Karmiel

Karmiel
Our view of the Galile
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Eternal Fights- Eternal Lights- Parshat Vayeishev/ Chanukah, 5781/ 2020

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

 "Your friend in Karmiel"

December 11th 2020 -Volume 11 Issue 9 25th Kislev 5781

 Parshat Vayeishev / Chanukah

Eternal Fights- Eternal Lights

 

The Sefardim were there first, at least in the new/old settlement of Tiverya. Rabbi Chaim Abulafia, the chief Rabbi of Izmir who was born in Chevron but was sent back to Turkey to raise money for the community, was the one that was charged by the Druze ruler of Israel to return and rebuild the city of Tiverya. He was pretty excited as his great-great grandfather Reb Chaim Abulafia (Sr.) had originally been the chief Rabbi of the city, as was his grandfather Reb Yaakov. The city had lain in ruins until he arrived, having been destroyed by earthquakes and been abandoned. But now it was to be rebuilt. He gathered his sefardic congregants and made Aliya once again. Messianic fervor was in the air. Tiverya, the city where the Sanhedrin sat for almost 500 years and where the Talmud Yerushlami was written -no it was not written in Jerusalem-always had the tradition that the redemption would start from here in the North before the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash. On the same spot where the where the Sanhedrin sat and across from the place where tradition held that the ancient well of Miriam had rolled, he built the glorious Eitz Chaim synagogue in 1740, one of the nicest in the country. The Jews were back in town.

 

As the sefardic community that he led grew it became necessary to raise money for the community. Most of the Jews that had come to Israel at that time came with a Messianic fervor that the redemption was around the corner. They didn't have long term plans besides getting themselves spiritually ready for that day. The problem with that plan is that it doesn't always put food on the table. So therefore much of their support had to come from contributions from the diaspora. Jewish communities there wanted to have their representatives in Israel for when they would be heralded back when that great shofar blast called them. It was a match made in heaven.

 

But Reb Chaim wasn't interested in leaving anymore. He was 80 years old and been there-done that already. He knew that if he left once again the chances of him making it back to Israel weren't that good. So he came up with a plan. Rather than sending shada"rim- (shlucha drabanan- rabbinic messengers who were sent to raise money from community to community), they would send charity boxes. Each shul and each community would have their kupah- tzedaka box for Israel and particularly for his community in Tiverya and then the money would be sent back here. To sweeten the deal, he came up with the concept of connecting all contributions with the special benefit and segula that the city of Tiverya had. It was the resting place and grave of the great Mishnaic miracle worker Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes. Jews can never resist a good mystical charity incentive for success and salvation and thus the concept of the pushka was born.

 

It worked. The community flourished the Sefardim were building businesses. Infrastructure was developing, Christians and Muslims moved to the city and the Jews were at the heart of it all. And then the Ashkenazim came. The chasidim had arrived. There goes the neighborhood they said.

 

Led by visionaries and lovers of Israel, Reb Menachem Mendel of Permishlan, Reb Nochom Horodenkeh and Reb Meir of Vitebsk they as well came with the hopes and dreams of settling in the land of their ancestors. However, unlike the sefardic communities that flourished and were successful in integrating into the Middle East culture that they were already accustomed to, the Ashkenazim struggled. And their sefardic brethren weren't that helpful. Rifts grew between the communities and when the Sefardim came to the Ashkenazim to assist them in the building of the tomb for Rebbi Meir, the chasidim who already felt jilted because they were not getting any of the Rebbi Meir Baal Hanes funds that were being sent to Israel said that they couldn't and wouldn't participate. In fact, they were starting their own tzedaka fund campaigns. To make matters worse they demanded that the tomb of Reb Meir be shared by them. Why should the Sefardim have it all? And thus like the famous Solomonic decision with the baby and the two mothers claiming it was theirs, the grave was chopped in half. The Sefardic Rebbi Meir building would be built on the southern part and the Askenazic section would have to wait a few more decades until they would garner enough support to build their side. And thus Rebbi Meir's tomb sits today- his light divided into two buildings.

 

The Jewish politics though continued in Tiverya. A century later the Ashkenazim came to their sefardic brethren for support. The ancient shul of the great ashkenazic leader the She"la Hakadosh was finally going to be returned to their community. The shul which had ancient traditions of being a place where Jews for centuries would come and pray on the shores of the Kinneret was chosen by Reb Yeshayah Halevi Horowitz, the great sage of Poland and chief Rabbi of Prauge to build his shul in the 1620's after arriving and failing to settle himself in Jerusalem and Tzfat. It had survived four earthquakes but it fell into disuse. Yet it still remained a place of Jewish pilgrimage. However, because of the great poverty of the Ashkenazic community the holy ruins and area was sold to the Greek Orthodox Church in order to put bread on their table. The sale had a provision that they could buy it back when they had money, but over a century had passed and the Greeks had built a large church on its location. It was then that the Jewish community woke up. It was time to redeem it. We can't let this happen.

 

The timing was right for us. The Jews were finally in the red and had good relations with the sultan in Damascus and they sent a delegation to him to ask him to enforce the agreement and allow them to redeem their holy building. I'm sure they threw a little "bakshish" his way as well.

Sure enough, he agreed! The Greeks though were not too happy about this and they sent their own delegation and argued that it was well and fine that the Jews had the money to redeem the building and their original debt, however since then a new building had been built and if the church was meant to vacate it and hand it over, the Jews should be responsible to pay the enormous amount for cost of their building. I assume they threw the sultan a nice share of "bakshish" as well.

 

 Much to the Ashkenazim's consternation the Sultan agreed with them as well- you're both right- and conditioned the return of the Jews upon paying for the building. It was money the Ashkenazi Chasidim did not have. Having no choice, the chasidim turned to their sefardic brothers and asked for their support to help redeem this holy place of miracles that was being desecrated by this Church. Yet the Sefardim remembering the Ashkenazim's reluctance to help them with the tomb of Rebbi Meir, turned their backs on them. And thus until today, the Greeks are still here in our land, in our holy place. We are still awaiting the miracles to redeem it.

