Holyland Insights and Inspiration: pilegesh

I think there's something symbolic that strikes me by the fact that we here in Eretz Yisrael are reading a different parsha then you guys are over there in the Diaspora. While you guys are still struggling with the challenges and questions of if this is a good land to live in, to move to, to give up the false sense of superior Torah in the mibdar, and the even more false sense of security that you feel over there- even without the clouds of Glory that we seem to have here. While you guys are wondering if it's worthwhile to leave the yeshiva of Moshe Rabbeinu and actually take a gun and fight and eradicate the enemy in the army of Yehoshua- and if your children can handle that or not. Here in Israel we're passed that point already. We've finished that parsha already. We know the land is very very good. We know clearly that it is only here Hashem wants us to live and build His home. We learned the lesson that the Torah of Moshe in galus is not really where it's meant to be learned. We tragically even know that if we decide we don't want to come, then we will die pathetically in that midbar, our corpses will fall there. And maybe if we're lucky our children will learn from our mistakes and come in.

Yes, we learned that parsha. We're one ahead of you. We're on the streets fighting and screaming at one another. We're in Parshat Korach over here. We have some of us screaming how we are all equal. We all need to share the burden. We have others saying, "No! We're the tribe of Levi". We need to be dedicated to the Torah. To the Holy service. We have people scorning the spiritual leaders. We have rabblerousers. We have demonstrations. Name calling. Fists flying. And the Highway to Eretz Yisrael- the Kvish Chotzeh Aretz is being blocked by these fights. The Highway ONE isn't moving. It's stuck in this traffic.

Interestingly enough the one thing we don't have is a Moshe and Aharon that is literally going over to the tent of the Attorney General of Israel- who is probably no less of a rasha then Dasan and Aviram were- who have been a thorn in our side since Egypt when Moshe first met them fighting- and coming to her in humility or to Bennet or any of these other idiots, and asking them to make peace. Wouldn't that be a sight?! Now don't you have a better appreciation of that act of Moshe and Aharon and the eternal lesson that Chazal say we need to take from that today. But that's just an aside.

Yup, so here we are dealing with our parsha, you guys are dealing with yours, but at the end of the day- guess what? Despite what us Aliyah snobs might tell you, it's abundantly clear- that despite the Knicks winning the championships, Mashiach is still not here. We're stuck. We're almost there. But the road is blocked. Some of us it seems, may sadly not even make it to the land. Others tragically if we don't get this right might get swallowed up and/or burnt up in the fires of machlokes that are raging and preventing us from getting to that place we've longed to for so so long. That was promised to our shared great grand father Avraham. The place where Dovid Ha'Melech as well didn't live to see be built. The place where our Father in heaven can finally be one with His children and we can finally realize that dream of retzoneinu li'ros Malkeinu- to see our King rule over the entire world.

So how do get there? How do we finally enter the land and build that House? I just completed this week the Book of Shoftim, two weeks after I finished the Book of Yehoshua. I saw this amazing program in memory of a soldier where if you learn wo perakim a day, you can finish the entire Nach by next year Shavuos, when I started it. The one theme that seems to ride through both books is these two failures. On the one hand, despite Yehoshua and Klal Yisrael conquering the land, and killing many of the enemies and nations there. We didn't finish the job. We didn't do what Hashem repeatedly told us we need to do. We became fat and satisfied with a Jewish state where we could worship freely, but alongside those idolatrous foreign nations that were living there. We left the Plishtim in Gaza. We left many Canaanim in the "West Bank". Amalek was still walking around threatening us. And we were dealing with Midyan, Aram and all the other nations that saw that we really weren't that serious about truly cleansing the land of all idolatry for the Shechina to truly be revealed. We just wanted to be left in peace.

Actually, I really want to take part of what I said right now back. These weren't in fact foreign nations that were living in Israel. These were Canaanite nations living in Canaan. In fact this was their land not ours. Our job wasn't to liberate our biblical ancestral homeland from oppressors that threw us out. Rather it was to be conquerors to ruthlessly come into their land and kill them all; men women and children and announce that it was now ours. Why? Because Hashem told us to. Sounds crazy, right? It so much more comfortable for us to say that we're taking back our land. But that's not the truth. That really doesn't reveal Hashem. Any nation in the world could and would claim to do that without god and rectify that injustice. Eretz Yisrael is about so much more. It's about what I said…

If you don't believe me, by the way. It's time to open up the Chumash and read the first Rashi that introduces the Torah. Don't have a Chumash handy? I'll quote it for you. Rashi asks, why the Torah which seemingly should be a book about Jewish laws and our national history begin with the story of Creation. So he quotes Rabbi Yitzchak…

Now for what reason did He begin the Torah with “- Bereishis -In the beginning?” Because of the verse “The strength of His works He related to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations” (Ps. 111:6).

For if the nations of the world should say to Israel, “You are robbers, for you conquered by force the lands of the seven nations [of Canaan],”

They will reply, "The entire earth belongs to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He created it and gave it to whomever He deemed proper When He wished, He gave it to them, and when He wished, He took it away from them and gave it to us.

