Missing Mom- Parshat Chayei Sarah 5786 2025

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

November 14^th 2025 -Volume 15 Issue 4 23^rd of Cheshvan 5786

 

Parshat Chayei Sara

 

Missing Mom

 

I miss my mother, and it's not just her cooking. Aliza, pretty much has me covered on that front. I made sure of that before I married her and she hasn't let me down. I don't think I have ever gone this long in my 54 years of life without my parents coming and visiting us. There's three great-grandchildren they never even met! First we had this Corona thing which kind of shut down any plans they had and then just when it was getting quiet again we had this war thingamajiggy break out. Sure, I've been back to the States here and there. But still it's not the same as having Mom (and Dad) coming over here and being in my house. In our country. Together here in the Holy Land. Sharing in our family simchas here….

 

Don't get me wrong, I was never a homesick kind of kid. Hey, I went to sleepaway camp for a month when I was 6 years old and that's only because they wouldn't accept me when I was 5. Neither was I was ever a Momma's boy, my mother made sure of that, and that's despite the fact that I'm her favorite child (it's a good thing my sisters don't read my E-Mails), although Gedalia is good competition. It's also not like we don't talk at least once a week either, we even facetime sometimes-although I'm not a fan. But it's not the same. Truth is I don't even know why it's not the same. She generally will scold me the same, will get emotional and even choked with tears when she tells me she loves me and gives me those important reminders to brush my teeth, take care of my health and remember to say shema at night before I go to sleep. It's not even the hugs and kisses. I'm not such a family hugger… They're generally too emotional. There's just something about being in her presence. In both of my parent's presence-despite all of our usual fights and arguments, that is missing and the longing to see them again just grows stronger and stronger each day and each month…

 

OK now that I made my mother cry in the first two paragraphs, let's move on to the parsha which really gives us the essence of Jewish motherhood and the relationship between boys and their mothers. After-all it is the parsha titled after the first Jewish mother ever; Chayei Sarah- the life of Sarah. It seems the perfect book to buy and read to find out all we need to know about Jewish motherhood; the life and times of Sarah. Yet, quite the opposite. The second verse in already tells us that she died. That was quick. Short book. I want a refund. But Hashem doesn't give refunds. Now although the divisions and certainly the titles of the parshiyot were not given by Hashem, all Jewish traditions and certainly those that have to do with the study of Torah that for millennia have utilized these titles exist because of Divine inspiration. For generations the titles of each sedra were understood to define the entire theme of the parsha. If that is the case maybe we should flip a few more pages of the book that seems to us should've more aptly been "The life without Sarah" and find out what we are missing.

 

The first part of the story is all about her burial, and the elongated story of Avraham's negotiations to purchase the Cave of Machpela for her burial. True, the Torah tells us that Avraham eulogized Sarah and the Midrash Tanchuma even tells us that his eulogy was based on the Eishet Chayil that we sing every Friday Night-how each verse applies to everything in her life. But the Torah itself doesn't really tell us much about Sarah.

 

The next part and bulk of the parsha is all about Avraham swearing his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak, (who seemingly missed his Mom's funeral) and who has kind of disappeared since the Akeida. We have the elongated and repetitive story of Eliezer testing and finding Rivka, the negotiations with Lavan and Besuel and them blessing her as she leaves (*Don't miss the great song I composed in honor of my sister Rivky's wedding with that blessing down below) They meet Yitzchak and brings her back to his Mother's tent. This is the majority of the parsha and it seems it should more appropriately be called the "Chayei Rivka" then of Sarah.

 

The last piece of the Parsha as well doesn't seem to have any Sarah action in it either. We are told of Avraham's remarriage to Ketura-who Chazal tells us is Hagar. The children he has with her and his sending them away as well. Finally, we have Avraham's death and burial by Yitzchak and Yishmael and then all the descendants of Yishmael. There's more Chayei Hagar and Chayei Yishmael there than Chayei Sarah and frankly to most of us it doesn’t really seem to interesting. We bought this book to find out about our mother, not our cousin's family. I would've gone to a book store in Ramallah for that.

 

There is a game I like to play with my tourists when I talk to them about Jerusalem. I tell them that our sages tell us that there is heavenly city of Jerusalem that directly corresponds to the one that is down here, and that I can prove it to them. I ask them how to say hand in Hebrew- they say "yad". How do you say two hands? "Yadayim!" they say very excitedly, surprisingly proud of themselves that they know something most kindergarteners know. How do you say foot, I continue? "Regel!" Two feet? "Raglayim!" Eye? "Ayin!". Two eyes? " Einayim!" Ear? "Ozen…" they reply getting sick of this game already. OK…two ears? Oznayim- now they are really getting bored. So I switch it up and ask how they say Jerusalem in Hebrew? And they say of course Yerushalayim. And I tell them they are wrong…"What?!" They check my Kippa to make sure it really is black velvet (the only kosher kind). So I show them how in the Torah it says it is called Yeru-shalem. What does Yerushal-AYIM mean? Well now they know it means two. The "ayim" suffix makes something plural. This is to teach us that there are two a Jerusalem down here and a Jerusalem up above. Walla! As we say in Hebrew…

 

There is another word that is really just as reflective and insightful once you have this priniciple down pat. How do we say life in Hebrew. Again seemingly easy but wrong. I imagine most of you would say chayim. Like when we drink, we say ""l'chaim" to life. Except that the word life has the "ayim" suffix" to it as well. chayim means lives. Two of them. The one in this world and the one in the afterworld. In fact, there is no word for a singular life in Hebrew. Chai- means alive it doesn't mean life. Whenever we talk about a life, we talk about it in the plural. It's always a doubled life. It's the life we have while we are here and the life that continues on after we leave this physical world that we put in place and are still connected to even after we're gone. Our sages tell us that the righteous even after they pass are called living. Our parsha is called Chayei Sarah because it is the lives of Sarah, for it is the story of the life of Sarah that live on even when she wasn't close enough to hug anymore.

