from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
August 16th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 43 12th of Av 5784
Parshat Va’eschanan- Shabbos Nachamu
Free Consolation
I mean we deserved Mashiach on Tisha B’av. We deserved to have that Simchas Torah of rejoicing that He took from us and turned into a day of horror, mourning and crying. I even noted that the Torah reading of Tisha B’Av contained the Ata Ha’reisa la’daas- verse that we recited on Simchat Torah. The tune of Eicha is even reminiscent to a large degree to that of Simchas Torah when we recite those above pesukim. There was no way that I was going to be sitting on the floor again reciting Kinnos and talking about Crusaders, 10 martyrs, wagonloads of burning Talmuds and even the Holocaust. Certainly not watching any Chafetz Chaim heritage videos and hearing boring speeches again and again about the evils of Lashon Hara and how important Ahavas Chinam is. We were wayyyy beyond that. This year was definitely going to be different.
So I didn’t prepare. I didn’t arrange, nudge and set up my usual congregants to speak about the various Kinnos in the traditional interactive congregant involved service we have, where I hand over the pulpit to them. And so in the end I got stuck with saying them all. 30 speeches on Tisha B’Av extemporaneously. After each one I was hoping that it would be the last. Hoping that I would hear a shofar, or even a missile siren that would bring it to an end. I could see in the eyes of my congregants that they were hoping the same thing. I’m not sure if was because they wanted Mashiach or just for me to stop talking… But he never came. Hashem must have liked my speeches too much. At least somebody did…
So here we are the Shabbos afterwards. It’s been a week and still no signs of any old men with long white beards on a donkey. The ugly golden pimple still desecrates His holiest spot. Amalek is still threatening and killing us. Nobody in the any position of power really seems to care much that the entire North of Israel is on fire, kibbutzim and yishuvim are being destroyed daily. Almost a hundred thousand are homeless because their houses are burning and getting blown up. Shiva houses are the norm, more and more people are saying Kaddish then ever before, and everyday the only thing being done to return our hostages is hanging yellow ribbons, putting up red signs, painting graffiti on walls, making marches, demonstrations and pithy, tired military statements about how we will bring them back blah blah blah ad nauseum while our enemies are laughing at how pathetic we are. Thank You Hashem rah rah rah…
So now what? Where do we go from here? How do we get off the floor? How do we get consolation? What do we do with that feeling of loss? That overwhelming disappointment? Where do we put it? How does one move forward? It’s Shabbos Nachamu after-all. The answer needs to be here on this Shabbos. It is the Shabbos of consolation. It is the segue into how we move back into the post-Tisha B’Av-non-Mashiach-yet world that we find ourselves in.
This week we celebrate the holiday of T’u Ba’v a day when many miracles happened. It’s a day that our sages tell us is the greatest day on the calendar next to Yom Kippur. To read more about this holiday click on this link (https://holylandinsights.blogspot.com/search?q=tu+b%27av )
Can’t
go into it now, or my mother or some of you readers might yell at me for making
the E-Mail too long… Yet this year I saw a fascinating new idea about this mysterious
holiday. It is in fact a week after Tisha B’Av. It is the day that we get up
from sitting Shiva on Tisha B’av. It takes a week to recover and be consoled
enough from that day of mourning and loss. A week of shiva to process it all
and move back into the world. T’u B’av is when we up and go out to the fields
and sing and dance once again. It’s when we reunite. It’s when according to Rebbi
Tzadok Ha’Kohen the third Beis Hamikdash will be rebuilt.
If T’u B’av is the day when we get up from that week of Shiva, the Shabbos in between is of course a Shabbos of consolation as there is no mourning on Shabbos. The light of that consolation for the week that is found in the Shabbos before hand. And besides for the haftorah of consolation of Yeshaya that kicks off the 7 weeks of consoling haftorahs, the weekly parsha itself which is always Va’eschanan also must contain the secrets and answers to how we can truly move forward. Even the title of the Parsha itself contains that secret.
