Insights and
Inspiration
from
the
Holy
Land
from
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
"Your
friend in Karmiel"
January
19th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 14 9th of
Shevat 5784
Parshat Bo
Bring
Him Home
“Elka, can you get off the couch and come back to the Shabbos
table now!”
“Tully, I’m talking to you too…”
“I know my E-Mail is long. I know that all of the books and sefarim
that we read by the Shabbos table meal can be annoying and the couch is so much
more comfortable. But I want everyone sitting here at the table. I don’t want
you dozing off. I want you sitting next to me. No, we can’t just finish up the
meal and read and learn afterwards. Daddy, needs time in between courses for
there to be room in his tiny belly for the next few bites of chicken and kugel,
that I’ll hopefully be able to eat- and keep down. So get back to the table and
sit here next to me and listen.”
Welcome to the weekly conversation by the Schwartz Shabbos table. I
know and understand my children. The couch is so much more comfortable. They’re
tired. So am I. Yet, it’s one of those pet peeves in my life- that they still
haven’t gotten straight and that still is a weekly argument, that I inherited
from my parents. The rule in my house growing up was that you don’t get up from
the table until the meal is over. It’s rude. It’s like making a statement that the
conversation going on is not important to me and you just want it to be over
already and therefore if you got up from the table the rule was you couldn’t
come back. No dessert for you, now depending on the week and what was for
dessert was a decision that we had to make if it was worth it or not. I didn’t
like that rule then, and now Hashem has fulfilled my mother’s curse to me that
now I’m having the same conversations and arguments with them that she had with
me. What goes around comes around.
Yet to be honest, it’s something that I appreciate more and more these
days more than ever. These days with most of my “Chizuk missions” that I’m
running leaving from Yerushalayim in the morning I’ve found myself the last few
weeks leaving my home Motzai Shabbos and coming home Thursday and even Friday.
I don’t see my children, my wife, my bed and I really feel the need to bond
over the weekend. I miss my bed and want to spend time catching up with it. Oh
and with my kids and wife too… So the Shabbos table which has always been the bonding
place for the family is even more important to me. And thus I don’t want anyone
to walk away from it, or leave me. I want us all together for the limited few
hours of Shabbos peace that we are fortunate to have.
Last week though after a long endless few week of these missions which are
just draining on all levels. Putting together various families, constantly
recalculating where I’m going and who we’ll be meeting with and giving chizuk
to, traveling back and forth and of course going from tears, horror, consoling
and singing and dancing with soldiers and davening for everyone we meet is an
emotional roller coaster. I needed a break. I wanted to get away. I was not up
to coming home and giving three drashos over Shabbos and leading
services in my Shul. I just wanted some sun and quiet for the weekend. Yet at
the same time I didn’t feel like I could disconnect from everything that is
going on. There’s too much going on. Too many families hurting. It’s an eis
tazara for Klal Yisrael. Our boys are out there serving in Gaza, the
hostages are still not home, and there are so many broken families all over. I
couldn’t go on vacation and turn it off. So we decided to go for Shabbos to Ein
Bokek to the hotels where many of the refugees are staying. At least we could
be with them and give them chizuk and connect to what they were going
through while we were getting some sun.
The truth is it’s nice over there. If I had to be thrown out of my house
than there are worse places to be then in a five-star hotel by the beach with a
spa and delicious hotel meals and concerts and entertainment all the time.
There was this funny clip from the comedian Adir Miller going around of this
guy Yossi, evacuated from Ashkelon sitting in a Jacuzzi in the hotel being
interviewed about his terrible situation. He told the reporter that he refuses
to go home until the last Hamas terrorist is killed. He will remain there
sipping his drink until the war is over. When the reporter came back to him and
informed him that it was over Yossi asked him and what about Hezbollah? When he
was told that Hezbollah and the northern front which was far away from his
house in Ashkelon was as well all taken care of, Yossi took a long sip on his
cocktail and thought and said
“And what’s with Houtim?!”