Did you get that? Our job, our function, the purpose of the entire Creation, the introduction to the entire Torah is one thing. Hashem created the world. He runs and controls and owns the entire world. He owns America. Russia. Europe. Saudi Arabia and Iran. How will they know that? How will His Kingdom reign on the entire world? When our nation will come us as His ambassadors and messengers to the world and take over and wipe out the seven nations whom he had originally allowed and even given the land to. And when the world might or perhaps will certainly ask us in the United Nations what right we have to do that? Our response won't be because we need a place to live. Because after the Holocaust we deserve to have a place. It won't be because we don't have any other country to call our own. It won't even be because this land was promised to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov and it certainly won't be because we once lived here for about a thousand or so years. Rather there is one answer that we are meant to give them. Only one that is the Kiddush Hashem that Hashem is waiting for us to make.

That answer is koach ma'asuv hi'gid l'amo- Hashem created the entire world. He is the King over your nations as well. And yes He gave this land to these wonderful evil deviant Arabs until now. But guess what? Now He gave it to us. He's a King. He can do those types of things. He's your King as well. He told us to kill them all. And we did. Yes, even their women and babies. He told us to wipe out every alternate form of worship from the land- He told us that by the way repeatedly. And so we did. The churches. The mosques. The bamos. The Temple. We destroyed them all. We didn't even have any shtibalch or shuls of our own. Because that's also a bama- a private house of worship to Hashem. No. When we came here we built Him one house, where we all come to see Him and daven together in. That's the Kiddush Hashem. That will make the world better. That will reveal Him to the world.

Sefer Yehoshua and Sefer Shoftim are complete with the error of not fulfilling that mission. Of not eradicating our enemies and bringing the chilul Hashem and chilul Ha'Aretz to an end. We had eras of peace in these two books, even periods of serious Torah study and fulfillment of mitzvos. But we never really cleaned up the land to build that Mikdash. We got stuck in traffic. We were in Israel, but the truth is it was like we were living in America almost. We were still somewhat in galus here in Israel. Because even here we didn't fully appreciate what we were meant to do. What the ultimate goal was. How learning Torah and mitzvos and even settling portions of the land wasn't enough. And all of the reminders Hashem sent us with our neighbors constantly attacking us still didn't wake us up to what we were truly brought here to do. Our mission here was never to create a Jewish state in the Middle East. Not even a Torah state… shhhh….It was about a land conquered and cleansed where the Shechina could shine out to the entire world from the dedication and sacrifice of the conquest of that land to reveal His glory as Creator and King of the world.

The failure to get that, is the sin of the meraglim back then, who didn't understand that was our purpose. That didn't get that message of Yehoshua and Kaleiv that we could do that if Hashem tells us. That nothing could stand in our way when we have that mission and Aron in our midst. As well it was the sin of the ma'apilim, who instead felt that they could go up and conquer and settle the land without Hashem in their midst. Without the Aron. Without Moshe. That they could just walk in there and claim the land and live in it as a holy Jewish state, and even eat the fruits of the land and fulfill those special mitzvos. That they could learn Torah in the land and it would be worthwhile- even if they left the Mishkan and Ark behind. That they could overcome Amalek and finally win this stupid three-thousand-year-old war that we're still fighting without the Bais HaMikdash and eradication of evil and cleansing of the land as the ultimate mission and goal to accomplish. It was their sin then. It's ours today.

Parshat Korach however contains the second part of our sin and our traffic block. It's what we here in Eretz Yisrael are still suffering from today and that is blocking Highway One, the One-ness of Hashem from being revealed. For Hashem and the Bais Ha'Mikdash to descend we all have to be united. We all have to be there, as we were on Mt. Sinai- k'ish echa b'leiv echad- like one man with one heart. It's a lesson and message we never got and we still haven't today.

In the book of Yehoshua and Shoftim we're told about 36 Jews that were killed in the battle of the city of Ai. Imaginably with the different accounts and wars and terrorization that we suffered from the other nations there were probably hundreds more over the 300 years of those periods. Yet, those numbers don't even come close to the number of Jews that were killed in the civil wars. In the fight in the period of Yiftach between Ephraim and Menashe- (remember how everyone says how those two brothers are the ones that always got along… well those people never learned Tanach). Menashe and the family of Yiftach slaughtered 42,000 members of the tribe of Ephraim. The final story in the book of Shoftim of Pilegesh B'Givah is perhaps even more insane. Binyamin kills 40,000 of the tribes of Israel in two wars (that took two days!!) and the tribes of Israel wipe out 25,400 of Binyamin. Almost every man and woman and yes… even their babies, the verse and commentaries tell us. That's over 107,000 from our internal fighting. We're not even going to open the book of Shmuel and the civil war of Avshalom which claimed another 20,000 and in Melachim where the battles between the Northern Kingdom between Aviya and Yeravam claimed according to Divrei Ha'Yamim… ready for this… 500,000!!!.

The enemies from without isn't our major problem. It's our inability to come together and realize that we need each other to reveal the shechina, to build Hashem a Shabbos table where all His children are sitting around it. The question is how do we get there? How is it possible. What can we do and what tools has Hashem given us to fulfill this even more difficult and life-threatening mission.

Korach and his followers and nation had a plan. They looked at Klal Yisrael and said the problem is that there's too many tiers. We're all holy. We were all at Sinai. We all want to see Hashem. We're all techeiles. We're all a reflection of Hashem and that throne of His. We all want to see our King. The first borns of every family should have a representative. Dasan and Aviram even said Egypt is a land of Milk and Honey. The whole world is the glory of Hashem. He's preaching achdus. He's preaching unity. They're saying Jews all over the place can be one in their heart. We don't need Aharon. We don't need High Priests. We don't need a tribe of Levi even that has no portion in the land of Israel. That are shaved down of all of their hair and that are picked up and thrown around by Moshe and Aharon to be servants of the rest of Klal Yisrael. To protect the Kodesh. To dedicate their lives to watching over the Ark. To singing songs to Hashem all day. We can all do that. We all want to come into the Kodesh. They missed the message of Nadav and Avihu that had a similar holy desire. They got burned up as well.

