Goyish- Parshat Shoftim 2022/ 5782

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

September 2^nd 2022 -Volume 11 Issue 47 6^th of Elul 5782

 

Parshat Shoftim

Goyish

 

“Why do you dress like that?” I asked them. I was in one of my end of summer modes where I’m just ready to pick fights with my tourists. Don’t get me wrong I love Chasidim. I have plenty of Chasidish blood in me and I come from very haymish roots, my grandfather being close to the Tosher Rebbe and Reb Hersheleh of Spink. I even wear a gartel on Shabbos-when I remember. But I wanted to make a point. An important point, that I think most people don’t get. Particularly American Chasidim and Chareidim.

 

 “So what is it?”, I asked them. “What’s with the Shtreiemel, the frock, the white socks? Why don’t you dress like everyone else?” By the way this is not only a question for chasidim. You gotta love these cool litvaks that think they dress normal and fancy, like they walked out of GQ, when the truth is that they pretty don’t really fit in as well. Some have the tzitzis sticking out, others have their black hats which they think look pretty cool especially when they wear them on a tilt. Nobody told them that hats went out in the 50’s already. So, they’re also wearing out of date clothing that make them stand out and that really is not trendy to anybody but their chevra in yeshiva.

 

 Now the honest answer to why they’re wearing this clothing is that ironically enough they think it looks cool, . They think that the shtreimel with the hairs standing up are really cool. The beketcheh with the funny little designs- that’s not mamash black but a little tinge off-black and it even has some cute little flower design on it if you look really hard.are "chikav".  Or how about that tiny rimmed small black hat that really was made for a Bar Mitzva boy that you’re wearing? C’mon, do you really think you look cool in it? That would be the honest answer to why you’re wearing them. It has nothing to do with tradition, with religion, or with Hashem. It’s just about the yeshivish or chasidish fashion statement of the time. But nobody will admit that.

 

 My tourists fumfeh a bit. Well... it’s about not dressing like the goyim. It’s about tradition. It’s about keeping the customs of our ancestors…they mumble. I don’t buy it, I tell them. I think it’s much much holier than that. From the way that I understand it, the reason why we dress differently and even in yeshivos why our Rabbis put such an emphasis on wearing your hat and jackets so much, is so that we remember that we are not them. We are not like the people in the street. We are Hashem’s holy nation. We are exiled here. This is not our home. We are foreigners. We want to remember that always, and it will help stop us from assimilating. From thinking we are just like them. From doing the things that they do and going the places they go. We don’t belong here, and we want to remind ourselves that we stand out like a sore thumb.

 

 My tourists nod their head in agreement. It makes sense. They’ve heard that before. They know it’s an important value. They’ve now fallen into my trap. Well, if that’s true, I continue, then perhaps you can explain to me why you feel more comfortable walking around on 5th Avenue in the Diamond district, or in your tenements and buildings in the Bronx or your nursing homes in who knows what hole in the country you found them in Mississippi or in Tennessee than you feel when you’re walking around here in Eretz Yisrael. Why do you come here and feel that you can’t wait to get back to “your” normal country where they bag your groceries and thank you for shopping in Walmart? Where they speak “your” language, where they understand and share "your" mentality. Where you feel like you’re at home even in your funny white socks. But here, the holy land, the land that all of your ancestors dreamed of coming to, the only place where your neshoma really has a connection to, the only place where any mitzva you do really has any meaning. Why over here do you feel like you don’t belong. That it’s not your country. That you’re a foreigner.

 

Now don’t give me any baloney, about non-religious Jews, or anti-religious governments, or about scary Arabs and fears of your kids going to the army. Please… They’re killing Jews all over the place in the US. The goyim there will continue and only escalate the rapidly growing antisemitism rate that’s increasing exponentially each year. You’re smart enough to know that America isn’t different than everywhere else we’ve lived in 2000 years of Galus. That “Never Again” is “always again’. You have an updated passport “just in case” or for when that day happens eventually. Agudas Yisrael lobbying and frum congressman and the OU and shmearing all the politicians isn’t going to make much of a difference, and neither is the pizza you brought to the local Fire Station or the money you gave to the Police Benevolent Society – which helps you get off of speeding tickets. They’re making the same “gezeiros” against education over there, and it’s the frum guys that aren’t letting your kids into the right schools anyways. It's not even the Goyim.  Yeah…You really shouldn’t be feeling at home there. You’re even wearing the funny clothing to remember that. Think about that next time you put on your shtreimel or Borsalino.

