from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
June 2nd
2023 -Volume 12 Issue
33 13th of Sivan 5783
Parshat Naso/ Beha’aloscha
The End of the Beginning
It’s over. It was glorious. It
was amazing. It was inspiring. There’s nothing like Shavuos in Eretz Yisrael.
More than any holiday, here’s where you really feel the Chag Ha’Bikkurim-
the festival of the cutting of the new fruits. The spring comes to an end. The
hills are full of the first fruits growing. The wheat fields have been
harvested. It’s an amazing time of year. Yerushalayim was packed with tourists
experiencing the pilgrimage holiday. Just 56 years ago it was right after the
6-Day war when Hashem gave us back the old city of Yerushalayim. We returned to
the Kotel and even the Har Ha’Bayis. Although we stupidly and perhaps callously
handed back to the Waqf so they can keep desecrating it with their horrible
golden pimple. That year thousands returned for the first time in 19 years to
celebrate Shavuos at the Kotel. And since then, it’s been tens of thousands
annually that come to see Hashem in the Holy place where He will soon return
to.
In Karmiel we don’t have the
Bais Ha’Mikdash and neither do you in the Diaspora, yet we all feel the
holiness of the day when we stay up all night and learn and study Torah.
Shacharis after that all-nighter is inspiring in a joyous way. It’s like Ne’ila
on Yom Kippur when you are drained but uplifted but without the fear and
trepidation of Din and the angst of confessions for all the bad things we did.
And there’s cheesecake and blintzes and coffee all night. There’s Rus, there’s
the Ten Commandments, songs of Hallel. Sunrise davening. Yes, Shavuos is
amazing. Was amazing… But now it’s over. Now what?
It’s another four months or so
until the next holiday season. That’s a loooong time. Standing on deck we’ve
got fast days. The 7th of Tamuz, three weeks of Mourning, Tisha B’Av
and a month of teshuva and selichos in Elul. Pretty depressing. It’s a good
time to get away. Maybe come to Israel? It’s not like it’s short days either.
The days are long. They’re hot. It kind of makes you wish that we had some good
holidays to stick in the middle here. Hey, why not take some of those Tishrei
holidays and put them over here. Maybe make 4 days of Sukkos and then have
simchas torah and Hoshana Rabba later. Maybe Chanuka? I could eat a latka or a
doughnut.
The truth is the Zohar tell us
that in fact there were supposed to be holidays here, yet they were divided
between Yaakov and Esau. Yaakov took the months of Nisan, Iyar and Sivan and
Esau took the next three months. (Yaakov actually grabbed back the month of
Elul- so at least it’s not a month of mourning, although no holidays.) And
imaginably soon we’re told that when Mashiach comes all of the fast days in
these months will be turned to holidays. But in the meantime, it’s a bit
depressing. It’s like we entered a new world.
It’s not the first time this
has happened to us historically. In fact, as Rav Kook teaches this is perhaps
the foundation and basis of everything that the world and our job stand for
here. It’s what everything is all about. And to understand what I’m talking
about, look at this week’s Torah portion (at least here in Israel) and perhaps
you’ll see one of the most troubling and challenging stories in our Torah; the
aftermath of Sinai.
It was a year after the first
Shavuos. We remembered how we stood by Sinai. We saw the sounds, heard the
blasts, we saw Hashem, the smoke. There was not a bird that chirped. It was the
perfect silence. Over the year, we had built the Mishkan. We anointed the Kohen
Gadol. We had started daily sacrifices, just a month ago. The journey to Israel
is on its way. We’re 11 days away. And then boom. It all falls apart. We fall
into the basest of desires. Jew want to marry their family members?! We are
craving steaks and meat. We remember the tuna fish they served us in Egypt!
Really?!! Hashem sends quail and we stuff our faces even though we know it’s
gonna kill us? What happened to this holy nation? How does anyone fall so far
and so fast?! It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Even stranger to a large
degree is Moshe’s behavior He’s obviously perturbed at this state of affairs.
Yet, he turns to Hashem and says he’s had enough.
