from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
August 26th 2022 -Volume
11 Issue 46 29th of Av 5782
Parshat Re’eh
Pro-Choice
It’s been a year. I’m almost half the man I used
to be. But I feel like twice the man. Last year at this time I was pushing 275
pounds. Actually I wasn’t pushing anything I was pretty much relaxing on my
couch and the gravity was pushing me down. Way down. Today a year later I’m
about 150. My gastric bypass surgery worked. My clothing still don’t fit. But now
rather than being too tight and needing a crowbar to get on my pants and
warning people to avoid the buttons popping off my shirt when I sit down at the
Shabbos table, I find myself perpetually walking around holding my pants up so
that my tourists don’t get a view that they didn’t pay for.
People tell me I have to go shopping for
clothing, but who has time? And anyways I’m still losing weight, remarkably enough.
My wife and kids are scared I’m going to disappear. Funny, after a year and 10
months of being home all day I figured they’d be happy with that prospect. But
I reassured them that they shouldn’t worry. Even if they can’t see me, my voice
will be in their heads forever. No amount of therapy will ever get that out.
Now there are some out there that might say
that doing the surgery is cheating. Why can’t you just go on a diet like a
regular person? Why do you need to cut yourself open? Why can’t you just lose
weight naturally? Well the answer is because diets don’t work. See, what happens
on a diet is that you have to lose let’s say 80 or 100 pounds or so, or
whatever. Well the first 40 or 50 come off no problem. In a few months of
watching what you eat and exercising you’re excited to see the pounds drop and
the scale becomes a happy place for you to go to… five times a day. Then what
happens is that nothing comes off. Nothing. Nada. And you go on and on and still
the scale stays at the same weight. You obviously think the scale is broken, so
you buy a new one. And that doesn’t work either. And after a few months of nothing
coming off and you’re still eating the farkakteh carrot and celery sticks, passing
up on desert and eating bran muffins you finally say the heck with this. It’s
stupid. And then you start eating again normally and everything comes back with
ribbis- interest. That’s diets. They don’t work. Trust me I’ve done it
millions of times.
But is it cheating? Is making my stomach the size
of egg so I get full after two falafel balls or three bites of chicken, or a third
of slice of pizza really a legitimate expression of me exercising my free will
to lose weight? Does the fact that I can now eat really whatever I want without
any guilt or care- albeit just a little bit- really diminish my manliness and
ability to express self-control? Maybe. Or maybe not. Who cares. I’m skinny. I
wear a size small. I always you to look at the letter S on shirts and pants and
think it stood for Skinny. Not anymore. Now the “S” is for Schwartz. Skinny,
small Schwartz.
But the question about free-will is still out
there. It’s one of the most important questions and according to the Rambam it
is the essence of what makes us human. And it has it’s start one would think in
this week’s parsha- rather late in the Torah- if you ask me. But bizzarely
enough it really doesn’t end until three parshas from now right before Rosh
Hashana in parshat Nitzavim. Let me explain.
Our Parsha begins with the words
Re’eh- See I am giving before you today the
blessing and the curse. The blessing which you will listen to the mitzvos of
Hashem your God which I command you today. And the curse if you will not listen
to the mitzvos of Hashem…
Hashem tells us that when we cross the Yarden
we will go to Mt. Gerizim and Eival and we will hear them there and we should
observe the mitzvos.
The problem with this text though is that it
doesn’t tell us what will happen there. Who will stand where, what the ceremony
will consist of and most importantly what we should do.
The Torah then interrupts this narrative-it’s
almost like a promo with three and a half Torah portions and 185 mitzvos in parshat
Shoftim, ki teitzei and ki tavo, the most jam packed with mitzvos in the Torah.
We wait 16 ½ chapters till perek 27 when it picks up again with the same story
and almost identical verse.
Devarim (39:15) Re’eh- see I have given to you
life and blessing and death and curse. Ubacharta ba’chaim- and you should
choose life.
There it continues and tell us about this
whole ceremony. There it tells us about half the tribes on one mountain the
others on the other one. The blessings the Kohein says, the curses the nation
saying Amen. So what’s going on here? Why the introduction? Why the break with
all of the mitzvos? There’s something here essential. In fact one of my great
teachers, Reb Mordechai Alon suggests it’s the essence of all of Elul that
begins this Shabbos and we read these parshiyos.
He notes that when the Rambam brings down this
mitzva he brings both pesukim. Ours in Re’eh and the second one in Nitzavim.
