The Godfather- Parshat Vayechi 2026! 5786

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

January 1^st 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 11 13^th of Tevet 5786

 

Parshat Vayechi

 The Godfather

 

"Family is everything" isn't the actual line that Marlon said, in The Godfather, although I had been practicing it all night with cotton balls stuffed in my cheeks. What he actually said was that "friendship is everything". The line I had confused it with was "A man that doesn't spend time with his family isn't a real man". (Said to Johnny Fontane in the beginning of that classic movie). Hmmm I wonder why I mixed that up… Maybe it's because I'm too busy touring with other people's kids and don't have much time to spend with my own… But hey, in Klal Yisrael we're all family, so I guess I do spend time with "family". But to quote a different line though which might throw that excuse out…"It's not personal… it's business…". Ah well… I guess I need to brush up a bit more on that family stuff and "be a real man".

 

Why am I in Godfather mode? Well, this past week I was honored and privileged to be the Sandak of my new grandson Nesanel Yehoshua's bris. There are some people that prepare for that honor by going to the Mikva, reciting Psalms, fasting, or other holy things. Me? I'm doing Marlon Brando imitations and thinking about the speech that I'll be giving the next day at the Bris. Hey, I'm the Godfather right? Oh yeah… I also had to start preparing "da money" after all they "made me an offer I couldn't refuse". And now it was time to pay for it.

 

Now Rivkah is always the perfect daughter of mine. She's the middle child. Perfectly in the middle. After the first two kids we finally figured it out and got it right. Unlike Shani who was just a little me in a skirt that would be a handful and felt that she owned the entire world. Little knowing that I did. Or Yonah who was climbing walls and ceilings and gave his mother a thousand heart attacks. Rivkah, was calm, peaceful and serene. I don't even think she cried when she was born. She just came out and quietly turned to her mother and said "Thank you for birthing me. I hope I wasn't too much trouble. It's a little bright in here. Would you mind turning down the lights a bit? "Yup. That's Rivkah. It's why she got the perfect husband Yehuda, who knew who to give the Sandak job to for this very special bris.

 

 It's also why they made sure to arrange the perfect parsha for me to be Sandak for. Parshat Va'Yechi, the parsha that begins with Yaakov blessing his grandchildren and concludes with Yosef holding his grandchildren the sons of his oldest son Menashe on his lap, the Torah tells us as they are circumcised is in fact the first biblical source, according to the Yonasan Ben Uziel's translation of the job of Sandak. The Zaydie who holds the newest generation and brings him into the covenant of Avraham Avinu. Yup, no better parsha than this one to get the honor. And nobody better to give the sandak/ godfather job to for their second son than someone named Ephraim who got his blessing in the parsha and was even elevated over his older brother Menashe and whom all Jewish children are commanded to be blessed like these two brothers.

 

The truth is it's a fascinating and deep story this special blessing of Yosef and Yaakov when it comes to the blessing of these children/grandchildren that seems to precede the final blessing of all of the other tribes that follow that Yaakov gives to his children before his death and the conclusion of the Sefer of Bereishis. It is the segue between the book of our Beginning and the Book we begin next week of our Redemption; the sefer Ha'Geula of Shemos. As the famous narrative goes, Yosef places Menashe before Ephraim and Yaakov does the hand switch thing and places his right hand on Ephraim's head and his left on Menashe's. When Yosef protests and tries to correct his father, Yaakov tells him that he knows that Menashe is older, yet he says.

"I know that he (Menashe) will be a nation, and he will be great. Yet his younger brother -yigdal mimenu- will be greater than him and his descendants will fill the nations."

 

Rashi and the Midrash tell us that Yaakov saw that descendant Yehoshua coming from Ephraim, who not only will lead the nation into Eretz Yisrael, but will miraculously stop the sun in the sky in his battle in Givon against the kings of Canaan in order to wipe them out. The whole world saw and witnessed the miracle and that is the merit that Ephraim has that is greater than Menashe's. Not so incidentally, the name my second grandson was given, from Rivka for whom I was being Sandak was of course Yehoshua. I told you she's the perfect child.

 

Yet on a deeper level perhaps one can even see the strength that Ephraim has over Menashe is that the descendants of Menashe that Yaakov sees who also have a love and passion for Eretz Yisrael are none other than the daughters of Tzlafchad. They are the grandchildren and descendants of Machir the child that Yosef was the sandak of at the end of the parsha. Yet whereas the daughters of Tzlafchad yearn and even stand up and demand that Moshe talk things over with Hashem to see that they get a portion in the land of Israel which they otherwise might not have gotten, because the land was only meant to be inherited through the men, and their father had died without sons. They even married only men from their own tribes thus limiting their shidduch options (in a generation where there really was a big shidduch crisis- as most of the eligible men had died in the midbar) in order that the portion of their father they received stays within their tribe, rather than to a husband from another tribes portion. Yet that longing and "diplomacy" method as great as it is, isn't as great as Yehoshua's who actually doesn't take the diplomatic daven and pray for it route, but actually just goes in there and kills everyone that needs to be eliminated in order to inherit the land.

 

But there is something even more fascinating about the interesting wording of the blessing of Yaakov and the explanation that he gives to Yosef for this hand-switch-around methodology. Meaning, that if Yaakov wanted to bless Ephraim and show he's greater there was no need to switch his hands like that. He could've just rearranged the kids. He could've placed Ephraim on the right and Menashe on the left. What's with the hand switch?

