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.

War Worries- Parshat Vayakhel -Shekalim 2024 5784

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

 

March 8^th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 21 28^th of Adar I 5784

Parshat Vayakhel- Shekalim

War Worries

I’m getting scared. Terrified is perhaps even a more accurate word. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this way before. I feel like I’m walking on nails. That there’s this huge black cloud coming my way and it doesn’t seem like anyone else I talk to really sees it. I mean everyone to a large degree understands that what I’m feeling is accurate, yet like me we’ve been ignoring it. Trying to push it to the back of our minds and shoo it away. Focus on happy/laughy stuff. Yet it’s getting closer and closer. The war is about to really begin. And from everything that I see and hear and am watching, it’s gonna be bad.

 It hit me yesterday when I was talking to my BBQ guy for soldiers about some upcoming groups that wanted to sponsor some “chizuk dinners” for some soldiers. Like I tell them, they are our Kohanim Gedolim today, these chayalim doing Hashem’s holy work and this is our Matnat Kehuna- our priestly gifts of cow chow. He told me that he’s having a harder and harder time finding bases to do Grills as most of the soldiers have already moved up to the Northern front. Golani has already moved to the North, as has most of the Shiryon Armored Brigade. Many other units as well are moving up there. I was by an Airforce base and someone told me that they have even seen planes taking tanks up there. The war in the North is coming.

 What makes this frightening is that it’s really not a “war in the North”. It’s a war that according to everyone I talk to is one that will be on the entire country. The way the military experts and officers I have spoken to tell me- (which are not the guys in the coffee room in Lakewood or in the back of the Shteeble you go to.)- Hezbolla is not Hamas. They’re not teenagers with rockets, or Kalishnikovs. Hezbolla is a trained army by Iran that has between 50-100 Elite forces. They have missiles- not rockets that are targeted and can take down buildings and skyscrapers in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that Iron Dome can’t do anything about. I’m sorry did I say “can” take down. The way that they described it to me was that they “will” take down. The estimated figure of civilian casualties I mean fatalities is over 35,000 in the first three days, when- not if – the war breaks out. My friends that work in the hospitals and Kupat Cholim here and around Israel have told me that they are having regular exercises to prepare for 500 casualties a day minimally. This is what’s coming our way. This is where we’re headed.

 Now it seems almost incontrovertible to me that this war is happening, as it pretty much is to everyone in this country. There are close to a hundred thousand residents of the villages and cities in the Upper Northern Galil all along the entire border that have been evacuated for months already. They’re not only not living in their homes and farms because of the incessant missile attacks. But rather as quite a few have them have told me, they know that there are tunnels that have been built under their homes and fields from Lebanon. They’ve heard them drilling for years and the Army has never done anything about them. Soldiers that are there in the North have even confirmed this to me, as they are serving there right now.

After October 7^th these families learned that ignoring tunnels and an enemy of subhuman and sub-animal monsters on your border is just not a healthy thing for your family if you want them to stay alive and not chopped up into little pieces and burnt to death. It’s just bad homestead planning. So they’re not going back until they’re cleared out. They’re not getting cleared out unless or until we invade and go into a foreign almost nuclear Iran proxied country called Lebanon. When that happens, the fun begins. Welcome to Gog and Magog.

 According to a report I saw on Arutz 7 yesterday, Bibi has given them until next Friday to come to a “diplomatic solution” otherwise Israel we begin it’s full stage war. Happy Adar everyone. Purim Samayach!

 Now the truth is once you understand this you can understand as well, why we’re talking about cease fire right now- we want to give soldiers a break with their families before the war starts. It’s as well why they army and government has been very conservative – or cheap, or broke in terms of providing many of the basic necessities for soldiers. Why we’re not flattening buildings and cities like used to and are sending our holy boys in to fight building by building and losing so many of them. It’s because we’re saving whatever money and resources for the war in the North. The final battle of Mechiyat Amalek. The war that will finally bring Mashiach. Maybe that’s why I’m laughing so much when people call me up about their tiyulim and trip plans for the Summer and even Pesach and “maybe we can go to Masada?” or “do I think that Tzefat will be open by then?” type questions just make me roll my eyes. The only tours I’m thinking about for Pesach are the Bais Ha”mikdash ones. I just don’t see it any other way.