The message they missed is that our unity can't come, is impossible to be achieved without Aharon. Without the Levites. And there's two parts to that. It's the marriage of those two parts that bring achdus. It's about Klal Yisrael understanding our role and the Levi understanding its. Klal Yisrael has to understand the desire to see Hashem can never be a personal one. It has to be a national one. It's not about me achieving my personal spiritual connection with Hashem. Because then its about me and not about Hashem. Rather our focus has to be how to create a connected united reflection of Hashem in this world. How to blend into a tapestry rather than to stand out shine out your own personal colors and light. To do that one needs to have a melaveh- some one that brings us all together. We have to become one with the song that he sings to Hashem, we have to stand and understand where our place on the stage is rather than each one of us trying to grab the mike and put on our own personal show. The Levi is the one that brings us and watches that we stay in our place. The Kohein, Aharon and his descendants are the representatives of Hashem bringing that one united offering and to Him and bringing His Shechina down to us.

Perhaps even more critical than that job and mission that we have is the job and challenge the Levi has and the role he is meant to play. The Levi doesn't have a piece of the Eretz Yisrael. He has no official citizen rights that doesn't come from the nation itself. He is a servant of the people. His job is to inspire. To bring them to that stage. To enlighten them. To keep them on track. To make sure that we don't kill each other trying to make it on our own.

I don't believe it's a wonder then that the story of the idol of Micha at the end of Shoftim has as it's central figure the Levi who doesn't fulfill that role and is out for his own personal aggrandizement. Fascinatingly enough Chazal tell us that Levi was in fact the grandson of Moshe, the son of Gershom himself! As well and even more striking is that the story of Pilegesh B'Givah as well is a story of Levi that started this whole thing, and it ends with none less than Pinchas- the son of Aharon who Hashem made covenant of peace with leading us into this civil war that killed 70,000 of us.

Chazal tell us that Pinchas sinned as well by Yiftach by not communicating with him about the annulment of his vow, which as well led to the civil war between brothers Ephraim and Menashe. He waited for Yiftach to approach him, Yiftach waited for Pinchas. And we all died because we couldn't talk. We couldn't communicate. We protested instead. We didn't respect them. They didn't respect us. The gadol ha'dor didn't go to the tents of the evil doers. The tribe of Levi didn't bring the nation together. And when they don't do their job. When they're focused on their own rights. Their own stipends. Their own Torah. When they don't realize that the function of that Torah is to create a song that all will sing to Hashem. To bring us all close to Him. To build that Bais Ha'Mikdash and shut down our own personal minyanim. Then all hell breaks loose. Chaos reigns. The Highway to Hashem is blocked.

This Shabbos I begin the next book of the prophets. It is the book of Shmuel. Shmuel, who is the equal of Moshe and Aharon. Shmuel is the Levi that fixes it all. He is the one, in this week- in Israel's haftorah- that anoints us our first King Shaul from that very tribe of Binyamin that we just waged a war against and that killed so many of us. He is the one that charges Shaul with killing and eradicating Amalek as we are united and expresses his disappointment and Hashem's when we don't do that fully. He is the one that will anoint Dovid Ha'Melech. He is the one that will reveal the Makom Ha'Mikdash finally together with him. Yet he is also the man of the people. He is someone that will travel the width and breadth (are those the same things?) of Eretz Yisrael and teach the nation. He will bring them together. He's what we need to be today. He's the new book that Klal Yisrael needs to get to, to finally achieve the day that we are longing for.

This week both in Israel and the States we will bless the new month of Tamuz. It's the month when the spies were in Israel and they got it wrong. It's the month where until this year we fasted on the 17^th of this month to remember and atone for that sin of the Golden Calf. When we started looking for alternatives to seeing Hashem and Moshe leading us into Israel. May this year, that day finally turn into a day of celebration, as our prophets tell us it will become. We just need to get out of the traffic jam that is holding us up.

Have a spectacular Shabbos

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

" Oif fremder erd boit men nit." – One doesn't build on foreign land (halevai…)

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

3. According to Josephus Flavius, the name of the latest wall built in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period was ____ .

Thanks to which of the following findings was Masada declared a World Heritage Site?

A. The synagogue

B. The water system

C. The Byzantine church

D. Remains of the Roman siege

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eretz-tu-bishvat – In honor of the Eretz Yisrael love parsha… My song which is the tikkun of it all Eretz Yisrael! Dovid Lowy on vocals and arrangements… listen till end it's fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9bq-wGegM4 - Yitzi Ackerman- spent Shabbos with him a few months ago… beautiful song Ata Meyuchad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4q6wAuL7qY - This week was reb Yishmale Kohen Gadol (across the street from me) yartzeit and this Moshe Laufer Avraham Fried release of Tiher Rebbi Yishmael is magnificent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OCLmYuziOE&list=RD3OCLmYuziOE&start_radio=1 – Only Reb Levi Yitzchak would be able to meilitz yosher and perhaps even enjoy this new TYH group and style of music that this new kids group in His name The Bardichevers put out!