 

The answer though it would seem and that some of the commentaries suggest is that it wasn't about making Ephraim greater than Menashe, it was rather about showing Ephraim that the greatness he will have over Menashe is as Yaakov says "mimenu" He will get it from him. Ephraim will be great when he understands and appreciates that all the greatness he has isn't because he's smarter, sronger, a bigger talmid chacham-which in fact it would seem he was, as it was him that was always learning with Yaakov rather than Menashe who was more involved with the management of the court. Rather the greatness he has, and the power Yehoshua his descendant will have to bring the children of Israel into the land and herald in the redemption, will come when he can look over at his brother and see that all he has is because of his brother, who may not be as learned as him, but has that same burning connection to Eretz Yisrael and passion, that his descendants will have as well.

It is this theme of the eventual redemption and the return of his descendants to Eretz Yisrael that consumes Yaakov at the end of his life in Egypt where his children are flourishing and getting very comfortable and influential. It's all he can think about. It's all he's worried about. We find that in the beginning of the parsha when he calls Yosef and makes him take an oath not to bury him in Egypt, or in Uman, or in Kerister, or in Morroco or Poland or Cracow. He wasn't a fan of the concept of his later descendants making trips to these places to go visit and daven by his grave. Not on Rosh Hashana or any other time of year. He wanted them to come to Chevron. To the place where his Father and Mothers, the avos and imahaos are buried. To remember that there's only one place where a Jew's body is returned to the earth from where it's formed.

 

As well when he first sees Ephraim and Menashe he doesn't recognize them, because he sees the kings that will come from that will split the nation up, Achav,Yeravam and Yehu, and that will divide the nation and that will eventually become the cause that leads to our exile from the land. It's as well as the main message he wants to give all of the tribes when he gathers them together. He wants to tell them about the acharis ha'yamim- the end of days when they will return. That Egypt is not their home. He gives them blessings that all speak of the incredible portions and blessings that each one will have in the land. The wine, the oil, the crops and fruits, the grazing land and of course merchants and Torah supporters as well as the kings, leaders, judges and priests. It's about coming home.

 

Yet to do that we need to be blessed like Ephraim and Menashe. We need Ephraim to look at his brother Menashe who is still standing in his place on the right of Yaakov, although from Yosef's perspective he may be on the left and realize that all of his greatness in Torah, in wisdom and leadership is only to lift up and bring his brother together with him. That we are both blessed and loved together by our one Father in heaven and our godfather Yaakov. It's then when Ephraim can fulfill his mission. He can bring the children home.

 

Chazal tell us that being a sandak is like being a kohen who brings the ketores- incense in the Temple. In fact it's why it's mentioned that a person shouldn't be a sandak for more than one child per family, as a Kohen doesn't bring the ketores more than once. What is the significance and connection of ketores of all the offerings to the mitzva of bris mila? I can tell you it's certainly not the smell… Perhaps it’s the idea I shared above. The first sandak at the first bris in the Torah the midrash tells us was in fact Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hashem, by the bris of Avraham. That is in fact what we say by davening each day v'charos imo ha'bris- and Hashem cut with him the bris. Hashem held Avraham in his lap, as I did Nesanel Yehoshua, as he had his bris.

 

Do you know what this covenant of Bris is. It's the connecting force between all Jews. It's something that we share with every male Jew that has entered this covenant. It's like the Jewish gene that we all share, yet it's one that we injected or inflicted upon our own flesh. It's our own yellow star, Magen David. It's our mark that we're family. We're brothers.

 

It doesn't make a difference how different our customs, our dress, our observance and our passions our desires and our jobs might be. We're still family. We still have a shared destiny that needs to be realized together. We're like the ketores that consists of all of the different spices, smells and flavors that are brought each morning and evening in the Temple. Some are sweet and some are fouler. Some learn Torah and others find Hashem in other places, or perhaps even seem lost. They are Menashe- they have forgotten the house of their father. They have been uprooted, as his name connotes and translates, from their source, from Eretz Yisrael, from their father's house. But we share one bris. We share one blessing. He maybe right and I may be left, but we all have only one home and one Father whose glory we are meant to reveal. That was what our Godfather told and blessed us. That we should never forget that. It's the blessing we are meant to bless every Jewish child with. It's the segue to our redemption.

 

I don't know how many of you readers, actually read the rest of the columns in this weekly long E-Mail besides the jokes. Although if I had to guess probably the "yiddish quote of the week" is probably not one that many get a chance to read, although it does usually connect somewhat to the parsha and E-Mail and you should. Yet this week, as Godfather I'll quote and bless you all with the words of wisdom that can always be found in those snippets our bubbies and zaydies used to say. And of course a Sandak's bracha is one that has extra power. It's the blessing that I give to my grandson Nesanel Yehoshua and to all of klal Yisrael.

 

" Ver shemt zich fun zeineh mishpocheh, oif dem iz kain brocheh."- Whoever is ashamed of his family will have no blessings.

 

It's all about family, as the Godfather tell us. The family comes first. We live in a generation where so many of us are on such divergent paths. So many of us feel we're holier than our brother. We have forgotten the gadol mimenu- our greatness only comes when we see and can learn from them. From our brothers and sisters that are part of our mishpache and have sparks and journeys that are different than ours. But that are still holy. That have one Father and one zaydie and that share our dream. When we finally realize that the book of redemption will then begin.

 

Have a blessed Shabbos Chazak

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

" Ver shemt zich fun zeineh mishpocheh, oif dem iz kain brocheh."- Whoever is ashamed of his family will have no blessings.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

14. In Jewish tradition, a day of fasting commemorating the breach of the walls of Jerusalem

is the fast of -------------

What are the sages of the Mishna called?

