from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend in
Karmiel"
December 13th
2024 -Volume 14 Issue 7 12th of Kislev 5785
The Greatest Show on
Earth
It started with a dream and very
quickly turned into a nightmare that didn’t seem like it would end. Every time
things looked as if they would be getting better all of a sudden they turned
south again. The horrors just got worse and worse. There were miracles along the
way, yet so many tragedies. So much fear, panic and trauma. Yet poetically and
majestically, as all go stories go, that original dream ends with a big happily-ever-after.
The sun rises. It’s a bright new day. The world is born anew. That, my friends,
in a nutshell, is last week and this week’s parsha and story of the exile and
return of Yaakov. That is the story of his children-our nation, as we stand at
the cusp, finally, of realizing and waking up and experiencing.
Great Rabbis would tell their chasidim
when they would leave Eretz Yisrael that they should study these parshiyot
well. Unlike later parts of the Torah, such as the song of Haazinu in the end
of Devarim or the tochacha in Vayikra, or any of the prophecies that speak
about what will happen in the end of days, that require interpretation and
understanding. The stories of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Bereishit are
literally the DNA of what will happen to us. Ma’aseh Avos Siman la’banim.
The actions, stories and situations of our Forefathers is a sign for what will
happen to their children. The objective of studying their stories with that
understanding, is not merely to know the future, but rather it’s to understand
that there is a playbook here. There are scenes that are being acted out and we
have a part to play. We need to know our lines. We need to take our roles
seriously. And most of all we have to understand the pathway to the grand
finale that is soon to come. After-all this is “The Greatest show on Earth”. It’s
one that the whole world has been watching and waiting for.
So, yes let’s take this story from
the beginning and try to see that amazing best picture. Let’s open up the
script and give it a read-through. Yaakov upon taking the blessings from his
father is forced to leave his land and his home. Taking the blessings of Esau
means that Yaakov has to understand that his role is not merely to sit in the
tent of Torah and study all day, but rather to bring Hashem to the entire
world. He has to go to exile. Lift up all of the sparks of Hashem that are out
in the field there amongst the sheep. He has to birth a nation of God far away
from his home. And then he has to bring them all back and build a house of
Hashem that will shine out to the world. That’s the show in a nutshell.
Yet it starts with a dream. We start
with a dream. It’s that dream of a ladder that will ultimately connect the
earth to the heaven that has held us out since we entered that exile of Yaakov
so long ago and began our journey. The foundation of that dream is the 12
stones that unite into one forming the altar that we will ultimately build on
which the shechina will rest. A place that will be called Beit El- the
house of Hashem. 3500 years since we had that dream, it’s still with us. It has
held us through all of the nightmares. It’s a dream because it’s not something
that is visible when our eyes are opened and are distracted by the hiddenness of
Hashem in this world. We need to close our eyes and rise beyond this world to
the heavens up that ladder to fully comprehend and experience it. Yet when we
awake each morning, with our souls returned to us even in the darkest of places
in our exile, the dream stays with us. We know there is a better day coming.
The exile of Yaakov who while in
Israel had all the blessings and the wealth of the world, begins with him being
robbed blind and left for dead by the descendants of Esau. In Yaakov’s case it
was his son Elifaz, who felt he was carrying out his father’s mandate. In our
case it’s been all the nations of Esau’s descendants that as well felt we have
usurped their role. That we steal their blessings. That our God has abandoned
us. That we are not the true chosen nation.
It started from the Romans. It became the
Crusaders, the Inquistion, the Cossacks, the Poles, the Nazis and the big Red
Communists Stalin Socialists- Red of course being Edom, the color of Esau. With
the rise and fall of Socialist Russia in the 80’s, any Jewish Rabbi worth his
sermonic stripes saw in that the fall of Edom, of Esau, the coming of the Messianic
era. We were returning to Israel. We struggled with his angels. We were wounded
and limping, but we were complete. We were Shalem and on the way to
Yeru-shalem. Beit El was in the horizon. The altar that we had vowed to build
there was ready to be dedicated. Yet, as I said about this Greatest Show, just
when it looks like its almost over it turns south again. Chamas shows up.