Yeah… It’s really not that bad over there. And so we walked around and
talked to the refugees who many have obviously undergone severe trauma and are
dealing with unreal PTSD in many if not all cases and have been sitting in
these hotels for 104 days already. I asked them what it was like. Was it really
so bad being where they are. To be honest, I used up a lot of points staying in
the hotel that Shabbos. The response they gave me was just 7 words. It was 7
words that hit my like a brick and I believe that it is the essence of everything
that has been going and that Hashem wants for us to be focused on. They told me
“We just want to go home already”
They miss their homes. Shabbos is not fun in a hotel for more than a
week. They want family dinners. They want home-cooked food. They want to bond.
They want their own beds. They want to feel together. They want their own four
walls. They need to feel like a person again rather than a guest- despite how
nice and comfortable their temporary accommodations might be.
Those words have been ringing in my head since Shabbos and I hear them a
lot even louder from so many other places. I regularly visit Hostage square and
meet with families whose children, whose brothers and sisters, whose parents and
even grandparents are being held by these subhuman animals in Gaza. There are
signs everywhere you go. On your shampoo bottles and milk cartons and the shops
and street signs everywhere. Bring them Home Now. We want them home. Tachzor
ha’bayta Achshav! During protests once when I was sitting there was someone
with a big sign that said
“B’chol mechir tachzireim Ha’bayta- at any price bring them
back.
It wasn’t a family member that was holding the sign and the person
holding it seemed like a secular left-wing hopefully former Peace Now person,
so I felt comfortable walking over and engaging them in a conversation. I asked
him what he meant by “at any price”. Because personally I also agreed with the concept,
and I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. We weren’t.
See, my “any price” was that we
every day blow up another village from the sky-without endangering anymore of
our boys in green. That we slaughter men women and children madly until they
return our boys or at least be inspired that the civilian houses that they are
being held in feel inspired to return them to us. That we literally do not give
one drop of water, food, and certainly not gas or electric to anyone over the
Gaza line and lay siege until they die and hand them over to us. And finally, if
that’s not working, we take out thousands of Hamas prisoners we have in jails
here and hang them from the security fence daily and chop them up into little
pieces until our hostages are returned. Any price means any price to me. It
seems though we were talking different currency. His any price was just handing
a bunch of terrorists back to them so they can come back and kill us again.
Oh well, the contzeptzia still hasn’t been broken for some. Not
everyone has come to the recognition that Hashem has been bringing us to the
point where we have the level of hatred and vengeance, he wanted us to have
here when we first came into the land and were told to wipe out the 7 nations
and Amalek. All of them. Otherwise we will always suffer from them and they will
be thorns in our eyes. I don’t like thorns in my eyes. I just want them home.
And those that haven’t gotten that yet really need to join me on a tour of the
Kibbutzim in the South to appreciate as they tell me- that there are no
innocent civilians over there. They are all evil. They all need to be wiped
out. Because the unspeakable atrocities need to be avenged.
But it’s not just the hostages and refugees that need to come home.
There are over 350,000 men women, boys, girls, fathers, brothers that are out
fighting now. They’re living in tents, their sleeping on the wet ground, they’re
under fire in Gaza, on the Lebanon border, on Mt. Chermon and Har Dov. They’re
in tanks, in helicopters, they’re medics, they’re engineers, they’re warriors.
And they haven’t been home for along time. And they miss their Shabbos tables.
They miss their spouses. Their wives and children the other heroes of this war
are struggling without them. It’s insane. Nobody is home. Everyone is in exile.
Farmers don’t have their fields and crops, major cities, stores and shops and
malls are closed. Tzfat art gallery street is a ghost town. It’s unreal. We
need to go home is the cry. It’s the name of the war.
And then it struck me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. There’s someone
else that hasn’t been home either. Yet it’s not just for 1 day, or 104 days and
not even for a year or ten years. It is the shechina. It is Hashem. It’s
been over 2000 years that Hashem is not in His Home. That it lies in ruins with
a golden pimple on top desecrating it. That may have been set up in many five-star
hotels in Lakewood, Boro Park, or even before that in Poland, Lita, or Spain or
Russia or Babylonia. Really nice hotels there that the Shechina was in.