 

See what I did there in the last sentence. I mentioned Greeks, I mentioned miracles, and of course Rebbi Meir, whose name means light. This has officially made this entire E-Mail- from an unemployed tour guide who's desperate to share his stories and inspiration of Israel any way and anywhere he can sneak it in- relevant to the upcoming holiday and the parsha of the week. Desperate times, people, desperate times…

 

Now I'm not the only one that makes the connection between Chanukah and the fights between Jews. Every year Chanukah time we read the weekly parshiyot that are all about the original fights that led us into our first exile in Egypt. It's not coincidental. It never is. In fact, the story of Chanuka itself from a purely historical perspective is not as much about our war against the Greeks and their vicious anti-religious decrees as it is about the civil war that took place between brother and brother. Between the Kohanecha ha'kedoshim, the holy Maccabees and their Hellenized brothers that joined the Greeks and fought against the very small minority religious establishment (pretty much since the beginning it has always been a minority). Can you imagine Jews, residents of Israel passing laws to desecrate our holiest spots, building houses of foreign worship, idolatry, paganism in the land where we are meant to be revealing the light of Hashem to the world? Houses of promiscuity, intermarriage, and culture were proliferating all over our land all under the guise of open-minded-ness", pluralism or getting-us-out-of-the-ghetto. Yeah, I didn't think you could imagine it…

 

At the same time let's say in your wildest imagination you could imagine the above. Could you picture yourself picking up a sword and fighting and killing those same brothers and fathers for those sins? Can you imagine yourself answering the call of Matisyahu of Mi La'Hashem Eilai- Who is for Hashem? Grab a sword and let's go to war for our beliefs. Or would you just blog about it in your weekly E-Mail or your facebook page while chewing on a latka and sufganiya. Not that I know of anyone like that… (can anyone eat these things without the jelly popping out on your shirt. I always get the booby-trapped ones… can someone please get me a napkin…). Well if you can't imagine that then maybe you should put down the donut. Maybe you should think again about the praise that you are saying of how Hashem gave the miracle and victory to the hands of the pure and the righteous and the studiers of the Torah rather than the hands of the impure, the sinners and the wicked ones. Those aren't just the Greeks. Greeks aren't sinners and aren't meant to be learning Torah. It’s against the sinners from us. We can handle the Goyim. It's our own that are more often than not the bigger problem.

 

That problem starts with the parshiyos hashavua that we always read this holiday. It's the brothers against Yosef. The many against the one. Yosef who is called a tzadik against…. Well, they're not wicked. They are the holy tribes of Israel. Yosef was the osek batorah- his father Yaakov taught him all he knew. The brothers? Well they also learned… but they were also people that went against the will of their father. They took their swords and killed the city of Shechem… It's confusing. Were they right in suspecting Yosef? Was Yosef the one who played with his hair all day the wicked one? Were his dreams of grandeur and leadership a usurping of the kingship of Yehuda. Was his lashon hara that he would snitch to their father his attempt of ridding himself of them so he could take it all for himself. Did it warrant killing him? Was he the Greek?

 

The She"la Hakodesh tries to explain the mistake of both sides along those lines. But in the end of the day, it's a Chanuka story of brother against brother. And perhaps it is for that reason I have seen suggested that we don't celebrate the victory of the war. There were too many tragedies on both of our sides. When the zealots kill out the sinners, it's nothing to throw a Chanuka party about. It's not the result we celebrate. It's cutting the tomb of Reb Meir in half and just building over our section. It's leaving the "Orthodox" in the hands of the Greeks on our holy sites and thinking we can sit back and pray in our sefardic synagogue. No we don't celebrate that miracle or fight at all, although we do thank Hashem that at least it was the side of good that won.

 

Rather the holiday of Chanuka is about finding a small little flask of pure oil. It's such a minor detail in the big picture of the historical, years long battles that led up to and after the establishment of the independent Jewish controlled "state of Israel" by the hands of the Chasmonaim. It's almost like one of the miracle side-stories that one reads about that took place in the 6 Day War or any of the wars of Israel today. There are so many miracles of battles, of people that were saved, of ways that Hashem misdirected the Arabs that attacked us. A small little oil flask story shouldn't be the heart of the whole thing. Yet it is. Because it’s the eternal lesson we are meant to take from this holiday and it carries with it the essence of fixing up the reason we suffered the tragedies that led to this division between Jews. The lesson being that we need to look for that little jug of untainted holiness and purity that could be hiding in all of the tumah, heresy, sins and external shmutz in the hearts of our brothers. We need to find that oil,  and that spark and light it in our Temple as unlikely, as pointless and short term of a solution as it may seem. Because we will be amazed to see that that holy oil will burn and burn and burn and will be lit in the courtyards of our holy city forever. We will witness the miracle of the eternal Jewish flame ignite once again. That is what we celebrate.

 

The tanna Rebbi Meir, the Talmud tells us, had neighboring youth that would drive him crazy. I'm sure the problem wasn't that they were playing loud music at night. They were sinning. They were bringing tumah into his neighborhood. Maybe they had parades of "pride" about their sins, maybe they drove through his neighborhood on Shabbos. Maybe they had phones that were not kosher. It doesn't tell us. But it reached a point where he couldn't take it anymore. He began to pray that Hashem take care of them. Genugt Shoin! His wife Beruria heard his prayers and like a good wife she corrected him. "We don't pray for the wicked to perish, Meir'l" she said. Dovid Hamelech teaches us in Tehillim  that yetamu chata'im min ha'aretz- the sins should perish from the land. U'reshaim od einam- and there will then no longer be anymore wicked people. We daven for them to do teshuva. We daven that their true light shines away all of their darkness. And so he prayed. And so he taught the world about the power of prayer for the repentance and returning of the children to their father. He is called Me'ir because he was able to light them up. He found the holy oil.