A. Amoraim

B. Tannaim

C. Savoraim

D. Geonim

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/yesimcha  – In honor of my grandsons' Bris here's my beautiful composition (some say it's my nicest) Yesimcha, the bracha we give our children each Friday night from this week's parsha.

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vzakeynu-lirot-banim  – Once you're at it already, enjoy the song I composed for my first grandson's bris as well. V'zakeinu Liros banim U'vney banim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFXoU_9Fm4Q&list=OLAK5uy_lbMJq2Y6WN2yvx_bkEvXNhHd3lejVQBNs&index=2  – I just love these weekly Shwekey drops. You heard the first three last week (if you didn't go back and find them…) This week it's Oneg Shabbos with Yaakov!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6C-IQF5RBs&list=RDz6C-IQF5RBs&start_radio=1 – Yaakov gathers his sons together and recites Shema. This beautiful song and video are just magnificent and can't stop watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37COPRg5ui4&list=RD37COPRg5ui4&start_radio=1  - To be honest I don't really get this new Joey and Ohad song Yevamos song… but hey, I'm learning Yevamos with Oraysa now so I figure why not…

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

(Little break in chronology for the fast this week..)

Darius the Mede- Daryavush I - 370 BC- You've heard about people having identity crises, well when it comes to the King of Media- which is kind of appropriate since we know today that all "media" is fake… See the problem is that in secular historians they don't really have much for this reign of Media which is like Northern Iran Kurdistan area at the time of the fall of Bavel. Cyrus/ Koresh was already ruling by then. So the question is who is this dude Daryavush and the question then follows as to who really cares?

Fascinatingly enough although to me and you it's not much of an issue. This really was a major controversial point about 60- 70 years ago for the Bible critics. They used the fact that there was no record of this king and this empire as being a sign that the navi Daniel wasn't written by him but rather by an uneducated person much later. The problem though with that was they said the same thing about the fact that Belshatzar wasn't a king until they discovered evidence to support the Daniel account. Oops… As well Sefer Daniel is so so specific about so many details and names and the entire ruling and innovations of the monarchy only someone knowledgeable could've written it. One of the most important innovations was that he broke up the empire into 120 nations all led by achasdarpanim- you know that funny word in the megilla, which is translated as sartaps or something which is kind of like governors or regents. They would report to the top three of which Daniel was the number one adviser.

So who was he really? It would seem that there was a general called Ugbaru that conquered Bavel and killed Belshatzar with Cyrus. They made an agreement between the two kingdoms that he would rule first and Cyrus second. Meantime the regents would be from the other kingdom's team. It was a check and balance system and a government that would switch like we have here in Israel. The problem was that Darius it seems died after a year and that was the end of their reign and empire and then Persia takes the front seat pretty much until we return to Israel.

Last little piece of fun facts. It seems according to Chazal that this Darius was born the same day Nevuchadnezzar entered and desecrated the Temple and began the exile of Yehoyachin, known as the Choresh and Masger when all the scholars and prophets left Jerusalem before the destruction took place. That's when Mordechai and Daniel first came down to Bavel. Mordechai moved to Persia and we'll pick up with him soon. Daniel however stays there with Darius which as we will see next week doesn't bode well for him. Roar…

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE MAFIA GODFATHER JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

Leo, the Mafia Godfather, is Robbed by his Arab chauffer and driver while he is vacationing in Dubai. Once he figures out who stole the money he needs to hire a translator in order to properly communicate and find out where he hid the money. He finds an Israeli former Mossad agent, Ami, staying there in the hotel and invites him in to translate and get the truth out of this guy.

Leo: So you're the one who had the guts to steal my money?

Ami: He said he didn't do it.

Leo: Tell him to stop lying and tell me how much he stole.

Ami: He says it was around $250,000.

Leo: Lies. Way more.

Ami: Okay he now claims it was $2.5m but he buried them in a place you'll never find.

Leo: I've had about enough! Where is my money!

(Silence)

Leo: Very well then. Tell him that if he doesn't tell me the exact location I will put a bullet in his head and go after his entire family.

Ami delivers the message. Achmed the chauffer is now scared and decides it is best he tells him where the money is; so he does.

Leo: So what did he say?

Ami: He says that you're a gutless pig.

 

An Israeli man is kidnapped by the mafia who want him to tell them where his company’s money is hidden. They put him in a chair at gunpoint and demand the location, but he won’t tell them a single word. After a while, the mafia members decide that he isn’t going to be of any use to them, so they kill him. At the gates of heaven, god asks him why he didn’t just give them the information they needed, and that he probably would still be alive if he had.

Dudu responds, “How could I? Those rascals had tied up my hands!”

 

What kind of coffee does The Godfather drink in the morning? An alpuccino

 

Little Guido come to visit his godfather at the end of school year with his report card and shows it to him proudly with his parents.

The report card states that he got a

History A

Math A+

Science A+

Literature A

Geography B+

The godfather pinches his cheek gently and caresses his face and the grabs a gun and shots him in the head. The mother shocked and in tears asks: "why did you shoot him?!"

The Godfather answers: "he knew too much"

 

Where does the Italian mafia live? In the spaghetto

 

Yankel joins the mob and becomes the personal assistant to the Godfather. One day he receives a text message from the boss. "I've been having problems with my wife. Please pull the plug and then call someone in to take care of the matter."

The man knows better than to question the Godfather, so he dutifully carries out the command. He shoots the boss's wife, and then calls in the clean up crew.

But a short while later, he receives another message. "Stupid autocorrect. I meant wifi."

 

Mafia Boss: I want the brake lines of this guy’s car to be rusting.

Chemist: I’m listening.

Mafia Boss: But make sure..it looks like an oxidant.