 

The eternal life of Sarah starts at Mea'arat Hamachpela- the doubled cave. But it's not just the cave that is "machpela- doubled". It is in the field of Machpela that is in the area referred to as Machpela. machpela means double. It will be the beit hachayim- the house of life, of two lives; the one where the physical ends and the eternal one begins. There is no more appropriate place to start our book about Sarah than at the purchase of Machpela for that will be the symbol that she lives on even in her departing from this physical world.

 

The parsha continues with Sarah's life in the finding of the spouse for her son Yitzchak. This entire story is finding someone that will fill the tent of Sarah with her light once again. Avraham realizes that he needs someone as close as Sarah as he can get to light that light of Sarah so he makes Eliezer swear and travel in order for him to find that "mother".

 

When Yitzchak finds Rivkah the verse tells us his reaction in such incredible terms.

 

Bereshit (24:67) And Yitzchak brought her to the tent of Sarah his mother, and he took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her. And Yitzchak was comforted for [the loss of] his mother.

 

Sarah lives in Rivkah. Her tent lives. This is after all parshat Chayei Sarah. If you aren't sure, then take a look at Rashi

 

He brought her into the tent and she became exactly like his mother Sarah — that is to say, the words signify as much as, [And he brought her into the tent] and, behold, she was Sarah, his mother).

 

Do you know how they say that you marry someone like your mother? Yitzchak certainly did. The three miracles that Sarah had in her tent of a light from Shabbos to Shabbos, that there was a blessing that could be tasted in her bread and that there was a heavenly cloud always present for protection are the symbols and correspond to the specific mitzvos of a woman, of a mother. Sarah had passed away for three years yet Yitzchak had not been consoled. Rashi again tells us this is the way it's meant to be, which seems strange as we know that someone who dies the mourning ends after a year. But Rashi says a fascinating eternal insight.

 

It is derech Eretz- the natural (and proper way) that while a man’s mother is living for him to be karuch- wrapped up in her. But when she dies he finds comfort in his wife.

 

I saw a beautiful insight in the sefer Hamisulaim Mipaz- that writes that although when a man gets married the Torah tells us that he leaves his father and mother and is davak-cleaves to his wife, that does not negate that he is still wrapped up karuch-like the word korech by our Pesach sandwich- with his mother. His wife is the person that he becomes one with. They will build a unit and a family together. That bond of being one with his mother who fed him, cared for him, worried about him and strengthened him will be replaced with his wife. But his mother will still be wrapped into everything he does. She is the one he turns to for that wisdom of his youth, for the insight that only she can provide him with as no one knows him better. No one cares as much in his heart. She is not one with him, she is not davak, but she is that external force that is wrapped around all he does. She lives in him, even though she is not with him.

 

It's fascinating when you think about it. None of our Matriarchs had shviggers (mother-in-laws). They missed out on that wonderful aspect of married life for a new young bride. The reason perhaps is precisely as explained above. Each one of them were a continuation of the light of the previous generation. Each one's husband was fully theirs and there was no mother wrapped up in their relationship. They inherited the light and filled the tent with that same wisdom and light that the ones before them did.

 

But as our book on the life of Sarah concludes it reveals that Sarah is not just the mother of Yitzchak. Sarah has other "children". Her prize student Hagar- for she wouldn't give Avraham any less and Hagar's son Yishmael, whose entire existence because Sara was his mother's shadchan. She raised the two of them to such a high level that they both even saw and communicated with angels. She's also the "mother" of Hagar who she sent away and is now brought back to Avraham. They both return to the fold after being sent away for their own good. It certainly pained Sarah as much as it did Avraham. But she knew what they needed-as Jewish mothers always do. And the conclusion of the parsha of the life of Sarah that these children as well return. Hagar, now Ketura remarries Avraham. She is called Ketura because like incense she was lit with the flame and the holy spirit of Sarah now emanates from her. And Yishmael returns to bury his father Avraham with Yitzchak allowing Yitzchak to go first, for he had done teshuva. The teshuva of Yishmael is so great that we find there are great sages in the Mishna that are named for him. Again the life of Sarah lives on. She is the first of our Imahos and she is the light that is shines eternally in every Jewish mother since.

 

There is perhaps no stereotype out there like the Jewish Mother. They truly are all the same. They are the same because they all carry the light of Sarah that they shine into their children. It's in their DNA. They worry about that light more than any other mother, and that light shines even if they're not close enough to hug us. We have our own spouses, children, family and friends to cleave to and give us the hugs and make us the food and build our tents with us. But I relate to Yitzchak who missed his mother. Baruch Hashem mine is well and healthy, as she always is, thank God until 120. It's not Mother's Day this week. We never did that in my family, as every day is Mother's Day. But Thanksgiving is coming up in some countries-although we were never too strict about that either, and so I'll use this week's E-mail to just say thank you Mom… I miss you…and hope to see you soon oif simchas…

 

Have a perfectly amazing Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

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

YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

" Di varemsteh bet is di mamehs."- The warmest bed is mother’s…"

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

7. The name of the capital city of the Abbasid dynasty is _____________

What is the "Treaty of Jaffa"?

