Big Mouth, Big Brother, Big Question- Pesach 2026 5786

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

April 2^nd 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 24 14^th of Nissan 5786

 

Pesach

 

Big Mouth, Big Brother, Big Questions

 

I have a big mouth. I talk a lot. I don't really have much of a filter. I say what's on my mind, or even more accurately what's in my heart. As I tell my tourists (those were people that I used to take around this country that seems to be extinct at the moment), at the onset of my tours, that I apologize in advance if they thought they would be getting the politically correct tour guide today. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it. They got me instead. Today they get to hear the real story.

 

It's not just tour guiding though. It's me in my shul during my sermons. It's when I did Jewish out reach all over the States. It was me back when I was a kid and yeshiva bochur, which is why I moved around a lot. Or was moved around to be more honest and accurate. It's me as a husband and father and certainly as a sibling. I say it like I see it. I call it the way it is. I'm bad at puling punches. I lay it all out there. And let the chips fall where they may. More often than not, it's usually on my own head. Yet, at the same time, a lot of what I say penetrates. It impacts people. It gives them pause or a new and different way of thinking. It perhaps even gives them a license to say or express out loud some of the things that they've thought about or even believe. It generates discussion. It opens up the world. I believe it's what we're all meant to do. Someone just needs to tell you it's alright. So here you go. It's alright.

 

Now I'm not saying that you should utilize this license at all times and with all people. I've only given you a driver's permit. You need to still have real licensed experienced driver like myself sitting next to you. To learn how to navigate the backlash. To know how to do it with love, with humor and with a self-deprecating confidence that doesn't come off as looking down at those with differing- although misguided and wrong views. To do it in a way that not only people still love you afterwards but will take you on another tour, will not unsubscribe, at least right away from your E-Mail and may even donate and sponsor it. To do it in a way, that they understand that you love them. That it's really not about you being right, it's about them being right. Doing right. Not making fatal errors in judgement, in politics, in Torah and in life. When they feel that love and you become good at that, then you can do it and start driving on your own.

 

There is one night a year, when you can drive without me. One night, when the mitzva is to talk and talk and talk.

V'chol ha'marbeh li'sapeir – and the more that you talk

harei zeh meshubach- the more praiseworthy you are.

 

It's tonight. It's Pesach. Our sages tell us that the word Pesach, homiletically of course, is Peh Sach- the mouth speaks. Tonight, is the night to let that tongue all hang out. To put it all right out there on that Pesach Seder Table. No holds barred. No political correctness necessary. It's time to tell it like it is. Like it really was. Like it's always been. And like how god-willing it will never be again. We'll be redeemed. We'll be home. We'll get to that last stage of Dayeinu, That we build the Bais Ha'Mikdash to atone for all of our sins. So tonight, we've all got the mike. No more fake news. Let's get real.

 

I'm going to ask you a question, that I think wouldn't be a bad question to start your seder off with. But before we get to that ask question, I want to ask you another one first. Are you reclining? Are you comfortable? Do you have your four cups of salvation all poured and ready to go? Ok here's the preliminary question. Are you free tonight? Are you planning on be free? Are you ready to leave Egypt? See, the obligation tonight is to be able to feel as if we left Egypt. That's the end game. If you didn't get there, then I hate to tell you, no matter how much matza you cram in your mouth, I'm not sure if you fulfill your primary obligation. So, I ask you again, the preliminary question. Are you ready to be free and leave Egypt tonight, or not?

 

Good. That's the right answer. See, I knew that's what you would say. You didn't do all that Pesach cleaning and cooking for nothing. You're ready. You're feeling free enough to give it all up and come home, right. To be in the Bais Ha'Mikdash. To hit that v'haivaisi- that fifth cup, we've been saving for so long. So let's get to the real question now, that I want you to start off your Seder with, because to a large degree, I think this is the key to us finally getting there. It's the question, we've never really asked before. Think of it as the fifth question. The question Eliyahu Ha'Navi is asking us, to know if he can drink that cup with us or not. Here goes. Are you ready?

 

OK. Here it is. If tomorrow, the Jewish people decided to elect you to be the Prime Minister of Israel. You're the boss. You get to make the decisions. You get to determine what happens tomorrow. Sure, there's still a Supreme Court and an Attorney General. But you don't care. You can make quick decisions before they chap. You can push a few buttons. You can declare a war. You can send out the police, the army. You're the Commander in Chief. The chips can fall where they might fall afterwards. But you can take the job tonight and it's yours. Would you take it?

 

Now, I think I might have lost some of you, by now after this first question. But, I want to stay with those few of you that responded yes to that question. You know, the ones that said that they want to be free tonight. The ones that aren't just faking it and lying awkwardly on the side of their chair leaning on a pillow pretending to be free. So, you guys that are still with me, here's the follow up question. Now that you're Prime Minister, what are you planning on doing with that power tomorrow. What are you going to do to express that freedom and show that you're not a slave to Pharaoh, the world opinion, or what anyone else has to say? What are you going to do fulfill that mandate Hashem gave us and what He expects from us? Because after all that's the only thing we need to be scared of. We're not slaves of anyone else. Right?

 

OK, so here's a bit of a checklist. Are you ready, One we know that Hashem wants us to build or at least prepare the ground for his Bais Ha'Mikdash. Whether we actually have to start the construction project ourselves or He's gonna just ship one down from above, is not the immediate agenda. What's clear is that He's not planning on having any roommates when He get's here. He doesn't swing that way. He's the Jealous God type, He tells us. So therefore, job number one. Clean out the idolatry from the land. It's a job He gave us a long time ago when we first came into the land. Wipe out, burn, destroy and eradicate all false religions from the land. Their altars, their churches, their mosques. Clean em all out. Get em off the Temple Mount. Out of His Holy city. Out of His land.