Now this E-Mail is not here to frighten you. It’s really more about me just putting my feelings, stories, jokes and of course most importantly new songs down on paper and sharing them with you. It’s getting it off my chest and expressing in the wonder and awe how the inspiration of our Torah reading is always there to give me direction. Give me focus. Bring us light. Well this week as we bless the new month of the  Adar Number 2 and Erev Rosh Chodesh is also parshat Shekalim and the Parsha of Vayakhel. There’s a lot going on in the Parsha, the reading and Shul this week. Hey, it’s the end of days, we have a lot to accomplish.  Let’s take it apart half piece by half piece. Let’s become whole.

The parsh aptly named is Vayakhel and Moshe gathered the people. He made us one. Rashi tells us this takes place the day after Yom Kippur. After we were forgiven for the Golden Calf. We’re back before Simchas Torah again. We’re rewinding to before October 7^th. We’re uniting the people to build a Beit Hamikdash. It’s like it didn’t happen. It’s perhaps what should’ve happened if we didn’t have that sin. We pick up the story of the building of the House for Hashem where He will reside with us where we left off in Parshat Teruma and Tetzave before we read the story of the sin. We gather together as one, not as if it hasn’t happened, but as a nation rectified after we suffered the ramifications of our failure to make it happen.

The way we unite, Rashi tells us is “al pi diburo” It’s through the word of Moshe, the word of Hashem. It’s with the mitzva of Shabbos, when we have faith and understand that all of our pursuits, drives and needs not only material and physical but even spiritually to build a house for Hashem and a Mishkan are only by the word of Hashem. We stop for Shabbos. We don’t have to do more. He’s there with us and taking care of it all. We just have to get out of that stress and push it all away and appreciate, that He is the one taking care of everything. We just need to relax and take faith. We don’t need to build the Mishkan on Shabbos. He’s building it and taking care of it. It’s not our home it’s His.

 The rest of the Parsha is a repeat almost of the building of each vessel and the structure of the Mishkan. It’s amazing. It’s each person the Torah tells us is donating their heart. Their skills. Their talent. Their holy light. Everyone has something unique. Everyone has something they can build or design. This one has some gold, this one can sew curtains, this one can carve the Menora, the Ark, the cherubs. Each person was given “chacham lev” and “tevuna”- and understanding and wisdom of their heart that no one else has. Generally when we think of wisdom we think of the brain, yet the Torah tells us that this project isn’t about the brain. It’s the wisdom of the heart. It’s understanding the emotion of the contribution that only you or I can bring.

  Betzalel who was the head of the project, the Talmud tells us was given the wisdom to combine all of the holy letters of the Torah- tziruf osiyos. The sages explain what that means is that each letter represents a different Jew. The entire creation is written from the Torah. Putting the letters together means understanding on a mystical level how each Jew can contribute. What our piece is. How everything comes together and the world shines out Hashem from when all those pieces of the puzzle of the Torah and Am Yisrael come together. He is called Betzalel because he is Be’tzeil El- He is the shadow of Hashem. He reflects the light of Hashem down here in this world.

Fascinatingly enough the additional parshat that we begin to read this week as well which is the first of the four supplementary parshiyos that are added, Parshat Shekalim is the opposite message at first glance. The Talmud tells us that when the month of Adar begins we begin to be “Mashmia al Ha’Shekalim- the Jewish court would begin to put out word and collect money for the annual daily sacrifices. Each person would give a half Shekel. No more and no less. We’re all the same. There is no more individuality. There’s no nicer or worse half shekel. We’re all equal. We’re all only a half. What is the difference between the sacrifice and the contribution to the Mishkan where we are each charged to bring as much of ourselves as we can? Why shouldn’t Rechnitz, Reichman or Trump give more than Schwartz?