 

My best friend Jay had twin girls. But unfortunately he died on the way to the hospital and his wife died during labor. I was asked to be their godfather and I wanted to honor him so I named the girls after him. Kay and Elle.

 

They say that mafia members are nasty people, but but while growing up, I lived next door to one and he was actually a nice guy. In fact, every morning, he paid me $20 just to start his car.

 

The Feds have just raided a tennis club used as a front for a large Mafia organisation. No doubt they'll be charged with racquet-eering.

 

I used to sell office supplies to the mafia, file cabinets and label makers and such. I was involved in very organized crime

 

What is the difference between the IRS and the Mafia? The Mafia at least gives you protection when you pay.

 

The Mafia boiled a man to death in a industrial pasta cooker. Police are still trying to al dentefy the victim.

I had a meet with the Godfather of the Chinese mafia earlier...He made me an offer I couldn’t understand.

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The answer to this week's question is B– Every exam always has at least one and sometimes two of these easy throw-away questions for the frum guide. This one all of you should know. 17^th of Tamuz as we fast on that day and the three weeks of mourning start. And of course the Tanaaim is the Mishna rabbis of course from the 1^st- 3^rd century. The question is do you do you know who the Savrarim are though? So I got that one right and the new score is Rabbi Schwartz having a 10.5 point and the MOT having 3.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

A Scent-imental God- Parshat Korach 5784 -2024

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

July 6^th 2024 -Volume 13 Issue 37 30^th of Sivan 5784

 

Parshat Korach

 A Scent-imental God

 

They were just those little kids play cards strewn on the floor amongst the rubble, broken glass, and burnt walls of what one could see was a beautiful home in Be’eri. They were word cards with picture on them. Perhaps from some Israeli picture word game to teach kids how to read. Right next to it was a broken train set, some dolls with burnt hair and smashed by some fallen bricks and shrapnel. My eyes welled up. Tears started flowing. I looked at the pictures on the wall of the family that once lived here, that were butchered, at the love and the smiles and the life that they permeated and I looked at those cards once again and I picked it up and kissed it and put it in my backpack to put into shaimos. Until October 7^th it may have been just a card game. Today, I felt, this little picture with a choo choo train on it that said rakevet, was like a torn burnt piece of a sefer torah that I needed to bury. That was too holy to leave there in the rubble.

 

I’m a sentimental person, I admit. I keep a lot of chazerai, that my wife would like to throw out. I think most of us are. We attribute feelings and emotions and memories with items from our past. With little souvenirs and chatchkes we’ve picked up from the various places we’ve visited and wandered. There’s a whole industry built on the concept. I’ve got a closet full of shot glasses from every place we’ve visited. Yet there are those that are not so sentimental. They call this stuff garbage and clutter that build up. Who needs chatchkies? We have memories, we have pictures, we’ve had fun. Why hang on to this old stuff? Why would do you treat it with such sanctity? What is it about this item that when you stroke it or fondly take it out, tears and memories well up? Is my wife right? Should I just get rid of it all?

 

Now the truth is there is no right or wrong necessarily to this seemingly ridiculous question. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. And it if it makes me feel good then who cares? The question only has significance when I try to look at it from a Torah perspective. What’s Hashem’s viewpoint about hanging on to seemingly mundane stuff. Does Hashem like chatchkies? Shot glasses? Those little glass snow globes? Or is it all shtusim-silliness; a waste of money and time?

 

Now Yeshivishe people are generally not sentimental. We’re trained pretty much from a young age that it’s all about Torah, Torah and Torah. Chasidim on the other hand are very sentimental. From a very young age they’re trained to fight over some chickpeas from the Rebbe or fruits from his Friday nigh tish. When it comes to memorabilia it’s even more apparent the significance they attribute to simple items. This is the chair that this Rebbe sat in. This is the Tehillim he used. The towel he wiped himself off with when he came out of the Mikva. There’s a whole industry that auctions off all these important holy items to rich chasidim and guys that made money really quick in Lakewood and don’t have anything else to do with it. But stam chatchkies- that haven’t been “rebbe-handled” of our own personal lives and memorabilia from our own past, I don’t even think Chasidim are into. What about Hashem? Is He Chasidish? Litvish? Or sentimental at all?

 

Now of course anytime we try to place human emotions on Hashem, its pretty dumb. Hashem is above all human emotions. He doesn’t have hands, feet. He doesn’t get angry or sad. He’s not even a He or She or gender neutral. He doesn’t have set pronouns. He’s fluid. He’s infinite. He’s God. It’s one of the benefits of being above time, place and this world and all it’s frailties. It’s one of the perks of being the Creator of all of this. Yet, the Torah repeatedly utilizes all of the above emotions and human features in order that we can relate to Hashem. So that we can understand what He wants from us. So that we can experience the goodness He desires and created us to realize. We can’t do that if He’s beyond us. Thus we are meant to understand His ways with the souls and emotions He programmed us and with and utilizing the Torah’s words and teachings to navigate the confusion and mixed emotions and desires we have.

 

So let’s take a look at our parsha, and perhaps a few others while we’re at it. It’s a long Shabbos right? Plenty of time. Well, this week we have the parsha of Korach where we learn about the rebellion of Korach and 250 of the greatest leaders of the nation including according to the Talmud all the princes of each tribe, against Moshe. These great men team up with the two most notorious troublemakers who have been with us since Egypt, Dasan and Aviram, forming a coalition that is only worthy and possible in the Israeli Knesset. They claim that Moshe is guilty of nepotism giving the best jobs to his family members. They claim that the whole nation in holy and don’t need leadership or anything or anyone to connect them to Hashem. They don’t like the fact that he didn’t bring them to Israel and they’re dying here in the wilderness. They’re Jews. They don’t necessarily agree about what they don’t agree about, but one thing is certain. Ata Ha’Rosh Ata Asheim- You’re the head and it’s your fault.

