Big Mouth, Big Brother, Big Question- Pesach 2026 5786

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

April 2^nd 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 24 14^th of Nissan 5786

 

Pesach

 

Big Mouth, Big Brother, Big Questions

 

I have a big mouth. I talk a lot. I don't really have much of a filter. I say what's on my mind, or even more accurately what's in my heart. As I tell my tourists (those were people that I used to take around this country that seems to be extinct at the moment), at the onset of my tours, that I apologize in advance if they thought they would be getting the politically correct tour guide today. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it. They got me instead. Today they get to hear the real story.

 

It's not just tour guiding though. It's me in my shul during my sermons. It's when I did Jewish out reach all over the States. It was me back when I was a kid and yeshiva bochur, which is why I moved around a lot. Or was moved around to be more honest and accurate. It's me as a husband and father and certainly as a sibling. I say it like I see it. I call it the way it is. I'm bad at puling punches. I lay it all out there. And let the chips fall where they may. More often than not, it's usually on my own head. Yet, at the same time, a lot of what I say penetrates. It impacts people. It gives them pause or a new and different way of thinking. It perhaps even gives them a license to say or express out loud some of the things that they've thought about or even believe. It generates discussion. It opens up the world. I believe it's what we're all meant to do. Someone just needs to tell you it's alright. So here you go. It's alright.

 

Now I'm not saying that you should utilize this license at all times and with all people. I've only given you a driver's permit. You need to still have real licensed experienced driver like myself sitting next to you. To learn how to navigate the backlash. To know how to do it with love, with humor and with a self-deprecating confidence that doesn't come off as looking down at those with differing- although misguided and wrong views. To do it in a way that not only people still love you afterwards but will take you on another tour, will not unsubscribe, at least right away from your E-Mail and may even donate and sponsor it. To do it in a way, that they understand that you love them. That it's really not about you being right, it's about them being right. Doing right. Not making fatal errors in judgement, in politics, in Torah and in life. When they feel that love and you become good at that, then you can do it and start driving on your own.

 

There is one night a year, when you can drive without me. One night, when the mitzva is to talk and talk and talk.

V'chol ha'marbeh li'sapeir – and the more that you talk

harei zeh meshubach- the more praiseworthy you are.

 

It's tonight. It's Pesach. Our sages tell us that the word Pesach, homiletically of course, is Peh Sach- the mouth speaks. Tonight, is the night to let that tongue all hang out. To put it all right out there on that Pesach Seder Table. No holds barred. No political correctness necessary. It's time to tell it like it is. Like it really was. Like it's always been. And like how god-willing it will never be again. We'll be redeemed. We'll be home. We'll get to that last stage of Dayeinu, That we build the Bais Ha'Mikdash to atone for all of our sins. So tonight, we've all got the mike. No more fake news. Let's get real.

 

I'm going to ask you a question, that I think wouldn't be a bad question to start your seder off with. But before we get to that ask question, I want to ask you another one first. Are you reclining? Are you comfortable? Do you have your four cups of salvation all poured and ready to go? Ok here's the preliminary question. Are you free tonight? Are you planning on be free? Are you ready to leave Egypt? See, the obligation tonight is to be able to feel as if we left Egypt. That's the end game. If you didn't get there, then I hate to tell you, no matter how much matza you cram in your mouth, I'm not sure if you fulfill your primary obligation. So, I ask you again, the preliminary question. Are you ready to be free and leave Egypt tonight, or not?

 

Good. That's the right answer. See, I knew that's what you would say. You didn't do all that Pesach cleaning and cooking for nothing. You're ready. You're feeling free enough to give it all up and come home, right. To be in the Bais Ha'Mikdash. To hit that v'haivaisi- that fifth cup, we've been saving for so long. So let's get to the real question now, that I want you to start off your Seder with, because to a large degree, I think this is the key to us finally getting there. It's the question, we've never really asked before. Think of it as the fifth question. The question Eliyahu Ha'Navi is asking us, to know if he can drink that cup with us or not. Here goes. Are you ready?

 

OK. Here it is. If tomorrow, the Jewish people decided to elect you to be the Prime Minister of Israel. You're the boss. You get to make the decisions. You get to determine what happens tomorrow. Sure, there's still a Supreme Court and an Attorney General. But you don't care. You can make quick decisions before they chap. You can push a few buttons. You can declare a war. You can send out the police, the army. You're the Commander in Chief. The chips can fall where they might fall afterwards. But you can take the job tonight and it's yours. Would you take it?

 

Now, I think I might have lost some of you, by now after this first question. But, I want to stay with those few of you that responded yes to that question. You know, the ones that said that they want to be free tonight. The ones that aren't just faking it and lying awkwardly on the side of their chair leaning on a pillow pretending to be free. So, you guys that are still with me, here's the follow up question. Now that you're Prime Minister, what are you planning on doing with that power tomorrow. What are you going to do to express that freedom and show that you're not a slave to Pharaoh, the world opinion, or what anyone else has to say? What are you going to do fulfill that mandate Hashem gave us and what He expects from us? Because after all that's the only thing we need to be scared of. We're not slaves of anyone else. Right?

 

OK, so here's a bit of a checklist. Are you ready, One we know that Hashem wants us to build or at least prepare the ground for his Bais Ha'Mikdash. Whether we actually have to start the construction project ourselves or He's gonna just ship one down from above, is not the immediate agenda. What's clear is that He's not planning on having any roommates when He get's here. He doesn't swing that way. He's the Jealous God type, He tells us. So therefore, job number one. Clean out the idolatry from the land. It's a job He gave us a long time ago when we first came into the land. Wipe out, burn, destroy and eradicate all false religions from the land. Their altars, their churches, their mosques. Clean em all out. Get em off the Temple Mount. Out of His Holy city. Out of His land.