 The answer is as we said in the name of the Parsha. It’s Vayakehl-Al Pi Diburo. It’s understanding that it’s all from the word of Hashem. It’s taking a step back and the rich man saying that all that I have and afford is only what Hashem has Given Me. He’s my partner in everything and He determines and wants His name to shine out not mine. That the community should shine as one equal unit. I can’t stand out in that way. It’s about the poor person who may not feel he has the half shekel to donate. It might be his monthly salary. It might be his kids lunch money. It’s about him saying and realizing that he as well has a very rich partner called Hashem in his life. His partner says that he could afford. That he wants him to stretch himself. That he shouldn’t be worried. That he can have faith. That in each donation that comes to the daily sacrifices that faith and word of Hashem is present. That’s the half shekel. That’s what we start off Chodesh Adar the month before the redemption of Nissan will take place.

 The Talmud tells us that we read the parsha of shekalim before Purim because we need this reading to remind us of how we overcame our enemy Haman who thought to destroy us. Haman gave 10,000 shekels to Achashveirosh and claimed to him that we should be destroyed because we are a “nation that is spread out and divided between the nations”. We read our Shekalim Parsha first- and this year because it’s a leap year (and of course the year that Mashiach is coming) we read as well Parshat Vayakhel to bring the merit of our nation uniting before his Shekels. Our half shekels came first, our personal donations and heart came first. That’s how we not only avert his genocidal plot for us. It’s how we destroy Amalek. It’s how we destroy Hezbolla and Hamas. It’s how we build a house for Hashem.

 The Gaon of Vilna points out that when Mordechai got the reprieve from Achashveirosh the Megilla tells us in a strange language that we were ordered

“Hikhalu v’amod al nafsham”- to gather and stand up for our lives.

The word “hikhalu” is plural, yet “amod-to stand” is singular. The redemption comes when we come together as one. Rav Teichtel notes that it is why Purim is like a second giving of the Torah. Because again we were as one man with one heart. It’s why Esther tells Mordechai leich knos es kol ha’yehudim- to go and gather all the Jews. It’s the only way our salvation can happen. It’s the only way Hashem can be revealed. It’s what the Talmud tells us that in the future the Jews will all do teshuva for Hashem will bring someone like Haman who will bring terrible decrees against our nation and we will all repent and immediately be redeemed. Isn’t it interesting how  the difference between Hamas and Haman is the changing of the Nun to the letter Samach- the next letter and level up. OK I know that’s just the English writing of the word Hamas. But in Hebrew do you know what the difference of Gematria is between the 2? It’s thirteen. Echad. One. That’s how we win. That’s how we all do teshuva. That’s why I shouldn’t be scared.

 The messages from this upcoming month of Adar are in front of us. The war is coming. But so is the redemption. The month of joy is in front of us. We need to continue to unite. To love. To be there with all of our heart and to reveal Hashem. And as he preformed miracles for our ancestors back then so will He preform for us today and final herald in the Mashiach.

 Have a joyous Shabbos and an exuberantly happy Adar again!

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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CHIZUK/TZEDAKA OPPORTUNITY OF THE WEEK

 

Just when you thought this E-Mail couldn’t get any longer… well here it goes. This essential column which is dedicated to giving you readers an opportunity to have a meaningful part of helping out our country and nation by donating to a weekly link of a different organization, a cause, soldiers, refugees, supplies, Hostage families, widows, farmers etc… There are so many needs and I know that you want to participate and help them not just read about them. So each week I will feature in our E-Mail in this column another cause and link that you can contribute and make a meaningful difference to. (this of course should not come at the expense of your sponsorship of my weekly E-Mail or our upcoming Purim appeal in another month 😊) But this is a way that you can bring light and money to the so many that need it. Give what you can. But give regularly and if you can I’d really appreciate if if you send me a screenshot or message of your donation as I can then forward it to whoever receives it so they know that it came from our helpful readers. So here we go…

 Merkaz HaChesed of Sderot- Founded 24 years ago the by my friend Avichai Amusi who had moved to the city of Sderot by the Gaza Border with the aim of caring for the people of Sderot as well as the residents of the towns and villages in the region The Chesed Center is a not-for-profit organization that is based on the work of volunteers who bring their enthusiasm to these projects. With so many familied moving back now the demand is more than ever…

