Somethings Never Change- and Need To- Parshat Eikev 2026 5786

 

Insights and Inspiration from the Holy Land from Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz "Your friend in Karmiel" June 31st 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 39 17th of Av 5786   Parshat Eikev  Some Things Don't Change and Need To Click here below for print edition (Weekly Newsletter - Parshat Eikev  )   It was 97 years ago this Shabbos. "We thought they were our friends" is what they testimonies all say. We would go to their weddings, they came to ours. The Gerrer Rebbi came to Israel and he was impressed with the incredible relations the Jews of Chevron had with their neighbors. The Slobodka Yeshiva was flourishing. There were students from America that were studying there. Sure there was noise from Jerusalem. The Zionists were starting up with the Waqf and trying to put up a mechitza by the Kotel to daven and the Arabs weren't too happy. But that's just radicalism. Here we live in peace. Here we get along with them. It's a new era. Torah will protect us. We just wish those radicals would be quiet already and let us stay here in galus in Israel and study Torah like we did in Europe. Let us grow our crops on the fields of our ancestors. And continue to sit on the floor on Tisha B'Av and mourn the destruction and exile we're still experiencing.   In fact, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, whose own nephew, the Slonim family who were the leaders and founders of the community, and were descendants of the granddaughter of the Baal Ha'Tanya, Menucha Rochel, were killed in that massacre that Shabbos. The story the family retells is how broken he was afterwards because a wealthy American father was concerned about sending his son to the yeshiva there and Rav Tzvi Pesach assured him he had nothing to worry about. That bachur was killed along with 23 other bochrim, that black Shabbos as the Arabs rioted pillaged burned and raped our country in what was always until 3 years ago considered the worst massacre and pogrom to take place in our country. 133 Jews were killed 339 wounded and the country was changed. This Shabbos 97 years ago. The Black Shabbos of Eikev.   Today those numbers seem small. There were more that were killed and kidnapped from Kfar Aza alone on Tisha B'Av. There was almost ten times as many in the following days that were killed. Yet, back then the population of Israel was 150,000. The number killed was .1% whereas our population in 2024 was close to 6.5 million and the death and tragedy was not even .015 percent. Yet, the message and lesson hadn't changed in close to a century. It never changes. It's the earliest lesson and perhaps the only message that is more emphasized than any other lesson and message Hashem and Moshe repeatedly tell us. The nations in the land will hate you and kill you. They're not your friends. They will never be your friends. Your job is to finish them off. Your job is to build a Bais Ha'Mikdash. Your job is to wage war against them.   Chazak V'Ematz, Chazak V'Ematz Chazak V'Ematz. No other message is repeated so many times that Hashem tells us that we need to be careful and have strength to carry out. Don't stop short. Don't get lulled into a quiet peaceful ceasefire. Don't think that they will ever give up the land and allow you to remain that way. As long as I don't have my home, Hashem says, you're not going to have peace and quiet in yours either.   The week of the massacre followed, Shabbas Nachamu, as it does this year. It follows as it does every year the holiday of Tu B'Av, the 15th of Av. It's the parsha of Eikev every year as well. The Talmud tells us that from Tu B'Av and on the nights become longer.  U'dlo mosif- He who does not increase, does not gather, does not add to the light. Yasif- he will be gathered in, or as Rabbi Yosef explains, his mother will bury him. He will die untimely death. In a pogrom. In a massacre. In a way that is befitting to someone who has themselves just gone to sleep in a grave, as we said last week and the Jews of the Desert did every year after Tisha B'Av, until they realized the redemption had arrived and it was time to enter the land.   Tu B'av commemorates various historical "holidays" of this nature. Perhaps one of the most striking that I literally just learned yesterday in my Nach Yomi limud (two perakim a day since Shavuot and almost done with Melachim Beis!). It is the story of the last king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel Hoshea Ben Alah. He does something tremendous and is considered a righteous king for this act. He does it on Tu B'Av. For a few hundred years the majority of our nation, that didn't live near Jerusalem didn't see the Bais Ha'Mikdash. It's pretty much incomprehensible when we think about that. We all know, or at least should know that the first Temple lasted for 410 years, however since the death of Shlomo Ha'Melech and the rebellion and secession of Yeravam Ben Nevat with the 10 tribes, most of Klal Yisrael didn’t and couldn't go to the Temple. Thus, we only all worshiped there for about 20 years of Shlomo's rule. Yeravam made sure of that. He put up big blockades and checkpoints and no one was allowed to go. And somehow we became fine with that. We were good just living in Israel in a sometimes-religious country but mostly not.   Yet, on that Tu B'Av the righteous King Hoshea tore down those walls. The gates were opened. He proclaimed that anyone that wanted to was now free to head to Yerushalayim. We could see Hashem. We could be Oleh Regel. We could worship in the Temple, bring our sacrifices, redeem our ma'aser and tithes and come with our wagonloads of first fruits. We could have it all back. And the Jews celebrated. They made it a Yom Tov. They sang songs of praise. Maybe even sand Bar Yochai and made bonfires. We like new holidays. They're fun. And there wasn't even Chanuka or Purim yet as those don't happen until after the destruction and exile. This became the first post-biblical national holiday.   