A. Treaty between the Crusaders and the Muslims

B. Treaty between the Byzantines and the Muslims

C. Treaty between the Mamluks and the Ottomans

D. Treaty between the Ottomans and the British

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/rivkah   – My sister Rivky thinks this is my nicest composition. It was her chuppa song so that makes sense. Yitzy Berry did an awesome job and I dare you to listen and not get moved by this special Bracha that Lavan gave Rivka in this week's parsha… and we do so by every Chasuna..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeNbxITuM50   – A beautiful new release from Ari Goldwag Zamer singing the song of Torah and sweetness…!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mThU6MnnxI&list=RD3mThU6MnnxI&start_radio=1   – Ahrele Samet and Naftali Kempeh- Cholas Ahava- I can see this being the next wedding song yeshivish guys in Israel at least are singing…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdAO_jD3qoU&list=RDRdAO_jD3qoU&start_radio=1      – Avraham Fried's and Meieich Braunstein latest Barcheinu!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUB0p9r87uA  – Gorgeous Aharon Razel and yeshiva Maalei Adumim for all of our soldiers and wounde L'Olam Odecha

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

 

I Had a Dream- 562 BC – As we said last week, Nevuchadnezzar was exiled from his throne for 7 years and made to wander in the jungle like a animal in fulfillment of the dream he had and prophecy of Daniel. This was made to humble him successfully and for him to recognize Hashem, which he did. Nothing like turning these guys into the animals they behave like to knock a little God fearing into them. While he's away the mice begin to play his son Avel (or Evil) Merodach takes the kingdom and rules in his place. When he comes back from his exile a Baal Teshuva- so to speak, he's not a happy camper so he chucks him in jail. Nice….

 

When Nevuchadnezzar dies his little boychik comes out of jail and tries to retake that throne. But the oilam isn't too happy with that. They're scared that Nevuchadnezzar will come back again. He's kind of like strep throat. Like the Crusaders, Like Chamas. Like Hezballah. Like all of our enemies. They're the gift that keeps on giving. So they don't want to inaugurate him for fear of what he would do to them if he comes back. Left with no choice Avel goes ahead and pulls out some iron chains digs up Daddy Nevuchadnezzar and then has him chucked in front of the people's feet. He's dead.

 

The people get up and start singing and dancing. "Ding Dong the King is dead… ". They shoot firework and hand out baklava. They coronate Avel as their new king and times are good for Bavel/Iraq. The Jews also it seems want to get a piece of this action and good will and Daniel coddles up to Avel and begins to advise him to free all of the prisoners in honor of the occasion. In order to show he's not the previous administration. Give Yehoyachin, the former King of Yehuda who had been sitting in jail for 37 years a pardon. Let them go! And whadaya know? It works!

 

Isn't it amazing how much of this Navi column ties into modern day things going on in the world. Current events. This past week, the table turned. Trump, the world leader, turns to the Jewish government and state of Israel and ask the president to pardon, Bibi- Melech Yisrael- the "King of Yehuda". Let's see if that works… or are the goyim more inclined to pardon then we are…?

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TERRIBLE JEWISH MOTHER JOKES OF THE WEEK

LESSONS MY JEWISH MOTHER TAUGHT ME

My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE:

"If you two are going to kill each other, do it outside - I just finished cleaning!"

 

My mother taught me RELIGION:

"You better pray that stain will come out of the carpet."

 

My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL:

"If you don't behave, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

 

My mother taught me LOGIC:

"Because I said so, that's why."

 

My mother taught me IRONY:

"Keep crying and I'll *give* you something to cry about."

 

My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS:

"Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"

 

My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM:

"Will you *look* at the dirt on the back of your neck!"

 

My mother taught me about STAMINA:

"You'll sit there 'till all your spinach is finished."

 

My mother taught me about WEATHER:

"It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."

 

My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY:

"If I've told you once, I've told you a million times – Don't Exaggerate!!!"

 

My mother taught me about BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION:

"Stop acting like your father!"

 

My mother taught me about ENVY:

"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do!"

 

 During a regular early morning shul service, Rabbi Levy couldn't help noticing 21 year old Benny sitting at the back of the shul looking very sad. He had his head in his hands. So at a convenient moment, Rabbi Levy goes over to him and asks, "What's wrong, Benny? Tell me. Maybe I can help."

"Oh rabbi," replies Benny, "I just don't know what to do. Every time I bring a girl home to introduce her to my parents, no matter how wonderful the girl is, my mother always tells me that she does not like her at all."

"I've heard this story many times before," says Rabbi Levy, "but you'll be pleased to hear that I have a tried and tested solution for you. Next time you choose a girl, make sure she not only looks just like your mother, but also talks like your mother, laughs like your mother, cooks like your mother, and dresses like your mother. Believe me, Benny, if you find such a girl, your mother will absolutely love her."

Many weeks go by before Benny finds someone just like his mother. And not only that, but the girl very quickly falls madly in love with him. So Benny invites her to meet his parents and this time is feeling very optimistic that all will go well.

At the next shul service, Rabbi Levy notices that Benny is once again sitting at the back of the shul looking unbelievably unhappy. So once again, during a break in the service, Rabbi Levy goes over to Benny. "What's wrong Benny?" asks Rabbi Levy. "Couldn't you find someone like your mother?"