Rambam Teshuva (5:3) And this is a great
principle, the pillar of Torah and mitzvos as it says… (he then quotes both
verses) as if to say the permission is in our hands to do whatever action that
is in the hands of man to do-good or bad… Hashem does not force or decree on
anyone to do anything good or bad. It’s all given to us.
He then says that we shouldn’t make the
mistake of the nations of the world or the foolish golems make that everyone is
predestined and determined to be good or bad. Rather anyone can be righteous
like Moshe or evil like Yeravam, the can be kind or cruel, generous or stingy.
And here’s the key. He says that no one can push or make you do anything or any
time of person that you don’t want to be. It’s all up to us.
Now this is very non-conventional thought even
today. When people think that they’re pre-programmed to be everything
depressed, happy, outgoing, straight, crooked, smart and stupid, friendly or
anti-social. The Rambam feels that’s heresy. There’s no such thing. We can do
it all. We have the choice to be whatever we want to be.
I don’t think there’s anything more confusing
in our world today than this concept. Today the world speaks about freedom of
choice and being who you want to be. Even what gender and color as stupid as
that is. But it’s all baloney. Because what the world is programming us to
believe is that we should become who they want us to be. We need to be
politically correct. We need to be accepting. We need to do whatever our heart
desires. If we are restricted by something. If we can’t experience something.
If we can’t choose what we want to do with our own bodies then we don’t really
have freedom. That the Torah tells us is not freedom. Rather quite the opposite.
It’s slavery. We are slaves to society. We are slaves to ourselves. Our worst selves.
Our parsha interestingly enough doesn’t tell us
about choice. But that’s not really true. The word bechira and bachar appears
15 times in the parsha, yet it’s all about Hashem choosing. Eretz Yisrael is the
land he chose. We are the nation He chose. We must go the chosen place. Choice,
choice choice. In fact, choice- real true choice- is what makes us God like. It’s
Hashem choosing and we have that power of choice when we connect to Him. Back
in the Garden of Eden after we Adam sinned, the Rambam understands that Man becomes
like God in that now we can be like Him and choose to do good or do evil. How
do we choose? When we connect to Hashem. When we remove all of the other things
detracting from that heavenly expression of choice. When we don’t listen to our
body, to the media, to the advertisement campaign to what everything that’s not
Hashem is telling and trying to get us to do.
The Parsha of Re’eh is where it all starts.
Hashem tells us there are two choices. And then he tells us all about the
mitzvos. All of them. If we do them, then we are connected to Him. We will find
the godliness inside of ourselves. We will have the tools we need to express
true free-choice. We will have removed the fat that is weighing us down and we
can be the Godly people that will have life. That is the Torah reading of this
month. That is essence of what we are put here to achieve. Removing impediments
aren’t cutting off ones choice- just the opposite. It opens us up to becoming
the people we always needed to become.
Most of you out there reading this don’t need
surgery. Your clothes fit fine. But Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is coming
around the corner with the shofar blasts that will start to waken and shake us
up this Sunday morning. It’s the noise that reaches our soul and reminds us of
how were long ago on Sinai. The dreams we had, the potential we could become
the choices we could’ve made and that we could still make. May this month of
Elul give all of us a clean slate. And may we not only choose life and blessing,
but may we be blessed with them as well.
Have an choice Shabbos and a fantastic Rosh Chodesh Elul
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
WE’RE BACK IN MISHPACHA!
After a few months of busy tour guiding hiatus was
finally able to get out the long awaited
MISHPACHA MAGAZINE
Tour guiding column
Check out this week’s edition and column as I explore the
Golan and Gilead region along Syrian borders of Israel. It’s this week’s parsha
as well- how incredibly timely.
Click here to read article
https://mishpacha.com/lookout-for-peace/
share, comment, let me know what you think, tell them how
much you missed me and enjoy a taste of Eretz Yisrael with your favorite weekly
tour guide Rabbi
***********************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Hob nit kain moirch ven du host nit
kain ander braireh.” -Don’t be scared when you have no other choice.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE VIDEO OF THE
WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/lulay-heamanti-kavey
- In honor of Chodesh Elul please enjoy my Elul Song that we will be
reciting and you can sing all month long lulay hemanti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S6-7RxVw0Y
– Eitan Katz Elul
Niggun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG0lbfGUpwU
– Yakov Shwekey’s two realeases
two weeks in a row. This one is Baruch
Hashem it’s Shabbos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfXfZND0myo
– Shuli Rands bein kodehs l’chol
should get you in the mood with Elul..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHErQrvvftQ
– And of course Ishai Ribo’s
Elul brings it all together for you..