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

2^nd Inauguration- -346 BC- Hooray! We got the permits to complete the work of building the second Bais HaMikdash. We did our hishtadlus. We started even before we got our permits from Darius and Persia. We listened to the prophets and did it anyways. Thus setting the precedent for all Israeli construction to follow… It's the way things get done in this country!

The next precedent is that it took 4 years… whew.. Projects take time in this country. And this wasn't even a glorious building like Herod's which will come in another few hundred years. This was a smaller humble mostly wooden construction. The work completed on 3^rd of Adar in the 6^th year of the reign of Darius just in time for Pesach preparations. The big inauguration ceremony took place in the building, although all the while they had been bringing sacrifices on the altar that had been established. Yet this was a big deal. The biggest ever since Shlomo.

There were 100 cows offered, 200 rams, 400 sheep, as well as sin offerings to atone for…. All the Jews that didn't come back and stayed in galus. See.. we care about you. And if you don't make it this time as well. We'll bring your sin offering. Don't worry. Enjoy Tom's River Smash Burger. The ones that came back were mostly Yehuda and Binyamin and they brought the Pesach offering as well that year. Darius sent his best wishes and blessings as well. We had come home. We were officially back in business after almost a century!

Yet all that being said. It wasn't the same. The Shechina wasn't there this time. It was a chilul Hashem. It was the building we built with Darius's permission. There were none of the miracles of the first Temple of Shlomo. It was a politically correct Temple. That's not what Hashem was looking for. If you don't know why, read the E-Mail above. Yet it was something. Next week we begin the return of Ezra with the Jews that held out. The Jews that missed the building but at least had enough brains to come to experience and dwell here. Unfortunately it wasn't all of us. It still isn't. It's time to change that. When ya comin?

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE TRAFFIC JOKES OF THE WEEK

A policeman stops a car that is going very slowly on the I40 highway, and says to the driver "Why are you going so slow? You're holding up traffic!"

"Well," says the man, "the signs say I40."

"That's the road number," says the policeman, "not the speed limit."

Then he notices a woman in the back seat, trembling all over. "Is your passenger all right, sir?" he asks.

"Don't worry officer," says the man, "my wife is always like that when we come off Hwy I170

I was sitting at a traffic light yesterday, minding my own business patiently waiting for it to turn green even though there was no on-coming traffic. A carload of bearded, young, loud Muslims, shouting Anti-American Slogans, with a half-burned American flag duct-taped on the side of their car and a "FREE PALESTINE" slogan spray painted on the side, was stopped next to me.

Suddenly they yelled, " Allahu Akbar!, Allahu Akbar!, " and took off before the lights changed.

Out of nowhere, an 18-wheeler came speeding through the intersection and ran directly over their car, crushing it completely and killing everyone in it. For several minutes I sat in my car stunned, thinking to myself,"man...that could have been me!"

So today, bright and early, I went out and got a job as a truck driver.

"What did the traffic light say to the traffic light? Don't look, I'm changing.

As the coffin was being lowered into the ground at a Traffic Officers funeral, a voice from inside screams: "I'm not dead, I'm not dead. Let me out!"

The Rabbi smiles, leans forward sucking air through his teeth and mutters: "Too late pal, I've already done the paperwork.

Why was Vladimir involved in a traffic accident on the way to the airport in Moscow? He was Russian, and ran a red light.

A man driving a Kia stops at a traffic light next to a Rolls-Royce. The Kia driver rolls down his window and calls out to the Rolls-Royce driver, "Hey, pal, that's an impressive car. Does your Rolls have Wi-Fi? My Kia does!"

The Rolls-Royce driver replies, "Yes, it has Wi-Fi."

The Kia driver continues, "Nice! And do you have a fridge in there? I have a fridge in the backseat of my Kia!"

The Rolls-Royce driver, getting irritated, responds, "Yes, there's a refrigerator."

Not backing down, the Kia driver asks, "That's cool, man! What about a TV? I've got a TV in my Kia's backseat!"

The Rolls-Royce driver, increasingly annoyed, says, "Yes, there's a television. A Rolls-Royce is the epitome of luxury vehicles!"

The Kia driver says, "Amazing car! But, do you have a bed in there? I've got a bed in the back of my Kia!"

Frustrated that his car lacks a bed, the Rolls-Royce driver speeds off. He heads straight to the dealership and orders a bed to be installed in his Rolls. The following morning, he picks up his car, and the bed looks fantastic, complete with silk sheets and elegant brass accents. It's undoubtedly a bed suited for a Rolls-Royce.

The Rolls-Royce driver spends the entire day searching for the Kia. Finally, late that night, he spots the Kia parked with fogged-up windows. He gets out of his Rolls-Royce and knocks on the Kia's window. At first, there's no response, but then the owner pokes his head out, dripping wet.

"I now have a bed in the back of my Rolls-Royce," the Rolls-Royce driver declares smugly.

The Kia driver replies, "Did you really drag me out of the shower just to tell me that?!

A huge traffic jam appeared on the highway of Tehran. Most people got out of their cars to see what’s going on. In the distance they spotted a man holding a donation box. As the man was walking from car to car he got stopped by one upset driver.

The driver proceeded to ask him “what’s going on? Why are we being stopped here for hours already?”

The man trying to explain says “well the Ayatolla got kidnapped and the kidnappers are asking for 10 million or they’re going to cover him in fuel and set him on fire.”