 The Chesed Center incorporates the following areas of assistance:

 1. Distribution of food baskets – Some 670 families in Sderot as well as those in the towns and villages in the Gaza Strip area receive food baskets every week. The baskets contain in-season fruit and vegetables as well as basic food commodities. About half the food baskets are handed out at a special distribution center while the rest is delivered to the homes of those needy individuals who are unable to come in person to the center. In addition to the weekly allocations, special efforts are made at holiday times (Rosh Hashanah – New Year – and the festivals celebrated in the fall, Purim, and Passover) to make a substantial distribution of food on a much wider scale and thereby they will have all they need to celebrate the festivals and experience the true holiday spirit.

  2. Soup Kitchen - The Sderot Hessed Center runs a restaurant to provide a nutritional response as required on a daily basis. The kitchen serves a hot and nutritious meal for about 80 diners, most of whom are senior citizens, especially those who have been left all alone in the world; Holocaust survivors; and the handicapped. The soup kitchen is designed to look like a regular restaurant. The atmosphere in this restaurant is welcoming and shows respect to its patrons just like family, and those same people who lack the means to eat warm and nutritious food during the week can now enjoy every day an hour or so of relaxation and contentment.

3. Clothing store – This is a second-hand clothing store, d offers for sale clothes, shoes, and other accessories. The clothes are donated by well-known companies or collected by the local residents, sorted and sold at a nominal price, a policy which shows respect for the customers who come there to buy their clothes.

4. A charity furniture store - This store offers second-hand furniture, which was donated to the Hessed Center, collected by the Center's volunteers and distributed to the needy and families on low incomes. In special cases, the Center succeeds in obtaining new furniture and these are allocated to needy families.

5. A charity store for tables and chairs – These chairs and tables are made available for festivities and celebrations as well as for mourners, heaven forbid.

 6. Yad Sarah

NOW THEY NEED YOUR HELP MORE THAN EVER WITH FAMILIES MOVING BACK TO SDEROT!!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCk04TvWeaY  

 

And here’s the link to donate

 https://thechesedfund.com/ameiricainfriendsofiyim/emergency-food-and-assitance-to-homeless-and-beraved-families-in-sderot  

 

YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Ven tsu a krank iz duh a refueh, iz dos a halbeh krenk...”- When there’s a remedy for an ailment, it’s only half an ailment.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

30.The Zin River flows into the ___________.

In which route was the Ancient "Derech Hamelech" (Path of the kings) paved?

A. The route between the Gulf of Eilat and the Coastal cities of Lebanon

B. The route on the Transjordan ridge

C. The route on top of the mountains

D. The route between Alexandria and Gaza

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yiddelach   – In Honor of PURim MY latest new release… Its; the only song I’m posting this week. You just have to listen to it five times… If You want the Rap at the end… IT’s amazing… Tell me how much you love it…

 https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yiddelach      -  Come on you can’t get enough…

 https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yiddelach      – Isn’t it catchy…

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yiddelach     – You want to hear it one more time…

 https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yiddelach     – Now Call you r kids over and make them listen to i..t 😊

 

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

 Half the Job- This week we begin to read the first of the four parshiyot before Pesach the first being of the mitzva of the half shekel coin that we bring for the daily sacrifices. There’s a fascinating Midrash that tells us of a debate between Rebbi Yehudah and Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi about the power of prayer and teshuva. Rabbi Yehuda learns that Teshuva can accomplish half of the job of everything that we need, while prayer can accomplish everything. Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi however disagrees and says that prayer only can accomplish half the job. He brings a proof that Moshe prayed for forgiveness for Aharon after the sin of the golden calf and thus only two of his sons, Nadav and Avihu were taken, rather than all four.