 

Moshe and Aharon fall on their faces. They beg them to relent. They try to show them how misguided they are. How they can’t all gain from this. How they’re threatening everything. But they didn’t want to hear anything. We generally don’t. So Moshe decides to make a test. He could’ve done a lot of things, but fascinatingly enough he decides to utilize a ketores-incense cookoff or smoke-off to be more precise. Everyone brings a pan of ketores, and whoever Hashem doesn’t like He’ll swallow em up in the ground. It’s a strange story, because to be honest, why does he need the ketores at all for this? This is not like Eliyahu and the prophets of the Baal where Hashem sends down a fire and accepts one offering and not the other. Moshe could’ve just as easily left the ketores at home and just asked Hashem to kill whoever He doesn’t want. The point thus must have been to scare them off a bit. To give them pause. To let them back out before it was too late. The best way to do that was with this ketores. For it should’ve awakened memories of the last guys that messed around with it; Nadav and Avihu.

 

It was only 38 years before, according to the Ramban’s chronology of when this story took place, on the day the Mishkan was inaugurated that Nadav and Avihu the sons of Aharon brought a foreign fire with their pans into the Holy and a fire came out and burnt them up. The similarities between the two texts are all over the place. In both stories they bring a “fire before Hashem”. In both stories Moshe and Aharon “fall on their faces”. In both stories “a fire comes out from Hashem and eats them”. They both are trying to be “makriv – come close before Hashem”. Over here Moshe prays to Hashem that he shouldn’t have wrath-‘yiktzof’ on the whole eida- congregation” and the aftermath there is that Aharon is commanded not to mourn during the service lest “al kol ha’eida yiktzof- Hashem has wrath against the entire congregation”.

 

Yet perhaps the most remarkable connection between the two is, fantastically and perplexedly, Nadav and Avihu are called martyrs. They are kedoshim-holy, despite having been killed for sinning, and they are treated as such by being removed respectfully to be buried. As well here the incense pans are considered not just holy, but they are meant to be used as the covering plates of the altar itself. {The Meshech Chochma even notes that this is in fact the source where we learn the entire law of ma’alin ba’kodesh from- that sanctified items can only be elevated to a higher from of sanctity} Talk about sentimental… Don’t just throw them out or bury them somewhere, despite the fact that seemingly they were utilized as vessels of sin in one of the worst incidents of rebellion. Hashem wants them there on his altar to remind us of this story.To remind us that we shouldn’t be like Korach and his congregation that forgot the message of the incense. They were inscence-itive. If we want to fix this problem, then guess what? We need to get a bit scent-imental.

 

The Sefer Nifla’os Mi’Torasecha, by Rav Mordechai Aran, opened up a whole new world for me in an incredible discovery that he made. He notes that there are two places in Tanach where the letters of the name A’ma’le’k in the Torah appear as acronyms of sentences. The first is here in our parsha when Moshe tells the congregation of Korach to take those pans.

 

zos Asu Kach Lachem Machtos- this is what you should do take for yourselves pans.

 

The second place is in the book of Shmuel fascinatingly enough (and I’ll explain why soon- this is getting really cool). It’s right in the beginning when Hashem sends Shmuel to tell Eli the Kohen that basically he’s going to lose the Kohen priesthood because of his children’s bad behavior and abuse of the kehuna for personal gain. He tells them that the priesthood was a special service to be treasured because they were chosen for the special job to do the service of

 

al mizbichi l’haktir ketores- from upon my altar to take the ketores.

 

Why is this so cool? Well first of all, our sages tell us, Shmuel is a descendant of Korach. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why Korach was so determined to fight against Moshe. He saw that his descendant would be Shmuel, who is equal to Moshe and Aharon- as we say every Friday night in Kabalat Shabbos. But perhaps even deeper, we see that Shmuel’s first prophecy was really to tell Eli that he was going to lose the kehuna, because of the corruption of his children. They’re not worthy of the ketores. They forgot, it seems. Perhaps Korach saw in his genes that this was what his family’s mission was supposed to do. To take the kehuna and the ketores, away from the descendants of Aharon who will one day be corrupted.

 

But even more cool, is that Shmuel himself is the one that wipes out Amalek, when Shaul fails to kill the King Agag, the progenitor of Haman, Shmuel steps in and slices and dices him in half. It’s what we’re supposed to do to Amalekites by the way… Interestingly enough right before becoming an Israeli salad Agag calls Shmuel the Angel of death. Isn’t it amazing that the power of the ketores, our sages tell us is the secret how to ward off the Angel of Death? In fact the Midrash tells us that when Moshe received the Torah, each angel gave him a gift and the Angel of Death-which our sages tell us is the same as the angel of Amalek, tells Moshe this secret that ketores is the counter force to him. It’s his Kryptonite. It’s with this knowledge that Aharon in this week’s parsha in the aftermath of the Korach debacle wards off the plague that strikes the nation. Aharon, the Kohen and the power of the ketores are the secret to how we can win Amalek. When Aharon dies, non-coincidentally, the Torah tells us Amalek immediately comes to attack us. They know we lost our secret weapon. As well the name Mordechai who battles Haman and Amalek, the Talmud tells us has a hint to in the Torah from none other of a place then the ketores- mor dror, the spices of the incense.