Yet, somehow… we missed the point. We didn't add light. We didn't go to the Temple. We didn't go to the Temple Mount. We didn't make Aliya... Our parties I'm sure continued each year. The maidens danced in the fields. But like our Palestinian neighbors we like usual never miss and opportunity to miss an opportunity. We chose our graves over redemption. We chose our yeshivos in Chevron over the Bais Ha'Mikdash. As the Chasam Sofer tells us we chose Tzfat and Tiverya and Meron over Yerushalayim and thus the earthquake happened in Tzfat years before. We're still choosing today Lakewood over Eretz Yisrael, and the Kotel over the Temple Mount and Bais Ha'Mikdash. We're not adding light. We're frozen in the darkness.   It is a result of that uncelebrated and recognized holiday of Tu B'av that we didn't take with us past the day, that the exile of the ten tribes began. Sancheirev comes to the land. He exiles ten tribes and most of the Jewish people are chucked out of the land never to come back again, until this very day. They're "disappeared." Until this very year, in which things have changed we have never had a majority of Jews living in Israel including during the second Temple period as well. We weren't mosif after Tu B'Av… so we were yasif… we died untimely deaths in putrid impure bloodstained lands that we were never meant to live in. That were places were no matter what mitzvos we do, how much Torah we learn, how many shuls we build. The light of Hashem, that only rests on One Place can never shine out from. Although it makes our graves there quite comfortable. It's like Air-conditioned coffins.   The parsha we read each year as well is Eikev on this Shabbos after Tu B'Av. There is perhaps no parsha that accentuates and replays more and more this Post Tu B'Av theme. I'm too tired to give you a dvar Torah. I'll just review the parsha and point it out to you again and again and again. Which is what Hashem is screaming at us about on this week. Consider it me Highlighting His notes for you that people in galus-like myself, by the way, because yes, here we're in Galus too- sometimes miss.   Two points He keeps making. One, the Land is good and everything we need to do is over here. Two- the goyim need to go and we need to liberate the country. So here goes.   And it will be as a result of us listening to the these mitzvos and observing and fulfilling them. Then Hashem will observe His promise and kindness which He swore to our ancestors and will love us and bless us…. On THE land He swore to give us.   We just need to listen. Listen to what? The mitzvos He gave us. What mitzvos are those? Take a look at the previous verse. Wipe out the enemies. Destroy their temples and idols. Burn them in fire. Don’t find or give them grace. These are all mitzvos that the Torah says we need to do Eikev. With our feet. Not sitting on the floor and mourning, but get up on your heels and start making them happen.   The parsha continues though, with our objections. The thing that's holding us down. (Ibid 17) If you will say in your heart, the nations are too great. How can I throw them out.   What will the world say? Trump? The UN. It's not politically correct. We can't just walk in and destroy everything. They were here first.   (Ibid 18) Don't fear them. Remember what I did to Pharaoh and Egypt. The great miracles and signs… the outstretched arm. So I will do to those that you are scared of./. Don't be intimidated by them, because Hashem your god who is in your midst is a great and awesome God.   When we don't listen to these words, then what we are inherently saying is that Hashem is not a great God. If we're scared of what the nations will say, then we are saying that we don't believe in the exodus from Egypt as more than a historical story to eat matza and drink wine and talk about. We don't believe it's us today. We don't believe He is in our midst. We don't believe what He is telling us. We're not listening. We're back in our graves.   Chapter 8 it continues, in case you weren't listening.   All of the Mitzva that I command you to guard is in order that you should live and multiply and and come and inherit the land. And He's not talking about Lakewood. Tom's River, Square Town or Boro Park.   He reminds us about how we wandered for forty years and we constantly tested Hashem and He always showed us and rebuked us in order that we get that He's our Father. He wants what's good for us. He will never abandon us and the land that He's taking us to is worth the trip. It's a good land, springs and rivers in hills and valleys, wheat barley and the 7 species. We will eat and we will be satisfied. And we will thank Hashem not for our delicious Meatboards. Not for our delicious Pizza or French pastries that we eat in other places but rather Al ha'aretz ha'tova asher nasan lach- on the good land he gave us.. Did you ever think about that? Whenever we bentch with a lot of kavana from a siddur of course, where are thanking Hashem not just for the food, but rather for the land, Who mentioned land and Israel here? We're living in galus for 2000 years. We're not in Israel. Why mention that now?   The answer is because thanking Hashem for food, no matter how delicious it is, but if it's in galus then it's like prison food. It's like praising and thanking the warden for your last meal before the executioner. It's thanking your captors in Gaza for a pita. It's not really geshmak. Only when we thank Hashem for the land of Israel and we turn to Him and think about the real meal that's coming for those not here yet, then can our hearts be full of thanks and praise and then we can ask for the Temple. Then we're finally uplifted and out of our graves. Because we're listening to His words.   