Our parsha begins with Moshe Rabbeinu turning to Hashem and imploring him to allow him into the land. Rashi notes that the word that Moshe uses to ask Hashem is not that he “prayed”, rather “Va’eschanan- he beseeched”, which Rashi explains he asked Hashem for a matnat chinam- a free present. He thus derives from this that despite the fact that righteous can attribute and ask Hashem in the merit of their actions, yet they always ask and seemingly the proper path is to ask Hashem to answer our requests for free. This is the title of our parsha and seemingly as in most titles it describes the essence not only of the entire parsha, but even this Shabbos Nachamu of consolation.
I noted something fascinating this year that I never did before. The word chinam- for free is in fact the same letters as the word nachem- to console. As well the word nachem fascinatingly and bizarrely enough is also translated and utilized in the Torah as a word for regret. We find in a few places that Hashem regretted what he had done, whether by the creation of man, after having brought the flood, by making Shaul the King and other places. Now, regret and consolation are opposite ideas. When I get consolation, I’m forgetting about or becoming complete with the past. When I regret something on the other hand the opposite happens. I’m dwelling on the past. I haven’t yet reconciled. What is the connection between the two?
The answer perhaps is in the idea of asking Hashem for something for chinam- for free, the prayer of the righteous. Asking Hashem for something for free, means that its not only that we’re not asking that He should give me something because I deserve it- which certainly no righteous person would do. Rather the Klei Yakar notes, it’s not even asking Hashem to grant our requests in order that we may preform mitzvos, in for the purpose of all the good that we can do. When we ask Hashem for a free gift, we are asking Hashem to do it because this is His will and we want do what He wants. In essence what it is saying is that we are asking Hashem for the gift of “chinam” of understanding that any will, any desire, any hope or aspiration that we have be entirely nullified to His will.
What Moshe and the righteous ask Hashem for is not for their personal prayers, but rather that they should be able to feel “freed”. Free of any personal drive or desire. Solely connected to the will of Hashem. Moshe turns to Hashem and tells Hashem that I know You told me that I can’t go into the land, yet I still desire to go. I still want to be part of this destiny. There’s still so much that I can and need to do. The fact that I feel that way, the most humble of all men whoever walked the face of the earth said, tells me that “I” still exist. My desires are still here. Please give me the gift of chinam. Then I can be consoled. Then I can have nechama.
Rav Hirsch explains that the idea of nechama- consolation and regret have in common changing one’s way of thinking. It’s moving from a place of a focus on the way “I” feel now, to a place of understanding that it’s not and never was about me. What happened in the past, I regret because I understand that my thoughts were wrong. It was never in my control. It was the will of Hashem. I can be consoled as well, when I understand that I’m only experiencing loss, because I am focused on the way that I thought or feel that things should be and work out. Yet if one taps into that idea and take it to it’s core, then one can appreciate that all of those feelings are chinam- they are for naught. For it is only the will of Hashem that is important. The more connected I am to that, the more I internalize that was the purpose I was created and given life for. That He gave us all we have for free because He wanted us to connect with His will, then the more consolation I can have. The more that I can live the life that He wants us to and that is best for us.
If that is the case, then there is something even more amazing that can be understood that is truly transformative. There are two other words that we’ve heard and spoken about a lot this time of year that are also chinam. They are the reason why the Temple is destroyed and the way that it will be rebuilt. It is sinat chinam and ahavat chinam- which until today I’ve always understood as baseless hatred and love. Yet, perhaps one can suggest that it can be taken to an even deeper level. Sinat chinam is the hatred of this idea of “chinam”-iyot- of freeing oneself of all personal focus and desire. The removal of one’s ego. The reason why I dislike other people and hate them is because I’m too obsessed with my own feelings. “They turn me off”, “They bother me” “I don’t like them…” Me, Me, Me, I, I, I… I can’t get over myself. I can’t nullify feelings and accept that everything is from Hashem and whatever I see in someone else is really what Hashem wants me to see and grow from. I can’t stand that thought and thus I suffer from sinat chinam- I hate the concept of being freed from all of those feelings of self and ego. Thus I can never be consoled and thus the Temple can’t exist and thus there is destruction. There’s no room for Hashem’s home and my own home together.