 

But the problem and perhaps the biggest problem we’ve always suffered from is that we forget how special and different we are. How much we are not like them. How pretty much the worst thing you once were able to call a Jew is a “goy”. You look like a “goy”. You dress like a “sheigitz”. I think the English for some reason call them a “yuk” or a “beitz”. I never really understood where that comes from. It’s not a modern-day problem. It’s always been our problem. The Yiddish phrase is “vi tzi kristaltzach-yiddletzach”- what goes on in the goyish world eventually permeates and makes its way into our world. In most cases we even out-do them. We become more Goyish, more Greek, more Roman, more Spanish, more German, more patriotic American Yankee Doodle with our BBQ’s and flags than they do. And unfortunately for us, Hashem has to always send us reminders, because the funny clothes doesn’t seem to workto remind us that we really don’t belong there. We really are not like them. We really need to come home.

 

 This week’s parsha repeatedly, perhaps more than any parsha, keeps hitting this theme home again and again. Right at the beginning of the Parsha we start off with the need to set up judges and enforcement officers that are different than them. There are no bribes, no showing favoritism, it’s not about who has the better lawyer or deeper pockets. It’s about pursuing real true righteous justice. Judges that are tzadikim, courts that have no political influences. This is the trick, Moshe tells us, to inheriting and uplifting the land.

 

Right next to that it tells us not to plant trees next to our Beis Hamikdash where the court sits and not to worship in the style of the goyim on a one stone altar. This is despite the fact that our forefathers did it that way interestingly enough… It was the mesorah… It was tradition. But guess what? It became goyish. And we Jews don’t do the goyish thing. In fact the Maharam Shick writes that we shouldn’t even plant trees near shul for that reason. We certainly don’t put flowers on a grave. Goyish is bad and we Jews have to stop looking and learning from them how to do things.

 

 It continues and continues this theme. Don’t bring sacrifices with blemishes even ones that are passing and that go away. Interestingly enough, the Talmud tells us that it was this precise law in the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza that caused the destruction of the Temple when the Caesar sent an offering with that type of blemish and the Jews refused to bring it. For goyim blemishes are not a problem. Their sacrifices don’t have to be perfect. For us Jews that have a perfect God our sacrifices can be nothing but the best.

 

It then tells us about Jews that worship like the goyim do and how when they try to sell their politically correct ideology to us and get us to join them we need to kill them. We should have no tolerance for Jews that try to make us like goyim. It’s too dangerous. We’re too susceptible.

 

 Even when we try to set up our own “government” the Torah tells us be careful that what we do shouldn’t be like the goyim. Don’t look to them to have a king like theirs. Ours has to have a Torah with him all the time. He can’t be too rich. He can’t have too many horses. He can’t even have too many wives. We’re not looking for Henry the 8th. Even Shlomo Hamelech fell into the goyish trap of this one. The man had 1000 wives. If you make a cheshbon he was in sheva brachos every week of his life. Most of them were idolators. Stay away from goyim. Don’t become goyish. Even if you’re the smartest person in the world.

 

It keeps going and going. When we come to the land don’t fall into the trap of all of the narishkeit of the goyim. Don’t try to figure out the future. Don’t sacrifice your kids on the altar of whatever religious or politically correct mishigas their society is telling you is common place. Don’t pay any attention to any of their pundits or future tellers and yay or nay sayers about what will be, what has to be, what should be. Stop listening to the stupid radio talk show hosts. It’s all baloney. We have Hashem. We work with faith. We don’t need to know what will happen because we know that whatever will be is good. It’s from our Father. It’s not from whoever is elected. It’s not from the President. It’s not from my man in congress. It’s not from the United Nations. It’s not even from Bibi and certainly not Lapid but not even from the Chareidi or religious parties. Tamim tihiyeh im Hashem elokecha- stop being so busy with all the future things that might happen if you don’t listen to what they’re telling you to do.

 

 Goyim have prophets. We have them too. Or we used to at least. But we also have fake ones that are like goyim. So stay away from anything that sounds sketchy. That sounds goyish. Oh and kill the ones that you know are false. They’re a danger. Because in general they will play on our biggest weakness to try to make us like the goyim. To try to make us comfortable in the goyish ways we’ve picked up. They tell us that we’re good Jews still and Hashem is happy with us and doesn’t mind so much if we don’t follow His ways. If we ignore some of the important commandments, like idolatry, like Greek culture, like lashon hara and sinas chinam, like staying in Boro Park, Monsey and Lakewood and not moving to Eretz Yisrael. Chutz la’aretz is not so bad. It’s not so important to move to the land Hashem promised us and told us to live in… The koach ha’torah will protect us.  Uhh.. huh…Yeah.. that’s worked out really well for us in the past…

 