Hashem then turns in the second aliya with the warning of what happens when we get to Israel and have that good. We become fat and we forget. We don't bother going to the Temple. We start allowing others to worship here. We stop listening. We ignore our Father. We think it's our strength. Then guess what? We get chucked out. We lose it all. If we're not mosif, we're yasif.   But what if we're not worthy? What if we're not frum enough? How can we believe Hashem is amongst us if we don't do the right things? If there are pride parades in Jerusalem If people have smart phones. If they go to the har ha'bayis. If our government is not frum and our court is anti-frum, anti-Torah? Hashem knew that was coming. He barvorned it as we say in yeshiva.   Don't worry, He says. I'm not giving you the land because I think you're tzadikim. I know you better than anyone. I know you’re the most stiff-necked people around. But that has nothing to do with it. I want home. These people living there are worse than you. They're Nazis. They're evil. I need the place cleaned and you guys are hired despite your failings because I love you and you're my child. I've loved you since Sinai. I've loved your ancestors. You've sinned and sinned and I've never abandoned you. Just come Home. Just build the Temple. Just say you care enough to take your heels and move here. I gave you second Luchos. I forgave and forgave and will forgive again. Just come home.   All he wants Moshe tell us is for us to truly fear Him. To see his awesomeness, and then follow the leader. Take the path of that awe and walk with it. Remove that orla from your hearts all that decay that has numbed you to seeing the truth. All that social media about politically correctness and all of those years of bad chinuch that may have led you to believe that He wants you to be frum outside of Israel. That mitzvos have meaning there. That all He wants is a Kotel.   The parsha goes on and on. You don't need a dvar Torah this week. You just need to read the parsha. You just need to see the gates are open. That there's nothing stopping us. That Hashem has comforted us. That Tu B'Av is over. That the light is starting to grow.   There is a tradition from the Baal Shem Tov that beginning from Tu B'Av we start to wish people with a ksiva V'chasima tova- the blessings for a new year. In fact the Komarna notes that "Chamisha Asar B'Av-" tu b'av is in fact the exact gematria of Ksiva v'chasima tova. Tu B'Av is 40 days before the 25th day of Elul when Hashem created the world on the first of the 6 days of Creation. Parshat Eikev is in fact the only parsha that uses the word Rosh Hashana- "Reishit Hashana"- the beginning of the year. It is that description of Hashem always having His eyes on this country. It's all He has on his screen. It's what he looked at 40 days before the creation of the world. It's the reishis that He looks at us and the Torah. That 40 day conception process began Tu B"Av.   I'll conclude with the end of that Rav Pesach Frank story above. For many years he felt broken that he advised this father to send his son to yeshiva. 40 years later, Rav Frank's son was once in café and he was talking to someone who he shared that story with. It seems he was relative of that father. He told Rav Franks son, that after the massacre the father was a very influential person and he put tremendous pressure on the US senators to put pressure on England to make changes in their mandate anti-Jewish and Israel behavior in Israe. They immediately switched the British Military Governor for a new one who was pro-Jewish and Israel. Within ten years from that story. The population of Israel tripled. He opened up the gates. A Jewish army had formed. There were 450,000 Jews in the 1930''s and during the Holocaust tens of thousands more came. It was all because of that boy. That advice. That sign of Hashem. It was the light that came out of the darkness of the graves of Chevron.   Rav Frank's son immediately came home and told his wife that they have to travel to their father to tell him She told him that they were going to go anyways next week. Today was Friday. It's erev Shabbos. But he refused. He said that his father had been mourning for decades over this story. He deserves to see the hand of Hashem. So he went and he told him Rav Frank hugged him and cried. He expressed his appreciation for him coming to tell him and not waiting until after Shabbos. They parted ways and he went home. That Friday night Rav Frank returned his soul to Hashem. It was the last message he heard. The geula can happen even when we don't see it. We just need to listen. We need to come to Shabbos, with the message of redemption.   Have a remarkably fun and exciting delightful Shabbos, Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz    YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK   " Nit mit sheltn un nit mit lahchen ken men di velt ibermachen."- Neither with cursing or laughing will the world change. RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK answer below at end of Email   10. The ANZAC Museum is located in the city of __________  What was the purpose of the establishment of the "11 points in the Negev" in 1946? A. Taking control of coastal aquifer reservoirs. B. Including the region in the Jewish state’s territory in a future partition plan. C. Strengthening the defense of the small Jewish settlement in Gaza. D. Controlling the route leading to Egypt RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK   https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eretz-tu-bishvat  – This week's parsha Rabbi Schwartz composition best song ever!!! You should be singing this song of the words of Hashem on the amazingness of Eretz Yisrael all week long! https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/kum -  Every four steps you walk this Bein Hazmanim is a mitzva if you're doing it here! Kum Hithalech Ba'Aretz my song is based on yesterday's Daf of Hashem folding up all of Israel under Yaakov to teach us that the whole Israel is 4 Amos conquerable. Dovid Lowy did both of these songs arrangements and Vocals… Rock Em!