 

Fascinatingly enough there is an even deeper connection between Reb Meir and the holiday of Chanuka. The Ben Ish Chai and other works mention that there is a custom to light candles and make feasts on Chanuka in honor of Rebbi Meir. There are those that suggest that this is because when the ancient tradition of when his yartzeit really falls out, {This is despite the accepted celebrated date of Pesach Sheni. Thank you Rabbi Daniel Glatstien for your sources and an amazing shiur and book on the topic.} Even more fascinating it seems that the Shela Hakadosh as well whose yartzeit is recorded as a few days before Pesach also seems to have questionable sources. And wouldn't' you know it, descendants of the Shela claim that his yartzeit as well falls out in the month of Tevet. It seems even in their deaths there is that Chanuka connection that is meant to draw us to their graves. And perhaps non-coincidentally there is dispute, argument and confusion if there really is that connection or not.

 

The famous prayer of salvation composed by Rebbi Meir consists of three words. Eloka D'Meir Anani- May the God of Meir answer me. He teaches the world this prayer when he performs the miracle of saving his sister-in-law from a house of ill repute she was placed in by the Romans as a prisoner. He says this prayer after he found her to be pure, like the holy jug of oil even in the worst of the impurity of the Romans, just as pure as Yosef Ha'tzadik was when he was held in the belly of the cesspool of Egypt's impurity. The Maharsha notes that when Rebbi Meir invokes this prayer he is not asking for the God of himself -Meir- to answer him. We don't mention Hashem's name as the God of someone in our prayers when that person is still alive. Rather he was saying 'May the God who is me'ir; who shines light in the places of darkness, Who lit up the darkness of the Greeks with the holy oil of our Temple. May that God shine his light here as well. Perhaps that ability to find that light is the reason for the tradition that is tried and true that charity to Reb Meir will help one miraculously find lost objects. It is his light that revealed the finding of the sparks where it seems to be hidden. Where may be we never looked before. Where we didn't think it could be.

 

It may be that Rebbi Meir learned that prayer from his holy wife when she told him to see the Jew and not his sins. Every Jew has that holy spark and oil. We need to light it up and the sinners we perceive before us will disappear. They will disappear as quickly as it takes to say Ani Yosef Ha'od Avi Chai- I am Yosef is my father still alive. When Yosef's brothers, the tribes of Israel, heard those words all of their previous suspicious perceptions of Yosef disappeared. Ours can as well when we will see the Father that is alive in every single one of us. It will be a time when there are no Sefardim, no Ashkenazim, no chasidim and no mitnagdim, no Maccabees and no Hellenists, no Chareidim and no chilonim, no Democrats and no Republicans. We just need to find that hidden flask of oil.

 

Have a happy Chanuka and a hearty Shabbos and a light-filled week of miracles,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Es shlogen zikh aleh far di shtikeleh challeh.." They're all fighting for a little piece of Challa.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

7) Global warming may cause:

A) A rise in sea level

B) A fall of sea level

C) Multiple earthquakes

D) Migration of the magnetic north

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO  OF THE WEEK

Special Chanukah Treat for all you faithful readers!!!

I'm proud to present my latest

MISHPACHA MAGAZINE ARTICLE AND VIDEO TOUR

·         CASAREA; THE JEWISH/ROMAN CITY OF KINGS!

Special features include

SCHWARTZ AND SHWEKEY LIVE!

TULLY SCHWARTZ AND FRIENDS DANCE

And the most fascinating tour ever of one of Israel's hidden treasures

Click here to check it out!

https://mishpacha.com/watch-live-in-caesarea/

 

and click here to read my monthly column on this virtual tour

https://mishpacha.com/roman-holiday/

 

PLEASE LIKE, SHARE, POST

 and write the EDITORS of my Favorite magazine how much you enjoy these Virtual Tours, so we can keep them up!

 

Rabbi Schwartzes Chanukah Hit Compositions!

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/chasof-zeroah - My most lively Chanuka song and one you definitely need to sing by you Chanuka parties… Yitz Berry arrangements…

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/haneiros-halalu - You know you're bored with your old Haneiros Halalu and want something to lighten up you Chanuka listen to my composition and add it to your repertoire you will love it!

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/al-hanissim    My amazin Al Hanissim composition that will make you want to start dancing and getting into the mood. Arranged and sung by the amazing Dovid Lowy!

Everyone Else's Chanuka 2020 New Releases!

https://youtu.be/u6PvoWmHiUsMaccabeats Chanuka 2020 Candlelight

https://youtu.be/8YjLghDRrPE –  613 Acapella Ariaunuka?

 

https://youtu.be/4bNcy3v5TJk -Shir Soul Stevie Wonder Chanuka Mashup???

 

https://youtu.be/FePbZAs3dbs - Zusha- Chanuka is here!

 

https://youtu.be/O2n9-WsgPZg  Nissim Black, My good friend Jacob L. get's an upsherin and Hava Nagila like you never heard it before…

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/ ERETZ YISRAEL CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

 

To Settle- Parshat Vayeishev Ahhh finally… yishuv Eretz Yisrael. Yaakov Avinu has come home and his only wish our parsha tells us is to settle in at the home he had been longing for. Bikeish Yaakov le'sheiv b'shalva- Yaakov wishes to settle in tranquility. But it doesn't work. It's not going to be easy to settle Eretz Yisrael. There will be challenges. And yet unlike all of the other challenges our forefathers had in the previous parsha's, these are internal problems. It's Jew V Jew. Brother against brother. The problems it seems that we still face until today and need to learn and internalize well.

 

The first sentence that introduces this desire of Yaakov to settle the land perhaps reveals what this drive to settle the land is all about. What we should turn towards when we are faced with the challenges the land presents us with. What we need to focus and keep in mind as we return and settle the land.