There’s an amazing mitzva that’s thrown in here of lo sasig gevul rayacha- don’t encroach on your neighbor’s field. Rashi notes that the Torah already told us that it’s prohibited to steal, what’s this additional mitzva? He says that this additional one of stealing your neighbors land is only applicable in Israel. If you build on your neighbor’s field in America or in Monsey, you won’t be violating this prohibition. (although it’s still stealing). Why? Because guess what? It’s not really your land. It’s the goys. It’s their country that you just happened to be stuck in. Don’t ever make the mistake that you really have any real property rights on it in this regard. They can and probably will throw you out pretty soon. Only in Eretz Yisrael, the land you were meant to inherit is the land sacredly yours. Only here does it really make a difference if someone moves his fence an inch or two onto the border of your lot. Because here every inch only you can uplift. Only your neshoma can bring down the shechina to. Over there it’s just a tenting campground until the next step in your galus. Until you make it home. Don’t ever forget that in your shtreimel and black hat.

 

I’m not going to continue. You should go on yourselves and read the rest of the parsha. Make sure to spend time reading about how we should wipe out all of the goyim in Eretz Yisrael and all of our enemies that don’t make peace with us. That don’t come over to our team. We are the light of the world. The world we are meant to create that will shine out the light of Hashem to needs to be built on the foundation that we have that light. They are meant to be taking tips from us on how to receive it. We approach the High Holidays in this month of Elul. On the first day of Rosh Hashana, Hashem will judge us. The judgement on us is what will impact the rest of the worlds on the 2nd day of Rosh Hashana. But this is the month to remember who we are and what rests on our shoulders. The clothing we wear may not be enough of a reminder. It’s time to get on the royal garments the nation of the King should be wearing. His coronation is right around the corner.          

Have a super duper Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Oifen goniff in a tsilinder brent nit dos hittel.” - A thief with connections is not self-conscious..

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/lulay-heamanti-kavey  -  In honor of Chodesh Elul please enjoy my Elul Song that we will be reciting and you can sing all month long lulay hemanti

 

https://youtu.be/_wGZ6jVYH5Q  – In Breslav brent a fire…by Reb Yoel Roth for those thinking about Uman this year…

 

https://youtu.be/hin_J0qUV9s  – Chaim Moshe Rechnitz with Moshie Mendlowitz Lo Eshkocheich

 

https://youtu.be/dsV06dl-3vQ  – Beautiful rendition of the Viznitz Odeh by Motti Shteimetz by Dirshu

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V32CTcCBVU    – Very Excited for my good friend Dovid Lowy’s newest EP release with 5 amazing songs. Take a listen…

 

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

10)  Area E1 is found in the   _________  region

The Palestinian Authority’s objection to building in this area is because

A)  It breaks the continuity between North and South of their territory

B)  Fear of losing out on employment opportunities by the Dead Sea Hotel District

C)  They believe it is the holy burial site of a Muslim leader

D)  It interrupts the continuity of their territory between the area of Beit Lechem and Yericho

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

 

Just Because- Parshat Shoftim There is probably no mitzva that is elaborated on in the Torah as much as Shabbos. There are myriads of laws, both positive and negative commandments. There are customs, rabbinic decrees. It’s all over the Torah. It is a day to remember Creation, it is a day to remember our Exodus from Sinai. Our foods recall the Manna in the wilderness, we remember the sacrifices in the Temple and pray for it once again. It is the sign and covenant and special bond between us and Hashem. As I said there is so much to every second and nuance of Shabbos, yet fascinatingly enough the Torah describes it as a Chok- a decree without a reason.

 

The Nesivos Shalom quotes the Rashba who notes that in this week’s Torah portion we are given the mitzva of Tamim Tihyeh Im Hashem elokecha- we should be pure and complete with Hashem. We serve and follow His mitzvos without question. Without explanation. Because He told us to. Sure, there are reasons and great idea behind everything and we are meant to find meaning in the mitzvos we do. But at the end of the day the reasons in Hebrew are called ta’amim- tastes of the actual thing. The essence of all of the mitzvos are really very far beyond us. Shabbos is the greatest example of that.

 

The Rav of Kobrin says that the Torah tells us that Shabbos is a sign between us and Hashem- l’olam- forever and for the world. But that is only the external aspect of it. It’s true essence is hidden in the Beit Genizai of Hashem. The hidden storehouses. We observe Shabbos primarily for one reason. Hashem told us to. We are tamim ito- we are pure and simple faithed with Him. We follow His will unquestionably, for He is the source of all life and that’s what He put us here to do. Observing Shabbos on that simple and purest way brings us the greatest blessing. It is what keeps us eternal. It is what reveals more than anything else Hashem’s presence in the world, in our nation and in the reluctance for Jews to ever abandon that god give role.