 So, job number one. Tomorrow. As the new prime Minister are you ready to do that? Are you ready to clean out the land? To give the order to the police to stand down as the Hill Top boys do what they want. If not, then you can join the other guys that even copped out of the job in the first place. You're still a slave to the "what-will-the-world-say". If not even worse, to your own sense of Western Idolatrous political correctness that seems to be uncomfortable with a world where not every religion has the right to practice freely.

 

Now, I know some of you might say. Yeah… but Christianity isn't really idolatry. Islam for sure isn't. It's not like they're pagans. They do believe in the one true God. They just distorted him a bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah… That may have been true in a world that's not on the way to being free and having the Bais HaMikdash in it. That may even be true in Chutz La'Aretz. But for Jews that's idolatry. For Hashem it is too. I know that. You know that. It's not what a world redeemed, that we're meant to bring to redemption, should look like. Should stand for.  Here in the land, there's no question, that if we have the power, which I, in the name of the Jewish people, have just given you. And which you yourself claim you have, as you're wearing a Kittel and claiming to be truly free tonight. There's no question that we should destroy it. That Hashem doesn't want them or it there.

 

OK, good with that? Let's continue. Next rule. Are you ready to give an ultimatum, which is really a follow up to the above action, that anyone who is not willing to accept Judaism as the only real religion and true faith of Hashem has to leave or be killed? Anyone that doesn't accept that the land of Israel is our inheritance. It belongs to us and that non-Jews are only permitted to live here as gerei toshav- as second class non-citizens that can enjoy whatever benefits we choose to give them, but they certainly can't vote. They certainly can't practice any other religions. And they're subject to our Torah laws, although they don't have to convert, and we don't even accept conversions at this point in the game, when we're on top. We know it's only for their blue and white card.

 

Now just to clarify as well, this law is in effect in the new/old biblical borders of Israel. There's no Area A, B, or C, anymore. There's no Palestinian Authority. They can't own guns. This is the West Bank or the biblical land of Yehuda, Binyamin, Ephraim, and Menashe. It's Gaza. It's Lebanon up to the Litani.  It's basically everywhere that Hashem gave us 60 years ago in 1967, but that we didn't feel free enough to actually claim as ours. We wore kittels, blew a shofar or two, reclined and said "har ha'bayis bi'yadeinu" but we were just pretending. Because despite all the miracles, Hashem showed us. How we literally saw 5 armies that were ten times our size run away from us, in the biblical style. How he/ we quadrupled the size of our country in six days. But we couldn't believe that He was strong enough to back us up to actually claim the land He had handed us. Just like the 4/5ths that stayed in Egypt after witnessing nine of the plagues couldn't believe that it was for real either.

 

Read that last sentence, again. Please. Now again… Yes. That 4/5^th is me and you that see miracles and still don't believe it's for real.  As I said, we're being real today. We're saying it all. I'll get back to that in a question. But I just want to finish up with those of you that are still sitting at the Prime Minister table. Because I've got a few more tasks, I want to ask you if your ready for tomorrow. It's a big day and we've got lots to do. Thank God you're still wearing your kittel and reclining and enjoying this liberating freedom of not needing to worry about anyone else besides being the eved Hashem.

 

OK, we've got the Temple Mount. We've got rid of the churches and mosques. We've got all the land we've conquered already with everyone that wasn't ready to play our Jewish Divine shuffleboard game. And we've shuffled a lot of those that didn't want to play off the board if not out of this world. Now for the next step. The parts of Israel that are ours that we haven't conquered yet.

 

So are you, Mr. or Mrs. Prime Minister ready to head on into Jordan to reclaim our land on the other side of the Jordan. 1/4^th of Klal Yisrael almost, the tribes of Reuvein and Gad and Menashe (most of them) are counting on you. See, in Mitzrayim we could afford to leave 4/5^th behind. But not this time. Everyone's going to come. And they're all going to want their tribal heritage land. Which means Jordan. It means Egypt down to the river. It means a nice chunk of Syria past the Chermon up into parts of Turkey and to the Euphrates. Are we ready to start launching rockets and conquering it?

 

The last time we did, I know we had Moshe Rabbeinu doing it for us. He killed every man, woman and child over there. The Torah tells us he didn't leave anything breathing. Lo hish'ir bahem serid. He set the precedent. Hashem told us to the same thing, he did when He brought us into the land. Yehoshua, even stopped us, the Talmud in Sota tells us, in the middle of the crossing of the Jordan river, while the river stood up in the air. There he gave us that first Shabbos Ha'Gadol Drasha ever. He made us take an oath, right there and then, that we would conquer the entire land. We would inherit it. He warned us, that if we didn't then we would actually die there right now. That the water would come crashing down on our heads. It seems he needed to give us that speech then, because if he didn't then we wouldn't feel strong enough once we came in. We'd attribute the miracles that took place to "cool amazing things that Hashem does for us". Thank You Hashem. Mizmor L'Toda. But that still doesn't give us enough backbone to be free and actually go in and take the entire country and tell them where to go. To clear it out of all the abominations that are foreign to Hashem. That He doesn't want there. So are you ready Mr. Prime Minister for that as well?

 

OK, there's only one last thing that's necessary as well. See, I know that some of you Prime Ministers are not yet here in Israel. So, imaginably all of you are obviously free enough to come home and live here. You're not scared of serving in the Army and making you not frum. Because you're obviously going to change that. You're not scared of the Supreme Court or Attorney General. Because you'll get rid of them. Fired first 30 seconds of your job. You certainly aren't scared of giving up your house, your job, your yeshiva, your chavrusa. Because ultimately, you're free enough to know that all of that is baloney compared to the one real role Hashem Chose us and set us free to accomplish. The goal of building Him a house. Of serving Him on this Mountain. That's there. It's in the Hagadda, you read while reclining like a free man. That's all a given that you're comfortable doing.

