Somethings Never Change- and Need To- Parshat Eikev 2026 5786

 

Insights and Inspiration from the Holy Land from Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz "Your friend in Karmiel" June 31st 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 39 17th of Av 5786   Parshat Eikev  Some Things Don't Change and Need To Click here below for print edition (Weekly Newsletter - Parshat Eikev  )   It was 97 years ago this Shabbos. "We thought they were our friends" is what they testimonies all say. We would go to their weddings, they came to ours. The Gerrer Rebbi came to Israel and he was impressed with the incredible relations the Jews of Chevron had with their neighbors. The Slobodka Yeshiva was flourishing. There were students from America that were studying there. Sure there was noise from Jerusalem. The Zionists were starting up with the Waqf and trying to put up a mechitza by the Kotel to daven and the Arabs weren't too happy. But that's just radicalism. Here we live in peace. Here we get along with them. It's a new era. Torah will protect us. We just wish those radicals would be quiet already and let us stay here in galus in Israel and study Torah like we did in Europe. Let us grow our crops on the fields of our ancestors. And continue to sit on the floor on Tisha B'Av and mourn the destruction and exile we're still experiencing.   In fact, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, whose own nephew, the Slonim family who were the leaders and founders of the community, and were descendants of the granddaughter of the Baal Ha'Tanya, Menucha Rochel, were killed in that massacre that Shabbos. The story the family retells is how broken he was afterwards because a wealthy American father was concerned about sending his son to the yeshiva there and Rav Tzvi Pesach assured him he had nothing to worry about. That bachur was killed along with 23 other bochrim, that black Shabbos as the Arabs rioted pillaged burned and raped our country in what was always until 3 years ago considered the worst massacre and pogrom to take place in our country. 133 Jews were killed 339 wounded and the country was changed. This Shabbos 97 years ago. The Black Shabbos of Eikev.   Today those numbers seem small. There were more that were killed and kidnapped from Kfar Aza alone on Tisha B'Av. There was almost ten times as many in the following days that were killed. Yet, back then the population of Israel was 150,000. The number killed was .1% whereas our population in 2024 was close to 6.5 million and the death and tragedy was not even .015 percent. Yet, the message and lesson hadn't changed in close to a century. It never changes. It's the earliest lesson and perhaps the only message that is more emphasized than any other lesson and message Hashem and Moshe repeatedly tell us. The nations in the land will hate you and kill you. They're not your friends. They will never be your friends. Your job is to finish them off. Your job is to build a Bais Ha'Mikdash. Your job is to wage war against them.   Chazak V'Ematz, Chazak V'Ematz Chazak V'Ematz. No other message is repeated so many times that Hashem tells us that we need to be careful and have strength to carry out. Don't stop short. Don't get lulled into a quiet peaceful ceasefire. Don't think that they will ever give up the land and allow you to remain that way. As long as I don't have my home, Hashem says, you're not going to have peace and quiet in yours either.   The week of the massacre followed, Shabbas Nachamu, as it does this year. It follows as it does every year the holiday of Tu B'Av, the 15th of Av. It's the parsha of Eikev every year as well. The Talmud tells us that from Tu B'Av and on the nights become longer.  U'dlo mosif- He who does not increase, does not gather, does not add to the light. Yasif- he will be gathered in, or as Rabbi Yosef explains, his mother will bury him. He will die untimely death. In a pogrom. In a massacre. In a way that is befitting to someone who has themselves just gone to sleep in a grave, as we said last week and the Jews of the Desert did every year after Tisha B'Av, until they realized the redemption had arrived and it was time to enter the land.   Tu B'av commemorates various historical "holidays" of this nature. Perhaps one of the most striking that I literally just learned yesterday in my Nach Yomi limud (two perakim a day since Shavuot and almost done with Melachim Beis!). It is the story of the last king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel Hoshea Ben Alah. He does something tremendous and is considered a righteous king for this act. He does it on Tu B'Av. For a few hundred years the majority of our nation, that didn't live near Jerusalem didn't see the Bais Ha'Mikdash. It's pretty much incomprehensible when we think about that. We all know, or at least should know that the first Temple lasted for 410 years, however since the death of Shlomo Ha'Melech and the rebellion and secession of Yeravam Ben Nevat with the 10 tribes, most of Klal Yisrael didn’t and couldn't go to the Temple. Thus, we only all worshiped there for about 20 years of Shlomo's rule. Yeravam made sure of that. He put up big blockades and checkpoints and no one was allowed to go. And somehow we became fine with that. We were good just living in Israel in a sometimes-religious country but mostly not.   