Hear the Cry- Parshat Mishpatim 2025 5785

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

February 21^st 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 17 23^rd of Shevat 5785

 Parshat Mishpatim

Hear the Cry

 

Dear Shiri,

 

I believe with all my heart that you did your best to protect your young boys...  You must have warmed them with hugs in the cold and drafty tunnels. Or rationed the little food you received to feed them an extra bite or two. Over the past 500+ days, I've looked at that photo of you and your kids being brutally whisked away. You were holding both of your children, a combined weight of at least 25 kilos - and you carried them effortlessly.  Some might call it adrenaline, but I know it was a mother's strength. And I will crop out the background of that picture and replace it with a tunnel - because I'm sure you were just as strong for your babies in that awful hellhole beneath Gaza.

 

I imagine you singing to your boys in whispers, keeping their spirits alive with stories and games even in darkness. I picture you counting their breaths as they slept, the way all mothers do when their children are ill or afraid. And I can't help but wonder about your last moments.

 

Did you watch your children die?

Did your children watch you die?

 

These questions haunt me, along with the stolen moments of childhood:

 

Did Kfir ever take his first steps?

Or say his first words?

Did he make it to his first birthday? Or his second?

Did Ariel get to turn 5 and hold up all five fingers on one hand for his age? Did he finally make it through the night without any accidents?

 

I try to suppress these questions because the more I wonder, the deeper my grief becomes.

 

Your final act of motherhood was perhaps your greatest - holding them close, being their whole world when their world had been reduced to nothing. We will remember you not just as victims, but as a family bound by love and a mother's infinite strength.

 

May your memory be a blessing, and may your children's smiles - those bright, beautiful smiles before October 7th - remain forever in our hearts.

 

I didn’t write the above. It was sent to me, as were hundreds of others of letters of mourning. Of sadness and grief. And of rage. So so so much rage… Of humiliation. Of the desecration of the name of Hashem. The honor of His nation. Like sheep to the slaughter.

La’ag Va’keles ba’goyim- scorned and degraded by the nations

La’harog u’labeid- to be killed and exterminated

L’makah- to be beaten

 And worst of all…

L’cherpa- to be humiliated and shamed…

 

The pain, the shame, the horror… it’s too much. Ad masai?! Until when… How much more Ribono Shel Olam? As someone else sent me a meme. Only in Israel can 5 bombs blow up on buses in one day and that’s not the worst thing that happened.

 

Yet I think the answer to that question is that Hashem is asking us the exact same thing. How much longer will we not do what he has given us the command and mitzva to do. How much longer will we sit by and play politics and allow this desecration of His name to continue. We don’t even have Biden anymore to blame it on. We don’t have to worry about the world. Donald, Himself, (and yes that capital “H” is intentional) is basically imploring us to step up to the plate and do what we need to? So how much longer, Hashem is asking us? What more does He need to do? It’s like that old joke about man drowning in the ocean waiting for a miracle and Hashem sends him a lifeboat, a plank to grab on to, a helicopter and he just drowns there waiting for a miracle. When he comes up to heaven Hashem asks him what else he wanted. He sent him everything he needs.

 

After 2000 years Hashem has given us an army. A holy army. He gave us planes, guns and to make it sweeter a new shipment of 2000 lb bombs. Trump has told us to destroy them. To kill them all. “Not a building should be left in Gaza”. And I’m sure he really doesn’t care that much about the West Bank or anywhere else. Does Hashem need to have the entire United Nations pass a resolution that Israel should murder every single man woman and child there for us to finally act. How many more murdered and massacred red-haired babies do we need to be handed back to us pathetically in coffins by jeering scorning celebrating mobs of “innocent” civilians and their spawn, until we say we’ve had enough. Until we recognize that the shame of humiliation of our God and His nation has boiled over. That the blood of our girls, our babies, our parents, our grandparents is screaming at us from the stained earth. Ad masai… Hashem is yelling at us. How much longer will you wait. What else do I have to do for you to awaken. Wasn’t 6 million enough…?

 

This week’s parsha is called Mishpatim. Justice. Laws. It’s a parsha that is meant to give us the moral compass we need to navigate in this world and fulfill our role as the nation of Hashem. It’s fascinating that this parsha really divides the narrative of the giving of the Torah into two stories. Last week we read Yisro which tells us the story of the Ten commandments and the Jewish people being chosen as the special nation of Hashem. We accepted that role joyously as one man and one nation. Yet peculiarly enough I think that the two words that we would be looking to see in that parsha, that we all associate with the receiving of the Torah don’t appear in Yisro. The words are of course, Na’aseh V’Nishma- we will do and we will hear or internalize to be more accurate. Check it out! Those words are not there at all…

 

Rather those words appear in the second narrative of the story of Sinai at the end of this week’s parsha. Yet this narrative brings a whole new story of sacrifices and sprinkling of blood on the nation and eating and celebrating. It’s a whole different story. It is only here that Na’aseh V’Nishma appears. The sandwich in between these two stories which our parsha are all the various commandments, “justice” and social laws, as well as the more spiritual ones including the holidays. It seems that to get to Na’aseh V’Nishma from merely just blind acceptance and doing without internalizing we need to go through Parshat Mishpatim first. Only then can we reach the point where we could sit. We could eat. We could celebrate. We could be free.