 So, job number one. Tomorrow. As the new prime Minister are you ready to do that? Are you ready to clean out the land? To give the order to the police to stand down as the Hill Top boys do what they want. If not, then you can join the other guys that even copped out of the job in the first place. You're still a slave to the "what-will-the-world-say". If not even worse, to your own sense of Western Idolatrous political correctness that seems to be uncomfortable with a world where not every religion has the right to practice freely.

 

Now, I know some of you might say. Yeah… but Christianity isn't really idolatry. Islam for sure isn't. It's not like they're pagans. They do believe in the one true God. They just distorted him a bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah… That may have been true in a world that's not on the way to being free and having the Bais HaMikdash in it. That may even be true in Chutz La'Aretz. But for Jews that's idolatry. For Hashem it is too. I know that. You know that. It's not what a world redeemed, that we're meant to bring to redemption, should look like. Should stand for.  Here in the land, there's no question, that if we have the power, which I, in the name of the Jewish people, have just given you. And which you yourself claim you have, as you're wearing a Kittel and claiming to be truly free tonight. There's no question that we should destroy it. That Hashem doesn't want them or it there.

 

OK, good with that? Let's continue. Next rule. Are you ready to give an ultimatum, which is really a follow up to the above action, that anyone who is not willing to accept Judaism as the only real religion and true faith of Hashem has to leave or be killed? Anyone that doesn't accept that the land of Israel is our inheritance. It belongs to us and that non-Jews are only permitted to live here as gerei toshav- as second class non-citizens that can enjoy whatever benefits we choose to give them, but they certainly can't vote. They certainly can't practice any other religions. And they're subject to our Torah laws, although they don't have to convert, and we don't even accept conversions at this point in the game, when we're on top. We know it's only for their blue and white card.

 

Now just to clarify as well, this law is in effect in the new/old biblical borders of Israel. There's no Area A, B, or C, anymore. There's no Palestinian Authority. They can't own guns. This is the West Bank or the biblical land of Yehuda, Binyamin, Ephraim, and Menashe. It's Gaza. It's Lebanon up to the Litani.  It's basically everywhere that Hashem gave us 60 years ago in 1967, but that we didn't feel free enough to actually claim as ours. We wore kittels, blew a shofar or two, reclined and said "har ha'bayis bi'yadeinu" but we were just pretending. Because despite all the miracles, Hashem showed us. How we literally saw 5 armies that were ten times our size run away from us, in the biblical style. How he/ we quadrupled the size of our country in six days. But we couldn't believe that He was strong enough to back us up to actually claim the land He had handed us. Just like the 4/5ths that stayed in Egypt after witnessing nine of the plagues couldn't believe that it was for real either.

 

Read that last sentence, again. Please. Now again… Yes. That 4/5^th is me and you that see miracles and still don't believe it's for real.  As I said, we're being real today. We're saying it all. I'll get back to that in a question. But I just want to finish up with those of you that are still sitting at the Prime Minister table. Because I've got a few more tasks, I want to ask you if your ready for tomorrow. It's a big day and we've got lots to do. Thank God you're still wearing your kittel and reclining and enjoying this liberating freedom of not needing to worry about anyone else besides being the eved Hashem.

 

OK, we've got the Temple Mount. We've got rid of the churches and mosques. We've got all the land we've conquered already with everyone that wasn't ready to play our Jewish Divine shuffleboard game. And we've shuffled a lot of those that didn't want to play off the board if not out of this world. Now for the next step. The parts of Israel that are ours that we haven't conquered yet.

 

So are you, Mr. or Mrs. Prime Minister ready to head on into Jordan to reclaim our land on the other side of the Jordan. 1/4^th of Klal Yisrael almost, the tribes of Reuvein and Gad and Menashe (most of them) are counting on you. See, in Mitzrayim we could afford to leave 4/5^th behind. But not this time. Everyone's going to come. And they're all going to want their tribal heritage land. Which means Jordan. It means Egypt down to the river. It means a nice chunk of Syria past the Chermon up into parts of Turkey and to the Euphrates. Are we ready to start launching rockets and conquering it?

 

The last time we did, I know we had Moshe Rabbeinu doing it for us. He killed every man, woman and child over there. The Torah tells us he didn't leave anything breathing. Lo hish'ir bahem serid. He set the precedent. Hashem told us to the same thing, he did when He brought us into the land. Yehoshua, even stopped us, the Talmud in Sota tells us, in the middle of the crossing of the Jordan river, while the river stood up in the air. There he gave us that first Shabbos Ha'Gadol Drasha ever. He made us take an oath, right there and then, that we would conquer the entire land. We would inherit it. He warned us, that if we didn't then we would actually die there right now. That the water would come crashing down on our heads. It seems he needed to give us that speech then, because if he didn't then we wouldn't feel strong enough once we came in. We'd attribute the miracles that took place to "cool amazing things that Hashem does for us". Thank You Hashem. Mizmor L'Toda. But that still doesn't give us enough backbone to be free and actually go in and take the entire country and tell them where to go. To clear it out of all the abominations that are foreign to Hashem. That He doesn't want there. So are you ready Mr. Prime Minister for that as well?

 

OK, there's only one last thing that's necessary as well. See, I know that some of you Prime Ministers are not yet here in Israel. So, imaginably all of you are obviously free enough to come home and live here. You're not scared of serving in the Army and making you not frum. Because you're obviously going to change that. You're not scared of the Supreme Court or Attorney General. Because you'll get rid of them. Fired first 30 seconds of your job. You certainly aren't scared of giving up your house, your job, your yeshiva, your chavrusa. Because ultimately, you're free enough to know that all of that is baloney compared to the one real role Hashem Chose us and set us free to accomplish. The goal of building Him a house. Of serving Him on this Mountain. That's there. It's in the Hagadda, you read while reclining like a free man. That's all a given that you're comfortable doing.