Beautiful Shuls with minyanim all the time and Beit Midrashs with Torah like it’s
never been heard. But it’s a hotel. And the Shechina, Hashem just wants His
own House, His own Shabbos table with His children.
Well this week’s Torah portion the one that begins the story of our
actual redemption (then and hopefully now as well). Also tells us about an interesting
mitzva that was necessary for us to leave Egypt. To get out of the darkness. To
move into the light. To come back to our land. It is the last moment of our exile,
and we have one major command that Hashem says an eternal one. One that we
should remember for all ages. One that is the secret of our final redemption. The
mitzva is to sit together at the table in one house. It is to remember annually
that all of this is about having a home. A bayis where we are all one.
That last night when Hashem is wiping out the first-borns of all Egypt
Hashem tells us that it is time for us to go into our houses. The word ‘bayis’-home
is repeated again and again. We should place blood on our houses and doorposts.
Reb Zalman Sorotzkin writes that blood will be the sign on our houses that
Hashem will see as He goes out and slaughters the animals that terrorized us and
slaughtered our babies and children. He will see that blood and remember the
children taken from their houses, from their bedrooms and drowned and
slaughtered and murdered and burned and raped. That blood that united us and
made us realize that we are all one family. That we are one and He is one. The
blood of the sheep that is their avoda zara- the idolatrous godless
nation that we slaughtered and bravely took and posted on our bedposts, because
we knew that without Hashem, we have no home. He has no place for His Shechina.
That blood is there to remind us of what sadly our home has been built on. The sacrifice
and martyrs who fell on Kiddush Hashem. Because they were Jews. Because the
nations didn’t want Him to have a Home as well.
It’s interesting that the word ‘Bayis’ consists of three letters
that represents this idea. Beis- the first letter is the second of the aleph
bet- it is the first letter of the Torah. It is the beginning that starts and
connects to the Aleph the first letter that is Hashem. It’s where we start our
work in the creation of this world for the aleph- what the kabbalists call the Alufo
Shel Olam- Hashem the First can have a home to reside. The final letter of
the word bayis is taf- it’s the last letter of the aleph beis. It’s
the end. Our homes are from the beginning to the end. It’s what it’s all about.
And in the middle is that one letter yud. It is the pinteleh yid.
It’s the name of Hashem. It’s the Shechina. It’s our Shabbos table. It’s
Hashem residing and sitting at the table with His children. Smack in the middle
of our home. The yud in the middle of the bayis.
But it’s not just the bayis - the home either and it’s not just
Egypt. The parsha continues and tells us that when we come into the land there
will be children that will ask what this is all about? What is it all this
service for you, the wicked child will ask? Who needs it? Why do we need to sit
at one table just us. Why can’t we bring the goy to the table and to eat our
Pesach offering with us. Why can’t we just live with the rest of the world? Why
not intermarry. Share our seder. Share our blood and unite it with their black
South African apartheid, with their spilled blood in their wars in their
Somalian, Armenian or Ukranian genocides. Why do we need our own home. What’s
wrong with living in their countries. Some of them are still somewhat nice to
us. We invested a lot in our hotels/ Batei Midrash and beautiful synagogues,
schools, JCC. ’s and chesed organizations. We have shiurim everyday and Daf
Yomi. Yes, there are wicked children that ask these kind of questions… Ouch!
Hashem answers that we should tell them, that we’re not home. That He
is not home there. That there will be blood there. That they will kill us. That
He will save us when we all gather into the one Home that He needs to be as
well. That we create a united home for all of us. A home where the shechina
that yud will reside in the center.
Rav Sorotzkin continues and tells us that this mitzva of eating
annually the Korban Pesach has an incredible halacha to it. We can’t leave the Shabbos
Pesach Seder table when we’re eating it. There’s a prohibition of carrying it
outside of the house. Even with an eiruv. You can’t even leave the room
and it eat in another room. Everyone each year must sit together for this meal.