 

 

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

 

Aram Wars - 724 BC – Arabs talk big, but when push comes to shove, they don’t stand a chance against the Nation of Hashem. This is particularly true when Hashem is on our side and is out to show off some miracles. That’s when it really gets fun. This is true today, by the way and was true back then as well. Ben Hadad, the King of Aram made all of these threats against Israel and Achav and surrounded the city of Shomron. The prophet Michayahu Ben Yimla however assures Achav that he will win the battle miraculously with just the youth of the officers- the little untrained soldiers. Achav himself would lead them into battle. All of the rest could take it easy. The war would be a simple one. It would be a miracle.

 

Sure enough Achav takes 232 men and another 7000 soldiers to fight against Ben Hadad and the 32 other kings of Canaan that joined him for this battle. They numbered over 100,000. Ben Hadad was drinking and mocking demanding that his soldiers bring back the Jews and Achav alive. He wanted to humiliate us. He didn’t dream that he would be fleeing a few hours later. But in fact that’s exactly what happened. The Jews destroyed all of their army, their tanks (chariots) in an incredible win. Ben Hadad flees back to Syria but as the prophet Michayahu warns Achav- he will be back again. Sure enough they come back a second time.

 

The second battle takes place though in the plains by the city of Afeik. Afeik is a central location not far from Petach Tikva and Rosh Ha’ayin of today. There’s a national park there called Tel Afeik and it was a city that goes from the early caveman period where they found lots of remains, the Egyptian and Canaanite period where there was all types of writings and inscriptions found and it was even built up later in the Roman 2^nd Temple period by Herod who named the city after his father Antipatrus. I really haven’t visited there much to be honest, but I do remember in my tour guiding course it was an impressive site. Although I don’t think you see much there., there were certainly many historic battles that took place there.

 

Ben Hadad assumed that Hashem’s power is only on mountains and hills like Har Sinai or the Temple Mount. Little did he know Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere. Once again, the Navi tells Achav he will be victorious and sure enough they are. Ben Hadad flees and decides to do the typical Arab thing. He figures he’ll appeal to the Jewish mercy and guilt us into good conditions. Jews are always uncomfortable with victory. We feel more at home with persecution and receiving our undue punishments. We have a hard time wrapping our brain around the idea that we really deserve to win. The land is really ours. It’s a mistake we make again and again and next week we’ll find out the consequences of this battle and victory.

 

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE FASHION JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

A fat fashion designer found a time machine one day.Thinking about how many opportunities of discovery await him, he went inside and clicked a button. He soon found himself in ancient Rome.

He noticed all the plebs wearing cool ancient clothes so he quickly went to the nearest shopping centre. Being fat himself, he asked the shopkeeper if they can sell him XL shirts.

That question made the shopkeeper curious, thus he asked the designer:

“Do you really want to purchase that many shirts?”

(it took me twice to get that one…)

 

Did you hear about the fashion designer who was on the phone while driving and nearly got into an accident? It was a clothes call.

 

Why can't fashion designers play uno? Because they always draw a cardigan.

 

What do you call a fashion designer that rejects everything? Calvin Deklein.

 

2020's fashion was really terrible. Probably because nobody had any taste

 

COVID is like fashion…

We started hearing about it in Italy…

Became popular in LA and NYC…

Florida ignored it…

And it was all made in China in the end.

 

How many trainers will it take to teach Tommy fashion design? None. Hilfiger it out..

 

Never talk to me about fashion. It just goes in one year and out the other.

 

My doctor really likes my choice of sensible footwear...I overheard him telling his colleague that I had "Serious healthy shoes".

 

Little old Yankel gets on a crowded city bus, every seat filled. A tough looking goy with a lot of prison tattoos is kicking his feet onto the seat opposite him, keeping it from being used. Yankel waddles over says 'scuze me' and pushes the tough bloke's legs off the seat.

Agitated, the tough bloke starts pointing to the prison tats on his face and says 'You know what these mean, little man?'

Yankel nods in a knowing fashion "means you got caught"

 

A guy goes into a bar wearing a shirt open at the collar, and is met by a bouncer who tells him he must wear a necktie to gain admission. So the guy goes out to his car and he looks around for a necktie and discovers that he just doesn't have one.

He sees a set of jumper cables in his trunk. In desperation he ties these around his neck, and manages to fashion a fairly acceptable looking knot and lets the ends dangle free. He goes back to the restaurant and the bouncer carefully looks him over, and then says, "Well, OK, I guess you can come in - just don't start anything."