 

Perhaps the greatest challenge to someone, to a nation that has undergone 210 years of slavery, persecution, exile and subjugation, is understanding and internalizing what being a free man is. Our hostages that are returning now after merely 500 days of being held in tunnels can explain that to you. Or perhaps they can’t… After living so long with being forced to do things, without having any ability to exert our basic human essence and expression of free will, the only thing we know how to do is take orders. The only way that we see society and others is of subjugators and servants. Man doesn’t have free-will. We don’t have choices. We are either the powerful ones that enslave or we are slaves that follow orders. The only thing that we can say after Hashem took us out of Egypt miraculously with a strong hand is Na’aseh- You are our new master. We will now do what You tell us to do.

 

 The mountain was held over our head, as the Midrash perhaps homiletically is teaching us, and we have a new Master. But we still have a slave mentality. We still don’t understand that our servitude to Hashem is a different animal entirely. It is a partnership. It is about us making choices. It’s about us revealing His spark and essence within each of us and in all of mankind. The reason Hashem took us out, the reason He gave us the Torah, the purpose of Him bringing us to the land, is for us to reveal that divine spark that is in all of humanity. It is to bring Hashem’s light to the world. We’re not meant to be a nation that is merely slaves or servants of a new powerful Divine Master. Rachmana Liba Ba’ai- Hashem wants our hearts. He needs our hearts. He needs the “nishma”- the internalization of who we are and the understanding that our freedom allows us to preform His will and shine His light unabashedly to the world.

 

Thus the first mitzva in this lesson is that we can never enslave a fellow Jew. We can purchase him. We can pay his bills for his crimes and take him into our home to rehabilitate him by giving him work, while providing for his family. But he’s not our slave really. We have to set him free. We have to bring him to a point where he expresses his humanity. And if he can’t do that in 7 years because he is so entrenched in that slave mindset, then he has until the yovel year and then he is automatically freed

 

. This is such a critical and essential first step for us to freedom because it forces us to look at the world in a different light than we have done. It forces us to get out of the slave/ owner mentality that has been drilled into us. Because as long as we can enslave others then we ourselves are really still slaves. We’re slaves to a worldview that Egypt engrained in us that there are only masters and servants in the world. There are none that have free-choice. There is no spirit of Hashem. We have to understand that being a slave for so long creates within us a slave mentality that may prevent us from leaving that life. That even when our master throws us out and tells us to leave, we may not have the strength to do it.

 

That godless slave/master worldview of galus is what the entire parsha of Mishpatim is trying to knock out of us. It’s a sickness that tells us that we can’t conquer and throw out our neighbors because we are subject and slaves to the world’s judgement and opinion. The first sentence of our parsha is

 

Eileh Ha’Mishpatim asher tasim lifneihem- These are the judgements Hashem has commanded Moshe to place before us.

 

The Talmud derives from this that the laws are what Hashem tells us to do. It is forbidden to go to the gentile courts. Even if they rule like our courts and laws. Because we need to know that they are NOT our moral compass. The Torah and Hashem’s laws are. If we need to go to them then we are really still slaves. Then it’s because we are still enslaved to them. Then we can buy a Jewish slave and keep him forever. Then we can fall under hard times and think that we can sell our own daughter to the nations. Sell our children to their ideology and their judgement and their resolutions. So the second law the Torah tells us

 

L’am nochri lo yimhso lmachro- You can’t sell her to a goy. Don’t sell out our children, our hostages, our impoverished to them. Rather take her as your wife. Provide for her. Realize that this poor Jewish maidservant kibbutznik is a free-man, just as you are. She as well has a spark of Hashem to reveal. Don’t let the goyim enslave that. Don’t let them turn you into their slaves to their opinions or judgements. You’re free. I took you out Egypt. You’re Mine. Do what I need you to do. Be My partner in fixing the world.

 

How? Next law… If someone kills someone. Kill him. He’s evil. Eradicate Him. If he plots and conspires to kill him and it’s intentional then even take him away from the Bais Hamikdash and kill him. There are no safe zones. There are no off-limits places where you should feel you can’t touch them. If someone kidnaps another human being put him to death. That the old-world view of masters and slaves, that is the essence of evil. That is the squashing of the Divine spark. Our job is to wipe out that evil.  Sure, Hashem could take care of it on His own. But He wants us to be His partners. It’s only as His partner, His Messenger, His nation, that His spark within us will be revealed.

 

In Hashem’s world we need to understand and personalize our job. An eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound. A baby for a baby. This law although our sages tell us refers to a monetary payment isn’t described as such. The reason that it isn’t punitively literal is because it’s impossible to exactly and precisely take the perfect vengeance that’s not too much or too little. Yet, the Torah doesn’t describe the retribution as a fine, or a payment or compensation. It’s payback. It’s personal. It’s your eye for the eye that they took out. It’s not just a bill. In a goyishe world compensation, or “reparations” are just a bill and negotiation. In Hashem’s world it’s an eye for an eye. A slave mindset doesn’t allow one to do that. One can pay, but they can’t get vengeance. They can’t restore justice. There is no justice. It has to be nishma- internalized to get here. That’s what Hashem wants us to understand and start absorbing into our psyche.