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
8) Remains of a 2nd Temple Era
Synagogue was found by the Kinneret at _________
The purpose
for the building of the synagogue was
A) the difficulty to go to Jerusalem to the
Temple
B) An alternate place of worship on the pilgrimage
holidays
C) A place of gathering and for Torah and
Tefilla
D) For reading the Torah and the Mishna
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
Tish and Nosh- Parshat Re’eh- For most chasidim the highlight of their Shabbos is the tish by
the Rebbi. Taste a little shrayim of the Rebbi’s leftover kugel, fruits and
what nots. For my kids and many kids it’s the Shabbos party or nosh we they get
only on Shabbos. For guys it’s the hot kiddush in shul and herring. The common
denominator? It’s all about the food. Shabbos is a day of feasting and in our ma yedidus song we sing about the
delicacies of Shabbos. Shabbos= food and that’s a good and holy thing.
This week the Torah tells us that
there is a mitzva of Maaser Sheini where we bring our tithes to Jerusalem and
we eat them there. The reason for this mitzva we are told is l’maan tilmod l’yirah
osi kol ha’yamim so we should learn to fear Hashem all of our days. What does
food have to do with the fear of God the commentaries all wonder. It’s not a Mussar
book or even Torah study. How does eating something so physical like food make
you holy? Even more interesting is that the Gemara in yevamos (93A) tells us
that today this is the food of Shabbos and Yom Tov that has that same power.
The ARI”Zl reveals to us
something incredible about food. He says that it is what produces the blood and
life force of man. Thus if one eats food in a holy way then the blood that is
produced is holy. It comes with the vitamin Y- for yirah- the fear and awe of
Hashem in it. If on the other hand it is eaten with just physical desire then
it’s like Splenda, it’s non-organic, white bread… all the good healthy stuff my
wife likes in it are taken out of it. On Shabbos and Yom Tov everything we eat
is a mitzva. It’s why the biggest mitzva day to eat is on Erev Yom Kippur the
ARI says. Because it’s literally eating before Hashem. Before the day of
Judgement. It’s like eating a sacrifice in the Holy of Holies. And every
Shabbos we eat treats as well because every bite only has healthy spiritual
goodness in it. There is nothing physical about Shabbos with anything bad in
it. It’s like eating the Manna. So go out and treat yourself. Shabbos is here
and have some holy food.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES
AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Ben Hadad the 2nd - 724 BC – Having set up Eliyahu and Elisha the Navi
returns to the story of the Jewish people and King Achav. We are told
about the Aramean king from Aram Dameshek which is pretty much Syria
today that unites 32 kings together to wage war against Israel. They come to
the city of Shomron which is where the palace of Achav is and
they lay siege upon it. Shomron is the name giving to the whole region
today of the West Bank, yet back then it was a city. The location
according to most archaeologists is a place called Sebastia in the West
Bank. It got that name from the city that Herod built there during
the 2nd Temple period. There they uncovered the remains of
the largest palace in the Middle East from this period of time. Don’t ask
me to take you there though, because even though it is under Israeli control
one can only visit with Military coordination in advance. And you know I don’t
like to plan things in advance.
Well Ben Hadad, was
a pretty arrogant guy and he sent the message to Achav that he was
pretty much gonna wipe out the whole city unless he handed over everything that
he had including women, children, gold and silver. Now Achav assumed
this was all about money and paying taxes for their value and he agreed. What’s
a few bucks more to the tax guy to avoid bloodshed, right? Yet Ben Hadad sent
back that he wanted the people and everything themselves. Interestingly enough
according to the Midrash what he really was demanding was the Torah to be
handed over to him. That was too much for Achav, fascinatingly enough. He
is a strange person this Achav. On the one hand he’s married to Jezebel
and kills the prophets of Hashem. On the other hand, he keeps stepping up to
the plate and making things good again. A very curious figure that Chazal tell
us could’ve even been Mashiach ben Yosef.
So Achav tells Ben
Hadad to come at him with all he’s got. Ben Hadad gets ready for war
and then the Navi Micha steps into the story. Next week we find out what
he said and what happened by this exciting battle.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE CHOICE JOKES OF
THE WEEK
Berel enters
his multiple choice (Mivchan Amerakai as they call it here) Bagrut (regent’s)
Exam. .