 

Vayeishev Yaakov b'eretz mi'gurei aviv; b'eretz Canaan-And Yaakov settled in the land where his father sojourned in the land of Canaan. The simplest understanding is that this is the land of his ancestors. No matter what Israel and the settling of the land throws at us. Wars, masks, politics, parnassa, chinuch challenges, it will never lose this. It's the land of our forefathers, it will always be that. And that is what will always make our settling here meaningful.

 

But it's more than the place where they lived. It is mi'gurei aviv- which  I translated the word as sojourning. Yet the Baal Hatanya notes there are three different variations of the root word "gur" and each one of them shed a light on the mitzva of settling the land. Each one contains an element in an appreciation we should have about living in Israel.

 

The first is as we said it is a place to dwell. It's where our ancestors dwelled. We connect to them merely by living, walking and settling in the place where they did. The second one is like the word ger- convert or stranger. Eretz Yisrael is the place where one can finally lose the stigma and aspect of our exile that we are strangers in a foreign land. Every where else, no matter how settled or secure we may fool ourselves into feeling we are is really not where we are meant to be. The gentiles are always right about this. We don't belong in their country. We will always be strangers there. Even we serve in the highest levels of government, even if we build their entire economies, even if we give them our blood sweat, tears and antibodies. We're still strangers. We're like those holy converts to our nation will tell you that they always felt before their conversion and finding their home amongst Jews. Moving to Israel we finally are like geirei tzedek that after a lifetime of searching for meaning and truth finally feel they are where they belong.

 

The third translation of ger is in the word Bamidbar (22:3) va'aygar Moav- and Moav feared or in devarim1:17) lo saguru mipnei ish- Judges are cautioned not to be intimidated or fearful from any man. Yaakov wished to settle in a land where he would not have to suffer anymore from any fear of any man or nation. This is not only a fear of physical danger, it is a fear of spiritual danger. As long as we are not settled in our land, there is a feeling that Yaakov repeatedly has that that failing will be held against him. It will open him up to the atmosphere and put him at the mercy of the nations and influences around him. It's like walking around the street or shopping without a mask. In my house on my couch I know I'm safe. I have nothing to fear. Outside in the world away from the safety of my four walls, away from the country where I'm meant to be. Without that protective shield that Hashem has over our country we will always have the fear of the knowledge that it is because we are not living where we are meant to, that we don't have the mitzva of yishuv Eretz Yisrael in our hands that does not allow us to live b'shalva- in tranquility.

 

There are unfortunately so many that take the heroic and gutsy move to finally move to Eretz Yisrael. They seek to live b'shalva finally. And then the challenges hit them and they forget why they really need to be here. Why there is nowhere else for them. What the eternal reasons for being here really are. As well there are those that those same fears keep them away from making that move. Parshas Va'yeishev, the portion of settling in the land begins with the opener that we always need to keep in mind. It's migurei aviv- it's the land where we no longer need to fear, the land where we will never be strangers, the land of our forefathers. It's time for va'yeishev.

 

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

 

Chanukah - 165 BC- OK Let’s break for a week from our chronological sites and eras to talk about the holiday of Chanukah. So in the year 165 about 100 years or so after Alexander the Great comes to Israel and spares the country and Greek culture enters the Jewish world, the country is once again in turmoil. The generals of Alexander divide up the country and the Northern Syrian Greeks, known as the Selucids, led by Antiochus passes laws against the Jews and the revolt begins. It ultimate culminates with the liberation of the Beit Hamikdash and the lighting of the Menorah which miraculous oil that lasted for eight days. You learned all that in kindergarden. But where can you experience and relive that in Israel.

 

So obviously the places to relive these battles would be where they took place. Mod’in where the revolt took place is today a big city, but Umm al Umdan right outside of it a shul was found there from the Herodian post Maccabee period and underneath it another Chashmonean period shul was found, so perhaps it was there. There is nearby as well a great place the Chasmonean village that has been created as well as Neot Kedumim that have all types of activities including olive oil making for Chanukah.

 

The battles of the Maccabees are certainly sites that we are familiar with. At Latrun by the Ayalon valley, Yehudah fights off miraculously Nikanor. I like to play lazer tag with my tourist kids there, that’s really reliving the action. A little north of that by Beit Choron you have the amazing battle fights off the general Seron. Even as far South as Yavneh which is right above Ashdod you have the final battle when we threw off the yoke of the Greeks. On the other hand, in the Gush Etzion area by Tel Zekariah right outside of Elazar is when the Maccabees suffered a defeat and Elazar was crushed by an elephant. The yishuv is thus named after him. Further down as you head to Chevron the village of Karmei Tzur is named after the Chashmonean city Beit Tzur where they sent the Syrians and their general Lysisus back to Syria.

 

The truth is though everywhere you go in Israel everyone is trying to get in on the action all of the museums have Chanukah activities, the parks have games and period-era costumes, and everyone is getting in on the action. But of course the most important Chanukah experience is to walk through the streets of the old city of Yerushalayim at night and see the neiros b’chatzros kodshecha- the candles, just as they were 2000 years ago lit in the courtyard, streets and window of our holy city. Am Yisrael Chai!

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE CHANUKAH  JOKES  OF THE WEEK

Mom: who ate the entire plate of Donuts?

Dad: I thought they I only had room for one and in fact there was room for eight! A true Chanuka miracle.

 When the police Corona inspectors crash your illegal Chanuka Party and you hide your dreidels and pull out your gemaros and pretend like your learning Torah in a legal capsule you'll know that we have come full circle.

 Which hand is best to light the menorah with? Neither, it’s best to light it with a candle.

How can you recognize a Hanukkah hippie? He’s the one with his hair in dreidel-locks.

How much Hanukkah gelt did the skunk get? One cent.

What’s the best Hanukkah gift for the person who has everything? A burglar alarm.

What do you call a speck that falls into the latke pan? An unidentified frying object.