 

There’s mitzva, after mitzva, after mitzva, in this parsha that is all about us being that partner. That hand of Hashem that He chose us to be. There is even a mitzva that we shouldn’t be an

“eid chamas”- a false witness to steal. To kidnap. To join forces in their evil by merely giving credence to their cause. To saying that anything besides death is coming to them. There is a mitzva of revenge against killing anyone that kills even a non-Jewish slave. This non-Jewish slave is someone that you took under your wing. He’s a loyal citizen of Israel. He maybe even serves in the army. He may be a Bedouin. But he was killed brutally. We are obligated to avenge their deaths. To bring justice to their murderer. To put them to death- even if the murderer is Jewish even more so when they are Hamas. In fact, it is here that we learn out that the punishment for murder is with sword. This is the source.

 

Yet after all of these mitzvos Hashem tells us, again right before we arrive at the narrative of Nishma, that He will bring us to the land when we follow the laws. Our borders will go down to Egypt. The land of the Philistines (Gaza), Up to the Euphrates through Lebanon and Turkey. There He will chase out and kill out or enemies. Is it only Hashem’s job though…? No. The Torah then shifts it to us, His partners.

 

“Don’t bow down to their gods. Don’t serve them. Don’t do like their actions.”

 

We’re not their slaves anymore. We don’t bow down to their values. We don’t answer to their courts. Not international ones or personal ones.

 

“Destroy you shall destroy and shatter and break their altars and you shall serve Hashem”.

 

“Do not make a treaty with them. Don’t let them live in your land, lest they cause you to sin to Me.” How???

 

“For you will serve their gods and they will be a mokeish- a stumbling block for you.”

(In hebrew, by the way, a bomb on a bus is called a mokeish)

 

This is not Donald Trump talking. Although from the way he talks and the way we talk it sounds like he’s reading the Torah more accurately than we are. This is Hashem. This is Him telling us that we’re free. That the world is in front of us. That He’s waiting for us to stop waiting for eagle’s wings and for stinging bees, or helicopters or life boats. It’s up to us to remove the chilul Hashem. It’s up to us be Nishma. To internalize these mitzvos. It’s up to us to realize that we really really are free. That we are no longer slaves. That we need to set all of that slavery free and allow our true free choice to do what needs to be done to happen.

 

The haftorah tells us about how right before the destruction of the Temple, the prophet Yirmiyahu recalls to the Jewish people this mitzva of setting free slaves. It seems that even when we had the temple, we couldn’t shake this goyishe world view that we are enslaved. It was the reason our sages tell us that we were exiled. It’s the reason why we are still not redeeming ourselves. We are a nation that were rescued and very easily said na’aseh. We will become slaves to Hashem. We will take a new master. We can follow Torah. We can observe mitzvos. We can obey the nuances of every law and take orders well. Yet, it’s the Nishma that we haven’t yet arrived at. We haven’t internalized that Hashem isn’t looking for order-takers. He wants us to be one with Him. Nishma is Shema Yisrael Hashem Echad- that we are One with Him. That’s the second narrative of the Torah. That’s when we merit to hear the story of the sacrifices, the celebration, the atonement of the blood finally, and seeing Hashem as we sit and celebrate together with Him.

 

This Shabbos we bless the month of Adar. It is the last month of the Jewish calendar before the month of Nissan, the month of redemption is here. The month of Adar is one where we remember that first exile from our Temple to Persia and how the Amalekites tried to wipe us out. How the whole world turned against us. How Hashem gave us the strength to be

‘l’aamod al nafsham” to stand up for our lives. 

To kill ALL of our enemies. We did that then. Can we do that today. We did that there as we fought for our lives in Chutz L’Aretz, in Iran, in Persia. Can we do that here in Eretz Yisrael as well? Hashem tells us we can. Do you hear it? Are you Nishma? The blood of our children is calling out to us. Do you hear Shiri? Kfir? Ariel?  Theirs should be the last call, the last cry that we need to finally realize the time is finally now.

Have a consoling Shabbos and a blessed joyous month of Adar,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

 

************************

YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Got shtroft ober der mentch is noikem-  God punishes but man takes revenge..

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

9. “Anu” Museum is located in the city of ______

Who were the Black Panthers?

A. A social protest movement established in the early 1970s protesting institutional

discrimination against members of Mizrahi communities

B. A group of street artists operating in Jerusalem in the 1990s, inspired by blacks in the United

States

C. A group of poets who highlighted the absence of representation of Mizrachi Jews in Israeli

culture

D. A radical armed group operating against Israel in West Bank refugee camps

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ANiOJXflHs  -  The mourning in Israel for the Bibas loss..

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/avinu-malkeinu   - My haunting memorial song Avinu Malkeinu composition. Composed in memory after the Har Nof massacre but that still tragically is relevant…

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yizkeraim  -  This song Yizkereiem, I composed after the three boys were kidnapped and killed by the first Gaza War in 2012… As well May Hashem avenge their deaths and the blood of all of the Martyrs and finally herald in the Geula…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gut1jyzwFV8    – Must see hilarious and so so true spoof on BBC “Slim-tifada”. Eretz Nehedert!