 

The question though is Mr. PrimeMinister-free-Seder man still-in-Chutz-La'aretz, at least until you pack up your stuff. Are you comfortable telling your non- Jewish neighbors that you're leaving? Are you comfortable telling them "thank you for the great time here" but I need to go home? But here's the most important part. Are you comfortable or better yet feel free enough to tell them that you're leaving because tomorrow Hashem is going to blow up the Vatican? He's going to destroy all their churches. He's going to reveal Himself as the God whose only child is our Nation, and frankly He's quite offended by the concept that He has another kid that someone made up that He slaughtered and crucified on a cross that they've been promulgating.

 

Are you free enough to slaughter all those politically correct western democratic values of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, of prayer and to put its blood on your doorpost? To hang that only one True God and all other religions are baloney and will be destroyed flag outside your house. That's what free people that are not slaves need to do. It's the one and only thing Hashem told us we needed to do before He took us out. We had to make the real statement at least to ourselves. That if He freed us and killed our enemies from us. Then we would be able to actualize that freedom. That we could truly act free and that the only one would ever worry about, is our One Master in heaven. Our Father who is waiting for us to bring home.

 

On the night that we brought that korban Pesach. 3300 years, today, Hashem killed the first-born of the Egyptians. The entire story of our Exodus to a large degree is about this moment. At the beginning of this entire story Moshe, in the name of Hashem tells Pharaoh. That if he doesn't let us out Hashem will kill his first-born. Because we are the First-Borns of Hashem. The process of the plagues and the miracles weren't so much about punishing Egypt as it was in creating us as His First Born. It was about giving us enough of a sense of confidence, to be more than all the other children of the world are to Hashem. The First- Born has to be different. The job of the First-Born is to teach the rest of the children of the family about their Father. Because He's a bit of a Father himself. He's the oldest. He's been there the longest. He's the chain between heaven and earth. Between the parent and the rest of the world. And to do that, he has to have a mouth. He has to be free to express himself. To express who his Father is.

 

Hashem wasn't just looking to liberate a persecuted nation. He's the one that put us there in the first place. He told Avraham 220 years before we went down to Egypt, by the Bris bein Ha'besarim that we would be going down there. It's the deal he cut with him to teach him how we would be able to inherit the land. He would enslave us. He'd give us a taste of what happens to a nation that's worried about what the world will say, rather than their Father. It would hopefully teach us the hard lesson of what happens when we come down to a place and feel too comfortable there. Where the path of trying to ingratiate ourselves to them and building up their economies and pyramids will lead. And then He will take us out. He will make us free. He will preform miracles for us.

 

And then, the day will come, when He will have a First-Born nation, who just like Avraham our Patriarch, will fear no one. Even if it means being ostracized, thrown out lambasted in the press, be called an ivri- on the opposite side of the politically correct immoral world and western mindset. Even if it means being thrown into the fiery furnaces they might roast us with. We won't be scared. Ein od Milvado- won't just be something we say when we have a court case we want to win or when a building inspector is coming to check out our properties or Nursing Homes. It will be the flag that we hang outside of our doors in galus and the destroyed churches and places of alternate false worship in Israel. Because we know that we were chosen for this job. That we really are His only First-born. And that we can feel free enough, if not obligated to say it. To take the job that He's given us. To be His Prime Ministers- His nation of Mamleches Kohanim that we agreed to come on that Mountain that He brought us to.

 

It's not fun to think about ourselves as possibly the 4/5^th that may not have felt strong enough to see all the great miracles and still feel too weak to take that freedom being handed to us. It's so much easier to talk about them as being the ones that weren't as frum as us. The ones that were also idolators. That aren't shomer Shabbos. That spoke lashon harah and had sinas chinam. That had smartphones and internet. That certainly didn't have as much emuna and bitachon and Torah and mitzvos as we do. To think that we're the wise son, while everyone else that's not as frum as me are the wicked sons whose teeth need to be knocked out. But, tonight's not the night we're here to make you feel good about yourself. Certainly not on the head of those that aren't as what we perceive as not being as frum as us. You didn't get that tour guide. And we're not reading that Hagadda tonight.

 

Tonight's about asking ourselves, today, if we're ready to be truly free. If we feel we have what it takes as the 1/5^th did back then did. The 1/5^th were still living in Egypt. Pharaoh was still a strong king with a big army. Pharoah also believed in Hashem as did many Egyptians who brought in their animals and even fought with Pharaoh to let us go. It didn't make sense to upset and cause more anti-Semitism by slaughtering their distorted sense of Hashem plus a sheep. Or whatever deity they added on to Him. We were still in galus. We need to just bow our head and wait for the shofar. That's what the 4/5^th said. 210 years of exile can do that to you. 2000 years can make it even harder. To be honest, I don't know if I would take the job as Prime Minister myself. It's hard. It's a leap. It's scary to stand up to the world. Am I free enough to be free?

 

Back then, 1/5^th of our nation was able to do that. The 1/5^th were a lot less frum then us today. They were much more assimilated. They were on 49^th level of tumah. They didn't have our Torah. Our Mitzvos. Our Achdus. They didn't have our October 7^th, our Holocaust, our Inquisition, our Crusades. Of the millions of martyrs. They as well didn't have the benefit of seeing the great miracles of the return to the land already happening. The land flourishing after being desolate for 2000 years. The return of so many children to Hashem. The destruction of enemies and even the tzitzis and payos and tefillin and Torah being studied in our army that's only songs are about Hashem. About Shema Yisrael.

 

 We have that today. We're standing in the Yarden once again, with Hashem holding that Divine Iron Dome and clouds of Glory protecting us from falling Fire Truck size ballistic missiles falling over our head and He's asking us if we can do it. If we're finally ready. Can He have that fifth cup with us?  Can L'Shana Ha'bah finally we all be together in Yerushalayim.

 

Have a liberating and redemptive Pesach,

 

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

  

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

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

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/hinei-lo-yanum-israel – My beautiful composition Hinei Lo Yanum- we need not fear. Hashem's not sleeping Dovid Lowy amazing arangements

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vehi-shemada   - The most powerful Vehi She'amda since Shwekeys. Listen closely and hear the generations of Vehi She'amda songs in the second harmony low part. Whadda an arrangement Dovid Lowy- always taking my songs and making them gold!