The driver obviously shocked asks “well are the people giving something?”

And the man says “ yeah they do. Like 5,6… liters..

A woman was found guilty in traffic court and when asked for her occupation she said she was a schoolteacher. The judge rose from the bench. "Madam, I have waited years for a schoolteacher to appear before this court."

He smiled with delight. "Now sit down at that table and write, 'I will not run a red light' five hundred times."

A man was driving down the road when a policeman stopped him. The officer looked in the back of the man’s truck and said, “Why are these penguins in your truck?”

The man replied, “These are my penguins. They belong to me.”

“You need to take them to the zoo,” the policeman said.

The next day, the officer saw the same guy driving down the road. He pulled him over again. He saw the penguins were still in the truck, but they were wearing sunglasses this time. “I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo!”, the officer said.

“I did,” the man replied. “And today I’m taking them to the beach

A truck carrying Vicks Vapor Rub overturned on the highway, but amazingly traffic was fine.

No congestion for hours!

A duck was standing by a busy roadside, waiting for a break in traffic as cars went roaring by

A chicken walks up and says, "don't do it, mate. You'll never hear the end of it."

Why do traffic lights turn red? You would too if you had to change in the middle of the street!

While driving to work this morning I rear-ended a car at a traffic light. When the driver got out... I noticed that he was a dwarf.

He steamed up to my car and said, 'I'm not happy...'.

So I said, 'Well, which one are you then?'

What does a cop with Alzheimers always say at routines traffic stops, “Do you know why I pulled you over???”. ( I gotta have at least one each week that I probably shouldn't have put out there…)

I was sitting in traffic the other day . Probably why I got run over- the yeshiva bachur said…

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The answer to this week's question is D– I wasn't sure about this, but I guessed right. Proud of myself. I guessed it was the Choma Ha'Shlishit. It was a quasi-educated guess. As it is the wall that actually goes past the current old city walls. To where that rechov is today in the Russian compound and Muswara neighborhoods where one can see remains of it still. It was built by Aggripas the son of Herod to expand the old city walls. Pretty cool I remembered that. On the other hand I got the Masada question wrong. I went with the Shul, which I should've in retrospect known was wrong. The UN isn't a fan of old shuls and its not the only one. The reason why I didn't go with the siege Roman one which was the correct answer is because its debatable in todays times the whole story. Yet, that's really only a question if they made that hill with the battering ram. But the siege part around is definitely real. So I got a 50/50 on this on and the test continues with Rabbi Schwartz having 2 points and the MOT having 1 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

Friday, March 13, 2020

The Divinely News Update- Parshat Ki Tisa / Parah 2020 / 5780

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

March 13^th 2020 -Volume 10 Issue 21 17^th Adar 5780

Parshat Ki Tisa

The Divinely News Update

There's a lot of fake news out there. You knew it was coming. The same way that you know Mashiach is on his way. The gemara in Sota tells us so

Sota 49: (Reb Eliezer Hagadol) also said He also said: In the times of the approach of the Messiah, Chutzpa will increase and high costs will pile up… And the monarchy shall turn to heresy, and there will be no one to give reproof about this. The meeting place of the Sages will become a place of promiscuity, and the Galilee shall be destroyed, and the Gavlan will be desolate, and the men of the border shall go round from city to city to seek charity, but they will find no mercy. And the wisdom of scribes will putrefy, and people who fear sin will be held in disgust, and the truth will be absent. The youth will shame the face of elders, elders will stand before minors. Normal family relations will be ruined: A son will disgrace a father; a daughter will rise up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog; a son will no longer be ashamed before his father. And upon what is there for us to rely? Only upon our Father in heaven.

So how many of those above things can you find in our generation? We definitely got chutzpa today like never before. Prices are rising despite the fact that we have more than ever before. Promiscuity has sadly even reached our holiest places. Sin-fearing people are held in disregard. Family relations are breaking apart. And yup, there's no truth anymore. Welcome to the end game boys and girls. We are at that finish line and the world is falling apart. Although that Galile thing being destroyed is getting me really nervous. Hey if everything else is happening Is Karmiel in the Galile next? I don't think I'm moving anytime soon though…Done the moving thing too many times already and we're kind of planted but yes this is pretty scary.

Now there is still one place where we have real news. The Baal Hatanya used to say that our weekly Torah portion is like a daily newspaper. If you want to understand what is going on in the world, don't open up the New York Times, forget about Bloomberg News or even Fox. The Yeshiva World News, Vos Iz Neis, Matzav and Arutz Sheva all open up with annoying pop up ads of tzedakas and Rabbis that will pray for you if you contribute to them. I think it's a great teaser for the authenticity of the news that is within. You wanna give tzedaka give tzedaka, but Reb Chaim isn't running to Amuka on your behalf… Neither is most of the stuff you read there really happening. The only place to get the real story is from Hashem's news for us; Parshat Hashavua. That's the only real live time blog that you should be going to. Sure it may have the same words as the Parshat Hashavua did last year. In fact, it does. But now for the first time you can appreciate those words that were meant for you to read today.

Don't believe me. Let's take a look. First two verses of this week's Parsha Ki Tisa

Shemos (30:1-2) And Hashem spoke to Moses, saying: When you take the sum of the children of Israel according to their numbers, let each one give to the Lord an atonement for his soul when they are counted; then there will be no plague among them when they are counted.