 

The question though is Mr. PrimeMinister-free-Seder man still-in-Chutz-La'aretz, at least until you pack up your stuff. Are you comfortable telling your non- Jewish neighbors that you're leaving? Are you comfortable telling them "thank you for the great time here" but I need to go home? But here's the most important part. Are you comfortable or better yet feel free enough to tell them that you're leaving because tomorrow Hashem is going to blow up the Vatican? He's going to destroy all their churches. He's going to reveal Himself as the God whose only child is our Nation, and frankly He's quite offended by the concept that He has another kid that someone made up that He slaughtered and crucified on a cross that they've been promulgating.

 

Are you free enough to slaughter all those politically correct western democratic values of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, of prayer and to put its blood on your doorpost? To hang that only one True God and all other religions are baloney and will be destroyed flag outside your house. That's what free people that are not slaves need to do. It's the one and only thing Hashem told us we needed to do before He took us out. We had to make the real statement at least to ourselves. That if He freed us and killed our enemies from us. Then we would be able to actualize that freedom. That we could truly act free and that the only one would ever worry about, is our One Master in heaven. Our Father who is waiting for us to bring home.

 

On the night that we brought that korban Pesach. 3300 years, today, Hashem killed the first-born of the Egyptians. The entire story of our Exodus to a large degree is about this moment. At the beginning of this entire story Moshe, in the name of Hashem tells Pharaoh. That if he doesn't let us out Hashem will kill his first-born. Because we are the First-Borns of Hashem. The process of the plagues and the miracles weren't so much about punishing Egypt as it was in creating us as His First Born. It was about giving us enough of a sense of confidence, to be more than all the other children of the world are to Hashem. The First- Born has to be different. The job of the First-Born is to teach the rest of the children of the family about their Father. Because He's a bit of a Father himself. He's the oldest. He's been there the longest. He's the chain between heaven and earth. Between the parent and the rest of the world. And to do that, he has to have a mouth. He has to be free to express himself. To express who his Father is.

 

Hashem wasn't just looking to liberate a persecuted nation. He's the one that put us there in the first place. He told Avraham 220 years before we went down to Egypt, by the Bris bein Ha'besarim that we would be going down there. It's the deal he cut with him to teach him how we would be able to inherit the land. He would enslave us. He'd give us a taste of what happens to a nation that's worried about what the world will say, rather than their Father. It would hopefully teach us the hard lesson of what happens when we come down to a place and feel too comfortable there. Where the path of trying to ingratiate ourselves to them and building up their economies and pyramids will lead. And then He will take us out. He will make us free. He will preform miracles for us.

 

And then, the day will come, when He will have a First-Born nation, who just like Avraham our Patriarch, will fear no one. Even if it means being ostracized, thrown out lambasted in the press, be called an ivri- on the opposite side of the politically correct immoral world and western mindset. Even if it means being thrown into the fiery furnaces they might roast us with. We won't be scared. Ein od Milvado- won't just be something we say when we have a court case we want to win or when a building inspector is coming to check out our properties or Nursing Homes. It will be the flag that we hang outside of our doors in galus and the destroyed churches and places of alternate false worship in Israel. Because we know that we were chosen for this job. That we really are His only First-born. And that we can feel free enough, if not obligated to say it. To take the job that He's given us. To be His Prime Ministers- His nation of Mamleches Kohanim that we agreed to come on that Mountain that He brought us to.

 

It's not fun to think about ourselves as possibly the 4/5^th that may not have felt strong enough to see all the great miracles and still feel too weak to take that freedom being handed to us. It's so much easier to talk about them as being the ones that weren't as frum as us. The ones that were also idolators. That aren't shomer Shabbos. That spoke lashon harah and had sinas chinam. That had smartphones and internet. That certainly didn't have as much emuna and bitachon and Torah and mitzvos as we do. To think that we're the wise son, while everyone else that's not as frum as me are the wicked sons whose teeth need to be knocked out. But, tonight's not the night we're here to make you feel good about yourself. Certainly not on the head of those that aren't as what we perceive as not being as frum as us. You didn't get that tour guide. And we're not reading that Hagadda tonight.

 

Tonight's about asking ourselves, today, if we're ready to be truly free. If we feel we have what it takes as the 1/5^th did back then did. The 1/5^th were still living in Egypt. Pharaoh was still a strong king with a big army. Pharoah also believed in Hashem as did many Egyptians who brought in their animals and even fought with Pharaoh to let us go. It didn't make sense to upset and cause more anti-Semitism by slaughtering their distorted sense of Hashem plus a sheep. Or whatever deity they added on to Him. We were still in galus. We need to just bow our head and wait for the shofar. That's what the 4/5^th said. 210 years of exile can do that to you. 2000 years can make it even harder. To be honest, I don't know if I would take the job as Prime Minister myself. It's hard. It's a leap. It's scary to stand up to the world. Am I free enough to be free?

 

Back then, 1/5^th of our nation was able to do that. The 1/5^th were a lot less frum then us today. They were much more assimilated. They were on 49^th level of tumah. They didn't have our Torah. Our Mitzvos. Our Achdus. They didn't have our October 7^th, our Holocaust, our Inquisition, our Crusades. Of the millions of martyrs. They as well didn't have the benefit of seeing the great miracles of the return to the land already happening. The land flourishing after being desolate for 2000 years. The return of so many children to Hashem. The destruction of enemies and even the tzitzis and payos and tefillin and Torah being studied in our army that's only songs are about Hashem. About Shema Yisrael.