Why did I do so bad in a
previous life that you stick me with this people. Why do I have to shlep around
this nation? Where should I get meat to feed them from?! I can’t do this alone
anymore… Why don’t you just kill me already. Please! I can’t stand to see this
evil anymore!
Woahhh… That’s pretty crazy.
But yet, it’s all there in the Parsha. Moshe is totally ready to throw in the
towel. Yet, Hashem is not ready for that to happen yet. He tells Moshe that
there will be Sanhedrin. The men start to prophesize in the camp. According to
the Midrash they even start to talk about the end of days and Gog and Magog. On
the other hand, there’s death, there’s plague. It’s the burial place of desire-
kivrot ha’taava… What is going on?! It’s like the whole world went
insane suddenly.
Comes along Rav Kook and
explains. He tells us that our sages teach us that from the beginning of time
when Adam was created, he was a combination of three souls; Adam, Dovid and
Moshe. Dovid of course representing the final kingship of Mashiach. As well we
have three eras, the beginning of the world, the era of Torah and the era of
Mashiach. Do you know what Matan Torah was? It was a moment in time when we
felt the ultimate world of Mashiach. Not a bird chirped. The shechina came
down to the world. The whole world witnessed Hashem. It was a perfect world and
moment. Yet, it was only temporary. The moment it was over the mountain was no
longer holy. The cows and sheep could graze again on that mountain. The world
went back to normal. It was over. It wasn’t time yet. But for that second, for
that Shavuos, we were there.
When Hashem tells Moshe to
take us out Egypt, right here by that mountain at the burning bush when we
first meet Mt. Sinai, Moshe doesn’t want the job.
Send the liberation in the
hands of the ultimate redeemer, Moshe begs. Make it Mashiach. Don’t take them
out and give them a taste and then remove it from them. Yet, Hashem demurs.
It’s not time yet. Moshe is the one who is meant to draw us out (translation of
the word moshe) of the mud, out of the meitzarim- the straits of
Egypt. Mashiach is the anointed one. He is the one that has the purified oil
all over him. There is no more mud. There is only kedusha. There is only
Hashem. But Hashem is not ready for that era to enter yet. We still have work
to do. We need to do the work of Moshe. We need to take the Torah that we were
given, that is a taste of the World to Come, and bring it down to the lowest
place and shine that eternal light of redemption and raise it up to heaven. And
so, we leave that mountain to begin our work.
The workplace is at the lowest
point. It’s at basest desires. It’s this filthy, smelly, desire-filled
hedonistic muddy place and we start to cry when we hit that rock bottom. We
can’t do this. We need Moshe to feed us. We need that light to bring us up. The
yeshiva student was taken out of Lakewood or Williamsburg and thrown into red
light district of Vegas or Amsterdam and to a world fill of desire and distance
and it shakes us to our core. This parsha writes Rav Kook is the meeting place
of the soul of Moshe and the soul of Mashiach and their eras. It’s a nuclear
reaction.
When Moshe sees this, he’s
ready to hand in the keys. My job is over. I don’t have meat to feed the
people. My job was to raise them up and bring them to Sinai. It’s time for
Mashiach, he tells Hashem once again. Kill me and bring on the final era. It’s
the end of the beginning and now it’s time for the beginning of the end.
But Hashem is not ready for
that yet. He tells Moshe that there will be sages. There will be scholars.
There will be prophets. They will continue to be there for us even after Moshe
is gone. They will help us to “bury” those desires. Moshe may die, but Yehoshua
will bring us into the land. The process will continue. But with the Torah and
the memory of that Shavuos, we have the key that we need to bring that final
day. We can bring the day where the whole world is that Sinai experience
forever. A day that is entirely Shabbos.
Shavuos is over... but it’s
not. I told my shul this past holiday how fascinating it is that we Jews in
this generation have a thing about visiting “holy” sites. We have Jews going to
Ukraine, to Crackow, to Spain, to any Jewish heritage trip that the travel
agent can come up with. Mostly to places where they killed, tortured, murdered
and threw us out of, and yet we can’t help but to go back there and support
their local economies and get all nostalgic about the “alteh heim” the
fish we ate in Egypt. I’m just saying…
Yet, I’ve never heard of
anyone making tours to Mt. Sinai. Jabal Mussa. It’s weird right? I mean one
would think that would be the top place to visit. It’s there that the shechina
came down to the world to. It’s there where the entire world heard the Ten
Commandments. It’s there where all of the Jews for the first and perhaps only
time in our existence didn’t fight and were all on the same page and connected.