Anyone else out there have plague on their mind? OK maybe that's a cute connection, Rabbi Schwartz. But it's only the first pasuk? Oh yeah? Let's move to the next mitzva in the parsha and you tell me if it has any connection to our new reality today?

Ibid (18-21) You shall make a sink of copper and its base of copper for washing, and you shall place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water therein. Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet from it when they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die or when they approach the altar to serve, to make a fire offering rise up in smoke to the Lord, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this shall be for them a perpetual statute, for him and for his descendants, for their generations."

Was this book written by the World Health Organization? By the way the gematria of Purell is kind of close to l'rachatza- to wash. If you play around with spellings a bit I'm pretty sure you can make it work. The parsha continues with anointing vessels and with special oil that is not to be used for people. It can kill you if you do. The incencse can kill you as well if you make your own. Lots of things that normally wouldn't kill you, the things you touch, that you anoint yourself with that you smell…Watch out. We're living in new times. Oh and by the way… Violating Shabbos as well will put you to death. I dunno all the rest of the things seem to be happening I would be pretty careful about my Shabbos observance this week…

But the plague does not end there. The Parsha continues with the sin of the golden calf. You know the story Moshe didn't come down the Mountain on time. People freaked out. They made a golden calf. Hashem gets angry. Moshe calms Him down, breaks the tablets and marshalls the tribe of Levi to kill out the ones that were involved with the sin. Yet interestingly enough the end of the portion tells us that Hashem as well brought a plague on the people.

Ibid (32:35) Then Hashem struck the people with a plague, because they had made the calf that Aaron had made.

Rashi quoting the midrash notes that this was for the people that worshipped the golden calf that were not warned or witnessed who were not of the 3000 killed by the Levites. So yes it's another plague as well that strikes in this parsha.

And the theme continues. Do you know what Moshe does? Does Hashem do after this plague. They go into bidud. Yup They're in isolation. Moshe moves the Ohel Moed-tent of assembly out of the camp. Hashem separates from the nation. We've hit rock bottom. I have a friend of mine this week in quarantine. He described to me how bizarre it is. He's locked in his room in his house. He has separate bathroom from his family. They send him in food through the window. He can't hug his wife or kids. He's separated from everyone. No shul. No contact. Alone. That's how Hashem felt after this story. That's how Moshe felt as well although he would come back and forth between the tent and the people. And as the reality of this situation hit the Jewish people they understood that as a whole they were in isolation from their God as well.

Ibid (33:8) And it would be that when Moses would go out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each one at the entrance of his tent, and they would gaze after Moses until he went into the tent.

The point of the plague and the isolation is realizing how miserable it is when we are alone. How scary it is. How united we can become when we all face that common threat of a plague that doesn't differentiate. The machatzit hashekel in the beginning of the parsha was meant to unite us. We were going to build the home for Hashem together. A house for His presence and sacrifices for the entire community. There would not be a need for a plague if we could do that. We would have water that would purify us as one. We would have incense that represents all of us together. And we would have a day of Shabbos when no plague can reign it's ugly head when we are as one as Adam and Eve on the first Shabbos of Creation.

The parsha continues with Moshe on behalf of the people asking to see the face of Hashem. Our isolation from Him is too great. Hashem dressed up like a shliach Tzibur- a chazzan, a cantor with a talis and reveals to him His 13 attributes of mercy. What's with the shliach tzibur talis. Why couldn't he just tell Moshe without that? I saw a beautiful insight that the answer is Hashem could only be seen when He is coming on behalf of a united community. We do not recite these 13 attributes without a minyan. It's the only way we see Hashem.

Now of course the coolest connection is of course the epilogue of this story. The parsha concludes with the story of Moshe coming out of the tent with the rays of light shining from his skin. The torah keeps repeating this phrase. Look…

Ibid 34 (29, 30, 34) And it came to pass when Moses descended from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand when he descended from the mountain and Moses did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while He had spoken with him

that Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses and behold! the skin of his face had become radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.

Then the children of Israel would see Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face had become radiant,

Do you know how you say skin of face in Hebrew in the Torah. Koran-ohr. Can you say that word five times fast? Uh huh…. Weekly news here... reporting live from Mt. Sinai. We went from plague to the shining light of Hashem through Moshe. Through our Torah. Through the return of Hashem. Corona can become a keren of ohr which can also be read as light;A ray of light.

This week we have an added supplementary section in our Divine Newspaper. We read Parshat Parah. It is the parsha of the purification of the ashes of the red heifer that atone for the sin of the golden calf and that prepares and purifies us for the korban pesach that we will god willing need to be bringing this year in Jerusalem. We are living in the pre-Messianic times our sages and prophets have all foreseen. The redemption is right around the corner. But you know how NY'ers say that right? It's right around the corona…May this final plague lead to a redemption that will be even greater than the ones that followed the plagues of Egypt.