OK, Schwartz… you really have to
get off this Chamas in the parsha thing… I know, you’re thinking that. But what
can I do? It’s there. It’s crazy how much our desire is to just write off these
signs and words. We for some reason get nervous reading the parsha as being a
real prophetic message and script that speaks to us today, rather than just an
abstract nice book of stories, moral and ethical messages, commandments and
general values. I get that. It’s scary to think that the Torah is literally
talking to me, now today. It’s scary to think that this was written exactly and
precisely utilizing words that are the same as our English (or Arabic) ones in
order for me, Ephraim Schwartz and all you readers, to see them as our personal
and national script today.
The reason I think is because if it
is a message to me today then it’s much harder to ignore. It’s not as easy to
just write them off and turn on the news and share my own- or Ben Shapiro’s
take on the world and what we should be doing, if Hashem directly as well tells
us about Chamas, about Red headed world leaders that are arrogant that come
back a second time. Leaders who like Esau are pretty much identified by their startling
red hair-do, that sometimes hugs us but that perhaps really wants to bite us as
well. That wants us to walk with him. That we give a lot of money and presents
to support and bribe him to. That might present himself as Achi- our brother,
but at the same time is still Esau. The brother that we needed to be saved
from. Yeah… it’s easy to write it all off if Hashem wasn’t speaking to me today
through the parsha, after parsha, after parsha. But what can I do? He is. It’s
there.
So where is Chamas this week? Well,
as you know and we mentioned Unkelos has always translated Chamas as
kidnapping. And here when we come back finally to Israel, we have the kidnapping
and abuse of Dina. But if that’s not enough for you. Do you know what Yaakov
calls the action of Shimon and Levi who wipe out those cursed terrorist
kidnappers and rapists in Israel; in Shechem?
Shimon V’Levi achim. klei Chamas mi’cheiroseihem- Shimon and Levi are
brothers, the stolen weapons of Chamas are theirs.
We took Chamas weapons to get back
our hostages when we wiped out their cities. When we looted their homes. When
we took their women and children captives. Prisoners. Before we can make that
altar of Hashem that we dreamed about we have to bring back our hostages. We
have to grapple with Chamas. We have to win the battle of Shechem.
Yaakov is concerned, as many are
today with the same question that irks us. “What will the goyim around us
say?”. They will think that we are just like them. That we are as well
Chamas. They will attack us. They will “shmad”der us- in his own words. It’s
not time yet. We still have idolatry in us. We still have the booty of Shechem
amongst us. Their tumah. Their contzepziot. Their “earrings in
our ears”.
Do you know what the earrings of
Shechem in our ears is? It’s that we’re still slaves to their contzepiot
that we should live in the land together with them. That our sons will take
their daughters and our daughters will mingle with their sons. They’ll go to
school together. They’ll create a great economy. We will flourish together. It’s
those earrings that pierce and clog our ears, earrings that we think are of
victory but are really of slavery, that prevent us from being the servants of
Hashem. From hearing the words that He will command us that we are His and that
our job and our script is about bringing the entire world to the finale of this
greatest show.
So after this story Yaakov has us
remove all of the idolatry from our hands. To bury unabashedly anything that
doesn’t testify to what our true mission is. It’s not about establishing a
national Jewish homeland where we can live and even study and do mitzvos
without fear of persecution. It’s about creating a home for our Hashem from where
His shechina will shine out to the entire world. It’s about standing up that
ladder. It’s realizing the dream. It’s inviting the entire world to take their
part that they have waited so long for us to bring them to, in this Greatest show
on Earth.
When Yaakov and his sons do that,
the Torah tells us remarkably, only then that his fears which were perhaps
legitimate until they removed all of that idolatry, were no longer something to
worry about.
Va’Yisa’u, va’yehi chitas Elokim
al he’arim asher svivoseihem- And the journeyed
and there was the terror of Hashem on all of the cities around them.
V’lo rodfu es bnai Yaakov- and finally finally they stopped pursuing us…
It’s not the might and strength and
even dedication of the army of Shimon and Levi that scared off the world. It
wasn’t the devastation of Chamas and the terrorists or even the moral and just
mission and retribution that we inflicted upon them that “woke” them up from
their “woken-ness”. The only way to combat “woke” is by bringing them into our
dream. By revealing to them the Dream. By actualizing it. By
destroying and burying the heresy. It’s when they see the fear of Hashem, not
our tanks and superior forces that will finally stop their pursuit of us. That
will bring them home as well.