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/melech-rachamon  - And here's my only song with me giving an introduction. The longing for the Bais Hamikdash Melech Rachaman… Its much better than SY's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwv8kuYhFn8&t=383s  – If you've got time and want to listen something truly glorious. The Yigal Calek family did an amazing concert here with all the greats!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV-WaeC93cY   – Miami's latest release Hashiveynu… they're back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZEpGrrYrRU – It's not Pesach without a new Maccabeats acapella release- Break Free

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

27. The main site for the disposal of toxic waste in Israel is called _______________

 In which of the following areas is olive cultivation a major industry?

A. Jezreel Valley

 B. Zevulun Valley

 C. Beit Netofa Valley

D. Sakhnin Valley

  

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

Why is this King Different?- 353 BC- As we know, at that party of Achashveirosh that we said started this month of Nissan utilizing the vessels of the Bais Ha'Mikdash, Achashveirosh was not punished. Rather his wife Vashti as killed. In fact, Achashveirosh ends up reigning for 14 years, 11 years after the Purim story. The commentaries ask why was he different then Belshatzar? Why wasn't he as well punished for desecrating the Bais Ha'Mikdash's vessels and even more so for causing all the Jews to sin?

 

The answer given by the Sefas Emes is a powerful one. He suggests because Achashveirosh didn't fully deny the prophecy of Yirmiyahu that we would be in exile only for 70 years. He saw that we had already returned to Eretz Yisrael. The Temple had even started being built. It was just halted. Incidentally this was at the behest of the 10 sons of Haman, the book of Nechemia and Rashi tells us in the Megilla. That's why they're hung. It's a hidden part of the story in the Hidden scroll of the Megilla. What Achashveirosh doubted though was whether there would be Geula Shlaima. Whether we all would return. When there would just be a State of Israel where Jew lived, but certainly not a place where all Jews would fulfill their mandate of living and bringing the light of Hashem by building Him home where his Glory could rest. That was his heresy. That was his "White House" Chanuka Party.

 

Because he believed in the return of the Jews to Israel. He believed in the "atchalta di'geula" although not the entire thing, that merit was enough to save him. Only his wife Vashti was killed. That's a pretty hefty message. What does that mean for us today? Is there a value of seeing the geula even though it's not complete. To see the return to Eretz Yisrael of Jews even though the Temple is not yet built yet as being a significant fulfillment of prophecy. That the end is around the corner? The Sefat Emet certainly saw that as a value. Something to ponder as we sit down to our seder and think about what that redemption means for us.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE IRAN WAR JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

Latest bill in front of the Knesset to prohibit the asking of the Ma Nishtana. Becasue during war is not a time to ask questions...

 

These days one doesn't know if the smoke coming up in Bnai Brak is from a missile falling or Burning of Chametz

 

Mazel Tov on the new establishment of 10,000 Sefirat Ha'Omer reminder groups that were opened this morning on the heels of the Eiruv Tavhsilin ones...

 

T-Shirt I bought last week. I survived Missiles in Israel Osher Ad Pesach shopping.

 

Siren songs-

Things that sound like sirens. Ambulances. Motorcycles. Pigeons, gusts of wind, creaky doors, Everything sounds like sirens…

 

Israelite Home Front Command in Egypt

Biological threat of the Ten Plagues

A widespread biological event is affecting the land of Egypt. Manifesting itself as multiple hazardous events (plagues)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOUSEHOLDS

All guidelines remain in force until further notice.

Blood- Water Pollution

Avoid Nile water- store clean water for use

Frogs- amphibian invasion

Seal doorways and remain vigilant at night

Lice- Parasitic infestation

Wash thoroughly and wear clean garments

Flies-Insect Swarm

Avoid all exposed areas cover well all food and drinks

Livestock Disease

Keep livestock sheltered and healthy

Boils- Contagious Sores

Burn contaminated rags, treat sores properly

Hail-Destructive Storm

Seek shelter indoors until storm passes

Locusts- Consuming Swarm

Seal your home, collect and burn all leftover locust.

Darkness- Foul Darkness

Keep lamps lit, stay indoors during darkness

Death of Firstborns- LETHAL EVENT

Immediate life-threatening risk,

Occurs during designated night period

Requires full compliance with protective instructions

REMEMBER FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS SAVES LIVES…

 

If the Iranians really wanted to mess with us they wouldn't use explosives. They would fill their missiles with bread crumbs. Weaponized Chametz

 

The War Time Shower prayer

With this warm shower, may no rocket pay a call

And during a siren may no siren sound at all

With soap on our hands, may we make no frantic dash

Nor run to the shelter mid-suds and mid-splash

And while we are dripping and mid-towel drying

Maye we not be sent running and frantically flying

Mae we safely emerge from this swift hygiene run,

Completely rinsed off and not merely half-done

May a miracle help us catch a lucky break

And let us wash our hair for heaven's sake!

 

There have been ten rocket attacks today. If we hit 13 we'll have to wish each other Mazel Tov on our bomb-mitzva

 

Anyone mind taking a small package for me from our textiles factory in Dimona to Tehran.

 

I got the feeling this morning that the mother of some Iranian is cleaning up her machsan/storage unit and found it full of chametz missiles and she's just throwing them away in panic.

 

You know we're at war, when I got more messages on my phone today from Homefront Command then from Kupat Ha'ir.

 

Today at 2:00 AM switch your clocks to whatever time you want. It's really not relevant to most of us anymore anyways.

