the sword to fight the battles of our nation.

Hillel, was killed just a few weeks later in Gaza along with his two friends Eyal and Netanel, who were also 21 years old. A mine blew up in a building they were clearing there. Eyal and Netanel didn't leave behind widows though, as Hillel did. They never merited to find their bashert. I'm not sure what's worse or sadder. A young man who never lived long enough to find that love and have a home, or one that did for a short time, but was never was able to build a family and that would leave behind a mourning 21-year-old widow, who had dreams of the life she would build with her love.

Hillel and Ivri are buried next to one another on Har Hertzel. They had military funerals with flags draped over their coffins as hundreds joined their grieving families to share in their sorrow, to show their respect. At most of these funerals there are people that attend that never even knew the family of the fallen soldier. There are soldiers there from their units that served with them. There are religious and non-religious, friends, neighbors and strangers from around the country and even visitors from chutz la'aretz that feel the need to be there and to connect. That understand that these are our children. They are our korbanos tzibur, our sacrificial lambs that Hashem is taking from us. They want to feel the pain and hug the families and the widows and tell them how much we feel for them. How much their sacrifice for us and for am Yisrael is an inspiration. How their legacy will always live on within us.

I know about Hillel and Ivri, from my friend Gedalia who met with Zahava and Miriam the other day. It seems that these two 21-year-old widows met over Pesach by the house of his friends the incredible and well known philanthropic Schottenstien family who had invited them over for a holiday meal. At the meal Jay asked them if there was anything in the world that he could get them. He was so moved by their story and their husbands' sacrifice. Since the beginning of the war, Jay, together with my other friend Shai, had spearheaded an effort helping our soldiers and all of the fallen families of this war. He's been known to give out cars, I-phones, I-Pads and financial grants to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for families. They make birthday parties and bar mitzvas for orphans and weddings for soldiers. As well, together with Gedalia, the CEO of the largest Jewish Publishing House, they have sent hundreds of thousands of Talmuds, chumashim and sefarim to soldiers on the front line serving. An offer from Jay Schottenstien for anything that you want is like winning the lotto. It's rubbing the bottle and the genie just popped out.

Now, before I tell you what they asked for, because Jay wasn't going to let them off the hook, I want to describe them to you. They're young, beautiful 21-year-old "dati" girls. These are not Bais Yaakov girls. They wore bandannas thingies on their head that certainly didn't cover most of their hair, but that matched the pants that many of the girls in those circles wear. The short sleeves on their shirts and open necklines certainly wouldn't pass any Chareidi school inspection and neither would their nail polish. If you'd see them in the street, you'd probably think they're not as frum as you…especially if you're from Lakewood or Boro Park. But that's pretty much the way you think about everyone over there…😊

They turned to Jay and told him together that they each really wanted one thing. They each wanted a set of Talmud to donate in their husbands' memory to the yeshivos that they had learned in. See, Hillel and Ivri weren't just brave soldiers that fought valiantly for their nation and country. They were both talmidei chachamim. They learned regularly and when they were not fighting and sometimes even when they were, they were always studying Torah. They each wrote regularly divrei torah to their spouses, to their parents and teachers. Not a week didn't go by that Hillel didn't call his grandfather and share with him his Torah thoughts. Torah was their lifeblood. It was why they were fighting so hard.

The Torah taught them that this war was not about peace. It wasn't about revenge. It wasn't about land, or even eradication of evil. It was a war that Hashem had chosen them to fight in order to reveal his presence in this world. It was a war to bring Mashiach. To shine light to the world. To not just learn about Yehoshua, Dovid Ha'Melech, Yehuda Ha'Maccabi and Rabbi Akiva's army of Bar Kochva but to be them. Hillel and Ivri will never have children or generations to pass on that message or legacy to, but those Talmuds that their friends and their friend's children and generations to come will learn from, those same sacred books dedicated in their memory that gave them that light and their life's mission, will forever pass on the teachings of their sacrifice and their aspirations.