 

And of course, to put all of the pieces together in one big aromatic pan, our obligation to destroy Amalek is to destroy their memory. It’s not enough to just destroy them, it’s their memory. It’s to forget them. The purpose of Ketores is thus exactly the opposite. It’s to remember us before Hashem. We take those pans and we get scent-imental about them and put them to be the cover on the altar of Hashem. Hashem smells the ketores and He remembers us. Plagues happen, death happens, fires burn people alive, October 7^th and Beeri all happen when Amalek is still around. When the ketores which is supposed to be “ketores rokach- ma’asei roke’ach- blended incense- the work of a master blender, is brought improperly. The word rokach and roke’ach- in case you were wondering… are the same letters of our good friend Korach.

 

What is the ketores? What is it’s secret? Rav Kook notes, as do many others, that the ketores is not just the combination of all the spices and flavors. It’s that precise blend that takes even the foul smelling spices and not only blends it together into the most pleasant aroma by overpowering its bad smell, but it transforms the foulness and makes it smell good. Even more precisely, in his words, the power of the ketores reveals that even the things that may look or smell bad only appear that way to us because of their external hiddenness of the Hashem’s light and holiness. Joined together properly, though, even the most foul smelling chelbana spice precisely united with all of the other spices, become one sweet smelling fragrance before Hashem.

 

The key though is that they need to be joined together in the perfect exact measure. The law of the ketores is that if even one of the spices or measurements is off then you are chayav misa- it brings death. The symbolism and idea being that in order for the true presence and light of Hashem to shine, one has to see everything as having that light and coming from Hashem. The 11 spices correspond to the 10 statements with which Hashem created the world with the 11^th Hashem above them all. The only one that could do that job is the Kohen that doesn’t have any self-interest. The children of Aharon that are filled with divine love for every Jew and see their service and full-time job as elevating the universe and all its aspects, by bringing sacrifices that come from all of the different elements and forms of life and elevating them to Hashem.

 

Nadav and Avihu had this holy desire. It was the day that Hashem’s presence was going to finally rest in this world. Yet, they overstepped Moshe and Aharon. Their fire was foreign. The drive was holy, their act even was holy, yet for the ketores to work, to come out of this experience alive, it needs to be through the power of the love and humility of Moshe and Aharon. Through that selfless dedication and precise command that those master blenders possessed. Korach and the 250 leaders as well, made the same mistake. They claimed to see all of creation as holy. They felt that perhaps they could even uplift Dasan and Aviram. Perhaps, one can even suggest, that they felt that joining together with those two they were uniting the nation and revealing Hashem and blending the aromatic ketores together with “spicy” guys that only were wicked only on the outside. And maybe, Rav Tzadok HaKohein suggests they were even correct in that assumption. It’s why their pans were considered holy, just as Nadav and Avihu are considered holy. Yet, they over skipped Moshe and Aharon. They were missing the most essential ingredient. Their religious zeal for unity that comes from a true desire to reveal Hashem, left out the “chareidim”. And thus it wasn’t complete.

 

There were 250 pans that were brought and not one. Not the One, that will reveal Hashem. As Rashi tells us in the beginning of this saga.

 

Among the nations, there are many forms of worship and many priests, and they do not all gather in one temple. We, however, have only one God, one ark, one Torah, one altar, and one kohen gadol, but you two hundred and fifty men are all seeking the kehunah gedolah! I too would prefer that. Here, take for yourselves the service most dear-it is the incense, more cherished than any other sacrifice, but it contains deadly poison, by which Nadav and Avihu were burnt. Therefore, he warned them, “and it will be the one whom the Lord chooses-he is the holy one“ [meaning,] that he is already in his [state of] holiness. Is it not obvious that [the one] who is chosen is the holy one? Rather, Moses told them, “I am telling you this so that you should not be found guilty. For the one He chooses will survive, and the rest of you will perish.

 

We’re not like the goyim. Judaism isn’t a melting pot of all types and religions. It’s a revelation of the oneness that is in all of us. That can only come through one person, not 250. Only through “the one chosen by the One”.

 

They forgot this and thus Hashem was not complete. His throne is not complete. And that is when Amalek, which is the power to remove that unity from being revealed, attacks, brings plague and brings death and fire. They hit the weak. They hit the ones behind. They hit fake unity that is missing the some of the spices. Unity that bashes Moshe and Aharon, that is only there to usurp and not to reveal. They thrive and are like flies to the rot of  that flesh. The Baal Haturim even notes that the words to remember Amalek in the Torah

 

“zikaron va’sefer ve’sim ba’aznei- a remembrance in the book and place in their ears”

is an acronym for zevuv- a fly. Flies are drawn to flesh without life. To corpses. To death. Amalek is the Angel of Death and is this antithesis to the ketores, because it hovers around and says that there is no life in this one. There is no spark of Hashem in them. There’s nothing to be revealed. And thus the ketores can’t be complete. It’s missing and holy fire wreaks havoc and comes out from the holy to destroy and forge us all together. To give us something to remember and could never forget.

 

Amalek and our enemies try to make us forget the miracles Hashem preformed from us. To cool us off. To remove the fire from those pans that want to forge and unite us into one. To make us un-scent-sitive. Incense-less. And so Hashem tells us to take those pans of incense and remember them. Remember that we need to unite. Remember that “uniting” means all of us, through Moshe and Aharon and through the Torah. Through finding and seeing the light in each of us and understanding that without even one spice the ketores is death. That for the redemption and for Hashem to be revealed we need to get scentimental. We need to see the holy spark in everything in Creation. In the burnt pans, the burnt cars, the burnt little choo choo train cards that are attached to the altars where Hashem took his sacrifices from us on the day that Amalek came to destroy our nation from Gaza.