 

I once met someone who refused to talk to people unless the conversation was about fashion.

He was very clothes minded.

 

My lawyer has such a good sense of fashion, he wins every court case

 

Where do fashionable ghosts shop? Bootiques.

 

Why do the clothes in Beauty and the Beast look so old-fashioned? Tailors old as time…OYY…

 

What do you call yoshka at a fashion show? A Cross Dresser…. YES!!

 

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Answer is A - Yeah this one I definitely would’ve skipped and the truth is I really should be ashamed of myself. I should’ve known this. It’s important information. And I I do drive by there regularly. I guess I just didn’t pay attention or think too much about the formal name of this area and so I didn’t connect the two. I will from now on. So anyways, this area is right outside of Yerushalayim by Mevaseret Adumim and Maaley Adumim. This is where the fights are going on about the Bedouin building and construction and the Jewish settlement as well. It’s called E1 because it’s East of Jerusalem. The Israeli want this area which is over the green line to be part of Israel and to expand the settlements there to enlarge Jerusalem. The arabs on the other hand see this as being smack in middle of their territory of what would ever be an Palestinian State separating the Shomron in the North and the Midbar Yehuda region in the South. I got this one wrong. I randomly guessed Dead Sea area and then went with the Jericho Bethlehem thing.  So the score now is Schwartz 7.5 and 2.5  for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.

 

Jewish Politics- Parshat Shoftim 2018 / 5778

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

August 17^th 2018 -Volume 8 Issue 43 6^th Elul 5778

Parshat Shoftim

Jewish Politics

It was a few years ago. It was election season in Israel and I got a phone call from someone who introduced himself as a pollster taking a poll for a local newspaper, or radio station, or something. I don’t remember. It didn’t really matter. He wanted my opinion and I’m generally good at giving it. Since nobody in my family really is that interested in what I have to say, I take it where I can get it.

 So he began his interview by asking me who I thought would be the best candidate for Prime Minister of Israel. Was it Bibi, Livni , Buzi, Uzi or Shmoozi or some other silly nickname that our respected elected officials like to go by. I told him that I didn’t think any of them were really worth anything. He then asked me who I did think would make a good candidate. I told him Putin. (This was of course before Donald Trump was a candidate. Although I’m not sure if he’s good for the US or not- I mean my 401Ks are doing pretty good, he doesn’t really bring out the greatest or most refined image for the most prestigious position in the world. But hey I’m living in Israel where our members of Knesset all have cartoon names and kind of act like them as well. So he would fit right in and actually be very good for Israel. Pretty much for the same reason Putin would,) as I explained to my pollster, who had by this time realized he had gotten more than he bargained for. I explained that I felt that we needed someone to lead this country who doesn’t really care what the rest of the world had to say. They will condemn us anyways. Back then I felt that Putin really does what he feels is necessary for his nation and let the chips fall where they may.

So then who would I vote for, my pollster then asked me, being that my top choice seemed to have another job already. I told him that I would most likely vote for one of the religious parties in that case.  He asked me, quite shocked, If I thought that they were better than the other candidates or parties. I told him that honestly I didn’t. They were probably the same if not worse in some cases, but that I would vote for them anyways. When he asked me why, I think I really upset him- which is generally my objective, as I told him that my Rabbi told me it was a mitzva. “A Mitzva?!!” he incredulously responded, “Do I really believe that it is a mitzva?!!” Being a Rabbi, I felt it would help to explain myself with a story. We Rabbis do that a lot.

I told him that they once asked the great sage in the 1950’s in Israel, known as the Chazon Ish if it was a mitzva to vote. He responded in the affirmative, it was a mitzva. When his students asked him what type of mitzva it was. Was it like eating matza on Pesach. He told them it wasn’t. It was more like eating marror-the bitter herbs, J. Ouch! Just chew and swallow and think of the bitterness of our exile.

Now although I told him that in jest, I continued, the truth is I  do believe that the religious parties are the only one that will solve the problems of this country.  See right now the religious parties are doing what everyone else is doing. Grabbing as much for their constituents from the pot and maybe dropping a few sheks in their own pocket along the way. But when they are in charge, they are the Prime minister, then they will be responsible for the country; the economy, the security and the defense. And pretty much they only really care about one thing. That their children should sit and learn Torah as much and as long as possible. So if you came over to a Chareidi Prime Minister and told him that Gaza is throwing missiles on us and either the Yeshiva students will have to close their gemaras and go fight orrrrrr,… he could push that little button over there and the problem will be solved with one kaboom. I don’t think he would put down his cigarette for a second. It is bitul Torah. They are trying to kill us. The Talmud (and pretty much common sense anywhere in the world- except for maybe in Europe right now) tells us that ‘he who comes to kill you- get him first’. Poof! Problem solved. Peace in the Middle East. See they don’t really care about what Ben Gurion called the ‘Oom Shmoom’ (Israeli lingo for UN) or anyone else really has to say or what resolutions they may pass. They realize that God is running the world. And Hashem wants their kids studying Torah.