 

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The answer to this week's question is D– This was a tricky one on the second part at least and I got it wrong. The first part though, I knew even before I watched the News yesterday and saw that Neot Chovav Israel's main recycling plant located in the South was hit by missiles. We visited it in our tour guide course, I have no idea why… Yet the second part was hard. I don't even know why they're answer is correct even after checking Google and ChatGPT. The truth is there are Olives in all of those regions. Jezree'el though is much more wheat and Netufa valley is even mentioned in the Talmud Yerushalmi, I believe as the last place where the wheat remains. That left Sachnin and Zevulun. I went with Zevulun, the answer was Sachnin. Not sure why… but I'll take the hit.  So another week of only half right and the new score  of Rabbi Schwartz having a 19 points and the MOT having 8 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

Bring Him Home- Parshat Bo 2024- 5784

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

 January 19^th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 14 9^th of Shevat 5784

Parshat Bo

Bring Him Home

 “Elka, can you get off the couch and come back to the Shabbos table now!”

“Tully, I’m talking to you too…”

“I know my E-Mail is long. I know that all of the books and sefarim that we read by the Shabbos table meal can be annoying and the couch is so much more comfortable. But I want everyone sitting here at the table. I don’t want you dozing off. I want you sitting next to me. No, we can’t just finish up the meal and read and learn afterwards. Daddy, needs time in between courses for there to be room in his tiny belly for the next few bites of chicken and kugel, that I’ll hopefully be able to eat- and keep down. So get back to the table and sit here next to me and listen.”

 Welcome to the weekly conversation by the Schwartz Shabbos table. I know and understand my children. The couch is so much more comfortable. They’re tired. So am I. Yet, it’s one of those pet peeves in my life- that they still haven’t gotten straight and that still is a weekly argument, that I inherited from my parents. The rule in my house growing up was that you don’t get up from the table until the meal is over. It’s rude. It’s like making a statement that the conversation going on is not important to me and you just want it to be over already and therefore if you got up from the table the rule was you couldn’t come back. No dessert for you, now depending on the week and what was for dessert was a decision that we had to make if it was worth it or not. I didn’t like that rule then, and now Hashem has fulfilled my mother’s curse to me that now I’m having the same conversations and arguments with them that she had with me. What goes around comes around.

 Yet to be honest, it’s something that I appreciate more and more these days more than ever. These days with most of my “Chizuk missions” that I’m running leaving from Yerushalayim in the morning I’ve found myself the last few weeks leaving my home Motzai Shabbos and coming home Thursday and even Friday. I don’t see my children, my wife, my bed and I really feel the need to bond over the weekend. I miss my bed and want to spend time catching up with it. Oh and with my kids and wife too… So the Shabbos table which has always been the bonding place for the family is even more important to me. And thus I don’t want anyone to walk away from it, or leave me. I want us all together for the limited few hours of Shabbos peace that we are fortunate to have.

 Last week though after a long endless few week of these missions which are just draining on all levels. Putting together various families, constantly recalculating where I’m going and who we’ll be meeting with and giving chizuk to, traveling back and forth and of course going from tears, horror, consoling and singing and dancing with soldiers and davening for everyone we meet is an emotional roller coaster. I needed a break. I wanted to get away. I was not up to coming home and giving three drashos over Shabbos and leading services in my Shul. I just wanted some sun and quiet for the weekend. Yet at the same time I didn’t feel like I could disconnect from everything that is going on. There’s too much going on. Too many families hurting. It’s an eis tazara for Klal Yisrael. Our boys are out there serving in Gaza, the hostages are still not home, and there are so many broken families all over. I couldn’t go on vacation and turn it off. So we decided to go for Shabbos to Ein Bokek to the hotels where many of the refugees are staying. At least we could be with them and give them chizuk and connect to what they were going through while we were getting some sun.

 The truth is it’s nice over there. If I had to be thrown out of my house than there are worse places to be then in a five-star hotel by the beach with a spa and delicious hotel meals and concerts and entertainment all the time. There was this funny clip from the comedian Adir Miller going around of this guy Yossi, evacuated from Ashkelon sitting in a Jacuzzi in the hotel being interviewed about his terrible situation. He told the reporter that he refuses to go home until the last Hamas terrorist is killed. He will remain there sipping his drink until the war is over. When the reporter came back to him and informed him that it was over Yossi asked him and what about Hezbollah? When he was told that Hezbollah and the northern front which was far away from his house in Ashkelon was as well all taken care of, Yossi took a long sip on his cocktail and  thought and said

 “And what’s with Houtim?!”

 Yeah… It’s really not that bad over there. And so we walked around and talked to the refugees who many have obviously undergone severe trauma and are dealing with unreal PTSD in many if not all cases and have been sitting in these hotels for 104 days already. I asked them what it was like. Was it really so bad being where they are. To be honest, I used up a lot of points staying in the hotel that Shabbos. The response they gave me was just 7 words. It was 7 words that hit my like a brick and I believe that it is the essence of everything that has been going and that Hashem wants for us to be focused on. They told me

 “We just want to go home already”

 They miss their homes. Shabbos is not fun in a hotel for more than a week. They want family dinners. They want home-cooked food. They want to bond. They want their own beds. They want to feel together. They want their own four walls. They need to feel like a person again rather than a guest- despite how nice and comfortable their temporary accommodations might be.

 Those words have been ringing in my head since Shabbos and I hear them a lot even louder from so many other places. I regularly visit Hostage square and meet with families whose children, whose brothers and sisters, whose parents and even grandparents are being held by these subhuman animals in Gaza. There are signs everywhere you go. On your shampoo bottles and milk cartons and the shops and street signs everywhere. Bring them Home Now. We want them home. Tachzor ha’bayta Achshav! During protests once when I was sitting there was someone with a big sign that said

 “B’chol mechir tachzireim Ha’bayta- at any price bring them back.

 It wasn’t a family member that was holding the sign and the person holding it seemed like a secular left-wing hopefully former Peace Now person, so I felt comfortable walking over and engaging them in a conversation. I asked him what he meant by “at any price”. Because personally I also agreed with the concept, and I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. We weren’t.

  See, my “any price” was that we every day blow up another village from the sky-without endangering anymore of our boys in green. That we slaughter men women and children madly until they return our boys or at least be inspired that the civilian houses that they are being held in feel inspired to return them to us. That we literally do not give one drop of water, food, and certainly not gas or electric to anyone over the Gaza line and lay siege until they die and hand them over to us. And finally, if that’s not working, we take out thousands of Hamas prisoners we have in jails here and hang them from the security fence daily and chop them up into little pieces until our hostages are returned. Any price means any price to me. It seems though we were talking different currency. His any price was just handing a bunch of terrorists back to them so they can come back and kill us again.