It’s a big meal. We have to finish it all together. You’re going to need guests
to accomplish that task. You need to have people over for your Pesach Seder
each year, otherwise you have leftovers and that’s a prohibition. You can’t
carry your little plate and walk away. We need to sit together and understand
that is a holiday about having a home. That our job in this world is to bring
the Shechina home. That can only happen when we are all one. When we are a
family. When we are all at the table with perhaps the people we never might
have felt that we should sit with together. That we may not have thought were
kosher or holy enough to be participate. With people that they may have thought
were too frum for them. That didn’t care about them. That they thought we were
perhaps only parasites trying to milk them.
None of us got it. Because we weren’t
home. Because we wandered, we assimilated, we forgot in how much pain the
shechina has been in being in captivity and exile. We had homes for 2000
years without that yud. Without Him. We would perhaps come back to Israel and
visit the ruins and rubble of His destroyed house to pick up whatever scraps
remained there. To see the nice museum an Kotel that they made out of His once
beautiful palace. Just as they talk about turning Beeri or Kfar Azza into Israel
Holocaust museums. Guess what? They don’t want that… They want their homes back.
And guess what? So does Hashem…
So here we are. We’re reading the parsha of Geula. Our weekly Torah
lesson that Hashem spoke to us on a mountain 3000 years ago is more real than
ever. The month of Shevat and this week’s Tu B’Shvat is when the sap begins to
rise up the tree. The flourishing of our redemption has begun and it’s almost
complete. The day of returning home awaits for all of us. For our hostages, for
our refugees, for our soldiers, for all of our diaspora Jews and for Hashem. So
it’s time to get off the couch and come to the table. The main course is about
to begin and my E-Mail is finally over.
Have a warm family Shabbos.
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE
WEEK
"
Besser bay zikh krupnik, eyder bay yenem gebrotns.." Better barley
soup at home than a roast at someone else’s home.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
23.The
religion of the people from the Rajar (Ghajar) village is ___________.
In
which of the following places are there remains of a Temple from the Iron age?
A.
Muhraka
B.
Banias
C.
Tel Arad
D.
Ein Gedi
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF
THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMdvVnOuIgk
– Yonatan Razel Eis Milchama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJp0MeIzKi4 –
Eretz Nehederet Women Heroes- wives of reservists- the true heroes funny!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIzTFQzbSQo
- Hillarious Binyomin Miller Incomplet of
Skinny Pinny fame
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3rtnQ_7y4
– AM Yisrael Chai Ayal Golan my song of the week that can’t stop singing
with English lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYnZRH6Q6QY
– my friend Jeremy Gimpel Acheinu for the
Bibers birthday
RABBI
SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
Dog Eat Dog World– Short story on prayer with an
amazing insight from Rebbi Meir Permishlan for you. This person once came to
Reb Meir and complained and cried. He worked and worked and worked and slaved
and labored to eke out a living and nothing helped. He was still under the
water, whatever he tried wasn’t helping. He was sinking quick and he didn’t know
what to do. Reb Meir turned to him and held his hand gently and quoted him a
pasuk in this week’s Torah portion that described the moment that the
Jewish people had their redemption when all of the Egyptians were getting
killed.
The Torah tells us that there were no dogs that
barked that night.
U’Lchol bnai Yisrael Lo yechratz Kelev Lishono- that for all of the Jewish people
a dog did not wag it’s tongue.
Reb Meir then read the verse homiletically.
U’lChol Bnai Yisrael- and for all the children of
Israel… A lesson for all time is
Lo Yechratz- don’t wag yourself, don’t make yourself meshuga
running around trying to scramble exerting extra effort to “make it”. Rather
Kelev Lshono- your heart (leiv) should be the same as your tongue.
You just need
to be sincere in your prayers. You just need to know that when you ask Hashem
to help you, to heal you, to provide for you, to redeem you. That you really
believe it in your heart as well. That you understand that He is the only address
that can help you and give you what you need. If your Leiv is like your lashon-
if your heart and soul are in synch and you are not just offering lip-service
in your prayers then you have nothing to worry about. Hashem is our Father waiting
to answer our prayers. We just need to make sure that they come from our heart.