 The commentaries discuss why it works this way. Why can’t prayer accomplish everything? The Trisker Magid explains that Tefilla/ prayer has two components to it. There is Hashem who hears our prayer and answers and then there is us that receives it. With prayer we can only accomplish that we ask Hashem for the needs that we have. He wishes to answer and give everything to us, but we have to have enough space within ourselves to receive all of that benevolence. If we haven’t repented then there’s not enough room for all He wants to shower upon us. It is for that reason that the Derash Moshe notes that we say every prayer a confession of selach lanu and we ask Hashem for Teshuva. That teshuva opens us up to be able to receive the complete package that we then continue to ask Hashem for.

 

Perhaps that is as well the idea of the half shekel donation as well for our daily sacrifices that we contribute. Hashem is telling us that the money we donate which is meant to serve as an atonement, as teshuva for our sins is only half the job. We can’t just pay and be done. We have to Pay and Pray. It’s two pieces of a whole.

 One last great thought from the Ropshitzer. He writes that whenever he davened he would ask for double of what he needed. That way since prayer only accomplishes half, he then would get half of the double which is exactly what he needed. With this idea he explains homiletically the verse in our parsha when it talks about the money collected for the Mishkan. The Torah tells us that the people were bringing too much and they were told to stop. The pasuk says

 V’hamelacha haya dayum v’hoseir- the work was enough and there was more.

He notes this is a contradiction for if it was enough then how was there more? He answers with this idea. The “work” he says is of course prayer. The work of prayer brought them exactly what they needed. How? V’hoseir- because they prayed for more than they needed.

Great Vort! Great idea! So daven double and Hashem will answer us all…

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

 

730 BC-The Last King of the North- The Jewish Nation of Israel is in tatters. We have civil war between the Northern Kingdom led by Pekach which engaged Aram to help them, and which captured and killed hundreds of thousands and even joined with the Philistines from Gaza to ravage the Jewish cities of the Shefela. As well we have the response of the kingdom of Yehudah led by the wicked king Achaz who turned the Temple into a house of idolatry and cut a deal with Shalmaneser of Assyria to attack and exile most of the Northern Kingdom. According to one account already 7/8 of the ten tribes in the North had already been exiled by the time the last and final king took over. The king Hoshea Ben Elah was the one that brought us to our bitter end.

 The Navi tells us that when Assyria attacked and exiled much of the North, Pekach’s captain Hoshea aligned himself with Tiglat Pileshar and assassinated Pekach. He then paid of Tiglat and was appointed the King of the North or Ephraim. As king he agreed to be a vassal of Assyria and pay an annual tax. He was trying to do his best to hold things together.

 The Navi tells us in an interesting description that although he was also an idolatrous king, yet he wasn’t as bad as the ones prior to him. He did one thing good which in fact ironically turned out to be bad and the final blow to the Northern Kingdom. He removed the security fence and guards that had prevented the Jews in the North from going to Yerushalayim to worship in the Beit HaMikdash. These had been in force since Yeravam ben Nevat-the king who followed Shlomo, the first generation after the Temple had been built. Since then nobody had gone to the Bait HaMikdash from the North.  And now they were finally permitted to go. The day was actually established to be a quasi holiday celebrated until today on the 15^th of Av. This would seem to have been a good thing. But it wasn’t.

 See, the problem was that the Jews didn’t go. They stayed in the North. They stayed in Lakewood. In Boro Park. Perhaps they were comfortable enough in their own shuls and places of worship. Maybe they said-perhaps even rightfully so, that Yerushalayim wasn’t frum enough. Achaz after all had defiled the Beis HaMikdash with idolatry. It was not “holy” enough for them. It felt too goyish… But Hashem and our sages didn’t see it that way. The fact that no one went made this a terrible accusation against us if not the final straw to break our back. And thus it was decreed that the game would be over.

 As in all our lessons in this column there is so much that we have to learn, to rectify, to understand in order that we don’t make the same mistakes. They same righteous justifications. It is not for naught the Torah tells us that we have to learn our history and know the years of generation and generation. History is repeating itself. We just need to look at our past to understand our present.  

 RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE ANNIVERSARY JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

My wife sat down on the couch next to me as I was flipping channels. She asked, 'What's on TV?'

I said, 'Dust.' And that's how the fight started....