 Oh well, the contzeptzia still hasn’t been broken for some. Not everyone has come to the recognition that Hashem has been bringing us to the point where we have the level of hatred and vengeance, he wanted us to have here when we first came into the land and were told to wipe out the 7 nations and Amalek. All of them. Otherwise we will always suffer from them and they will be thorns in our eyes. I don’t like thorns in my eyes. I just want them home. And those that haven’t gotten that yet really need to join me on a tour of the Kibbutzim in the South to appreciate as they tell me- that there are no innocent civilians over there. They are all evil. They all need to be wiped out. Because the unspeakable atrocities need to be avenged.

 But it’s not just the hostages and refugees that need to come home. There are over 350,000 men women, boys, girls, fathers, brothers that are out fighting now. They’re living in tents, their sleeping on the wet ground, they’re under fire in Gaza, on the Lebanon border, on Mt. Chermon and Har Dov. They’re in tanks, in helicopters, they’re medics, they’re engineers, they’re warriors. And they haven’t been home for along time. And they miss their Shabbos tables. They miss their spouses. Their wives and children the other heroes of this war are struggling without them. It’s insane. Nobody is home. Everyone is in exile. Farmers don’t have their fields and crops, major cities, stores and shops and malls are closed. Tzfat art gallery street is a ghost town. It’s unreal. We need to go home is the cry. It’s the name of the war.

 And then it struck me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. There’s someone else that hasn’t been home either. Yet it’s not just for 1 day, or 104 days and not even for a year or ten years. It is the shechina. It is Hashem. It’s been over 2000 years that Hashem is not in His Home. That it lies in ruins with a golden pimple on top desecrating it. That may have been set up in many five-star hotels in Lakewood, Boro Park, or even before that in Poland, Lita, or Spain or Russia or Babylonia. Really nice hotels there that the Shechina was in. Beautiful Shuls with minyanim all the time and Beit Midrashs with Torah like it’s never been heard. But it’s a hotel. And the Shechina, Hashem just wants His own House, His own Shabbos table with His children.

 Well this week’s Torah portion the one that begins the story of our actual redemption (then and hopefully now as well). Also tells us about an interesting mitzva that was necessary for us to leave Egypt. To get out of the darkness. To move into the light. To come back to our land. It is the last moment of our exile, and we have one major command that Hashem says an eternal one. One that we should remember for all ages. One that is the secret of our final redemption. The mitzva is to sit together at the table in one house. It is to remember annually that all of this is about having a home. A bayis where we are all one.

 That last night when Hashem is wiping out the first-borns of all Egypt Hashem tells us that it is time for us to go into our houses. The word ‘bayis’-home is repeated again and again. We should place blood on our houses and doorposts. Reb Zalman Sorotzkin writes that blood will be the sign on our houses that Hashem will see as He goes out and slaughters the animals that terrorized us and slaughtered our babies and children. He will see that blood and remember the children taken from their houses, from their bedrooms and drowned and slaughtered and murdered and burned and raped. That blood that united us and made us realize that we are all one family. That we are one and He is one. The blood of the sheep that is their avoda zara- the idolatrous godless nation that we slaughtered and bravely took and posted on our bedposts, because we knew that without Hashem, we have no home. He has no place for His Shechina. That blood is there to remind us of what sadly our home has been built on. The sacrifice and martyrs who fell on Kiddush Hashem. Because they were Jews. Because the nations didn’t want Him to have a Home as well.

 It’s interesting that the word ‘Bayis’ consists of three letters that represents this idea. Beis- the first letter is the second of the aleph bet- it is the first letter of the Torah. It is the beginning that starts and connects to the Aleph the first letter that is Hashem. It’s where we start our work in the creation of this world for the aleph- what the kabbalists call the Alufo Shel Olam- Hashem the First can have a home to reside. The final letter of the word bayis is taf- it’s the last letter of the aleph beis. It’s the end. Our homes are from the beginning to the end. It’s what it’s all about. And in the middle is that one letter yud. It is the pinteleh yid. It’s the name of Hashem. It’s the Shechina. It’s our Shabbos table. It’s Hashem residing and sitting at the table with His children. Smack in the middle of our home. The yud in the middle of the bayis.

 But it’s not just the bayis - the home either and it’s not just Egypt. The parsha continues and tells us that when we come into the land there will be children that will ask what this is all about? What is it all this service for you, the wicked child will ask? Who needs it? Why do we need to sit at one table just us. Why can’t we bring the goy to the table and to eat our Pesach offering with us. Why can’t we just live with the rest of the world? Why not intermarry. Share our seder. Share our blood and unite it with their black South African apartheid, with their spilled blood in their wars in their Somalian, Armenian or Ukranian genocides. Why do we need our own home. What’s wrong with living in their countries. Some of them are still somewhat nice to us. We invested a lot in our hotels/ Batei Midrash and beautiful synagogues, schools, JCC. ’s and chesed organizations. We have shiurim everyday and Daf Yomi. Yes, there are wicked children that ask these kind of questions… Ouch!

 Hashem answers that we should tell them, that we’re not home. That He is not home there. That there will be blood there. That they will kill us. That He will save us when we all gather into the one Home that He needs to be as well. That we create a united home for all of us. A home where the shechina that yud will reside in the center.