Have a happy and healthy Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“A tsoreh kumt nit alain." –Troubles don't come alone

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

18) The destruction of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period was completed in the

month of:

A. Tishrei

Av
Tamuz
Elul

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/pNrpzwsEkEc – Awesome Ari Lesser Purim rap worth the watch…

https://youtu.be/AUL2aPNJ2Us – Aharon Razel new song Holech Lilmod will this be a hit?

https://youtu.be/VZ4Vl8SkYys - I like this niggun! The Baltimore Rebbe's niggun..by Motzi Shabbso Jamz a chevra in Baltimore that jam together… The nigun is beautiful despite what sounds like a fake Chasidic name Rebbe; Baltimore Rebbi?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDY5COg2P2c - For those that have time this is a fascinating video of the worst plague of the 20the century the Spanish Flu of 1918. This was far worse than Corona and it is scary to think about how bad this can become…

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/MITZVA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

Parah Aduma– Bringing a Red Heifer – This week as we get closer to Pesach we read the special supplementary Torah portion of the mitzva of Parah Aduma. This reminds us to start preparing to purify ourselves from the impurity (tumah) of coming in contact with a dead person before Passover when we will have to be pure to eat the korban pesach offering. In the times of the temple and even before and afterwards they would fulfil this mitzva. The mitzva would be fulfilled by taken this special formula of the red heifer ashes burnt with hyssop cedar wood and red dyed cloth and then mixing it with pure spring water. The process must be done by a pure Kohen, one that is himself not impure (tamey). It is then sprinkled upon all those that had become impure due to having been in contact with the dead. The water/ash mixture would be sprinkled on the 3^rd and 7^th day from when someone came out of the Mikva and then he would be purified.

I try to keep this column one with practical mitzvot ba'zman ha'zeh that we can fulfil. This seems like a biblical one. Is it possible to fulfil this mitzva even without a temple? Interestingly enough the answer is yes. The Rosh, the 13^th century scholar, notes that the parah aduma was still in practice into the period of the Talmud 400 years or so after the destruction of the Temple. The Ethiopian community continued this custom until the 1970's. The Chinuch even seems to note that this mitzva to prepare the ashes is still relevant today. Despite the fact the Rambam, almost uncharacteristically makes a prediction that 9 red heifers have been brought since the times of Moshe and the 10^th will be when Mashiach comes.

What would be the challenges of bringing it today? Our halachic authorities raise a few. The first would be finding the red cow. Now red despite what they might have taught you in kindergarten is not like that big bright red "Clifford the dog" colored red. Rather in many places the Talmud and torah refer to a bright brown auburn-ish color as being called red as well. The problem is that it can't have two black hairs next to one another or six single ones total and can't have been worked as well. There have been sightings of such cows. So let's assume we have one then what's the next problem?

Let's say we have a cow; the next problem would be purchasing it. Not finding the money, I'm sure we could raise that in a NY minute. The problem is that the red heifer had to be purchased with the money of the community that was raised with the half shekel collection. We don't have that anymore. The red heifer isn't a one man offering, it has to come from everyone. Yet for that as well Reb Chaim Kanievsky rules that one person can buy it and contribute it to the community. This seems to be the opinion of the Rambam, the Rash and the Minchat Chinuch as well. So we're covered there as well. This law would seem to as well take care of the problem of the requirement of a court of 71 that the Mishna mentions. Reb Chaim notes this would be for the usage of public money only. But if one person is donating it to the public this is not required.

Problem 3 it seems would be finding a pure Kohen. If he was in contact with someone who was in contact with the dead, the game is over. In olden days when they still had ashes (they could last for centuries as just a little was mixed into water), so they could purify any Kohen but today we need one that has never become "contaminated" as we would have no way of purifying him. So the Tosefta seems to discuss a process of taking Jewish women who were pregnant with Kohanim and then having their child in a pure environment and protecting them from any contact with anything tamey. In fact that is what the Baal Haturim (the son of the Rosh) and 19^th century commentary the Tiferet Yisrael suggest be done to prepare these ashes.

The process of the slaughtering and burning it took place on har hazeitim/ Mt. of olives, but where? Again based on the description that this was opposite the Temple mount and it was a place that had a big cavity underneath it many archeologists and halachic authorities place it today either under the Franciscan church of Dominus Filavit or in the Chalabim Section of the cemetery where the old yishuv of Jerusalem buried there. Both places stand opposite the even hashitiya/ foundation stone of the Temple Mount and are on flat rock that are required. It would seem Rav Shteinman writes that even the fact that there is a big golden pimple on top of the holiest site it would still be considered that one sprinkled facing the spot of where the mizbayach once was.

So it would seem despite the Rambam mentioning that there will be 10 and the final one will be brought by Mashiach, it seems that there were other ones that were brought. In fact the majority of the ones mentioned of those 8 seem to have been brought only during the end of the second temple. Our Talmud seems to note that after the exile Jews particularly Kohanim still used the Para Aduma to purify for eating teruma and maaser. We are living in pretty much Messianic times these days with all the craziness going on in the world. May our reading and study of this essential parsha of Para Aduma bring us to its fulfillment as we prepare for the Korban Pesach this year god willing in Jerusalem.

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

The Pilegesh/ Concubine of Givah 939 BC – Last week on the era's and their places column we introduced the story a Levi who came from MT. Ephraim who had a concubine. He wasn't a great guy. She ran away. He went over there and after and extended stay at his father-in-laws house he took her back with him. It was late and dark and they decided to spend the night in Givah the portion of Binyamin. And here's where the tragedy begins.

They are met by an old man who invites them to stay by him. He knows the chevra in his city are not nice people. The fact the he is the only one there that invites them is quite telling. The Navi even tells us that he is originally not from there but rather from Ephraim himself. Well they settle in a bit and the next thing you know a gang of ruffians are banging on the door and demanding that the man can be thrown out so they can have some "fun" with him. They weren't talking about a game of monopoly either. The old man tried to convince them down. He even offered his own single daughter or even the concubine to them instead. Bizarre as this might seem, his intention was much like Aharon trying to minimize the sin of the people as for them to sin with a single girl (or even an unmarried concubine) as terrible as it is not nearly as bad as the sins that they were planning with the concubine's husband. This is not a good thing at all.