Yet, it seems that no one goes there.
There’s an incredible letter
by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to a Doctor that visited Sinai as part of the
archeological team after 1956 Suez Campaign when Sinai returned to us. The
doctor notes how he went to this holy mountain and was astounded that he didn’t
feel anything there. Nothing spiritual. It wasn’t a Kotel experience or even a
Shilo or Uman experience. It was just empty desert. Hot desert with camels
walking around. This bothered him, and he was writing to the Rebbi to
understand why he didn’t feel anything. Maybe there was something wrong with
his soul that he had no nostalgia for Sinai that awakened in him.
The Rebbi answered him that it
shouldn’t be a wonder. There is nothing there. What took place by Sinai was
above time, and space. It couldn’t be encapsulated in anything physical and
nothing of it remained in the physical world. Yet the power of that moment is
all in two places. It is in the Torah that we study and were granted and given
access and a connection to there. And it is in the heart and soul of every Jew
with whom we are meant to connect with and bring the world back to that moment.
That is where we feel Sinai. That is how we move forward after Shavuot.
We are in that final era right
now. Shavuot is over and there are no more holidays. There are no holidays
because the whole world will be one holiday. After Shavuos, we shouldn’t be
looking for islands of festive moments and days amongst weeks of monotony and
toil. After Shavuos we are meant to understand that we want Shavuos forever. We
want the period of Mashiach. We are charged and inspired with that Torah that
we learned all night. We have worked on respecting and honoring our friends
after 49 days of Omer and remembering the fall of the students of Rabbi Akiva.
We’re ready to final be redeemed.
We have an exciting summer
ahead. We really really do. I don’t recommend making any plans that don’t
include redemption, wings of eagles neshers, shofars, Mashiach
and moving plans. Aliyah plans. The beginning has ended, the end is almost
over. It’s time for eternity to finally start.
Have an eternal blissful Shabbos,
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Az es
vert nit besser, vert memaileh erger.” If
it doesn’t get better, it will already be getting worse..
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
24) Recycled
water is called:
The oldest sea-water
desalination facility in Israel is located near:
A) Ashkelon
B) Eilat
C) Maagan
Michael
D) Ashdod
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1EQhunv4hc
-Mordechai
Shapiro’s latest video Ani Yehudi!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XIg6ASLPFg
- Great new Eli Marcus song- Dugma!! Lyrics by my very
own Dovid Lowy!! Kol Hakavod
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJFMl2FN-nM
– Benzi
Stein And Yeshiva beautiful Al Tipol rendition…love these yeshiva choirs…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVGpZ8fIuSA
– What
a gorgeous song. Shulem Lemmer Boruch Levine, Abie Rottenberg a memorial for
Reb Zecharia WAllerstien…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR
PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Don’t Doubt- 673 BC- The Jewish people had not repented entirely. Yet as we discussed
last week, the famine Elisha had declared was destroying them
to the extent that they were literally eating their own children. Literally-
mamash… Yehoram rends his garments to daven at to Hashem, yet
at the same time he blames Elisha and sends messengers to kill
the prophet that he felt was the cause of this terrible tzorah. It seems like a
strange dichotomy-but in fact if we look at our own lives many times we make
the same mistake. We understand inherently that our troubles are caused by our
sins-yet at the same time we point the finger at the individuals on the ground
and the politics and politicians and deven Rabbis and leaders that we feel are
really the cause and responsible for the bad things that happen to us and our
nation.
Elisha though, is unintimidated. He tells his students in advance
that the messengers of Yehoram are coming to get him and
orders them to just slam the door in their face. He then announces that despite
their lack of complete Teshuva, Hashem will preform a miracle like never
before. Tomorrow, he says their will be so much food, that barley will go for a
half a shekel and fine flour will go for one shekel. Now remember just that
day, the Navi tells us that people couldn’t even buy bird poop for fifty shek,
and the head of a donkey to eat for 80 shek. There was nothing around for 7
years!! And now he’s making the outrageous claim that Hashem will preform a
miracle to that degree. It’s hard to swallow, to say the least- excuse the pun.