There is an incredible teaching in this week's Torah portion of Bamidbar, the reading that always falls out before the holiday of Shavuos from the of the Shem Mi'Shmuel of Sochatchov. The parsha and book of Bamidbar begins with the counting of our nation of each tribe from age 20-60, the age when one becomes eligible biblically for military service. At the center of the parsha the Torah tells us how each tribe has a flag that identifies them. They each camped according to their flag and so they marched to Israel. Rashi, quoting the Midrash explains that the significance of these flags is that when we stood as a nation on Mt. Sinai on Shavuos and the heavens opened up and Hashem came down and spoke to us, He had accompanying with him 22,000 angels and each of them had flags as well. We saw those flags and we wanted them also. Interestingly enough 22,000 is the number of the count of the tribe of Levi. Their tribe, of all of the tribes, even more fascinatingly enough does not have a flag of their own. What are these flags? Why do angels have them? Why do we want them? And why does that become the heart of our take-away from Sinai on Shavuos?

The Sochatchaver explains that the concept of a flag is to serve as a banner that unites and declares allegiance. It has no other purpose besides to declare and raise up the glory of the team, the nation, country, kingdom or cause that it is representing. It's what a "Go Mets" flag says. It's a rainbow colored "Pride" flag. It's a yellow ribbon. It's a "Free Palestine" Hamas flag. It's the Red, White and Blue and it's the Blue and White with a Magen David in the middle and it's a swastika as well. Golani brigades and Kfir brigades have their own flags as do Beitar Yerushalayim and Maccabi Tel Aviv. A flag has one purpose and only one agenda. Nothing else. No ego. No personal objective. It's about one thing. My entire existence as a flag is to shine out to the world that message and symbol of what is represented on me.

A malach, an angel, carries the flag of Hashem. They are spiritual creations that bring and carry out the message of Hashem to the world. The Jewish people upon seeing and witnessing the glory of Hashem on Mt. Sinai said that we want that as well. The Sochatchaver notes that the words of the midrash actually don't even say that we wanted to have flags. Rather that we wanted to "become" the flags of Hashem.

V'Diglo alai ahava- we are the flags of the love of Hashem. We make Him dagul Mei'rivava- He is "Flagged" by the tens of thousands. That is what our role in this world is. That is the deepest inner desire of every Jewish neshoma that stood there at Mt. Sinai and that remains in our DNA until today.

The tribe of Levi doesn't have a flag because they are the conduit for the Shechina to come down. They are the flagpole. We are the flags. We each march with our individual flags together and wave that message and glory of Hashem out to the world.

The Midrash tells us that the reason why the Torah was given in the midbar rather than in the land of Israel, is so that the nations of the world will never be able claim that it's not a message for them as well. It's so they won't make the mistake of thinking that Torah, Judaism and the light of Hashem is just a personal Jewish religion thing; like Islam is Arab, Christianity is for gentiles and Buddhism is for Indians. The Torah was given in the midbar because it's a universal concept. It's the unity of Hashem over the entire world.

U'malchuso ba'kol mashala- And His Kingship rules over all. We are there in the midbar marching all over the world with that flag of Hashem proudly waving over our heads.

The other reason, the Torah is given in the midbar, our sages tell us is to teach us that in order to acquire Torah one needs to make themselves, hefker, open and without any ownership or personal acquisition; like a midbar which is open to all. To be a flag, one can't have any other agendas or attachments. No mixed messages. No other causes. No personal ego. One is fully in.

Do you want to know what that looks like? Take a look at the flag draped over the coffins of Ivri and Hillel. Look at the coffins of all of those 983 holy soldiers that have given their lives for the sanctification of Hashem. That died with shema yisrael on their lips. Look at those that marched to the gas chambers singing Ani Maamin, the ones that died in the Crusades, that were tortured in the Spanish Inquisition. The students of Rabbi Akiva and the tribe of Levi that were the first to be the flags of Hashem when they lifted up their swords and called mi la'Hashem eilai as they killed the sinners of the Golden Calf.