 

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

Hostage Kings and Children- 600 BC – It’s not only our children that are taken hostage. We’ve lost our Kings as well. The navi tells us of the evil Jewish King Yehoyakim who rebelled against Nevuchadnezzar. As we mentioned last week, the world map had changed. Assyria fell to Iran as did Egypt and its leader Pharaoh Necho. Bavel was the new world leader on the block. Yehoyakim still living under the old world concept rebelled and Nevuchadnezzar. wasn’t going to let that sit. He came to Jerusalem where he took Yehoyakim, the King of Israel himself into exile to Bavel, as well as many of the vessels of the Temple. There he kept him in prison in his palace for three years. Did the Jewish people try to get him out? It seems not…

 

 Perhaps they were too fearful. Perhaps they weren’t so fond of this king that had done so much evil and been such a goy… After all he desecrated the temple, brought licentiousness into the land and as we will see next week had it out with the prophet Yirmiyahu as well. He’s not someone that Israel was going to go up against Iran to rescue.

 

Remarkably after three years Yehoyakim was released. He was returned to Israel. Nevuchadnezzar thought he could trust him. Yet to hedge his bets, the prophet Daniel whom we will discuss as well soon and who starts to tell us about this time frame as he lived in Bavel, tells us how Nevuchadnezzar kept all of the children and many princes there in Iran with him. He wanted educate them and assimilate them into their culture. He wanted to turn them against their people, make them into Chamasnikim…

 

Yehoyakim returns to Israel, yet when he comes back it seems he doesn’t learn his lesson. He continues in his evil ways. He ignores the prophet Yirmiyahu. He emboldens himself to rebel once again against Nevuchadnezzar. This was a bad move. It was signing his own bitter death warrant. His ignominious and violent end is a message for us today. Stay tuned as we continue to learn about this last era before our Temple is destroyed and we head out to the story of Purim in Persia with this exile. Yet it is here already that the first exile begins at the 70 years of exile’s that the prophet foretold of was mistakenly first calculated from. (Those that are learning Oraysa’s Amud Yomi of Megilla this past week know what I’m talking about…)

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S DEAD GAZA BABY JOKES OF THE WEEK

(DISCLAIMER- I REALLY WASN’T IN THE MOOD TO WRITE JOKES THIS WEEK, BUT THEN I FIGURED YOU GUYS WOULD GET ALL UPSET…SO THIS IS THE TOPIC THAT CAME IN MIND… ) THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES ME SMILE…BUT DON’T READ IF YOU’RE TO DELICATE…YOU’VE BEEN WARNED….)

What is the best thing about dead Gaza baby jokes? They never get old

 

How do you make a dead Gaza baby float? 2 scoops of ice cream 1 scoop of dead Gaza baby

 

What's better than 2 dead babies in a dumpster? One dead Gaza baby in two dumpsters

 

Q. whats more fun than spinning a dead Gaza baby around at 50mph? A. stopping it with a shovel.

 

 I was going to cover my bathroom floor with dead Gazan baby skin... but my wife told me that would be infant tile.

 

How many dead Gazan baby’s do you need to fix a lightbulb? Apparently more than 11 cause my lightbulb is still broken

 

What's the difference between a dead Gaza baby and a Styrofoam cup? A dead baby doesn't harm the atmosphere when you burn it.

 

What's the difference between a dead Gazan baby and a trampoline? I take my shoes off to jump on a trampoline

 

How do you get 100 Gazan babies into a bucket? With a blender.

 

What is funnier than a dead Gaza baby? A dead Gazan baby in a clown costume.

 

How do you stop a baby from crawling around in circles? Nail it’s other hand to the floor

 

What is the difference between a Gaza baby and a onion? No one cries when you chop up the Gaza baby.

What’s the difference between a Gaza baby and a pizza? A pizza doesn’t scream when you put it in the oven

What’s the difference between a Gaza baby and a bagel? You can put a bagel in the toaster. You have to put the Gaza baby in the oven.

 

How many Gazan babies does it take to paint a house? Depends how hard you throw them.

 

What do you call a dead Gaza baby pinned to your wall? Art.

 

What bounces up and down at 100mph? A Gaza baby tied to the back of a truck.

 

What is red and hangs around trees? A Gaza baby hit by a snow blower.

What is green and hangs around trees? Same Gaza baby 3 weeks later.

 

What do vegetarian ogres eat? Cabbage patch kids.

 

What do you call a Gaza baby on a stick? A Kebabie.

 

What goes plop, plop, fizz, fizz? Twins Gaza babies in an acid bath.

 

There’s plenty more… but even I’m getting nauseous…

 

***************************************

The answer to this week”s question is A –  I only got half of this one right. And I should be ashamed of myself. The ANU museum which is the new formerly called Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv I knew. I’ve been there. I’m not the biggest fan of it. It’s a bit secular for me and lame all though they have some cool exhibits like shuls from all over the world. The Black Panthers though I should’ve known. I debated if it was the jewish protest movement of the Sefardim against the Ashkenazim. I kind of remembered learning about it. But I read the answer wrong and thought it saud the Ashkenazim against the Sefardim. So I went with D which is the terrorist movement in the West Bank and was wrong. So it’s a 50/50 on this one and the  new score is Rabbi Schwartz 6 Ministry of Tourism 3 on this exam so far.



Shabbos in Gaza- Parshat Yisro 2024 5784

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

Febuary 2^nd 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 16 23^rd of Shevat 5784

Parshat Yisro

Shabbos in Gaza

 Julia didn’t want him to go. She told him that he didn’t need to work on Shabbos. Hashem will provide. He always does. Yet her son Barr told her that he felt that he had to. The family needed money. His father Tal was wheelchair bound. He’d been injured five years before when he was hit by a car while on call as a medic on his motorcycle on his way to save a young girls life. It was a miracle that he survived and after years of surgeries and months of being in a coma, when he came to he had lost function of the ability to speak coherently despite his full mental capacity. So young Barr at age 18 had already become the man of the house supporting his mother and 4 siblings while Julia cared for Tal.