Why don’t we eat clowns at Hanukkah? Because they taste funny.

What’s the difference between Hanukkah and a dragon? One lasts for eight nights, the other sometimes ate knights.

What’s the best thing to put into the sufganiyot? Your teeth.

What did the candles say when the menorah complained about getting too hot? Whoa, a talking menorah.

What did the older Hanukkah candle say to the younger one? You’re too young to smoke.

Why was the broom late to the Hanukkah party? It over-swept.

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Answer is A –  I'm no scientist or environmentalist. But I do read the papers and this one was pretty easy to figure out. First of all I have no idea what migration of North magnetic means or if that is even a sentence or a thing or just an Israeli mistranslation. Earthquakes are caused by the Syrian African Rift not global warming, so it obviously wasn't that one. So it was either rising or lowering sea levels. And since hurricanes and all melting icebergs and glaciers are all being blamed on global warming so obviously the sea is rising, which of course makes sense as when water heats it expands and rises. So another one right and the score now stands at 6 for Rabbi Schwartz and 1 for the Ministry of Tourism on this exam.

 

Thursday, December 6, 2018

Jewish? Music? - Parshat Mikeitz Chanukah II 5779 /2018


Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
December 7th 2018 -Volume 9 Issue 10-29th of Kislev 5779

Parshat Mikeitz / Chanuka II


It has become the new holiday tradition. Like Kosher hotels on Pesach, Uman on Rosh Hashana, bonfires and chai rottel- whatever that is-on Lag Ba’omer, Chafetz Chaim Heritage and other videos on Tisha B’Av and asking forgiveness via mass WhatsApp and Facebook messages from everyone you might have ever un-‘liked’ before Yom Kippur. I could probably throw in Rabbi Schwartzes’ annual Rosh Hashana family-megilla update and our Purim top ten list, but that’s something only the devout, elite, privileged 2500 of you out there on our weekly list get to experience. But yes, it is safe to say that a new tradition has become part of our Jewish Chanukah experience as well.

What was once a holiday defined by its 8 simple lights on the menorah, obviously had to expand itself to have some gastrointestinal aspect to it, to match up to the Shavuot blintzes, Pesach matzah brie and Purim nosh. So we came up with latkas. Israelis having to be different have sufganiyot which are jelly filled sponges with scary looking white powder that blows all over your clothing when you take a bite. (They do that incidentally so you can’t hide the fact that you just had one from your wife when you come home.) It then expanded into Chanukah presents, chocolate gelt. In yeshiva it was “kvittlach” which were not little notes one hands to a Rebbe for a blessing or stuck into the Kotel. This was a late night card game that was kept far away from the Rebbe’s watchful eye. But welcome to the 21st century. It’s a new world and as we all know Chanuka is no longer complete without the newest tradition of  the holiday. None other than Acapella funny(?), cool (!), shticky (?!) Youtube Music videos from groups with Funny, cool, shticky (?!?) sounding names.

You’ve watched them. Admit it. Your children play them endlessly. You’ve even Whatsapped and shared them around. They’re like the measles in chareidi schools- Ouch! Sorry, I couldn’t resist. -They’re contagious.  I know this because each of you have sent me the same ones repeatedly. OK I’ll admit. I’ve sent some to you, as well. I haven’t been vaccinated against them, yet. (STOP!). But, I think you can agree that it has become a tradition. And being a traditional guy and particularly one that likes music a lot, I go with the flow, groove with the beat, and move with the music.

Now one thing that most of the videos have in common is that they are non-Jewish songs that are being “yiddishized” into Chanukah Jewish themes. I don’t have a problem with that personally. I liked most of the “goyish” songs originally, but always felt awkward or “goyish” with most of the lyrics. Either I didn’t understand them because I was never as stoned as the composers and singers of the songs or I was frankly pretty embarrassed to be listening to, let alone singing some of them. That’s why I liked Shlock Rock, Variations, or Country Yossi as a child or a yeshiva guy. Because you could listen to the great tunes but not have the trayf lyrics. OK, maybe Country Yossi wasn’t such great tunes but he was just funny. But it is ironic I guess that the holiday that is meant to celebrate overcoming the influence of the Greeks and the pagan world, newest tradition for the past few years has been taking that ‘gentile-secular’ culture and ‘koshering” it- if that is even possible into Jewish songs and lyrics. Or maybe it’s not…

See the age old question and debate perhaps is, what is in fact “Jewish Music”? Growing up I always thought it was Shlomo Carlebach, until some people told me that he might not have been that perfect “Jewish” role model kind of a guy. Was it little kids Pirchei tapes and boy’s choirs? Well that worked when I was a kid, and they had really great songs. But someone then mentioned to me that the reason why Jews have kid’s choir’s tapes and gentiles don’t is because the goyim have lady singers. Our children’s choirs tapes are meant to serve as the Jewish antidote; to get that female voice. I don’t think Celine or Whitney were too nervous of the competition, but I’ve never been able to enjoy it as much since then. MBD was, is great, but remember when that “Yidden” song came out? It was pretty much straight out of some German rock group.  Piamenta’s ‘Asher Bara’ that rocked my wedding was from the Land Down Under with a few oy oy oy oy oy oys thrown in. They got that right.

So I’m confused. Is Jewish music composed by Jewish guys? Would that make Simon and Garfunkel “Jewish Music”?  White Xmas’ and ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ can’t possibly be Jewish despite the Irving Berlin and Johnny Marks Jewish ancestry. Is it that the tunes have to be composed by Jewish people? By holy people?  Many great Chasidic songs that Rebbes sang came from Polish or French non-Jewish sources. The Baal Hatanya’s ‘Napoleon’s March’ and Ha’aderes v’haemuna or the Kaliver famous Solol Kokosh being good examples of that. But it gets better. Did you sing Maoz Tzur tonight? Shhhhh don’t tell anyone that it’s a German folksong that was used as choral music by Luther. And of course everyone knows that our Mishe Mishe Mishe Nichnas Adar is all about picking a bale of hay. Oy, so does that mean that they aren’t Jewish music either?!