  My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she sat alone at a nearby table.

My wife asked, “Do you know her?”

“Yes, ” I sighed, “She’s my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn’t been sober since.”

“My God!” says my wife, “Who would think that a person could go on celebrating that long?”

And that’s when the fight started.

 

A wife wants a fancy Porsche for her fiftieth birthday. She drops hints to her husband:

"You know we've had a really good year, heck, good decade, fiscally. For my birthday, I'm really hoping for something sleek, maybe baby blue. Something you can really step on and it'll go from 0 to 200 in like .2 seconds..."

The husband nods knowingly. So for her birthday, he buys her a scale.

And that's when the fight started...

 

My wife told me she wants to give her clothes away to starving children, I told her that if they fit them they aren't starving. That is when the fight began

 

I tried to talk my wife into buying a case of Miller Light for $14.95. Instead, she bought a jar of face cream for $7.95. I told her the beer would make her look better at night than the face cream. And that’s when the fight started.

 

 A woman is standing in her room looking in the bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, “I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.”

The husband replies, “Your eyesight’s near perfect.” And that’s when the fight started.

 

 For his birthday, I gave my son an iPhone. My daughter received an iPod for hers. For my birthday, I was pleased to receive an iPad. My mother was given an iMac for her birthday. Thinking along the same lines, I got my wife an iRon. And that's when the fight started…

 

 Esther was throwing darts at her husband's picture on a dart board and not even a single one hitting the target. When he entered, saw and asked, “Honey! What are you doing?”

Esther said " Missing you…".

And that's when the fight started…

 

 A man walks into a bar,looking all bummed out, and orders a drink. After a few minutes he orders another. About thirty minutes later he orders a few more drinks. The bartenders asks," Dude you look really depressed. Is everything okay? "

The man explains," My wife and I got into big fight. She says she won't speak to me for 31 days."

The bartender asks," Well isn't that a good thing."

The man replies," Sadly, tonight's the last night."

 

My Dentist friend just divorced his wife who is a manicurist. All they did was fight tooth and nail

 

A married couple are having a fight. Finally the wife screams at the husband to get out of the house. She throws his suitcases at him and he packs his things. On his way out, the woman says, "I hope you die the slowest, most miserable, most agonizing death imaginable."

So he turns and says, " What, so now you want me to stay?"

 

 "Got in a fight with my wife last night" says one guy to his friend.

"Again", said the friend, "How did it end this time?"

"Well, she ended up on her knees, practically begging"

"Really, what did she say?"

"Get out from under the bed you coward"

 

 A married couple were fighting when they drove past a farm full of pigs. The husband then asked his wife, "Family of yours?"

The wife looked at the pigs, then replied, "Yea, in-laws."

 

 Husband says: When I get mad at you, you never fight back. How do you control your anger?

Wife says: I clean the toilet..

.Husband says: How does that help?

Wife says: I use your Toothbrush.....

 

 The entire 15 years of marriage my wife and  I have only had one fight. And it's still not over…

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The answer to this week”s question is B– I’m in this sick rut. I’m just getting them half right or half wrong depending on which way you look at the glass. Actually I thought I would get it the other way right and wrong, but the truth is I wasn’t sure of either answer. Nachal Tzin I guessed Yam Ha’melach but I wasn’t sure because it’s really a bit south of there, and really the correct answer would’ve been to the Arava which is the direction of the Dead Sea, but it seems that either answer was correct, as in ancient times or even more recent times before the shrinking of the Dead Sea the water from the Nachal got there as well. So that part was right. The second part though confused me and I got it wrong. For some reason although I knew that the coastal road was called Derech Ha’Yam and the mountain road called Derech Hahar, I thought that one of those was also derech Ha’Melech so I went with the Gaza Alexandria answer. But the truth is thee correct answer was the Transjordan route. I probably should’ve known this. It is a biblical question and the route Bnai Yisrael wanted to take. But I got it wrong. So still in the Rut but I’m still passing this exam with the latest score is Rabbi Schwartz at 21.5 point and the MOT having 7.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.