"Rabbi," replies Benny, "miraculously, I found a girl just like my Mom. Not only did she look just like Mom, but she also talked like Mom, laughed like Mom, cooked like Mom, and dressed like Mom."

"So everything should have worked out okay for you," says Rabbi Levy.

"No, rabbi, it didn't," replies Benny. "My father didn't like her."

 

As a fundraiser the local Hebrew School decided to hold a talent show for the community. The night of the show finally arrived and the auditorium was packed with community people. Judy Goldberg looked on her as her pride and joy Chezky was playing piano and singing his beautiful composed Ani Maamin. During her performance she noticed a man in the audience clearly moved and crying. 

After the show she walks over to him and says "isn't it touching that the younger generation is carrying on our tradition?"

The man says "I don't know I'm not Jewish".

"So why were you crying?" she asks him.

"Oh that's because I am a musician"

 

 A man is laying on the operating table, about to be operated on by his son, the surgeon. The son reassures his nevous father that there is nothing to worry about. It's a simple procedure that he has done many times before. 

The father says, "Son, think of it this way ... If anything  happens to me, your mother is coming to live with you."

 

A young Jewish man excitedly tells his mother he's fallen in love and going to get married. He says, "Just for fun, Mom, I'm going to bring over three women and you try and guess which one I'm going to marry."

The mother agrees. The next day, he brings three beautiful women into the house and sits them down on the couch and they chat for a while. He then says,

"Okay, Mom. Guess which one I'm going to marry."

She immediately replies, "The red-head in the middle."

"That's amazing, Mom. You're right. How did you know?"

"I don't like her."

 

It was a terrible night, blowing cold and rain in a most frightful manner. The streets were deserted and the local baker was just about to close up shop when Bernie slipped through the door. He carried an umbrella, blown inside out, and was bundled in two sweaters and a thick coat. But even so he still looked wet and bedraggled.

As Bernie unwound his scarf he said to the baker, "May I have two bagels to go, please?"

The baker said in astonishment, "Two bagels? Nothing more?"

"That's right," answered Bernie, "One for me and one for Bernice."

"Bernice is your wife?" asked the baker.

"What do you think," snapped Bernie, " would my mother would send me out on a night like this?"

 

A Jewish mother is walking down the street with her two young sons.

A passerby asks her how old the boys are.

"The doctor is three," the mother answers, "and the lawyer is two."

 

The answer to this week's question is A – Well, it took 7 weeks until I got my first one totally wrong. Muslim stuff isn't really my thing. So I guessed Mecca and the correct answer was Baghdad. I really don't care. The treaty of Jaffa I probably should've known. The treaty between the Crusaders and the Muslims is pretty important. But I really wasn't thinking much and went with Turks instead. I probably would've skipped this question on the exam, as you're allowed to skip 5 q's. So this one was my first one wrong. And the new score is Rabbi Schwartz having a 5 point and the MOT having 2 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

 

A Cemetery by the City- Parshat Chayei Sara 2024 5785

 

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

November 22^nd 2024 -Volume 14 Issue 4 21^st of Cheshvan 5785

 

Parshat Chayei Sarah

 

The City by the Cemetery

 

A mother shouldn’t have to bury her child. It’s not natural. It’s not the way the world is meant to be. Children bury their parents, not the opposite. There is nothing more heart wrenching than a mother’s tears at her child’s funeral. A child whose life was taken too early, was cut short, whose parent’s had so much hope and aspiration for.

 

A Jewish mother’s aspiration for her child is not a goy’s. It’s the secret of why we are so successful. Why we have so many Noble prizes. Why we are the light of the world. Why no matter what happens or befalls us, we pick ourselves up and keep moving higher and higher. It’s our mother’s voice in our head. It’s the guilt, the confidence, the charge and the mandate that they have charged, raised and built us with. That they nursed us with. It’s the hopes and dreams of a better world that is placed on our shoulders to realize and bring forth that is in the milk that they fed us and the lullabies that they sung us to sleep with. It’s the Modeh Ani that they woke us up with each morning. There is nothing more painful and unnatural to have to bury that before it is realized.

 

This week’s parsha is Chayei Sarah. It is not the story of the life of Sarah, but rather of her death and burial. It is from that first Matriarch that every Jewish mother descends. The story of her death and burial, the first in the Torah, becomes the prototype for all funerals and burial customs. The grave where she is buried in Chevron of Me’arat Ha’Machpela where all our Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried is registered under her name. They are all buried in “the cave where Sarah was buried”. She is the first “Jew” to die and thus it is her legacy, before anyone else that all her descendants have been charged to carry on.

 

For hundreds of years throughout our history, Jews came to her grave and prayed and took strength from her memory. Sadly there were also centuries when we were thrown out of our land and couldn’t come there. In the last 500 years or so there have been many communities who returned to Chevron with many great leaders, Rabbis, sages, scholars and Kabbalists as well as Chasidim and even the great Slobodka Yeshiva. That lasted however until the terrible pogrom of 1929. On that “Shabbat Ha’Shachor- the Black Sabbath of August 24^th, a little over a week after Tisha B’Av the Arabs whom until that point many in Chevron considered their friends and neighbors and whose weddings they celebrated with and whose children even played together and who worked in the same hospitals and shopped in their stores, revealed their true Yishmaelite colors.

 

 At that time they weren’t being occupied. There were no check points. There was no State of Israel. There was just the children of Sarah living in her city; in her land together with the children of her maidservant Hagar whom she had given to Avraham as a wife.