After this story Yaakov comes to
Luz, which is Beit El. Luz as well is the bone of techiyat ha’meisim-
the resurrection of the dead. It’s the city that is eternal, as our dreams are
eternal. It’s where no one dies, and everyone lives forever. It’s Mashiach. It’s
the house of Hashem where the dream started. Yaakov now calls it El Beit El- Hashem
is on the top of the ladder and He is on the bottom. It is complete. There he
is told of Rivka’s death. Rivkah who said she will call him back when the
Chamas- wrath of his brother is finally quenched. And yes, there you have that
word again. It is she who started this whole process. It was her mission to see
that we get the blessings and that only through us taking that mission of Esau
will we be able to uplift him and the entire world. With the building of that
altar her job has finished. Chamas is over. The ladder is built. Hashem comes down
and gives Yaakov consolation. Nichum Aveilim. It is the finally act of
the show.
For the entire exile Hashem never
appeared to Yaakov, as the Sforno notes. Yet with the ladder complete He has returned.
Here he tells Yaakov, and us, of the final days. We are not Yaakov, we are
Yisrael. We have uplifted the world. We will be a kehal goyim- a
congregation of nations. Rashi tells us that it means for all the 70 nations of
the world we as well have a corresponding 70 “Jewish nations”. We will be the
ingathering of all the nations. That’s our purpose. That’s the end of the
dream. The curtains fall. The applause begins. The audience rises they grab each
other’s hands and begin to dance and sing. Encore Encore… and the Encore
begins.
For after this revelation Yaakov anoints
that altar and calls it Beit El. The first El is missing. The journey begins
again. The dream still needs to be fulfilled through his descendants. Through
us. Binyamin is born. Rachel dies. Kever Rachel where she will mourn and daven
for us to return For the hostages to come back from the land of their enemies
is established for eternity.
Hee matzeves kvurat Rachel ad ha’yom- It is the monument of Kever Rachel until today.
Yes… until today. It’s speaking to
us today. The dream and story and script of Yaakov is concluded. Next week
begins the saga of his children. Of our fulfillment of that dream. Of our
mission to bring that Shechina back and build that home for the world. It’s a
dream that will have nightmares and horrors. But it’s one that the entire world
is watching. We’re at the last few minutes. The cues are all there. They’re
written on the cue guards in these weekly parsha. In your weekly E-Mail 😊. It’s a Dreamworks production. It’s not Hollywood. It’s
Holy-World. The place where we are charged with making dreams come true.
Have the greatest Shabbos on Earth,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Men
ken machen dem cholem grosser vi di nacht.” -You can make a dream bigger than the night.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
32. The Red Line of the light rail in Gush Dan starts
in Bat Yam, travels through
Tel Aviv, and ends in ________.
Where do most of the merchandise of the State of
Israel leave and enter from?
A. Land crossings
B. Eilat Port
C. Ben-Gurion Airport
D. Mediterranean Sea ports
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDPUBe6tGRY
– L’Abba Sheli Sulam… My Father has a
ladder powerful lyrics and song by Yanky Hill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5A9UamEl6c-
Lemmer, Helfgot, Razel, Ishai Ribo and the Baal Shem Tov in one song… In
Caesarea Wow!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kWAv-wmuNg
– Benny Friedman and Yossi Hecht’s
latest “Nothing holding you back…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I0GXJMZAQc
– Shwekey and Shlomi Shabbat back
together again for “HaNer Dolek”
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR
PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
King Yoshiya- 621BC – Chamas is always there in the background. I just love when this
column intersects with what’s going on in the world. So we left off last week
with King Yoshiyahu’s Bais Ha’Mikdash renovation program, wherein
money was taken from the Pushka there to rebuild the Temple. As the renovations
began, in the Holy of Holies an ancient Sefer Torah was discovered,
which according to some was the one that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote himself
before he died. But even more amazing and frightening was that is was found rolled
open to the Torah portion of the tochacha/admonition that describes the
terrible things that will happen to us and the exile that we will go into if we
don’t follow the Mitzvos. That’s pretty scary getting a message like that from
Hashem.
On aside to that but on
the flip side, when Yigal Yadin was excavating on Masada in 1963,
that tall free-standing mountain in the Judean Desert where the Jews had
their last stand against the Romans just three years after the destruction
of the 2nd Temple, he also received a message from God. As
they were digging near the ancient synagogue, one of the from the earth came up
an ancient scroll. Much to their shock it was a scroll which contained the
prophecy of Yechezkel Ha’Navi that describes the “dried dead bones’
coming to life once again and populating the land of Israel once again. To receive
a message like that just a few years after the Holocaust, when Jews were
returning to Israel, as dried bones, standing there at the spot where
the Romans had thought they had wiped us off the face of the earth is,
needless to say, mind-blowing.