 

We enter the month of Tamuz this Shabbos. Until this year this was a month that always brought in the fast day of the 17^th of Tamuz. Yet the prophet tells us that in the Messianic era that fast day that mourns the siege of Jerusalem and the beginning of the destruction will become a holiday that celebrates our redemption. May this year be that year that was prophesized and that we have waited for so long. We’ve been sieged too long. We’re all mourning and longing. We’re together. Our Mizbayachs are covered in ketores pans of the so many kedoshim that we have lost. Its time for the Angel of Death to finally be destroyed and slaughtered and for Hashem’s throne to finally rest and be complete.

 

 Have an aromatic Shabbos and Chodesh Tamuz tov,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Fun shikker and fun shenker shtinkt mil bronfen..”.- The drunkard and the bartender both smell of whisky.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

12.The wave of immigration (Aliyah) to the Land of Israel, that began following

the rise of the Nazis to power, is called

What is the estimated number of Jews and Arabs, who lived in the Land of

Israel, when the War of Independence began?

A. Around 600,000 Jews and 200,000 Arabs.

B. Around 400,000 Jews and one million Arabs.

C. Around 600,000 Jews and 1.3 million Arabs.

D. Around 400,000 Jews and 400,000 Arabs.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW_sZXoABqI  – Rak B’Yachad- an amazing song by the one and only Shai Graucher’s chesed/chizuk organization sung by Ari Hill and the orphans of this war. Uniting us all together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLIitRRHt0w  - Avraham Fried’s great Hebrew hits with Dadya, Daskal and Benny Friedman!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tA0wh9pj9Y  – Really amazing video of Chabad and Chevron with Avraham Fried

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBh8QgzMGI0   - What a special meaningful and heartwrenching song by Aharon Razel in memory of his friend Tzvika Lavi a special holy soldier that was killed in Gaza- Kazeh Ha’yitah

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK

Impossible Prayers- There are things that it almost seems impossible to daven for. It’s easy to daven for parnassa, for health, for redemption, for wisdom and for teshuva. All of the basic things that we daven for each day in our Shemona Esrei. It’s one of the most essential aspects of being Jewish and observant is that we begin and end our day and even pause in the middle to recognize that everything comes from Hashem and we need to ask Him for His help. Yet there are some things that seem almost impossible to ask Hashem for. Things that seem to be miraculous. For example, I meet with many of the families of the hostages, and although many of them seem to think its unlikely that they may see their child again, that even if they do get them returned that they can be in one piece both mentally and physically, yet they still daven for that. But it’s a hard prayer. They know they are asking Hashem for a miracle. And miracles don’t seem to be easy to ask for.

As well there are others as well that are in that position, people with severe medical conditions that doctors determined are terminal and statistically unlikely that a recovery will take place. Others that perhaps have been diagnosed that they will never be able to have children, some that feel that it is unlikely that they can find happiness, can get married that can win in court. The cards are against you in the natural statistical world. Yet, Torah Jews believe that prayer always has the power to change things. In this week’s Torah portion we find this in two different places, both in the unlikely negative, which of course teaches us the positive.

The first is that we find that Moshe Rabbeinu turns to Hashem and asks Him not to turn to the prayer and incense of Korach and his clan. Moshe seems to be very concerned that this is a very real possibility bizzarely enough. He tells Hashem that he never sinned, that he never took anything from the people, that he’s only acting for Hashem’s honor. You only play all of those cards when you’re nervous that there’s a real threat that Korach’s prayer would win. Why would he be scared of this? After-all isn’t it obvious that he’s correct and that Korach is truly an evil corrupt person that is challenging the foundations of all of Judaism and the Torah being passed down correctly through Moshe?

The second place where we find this idea is in Moshe’s prayer to Hashem that He create something new that has never been before created. That Hashem have the ground open it’s mouth up and swallow them alive. That seems pretty bold. Moshe could’ve just easily had asked that Hashem kill them or prove them wrong. Yet, here Moshe pushes the limits. He asks for the impossible. He asks for a miracle to happen that is above nature. How  and why could and would he do that?

Rebe Simcha Bunim of Peshisch learns an important lesson from here. He suggests that it is precisely from Moshe that Eliyahu Ha’Navi learns that he has the power through prayer to bring the revival of the dead child of the tzorfati woman, whom he resurrects. For if Moshe Rabbeinu can ask Hashem for an extraordinary death and to change the ways of nature and the world, then we have a rule that the mida tova is meruba mi’mida perunos- that Hashem always behaves in a far greater way with his good attributes than those of retribution. If Hashem could kill extraordinarily and listens to prayers and changes nature to take away life, then He certainly will answer prayers to restore and resurrect life.

It is for that reason as well, why Moshe is so concerned with Hashem accepting Korach’s prayers. For even though Korach is a hundred percent wrong, and even though if Hashem listens to his prayers it might even destroy the entire foundation of Judaism, cause a tremendous chilul Hashem and  upset the entire balance of the universe. Yet, a heartfelt prayer by Korach could accomplish that. Hashem can’t say no. He may listen and answer those prayers, despite the severe consequences and fall out. Moshe understood how powerful prayer is and thus he was concerned. He therefore went the other way and asked for an extraordinary end to Korach so that we will know and understand how powerful tefilla is. Nothing is impossible before Hashem. There’s nothing that tefilla can’t accomplish. We should never give hope. We need to just up our ante and offer the tefillos that pierce the heavens and IYH all of our tefillos will be answered.