Yet, on that Tu B'Av the righteous King Hoshea tore down those walls. The gates were opened. He proclaimed that anyone that wanted to was now free to head to Yerushalayim. We could see Hashem. We could be Oleh Regel. We could worship in the Temple, bring our sacrifices, redeem our ma'aser and tithes and come with our wagonloads of first fruits. We could have it all back. And the Jews celebrated. They made it a Yom Tov. They sang songs of praise. Maybe even sand Bar Yochai and made bonfires. We like new holidays. They're fun. And there wasn't even Chanuka or Purim yet as those don't happen until after the destruction and exile. This became the first post-biblical national holiday.   Yet, somehow… we missed the point. We didn't add light. We didn't go to the Temple. We didn't go to the Temple Mount. We didn't make Aliya... Our parties I'm sure continued each year. The maidens danced in the fields. But like our Palestinian neighbors we like usual never miss and opportunity to miss an opportunity. We chose our graves over redemption. We chose our yeshivos in Chevron over the Bais Ha'Mikdash. As the Chasam Sofer tells us we chose Tzfat and Tiverya and Meron over Yerushalayim and thus the earthquake happened in Tzfat years before. We're still choosing today Lakewood over Eretz Yisrael, and the Kotel over the Temple Mount and Bais Ha'Mikdash. We're not adding light. We're frozen in the darkness.   It is a result of that uncelebrated and recognized holiday of Tu B'av that we didn't take with us past the day, that the exile of the ten tribes began. Sancheirev comes to the land. He exiles ten tribes and most of the Jewish people are chucked out of the land never to come back again, until this very day. They're "disappeared." Until this very year, in which things have changed we have never had a majority of Jews living in Israel including during the second Temple period as well. We weren't mosif after Tu B'Av… so we were yasif… we died untimely deaths in putrid impure bloodstained lands that we were never meant to live in. That were places were no matter what mitzvos we do, how much Torah we learn, how many shuls we build. The light of Hashem, that only rests on One Place can never shine out from. Although it makes our graves there quite comfortable. It's like Air-conditioned coffins.   The parsha we read each year as well is Eikev on this Shabbos after Tu B'Av. There is perhaps no parsha that accentuates and replays more and more this Post Tu B'Av theme. I'm too tired to give you a dvar Torah. I'll just review the parsha and point it out to you again and again and again. Which is what Hashem is screaming at us about on this week. Consider it me Highlighting His notes for you that people in galus-like myself, by the way, because yes, here we're in Galus too- sometimes miss.   Two points He keeps making. One, the Land is good and everything we need to do is over here. Two- the goyim need to go and we need to liberate the country. So here goes.   And it will be as a result of us listening to the these mitzvos and observing and fulfilling them. Then Hashem will observe His promise and kindness which He swore to our ancestors and will love us and bless us…. On THE land He swore to give us.   We just need to listen. Listen to what? The mitzvos He gave us. What mitzvos are those? Take a look at the previous verse. Wipe out the enemies. Destroy their temples and idols. Burn them in fire. Don’t find or give them grace. These are all mitzvos that the Torah says we need to do Eikev. With our feet. Not sitting on the floor and mourning, but get up on your heels and start making them happen.   The parsha continues though, with our objections. The thing that's holding us down. (Ibid 17) If you will say in your heart, the nations are too great. How can I throw them out.   What will the world say? Trump? The UN. It's not politically correct. We can't just walk in and destroy everything. They were here first.   (Ibid 18) Don't fear them. Remember what I did to Pharaoh and Egypt. The great miracles and signs… the outstretched arm. So I will do to those that you are scared of./. Don't be intimidated by them, because Hashem your god who is in your midst is a great and awesome God.   When we don't listen to these words, then what we are inherently saying is that Hashem is not a great God. If we're scared of what the nations will say, then we are saying that we don't believe in the exodus from Egypt as more than a historical story to eat matza and drink wine and talk about. We don't believe it's us today. We don't believe He is in our midst. We don't believe what He is telling us. We're not listening. We're back in our graves.   Chapter 8 it continues, in case you weren't listening.   All of the Mitzva that I command you to guard is in order that you should live and multiply and and come and inherit the land. And He's not talking about Lakewood. Tom's River, Square Town or Boro Park.   He reminds us about how we wandered for forty years and we constantly tested Hashem and He always showed us and rebuked us in order that we get that He's our Father. He wants what's good for us. He will never abandon us and the land that He's taking us to is worth the trip. It's a good land, springs and rivers in hills and valleys, wheat barley and the 7 species. We will eat and we will be satisfied. And we will thank Hashem not for our delicious Meatboards. Not for our delicious Pizza or French pastries that we eat in other places but rather Al ha'aretz ha'tova asher nasan lach- on the good land he gave us.. Did you ever think about that? Whenever we bentch with a lot of kavana from a siddur of course, where are thanking Hashem not just for the food, but rather for the land, Who mentioned land and Israel here? We're living in galus for 2000 years. We're not in Israel. Why mention that now?   