I don’t think I convinced the guy on the phone to vote religious. But he definitely appreciated my alternate view. It was one of those classic only-in-Israel type of conversation that I relish when we have a country of Jews.

Now to be honest, I really am not that anti-government or even anti-religious politics as I may have stated in my conversation. I was just having fun on the phone. In truth it is a big struggle here to try to figure out how to lead this country. It is perhaps the greatest challenge that they are still trying to figure out. Can you be a “Jewish state” and a Democratic one at the same time? Coming from America where separation of church and State is ironically considered to be the “holy grail” of the founding and guiding principles of the political, legislative and justice systems. It’s like God Himself- if they were legally allowed to believe in Him, said an 11^th commandment that ‘Thou shall not take Me into account in any of your secularly driven laws’.

So coming from that upbringing it is hard to wrap your brain around the attempt in this country to bring Him into it somewhat. To tenderly try to define our country as “Jewish” and in more than a “Kosher style” kind of way. Rather to legislate, as is the case, public Shabbat observance. To dictate that all marriages and divorces must be done according to the 3300 year old Jewish tradition under the auspices of the Rabbinate. To insure that kosher is really observed in any government or publically payed for event. It is commendable. It is even holy, in my humble opinion. It’s not perfect. It’s far from perfect, in fact. But in many ways it’s a heck of a lot better than all that idol worship, murder and licentiousness and who knows what else was going on, during both the first and second temple periods that our Torah, Tanach and history tells us took place. But yes we still have a long way to go.

The first step though to appreciating where we have to go, as they taught me in school, is to have an image in your mind as to where you want to get to. What it should look like. Because if you don’t know where you’re going then no road will ever to take you there. There is perhaps no better time of year or better parsha than this weeks to give us that picture. That image of what the world and government we are looking for should look like. For as we approach the High Holidays we are meant to self-examine. It is a time for introspection and Parshat Shoftim gives us that snapshot of the world we are charged with creating.

The portion begins with the first basic law of a setting up a society. We need judges and we need police men that are just, that don’t take bribes and that follow the laws of Hashem. The verse than tells us something fascinating.

Devarim (16:8) “If a matter eludes you in judgment, between blood and blood, between judgment and judgment, or between lesion and lesion, words of dispute in your cities, then you shall rise and go up to the place the Lord, your God, chooses.

OK, now this happens. There is a question, a law that I need to do. So who do I go to find out these laws? Obviously to the court house. To the local judge. That is his job seemingly. But the Torah seems to make a point that I should go to the place Hashem chose; the Temple, the Beit Hamikdash. And who do I speak with over there?

Ibid (16:9) And you shall come to the Levi, Kohanim and to the judge who will be in those days, and you shall inquire, and they will tell you the words of judgment.”

Whoah… I’m not bringing a sacrifice or tithes right now. I just want to know what the legal ramifications of my extension on my house has to do with my neighbors who are kvetching. Why do I have to talk to the Kohen or the Levi. That seems a bit strange. But it continues.

Ibid (16:11-12) And you shall do according to the word they tell you, from the place the Lord will choose, and you shall observe to do according to all they instruct you. According to the law they instruct you and according to the judgment they say to you, you shall do; you shall not divert from the word they tell you, either right or left.

Did you notice the bolded underline word? I’m not just asking the judge, or the legal secretary or the housing administrator. I have to ask the Kohen and the Levi and listen to what they all tell me. I have to do this the Torah tells us in the place Hashem chose. There is no just-a-legal question in Judaism. It is a spiritual question. What is right for my soul? Will this perhaps legal loophole that I may be able to find be the “right” thing to do? Perhaps even more telling is the final verse where the Torah tells us whose opinion really counts

And the man who acts intentionally, not obeying the kohen who stands there to serve the Lord, your God, or to the judge that man shall die, and you shall abolish evil from Israel.

It is the Kohen that is named first. It is the spiritual aspect that is most important. There is no separation. My spiritual dictate, from the man who is only there to serve Hashem my God, is even more important than the legal one of the judge whose job it is to preserve society.