 Rav Sorotzkin continues and tells us that this mitzva of eating annually the Korban Pesach has an incredible halacha to it. We can’t leave the Shabbos Pesach Seder table when we’re eating it. There’s a prohibition of carrying it outside of the house. Even with an eiruv. You can’t even leave the room and it eat in another room. Everyone each year must sit together for this meal. It’s a big meal. We have to finish it all together. You’re going to need guests to accomplish that task. You need to have people over for your Pesach Seder each year, otherwise you have leftovers and that’s a prohibition. You can’t carry your little plate and walk away. We need to sit together and understand that is a holiday about having a home. That our job in this world is to bring the Shechina home. That can only happen when we are all one. When we are a family. When we are all at the table with perhaps the people we never might have felt that we should sit with together. That we may not have thought were kosher or holy enough to be participate. With people that they may have thought were too frum for them. That didn’t care about them. That they thought we were perhaps only parasites trying to milk them.

 None of us got it. Because we weren’t home. Because we wandered, we assimilated, we forgot in how much pain the shechina has been in being in captivity and exile. We had homes for 2000 years without that yud. Without Him. We would perhaps come back to Israel and visit the ruins and rubble of His destroyed house to pick up whatever scraps remained there. To see the nice museum an Kotel that they made out of His once beautiful palace. Just as they talk about turning Beeri or Kfar Azza into Israel Holocaust museums. Guess what? They don’t want that… They want their homes back. And guess what? So does Hashem…

 So here we are. We’re reading the parsha of Geula. Our weekly Torah lesson that Hashem spoke to us on a mountain 3000 years ago is more real than ever. The month of Shevat and this week’s Tu B’Shvat is when the sap begins to rise up the tree. The flourishing of our redemption has begun and it’s almost complete. The day of returning home awaits for all of us. For our hostages, for our refugees, for our soldiers, for all of our diaspora Jews and for Hashem. So it’s time to get off the couch and come to the table. The main course is about to begin and my E-Mail is finally over.

  Have a warm family Shabbos.

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Besser bay zikh krupnik, eyder bay yenem gebrotns.." Better barley soup at home than a roast at someone else’s home.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

23.The religion of the people from the Rajar (Ghajar) village is ___________.

In which of the following places are there remains of a Temple from the Iron age?

A. Muhraka

B. Banias

C. Tel Arad

D. Ein Gedi

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMdvVnOuIgk – Yonatan Razel Eis Milchama

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJp0MeIzKi4    – Eretz Nehederet Women Heroes- wives of reservists- the true heroes funny!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIzTFQzbSQo -  Hillarious Binyomin Miller Incomplet of Skinny Pinny fame

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3rtnQ_7y4 – AM Yisrael Chai Ayal Golan my song of the week that can’t stop singing with English lyrics

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYnZRH6Q6QY      – my friend Jeremy Gimpel Acheinu for the Bibers birthday

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

 Dog Eat Dog World– Short story on prayer with an amazing insight from Rebbi Meir Permishlan for you. This person once came to Reb Meir and complained and cried. He worked and worked and worked and slaved and labored to eke out a living and nothing helped. He was still under the water, whatever he tried wasn’t helping. He was sinking quick and he didn’t know what to do. Reb Meir turned to him and held his hand gently and quoted him a pasuk in this week’s Torah portion that described the moment that the Jewish people had their redemption when all of the Egyptians were getting killed.

 The Torah tells us that there were no dogs that barked that night.

 U’Lchol bnai Yisrael Lo yechratz Kelev Lishono- that for all of the Jewish people a dog did not wag it’s tongue.

 Reb Meir then read the verse homiletically.

U’lChol Bnai Yisrael- and for all the children of Israel… A lesson for all time is

Lo Yechratz- don’t wag yourself, don’t make yourself meshuga running around trying to scramble exerting extra effort to “make it”. Rather

Kelev Lshono- your heart (leiv) should be the same as your tongue.

  You just need to be sincere in your prayers. You just need to know that when you ask Hashem to help you, to heal you, to provide for you, to redeem you. That you really believe it in your heart as well. That you understand that He is the only address that can help you and give you what you need. If your Leiv is like your lashon- if your heart and soul are in synch and you are not just offering lip-service in your prayers then you have nothing to worry about. Hashem is our Father waiting to answer our prayers. We just need to make sure that they come from our heart.

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

The beginning of the Exile- Civil war had taken over the first Temple period with King after King rising up and killing the previous one. In the North kingdom of Israel Shalum be Yavesh rises up and kills Zecharia the son of Yeravam the 2^nd. Shalum himself reigns for one month until Menachem be Gadi kills him and he assaulted and attacked the Aramian/ Syrian city of Tiftza and committed atrocities against their women. He ruled for 10 years and led an idolatrous kingdom when Hashem sent the king of Asyria led by Pul against him. Menachem seemingly as they say here in Israel didn’t understand the language that needed to be spoken and tried by them off with a thousand talents of silver and paid off each soldier 50 shekels. And it helped somewhat but not for good and not for long… Because it was at this point that the Exile first started.

 Our sages tell us that it was at this time that the two and half tribes on the other side of the Jordan River were first captured and exiled. Ashur/ Assyria led by Pul conquers them and the Golan Heights, the Eastern banks of the Jordan River all fell to Assyria. The exiles were sent into Galus never to be heard from again as the first of the ten tribes to disappear. The East Bank since then which today is in Jordan is still no longer in our hands and hasn’t been entirely in our hands since then. The reason they were the first to fall, our sages tell us is because they were the least connected to Eretz Yisrael. They chose to stay there and asked Moshe to as well have their homesteads there. This is despite the fact that they were the first to fight and conquer the land at the heads of our troops.

 The reign of Menachem was handed down to his son Pekachiah Ben Menachem. He as well continued in his fathers ways and he himself was ultimately killed after two years by another Pekachia. This one was his own captain the son of Remalia, he was joined by the children of those that had been exiled from Gilead on the other side of the Jordan who felt they were abandoned by their King. The civil war is getting fiercer and fiercer. The situation is getting gloomier and gloomier. The decline of the 1^st Temple era has officially begun and next week we’ll see that it gets even worse.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY COMING HOMEJOKES OF THE WEEK

Berel is a  mathematician at Yale university. He comes home from a symposium to be met at the door by his furious wife.

"What's the big idea, coming home at three in the morning in this state?" she yells.