Whenever Barr got off from his army duty- which he refused to take the natural exemption he was offered to care for his family, he felt he need to go out and make some money in order to cover the sea of bills that had ensconced the family. He wasn’t observant as his mother was. Julia had only become a Baalat Teshuva a few years before and that alone put struggles and challenges on the family, who didn’t all jump on board. And thus on Friday October 6^th Barr kissed his mother Good Bye assuring her he would be alright and headed out to the Nova Festival to be a security guard. But things did not turn out alright.

Shabbos morning the country woke up to sirens. Anil, Tal’s Philippine caretaker informed them the family what was going on in the South and called Barr to find out what was happening. Barr assured them that things were under control. He was evacuating people and that he would be in touch soon and come home. An hour or so later they spoke again, and he sounded weary. he could only talk for a minute or so and said he was alright and still working on saving lives. That was the last they heard from him. From 8:30 or so the communication went dead. Unlike so many though that it took sometimes weeks to find out what happened to their loved ones, Julia and Tal got a video sent to them, courtesy of Hamas, with Barr in the back of a pickup truck with his hands tied behind his back along with 4 other hostages being taken to Gaza. The last words they have and heard from Barr was his calling out his own name numerous times to the terrorist and then with fire in his eyes yelling at his abductors

“Titaplu bo, titaplu bo- take car of him- take care of him!

Barr ben Julia and Tal, who as well are both medics and dedicated their lives to saving and giving life to those that are in danger or are injured, was continuing his parents work in the worst of situations. Ignoring his own peril and demanding that those captured and injured be taken care of by the sub-human monsters that are terrorizing us.

I met Julia for the first time in Hostage square in Jerusalem. My tourists-or “War- ists” as I call the generous donors that come to give chizuk, bring light, support  and hope to our country in one of it’s worst moments, were donating chulent, kugel and a kumzitz evening in Hostage square for them. There she shared with me her story and told me that she is not involved in any of the “deals”  or demonstrations to release hostages and bring Barr back. To be honest, she said doesn’t really feel any of them are really that important or effective. She has chosen instead to be busy with what she calls “spiritual deals”. The deal and our eternal “bris olam” covenant of Shabbos.

Julia felt that there was a message in that all of this occurred in Shabbos that was on Simchas Torah. Perhaps it was a message that was about a lack of appreciation that so many of our unaffiliated brothers and sisters and perhaps even we frum Jews as well have of a lack of simcha and oneg that Shabbos really has. The gift that it is. Since then, Julia has joined forces with Rabbi Grossman and Rav Raanan’s organization Ayelet Hashachar to bring Shabbos food, hot plates, candles and goodies to families of hostages, where hundreds have signed up to begin observing Shabbos and receive these packages as an added merit for their children that should return safely.

A few weeks after their project began, Julia met Corrine Zecharia whose daughter Eden was as well kidnapped from the festival. She had not heard any word from her daughter since that black Shabbos. The last thing she knew was that she was hit by gunfire and taken into Gaza. Was she alive or dead? Would she ever get answers? When she met Julia and they shared their sorrow and worry, she began to cry and took on Shabbat as well for the first time. That very next Sunday after that first Shabbos, Corrine observed, the IDF found her daughters body together with another soldiers in Gaza and she was returned for burial. Corrine’s pain and mourning are still great, yet she tells everyone that it is only a result of her Shabbos acceptance that Hashem miraculously at least gave her some consolation and rest with the return of her daughter’s body for burial.

This week we read the Parsha of Yisro. It is the week when we finally have reached the pinnacle of the entire creation with our receiving of the Torah on Sinai. At the heart of the Ten Commandments is the mitzva of Shabbos.

Remember the day of Shabbos in order to keep it holy.

Our sages quote and understand from the Prophets that the day of Shabbos and our observance of it is not just about not doing work, making Kiddush and going to Shul. Rather it is to take pleasure and enjoyment in the day of Shabbos. See, the Jews already had the concept of Shabbos even before the Sinai revelation. In Egypt, the Midrash tells us, Moshe was able to swing them a day off weekly from Pharaoh from them to gather. As well a few months prior already, when we left Egypt and were by Marah we were given the mitzvah of Shabbat. For months we had already been collecting the Mannah, as we learned last week in the Parsha, for 6 days a week with a double portion on Friday. The Shabbos that we were given on Sinai though was an entirely different level and appreciation of this day. It wasn’t just a day off. Goyim have that as well. This was a day of Rest for Hashem. This was day to take pleasure in Hashem.

It’s a strange concept, this idea of pleasure and enjoyment on Shabbos. We don’t really find this by other mitzvos. Shabbos has to have special food. Chulent, Kugel, salatim, treats and special Shabbos cereal and parties. We have special Shabbos clothing. We have Shabbos songs. It’s an amazing day of seemingly physical enjoyment. In fact, our sages tell us that any money we spend for Shabbos doesn’t even come off our annual Rosh Hashana allotted budget. It’s free. Whatever you want, buy it for Shabbos. I know this sounds great, but what exactly is spiritual about this. How do we remember and sanctify the Shabbos day by doing this? Why does our party and good time considered what makes this into a “Shabbos for Hashem” as we are commanded to do? Shouldn’t a day of Hashem be full of prayer, repentance, Torah study. What’s with all of this pleasure and chill?