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

701 BC-The Miraculous Night– 185,000 soldiers stood outside of the gates of Yerushalayim that Seder Night. The army of Sancherev had destroyed and exiled the ten tribes and most of Israel. We were a divided nation. Shevna even led a group to capitulate and offer “peace at any price”. Yet the prophet Yeshaya had promised Chizkiya that there would be a miracle. There’s a fascinating Midrash that tells us that four kings asked for Hashem to help them and were answered. Dovid told Hashem that he has no strength to fight the enemies and Hashem Helped him win. Asa said he didn’t even have strength to fight he could merely pursue them and Hashem should kill them and he was answered as well. Yehoshafat told Hashem that he couldn’t even pursue them. All he could do was sing praises for Hashem if he wins. And sure enough Hashem Wiped out Amon Moav and Edom on his behalf. Chizkiya though said that he doesn’t even have strength to sing. All he could do was go to sleep. And sure enough that’s exactly what happened.

 

In fact it wasn’t only Chizkiyah it was all of Jerusalem that night. They went to their seder they sang Vehi She’amda- that Hashem stood up against our enemies of all generations should Stand up again for us. They opened the door for Eliyahu Ha’Navi. They drank four cups, they ate matza, they remembered the miracles and then they went to sleep. The next morning it was all over. An angel came and smote them all. According to some Midrash, they were burnt up and souls left them while their bodies remained complete. Others say that they heard the angels singing that night in heaven and their souls left their bodies. Others say that the plagues of Egypt were all rained down upon them. It wasn’t only the devastating loss, but just like in Egypt the Jews got to keep all of the booty left behind. Sancherev fled with his head hanging low and ran back to his palace in Ninveh. There he was scorned by everyone and was ultimately killed by his own two sons, who he had thought about offering to his idolatry (according to one Midrash a plank from the ark of Noach) as a sacrifice.

 

This was a miracle that we recall by our Seder each year in the piyyut of Vayehi Bachatzi Halayla. Our sages tell us that the miracle and redemption was so great that Chizkiya could’ve even been Mashiach. It could’ve all been over. Yet, they sinned and didn’t merit because they didn’t sing Shira. They didn’t sing songs of praise to Hashem. They saw it as a great victory, a great miracle even perhaps, but they didn’t realize that it was history changing. That the victory had the potential to bring in and herald in a New world era. And thus we lost the moment.

 

 To a large degree it reminds me of the 6-Day-War. We were so close. Har Ha’Bayis was in our hands. And we lost it. We’re almost at that point again. We certainly are like Chizkiya who can’t even fight, cant chase or puruse and perhaps we can’t even sing or even sleep in our beds. We need the redemption now. Hashem please. Help us sleep, help us sing, help us win. Bring that day.

  

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S SMELL JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

A drunk man who smelled like beer sat down on a subway seat next to a priest. The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading.

After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, "Say, Father, what causes arthritis?"

"My Son, it's caused by loose living, too much alcohol, and a contempt for your fellow man."

"Well, I'll be," the drunk muttered, returning to his paper.

The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"

"I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does".

 

New Teslas don't come with a new car smell. They come with an Elon Musk.

 

My wife said she could smell an Indian flatbread from a mile away. I said that was naan scents.

 

What tastes better than it smells? Your tongue.

 

4 million of these people enter our country every year. They are uneducated, unskilled, and contribute nothing. They are a burden to honest, hardworking Americans and our government is doing nothing to stop them, not to mention they're dirty and they smell bad. THEY DON'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH!! Man, I hate babies.

 

What would happen if skunks lost their smell? They'd become ex-stinked.

 

My toenails turned green, shrank, and started smelling like mint. My doctor says I have a rare condition called Tic Tac Toes.

 

Home Covid Test.

1: Open a can of beer and try to smell it.

2: If you can smell the beer, drink it to see if you can taste it.

3: If you can taste it and smell it, this confirms you don't have Covid.

Last night, I did the test 15 times and all were negative. Tonight I am going to do the test again because this morning I woke up with a headache and feeling like I am coming down with something. I am so nervous.

 

This blonde decides one day that she is sick and tired of all these blonde jokes and how all blondes are perceived as stupid, so she decides to show her husband that blondes really are smart.

While her husband is off at work, she decides that she is going to paint a couple of rooms in the house. The next day, right after her husband leaves for work, she gets down to the task at hand. Her husband arrives home at 5:30 and smells the distinctive smell of paint. He walks into the living room and finds his wife lying on the floor in a pool of sweat. He notices that she is wearing a ski jacket and a fur coat at the same time.He goes over and asks her if she is OK.

She replies yes.

He asks what she is doing. She replies that she wanted to prove to him that not all blonde women are dumb and she wanted to do it by painting the house.

He then asks her why she has a ski jacket over her fur coat.

She replies that she was reading the directions on the paint can and they said...

FOR BEST RESULTS, PUT ON TWO COATS.

 

So I replaced all of the incense in the Friar's chamber with Marijuana. He's a High priest now

 

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 The answer to this week”s question is C– This is getting annoying already, this half right half wrong thing I’m in. This one I got the first one wrong when I went with the 3^rd Aliyah, and I was off by two. The Nazi ascension aliya or the Yekki Aliyah was the 5^th of Aliya. The third it seems was the Polish one after WW I but before the Nazis YM”Sh. At least I got the second part correct with the right answer being C the 600,000 Jews- the same number as when we left Mitzrayim and 1.3 million arabs we were outnumbered 2 to one in Israel besides the other arab armies from around that joined the fight to destroy us. Miracles of Miracles! May we see more of them. And so my score is now Rabbi Schwartz 7.5 and Ministry of Tourism 4.5 on this exam so far.