 

 On that morning, at 6:30 in the morning as the Jews awoke and prepared to go to shul, the Arabs began their attack. Hundreds poured out of their houses and neighboring villages and descended on the homes and shuls of Chevron. With rocks, sticks, knives, swords and guns they pillaged the city. They raped, they burned, the killed children in front of their parents. They murdered massacred and terrorized, while the British sat by idly. By the end of the day 67 people were murdered in Chevron and 133 were killed all over the country, in Jerusalem, Tzfat, Yaffo and other Jewish settlements across the land. It was the worst tragedy to have hit the old Yishuv perhaps until today. Despite the fact that on October 7^th there were more that were killed in even one Kibbutz and ten times as many that were killed, yet back then the entire Jewish population of Israel was less than 90,000. Proportionately to today’s population it would be as if 11,000 were killed on one day. Yet the terror, havoc and callousness of the world which stood by as this took place was even more painful and eye-opening. From that Shabbos, Jews were expelled from Chevron, separated from our Matriarch, longing for her motherly embrace in her cave.

 

In 1967 we returned to Chevron. Hashem miraculously returned us to the city of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. In six days, we quadrupled the size of Israel. The Temple Mount was in our hands. Rachel’s tomb, The grave of Yosef in Shechem, the West Bank, the Mountains of Bashan in the Golan that Moshe had once conquered for us, the Sinai desert and the land of the Philistines where Yitzchak and Yishmael dwelled together and where Sarah was kidnapped in the house of Avimelech was finally returned to us. Gaza was ours. Yet sadly and tragically, then as now, Israel has a problem claiming the exclusivity of our inheritance that Sarah had urged Avraham to engrain in us. We didn’t see ourselves as rightful inheritors but rather as

“ger v’toshav anochi imachem- sojourners and settlers together with Yishmael’s descendants.

 

Those are the words that Avraham used when he first went to purchase that special cave, the first land we bought in Eretz Yisrael. Yet, whereas in Avraham’s case it was because we had not yet inherited the land and the time for the fulfillment of the promise of Hashem had not yet arrived. Today we had no such excuse.

 

Perhaps it was because 2000 years of exile, persecution and being absent so long from our mother’s words and promise that had caused us to forget our Divine promise. That made us give up hope and belief that indeed the time for us to declare and exert our property rights had arrived. That the miracles Hashem was preforming for us then was not merely to give us a “national homeland” and place of refuge after the horrors of the Holocaust, but rather was the start of the long promised and awaited for ingathering of exiles. One in which we were meant to finally claim what was rightfully ours and in the process uplift Yishmael in the only way he can be uplifted; by subjugating the child of the maid-servant, that pereh adam, to the nation of Hashem and the inheritors of their father Avraham. To teach them to follow in his ways by accepting our role just as Yishmael himself did at the funeral of Avraham in this week’s parsha. Where Rashi tells us Yishmael himself becomes a tzadik gamur  and ultimately is described by the Torah as his death being an “expiration”, a term that is only utilized for the entirely righteous.

 

Yet Sarah, had a descendant that did have that faith. Sarah Nachshon and her husband Baruch, who was renowned artist and were Chabad Chasidim, returned to Chevron in 1968 with three other families. The Government did not allow them to live in Chevron proper at the time, yet due to the pressure that they levied upon them, they allowed them to develop a new community of Kiryat Arba adjacent to it. The first three and half years they lived on the army base until their first homes were ready. Yet upon moving into their home, much to their great joy, they were blessed with a child after 10 years, just as their ancestors Avraham and Sarah were. Sarah felt very strongly that as this was the first new child to born in Chevron his bris would take place in the cave of his great-great grandmother Sarah Immeinu. Avraham and Sarah deserve to join in this celebratory return of their children.

 

The army and the government concerned with upsetting Yishmael, and our peaceful cousins in Chevron was not keen on the idea. They prohibited it. No religious services that could be viewed as Jews trying to re-occupy our ancestral city would be tolerated. Yet, as Sarah told them, that would be very important information had she been asking permission to preform the Bris there. Yet, fortunately that was not what she was doing or felt any need to do. Her son was born in Chevron and he would have his bris there. Let the chips fall where they may. And thus Avraham Yedidya Nachshon entered into the covenant of his zaydie Avraham Avinu, whose name he carried, despite the Israeli army and government’s attempt to stop them.

 

The joy and hope however was short lived. A half a year later Sarah woke up one morning to find her young Avraham lifeless in his crib. He had returned his neshoma to Hashem. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is until today an unexplainable medical phenomena that can only be described as a misas neshika, where one’s soul being kissed from them by Hashem as they fall asleep with their pure infant soul not being returned to them in the morning. It was the death of Avraham and Sarah and Moshe and Aharon and all of our great and most righteous. The death that is the highest and most peaceful of levels. It’s what they all longed for and davened to have and it was how Avraham Yedidya Nachshon returned his soul and joined them in heaven.

 

Yet for Sarah Nachshon, whose husband Baruch wasn’t even home that morning and was unreachable in that pre-cell phone era, that wasn’t going to be the end of her son’s story. Avraham Yedidya was born in Chevron, He was circumcised and given his name there. It was the only place he lived his short life, and he would be buried there in the ancient Chevron Jewish cemetery, next to all of the great individuals throughout the last centuries buried there as well. The great-grandfather of the Chida and great Kabbalist of the 17^th century the Chesed L’Avraham, The Sdei Chemed, the Reishis Chochma and Meleches Shlomo and the granddaughter of the Baal Ha’Tanya and daughter of the “Mittler Rebbe” Menucha Rochel Slonim are all there in the cemetery. They are right near the ancient traditional biblical gravesites of Ruth, Yishai, father of Dovid Ha’Melech who ruled here and as well next to the first judge of Israel after the land was conquered and the death of Yehoshua; Otniel Ben Kenaz.