The answer is because thanking Hashem for food, no matter how delicious it is, but if it's in galus then it's like prison food. It's like praising and thanking the warden for your last meal before the executioner. It's thanking your captors in Gaza for a pita. It's not really geshmak. Only when we thank Hashem for the land of Israel and we turn to Him and think about the real meal that's coming for those not here yet, then can our hearts be full of thanks and praise and then we can ask for the Temple. Then we're finally uplifted and out of our graves. Because we're listening to His words.   Hashem then turns in the second aliya with the warning of what happens when we get to Israel and have that good. We become fat and we forget. We don't bother going to the Temple. We start allowing others to worship here. We stop listening. We ignore our Father. We think it's our strength. Then guess what? We get chucked out. We lose it all. If we're not mosif, we're yasif.   But what if we're not worthy? What if we're not frum enough? How can we believe Hashem is amongst us if we don't do the right things? If there are pride parades in Jerusalem If people have smart phones. If they go to the har ha'bayis. If our government is not frum and our court is anti-frum, anti-Torah? Hashem knew that was coming. He barvorned it as we say in yeshiva.   Don't worry, He says. I'm not giving you the land because I think you're tzadikim. I know you better than anyone. I know you’re the most stiff-necked people around. But that has nothing to do with it. I want home. These people living there are worse than you. They're Nazis. They're evil. I need the place cleaned and you guys are hired despite your failings because I love you and you're my child. I've loved you since Sinai. I've loved your ancestors. You've sinned and sinned and I've never abandoned you. Just come Home. Just build the Temple. Just say you care enough to take your heels and move here. I gave you second Luchos. I forgave and forgave and will forgive again. Just come home.   All he wants Moshe tell us is for us to truly fear Him. To see his awesomeness, and then follow the leader. Take the path of that awe and walk with it. Remove that orla from your hearts all that decay that has numbed you to seeing the truth. All that social media about politically correctness and all of those years of bad chinuch that may have led you to believe that He wants you to be frum outside of Israel. That mitzvos have meaning there. That all He wants is a Kotel.   The parsha goes on and on. You don't need a dvar Torah this week. You just need to read the parsha. You just need to see the gates are open. That there's nothing stopping us. That Hashem has comforted us. That Tu B'Av is over. That the light is starting to grow.   There is a tradition from the Baal Shem Tov that beginning from Tu B'Av we start to wish people with a ksiva V'chasima tova- the blessings for a new year. In fact the Komarna notes that "Chamisha Asar B'Av-" tu b'av is in fact the exact gematria of Ksiva v'chasima tova. Tu B'Av is 40 days before the 25th day of Elul when Hashem created the world on the first of the 6 days of Creation. Parshat Eikev is in fact the only parsha that uses the word Rosh Hashana- "Reishit Hashana"- the beginning of the year. It is that description of Hashem always having His eyes on this country. It's all He has on his screen. It's what he looked at 40 days before the creation of the world. It's the reishis that He looks at us and the Torah. That 40 day conception process began Tu B"Av.   I'll conclude with the end of that Rav Pesach Frank story above. For many years he felt broken that he advised this father to send his son to yeshiva. 40 years later, Rav Frank's son was once in café and he was talking to someone who he shared that story with. It seems he was relative of that father. He told Rav Franks son, that after the massacre the father was a very influential person and he put tremendous pressure on the US senators to put pressure on England to make changes in their mandate anti-Jewish and Israel behavior in Israe. They immediately switched the British Military Governor for a new one who was pro-Jewish and Israel. Within ten years from that story. The population of Israel tripled. He opened up the gates. A Jewish army had formed. There were 450,000 Jews in the 1930''s and during the Holocaust tens of thousands more came. It was all because of that boy. That advice. That sign of Hashem. It was the light that came out of the darkness of the graves of Chevron.   Rav Frank's son immediately came home and told his wife that they have to travel to their father to tell him She told him that they were going to go anyways next week. Today was Friday. It's erev Shabbos. But he refused. He said that his father had been mourning for decades over this story. He deserves to see the hand of Hashem. So he went and he told him Rav Frank hugged him and cried. He expressed his appreciation for him coming to tell him and not waiting until after Shabbos. They parted ways and he went home. That Friday night Rav Frank returned his soul to Hashem. It was the last message he heard. The geula can happen even when we don't see it. We just need to listen. We need to come to Shabbos, with the message of redemption.   Have a remarkably fun and exciting delightful Shabbos, Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz    YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK   " Nit mit sheltn un nit mit lahchen ken men di velt ibermachen."