We Jews are counted when we reach military age in the midbar because that's when we become flags of Hashem. It's when the Torah we learned until then becomes more than just an intellectual or even spiritual fulfilling pursuit, but it becomes the banner that we raise in our mission to bring the light of Hashem to the world. When we leave everything else behind, even our wives during our first year of marriage from our Chuppa, even our children and family and jobs for 601 days. When we learn daf yomi in a tank, we light Shabbos candles in Gaza and menorahs in Lebanon. When we sleep in midbar and eat tuna and rice for months. We walk through mine-fields and tunnels. We risk our lives, our well-being, we give it all and become hefker. We become flags of Hashem.

Days before Ivri was killed, he changed the name of the whatsapp group of his unit. They had named it "ad masai- "Until when?". Ivri removed the question mark and retitled the group replacing it with one more word so it now read as a statement "Ad masai she'tzrichim"- until as long as we are needed. And he wrote to them.

"These are the happiest days of my life, We're doing something that truly matters. When the call to charge comes, we'll rise as one - no questions asked. We have one land, one people. History has taught us, through blood and tears, that the Jewish people have only one place to call home."

When Miriam came home from Ivri's funeral there were flowers and chocolates that were waiting for her there. Ivri had sent them. It was the gift that he didn't know would be the last he would give her. He had always been a romantic. He regularly sent her gifts, flowers, special notes. Just two days before he was killed, she received a little 120 shekel "Bit" gift money (from their joint account) at 2:00 AM with a note that said "A small gift until 120 for difficult times from your loving husband…" Enclosed with the flowers and chocolate (which she has since preserved to always have with her), that he had sent to her that day when he had thought she had a prospective interview to attend, not knowing that she would be at his funeral, was his last note to her.

My beloved, I'm writing from the far north, hopefully for the last time. I'm happy here, doing what matters for our people. Keep smiling, hold your head high. Don't worry about me. Love you more than anything. Treat yourself to some chocolate and enjoy the flowers. Forever yours, Ivri."

Ivri was our flag. Hillel was our flag. Miriam and Zahava taught me yesterday that Ivri and Hillel were their personal flags always raising them up and they were his. Yet, ultimately with their special dedication they taught us and all the future generations that all of those different flags all really declare one banner. The banner of the Torah, the Shana Rishona, that first year when we became one with Hashem. The chupa of Har Sinai when we took on that flag and became even higher than angels. Shavuot, that wedding day, brings us back to that moment. Each time we learn and study Torah, we enter that midbar once again. That place where we lose ourselves in the glory of Hashem's word. In the light that we bring out each time and word we study. May that flag soon wave over the entire world for eternity

Have an uplifting Shabbos and Shavuous

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Mit shnei ken men nit makhn gomolkhes.." .- You can’t make cheesecakes out of snow.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

20. Which sea does the Amud stream (Nahal Amud) flow into? ______

What is common to the types of springs we refer to as “Maayan Shekva” and “Maayan He’etek in

Hebrew?

A. Both derive from the point of contact between a permeable layer and an impermeable layer

B. Both are the result of a geological fracture which exposes the aquifer

C. Both are only found in the Dead Sea Rift Valley due to the Syrian-African Rift

D. Both flow only when the water level reaches a certain height in the

rock cavity

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Rabbi Schwartz's Shavuos composition's playlist!!!

h ttps://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vatem - The beautiful verses of our covenant with Hashem and the wings of ~~Eagles~~ Nesher's that will bring us home that Hashem told us about by Har Sinai

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eitz-chayim – Torah is a tree of Life in this great song (can you hear echoes of an old TV show in the background?)

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/torah-hakedosha - The prayer of the Torah to daven for us and remember Har Sinai… Gorgeous Dovid Lowy arrangements and vocals!