The answer I saw recently in beautiful new sefer written by Reb Yonah Ephraim Carlebach ( I bought the sefer because I’m a Carlebach fan and you put that together with my name, my father and son’s name and I was sold by just the author), is that the real only way that one can truly be at rest, can experience Menucha, is if they feel that everything is taken care of. That there are no worries in the world. That they are exactly in the Perfect Hands that is going to take care of everything for them. What makes the best hotel in the world it great, is that you have all your needs taken care of. The best food, the best service, all your business is done. There is absolutely nothing on your plate besides sitting back and enjoying.

Now there rarely is that perfect hotel. There’s always something to kvetch about. There are always somethings that aren’t perfect. Something that still needs to be taken care of back home. Some work that’s left undone. Some E-Mail that has to be answered. In fact the only way and place in the world where, when and how that can ever occur is with Hashem. It’s on Shabbos. It’s when we recognize that Hashem is exactly that. That He is in charge of everything. That we are in His perfect Hands.

 I don’t need a cell-phone. I have nothing to answer. No E-Mails to check. The News is irrelevant. I am mamash free. Pleasure, Oneg, Menucha, rest, all those things can only happen when I feel that everything is perfect. The things that always disturb our sleep, that take away from us enjoying ourselves and the world and maybe even our vacations and certainly our day-to day lives is when we feel that things are not working out the way we had planned. That we need to control things. We need things to be different. Those feelings leave us sleepless. They keep us up at night. They frustrate us. The mitzva of Shabbos is really all about pleasure, because that’s how Hashem reveals Himself in our lives. That’s how we show we believe and trust in Him. That’s how we bond with the One that Created the world and remember that He put us here. He’s on top of everything. He’s giving us everything we need.  

It was two months after Julia started this project that she was at the Kotel for a mass prayer gathering. Out of nowhere she met up with Itay Regev who made his way over to her as he had something that he wanted to share with her. Itay and his sister Maya had just been returned from Gaza after the hostage exchange. Itay shared with Julia that when he was taken, he was held together with Omer Shem Tov in a dark tunnel bunker of Hamas. Itay himself was not religious, yet Omer who had more traditional leanings told him that first Shabbos there that he wished he would be able to make kiddush. That he dreamed of getting out and observing Shabbat once again. Itay told him at the time that Shabbos was just a dream. Who knows if they would even get out alive?

At that moment the terrorist walked in that Friday evening and handed them their food. A plate of rice, some dried out pita and lo and behold in their hand was a small bottle of grape juice. They couldn’t believe it. They shook their head and eyes in shock. In this darkest of places, in this hole of holes Hashem had sent them Kiddush. Omer’s prayers had been answered. Hashem was with them. They were in His hands.

They took that bottle of wine and Omer made Kiddush and they each took a swig and then hid the remainder of the bottle in their bandages. Every Shabbos of the 50 plus days they were there they took that bottle of wine of faith and miracles and made kiddush. Shabbos had given them that hope. And ultimately when Itay was released, and he heard about Julia’s project he wanted to share with her that it was perhaps her Shabbos merits that had brought them that hope and miracle. It wasn’t Shabbos that protected them, rather it was Shabbos that gave them the strength, hope and light at the end of that dark underground tunnel. The light that led to his redemption.

In Hostage square there is now famous Shabbos table that is sitting there. There are 244 seats at that table of which 110 have already been returned. They have wine glasses and set plates. There are 134 that have pita, spoiled rice and yellowed water in plastic cups in front of them still. We are waiting for them to come home as well. The story of our hostages really is the story of our national redemption.

When we recite Kiddush each week and particularly in this time, we recite Zecher Le’Yetziat Mitzrayim- we remember our exodus from slavery, darkness and captivity to light and redemption. Redemption can only come when we understand and appreciate that our goal is not just to get out of the tunnel. It’s about more than no longer be persecuted or terrorized. Rather it is about arriving finally to a place of Oneg; of pleasure. Appreciating that true liberation is only when we are totally at rest. When we are One with Hashem. When we have nothing else that needs to be done or taken care of. That the world is perfect and has been completed. That Hashem is as well at the head of our Shabbos table. That He is blessing His children. All of them. That the world is at rest. That we have arrived at the day that is entirely Shabbos. That the whole world has Shabbos. May Hashem bring that day soon. This Shabbos even. May Barr ben Julia and Omer and all of the hostages return, may their families find consolation, and rest, and may we all celebrate Shabbos soon together at that one table in the Bait Ha’Mikdash when the shechina itself which has been away from home for over 2000 years as well come Home.

 Have the most amazing enjoyable and restful Shabbos

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

"Es iz besser tsu leben in naches aider tsu shtarben in tsar.”- It is better to live in joy than to die in sorrow.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

25.The Jerusalem Talmud was signed in ___________.

In which of the following settlements did the Sanhedrin not settle?