Even more fascinating is when the Torah talks about the role of the king who of course is meant to be God fearing and chosen by Hashem. The Torah then tells us

Ibid (17:18) And it will be, when he sits upon his royal throne, that he shall write for himself two copies of this Torah on a scroll from [that Torah which is] before the Levi and kohanim.

The Torah goes out of its way to tell us that the King himself, the executive office itself, has to have a Torah that is written. Two actually. One that he would always take with him wherever he went and one that would be kept with the Kohen and Levi and that he would regularly have to check his own against. The monarch of Israel as well needs a Kohen. His law, his executive powers to start wars, to pardon, to rule the people draws its strength from the spiritual guidance of the Kohen. In fact the entire next few verses repeat all of the mitzvos of the Kohen and Levi that the Torah already told us numerous times. They don’t have a portion in Israel. The Jewish people must provide them with their tithes. Take care of them. Give them parts of every cow you shect, every steak you make, every bread you bake. They are part of you. They are your guidance. They are the essence of our society.

The Jewish people, Hashem told us back on Sinai are a mamlechet Kohanim- a nation of kohanim, of priests. We are all holy. Our job is to set up a society that reflects that divine role. The only way that we can do that is if we have the Kohen, that spiritual guide with us in whatever we do. The Rambam tells us that it is not only the tribe of Levi that Hashem is their portion, as they have no portion in the land of Israel, but every Jew has the potential to find that inner Kohen, that inner Levi. To declare that all he does is for the sake of heaven and bringing Hashem’s glory to shine out to the rest of the world.

Imagine a world that is run like that. That is the end game. Where our kings, our judges, our police, our politicians, our congressman and the entire-dare I say Knesset, are all looking for one thing and one thing only. Will this enhance the Divine presence in the world or not? Imagine if we had a place we could go to, a courthouse that was mandated to be built right next to the place that Hashem Himself could be seen, how much different we would act. We would appreciate the significance of our actions. Of how and what each of us does in any area could impact our own spiritual growth or our neighbors. That is the world we are waiting for that is the order that we daven for. That is what we need to not just pray for, but to begin to make happen, as we travel the road of preparing ourselves for that mindset of what the world that shines that light out to should look like.

It is almost Rosh Hashna. In just another few weeks we will be spending all day in shul asking Hashem for His kingship to be established. That’s pretty much all we really daven for. Are we ready for that? Really ready? Or are we still in our separation-of-church-and-state or Jewish/democracy mode and justice systems that we have been nursed upon, with the Star spangled banner apple pie or Hatikva and Falafel? As I said it’s the season of introspection and reflection. It’s why we read these portions. So if the pollster calls you up and asks you, or me who should be the next prime minister…maybe you and I will have a much better answer.

Have a royal Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Ainer iz a ligen, tsvai iz ligens, drei iz politik.” -One lie is a lie, two are lies, but three is politics!.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q. Remains of churches from the Byzantine period are found in the north mainly in:

A. The Golan Heights

B. Eastern Galilee

C. The Meron area

D. Western Galilee

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/ZxxKN96e_Yo- Hillarious Jewish Music Challenge. Can you guess the songs they had these non-Jews sing?

https://youtu.be/vTPxA9k3v_A – Great song by my good friend Rabbi “K” (BZ Klatzkow) founder of Shabbat. Com the words from Avot “it’s not for you to finish the work, yet you are not free to not do it. For today is to do the job and tomorrow is to receive reward. The world is like anteroom the next world is the main hall. Prepare yourself in the anteroom in order to enter the main hall.”

https://youtu.be/1V349ginD60- If you can get passed allthe shameless corporate sponsorship placements its actually a cute and catchy song for shabbos  sung by cute chasidhish choir shir vshevach. Yom zeh li yisroooooel J

https://youtu.be/gzxXRvjObbQ- The classic Ma Navu al Hahorim from the haftora from London Boys a million years ago

https://youtu.be/aazadGAfE78 - And another pretty cool Ma navu I found Israeli version with footage of liberating the Kotel that adds a whole new dimension to the words of the song

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S HAFTORA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat Shoftim – So many songs in this weeks haftora. Much of our weekly Kabbalat Shabbos canbe found here. hisoriri hisoriri- awaken and awaken, livshi bigdei tifarteich –wear the clothing of your splendor. Hisna’ari mei’afar kumi- awaken, rise up from the earth- all of these verses are words we say when we welcome in the Shabbat queen.

The prophecies of Yeshaya of consolation are perhaps the most used for songs because they speak of the hope that Yerushalayim will be restored and Hashem will comfort and console the city and rebuild its ruins.