 

 We have that today. We're standing in the Yarden once again, with Hashem holding that Divine Iron Dome and clouds of Glory protecting us from falling Fire Truck size ballistic missiles falling over our head and He's asking us if we can do it. If we're finally ready. Can He have that fifth cup with us?  Can L'Shana Ha'bah finally we all be together in Yerushalayim.

 

Have a liberating and redemptive Pesach,

 

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

  

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

" Az men vil nit alt vern, zol men zich yungerheyt oyfhengen" – If you don't want to grow old, hang yourself when you're young.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/hinei-lo-yanum-israel – My beautiful composition Hinei Lo Yanum- we need not fear. Hashem's not sleeping Dovid Lowy amazing arangements

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vehi-shemada   - The most powerful Vehi She'amda since Shwekeys. Listen closely and hear the generations of Vehi She'amda songs in the second harmony low part. Whadda an arrangement Dovid Lowy- always taking my songs and making them gold!

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/melech-rachamon  - And here's my only song with me giving an introduction. The longing for the Bais Hamikdash Melech Rachaman… Its much better than SY's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwv8kuYhFn8&t=383s  – If you've got time and want to listen something truly glorious. The Yigal Calek family did an amazing concert here with all the greats!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV-WaeC93cY   – Miami's latest release Hashiveynu… they're back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZEpGrrYrRU – It's not Pesach without a new Maccabeats acapella release- Break Free

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

27. The main site for the disposal of toxic waste in Israel is called _______________

 In which of the following areas is olive cultivation a major industry?

A. Jezreel Valley

 B. Zevulun Valley

 C. Beit Netofa Valley

D. Sakhnin Valley

  

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

Why is this King Different?- 353 BC- As we know, at that party of Achashveirosh that we said started this month of Nissan utilizing the vessels of the Bais Ha'Mikdash, Achashveirosh was not punished. Rather his wife Vashti as killed. In fact, Achashveirosh ends up reigning for 14 years, 11 years after the Purim story. The commentaries ask why was he different then Belshatzar? Why wasn't he as well punished for desecrating the Bais Ha'Mikdash's vessels and even more so for causing all the Jews to sin?

 

The answer given by the Sefas Emes is a powerful one. He suggests because Achashveirosh didn't fully deny the prophecy of Yirmiyahu that we would be in exile only for 70 years. He saw that we had already returned to Eretz Yisrael. The Temple had even started being built. It was just halted. Incidentally this was at the behest of the 10 sons of Haman, the book of Nechemia and Rashi tells us in the Megilla. That's why they're hung. It's a hidden part of the story in the Hidden scroll of the Megilla. What Achashveirosh doubted though was whether there would be Geula Shlaima. Whether we all would return. When there would just be a State of Israel where Jew lived, but certainly not a place where all Jews would fulfill their mandate of living and bringing the light of Hashem by building Him home where his Glory could rest. That was his heresy. That was his "White House" Chanuka Party.

 

Because he believed in the return of the Jews to Israel. He believed in the "atchalta di'geula" although not the entire thing, that merit was enough to save him. Only his wife Vashti was killed. That's a pretty hefty message. What does that mean for us today? Is there a value of seeing the geula even though it's not complete. To see the return to Eretz Yisrael of Jews even though the Temple is not yet built yet as being a significant fulfillment of prophecy. That the end is around the corner? The Sefat Emet certainly saw that as a value. Something to ponder as we sit down to our seder and think about what that redemption means for us.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE IRAN WAR JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

Latest bill in front of the Knesset to prohibit the asking of the Ma Nishtana. Becasue during war is not a time to ask questions...

 

These days one doesn't know if the smoke coming up in Bnai Brak is from a missile falling or Burning of Chametz

 

Mazel Tov on the new establishment of 10,000 Sefirat Ha'Omer reminder groups that were opened this morning on the heels of the Eiruv Tavhsilin ones...

 

T-Shirt I bought last week. I survived Missiles in Israel Osher Ad Pesach shopping.

 

Siren songs-

Things that sound like sirens. Ambulances. Motorcycles. Pigeons, gusts of wind, creaky doors, Everything sounds like sirens…

 

Israelite Home Front Command in Egypt

Biological threat of the Ten Plagues

A widespread biological event is affecting the land of Egypt. Manifesting itself as multiple hazardous events (plagues)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOUSEHOLDS

All guidelines remain in force until further notice.

Blood- Water Pollution

Avoid Nile water- store clean water for use

Frogs- amphibian invasion

Seal doorways and remain vigilant at night

Lice- Parasitic infestation

Wash thoroughly and wear clean garments

Flies-Insect Swarm

Avoid all exposed areas cover well all food and drinks

Livestock Disease

Keep livestock sheltered and healthy

Boils- Contagious Sores

Burn contaminated rags, treat sores properly

Hail-Destructive Storm

Seek shelter indoors until storm passes

Locusts- Consuming Swarm

Seal your home, collect and burn all leftover locust.

Darkness- Foul Darkness

Keep lamps lit, stay indoors during darkness

Death of Firstborns- LETHAL EVENT

Immediate life-threatening risk,

Occurs during designated night period

Requires full compliance with protective instructions

REMEMBER FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS SAVES LIVES…

 

If the Iranians really wanted to mess with us they wouldn't use explosives. They would fill their missiles with bread crumbs. Weaponized Chametz

 

The War Time Shower prayer

With this warm shower, may no rocket pay a call

And during a siren may no siren sound at all

With soap on our hands, may we make no frantic dash

Nor run to the shelter mid-suds and mid-splash

And while we are dripping and mid-towel drying

Maye we not be sent running and frantically flying

Mae we safely emerge from this swift hygiene run,

Completely rinsed off and not merely half-done

May a miracle help us catch a lucky break

And let us wash our hair for heaven's sake!