Ahavat chinam is when I can finally get over that. When I appreciate how incredible the world is and how freed I am when I am connected entirely to Hashem. Its root is chen- grace, charm, beauty. It’s an aura of lovingness that can’t be attributed to anything that you did. When someone has chen- it’s not connected to their looks, their brains, their personality or even sense of humor. It’s just an aura of otherworldliness charm and love that emanates from them. It’s for free. It’s chinam. It’s the light of Hashem shining out. Ahavas chinam is the love of that “chinam-iyot”. Someone who loves that can only see that love and shine in everyone else. In all of creation. They are connected to Hashem and see Hashem’s love and will in everything. That builds the Temple. That brings us home. Thus we are consoled. Then we and the entire world is redeemed.
The entire parsha of Va’eschanan contains this idea in some form of another. From the repetition of the Revelation and Ten Commandments at Sinai, when we saw Hashem. We saw Him and we should never forget, Moshe tells us in the fire and in the darkness, which are seemingly opposites. If there’s fire, it’s not dark. But we recognized that it is only Hashem that exists. Everything is His will. Ein od- there is nothing else.
The idea continues with the obligation to recite Shema. To understand how much He loves us and how it is all about this Oneness. With both of our hearts, what were perceive as good and bad, with the life that we are given, with everything He throws at us. It’s just His will. It’s our place of refuge that Moshe prepares for us that can be found in the six cities that he prepares that corresponds to these 6 words of Shema that we need to find refuge in, when we are full of regret for things we have done and are fearful for our future and our blood being spilled. And finally the parsha tell us it is not for anything that we have done that Hashem loves and feels this way about us and Chosen us. It’s nothing we’ve done, it’s not because we are great, or numerous. It’s not even because of ancestors. It’s for free. It’s His will. If we can internalize this, we can then come into the land. We can reveal His presence to world. We can build His home here.
Tu B’Av is here this week. The Bnai Yissachar tells us that Hashem created man on Rosh Hashana. 7 days before that on the 25th of Elul the world was created. If that is the case, he then brilliantly points out, the Talmud tells us that 40 days before someone is born in the heavens it is declared who their mate is. Bas ploni l’ploni. Who our bashert will be. Forty days before the 25th of Elul is the 15th of Av. It is Tu B’av. It is on that day that in heaven the first idea of us the completion of the world, of mankind, of His nation, of the Torah, of all that occurs was mated with Hashem. It’s the day of His Bashert with us. It’s the day throughout our history of marriage, of union, of consolation and of love. Love- ahava, and unity- echad as well share the same gematria. May this Shabbat of consolation, Hashem bring us that final consolation by revealing that unity and bringing the world to its final purpose.
Have a consoling Shabbos Nachamu and a party of a Tu B’av,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" Kain umzister soineh iz nit doh; me batzolt far im- There are no enemies for free; you have to pay for them.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
18.The main agricultural branch in the Beit HaKerem Valley is .
What are Bata and Grega?
A. Stages in the development of Mediterranean forests, woodland and scrub
B. A group of plants that is characteristic of Mediterranean forests, woodland
and scrub
C. Unique botanic phenomena that can be seen on Mount Meron
D. Plant diseases that are caused by invasive species
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/torah-hakedosha – With the recitation of the Ten Commandments my incredible Torah Ha’Kedosha hartzig song to remember that day and have the Torah daven for us. Arranged and sung by Dovid Lowy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ALYKE8LkA&t=8s - God’s country- Eretz Yisrael amazingly cool Israel video and song from Oorah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dptj7zzIig – it’s not Shabbas Nachamu without the Carlebach classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLNecwP94KA – Who remembers this golden oldie from Tzlil V’Zemer Nachamu
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
Shema – It’s the only part of our daily prayers that there is a biblical obligation to recite. The obligation is twice daily as the verse in this week’s parsha tells us b’shavbecha u’vekumecha- when you lie down and when you get up. The halachic authorities dispute what it means when we say that “hadevarim ha’eileh- these words” need to be recited are. Whether it is the first sentence of Shema, the first paragraph that’s mentioned in our parsha, or all three parshas that we recite. Yet, being that it’s a daily time specific mitzva which women are therefore exempted from, we also recite a blessing on it as we do on every mitzva. Yet unlike all the other mitzvos this one is different. The blessings even change each time we recite it. In the morning we have two blessings before and one after while in the evening we have two before and two after. Why is it this way? Why don’t we make the traditional blessing we make on all mitzvos “asher kidishanu b’mitzvosuv vi’tzivanu al Kriyas Shema” just like we do when we read Megillat Esther or any other obligatory reading?