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/dovid-melech-r-ephrayim – In honor of the yartzeit of Dovid Ha'Melech composed this fun song on Shavuos a few years ago… everyone's gotta sing it…

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/kad-yasvun – Which of course is not as good as my Kad Yasvun composition with vocals and arrangements by the one and only Dovid Lowy!

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

1760 BC – The Baal Shem Tov- Let's take a brief break from our weekly column and era of the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash for a peak at another era and individual, none other then the founder of the Chasidic movement, Reb Yisrael Baal Shem Tov who's yartzeit is on Shavuos.

The Baal Shem or Besht as he is known was born in Ukraine and was an only child to his parents. He was orphaned at age 5 and the last message he got from his father before he died was to "Fear no one but G‑d. Love every Jew with all your heart and soul, no matter who he is." These two directives would serve as the basis for Yisrael's service of G‑d and future teachings.

The Besht had a very challenging life his first wife died he wandered from city to city afterwards working as an assistant teacher for children and living in the hills in solitude. His student the Magid would say If only we kissed a Torah scroll with the same love that my master [the Baal Shem Tov] kissed the children when he took them to cheder as a teacher's assistant!" when he turned 18 he remarried once again and he began to study the works of Kabbala and received revelation from Eliyahu Ha'Navi and ultimately from Achiya Ha'Shiloni the Rebbi of Eliyahu. On his 36^th birthday he began to reveal his teachings to the world amassing students and traveling around to simple fallen Jews that had not been successful in making it in the system… And shining and revealing their light.

His new way of life, his customs, his focus on the specialness and hidden spark of every Jew brought much antagonism from those great Rabbis that saw him as a threat and a possible False Messianic movement. The fights between the Chasidim and Mitnagdim were brutal and bitter and lasted generations perhaps until the Holocaust. Yet, ultimately today, each group has grown to learn from the other and the light wisdom and warmth of Chasidus and the Torah of the Non Chasidic world have come together. Shavuos the day of the giving of the Torah is when his light was extinguished, yet it is on that day as well, that his light moved on to the next generation and shines with us until today!

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FLAG JOKES OF THE WEEK

Why is the French flag blue, white, and red? In case a war starts, they can tear off the sides and surrender.

Pretty soon in America the only place you will be able to buy a Confederate flag will be the black market. Ahh the irony!

I broke up with my girlfriend because she was a communist. To be honest, there were a lot of red flags

I saw a rainbow flag covered in seaweed. AlgaeBTQ

What did one flag say to the other flag? Nothing. It just waved.

A young Mexican man named Jose was curious about America so he snuck across the border.

He wanted to go see a baseball game so when he went home, he could tell his family all about it. When he got there, the game was sold out, so he decided to climb to the top of a flag pole to get a better look. When he returned home, his family was anxious to hear about his experience:

"What happened?" asked his family.

"Well, America is the nicest place in the world!!" he said. "Before the game started, all the people in the stands and all the players stood up, looked at me and said, "Jose, can you see?"

Did you hear about the kid who bungie jumped from the school's flag pole? He was suspended

Turkey has the moon on its flag. Meanwhile the United States has its flag on the moon.

The colors red, white, and blue represent freedom until they are flashing behind you.

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The answer to this week”s question is C- Ok after a lousy streak here, things are finally starting to pick up, as I got this one right. A desert in Israel is not made out of sand as I point out to my tourists. It's also not a place that's barren. In fact in the Torah we find that it is a good place to graze animals, which a desert certainly isn't. Rather a midbar is more like a wilderness and is defined by the lack of rainfall there, which is really only a few days a year and less than 200 mm of water. The second part of the question was also pretty easy as the Israel trails runs across the country from Tel Dan in north to the shore of Eilat. It's not a straight line but rather goes to historical and beautiful nature sites and is a few months. Soooo I finally got both right picking up my score to now Rabbi Schwartz 12 Ministry of Tourism 7 on this exam so far, which should me back in passing range.