In Yerushalayim, I will many times take tourists to visit a fascinating museum called the Music Museum. There, one can hear Jewish music and see their instruments from all over the world. The owner, Eldad, had a passion for Jewish music and he went all over the world from Africa, Asia, Europe, every continent where Jews lived and collected their music and instruments. It’s a cool fascinating and eye-opening place. You know, why? I’ll tell you another secret? Asian Jewish music sounds like non-Jewish Asian music that you hear when you go into a spa. African Jewish music sounds like it came right out of the jungle and was from the Lion King.  Spanish Jewish is like Spanish music, Latin Jewish like Latin and Middle Eastern sefardic Jewish music is the same as Arabic music. Inshalla… In fact, Chacham Ovadia Yosef in a responsa, justifies adapting the cultures music as our own, in sefardic communities, on the verse from Psalms that we sing of Al Naharos Bavel- on the Rivers of Babylon

Psalms (137)- Al Aravim b’tocha talinu kinoroseinu- On willows in its midst we hung our harps.

He reads the words homiletically as al Aravim-on the Arabs we have hung our harps. So does that mean that Mattisyahu’s reggae, Nissim Black’s rap and Acapella Chanukah songs are now Jewish?

I listened to a fascinating podcast by Rabbi Yossi Paltiel who asks an even more intriguing question that really cuts to the heart of this question as well. What makes anything Jewish? What is Jewish food? Sefardim will tell you it’s one thing, Ashkenazim something else, Ethiopians have their cuisine, Chasidim theirs and Litvaks don’t really eat. J  Each one again has food that’s pretty much similar to their culture. Today, American Jewish food is Sushi in a Pizza shop, or a Texas-haymish- grill or bagels and lox. So what makes something Jewish?

In the 1990’s there was a radio broadcast where that very question was posed to Vladmir Pozner, a former Soviet propagandist, by Phil Donahue. What is a Jew? He responded and argued that being Jewish was certainly not a religion, as he was an atheist and still considered himself Jewish. It wasn’t a race, as there are white Jews, black Jews, yellow Jews, all the colors of the rainbow. It wasn’t a culture either, as Sefardic, Ashkenazic and every place Jews lived have their own culture. It wasn’t an ideology. It wasn’t a belief. It wasn’t even a shared ancestry, as there are converts all over. In fact, most of our greatest Rabbis were either converts or descendants of them. Judaism and being Jewish is like no other division in the world and in history. So what does it mean to be Jewish? Vladmir’s response was “I sincerely don’t know.”

The truth is until about 300 or 400 years ago the question of what being Jewish meant was never asked. It was understood. Being Jewish meant being religious. It is only with the advent of the “Enlightenment” movement that the concept of a “secular” Jew even entered the lexicon. Rav Saadya Gaon, over one thousand years ago, made his famous statement-

Ein Umaseinu Umah Elah B’Torahseha- Our nation is only a nation with our Torah.

If that is the case than what makes something Jewish is what brings it closer to its Torah. What makes it more religious.

But it is deeper than that. There is something that Vladmir couldn’t put his finger on, but that he knew to be true. And that is, that what makes someone Jewish is that they have a Jewish soul. Religious, non- religious, Oriental, African, Indian, Ashkenazi. Sefardi, Chasidic, Reform and Reconstructionist, straight and crooked, tall and short, male and female, we all have Jewish souls. We all have a uniquely designed soul that is connected to Hashem and that is programmed to light up the world with His glory. Even converts upon their conversion receive that special soul. When something in this world is Jewish, whether it is cuisine, a language, dress, a practice, a tradition and yes even music it means that it is being used to bring that Jewish soul out to the world.

Parshat Mikeitz which is always read around Chanukah is precisely that story about Jews being able to find that spark. To see the Jewishness in someone, their own brother Yosef, who doesn’t look, talk, smell, eat or sing the same way that they did in their alteh heim. He’s an Egyptian to them. Not their type of Jew. He’s a Goy. It’s why Yosef puts them through all of this game. For they ultimately have to learn the lesson, that being Jewish is not the chulent you ate at Yaakov Avinu’s house or songs he sang by his Shabbos table. The style of his kippa, black hat or shtreimel or what nussach he davened. Being Jewish is finding that one spark that we all share. Seeing the light in our fellow brother and sister that only they possess that needs to be shined out to the world. Seeing the pinteleh yid in them.

Chanukah, that story is even more profound. So many of our brethren had become Hellenized. They bought into the “Greeks of the Mosaic persuasion” identification. They scorned and tried to eradicate and vanquish the one and only thing that truly defines us and that is our Torah, our religion, our spark and our mandate. Sadly, and tragically, they were like most of Soviet Jewry fifty years ago and American Jewry today-slowly disappearing, intermarrying and producing a generation that can’t even tell you what being Jewish means. But unlike today, back then there was a group of brave people that stood up and said we will not let that happen. We will not let you destroy that spark, steal our identity, obliterate us or our God. We will fight for you, even if that means we have to raise a sword against you. Because you are too precious to us, to let you disappear. For me to continue to hide myself behind my Talmud, my shtibel, my community, my kosher supermarket and forget about you and let you just dwindle away. You’re not a goy. You have a Jewish soul and we will fight to reveal that. And they did.

Is it any wonder than why Chanukah is not as much defined by the miraculous battle and victory against the World Empire of the Greeks? Rather, it is the story of us finding that pure oil and it miraculous lighting and lasting forever. That is what it was always all about. They could have used their halachically permissible impure oil. Every Rabbi there would have permitted. The Talmud and Halacha certainly do. But the Jews said that the point of this whole battle was to uncover the holiness, the purity where it seems unlikely to be found. If we can find the holy spark in our fellow Jews, then we can certainly find pure oil that will be eternal in the Holy of Holies, our Temple. That is what we celebrate on Chanukah. That is the energy and power that we are meant to take from these days.