Hashem promises that neither a uncircumcised or an impure one will come there. I always interpreted that to refer to the Christians (the uncircumcised) and the Muslims (the impure). The one who will herald in redemption is hearkening. The mevaser tov- Eliyahu Hanavi is around the corner. Hashem will show His outstretched arm as Jerusalem is united. Again in modern times (and in the youtube video I posted above) those words can easily be seen happening as Jerusalem is united, the old city and the new) in 1967 as Hashem’s miracles were seen by the entire world and not even one bullet was fired in the old city as it was returned to us.

Yes, it’s a haftora of song. Hopefully it is the song of redemption that we are experiencing right now that we can sing until its ultimate fulfillment.

Yeshaya Hanavi Era of Prophecy (780-700 BC)- Yeshayahu was the author of his own book. It has 66 chapters and it his prophecies that make up the majority of the haftoras 15 in total. He was considered the greatest prophet since Moshe and he died (or more accurately was killed by King Menashe) at age 120 just as Moshe did.

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

Tabernacle- 1312 BC-  From the Golden Calf we move on over to the building of the Mishkan / Tabernacle. This building of which its construction takes up half of the book of Shemos, amazingly was really only meant to be around and in use for a few weeks. Remember, they were meant to enter Israel and were not far away. It ended up being used for 40 years in the wilderness and another 200 or so until Shlomo built the Beis Hamikdash. But originally it was only meant to be a short term building just until they got there. Lesson to be learned- even when your building a short term project, make it last, do it well, you never know…particularly if it’s a mitzva of Hashem.

The Mishkan as well is not just a place for Hashem to reside, and for us to bring offerings, but as this week’s Torah portion tells us it was where the law and the judges would sit as well. We don’t have separation of church and state. All law is Divine and that is the sanctity of the Mishkan.

Now where can we talk about the Mishkan? Well in Yerushalayim one can visit the Temple institute and really get an appreciation of the vessels of the Temple; The altars, the menora, the ark and the Kohen and his clothing.  As well one can to Shiloh in the Shomron, where the Mishkan actually sat and see the area where it was as well as a film of what it was like having the Mishkan stories that took place there. As well the shul in the modern village of Shiloh is actually built with the theme of the Mishkan in mind and is certainly worth popping into see. Not far from there in Ariel, from what I’m told there as well a model at the hotel there. For a life size model –although not halachically accurate but definitely cool (despite a bit of Christian influence, as I think evangelicals are behind it) in Timna not far from Eilat they have a pretty incredible one, where you can really get a general feel for what it must have felt like. It wasn’t a big Temple. Really a large tent. Just watch out for any Messianic garbage they throw at you over there.

The word Mishkan is the same root as the word mashkon- or collateral Hashem held the Mishkan as a collateral for us until the Temple will be rebuilt. May we see that day soon.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S REALLY TERRIBLE KING JOKES  OF THE WEEK

A king has three glasses in front of him, and two of them are full. What’s the king’s name?
Phillip the third!

Did you know the roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference?  Yep, he acquired his size from too much pi!

What does the king do when he burps? He issues a royal pardon!

When does a prince get very wet? When he becomes the reigning monarch!

Which king felt a fraction of his former self? Henry 1/8th!

A Christian a Jew and an Arab were caught stealing fruit from the fields of the King. They were brought before the King for judgement.

The Christian was brought first and the King asked him what he stole. He said that he stole apricots. The King got angry and sentenced him that he would be forced to be chained unclothed and he would be forced to sit unclothed in a bin of apricots and he would be pelted by everyone with them.

The Jew was brought next and the King asked him what he stole and he responded cherries. A well the King got very angry and sentenced him to be forced as well to sit without anything on in cherries and be pelted by everyone. When the Jew got his sentence though he started to laugh

The King asked him if he though this sentence was funny. Berel wiped his eyes from laughter and told thing that he was just laughing at the thought of the poor arab that stole sabras…

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Answer is B– This one is pretty easy.we had two days of Christianity in the Galile. And despite my best efforts to delete all of this mishegas from my mind, it seems that it still there, every placed “yoshka” went to the bathroom here in Galilee is embedded in my mind. He pretty much hung around the Jewish communities that were all in the Eastern and lower Galilee. Kfar Nachum, Mt. Tavor, Beatitudes, Migdal he was all over there and they built churches all over as a result of that. We haven’t removed the idolatry that most of the world believes in still because we haven’t corrected them and shone the light of Hashem, who certainly didn’t make a baby and torture him to death to atone for the sins of mankind. Although one would think its silly enough that we wouldn’t have to convince people how ridiculous it is. We haven’t done so because Christianity is good for business and sadly too many here worship the Almighty dollar more than the Almighty. Ah well… Mashiach will come soon and solve that.