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
The beginning of the
Exile- Civil war had taken over
the first Temple period with King after King rising up and killing the previous
one. In the North kingdom of Israel Shalum be Yavesh rises up and kills Zecharia
the son of Yeravam the 2nd. Shalum himself reigns
for one month until Menachem be Gadi kills him and he assaulted and
attacked the Aramian/ Syrian city of Tiftza and committed atrocities
against their women. He ruled for 10 years and led an idolatrous kingdom when
Hashem sent the king of Asyria led by Pul against him. Menachem
seemingly as they say here in Israel didn’t understand the language that needed
to be spoken and tried by them off with a thousand talents of silver and paid
off each soldier 50 shekels. And it helped somewhat but not for good and not
for long… Because it was at this point that the Exile first started.
Our sages tell us that
it was at this time that the two and half tribes on the other side of the Jordan
River were first captured and exiled. Ashur/ Assyria led by Pul
conquers them and the Golan Heights, the Eastern banks of the Jordan
River all fell to Assyria. The exiles were sent into Galus never to
be heard from again as the first of the ten tribes to disappear. The East
Bank since then which today is in Jordan is still no longer in our hands
and hasn’t been entirely in our hands since then. The reason they were the
first to fall, our sages tell us is because they were the least connected to
Eretz Yisrael. They chose to stay there and asked Moshe to as well have their
homesteads there. This is despite the fact that they were the first to fight
and conquer the land at the heads of our troops.
The reign of Menachem
was handed down to his son Pekachiah Ben Menachem. He as well continued
in his fathers ways and he himself was ultimately killed after two years by
another Pekachia. This one was his own captain the son of Remalia,
he was joined by the children of those that had been exiled from Gilead
on the other side of the Jordan who felt they were abandoned by their
King. The civil war is getting fiercer and fiercer. The situation is getting
gloomier and gloomier. The decline of the 1st Temple era has
officially begun and next week we’ll see that it gets even worse.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY COMING HOMEJOKES OF THE WEEK
Berel is a mathematician at Yale university. He comes
home from a symposium to be met at the door by his furious wife.
"What's the big
idea, coming home at three in the morning in this state?" she yells.
"Dear,"
Berel calmly responds, "what time did I say I would be home?"
"Quarter of
twelve, that's what you said!" screams the wife.
"...Well?" demands the mathematician.
I'm coming home late
tonight...
Mom: Why?
Dad: I have a
toothache, I'm going to the dentist.
Mom: Okay. What time
is the appointment?
Dad: Tooth hurty.
Mom: ... Wow. I feel
so bad…
A baby mosquito is
coming home from his first flying lesson
Son, you did good?
Terrific! Everyone
clapped
Why didn't the
astronaut ever come home to his wife? Because he needed his space!
Sherlock Holmes comes
home with a box of lemons...
Watson asks where he
got them.
Holmes replies, "A
lemon tree, my dear Watson."
A plumber comes home very
upset and yells out to his wife- "honey, you would not believe the
bidet I've had."
A Sarah, Yankel’s wife
doesn’t come home one night. The next morning, the she tells her husband that
she had slept over at a friends house. Yankel being the suspicious type then
contacted all of her friends asking about it and whadaya know none of them said
that she was there. A few nights later, Yankel doesn’t come home one night.
Just like his wife, the next morning he tells her that he had slept over at a friend’s
place. Sarah as well was suspicious and contacted all of the Yankel’s friends
to ask about it and would you believe it, apparently Yankel was at 8 houses, 2
of which said he was still there!
James gets up from his barstool after a long
night drinking alone and falls right to the floor. He crawls to the door, pulls
himself up to open it, and falls through the door as it swings open. James
continues this process as he crawls home pulling himself by his hands; falling
to the floor with every pull. As he rounds the corner to his apartment, James
pulls himself up to the door knob, inserts the key and twist it and the door
open. As much expected, James collapses to the floor, unable to support himself
in this drunken state. James finally makes it up the stairs to the room where
his wife is soundly sleeping. He wrestles with himself while removing his
clothes, attempting to be as quiet as possible. James decides that he cannot
make it into the shower to clean himself off, and he pulls himself up into bed.
Unsuccessfully, James awoke his wife on his
way into bed. She stared at him angrily and said, "You were out at the
bar again, weren't you?"
"No," said James, trying to sound inconspicuous.