 

There have been ten rocket attacks today. If we hit 13 we'll have to wish each other Mazel Tov on our bomb-mitzva

 

Anyone mind taking a small package for me from our textiles factory in Dimona to Tehran.

 

I got the feeling this morning that the mother of some Iranian is cleaning up her machsan/storage unit and found it full of chametz missiles and she's just throwing them away in panic.

 

You know we're at war, when I got more messages on my phone today from Homefront Command then from Kupat Ha'ir.

 

Today at 2:00 AM switch your clocks to whatever time you want. It's really not relevant to most of us anymore anyways.

 

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The answer to this week's question is D– This was a tricky one on the second part at least and I got it wrong. The first part though, I knew even before I watched the News yesterday and saw that Neot Chovav Israel's main recycling plant located in the South was hit by missiles. We visited it in our tour guide course, I have no idea why… Yet the second part was hard. I don't even know why they're answer is correct even after checking Google and ChatGPT. The truth is there are Olives in all of those regions. Jezree'el though is much more wheat and Netufa valley is even mentioned in the Talmud Yerushalmi, I believe as the last place where the wheat remains. That left Sachnin and Zevulun. I went with Zevulun, the answer was Sachnin. Not sure why… but I'll take the hit.  So another week of only half right and the new score  of Rabbi Schwartz having a 19 points and the MOT having 8 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

Hero Sandwich- Shabbos Hagadol/ Pesach 2021 5781

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

 "Your friend in Karmiel"

March 26^th 2021 -Volume 11 Issue 24 13^th Nissan 5781

 

Pesach

 

Hero Sandwiches

So, I haven't really been home much in the past for this Pesach cleaning thing that Jews do. As much as it pains me not to be there and take part in these exciting preparations for Pesach-what I could I do? There were always tourists that were in town and they desperately needed and deserved to have me as their tour guide to inspire them about our holy land and explain to them how nice having only one seder was. How much better it was to be living here and how incredible it would be if they and their children could experience the holiness and glory of Hashem's favorite country all year round. Sure, other guides could do that as well, but some guides are a little nervous to make those type of bold statements. They don't want to offend people or make them question the authenticity of their Jewish experience and lifestyles that they have created for themselves in the Diaspora. I, on the other hand, live for those moments. I tell it like it is. It's an important job and gift Hashem has given me by blessing us with living here and having this great job and I don't want to let Him down. Also I'm really not the greatest cleaner…

Yet this year, being tour-less, I've been home for Pesach cleaning and let me tell you something it ain't easy. Do people really do this every year?  I mean here I am, trying to do some work on my computer, writing my E-Mail, my next upcoming Mishpacha article, even learning a bit and preparing for the Seder and I'm constantly being asked to switch seats.

"Can you get off the dining room table- now we're doing the chairs" So I move to the couch. "Can you get off the couch, we need to clean inside the cushions". So I move to my office.

"Can you get out of the office now we need to clean it". I mean this is rough. All this moving from room to room, from couch to couch, from table to table. I even had to walk up and down the stairs a few times to get my sefarim from the living room where I was not able to learn because of the noise from the vacuum cleaners. My shoes got wet from some sponja water that someone spilled while cleaning. It's really tiring all this moving around not to mention watching all these people cleaning around me. How do people do this?  I want my tourists back…

Now what I find fascinating about all of this is that after what seems like a month long spring cleaning on steroids, followed by non-stop cooking, shopping and toiveling, followed by more shopping and toiveling again and again and then more cleaning and cooking, we are meant to arrive at our Pesach seder, relaxed, chilled like kings relaxing on a couch, all inspired to tell our children the story of Pesach, listen to their divrey Torah and of course all with a smile, patience and love. I can barely keep my eyes open now, fuggedabout my poor wife who hasn't slept in who knows how long; writing list after list in this non-stop preparation. I mean who came up with this holiday anyways?

Oh yeah… it was Hashem. Hmmm… I guess if that's the case then it's probably worthwhile to take a second to appreciate how and what these seemingly contradictory holiday demands of us are all about.  On one hand we work and slave furiously, on the other hand we are relaxed and laying back on the couch. It is the matza and the maror together. It our freedom spiced up with the flavor of maror. It has a little charoses flavor which represents the bricks we made, but yet counterintuitively they are flavored to taste kind of sweet. And in the times of the Beit Hamikdash, when Hashem's glory was resting in the place it was meant to, we would eat all of these incredible and distinct contradictory flavors as part of a sandwich called Korech with a nice big slab of roasted Korban Pesach lamb chops in the middle. Welcome to the sandwich of Hillel; the pre-feast hors d'oeuvres we are meant to eat right before our meal in middle of the Seder.

Korech really got the short straw by the Seder in my opinion. See, by that time in the Seder all of the haggada torah has been said already. We left Egypt, we relived the persecution, the babies in the Nile, the plagues. The kids have said their Ma Nishtanas, hid the Afikoman, sung their Dayeinus and half of Hallel. They've shared all their insights and asked all of their questions. We have already downed two cups of wine, eaten our karpas, lots of Matza and Maror. Shulchan Orech is right around the corner… finally! Chatzos is rapidly approaching (if it hasn't past yet and you did the conditional afikoman shtick). But wait… we're not there yet. We have to pause and eat the korech sandwich. We have to take more Matza, more Maror this time we need to put them together and then mention that this is what Hillel did in the Temple. Shkoyachh…. Can't this wait till after we eat a meal. The brisket is calling to me.