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb_-z7gCJVs - Joey Newcomb- Rely on Hashem… latest Bein Hazmanim release… https://24six.app/preview/music/content/446598/homeward-bound – Benny Friedmans latest release Homeward Bound… no video posted but just great song.. Only wish he and all of you would say those words… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXKsf5mdG-g – Elka's favorite new song and I'm loving it also… Eternal Tai! RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK Guardians of The Wall -333 BC- So the plan of Nechemia worked! He had broken through the walls of Jerusalem in order to convince the nation that the time was here to start to rebuild the city and protect it. He has the permission of Darius, although he didn't even tell them. He wanted it to come from them. They needed to do it on their own. And we did.   Now our neighbors were not too happy. They felt that Jerusalem was there. In the past they had terrorized the Jews and pretty much held us back, but now with the walls breached they plotted to up the terror a notch and truly begin to stop us from our project. It's kind of like what the Chareidim have been doing to the light Rail on Bar Ilan for the past ten years…   So they planned their big intifada, what they didn't know was that Nechemia had good intel. He knew what they were planning. And thus he prepared for it. Do you know that famous Carlebach song. Shomrim Hafked L'ircha kol ha'yom v'kol ha'layla- He established an armed watch guard over the city walls to oversee the work of the wall. The Navi tells us that the walls were built with half the nation holding swords and spears and the other half with hammers and nails. That's the way Jerusalem was rebuilt and there is a deep eternal message on a spiritual level as well. Can you figure it out?   Jerusalem needs both. It needs our soldiers and needs our wall-builders. Only when the two work together, can the city be united. Can we truly have Yerushalayim Shel Mata.   RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE CHANGE JOKES OF THE WEEK   Yesterday, I changed a light bulb, crossed the road, and walked into a bar. My life is a joke.   Alabama changed the drinking age to 34. They wanted to keep alcohol out of the high schools   My friend really changed when she became a vegetarian... it's like I've never seen herbivore.   What’s it called when a chameleon can’t change its colors anymore? A reptile dysfunction!   How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb? 10. 1 to change the bulb and 9 to tell you how much better they could've done it   How many cops does it take to change a light bulb? They don't, they arrest the bulb for being broke and beat the room for being black.   How does a Jewish mother change a lightbulb? "No, that's all right. I'll just sit here in the dark."   How many Yekkis does it take to change a light bulb? One. We are efficient and dont have humour.   How many divorced men does it take to change a light bulb? No one knows. They never get to keep the house.   The sweater my wife gave me was picking up static electricity, so I went to the store to change it. They gave me another one, free of charge   How many Trump supporters does it take to change a lightbulb? Look, we can change the lightbulb. That I will tell you. We're changing it, ok? And I understand what you're saying, I hear it all the time. People call me and say "Is the lightbulb really dead?". Thats what they are asking me, its unbelievable. The lightbulb is in big trouble, that I can tell you. But we are going to change it.   How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb? Wanna go ride bikes?   My wife the English Teacher explained, "You need to do more chores around the house."  I moaned, "Can we change the subject?" She smiled and said..."Ok. More chores around the house need to be done by you.   There are a pair of twins called Ving and Ling. Ving decided to go to the town hall to change his name. Ling decided to give him a lift there. When they arrived Ling reminded Ving that he would disgrace their family if he changed his name to Lee. Ving takes a form and quickly fills it out to change his name. He sends off the form, but immediately starts to regret it. He is told that to revoke his form he must pay a small fee. Ling takes out her purse and is about to hand over the money when suddenly… A man, their father, bursts through the door and embraces Ving and tells them, “Don’t stop, be Lee, Ving”, “Hold on to that fee, ling.” ******************************* The answer to this week's question is B- I feel a streak coming on here. This one was pretty easy. Not that I've ever been here, however I know and am familiar that the whole ANZAC thing, the Australian WWI horse brigade forces that fought against the Turks was in Beer Sheva where the memorial is for them. As well the 11 points question is pretty basic and important Israel history where in one night in order that they would be part of the Jewish State in 1946. As if there was Jewish life there, the Two State solution would have to include them. Those 11 points include, by the way Beeri, Urim, Chatzeirim, Tekuma, Nirim and other Kibbtuzim that sit on the Gaza Border that you may be familiar with… By the way what date did this take place. Motzai Yom Kippur. What was the English date? October 6th… Fast Forward 80 year… October 7th… Wow… pretty scary… So we're getting into decent grade level here with Rabbi Schwartz having 7.5 points and the MOT having 2.5 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