"I was out at the movies with some buddies."
"Don't lie to me." Said his wife. "The bar called and
they said you left your wheelchair there."
I came home from the bar the last night and
was met by my wife asking, " WHAT DO YOU MEAN COMING HOME HALF DRUNK?!?!"
I said, "I ran out of money!"
Avram comes home from Shul one day in grief
and despair. His wife asks what happened “Oy vey iz mir” he tells her - So
much spending! So much money I am going to lose! Today our rabbi gave a speech:
"For many years we are living among Russians but they still don't like us.
And we don't even know why. I gave it many a thought and decided that it's
because we don't drink vodka. Next time everyone should bring a bottle of vodka
with him, we will empty every bottle into a big bowl and nobody will be allowed
to leave until we finish all the liquor." So I need to buy a whole bottle
of vodka! So much spending!
“What a G-d's fool is my husband!” -
she answers – “Nothing could be simpler. Go buy a bottle of vodka. I will
empty it into this here decanter, fill the bottle with water and seal it back
accurately so nobody will notice. Then a single bottle of water won't make any
difference in a bowl full of vodka.”
Avram cheered up, did as he's been told, took
a bottle of "vodka" with him to the synagogue next time and humbly
emptied it in the bowl like everyone else. The Rabbi took a cup, filled it from
the bowl and sipped a bit. Then, in disbelief, sipped much more. Then put the cup
aside and sighed: Well, that's why
Yanky a 16 year old Jewish boy is coming home
from a party ...On the way home , he has to go past graveyard .But since he
didn't want to miss the game on the TV , he goes through the graveyard which
has a shortcut to his house .
The graveyard was covered with thick fog which
was so much that he couldn't see the ground in front of him . Eventually, it
happened.
He falls in a grave dug out which had a coffin
in it . The height of the grave was too high for the boy to climb out . But Yanky
is smart enough to tilt the coffin and climb on it .
After coming out of the grave , he continues
walking for a certain distance , until he hears a THUD THUD THUD .When he turns
back to see , he sees the coffin out of the grave .
Quickly , he starts running .
THUD THUD THUD
He reaches his house and closes the door .
THUD THUD THUD
He could now see the coffin on his driveway
.He quickly runs up to his bathroom .The coffin crashes through the window .His
parents are fast asleep .
THUD THUD THUD
The coffin is coming up through the stairs .
THUD THUD THUD
The coffin is in room .
THUD THUD THUD
Yanky crying , starts throwing everything he
can find on the coffin .Toilet paper, Shampoo , soaps , Perfumes , scent
bottles and what not .
THUD THUD THUD
The coffin is nearing him . He now starts
throwing the medicines . As a final desperate attempt , he throws the cough
syrup at it .
Then , at last , the coffin stops .
**********************************
The answer to
this week”s question is C– This one was also an easy one. I actually before Corona started
guiding there and havea good friend there that shows me around this Allohite
village that fell under our control in the 6-Day War. The Syrians claimed that
the village was theirs as they were Allohites-which seemingly is a more
peaceful and open-minded version of Islam at least theoretically. We never
conquered it because we assumed it was from Lebanon who had never entered the
war. Lebanon actually even claimed afterwards that it belonged to them. They on
the other hand were quite happy being part of Israel. For many years the
village was split in half and Hezballah stood right outside their doorsteps as
the government and United Nations didn’t allow us to put up a fence. Today
Baruch Hashem there is one that was placed there and built officially by the
residents themselves after a terrorist attack there a few years ago. The have a
great park there with a menora and signs and symbols of all religions and many
of them even serve in the Israeli army. They don’t like our enemies more than
we do and are actually quite patriotic as well.
The part B of this question is
also easy. As Tel Arad has an alternate Beit Hamikdash there quite small built
in the times of the Melachim where they even found idols that were taken down
and buried during the period of Yoash who destroyed all of the bamos. Yet
seemingly they planned again on using them after his reign as they were just
buried rather than destroyed. So both right this week making the latest score is Rabbi Schwartz at
16.5 point and the MOT having 5.5 point on this latest Ministry
of Tourism exam.