They are not satisfied with the offer, so our Levi just chucks the concubine out there to the mob and goes upstairs to sleep. As I said, he was no big winner himself. The next morning, he comes down and finds her flat and abused-maybe dead maybe not, it's not clear from the text, on the doorstep. If this story sounds familiar it should. It's the story of Sodom all over again. There are a few major differences though. In Sodom it was the whole city here it was hooligans. In Sodom the laws and way of life was one of unjust cruelty, this seems to have been an isolated incident that was more based on an incident of mob frenzy that was driven by desire. It was Sodom lite. And the same time it was still a terrible story. But it gets worse.

The Levi, took his concubine and then chopped her up into 12 pieces and sent her to the tribes of Israel and demanded that they respond to this evil that had been perpetrated. The tribes gathered from Dan to Beersheva and from Gilead on the other side of the Yarden. 400,000 men. That's a real lot. The all came to a place called Mitzpah. Modern archeologists associate this with either Nebi Samuel or Tel el Natzba not far from there. The tribe of Binyamin however did not show. They felt this was a personal internal matter for them to handle and the other tribes had no right to interfere. The tribes resolved that if they did not act on the abomination, Hashem would hold them all culpable. The came to Givah where the tribe of Binyamin met them with their full army and demanded the perpetrators be handed over. Binyamin in turn marshalled their entire army of 25,000 and refused. The guns were drawn the tempers flared each with their own religious indignation. And the war would soon start.

We'll pick it up next week, but one lesson I share with tourists about this story that is still relevant today, is that more often than not it is the religious indignation and zealotry that is the source of much of our troubles. It was then and it sadly still is today.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S MORE TERRIBLE CORONA JOKES OF THE WEEK

Because of Corona the schools have been given off until Pesach. All grandparents are now officially on call. There is no place to hide or run. No hotels, no flights, no plays or gatherings. No excuses…

Important Notice: If you feel a headache shortness of breath, rapidly beating heart, digestive problems, dysentery, like you are cut of from reality, or increased levels of anxiety. This is a sign that you have begun to absorb that your children will be home from school for the next foreseeable future.

Sending the kids home from school is one way of pressuring the scientists to come up with a vaccine within a few days.

One minute… They are closing the schools and kindergardens? With the kids inside right?

The pathway of Corona victim #40

Yemenite man Zecharia Sharabi

9:15 Free drink from the public drinking fountain in Rosh Ha'ayin
10:20 Free cookies at Cofix in Rosh Ha'ayin
12:00 Hakol Bashekel (one shekel store) in Kiryat Ekron free tastings
14:00 Half price store in Shaaria free tastings by the cheese station
19:00 Arvit in synagogue in Geulim with a free azakara meal afterwards

Bibi Netanyahu in his latest sharp declaration that from now until further notice it will be prohibited to for three judges to gather together…

Some places are banning gatherings of 100 people or more. Joe Biden rallies have nothing to fear.

The fastest way to kill the Corona virus is to convince Hillary Clinton that it plans to testify against it.

New limits are being put on Facebook no one is allowed more than 50 friends

Berel goes to Doctor Goldberg for blood tests. After extended testing and an agonizing wait, he finally gets a call from the doctor to immediately come into the office and to have as little contact with others as possible.
On arrival he is greeted by a nurse in full bio suit and whisked into a barren room.
The doctor comes in, also in full biohazard suit, and says to the man “I’m afraid the results of your blood test are in and the prognosis is dire”
At this point the man is terrified.
“What’s the prognosis doctor?”
“Well, it appears you have contracted Corona
Shaken to the core, the man stammers “what does this mean? Can we do anything?”
The doctor replies”well, we actually do have a plan for you”
Relieved the man says “what is it? When can we start?”
The doctor says”we can start immediately. Here’s the plan. We’re going to put you in an isolated room and put you on a diet of Matza”
Confused, the man says “pizza, will that help me to get better?”
“No” the doctor says “but it’s all we can fit under the door”.

Corona wiped out every city on earth except for Detroit...Because in Detroit everyone gets a shot

What's it called when two strains of a disease are identical? plague-arism

Where should Corona infected children play? The Plague Ground…. Oy….

INTERNATIONAL CORONA VIRUS ESCALATION MEASURES

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France’s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Americans meanwhile and as usual are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.

And in the southern hemisphere…

New Zealand has also raised its security levels – from “baaa” to “BAAAA!”. Due to continuing defense cutbacks (the airforce being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister’s bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is “I hope Australia will come and rescue us”.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be right, mate”. Three more escalation levels remain: “Crikey!’, “I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend” and “The barbie is cancelled”. So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

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Answer is B– If you don't know the answer to this one you shouldn't be a tour guide. Truth is nay Jew that doesn't know this shold start taking some classes pretty quick. It's quite embarrassing even that they put this one on the exam. Maybe its for the goyim tourguides. But then if your touring goyim do they really care which Hebrew month it was? Anyways this was a dead giveaway, my 2 year old grandson probably knows this. The answer is Av and the score is Schwartz 12 and 6 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.