I mean we already ate Matza, we ate Maror. We don't have a Korban Pesach anymore today anyways. What's the point? This is a question nobody really asks because everyone is pretty "torah'ed out" by this time. Anybody that risks stopping the seder at this point for more pesach Seder Torah by my seder risks having that horseradish root sitting on the Seder plate stuffed in their mouth by multiple people sitting at the table, the one sitting at the head not being the last of them. But it's before Pesach still. It's still safe to ask the question. So let's do so.

This Shabbos is called Shabbos Hagadol when we are meant to remember and recall the miracle that took place on that first Shabbos which was the 10^th of Nissan. It was a few days before our exodus when Hashem told us to take a lamb-which was the Egyptian idolatry-and prepare it for slaughtering. The commentaries of the Shulchan Aruch note that a great miracle took place in that the Egyptians did not respond to this affront to their belief system. Yet the Bach notes that there is something strange about this. Seemingly, he asks, the Jews were always eating meat. We were never vegetarians. The Egyptians knew this all along. Even back in the days of Yosef, the viceroy of Pharaoh, the torah tells us that the Jews would eat their meat, just separate from the Egyptians. This was different though. Here something else was going on.

In the words of the Bach that what took place here was that the Jews told the Egyptians specifically that we are slaughtering their God down in this world and in doing so Hashem will respond and slaughter their God- or guardian angel at least-in the upper worlds. The Pesach offering represents our making that first move to our redemption. It's our cleaning house. It's getting rid of the foreign influence and shmutz and understanding that when we do that Hashem will respond with the greatest of miracles and redeem us.

It's interesting thing this Korban Pesach we are meant to be eating. It's different than any other sacrifice. The Talmud tells us a story of a year during the Temple years when just like this year Erev Pesach fell out on Shabbos. It seems that there was a lot of confusion about what should be done that particular year. The Halacha is that sacrifices that are a communal offering, like the daily Tamid and the Sabbath and holiday offerings, are brought on the Shabbos-despite the fact that obviously lighting a fire and cooking is generally prohibited. At the same time though, personal sacrifices like sin, vows, or thanksgiving offerings could only be brought on a weekday. What is the status of the Korban Pesach, was the question? On the one hand unlike the communal sacrifices which were purchased with the community contributed funds this was paid for by each person individually. As well each family selected who would join them, it wasn't the priests of Hashem. It was each one of us. Yet, at the same time though it was certainly a holiday sacrifice that the entire Jewish people were commanded to bring. Hmmm… what to do?

Along comes Hillel and solves the problem. He recalls from his Rabbis that it in fact was brought on a Shabbos. And thus the Korban Pesach that year was saved. The story gets better though. For the question then became how to transport the knife for the slaughtering on Shabbos. Was one permitted to carry it? Here, Hillel himself seemed to have divinely forgotten the law. He attributed it to the fact that he had perhaps spoken so assuredly and expressed, what some might consider, some pride in being the one that remembered the law. Yet, he saw some Jews coming to Jerusalem and they had placed their slaughtering knives in the wool or horns of the sheep and goat they were bringing and he exclaimed

"If the children of Israel aren't prophets they are the children of prophets, for this is the law as I remember"

Do you know what the pinnacle of our Pesach Seder is? After we have recited it all and left Egypt. We've sung, we've been redeemed and we've eaten our matza and our bitter herbs. We are left with one last thing to do before we eat our meal and conclude our Seder. We need to eat that sandwich of Hillel. We need to remember that there was a temple and in that Temple the entire Jewish people and their individual sacrifices that we brought are all considered communal sacrifices. Just as a prophet does not prophesize for himself as he represents the entire Jewish people, so each Jew and each service we each do; all of our maror, all of our trials and tribulations which may seem like they are personal, they are really all part of the sandwich of a communal sacrifice of a Korban Pesach.

As well, that Pesach sacrifice is to be sandwiched by the matza- that unleavened bread that is not left alone for a second. It's worked and worked and worked, like our houses and cleaning. There's no time that it's not busy. All of our work and efforts that we each do are as well part of that communal sacrifice. We sprinkle that charosess on that sandwich and remember those bricks we built back in Egypt and as we chew down while leaning like kings we are transported to the bricks of the Beit Hamikdash we are building. We remember Hillel's lesson and teaching. We remember that Erev Pesach that fell out on Shabbos when he revealed that even the Torah of the simplest Jew carrying his knife on a sheep has a Torah to teach that and a prophecy for the entire Jewish nation.

Pesach is the holiday that remembers the miracles Hashem preformed for us as we became his nation. But the prelude to that great Exodus that we recite to our children is the miracle that the Jewish people preformed first. Despite two centuries of exile, slavery and assimilation, miraculously as a nation we found the strength and fortitude to step up and  heed Hashem's command and slaughter those sheep. We had suffered, we had lost children, family members, we had been tortured and abused like no other nation. We had every right to give up and throw in the towel. And yet we didn't. We stood up bravely, like no other nation ever would and put that blood on our doorposts and told the Egyptians that their Gods were doomed. Hashem would finish them up because we as a nation, each Jew will eat that Pesach sacrifice down here below and understands that every action we do is not independent. It is an entire eternal community. My personal little backyard BBQ Korban Pesach is as important and as precious as the daily sacrifice that was brought in the Temple for the entire nation. The Egyptians saw this and they didn't have anything to say. We created that shining light of faith and when confronted with the power of our nation's audacious declaration they were speechless. And thus the original hero sandwich was born.