 

For 50 years, since 1929, Jews had been forbidden from going to the visit the graves of the great people there. Perhaps the government wanted to prevent the outrage that would certainly have followed, had the nation known about the desecration of those graves, as well as those of the martyrs of the 29’ massacre that had been buried there at the hands of Yishmael who had been given free reign to do what they wanted as we turned a blind eye. Yet that would end with the burial of Avraham Yedidya. Sarah was determined that her son would be returned and gathered into the resting place of our forefathers.

 

Having already experienced the first failure to prevent this woman, the army was more than prepared that next morning when word got out. Tens of soldiers and roadblocks were placed on the hill down from Kiryat Arba to Chevron. The procession was stopped by armed soldiers and representatives from the Yitzchak Rabin’s Ministry of Defense that ordered them to return and bury Avraham in Kiryat Arba. For hours they stood there arguing, demanding, moving up the ranks of bureaucracy. It was reminiscent of the funeral of Yaakov Avinu, when millions from Egypt and around the world came to bury him and they were as well stopped at the cave from entering. Yet this time it was not our red-headed Uncle Esau and his 400 armed men that were stopping us from entering. It was our own soldiers. It was the children of Yaakov that still hadn’t understood or read the contract that stated that this land was ours. The contract that in Yaakov’s time we sent Naftali running back to retrieve, yet over 2000 years of Exile in the land of Esau seems to have been misplaced from our memory.

 

It all came to an end when Sara while talking to one of the soldiers was told that the reason why they were being so obstinate was because there was a very likely possibility that the city of Chevron would be handed over to Yishmael in any future “peace agreements”. It was those words that sent thousands of years of DeJa’Vu through the Divine spirit into her heart. She remembered when Avraham Avinu purchased this land. She recalled how he as well had erroneously wanted Yishmael to inherit it. She recalled the “deals” that he had cut with Avimelech and the Philistines in Gaza that had delayed our return for hundreds of years in which we were enslaved in Egypt and that took us thousands of years until we finally returned to rectify. Perhaps she saw into the future at what would be the end of this miraculous return if we continued on this path of self-destruction and not realizing our job and what happens when we don’t claim our rightful homeland and place in the world. Perhaps she even saw October 7^th.

 

Without hesitation Sara walked to the back of the hearse and took the lifeless body of her son in her arms and proceeded to walk past the shocked soldiers who melted away before her. Hundreds followed Sara as she arrived at that ancient burial site and dug his small grave and placed him in the earth that he had been born from. As Sarah got up to eulogize her son, tears rolled down every face as she made this declaration to Hashem.

 

“Three thousand five hundred years ago, Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu, you had a son named Avraham he married Sarah and they came here to the city of Chevron and were blessed with a child. Yet, you told Avraham to take that special miraculous child and bring him up to you as a sacrifice. Yet when you saw the faithfulness of your son and his willingness to give everything to You, You spared that child. You returned him to his father. Yet, Sarah, his mother never got to hug him and kiss him and tell him that she loved him again. She died that Rosh Hashana morning. Her husband Avraham returned her to Chevron and bought a grave for her and buried her here. This is where she rests.”

 

“3500 years later, her children once again have returned to Chevron. My name is Sarah and You as well blessed me with a son, Avraham. Yet him You took as a sacrifice. He was not spared by You. I, his mother Sarah have now come back here to bury her Avraham. He should be the last sacrifice that you take from our people, from their descendants…”

 

“Our sages tell us a story of a young child that was being carried on the shoulders of his father on a long journey to the big city. After many days of wandering the son asked his father when they will arrive already. It’s hot. The journey is difficult. It’s painful. It’s so long… When will we finally be there? The father turned to his child and told his son, that when you see a large cemetery you will know that you have arrived at the city and that it is just up ahead. For in Jewish law a cemetery is always on the outskirts of the city. With this cemetery and with the return of Avraham Yedidya”, Sarah concluded, “the cemetery of Chevron has been reestablished once again. May it be the will of Hashem that very soon the city of Chevron will as well come in sight.”

 

It took them 2 years until we returned to Chevron. It wasn’t until Menachem Begin was Prime Minister that the people in Kiryat Arba felt ready to make the next move. After Pesach in April of 1979, 15 women and 35 children moved in the middle of the night moved into the abandoned Jewish Beit Hadassa hospital and barricaded themselves there until the government would allow them to return to city of Chevron. Begin, on the on the one hand didn’t feel that he could oppose the Supreme Court that prohibited Jewish settlement in Chevron. Yet at the same time refused to be the PM that would forcibly remove Jewish women and children from our Jewish ancestral city. So Solomonically he gave orders that as long as they stayed there they would not be forcibly removed. No men however would be allowed in and no one that left could return. And thus Sara and her friends dug in for the long haul.

 

One month, two months, three months, through the winter, through the following year, the women and children didn’t leave. Each Shabbos the men would come down and sing Shalom Aleichem. They would sing the song of Eishet Chayil, that our sages fascinatingly tell us is written and recited by Avraham as his eulogy on Sarah here in Chevron. They would make Kiddush and dance Lecha Dodi for their beloved heroic women and children who watched from the window awaiting as they welcomed the Shabbos Bride and davened for the redemption and for Jerusalem. For the shame of our nation to finally be erased.