So perhaps Jewish acapella is not the worst way to celebrate our holiday. Acapella has 8 letters after all in it. It is the sound of Jewish voices and souls unadulterated by any musical accompaniment. Sure the songs may not be Jewish, but the heart is. So bring on those Maccabeats, share those Six13 songs, Y-studs? Why not? If it brings you closer to Hashem then hey, you are finding that pure oil in the vessels that our enemies tried to contaminate, but that the Jewish heart and voice will always find that holiness in. Now can someone out there just do a little Livin’ on a prayer for me?

 Have blessed Rosh Chodesh, a lichtigeh Chanuka, and a rockin Shabbos!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Tsu itlechen neiem lid ken men tsupassen an alteh nigen.”- To every new song one can find an old tune

RABBI SCHWARTZES COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/chasof-zeroah - Hot of the presses! Fresh this week in honor of Chanukah my newest composition Chasof, A really amazing song. Thank you Yitz for making this happen for me!

 And for those that missed it last week my other Chanukah song
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/haneiros-halalu     in honor of Chanukah my Haneiros Halalu composition. Enjoy and like!
And of course the traditional Chanuka Acapella bands…

https://youtu.be/uu8DleqoVYc - Shir Acapella an Africa Chanuka song

https://youtu.be/uI74Bkc8j9k   – Y-Studs a Queen Chanukah

https://youtu.be/qtfmXU8fuxY -    And for those more yeshivsh or traditionalists this absolutely the coolest and most amazing Mimkomcha Carlbach rendition you have ever heard. Trust me.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q A mosque attached to a baptistery were found in:
a.  Shivta
b.  Mamshit
c. Nitzana
d.  Avdat

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S “LOMDUS” CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parshat MikeitzOne of the things that always excites me about a good ‘lomdishe vort’ is when you read a pasuk in Torah, you see the midrash that brings down the other side of the story and if you read the midrash carefully- as a lamdan always does, one can discover halachic insights into the story that you would never of even noted that were there, but that jumps out to every lamdan and posek-halachic decisor.

In this weeks Torah portion we are told about Yosef, the vizier of Mitzrayim, meeting his brothers and sitting down to eat with them. They obviously don’t recognize him after all of these years and in his Egyptian disguise. The Torah tells us how he sat them

Bereishis (43:33) And he sat them the oldest according to his first born place and the youngest according to his youngest status.

Rashi brings the midrash that explains the story here.

He would knock on his goblet and say Reuvein, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Yissachar… are all the children of one mother should recline in this order which is the order of their birth. And so for all of them. Once he got to Binyamin he said ‘This one doesn’t have a mother and neither do I have a mother he should sit next to me’

Yosef wanting to keep the deception up pretended that he was a sorcerer with a magic goblet and put each of them in age order. The Birkas Ish, notes that Rashi seems to switch words in describing what the brothers were meant to do. By the brothers he had them recline and by Binyamin he was told to sit. Now to non-lamdans this doesn’t mean anything. But if you are Rav Moshe Feinstien, one of our preeminent halachic minds of the last century then the distinction jumps out at you. When someone mentioned this to him, his response was quite simply.
“He paskens like the Rema”

Huh? Now you understand? OK I’ll explain. The laws of reclining by a Pesach seder are that a son reclines in front of his father even if his father is his Rebbe.

Shulchan Aruch (472:5) A student in front of his Rebbe is not allowed to recline unless is Rebbe gives him permission as it is considered not kavod- treating him with the proper honor in doing so. A tremendous Rabbi who is known for his wisdom by all, even if he is not your rebbe, you may not recline in front of him
So it is not dignified to recline in front of someone who you are meant to honor.
The Rema qualifies that law though- he says that it is only applicable if you are sitting at the same time table as your Rebbe. If you are on another table though you may recline. And there you have it…

See the Torah tells us that

 ibid .And he placed himself alone, and them (his brothers) alone and the Egyptians who were eating with them alone

So Yosef’s brothers that were sitting on a separate table, Rashi points out, were able to recline- as was the customary way to eat back then. Binyamin, on the other hand, who was meant to sit on Yosef’s table would be prohibited from reclining as he was sitting with the vizier. It would be disrespectful. Thus Rashi says by Binyamin that he should “sit” rather than recline next to him. All of this Reb Moshe said in three words ‘he paskens like the Rema.  Being a lamdan, I’m sure when you saw that Rashi, and that midrash, and that discrepancy in words between the seating arrangements of the brothers and Binyamin, I’m sure that you automatically connected it to a little Rema out in the laws of Pesach Seder. Right? Well Reb Moshe, did, and that’s probably a good reason why you shouldn’t recline in front of him.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Chanukah - 165 BC- OK Let’s break for a week from our chronological sites and eras to talk about the holiday of Chanukah. So in the year 165 about 100 years or so after Alexander the Great comes to Israel and spares the country and Greek culture enters the Jewish world, the country is once again in turmoil. The generals of Alexander divide up the country and the Northern Syrian Greeks, known as the Selucids, led by Antiochus passes laws against the Jews and the revolt begins. It ultimate culminates with the liberation of the Beit Hamikdash and the lighting of the Menorah which miraculous oil that lasted for eight days. You learned all that in kindergarden. But where can you experience and relive that in Israel.