Rav Shimon Schwab in his incredible work on prayer explains that the mitzva of Kriyat Shema is not a mitzva to read or even recite the Shema. The mitzva is Shema Yisrael- to internalize the idea. It is to accept on oneself an in one’s heart the unique Oneness of Hashem and His Kingship over the entire world and existence. Merely reciting the words doesn’t fulfill that obligation. Saying Shema Yisrael without that acceptance and internalization is lip service and doesn’t accomplish the Mitzva. Thus one can’t bless on its recitation, rather the blessing for Shema is one that awakens that appreciation of Hashem in the various circumstances where one is. It needs to be done in the morning when the day is bright and full of potential and upon receiving one’s soul back with love that tells us that Hashem has chosen us, as the blessings prior tell us. As well it’s in the evening when we are tired, wiped, weary and perhaps don’t feel as “chosen” yet we know that Hashem hasn’t removed His love from us. He’s still there. He’s in all circumstances. He’s our entire lives.
This year has been our year of kriyat Shema, the year when we recognize Hashem is there in the worst of times and in the miracles. Our entire avoda, all of our prayers are meant to bring us to the one biblical mitzva. Hashem Echad. Seeing, revealing, and declaring that Oneness to the entire world. If we do that then Im Yirtzeh Hashem we will bring the day that we are waiting for so long for of bayom ha’hu yi’hiyeh Hashem echad u’shmo Echad that His name will finally be revealed to the entire world.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Mashiach… Not!- 697 BC -Yes just as I left this Tishah B’av with a sense of betrayal and disappointment that Mashiach didn’t come, we conclude our story of Chizkiya with his death and our sages telling us that he was potentially meant to be Mashiach as well, but he lost it. Now to understand how this works, the commentaries explain that Mashiach can come early. So despite the fact that we know his deadline is by the end of the 6th millennium from Creation (216 years from now), if we merit he can appear early and even have come in the first Temple period and avoiding all it’s destruction as we would’ve been eternal. Yet that didn’t happen.
As well one of the other “disappointments” was that Gog and Magog, the final battle before Mashiach would come, I had assumed would take place this Tisha B’av. We’re ripe for it. Our sages tell us that Iran/ Bavel might be one of the kingdoms involved and we’re just waiting for it to break out. Yet that didn’t happen as well. The same was true for Chizkiya’s time, where our sages tell us that the battle and miraculous victory over Sancherev was meant to be Gog and Magog battle as well… but it wasn’t. We didn’t merit. Chizkiya and the generation lost out and here we are 2400 years later still waiting for him.
What did this king do so bad that made him and his generation unworthy? After-all he was the greatest king since Dovid and Shlomo and many ways perhaps even greater as he initiated a major teshuva movement and the level of Torah knowledge was restored like it never was before. As well he came from the lowest point and the worst kings and background and was even a direct descendant of Dovid Ha’Melech. So what was his failing. Surprisingly enough our sages tell us that it was because he didn’t sing songs of praise after that miraculous victory of Sancherev. If King David sang songs and he didn’t merit to be Mashiach then certainly Chizkiya shouldn’t as well. That’s it. He didn’t sing.