 

On Friday night of May 2^nd though that day finally came, but once again at the price of spilled Jewish blood, as an Arab sniper opened up fire and murdered six of the men in the midst of that holy dance. It was after that when Begin finally gave the order for the Jews to return to Chevron. The cemetery outside the city was getting fuller. It was time for the city to be built.

 

This Shabbos is Shabbat Chevron. Tens of thousands of Sarah’s children will return this Shabbos to the city and sing and dance and pray for our return. For the great Shabbos to finally arrive. This past year our battle with Yishmael it has been more about our own inner struggle and acceptance of the only way that Hashem through the prophecy of Sarah told us that we are meant to return. That we should come back as inheritors. That we understand that the entire land is ours. That Chevron is. That Gaza is. The Golan. Beirut. Jordan. Damascus, until the river of Egypt and Sinai. Those are the borders that Hashem told Avraham are ours. That we have inherited. That He never wanted us to sacrifice our children for that goal. He just wanted us to understand that we have to be able and willing claim. That we need to realize that if we don’t express our claim, Yishmael will.

 

The cemetery is already full. It gets fuller and fuller each day. Mothers shouldn’t have to bury their children. It’s not natural. But neither is being and acting as if we are strangers in our own home. If we don’t feel and appreciate that we are children of Sara and Avraham and this is our home, our kitchen, our living room, our Temple Mount, our Negev, our Golan and our West Bank. If we don’t act like children and stop behaving like apologetic strangers, colonists and conquers, then unnatural sacrifice are demanded from us until we get it. Mothers bury their children and Yishmael will throw us out of our homes and we will live in hotels like guests without residency. Like tourists rather than citizens. It’s not Hashem that has taken those sacrifices. It’s we who haven’t yet gotten what He wants from us. It’s the legacy, life and message of Sarah that we have forgotten. That we haven’t realized.

 

While Sarah and her friends were in Beit Hadassa they sent a message to the Lubavitcher Rebbe asking him how long must they remain there. It’s been a year. There are soldiers outside that don’t let anyone come in. When will this end? The Rebbe in a tearful recorded message told them that their conversation recalled him of the brave message of the daughters of Tzlafchad that turned and asked Moshe Rabbeinu as well why they were not granted a portion in the land of Israel. Why should they be left out? Why should the sins of their fathers be on their head? When can they return to their land? Moshe told them their question was too difficult. He turned it to Hashem. And Hashem told Moshe

 

“Ken Bnot Tzlafchad Dovrot- the daughters of Tzlafchad speak truth”

 

The daughters of Tzlafchad are correct. The time has come. The legacy of Sarah is being fulfilled. It’s time for the unnatural to finally be over. For the city by the cemetery to finally be built.

 

Have a passionate restful Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Der emess kumt arois azoi vi boimel oif der vasser.”.- The truth comes out like oil on water.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

29.The building of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem was

recently moved to the area of _______.

 

Which of the following figures contributed greatly to the foundation and building

of the city of Tel Aviv?

A. Hayim Nahman Bialik

B. Aharon Chelouche

C. Laurence Oliphant

D. Yehoshua Hankin

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irt1ffsI_eU    – Sarah Nachshon tells story of her son…Amazing…

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/rivkah – One of my most beautiful song compositions in honor of my sister Rivky’s wedding five years ago… From this weeks parsha Achoseinu! Yitz Berry knocked this one out of the park…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtvR_pqSBR4    – Eitan Katz Naftali Kempeh what a great shidduch in this beautiful new release Shema Beni

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eishet-chayil – My gorgeous Eishet Chayil in honor of Sarah Immeinu…It’s been a long time since I’ve shared with this with you… sing it this Shabbos and make me happy!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmeJ_mDpJ4U&t=230s  -  OU Mearat Ha’Machpela what’s really underneath…

 

 

 

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

 

Chulda Haneivia- 639 BC – Moving on to prophets in the time of Yoshiyahu we arrive at Chulda Ha’Neviah, one of seven important prophetesses in Tanach. The first of course is Sarah Immeinu and the Matriarchs. Isn’t it cool how this column works Divinely with the weekly Torah portion! The other prophetesses, by they way can you guess? I’ll tell you at the end. I’ll give you a clue none of the other matriarchs are not included. Think about it.

 

So Chulda is really only mentioned twice in Tanach, both in her relationship with King Yoshiyahu and his teshuva movement that starts with her encouragement and prophecy. It’s fascinating that she even plays a role being that the great Yirmiyahu as well is living at this period and is the major prophet whom we will get to. The Talmud tells us that perhaps this was because Yirmiyahu went on a journey during this period to gather in the ten lost tribes amazingly enough. We are on the cusp of the destruction of the Temple and yet at the same time with the light of Yoshiyahu it seems it could have even had the potential for Mashiach and the ingathering of exiles.

 

Interestingly enough our sages tell us that the reason she merited prophecy was because of her husband Meshulam who was called the Gadol Ha’Dor- the great man of his generation. What made him so great? One would think it’s his Torah learning or his leadership skills, but the Midrash tells us it was that he would go every day with flasks of water and sit outside the gates of Yerushalayim and hand out water bottles to all who came to the Temple. Think about that next time you see those guys doing that chesed wherever you go… Gadol Hador!