It’s always nice for me when this column works
out well with the weekly Torah portion- and this week in the parsha (read here
in Israel at least) of Behaaloscha we read about the Jewish people as well
complaining about a lack of food and Hashem bringing them so much that they don’t
even know what to do with it. It’s not a new deal- this miracle of Hashem that
can come in one second and the Torah wants us to never doubt that faith that
Hashem can turn it all around in one minute.
The general of Yehoram hears
this prophecy and is skeptical. He declares that even if Hashem opens up the
windows of heaven there can’t be that much food. Big mistake. It’s one thing to
doubt and another to state that publicly before the prophet. Elisha turns
to him and says that he guarantees it will happen and by the way- you general
will never eat from it. Say your last prayers now…
Next week we meet our old friend Geichazi who
is now a leper and we will learn his place in the next upcoming miracle saga.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S ETERNITY JOKES OF THE WEEK
Berel goes over to his Rabbi and tells him that he has strong
desire to live to eternity
"Get married," replies the Rabbi.
"It's that simple? Would that allow me to live
forever?"
"Not really, but the desire will disappear."
The Satan greets Yankel the know it all in Gehenom and tells him
“This is the lake of lava you will be spending eternity in”
Yankel responds-“ Actually, since we're underground, it would be
magma”
Satan “You understand this is why you're here, right?”
A lawyer just lost a career making/breaking case so Satan sees this
as an opportunity to approach him and make him an offer.
Satan: I will make you the most successful lawyer in history.
You will never lose a case again. You will be famous. You will be wealthy
beyond your wildest imagination.
Lawyer: What's the catch?
Satan: I want the souls of your parents, your siblings, your
spouse, your children and all your future descendants for damnation in hell for
all eternity.
Lawyer: Okay, but what's the catch?
Brain cells die, skin cells die, hair cells die, but fat cells must
be the holiest cells of all because it seems that they were granted eternal
life
A shekel dies and goes to heaven. At his arrival at the gates of
heaven, the Hashem Himself welcomes him while angels play the trumpets. The shekel
doesn't believe his eyes as he is being given the most beautiful cloud of all
with riches and food and honey for eternity.
The next day the 200-shekel bill dies. He also rises to heaven but
there doesn't appear to be anyone. He pushed the gate open by himself but
behind it is nobody but one angel playing on his phone. The 200-shekel bill
asks for his cloud but is given a little filthy grey rainy cloud. As he tries
to make himself comfortable in which is doesn't succeed, he sees the shekel on
his right partying with all the angels at his enormous white cloud. Upset he
goes to Hashem himself to complain.
"Why does the shekel
get the best cloud while I get this stormy trash? I'm more valuable, right?",
he demands
Hashem responds “yeah,
but you we didn't see that much in shul”
I am the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the
beginning of every end, And the end of every place. What am I?
The letter 'e'.
My girlfriend and I got in a fight the other day...
After a minute, she said "This is the last straw"
and left.
I panicked. I called and texted wondering where she was.
After what felt like an eternity, she comes walking in the front
door with groceries. Confused, I said, "I thought you were gone
forever? I thought you were done with me."
She said "No honey...I told you...we ran out of straws..."
********************************
The answer to this week”s question is A - Another half right for me. I knew that recycled water is called Mayim Tehorim- purified water. Basically all the sewage water in this country gets sent to these plants where little bacteria eat up all of the poop and makes it quality drinking level water. But, don’t worry, it’s not used for drinking water. Rather it is used for all of the agriculture in this country. So I got that one right. I got wrong the first plant for desalinization. I was pretty sure it was in the South and I went with Ashdod, but the correct answer is that other southern city of Ashkelon. Over a half a billion cubic meters of water is produced a year from Desalination and there are currently 5 plants that take the salt out of the sea water and turn it into quality drinking water that provide almost 70% of the drinking water of Israel. So I got this one half right and the score now stands at 17.5 for Schwartz and 6.5 for Ministry of tourism on this exam so far.