While all of
the other kids are furiously working on their papers Berel flips a coin for
each question and picks the choices accordingly. An hour into the exam – when
all the students have given in their papers and he’s the only one left in the
room, the proctorsees that he’s still flipping coins; and tells him there isn’t
much time left and asks him whether he is about to finish. Berel answers: “I’ve
finished half an hour ago, just going through my answers!”
Yankel came
home from the playground with a bloody nose, black eye, and torn clothing.
It was
obvious he'd been in a bad fight and lost. While his father was patching him
up, he asked his son what happened.
"Well, Totty,"
said the Yankel, "I challenged Moishie to a duel. And, you know, I gave
him his choice of weapons."
"Uh-huh,"
said the father, "that seems fair."
"I know,
but I never thought he'd choose his big brother!"
Waiter: How
would you like your steak sir?
Me: like
winning an argument with my wife
Waiter: good
choice, rare it is.
An angel
suddenly appears in the Beis Midrash offices
during the Rebbeim’s meeting and tells the Rosh Yeshiva that, in return
for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, he will be given his choice of
infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Without hesitating, the Rosh Yeshiva selects
infinite wisdom. "Done!" says the angel, and disappears in a
cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning.
Now, all
heads turn toward the Rosh Yeshiva, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of
light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, "Say something
wise."
He looks at
them and says, "I should have taken the money.
I’m saying
good bye to my i-phone for a little while. My wife says I'm on my iphone every
20 seconds checking it and she can't stand it anymore! I had to make a choice.
So I'm going to be offline for a couple of minutes while I pack her bags.
My doctor
really likes my choice of sensible footwear...
I overheard
him telling his colleague that I had "Serious healthy shoes".
Ever travel
on El Al. I did last week. The stewardess came over very nicely and asked me
“Would you
like dinner?”
“What are my
choices?”
“Yes or no.”
When you
want to change your hairstyle, there are two choices: 'Do or dye.
If you had
the choice between World Peace or all of Bill Gates money.... .....what color
Ferrari would you buy?
I can't believe
my parents support my choice of profession! I told them that I wanted to become
a stand-up comedian. They laughed at me.
So David Ben
Gurion dies and he comes up to heaven and they don’t know what to do with him.
On the one hand he established the homeland for the Jews to return and brought
thousands to the Holy Land. He gave grants and exemptions for Torah scholars
and those that study in Kollel. At the same time he wasn’t observant and was
even anti-religious, taking children away from their religious homes and trying
to make them secular. So they gave him a choice. Do you want to go up or down?
He asked to check out the choices and he gets in the heavenly elevator upstairs
and the doors open and he sees a beautiful beach. There’s music, a free bar and
everyone is lounging around the pool and taking it all in.
“Not bad” he says. “let’s see option B”.
He gets back
in the elevator and it goes down and the gates open up and he sees surprisingly
a similar scene. Beach, drinks, pool and he sees some of his friends playing
backgammon that wave to him. So they bring him back upstairs and ask him where
he’d like to go.
“Well they
both seem nice, “He says “but the chevra seems to be downstairs, so I
think I’ll go there”. So they put him back in and he heads downstairs.
However this time when the gates open up he sees angels of destruction with torches,
people are burning screaming and look terrified.
“Woahh,
what’s this? This isn’t what you showed me before?!”
Ohhh..,
that? That was your pilot trip. Welkam to Eezrael…”
So the
American people's choices for the next President will apparently be either
Donald Trump or Joe Biden. That is the joke. There's no punchline here.
********************************
Answer
is C - This one was pretty easy as well, especially
since the built a whole area around it. The answer is Migdal. And this was a
city from the time of the second Beis Hamikdash. The made it into a big Christian
site because its mentioned in the fake New Testament as a the place where Mary
Magdalene one of yoshkas girlfiends are from. Not that you really care about
this. I don’t either and it’s why I really never go there. The second part of
the question as well should be easy for those that read my most recent
Mishpacha article. Which of course means my family won’t know the answer… Ahem….
Shuls back then were not just places of prayer. The Bais Hamikdash was where
they would daven and ask Hashem for everything- as it should be and will be
soon IYH. Shuls were gathering places as they are aptly called Beit Knesset-
houses of gathering and they would gather there for tefilla, davening, communal
meetings, social functions. They were pretty much places of gatherin JCC’s if
you will. Maybe that’s why we’re so comfortable schmoozing in them today. So
another one right and the so the score now is Schwartz 7.5 and 1.5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.