A. Jerusalem

B. Shfar'am

C. Safed

D. Tiberias

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/good-shabbos   - The Commandment of Shabbos is all about my Good Shabbos composition from Dovid Lowy on arrangements and vocals

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDfpl5pA38  – Avraham  Fried’s incredible war time hit Li’natzeach

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6P2IHfi8Jc   – Bibi singing a prayer for the soldiers and the country and Ani Maamin

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoo5xN-N3BM  -  Shai Graucher’s 100 days of Chesed

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X29U78wPYI0    - Shlomo Carlebach medley from Moshe from Moshe Groner and Mendy Hershkowitz orchestra

  RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

Hashem’s name – It is perhaps the most recited word in the entire Davening and the most important one. It’s the name of Hashem. It’s really a remarkable thing if you come to think about it, which unfortunately we don’t often enough. We are literally calling and speaking to Hashem by name! We don’t refer to our Rabbis or elders or even non-Jewish government figures by name. We generally speak in the third person. What does Rebbi want? Is there something I can get you Mr. President? Father can I get you a drink? Ok maybe my kids don’t do that…. But there certainly is a special honor when talking to someone of stature and showing respect. Yet, when it comes to the Master of the World and the King of all kings, we say Baruch Ata Hashem- Blessed are You Hashem. It’s like saying How are you Joe to the president…but much worse. How do we do that?

 This week’s parsha tells us something amazing. The verse tells us that Hashem says

 “B’Kol makom asher azkir es shemi -In every place that I mention my Name, I will come to you and bless you.”

 Now what I wrote wasn’t a typo. The verse doesn’t say every place where we mention Hashem’s name rather it’s any place that Hashem “I” mention my name. The son of the Gaon of Vilna explains that our sages tell us and we recite by the blessing of the moon, that

 “Kol makom she’ata motzei geduloso shel Ha’kadosh Baruch Hu-everywhere that you find the greatness of Hashem there you will find His humbleness.”   

 He reads the dictum homiletically. That whenever we use the word Ata- you to refer to Hashem in the first person. That is where you find His humility. Hashem humbles Himself to allow us to say praise and bless Him. It is like a king or a president that stops on the road to listen and hear some simple peasants bless him. Like a great Rabbi who visits a kindergarten or a special needs school and lets the kids sing praises to Him. Trust me they don’t get an ego trip from this. They know they are great and this kid or this downs child or this poor homeless man that might tell them Hey King, or hey Rabbi, I think you’re really cool! doesn’t do anything for them. Yet, that’s what Hashem does each time we pray. Hashem tells us that whenever I mention my name, it’s really not even us calling Hashem. It’s Hashem allowing His name to be mentioned by us. That’s where He blesses us. That’s the greatest gift and blessing that we can get. That we are in the presence of Hashem.

 So yes the name of Hashem is the most mentioned one in our prayers. Yet it’s something that we should never take for granted and perhaps even pause a minute before reciting at the incredible love and honor Hashem gives us by even allowing us to call Him in that way. Then we will truly receive His blessing.

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

750 BC Earthquake- Leaving our story of Northern Kingdom of Israel and chaos and beginnings of the Exile under the rule of Pekachia ben Remalia, we shift our screen to the tribe of Yehuda and the kingdom in the South. We left off with the King Uziah/ Azarya. To remind you and to recap Azarya was a relatively righteous king that returned the nation in teshuva except for the bamos the personal altars that he was not able to remove. He was a warrior king that as we mentioned expanded and conquered all the way down to Eilat, Gaza and even across the Jordan river up to Damascus. Kind of like our wars today on even more fronts than back then.

 As well we discussed the ultimate fall of Uzia/ Azarya when his arrogance led to him bring the incense on in the temple. We wrote about this Chanuka (which seems like a year ago already) and how as opposed to Chanuka when the Chashmonaim tried to usurp the kingship from Yehuda, here we have the king of Yehuda trying to step into the role of the Kohanim. As well we mentioned that Hashem punished Azarya and he became a leper and he remained that way until he died and was buried in the Beit Chofshit. In his final days one of the most righteous kings- if not the most righteous of all kings Yotam his son took over and ruled while his father was leprously incapacitated. We’ll talk about him next week.

 There is though one fascinating piece of this story and history that we didn’t mention which is that our sages tell us that at the time that Uziah brought the incense the heavens shook, and fire came out from the Serafim angels and wanted to burn them just as when Korach and his 250 men brought the incense and fought with Moshe and Aharon. Even more fascinating is that Josephus tells us of an earthquake that hit Eretz Yisrael at that moment as well and the prophets tells us of the famous earthquake in the days of Uziah as well. This earthquake changed the face of Israel and destroyed many places as we shall see. It is as well a repeat of the Korach story where the earth opened up to swallow them up.

 In the year 2000 there was a scientific study done by the Weizman institute that identified the earthquake which they say took place in the year 750 BC (with a 30 year margin of error) right in this period of time of Uziah and his son Yotam. It was about 8 on the Richter scale which is huge and seemed to have hit in the North by Lebanon Israel border not far from Tel Chatzor which seemingly got destroyed from this earthquake. 

 The lesson and punishment of the earthquake is that when one starts to step into and take over the role of someone else. If you’re jealous. If you feel you should have someone else’s life and portion. Then guess what? You’re really saying that the place that Hashem gave you on this earth isn’t right for you. The earth will crumble below your feet. You will be swallowed as you try to swallow others. That is the fate of he who is not satisfied with the ground that Hashem has placed him on. A lesson for all of us.

 RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY SHABBOS JOKES OF THE WEEK

Yitzy and Henya, a young orthodox couple, were expecting their first baby. Suddenly, Henya’s water broke on Shabbos and they had no choice but to call for a taxi to take them to the hospital’s maternity ward. Because Yitzy wanted to try and minimize the Shabbos violation, he told the dispatcher that he must send them only a non-Jewish driver.

The taxi quickly arrived, but when Yitzy and Henya were getting in, they overheard the dispatcher on the two-way radio ask the driver, “Have you picked up the anti-semites yet?” 

 Sadie Cohen lived in an integrated neighborhood on Long Island. A neighbor, a very friendly and generous black woman, stopped by one Saturday and offered,

 "Mrs Cohen, I have to go to NYC this afternoon to meet my daughter. Can I get you anything?"

Mrs. Cohen thanked her and counter-offered,

 "Listen, I have a commuter's ticket for the train. Why don't you use my ticket, and you'll bring it back tonight. After all, it's paid for. Why should you pay extra?"

The neighbor thanked her and with the ticket in hand, made her way to the train station. When the train arrived, she boarded, and as the conductor walked through, he happened to glance at the ticket, noticing the name "Sadie Cohen.".

The conductor asked, "Excuse me, madam, are you Sadie Cohen , the person whose name appears on this ticket?"

The woman smiled sweetly and nodded her head in the affirmative. More than a little suspicious, the conductor asked,

"Would you let me compare signatures? Would you mind signing your name?"

The black lady turned indignantly to the conductor and snapped, "Man, are you crazy? You want me to write on Shabbos?

 Rabbi Bloom was in the park one Sunday when he meets three members of his Synagogue who have not attended services in some time. They are a little embarrassed, but he encourages them to come to shul. Next Shabbos they make an appearance, but because they turn up some time after service began, all the main seats are filled. Several other latecomers were already seated on folding chairs.

Rabbi Bloom calls over the Shammas. "Moishe, please get three chairs for our guests in the back."

Moishe is a bit deaf so he leans closer and says, "I beg your pardon, Rabbi?"

Rabbi Bloom again says, "Get three chairs for our guests in the back."

Moishe was puzzled but as there was a lull in the service, he goes to the front of the shull and loudly announces, "The Rabbi says, 'Give three cheers for our pests in the back!'"

 

Yankel listened to the Rebbe at shul one Shabboss morning and when the Rebbe asked those with special requests to come to him at Seuda Shlisheet/(3rd meal) , Yankel came. When it was his turn, Yankel sat down and the Rebbe asked, "What do you want me to help you with?"

Yankel said, "Pray for my hearing, Rebbe."

The Rebbe put one hand over Yankel's ear and his other hand on top of his head and prayed a while.

Then he removed his hands and asked, "Yankel, how is your hearing now?"

Yankel answered, "I don't know, Rebbe. It's next Wednesday at the courthouse!"

 

Abie and Sadie had a religious goods store on Delancey Street on the Lower East side of NYC. The neighborhood was changing. The Jews were moving to Westchester and the Hispanics were moving in. "Abie, we have to move to Westchester," said Sadie.

"We can't", said Abie. "This neighborhood is our life. We've been here for thirty-three years. Maybe we can start stocking Catholic articles too."

Sadie says,"What? Catholic articles? Bistu in gantzen meshuggeh? We're Jews. No Catholic articles!!!"

Well, a month passed and they sold nothing but two tallisim, three mezzuzahs and one set of tefillin. Now was the time to fish or cut bait. Sadie agreed that they had to stock Catholic articles, so she said to Abie,

"OK, call that Catholic supply house on Park Avenue."

Abie: "Hello, Catholic supply house on Park Avenue? This is Abie and Sadie's on Delancey Street. I want 100 autographed pictures of the Pope, 200 of those beads - what do you call them, rosaries? 500 crucifixes...and I need those things here tomorrow."

"OK, Sir. I got your order. Let me read it back. 100 autographed pictures of the Pope, 200 sets of rosaries and 500 crucifixes. But, tomorrow we don't deliver... .....it's Shabbos."

 

Two astronauts make the first manned flight to Mars. Upon landing, they find themselves face-to- face with a couple of green Martians. "How do we make contact?" asks the first astronaut. "They look pretty primitive. Let's impress them with some of our technology."

"OK." says the first.

He reaches into the pocket of his spacesuit and pulls out a shiny cigarette lighter. The Martians look interested.

"I think it's working - light it!" says the second.

The first astronaut turns the wheel and a flame shoots out. Immediately the faces of the Martians turn from green to red.

"Wow!" says the first, "they must really be impressed."

Then one of the Martians reaches out his little green hand, points a finger at the men, frowns, and says very sternly, "Nuuu…Shabbos!"

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 The answer to this week”s question is C– What you mean you didn’t watch my Artscroll yerushlami video? You should know this the answer is of course Tiverya. By the time the Yerushalmi was written Jews weren’t allowed to live in Yerushalayim. It was Aila Capotalina a Roman city. Tiverya was the city of Torah for centuries even longer then Jerusalem the Sanhedrin sat there.  In the year of the Churban the of 70 CE we had already moved the Sanhedrin to Yavneh. From there it headed up North to Usha Shefram Tzippoir Beit Shearim and Tiverya was the last stop. Thus making Tzfat the correct answer which wasn’t even a city in those days.  So both right this week again making the latest score is Rabbi Schwartz at 18.5 point and the MOT having 5.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.