"Dear," Berel calmly responds, "what time did I say I would be home?"

"Quarter of twelve, that's what you said!" screams the wife.

"...Well?" demands the mathematician.

 

I'm coming home late tonight...

Mom: Why?

Dad: I have a toothache, I'm going to the dentist.

Mom: Okay. What time is the appointment?

Dad: Tooth hurty.

Mom: ... Wow. I feel so bad…

 

A baby mosquito is coming home from his first flying lesson

Son, you did good?

Terrific! Everyone clapped

Why didn't the astronaut ever come home to his wife? Because he needed his space!

 

Sherlock Holmes comes home with a box of lemons...

Watson asks where he got them.

Holmes replies, "A lemon tree, my dear Watson."

 

A plumber comes home very upset and yells out to his wife- "honey, you would not believe the bidet I've had."

A Sarah, Yankel’s wife doesn’t come home one night. The next morning, the she tells her husband that she had slept over at a friends house. Yankel being the suspicious type then contacted all of her friends asking about it and whadaya know none of them said that she was there. A few nights later, Yankel doesn’t come home one night. Just like his wife, the next morning he tells her that he had slept over at a friend’s place. Sarah as well was suspicious and contacted all of the Yankel’s friends to ask about it and would you believe it, apparently Yankel was at 8 houses, 2 of which said he was still there!

 

James gets up from his barstool after a long night drinking alone and falls right to the floor. He crawls to the door, pulls himself up to open it, and falls through the door as it swings open. James continues this process as he crawls home pulling himself by his hands; falling to the floor with every pull. As he rounds the corner to his apartment, James pulls himself up to the door knob, inserts the key and twist it and the door open. As much expected, James collapses to the floor, unable to support himself in this drunken state. James finally makes it up the stairs to the room where his wife is soundly sleeping. He wrestles with himself while removing his clothes, attempting to be as quiet as possible. James decides that he cannot make it into the shower to clean himself off, and he pulls himself up into bed.

 

Unsuccessfully, James awoke his wife on his way into bed. She stared at him angrily and said, "You were out at the bar again, weren't you?"

 

"No," said James, trying to sound inconspicuous. "I was out at the movies with some buddies."

 

"Don't lie to me." Said his wife. "The bar called and they said you left your wheelchair there."

I came home from the bar the last night and was met by my wife asking, " WHAT DO YOU MEAN COMING HOME HALF DRUNK?!?!"

I said, "I ran out of money!"

Avram comes home from Shul one day in grief and despair. His wife asks what happened “Oy vey iz mir” he tells her - So much spending! So much money I am going to lose! Today our rabbi gave a speech: "For many years we are living among Russians but they still don't like us. And we don't even know why. I gave it many a thought and decided that it's because we don't drink vodka. Next time everyone should bring a bottle of vodka with him, we will empty every bottle into a big bowl and nobody will be allowed to leave until we finish all the liquor." So I need to buy a whole bottle of vodka! So much spending!

“What a G-d's fool is my husband!” - she answers – “Nothing could be simpler. Go buy a bottle of vodka. I will empty it into this here decanter, fill the bottle with water and seal it back accurately so nobody will notice. Then a single bottle of water won't make any difference in a bowl full of vodka.”

Avram cheered up, did as he's been told, took a bottle of "vodka" with him to the synagogue next time and humbly emptied it in the bowl like everyone else. The Rabbi took a cup, filled it from the bowl and sipped a bit. Then, in disbelief, sipped much more. Then put the cup aside and sighed: Well, that's why

 

Yanky a 16 year old Jewish boy is coming home from a party ...On the way home , he has to go past graveyard .But since he didn't want to miss the game on the TV , he goes through the graveyard which has a shortcut to his house .

 

The graveyard was covered with thick fog which was so much that he couldn't see the ground in front of him . Eventually, it happened.

 

He falls in a grave dug out which had a coffin in it . The height of the grave was too high for the boy to climb out . But Yanky is smart enough to tilt the coffin and climb on it .

After coming out of the grave , he continues walking for a certain distance , until he hears a THUD THUD THUD .When he turns back to see , he sees the coffin out of the grave .

Quickly , he starts running .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

He reaches his house and closes the door .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

He could now see the coffin on his driveway .He quickly runs up to his bathroom .The coffin crashes through the window .His parents are fast asleep .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

The coffin is coming up through the stairs .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

The coffin is in room .

 

THUD THUD THUD

 

Yanky crying , starts throwing everything he can find on the coffin .Toilet paper, Shampoo , soaps , Perfumes , scent bottles and what not .

THUD THUD THUD

 

The coffin is nearing him . He now starts throwing the medicines . As a final desperate attempt , he throws the cough syrup at it .

Then , at last , the coffin stops .

 

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The answer to this week”s question is C– This one was also an easy one. I actually before Corona started guiding there and havea good friend there that shows me around this Allohite village that fell under our control in the 6-Day War. The Syrians claimed that the village was theirs as they were Allohites-which seemingly is a more peaceful and open-minded version of Islam at least theoretically. We never conquered it because we assumed it was from Lebanon who had never entered the war. Lebanon actually even claimed afterwards that it belonged to them. They on the other hand were quite happy being part of Israel. For many years the village was split in half and Hezballah stood right outside their doorsteps as the government and United Nations didn’t allow us to put up a fence. Today Baruch Hashem there is one that was placed there and built officially by the residents themselves after a terrorist attack there a few years ago. The have a great park there with a menora and signs and symbols of all religions and many of them even serve in the Israeli army. They don’t like our enemies more than we do and are actually quite patriotic as well. 

The part B of this question is also easy. As Tel Arad has an alternate Beit Hamikdash there quite small built in the times of the Melachim where they even found idols that were taken down and buried during the period of Yoash who destroyed all of the bamos. Yet seemingly they planned again on using them after his reign as they were just buried rather than destroyed. So both right this week  making the latest score is Rabbi Schwartz at 16.5 point and the MOT having 5.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.