What is so geferlach about the lack of song and why takeh didn’t he sing? Some of the commentaries suggest that Chizkiya was a man of Torah, he felt that Torah and the teshuva was enough to bring Mashiach. Yet, was he was missing was that Torah is intellectual pursuit and even teshuva which is an emotional cleansing returning process to Hashem alone is still not enough. Shira is the form in which our soul connects most to Hashem. Shir Ha’Shirim the song of songs composed by Shlomo Ha’Melech is the Holy of Holies, it brings us in the most private and secret of chambers. When one sings they are entirely connected to Hashem in ways that Torah and even teshuva can’t. In order to win Gog and Magog who try to keep us out of that holy room we need the heartfelt song to overcome them. Because even if they, and Ashur were destroyed miraculously, but unless we responded with Shira, then we haven’t fully won the battle. Mashiach hasn’t come.
There is a story that someone asked a great Gadol, why he didn’t merit to have a child like Reb Chayim Kanievsky, that the Steipler had. The Gadol answered because whereas he said Torah over at the Shabbos table, the Steipler sang zemiros, Shabbos songs instead. Torah is not enough to bring Mashiach. Even teshuva isn’t fully complete as well. It has to transform into song. It has to come from heart. This is the final message of Chizkiya. Next week we begin the final spiral down of the first Temple with King who was perhaps the worst of them all in Yehuda, the 12-year-old son Menashe who takes the reign.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE CONSOLATION JOKES OF THE WEEK
How do you comfort a grieving sushi chef? Wasabi for your loss.
How do you comfort a sad non binary person ? They’re/Their
How do you comfort an Grammar teacher? There, their, they're.
Some philosopher said “Change does not come from a place of comfort.”, but he was wrong.
I’m always finding loose coins in my couch.
A woman is sitting at her recently deceased husband's funeral. A man leans in to her and asks, "Do you mind if I say a word?"
"No, go right ahead," the woman replied.
The man stands, clears his throat, says "Plethora" and sits back down.
"Thanks," the woman said, "that means a lot."
A doctor runs a test on an elderly lady in the hospital and comes in to her room to read her the results.
"I have some bad news, and some more bad news. You have cancer, and you also have Alzheimer's disease"
The woman says "Well at least I don't have cancer."
Yitzhak and Freda go out to see Fiddler on the Roof on stage. This is the most sold out show of the year. Somehow, they've been lucky and manage to get best seats in the front row. But they notice that there's an empty seat in the row behind them. When intermission comes and no one has sat in that seat, Freda turns to the woman sitting next to the empty seat and asks, "Pardon me, but as this is such a sold out show and in such demand, we were wondering why that seat is empty."
The woman says, "That's my late husband's seat."
Freda is horrified and apologizes for being so insensitive. But a few minutes later, she turns around again.
"Without meaning to be rude or anything, this is an incredibly hard show to get into. Surely you must have a friend or a relative who would have wanted to come and see the show?"
The woman nods, but explains, "They're all at the shiva."
A 90 year-old Jew is on his deathbed. Summoning his last bit of strength, he lifts his head and whispers: "Is my beloved wife Sarah here with me?" And Sarah says, "Yes, I am here."
He then says: "Are my children -- my wonderful children -- are they here with me?" And they reply, "Yes father, we are here with you to see you breathe your last."
And he says: "Are my brothers and sisters here with me as well?" And they too tell him that they are here.
So the old man lays back quietly, closes his eyes, and says, "If everybody is here ... why is the light on in the kitchen?"
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The answer to this week”s question is A– So I got this one wrong entirely. Haven’t had that happen in a while. I’m not sure if I would’ve skipped this one or not. I was pretty sure I knew the first part of this answer, but I ended up getting it wrong because their translation really was weird. I though by asking about the agricultural branch, they were asking about what the name of the region was, and I thus thought the answer the Netufa valley, not far from my home. Yet in truth the question was what “branch” it literally was which is olive trees. Yet they should’ve said that in the question. Who uses the word branch to describe tree? Pathetic, that Ministry of Tourism exams use google translate for their questions. In regards to part II I had no clue. Agriculture and particularly stuff that I can’t eat doesn’t interest me or my tourists either. I deleted that information from my limited brain. I guessed B and the answer was A. So all wrong this week as opposed to last week when I got them all right. So the new score is Rabbi Schwartz 11 and Ministry of Tourism 7 on this exam so far.