Unlike last year this Pesach many of us will be back again with our families Baruch Hashem. The entire story of the plagues of Egypt lasted about a year and we have endured a year of the plague ourselves. However unlike back then when only the Egyptians were plagued,  "Makkas Covid" has struck us as well. There is almost no home that doesn't know or have someone that wasn't killed by this plague. There was no one who's life hasn't been struck and made to suffer in some capacity as a result of it. Yet unlike the Egyptians we recognize that all that Maror is really part of our redemption. We recognize that the bread of our affliction is really just the sandwich that wraps our community together. That brought us all closer together. That joined us in one long hero sandwich that reminds us of the Temple that is being built by every mitzva we do, every statement of faith we make, every spark of holiness we reveal. Making that great Hillel Hero sandwich may have been tiring and exhausting. But we have finally reached that point in our Seder when we can eat it. We can be kings and truly free.

Here in Israel the most popular sandwich to order is a me'urav yerushalmi- A Jerusalem Mix. May this year Pesach, this coming Shabbos all of you join me in Yerushalayim in the Temple for that Hero sandwich that will no longer be just a memory of Hillel, but the tasty dessert we've waited 2000 years to partake in.

Have a Chag Kasher V'Samayach,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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THE VOICE OF FAITH

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 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Gebroteneh teibelech flien nit in moil arein." Roasted teibelech  (?? I think it means crackers- I know what teiglech are anyone know what teibelech are? ) don't just fly in your mouth "

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

A quarter that did not exist in Acre during the Crusader period:

a) Franciscan

b) Pisan

c) Hospitallers

d) Venetian

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO  OF THE WEEK

 

https://youtu.be/PrCK7zLj2U0    – THE SCHWARTZ FAMILY PESACH STORY- With my great Vayosha song- Rabbi Schwartz b'pijama in middle of the night!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQON0ipv6iI   - Six-13 Pirate Pesach cute!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3KBEESu05Y    - Fantastic musical Seder in Jerusalem with Mayor Lion-must see…

 

https://youtu.be/Vtb7rmvx4po - Heart wrenching and beautiful Eli Levin Afikomen song in memory of young engaged couple that died and the organization to make shidduchim for people in their memory

 

https://youtu.be/7GpXZ5R7JDQ- Rabbi Klatzkow's beautiful meaningful new song The four sons sung by his son Luzy

 

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

 

Together – Vayikra- Traditionally this Shabbos, before Pesach is known as Shabbas HaGadol. According to the Tur Shulchan Aruch the reason it is called this is to commemorate the great miracle that took place on the 10^th of Nissan. Four days before Erev Pesach the Jews were commanded to take a sheep and tie it to their bedposts in order to prepare it and make sure it would be blemish free in order for it to be ready for the Pesach offering. The sheep was worshipped by the Egyptians and in fact the lunar month of Nissan is the astrological sign of Airies- the ram, meaning it was in full force. Seemingly this would offend the Egyptians, as much as the burning of a cross would a Christian or a Koran of a Muslim or the burning of an American Flag would for most Americans- at least Republicans and their response should have been brutal and violent. Yet according to the Midrash "their mouths were sealed" and they didn't say anything. The Jews left Egypt on the 15^th of Nissan which was on Thursday and thus this miracle and act took place 5 days prior on Shabbos the 10^th of Nissan. And thus it is called Shabbat HaGadol to commemorate that miracle.

 

Not it would seem that this year more than any year there should be a question that stands out which is that we are already 4 days past the 10^th of Nissan. Why are we commemorating this miracle on Shabbos? We never commemorate things on the day of the week that it fell out. We commemorate it on the day of the calendar month. To paraphrase the Haggada- Why is this miracle commemoration different than all other commemorations of the year?

 

The Bach answers the question with another question, he notes that in fact seemingly there was another huuuge miracle that took place on the 10^th of Nissan that took place 40 years after we left Egypt. That miracle was the splitting of the Jordan River by Yehoshua when we entered the land of Israel. Our Rabbis tell us that all of the fancy shmancy miracles that took place when Moshe split the Red Sea took place here as well. Each tribe had its own channel to walk through, the there   This is a pretty big miracle as well and seemingly it should be commemorated. However, the Bach tells us that it is precisely because this miracle took place on the 10^th of Nissan that we do not celebrate Shabbos HaGadol on that day. We don't want to confuse the importance of our commemoration of the miracle of the taking of the pesach lamb. The question is why not? What's wrong with doing it on the 10^th of Nissan and remembering this huge miracle as well. It seems that we specifically do not want to remember this miracle. Have you ever heard of a miracle that we don't want to commemorate?

 

I heard an incredible answer from my Rebbi that really reveals much of the essence of our Pesach Seder; what we are meant to remember and celebrate and what we have yet to celebrate and commemorate. By our Seder we conclude our Dayeinu song with Hashem giving us the Bais HaBechira-His holy temple in Jerusalem. The blessing we make on our 2^nd cup of wine before we begin the eating part of Seder we have been waiting for also concludes with the prayer that we return to our sacrifice in the Temple. Even when we left Egypt and the splitting of the sea it was all about receiving the Torah on Sinai and ultimately as we sang in Az Yashir to return to Eret Yisrael and build the Temple. It's all about the ultimate goal of establishing a Home for Hashem here on this earth.  That is what we recognize and remember when we leave Egypt; what was the purpose of it all.