Retirement Home- Parshat Matos Maasei 5786 2026

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

June 11^th 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 37 25^th of Tamuz 5786

 

Parshat Matos/Ma'asei

 The Retirement Home

 

Click here below for print edition

(Weekly Newsletter - Parshat Matos Maasei  )

 

Our journey is coming to an end. We're at the Banks of the Jordan. We're about to enter the land. Mashiach is right about here. He's not Donald Trump. We're pretty sure about that. Tisha B'Av will hopefully be a holiday this year. My Bein Ha'Zmanim tours will be of the new Bais Ha'Mikdash. Sukkos will be amazing. The Shechina is coming down. Miracles like we never saw before are about to happen. It's almost all over and it's almost about to begin. The 5786 years since Hashem created the word are about to come to the glorious culmination and commencement of the End of Days. Can't you feel it? I can. How about you?

 

If you can't, then perhaps it's time to get new glasses. Ge'ula glasses. My brother is an optometrist if you're looking for a referral, by the way. Yet, being that he lives in Chutz La'aretz, despite the fact that he longs to be here, the glasses he can make for you, don't really show you the whole thing. Chutz La'aretz glasses can only see so much and so far.

 

There's a oft Rabbinically sermoned story about the soldier that was standing by the western wall when it was returned to us, or liberated in 1967 and who was crying. When asked by the Rabbi standing next to him, why he was crying, he answered it was because he didn't know what he should be crying for. To a large degree, I believe that many of us relate and fall into the category of that soldier. Sure, we all want the Bais Ha',Mikdash, we want redemption, we sing l'shana ha'baah bi'yerushalayim. Yet, at the end of the day, how much of that "longing" is really just lip service. How much is it is just engrained into us, like chulent, Shabbos, lashon hara, Shema Yisrael and herring and gefilte fish. See, all of those are pretty much the same. It's just stuff thrown into us that we kind of define our yiddishkeit and thus ourselves by. If we didn't have chulent, or we didn't say Shema, or if we didn't have herring or we didn't have Shabbos or spoke lashon hara. We'd probably be annoyed. But we wouldn't really feel like our lives just fell apart. That we lost an eye or a leg. It wouldn't be tishkach yemini- that our right arm just got blown off.

 

That's kind of the way we feel about Eretz Yisrael and the Bais Ha'Mikdash. It would be nice and great and fun, and even holy and prophetic. But I'm not walking around without an arm. Thank God, I've got both of them. It's more like I don't have that fancy Tesla and I'm stuck in my shleppy yeshivish Toyota. I'm still getting around. It's just not a fancy self-driving car. But at least, I'm not walking. I'm not limping. I know people and soldiers that lost their arms in this war. They don't have the smile, you or I have on our face most of the time. They don't forget ever what they're missing. When they cry, they know what they're crying about.

 

Now we know that we should feel that way. We know that we need to feel that way. We were taught and believe that whoever mourns over the Temple will merit to see it be rebuilt. The problem perhaps is though we don't really see it. We don't feel the loss. We don't and were perhaps never taught what it is truly meant to be and mean to us. And thus, we can't mourn something that we don't even know what it should look like. Someone that is born blind, or deaf, can't mourn the fact that they don't have sight or hearing. They don't know what it is. They only know a dark soundless world. So how could they even dream about what they are lacking.

 

Yet, as I said, the time is here. Hashem is ready to bring the geula. We are at Yarden Yericho and we're about to cross into the Holy Land. It is perhaps at this juncture of time, during the three weeks before Tisha B'Av that we read every year the conclusion of the Book of Bamidbar which is meant to give us the perspective that Moshe gave our nation of what it is meant to look like when we come into the Land and perhaps even more than that, what we are meant to do, what is our job here, what is the vision that we are aspiring to achieve. Because as the famous quote of the Chesire Cat in Alice in Wonderland goes If you don't know where you're going- then any road will get you there. Or perhaps the opposite is true. If you don't know where you're going then you'll never get to where you need to be.

 

How different is the view of Moshe and Hashem versus that of the Jewish nation that he is speaking to back then, and to us today? You tell me. Moshe tells us in Parshat Matos that there are two tribes that kind of don't feel the need to cross the Yarden into Israel and conquer it. They've got great grazing land over there. It even is almost like being in Israel over there. It even actually has Kedushas Ha'aretz and is obligated in most of the mitzvos. It's like the shuls and Beit Midrash's in Lakewood, that my tourists once told me are a Mikdash Me'at- a little Temple that has the holiness of Israel and will eventually fly over here. So why does he have to make Aliyah? I told him that's kind of like saying why do I need to come to Israel for a Rabbi Schwartz tour, I can just read his great articles in Mishpacha instead. Yeah…not the same thing.

 

So Moshe does some splain'in to them. See, Eretz Yisrael isn't just about having a good comfortable, safe Jewish place to live, where goyim won't bother you. I didn't bring you here, and Hashem didn't take you out of Egypt or choose you, just cause He loves you and wants to give you a nice new house. Rather, He brought you here because He needs you to do a job.

 

"Will your brothers go to war and you just sit here".

 

Hashem brought you here for a mission, Moshe tells them. It's to go to war. It's to join the army. It's to kill every single man, woman and baby in the land. Listen, if some of them want to make peace with you and are willing to be your servants, throw out all other alternate form of worship, and serve Hashem as non-citizens of this country on an Israeli Visa then that's fine too. But everyone else has to either leave or be dead. So what in the wild world, he turns to them and says, are you guys thinking. What are you spies or something, that are trying to weaken the people and sell them short on an idea of what our job here is all about?