So obviously the places to relive these battles would be where they took place. Mod’in where the revolt took place is today a big city, but Umm al Umdan right outside of it a shul was found there from the Herodian post Maccabee period and underneath it another Chashmonean period shul was found, so perhaps it was there. There is nearby as well a great place the Chasmonean village that has been created as well as Neot Kedumim that have all types of activities including olive oil making for Chanukah.
The battles of the Maccabees are certainly sites that we are familiar with. At Latrun by the Ayalon valley, Yehudah fights off miraculously Nikanor. I like to play lazer tag with my tourist kids there, that’s really reliving the action. A little north of that by Beit Choron you have the amazing battle fights off the general Seron. Even as far South as Yavneh which is right above Ashdod you have the final battle when we threw off the yoke of the Greeks. On the other hand, in the Gush Etzion area by Tel Zekariah right outside of Elazar is when the Maccabees suffered a defeat and Elazar was crushed by an elephant. The yishuv is thus named after him. Further down as you head to Chevron the village of Karmei Tzur is named after the Chashmonean city Beit Tzur where they sent the Syrians and their general Lysisus back to Syria.

The truth is though everywhere you go in Israel everyone is trying to get in on the action all of the museums have Chanukah activities, the parks have games and period-era costumes, and everyone is getting in on the action. But of course the most important Chanukah experience is to walk through the streets of the old city of Yerushalayim at night and see the neiros b’chatzros kodshecha- the candles, just as they were 2000 years ago lit in the courtyard, streets and window of our holy city. Am Yisrael Chai!

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S JEWISH MUSIC JOKES  OF THE WEEK
Berel walks into the doctor's office and says, "Doc, I haven't been able to go to the bathroom in a week!"
The doctor gives him a prescription for a mild laxative and tells him, "If it doesn't work, let me know."
A week later Berel is back: "Doc, still no movement!"
The doctor says, "Hmm, guess you need something stronger," and prescribes a powerful laxative. Still another week later poor Berel is back: "Doc, STILL nothing!"
The doctor, worried, says, "We'd better get some more information about you to try to figure out what's going on. What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a musician."
The doctor looks up and says, "Well, that's it! Here's $10.00. Go get something to eat!"

A Rabbi, a cantor, and a synagogue president were driving to a seminar when they were kidnapped. The hijackers asked the three of them to hand over all of their money and jewelry. When they replied that they hadn't any, the hijackers told them that immediately after their last wishes were fulfilled, they would be killed. 
"My last wish," began the Rabbi, is to give a fascinating, complicated, long sermon that I have always wanted to but never been allowed to give." 
"We will grant your wish," the hijackers replied. 
"My last wish," said the cantor, "is to sing a beautiful, Yemenite style song, one of my own compositions lasting two hours. I have never been allowed to sing it." 
"We'll let you sing it," replied the hijackers. 
"What is your last wish," the hijackers asked the shul president. 
"Please, please shoot me now." 

Leah walks into a pet shop and says to Hymie, the owner, "I want to buy a canary."
"We have many types,"
says Hymie, "is there any particular one you’re after?"
"Yes,"
replies Leah, "its got to be a very good singer. I'm prepared to pay good gelt (money) for a great singing bird."
"Lady, I’ve got the very one,"
says Hymie, "I’ve been in this business for a long time and this bird has the best singing voice I’ve ever heard. We don’t call it ‘Pavarotti’ for nothing. I’ll get it for you."
Hymie brings the cage, places it on the shop counter and says to Leah, "Just you listen."
With that, the bird begins singing one beautiful song after another. Pleasantly surprised, Leah murmurs, "What mazel (luck) - this canary really can sing."
But then, a few seconds later, Leah shouts out, "Oy Vay, this canary’s only got one leg. Are you trying to cheat me, or what?"
Hymie calmly looks at Leah and replies, "Lady, do you want a singer or a dancer?"  


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. One of the performers was a teenage girl playing the piano and singing Hava Nagila. During her song the grandmother sees a man in the audience 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"

Yankel received a parrot for his birthday. It was supposed to have a beautiful voice and sing Jewish songs. Yet when he came home he found that the parrot had a very bad attitude and worse vocabulary. Every other word was a yiddish swear word and curse.
He tried to change the bird's attitude by constantly saying polite things and playing jewish music for him. Anything he could think of. Nothing worked. He tried yelling at the bird, but the bird got worse. When he shook the bird, it got madder and ruder.
Finally, in a moment of desperation, Jimmy put the parrot in the freezer. For a few moments he heard the bird swearing, squawking, kicking and screaming and then, suddenly, there was absolute quiet.
Frightened that he might have actually hurt the bird, Jimmy quickly opened the freezer door. The parrot calmly stepped out onto Jimmy's extended arm and said, "I'm sorry that I offended you with my language and my actions, and I ask your forgiveness. I will endeavor to correct my behavior. And I will sing the best and nicest Shabbos songs you ever heard.
Jimmy was astounded at the bird's change in attitude. Before he could ask what changed him, the parrot said, "May I ask what the chicken did”
Two grave robbers find Beethoven's grave so they dig it up. When they reach the coffin they hear a strange sound coming from inside. Carefully, they open the lid and see Beethoven himself, sitting there erasing musical scores. "What are you doing?" they ask. "Don't you know? I'm decomposing."
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Answer is A–  OK every streak has to end. But hey it took 8 weeks, right. If I had to get one question wrong, I don’t feel so bad about this one. Nobody I have ever taken or will ever take is interested in either bapistries or mosques of ancient Nabateans. I was barely interested in them in my course. I mean the Nabateans are cool a little bit the whole first second century Spice trail and the transformation from nomads to palace and nice city dwellers. It also ties in a bit with the Yosef being sold down by his brothers to spice traders, although obviously this was about a thousand years later. Anyways, I imagine most of you haven’t even bother to scroll down for this answer, just to see if I got it wrong or not. Well I did, I missed the day in our course when we went to Shivta and Nitzana. I only went to Mamshit and Ovdat, and I actually thought they mentioned something about a mosque in one of them, although I thought they were pretty much gone by the Muslim period. I took tourists once to Mamshit and didn’t remember it there, so I guessed Ovdat. I was wrong it was Shivta. Oh, well. I probably would have left this one for the end to see if I needed to answer it as you are allowed to skip 5 questions. But I got it wrong so the new
score is Schwartz 7and 1 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam so far.