 

When Yehoshua split the sea for us to come into Israel there were tremendous miracles. This was it. We have arrived. The Jews are home, the promise of our ancestors had been fulfilled. There's a danger however of being so excited about coming to Israel and those miracles in its establishment that one forgets that the job is not yet over. This was never about having a "Jewish State" in our ancestral heritage where we would not be persecuted. We establish holidays and commemorations when we began the process of our slaughtering the lamb, when we left Egypt. Back then we sang about the Temple we will build. But the miracles of entering the land… that's just still on the road to getting there. That's like the miraculous wars and miracles Hashem perfomed for us along the way 40 years in the wilderness. We don’t commemorate them. They're just part of the journey that we are still waiting to conclude. We therefore make sure not to commemorate the miracle of the 10^th of Nissan. We don't want people to get confused and think we are establishing a Yom Ha'Atzmaut of sorts for the crossing into the Jordan and our arrival into Eretz Yisrael. Holidays like that fool us into thinking our job is done. Pesach is all about remembering that we still have not drunk that 5^th cup yet. We still are in middle of the journey. We are meant to still be inspired to come home and join together here and build that Beis Hamikdash. That is that haftorah we read about Eliyahu Hanavi and the Yom Ha'Gadol. That great day that we are waiting for that we started on that original Shabbat Ha'Gadol. May we hear that Shofar blast this year.

 

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

(In honor of Shabbos HaGadol we will pause our chronology and remember the miracle of the 10^th of Nissan of Yehoshua and Jews crossing into Israel)

 

Crossing the Yarden 1272 BC Although he did not have as good of a PR agent as Moshe did, the crossing of the Jordan River by the Jewish people led by Yehoshua was just as miraculous. In some ways perhaps even more so. The Torah tells us that unlike by the Red Sea when the Jews were nervous and frightened, by the Jordan river they seemed to have kicked the fear of raging waters and went right in. Now when I cross the Jordan river- generally in the North of Israel I have to be point out to my tourists a few things. Number one, this is not where the Jews crossed. They crossed on the southern Jordan, across from Yericho above the Dead Sea. We can’t cross that today because the other side is Jordan. The second thing I point out, is that the Jordan was certainly much larger than today. For today it really is not much more than a creek. But it still is a cool chavaya to “cross the Jordan” which I do by the Golan near Gesher Arik or Gesher Bnot Yaakov.

 As well the crossing of the Jordan in the times of Yehoshua entailed taking 12 rocks and building an altar/ memorial from them of the crossing. These rocks the Midrash tells us were ultimately taken up to Gilgal where it was built and then perhaps taken down again and re-erected and plastered over by Mt. Eival when they had the blessings and curses, but we’ll get to that later. Today throughout the area of the Jordan Valley there are a few sites where they found circular manmade rock formations that can be associated with Gilgal, a word that means round, although the Torah tells us a different reason it’s called that. The closest one to the Yericho crossing is near Moshav Argaman.

 Finally the Torah tells us that unlike the Red Sea crossing here the Kohanim and the Ark stayed on the other side and came last and then they flew over in the midrash version, carrying those that were carrying it. One can imagine the excitement of the nation finally realizing they have entered the land, but oh no, the Ark is on the other side, the Kohanim are still there, the water closed up and then poof it flies over their head to the other side. Hollywood couldn’t do it better. And this is the story I like to tell my tourists when we stand by Kasr El Yahud right by the Jordan river as we overlook the place of the crossing. I also tell them to look in the water to see if they can see the 12 replacement stones that Yehoshua put in the Jordan river instead. No one has found them yet. But the Torah tells us that they are still there. So keep looking!

 RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE SANDWICH JOKES  OF THE WEEK

 What do my life and my sandwich have in common? They both fall apart right in front of my eyes

 Why should you ask an anti-masker to make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

Because they are a super spreader!

 Every time my mom burns my grilled cheese sandwich I get a stomach ache...I guess I’m black toast intolerant.

 What do Israeli politicians, conspiracy theorists, mainstream media and sandwiches have in common? They're all full of baloney.

 I’ve just been out to the local Israeli cafe to buy 25 sandwiches for all my colleagues in the office. I kept them all in separate bags though - didn’t want to put all my Greggs in the same basket

Berel bumped into Shmerel in the deli and asked what he was doing there. Shmerel said  “I love sandwiches!”

Berel said: “Me too. By the way, I heard you just bought a horse! What did you name it?”

Shmerel answered “Mayo.”

“Mayo? Why Mayo?”

 “Because he neighs.”

 Why did the tomato turn red? It saw the sandwich dressing!

Why don't sandwiches like warm weather? Things get Toasty!

 Where do you get an Indian Sandwich? At the New Delhi.

What do you eat at the beach? A Sand-wich. 

What did the fisherman catch when he used peanut butter as bait? A jellyfish. 

A sandwich walks into a bar. The barman says "Sorry we don't serve food in here" 

Do you want a salad with that Sandwich? Veggies!! That's what my food eats!

I didn’t feel like cooking tonight, so I made a sandwich for dinner

It wasn’t so much as a sandwich as much as it was just bread.
I guess more just grain.
Fermented grain.
Distilled, fermented grain.
I had whisky for dinner tonight.

What did the sandwich say to the doorman? Lettuce in 

Here is why you should never trust a sandwich. They are full of baloney 

Yankel boards a bus with a sandwich in his hand. The bus driver says: "Hey, this ain't a restaurant,!"
He replies: "I know. That's why I brought my own food."

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Answer is A – This one was fairly easy as well. I certainly visit Akko a lot and it's one of my favorite places to tour. And although I prefer the Jewish Akko stories rather than the Crusader ones. I know enough about the Hospatilers that lived there and I remember the Venician and Pisan quarters that divided the city. The Franciscans which were not even founded until the end of the Crusader period just didn't fit in. And I was of course correct so back in the game  And the score is now 15 for Rabbi Schwartz and 5 for the Ministry of Tourism on this exam.