 

That my friends is the vision. If you follow that theme throughout Matos, throughout Moshe's discussion with them. Throughout his repeated command to our nation, this is the message he keeps sending us. Come to the land, destroy all alternative forms of worship. Inherit it. Throw them out. Kill them. Destroy them. If not you have no real right to come here. You will lose it. They will be thorns in your sides and beams in your eyes. They will constantly attack you, kill you, persecute you, pogrom you, intifada you and October 7^th you. And the worst part, Hashem says… I will do to you what I thought to do to them. The Orach Chayim Ha'Kadosh explains why this is. Why Hashem would tell us as the Rashbam says, that just as I meant for them to be all killed and no "lo sechayeh kol neshoma"- so I will do that to you.

 

What he says is so powerful and so unbelievable but yet so logical. What Hashem is basically telling us, is that I had a plan when I brought you here. You have a job to do. Do you know what that job is? It's not to build yeshivos in Israel. It's not to even settle the land and make nice new communities and hill tops. It's not to study Torah. It's not to have chesed organizations. It's not to have a million minyanim and shuls on one block. It's not for Teshuva organizations or kiruv organizations. Don't get me wrong, those are all great and even holy things. But it's not why He brought us here. Because if you see it that way, then guess what? You can stay in America and do most of that too. You can stay me'eiver la'yarden and do that also in the Golan Heights. And you would be right not to long so much for the Bais Ha'Mikdash. After-all you got the same thing there.

 

Rather, the reason He brought us here is because He wants a goy free country. He wants a lighthouse built that will shine up to the rest of the world and so that His Shechina will shine from there and the world will come close to Hashem and have a house to pray and worship and become close to Him from. That's the purpose of the world. That's why He created the entire world. That's what He chose and hired us to do. As long as that's not happening, that we're not doing what He asked of us, then everything else is pretty much meaningless. Then He doesn't need us. Then we're not really much better than the Arabs that were here before we got here. They didn't build Him his house and neither are we. So what does He need us for?

 

Perhaps a parable can make this even clearer to you. It can give you the glasses you need to see what I'm trying to show you. What Moshe was trying to show them. What Hashem wants us to do, what He needs us to get so that we can finally cross that Yarden. So, as Rashi and Chazal tell us, He doesn't have to drown us in the waves.

 

See, there's the King once his name is Donald Schwartzowitz. He has a dream his whole life to one day have a beautiful nice retirement home on a nice farm in the Upper Galile. He really doesn't need anything too fancy. He wants a nice view, a beautiful garden that his wife can plant her vegetables in that he personally is not really interested in eating as he had a stomach surgery and tries only to eat dead warm blooded animals in a bun or on a grill or some good danishes and non-healthy but tasty food. But it keeps her busy and happy and that makes him happy. He wants a nice study. Maybe a Jacuzzi to lookout to the yam and see the sunset as he drinks a beer. And of course a nice big study with a comfortable chair and room for all his sefarim, where he can learn, write his books and E-Mails and even compose music. That's the dream.

 

Now Schwartzowitz hasn't been idle. He's been saving for years. He's been putting away money. He's scrimped and saved. He's been looking for the right time and place and he finally found it. There's only one problem. The dream lot that he found and actually even bought for this retirement palace of his, was currently being occupied by a group of homeless drug addicted squatters that don't want to leave. So what do you do? Schwarztowitz is a smart guy, he hires the best and most qualified team of professionals for the job. The team is made up of good security people that will clean the place out of all the riffraff. Will take the lot and build it up. That get his specific design. That knows what type of view he wants. That understand what he needs for his wife. What the kitchen should look like. The bedroom and of course most importantly his study and jacuzzi. He gives them all the details and the plans and tells them that they've got a year or two to finish the project. He has to marry off his beautiful daughter Elka first, he's got another kid Tully that needs to get set up. So they have a year or two, and then it should be ready. The dream can come true.

 

Two years later, he got a call from the foreman that they were almost ready. They were at the finishing stages and if the King wanted to move in early, he was welcome to come check it out. As all it really needed was His last details and presence. For Casa Di'Schwartzowitz was about open for business. Very excited the King jumped on His helicopter and flew right over and much to his shock and consternation nothing changed. The place still has homeless people. Drugs. There's even a large noisy market place in what was meant to be his wife's garden and a dance club across the street blocking his view. When in shock he turns to the guy in charge of the job and asked what's going on. The guy looked at him like a good Israeli does and told him that he doesn't understand, it's just what the King wanted.

 

See, they decided instead to give the King a much better deal, then he even wanted. Instead of in Israel they decided it makes more sense to find him a place in Pakistan. It's a lot nicer there. Also its far better for the King do have neighbors that will be there to help you out. So we actually built you a place in a multi-family dwelling. That way if you ever need butter you can borrow it from a neighbor. It's also good to have diversity there so we made it into a building that has people of all ages and backgrounds there. Puerto Ricans, Italians, Blacks, Chareidim,noisy teenagers and wild kids. It will be nice to have everyone there together.