 

Outside of the Southern Wall of the old city of Jerusalem in an area that we call the Ophel stands the Chulda Gates, Rashi in Melachim tells us that it was named after her as she would sit there and teach the elders Torah She’Baal Peh! That’s like Mishna and Talmud level. And it was being taught by a woman. How’s dem apples? Her husband handed out water bottles and she gave shiurim. Now obviously this was done in a very tznius way as our sages praise and find hints to her modesty and even count here as one of the 22 righteous woman mentioned in Tanach. On the other hand Chazal tell us that she was given a lousy name- as Chulda is a rat or weasel, because she referred to the King Yoshiyah as an “Ish” a guy rather than respectfully as a king.

 

Her burial place is a bit controversial, although all agree that she is buried in Jerusalem, some place her on the top of Har Hazeitim, while the Tosefta seems to say that she was in the city of Jerusalem itself within the walls. The Maharit tries to explain that in the 2^nd Temple the walls of Jerusalem incorporated Mt. Of Olives but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen evidence of that. Today there is by the Mount of Olives a Church or Temple of Ascension where silly x-tians believe Yoshka went up to heaven and Muslims as well view it as a holy place and it is accepted as truly being Chulda’s grave. Certainly Har Ha’Zeitim is where we have a tradition the resurrection of the Dead will begin from so hopefully we will get the answer soon. She will rise together with the other 6 prophetesses….

Sarah, Miriam, Devora, Chana, Avigayil and of course Queen Esther…

 

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY GRAVESTONE JOKES OF THE WEEK

 I saw a gravestone that said ‘Here lies a math teacher. He finally found peace in being a sum of all parts.'”

 

 My friend’s gravestone says ‘Beloved coffee lover. He couldn’t espresso how much he meant to us.'”

 

On another gravestone, it reads ‘An avid baker. Life really kneaded him, but he always rose to the occasion.'”

 

A musician’s gravestone reflects ‘He was always in treble, but found harmony in the end.'”

 

A chef’s gravestone bears the words ‘He spiced up our lives and left us with seasoned memories.'”

 

A skydiver’s gravestone bears the words ‘He soared through life and embraced the fall. In the end, he took a leap of faith.'”

 

On a magician’s gravestone, it says ‘He pulled off disappearing acts with such poise. Now he has vanished into eternity.'”

 

 A carpenter’s gravestone reads ‘He crafted a life full of love and sawdust. Now he’s nailed the final masterpiece.'”

 

 In memory of a librarian, the gravestone declares ‘She was always bound to books. Now she rests between the pages of history.'”

 

 A comedian’s gravestone states ‘His jokes will forever echo in our hearts. Laughter was his final punchline.'”

 

A lawyer’s wife died. At her grave, everyone was appalled. The tombstone read, “HERE LIES PHYLLIS, WIFE OF ATTORNEY MURRAY WILLIAMS; SPECIALIZES IN DIVORCE AND MALPRACTICE”.

Murray burst into tears. His brother said, “You SHOULD cry, pulling a cheap publicity stunt like this. Murray said, “You don’t understand. I gave them my business card”

His brother apologized.. But then he continued “…and they didn’t include the phone number!”

 

 Two men walking in a cemetery find a recent gravestone , so they read it:

"Here lies an honest man and a competent lawyer"

So one of the guys turn to the other:

"When did they start burying two people together?"

 

What is written on a very successful hacker’s tombstone? “R” His IP is well hidden.

 

Why would I want to buy a tombstone? It's the last thing I need.

 

Yankel was blessed with 12 children yet that was turning out to be a problem for him when he was trying to rent a house.  No landowner would allow him to rent their house due to the number of children he had. Frustrated, Yankel told his wife to visit her father's tombstone and bring all but their youngest child with her.

He then visited a property and told the landowner that he would like to rent the place.

"Is this your only child?" asked the landowner.

"No, I have 12 children" replied the man.

"Then where are the other 11 kids?"

"In the cemetery with my wife," he truthfully replied.

 

Late one night, Jack takes a shortcut through a cemetery. Hearing a tapping sound he becomes scared and quickens his pace. The tapping gets louder and Jack is now scared out of his wits. Then he notices a man chiseling a tombstone.

"Thank goodness!" Jack says to the man. "You gave me a fright of my life. Why are you working so

late?"

"They spelled my name wrong."

 

There was once a man named Odd. He was very embarrassed by his name and didn't want anyone to know about it. When he died he had no name written on his gravestone. One day a bunch of tourists came to his town and visited the graveyard where they came across a gravestone with no name on it.

"That's Odd!" He said.

 

This morning as I was walking through I saw someone crouching behind a gravestone. I said, 'Morning.

' He said, 'No I'm just lost my keys.'

 After my friend died from an allergic reaction to peanuts, I went to his funeral. Everyone got upset when I put an Epipen on his tombstone.

So I explained: "It's what he would have wanted"

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

The answer to this week”s question is B – Oh well…back to a 50/50 score… I got the second part right. It was an educated guest,but I knew the Shalosh family was involved with building and settling the land and I got this this right. The first part though I have no clue and don’t really care too much about as the Betzalel school really doesn’t interest me or any of my tourists. I guessed Tel Aviv because I knew that there was a school there and figured it had to do with the first part of the question. The correct answer though was by the Iriya and Russian Compound across from Mamilla in Jerusalem. So the  new score at Rabbi Schwartz having 18.5 points and the MOT having 10.5 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam. to them...