Yoshiyahu sent his scribe to the prophetess Chulda Haneviah
who was in Jerusalem at the time (Yirmiyahu had left town for a bit to try to gather
in the ten tribes and bring them home…ironically enough.) to tell them what
this meant. For his worst fear is… would you believe it? Chamas is
coming…
Go seek out Hashem, for
me, for my nation and for all of Yehuda in regards to the sefer that is found
for great is the Chamas (wrath) of
Hashem kindled against us because our fathers didn’t listen to the words of
this book… (Melachim II 22:13)
So he sends them to Chulda,
the prophetess, in Yerushalayim to tell them what it means and what they
should do. As we mentioned, they went to her because Yirmiyahu was out of
town at the time. He was on a mission to try to round up the ten tribes.
He assumed that Yoshiya’s teshuva movement had worked. He was wrong. Chulda broke the bad news to them.
Destruction and exile was coming. Chamas was on it’s way…
V’nitzta Chamasi Ba’makom ha’zeh
v’lo tichbeh- my wrath has flared up on this place and will not be
extinguished. (ibid 22:17)
Yet, she does have some
good news… kind of… She tells Yoshiya that because of his righteousness,
it won’t happen during his lifetime. He will be gathered in peace with his
fathers in burial. Yet, as we will see, you always have to pay attention to the
nuances of what the prophet says. She said his burial will be peaceful. Sadly
as we will learn his death was quite violent and tragic though. Yet the die
seems to have been cast. The end is coming. What is Yoshiya’s response
to this bad news? What would yours be? Stay tuned next week and we’ll find out.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY TERRIBLE BBQ JOKES OF THE WEEK
Two goats were behind a Hollywood movie studio
eating an old movie film.
One goat said to the
other, "Pretty good, huh?"
The second goat said,
"Yeah, but not as good as the book".
My sister is a theater
teacher and asked her class, "What would the world be like without
theater?"
One of her students
replied, "Well, Abraham Lincoln would've lived a bit longer."
I just heard Back to
the Future was getting a re-release at the cinema. It’s about time.
My grandpa warned
people the Titanic would sink… No one listened, but he kept warning them until
they got sick of him and kicked him out of the movie.
Everyone knows Al Pacino, the famous Hollywood
icon. No one talks about his brother Cap, who invented delicious Italian
coffee.
Imagine Hollywood is
making a feature film about creating the perfect meal. In the first act of the
movie, they go through many trials and tribulations to decide on what bread
they should use. Eventually they decide on tortilla
The second act,
they’re now plotting on what should go IN the bread. Meat, veggies, maybe
neither.
Finally, the third
act. now they just gotta slap this bad boy together. Weeks of shooting go by.
They finally finish shooting the final scene
The director yells,
ITS A WRAP!!
Hollywood marriages
TV interviewer: You
were married four times: to a banker, to an actor, to a minister, and to an
undertaker. Can you tell me why?
Legendary actress: Well,
it was One for the money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, and Four to go!
What did Hollywood say when they made another
Batman movie? Done another-nother-nother-done-another-nother-nother...Batman!
I once wrote an entire
theater production based on puns. It was a play on words.
Starting this
Thursday, some movie theaters will not allow large bags inside the theater. But
thank God I have a few twix up my sleeve.
A movie theater was
robbed of $150 worth of candy. The thieves took 2 bags of M n' Ms and a small
soda
Two blondes froze to
death at the drive-in theater. They were there to see "Closed for
Winter."
Sylvester Stallone,
Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger were discussing who they were going to
play in the new Hollywood Blockbuster: The Great Composers!
"I wanna be
Beethoven," said Stallone.
"I gotta be Mozart," retorted
Willis.
"What about you,
Arnie?" they asked..
To which he replies 'I'll
be Bach.'
What’s the difference
between Bollywood and Hollywood? One has a cast of characters, the other
characters of caste.
“Did you hear about
that Hollywood actress who was stabbed?”
“What was her name
again?? Reece something...”
“Witherspoon?”
“No, with a knife!”
What would you call a
Hollywood film director who is isolating from Covid? Quentin Quarantino.