 

 As well, they figured the study thing would be too hard on his eyes, so they decided that an arcade with mahh jong tables would be much better. As well the garden for the wife thing would probably be too much after a while, so instead, they built her a sewing room and she could order her fruits on Amazon Prime instead. Jacuzzis also aren't that great, so instead they built him a sauna. It's much better for your skin. Isn't the King happy. We did just what you wanted.

 

Do you see the problem here? Hashem doesn't want Batei Midrash in Lakewood. He doesn't want Adirei Torah in Pakistan. He doesn't want a million shuls in Meah Shearim. He's clear about what His vision is. He wants ONE shul. It's called the Bais Ha'Mikdash. He want's no goyim or noisy neighbors. He wants a view of the heavens unobstructed. He wants a light that will shine out there to the world. To be the sun of the world. He want's peace and harmony from the one nation that He hired and repeatedly told to have that vision and carry it out. To inherit it for Him. To see it with Him. To live together with Him. That's the vision. That's our right arm. That's what we're missing. That's what we need to see.

 

The Book of Bamidbar ends with this vision. It concludes with the unlikely daughters of Tlzafchad that seemed to get this, that want to make this happen and will give up everything for it. It ends with Moshe knowing that Reuvein and Gad don't get this. They have their own vision. Moshe thus charges them with the job of fighting for the land. Being the first. Because when you fight for something, you realize how important it is to. What the goal is. What your life is really about. As well he places with them, not just half of the tribe of Menashe, that descendant of Yosef, that longed for Israel and that understood what the King really wants, but as well cities of the tribe of Levi. The ones that fight for Hashem, that bring us close to Him. That will remind us where we need to go and what we're all about.

 

The book concludes with cities of refuge. Every place in Israel we need to have these cities where those that have perhaps taken lives negligently, can run to. It seems like such a strange small detailed ending but in fact it is everything. Because the reason the Temple isn't built is because we all take our lives negligently. We don't value what we and each Jew is meant to be doing. We don't appreciate what we were hired for. So we kill by mistake. Ourselves and others. So we need to have a place to remind us of what we're here for. A city who is more than any other looking towards the Bais Ha'Mikdash everyday and asking about the Kohen Gadol, who is worrying about them. Because he understands that his life is dependent on theirs and theirs on his. The redemption will come when we get that. That is what a country redeemed will look like. It's when Eretz Yisrael will be a place that the whole world will turn to. That can and should happen this week. We just need to clean those Geula glasses and know what we were hired and crying for. What the King is waiting for us to do. Because the time has come for Him to finally settle down.

 

 Have a Shabbos Chazak and a Chodesh Av that not only consoles us but uplifts us

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

" Az men vil nisht alt vern, zol men zich yungerheyt oyfhengen "- If you don't want to grow old, hang yourself when you're young.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

7. The name of the events, that occurred following a dispute over Jewish prayer at the Western Wall, during the British mandate was______ 

For what purpose did the Great Mosque building in Ramla serve before becoming a mosque?

A. Crusader church

B. Synagogue

C. Caravanserai

D. Government building

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/achainu – Rabbi Schwartz Acapella composition season, I composed this Acheinu two years ago during the war when I got sick of the same old one again and again. Dovid Lowy Arrrangements and Vocals of course… Let me know what you think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKr6CfG9OI&list=RDfCKr6CfG9OI&start_radio=1 - Ani Maamin Nice Acapella

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgtURjWGh0k&list=RDQgtURjWGh0k&start_radio=1 -  Mendy Worch TYH Never Alone Acapella

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f9bL9z5MN5k     – Meeting the worst Jew in the world- Shlomo Carlebach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpkhVtPCWFo&list=RDhpkhVtPCWFo&start_radio=1 – And here's a great Acapella Holy Playlist

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

Teshuva Movement -345 BC- I think that one of the things that we really need to change our mindset about in this season is what Geula might look like. There's this image of everyone doing teshuva and coming back on wings of eagles and shofars and donkeys. It's a biblical dreamlike view that makes it hard to imagine and therefore in many ways justifies our continued comfortable existence in Galus. If Hashem wants us back He'll call us and make miracles. Until then we'll stay here and daven and sit on the floor Tisha Ba'Av and mourn our Temple. That's not what happened though in the past or will in future, as most of the meforshim explain.

 

In the times of Ezra upon his returns we are told that most Jews were still intermarried, sinning, weren't observant. Ezra perhaps was shocked. He thought the Temple would be built and everything would be fine and it wasn't. A few months later he realized that even the new Olim he brought back from Bavel with him, not only weren't lifting up the rest of the nation, but were in fact going off the derech themselves. Intermarrying and sinning just like those non-religious Jews that had remained in Israel had become. See, making Aliyah, can make you not frum too… back then as well.

 

So what did he do about it? Did he pack up his bags and head back to Bavel Park? To the Lake? Nope. Did he make demonstrations? Did he make asifas? No… at least not right away… You know what he did? Probably the only thing that works… He sat and cried. He cried and fasted for the sins of our people. He was broken hearted. He wasn't angry. He was just so forlorn. So pained. He couldn't stop crying. He was crying over the shame of Hashem, of the Holy Land, of the opportunity that was being squandered. And his heartfelt tears reached the people.

 

Shechanya ben Yechiel comes over to him and tells him that he wants to repent. He wants to come home. He sees the love that Ezra has for him and the Jewish people. He wants to divorce his non-Jewish wife and wants to do teshuva. With him others join. The nation is called together. They all want to return. It will take time. It's not a one-day event. It's a job. It's cleansing. It's divorcing. It's figuring out who's Jewish and who's not. It's a national project. It becomes The National project. That's geula. That's the return. That's what we need today. A love for one another, a true concern for klal Yisrael. Not anger, not demonstrations and certainly not waiting on the sidelines or going back. If we see that today… Mashiach would coming knocking. The key is in our hands. We just need to open up our hearts.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE RETIREMENT JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

Retirement is the only job where doing nothing is the goal.

Retirement is like one big sick day without the sick pay.

Promoted from Senior Manager to Senior Napper.

I hope you like Saturdays, because every day just became Saturday!"

 

Q: What do you call someone who is happy on Mondays?

A: Retired

 

Arthur is 75 years old. He’s played golf every day since his retirement 15 years ago. One day he arrives home looking downcast. “That’s it,” he tells his wife. “I’m giving up golf. My eyesight has become so bad that once I hit the ball I couldn’t see where it went.”

His wife sympathizes and makes him a cup of tea. As they sit down she says, “Why don’t you take my brother with you and give it one more try.”

“That’s no good,” sighs Arthur, “your brother is 85. He can’t help.”

“He may be 85,” says the wife, “but his eyesight is perfect.”

So the next day Arthur heads off to the golf course with his brother-in-law. He tees up, takes a mighty swing and squints down the fairway. He turns to the brother-in-law and says, “Did you see the ball?”

“Of course I did!” Answers the brother-in-law. “I have perfect eyesight.”

“Where did it go?” Arthur asks.

“I don’t remember.”

 

Q: How many days are in a retiree's week?

A: Six Saturdays and one Sunday.

 

Retirement is the world’s longest coffee break.

Goodbye tension, hello pension

My wife and I have started aggressively planning for our retirement, and by that I mean we’re playing the lottery 3-5 times per week.

“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” – Andy Rooney

The company gave me an aptitude test and I found out the work I was best suited for was retirement.

two elderly grandparents from a retirement center were sitting on a bench. One turns to the other and says, "Slim, I'm 83 years old now and I'm just full of aches and pains. I know you're about my age. How do you feel?"

Slim replies, "I feel just like a newborn baby." "Really! Like a newborn baby?"

"Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants."

 

I love doing stand up comedy at the retirement homes. And I know I'm really good because they laugh at the same jokes every week

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older. Then it dawned on me – they were cramming for their finals.

You know you’re getting old when you have more candles on your cake than friends at your birthday party.

When is a retiree’s bedtime? Three hours after he falls asleep on the couch.

How many retirees to change a light bulb? Only one, but it might take all day.

The older you get, the more you need to keep a fire extinguisher close to the cake.

An elderly man decided it was time to move on. He packed his stuff and moved into a retirement home.On his first day there, as he was unpacking his stuff into his room, he could help but notice that the woman in the room across the hall was staring at him. He thought it was odd but decided not to let it bother him. Later that night, he went to the cafeteria to get dinner. He sat down at his table and, lo and behold, the woman from the hallway was sitting at the table next to him! There was no food on her table. She just sat there staring at him with fixed eyes. The man grew increasingly annoyed but didn't say anything.

After a scrumptious meal, he went to the lunge to play nightly bingo. He was enjoying the game until he noticed the woman again, staring at him. He had had enough.

He went up to her and said, "Ma'am, I couldn't help noticing that you have been staring at me ever since I arrived. Could you please stop, it is a bit bothersome."

 

She replied, "I am sorry, it is just that you look so much like my third husband!"

 

The man felt bad. "I'm sorry. If you don't mind me asking, how many husbands have you had?"

 

"Two." Was the woman's reply.

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The answer to this week's question is A– So I got this one almost fully right. I just messed up the first part a bit. I wasn't sure about the Davening thing. I remembered a story about smuggling in the Shofar to the Kotel. I called it the shofar riots. I just made that up. The correct answer though was it was the 1929 pogroms. I thought that was because of the call that the Arabs made as a result of them claiming we were trying to take the temple mount. Which it was. However the truth it that it really started a year beforehand with the Jews putting up a mechitza for Yom Kippur services by the Wall. That escalated into decrees against that type of service by the Kotel. And eventually in August of 29' led to the mass riots. What I find fascinating is how much the beginning of our history and these riots started with a push from these liberal left wing Zionists to redeem the wall and by putting up a mechitza on Yom Kippur there. And today the October 7^th starts when they take down the Mechitza in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur. There's a lot to digest there. The second part I got correct though which is that it was a Crusader Church. I don't tour Ramle much but I remember the Gothic archways there in the Mosque and it being a church.  So I go this one half right and the test continues with Rabbi Schwartz having 5 points and the MOT having 2 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.