- Neither with cursing or laughing will the world change. RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK answer below at end of Email   10. The ANZAC Museum is located in the city of __________  What was the purpose of the establishment of the "11 points in the Negev" in 1946? A. Taking control of coastal aquifer reservoirs. B. Including the region in the Jewish state’s territory in a future partition plan. C. Strengthening the defense of the small Jewish settlement in Gaza. D. Controlling the route leading to Egypt RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK   https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eretz-tu-bishvat  – This week's parsha Rabbi Schwartz composition best song ever!!! You should be singing this song of the words of Hashem on the amazingness of Eretz Yisrael all week long! https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/kum -  Every four steps you walk this Bein Hazmanim is a mitzva if you're doing it here! Kum Hithalech Ba'Aretz my song is based on yesterday's Daf of Hashem folding up all of Israel under Yaakov to teach us that the whole Israel is 4 Amos conquerable. Dovid Lowy did both of these songs arrangements and Vocals… Rock Em!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb_-z7gCJVs - Joey Newcomb- Rely on Hashem… latest Bein Hazmanim release… https://24six.app/preview/music/content/446598/homeward-bound – Benny Friedmans latest release Homeward Bound… no video posted but just great song.. Only wish he and all of you would say those words… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXKsf5mdG-g – Elka's favorite new song and I'm loving it also… Eternal Tai! RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK Guardians of The Wall -333 BC- So the plan of Nechemia worked! He had broken through the walls of Jerusalem in order to convince the nation that the time was here to start to rebuild the city and protect it. He has the permission of Darius, although he didn't even tell them. He wanted it to come from them. They needed to do it on their own. And we did.   Now our neighbors were not too happy. They felt that Jerusalem was there. In the past they had terrorized the Jews and pretty much held us back, but now with the walls breached they plotted to up the terror a notch and truly begin to stop us from our project. It's kind of like what the Chareidim have been doing to the light Rail on Bar Ilan for the past ten years…   So they planned their big intifada, what they didn't know was that Nechemia had good intel. He knew what they were planning. And thus he prepared for it. Do you know that famous Carlebach song. Shomrim Hafked L'ircha kol ha'yom v'kol ha'layla- He established an armed watch guard over the city walls to oversee the work of the wall. The Navi tells us that the walls were built with half the nation holding swords and spears and the other half with hammers and nails. That's the way Jerusalem was rebuilt and there is a deep eternal message on a spiritual level as well. Can you figure it out?   Jerusalem needs both. It needs our soldiers and needs our wall-builders. Only when the two work together, can the city be united. Can we truly have Yerushalayim Shel Mata.   RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE CHANGE JOKES OF THE WEEK   Yesterday, I changed a light bulb, crossed the road, and walked into a bar. My life is a joke.   Alabama changed the drinking age to 34. They wanted to keep alcohol out of the high schools   My friend really changed when she became a vegetarian... it's like I've never seen herbivore.   What’s it called when a chameleon can’t change its colors anymore? A reptile dysfunction!   How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb? 10. 1 to change the bulb and 9 to tell you how much better they could've done it   How many cops does it take to change a light bulb? They don't, they arrest the bulb for being broke and beat the room for being black.   How does a Jewish mother change a lightbulb? "No, that's all right. I'll just sit here in the dark."   How many Yekkis does it take to change a light bulb? One. We are efficient and dont have humour.   How many divorced men does it take to change a light bulb? No one knows. They never get to keep the house.   The sweater my wife gave me was picking up static electricity, so I went to the store to change it. They gave me another one, free of charge   How many Trump supporters does it take to change a lightbulb? Look, we can change the lightbulb. That I will tell you. We're changing it, ok? And I understand what you're saying, I hear it all the time. People call me and say "Is the lightbulb really dead?". Thats what they are asking me, its unbelievable. The lightbulb is in big trouble, that I can tell you. But we are going to change it.   How many kids with ADD does it take to change a light bulb? Wanna go ride bikes?   My wife the English Teacher explained, "You need to do more chores around the house."  I moaned, "Can we change the subject?" She smiled and said..."Ok. More chores around the house need to be done by you.   There are a pair of twins called Ving and Ling. Ving decided to go to the town hall to change his name. Ling decided to give him a lift there. When they arrived Ling reminded Ving that he would disgrace their family if he changed his name to Lee. Ving takes a form and quickly fills it out to change his name. He sends off the form, but immediately starts to regret it. He is told that to revoke his form he must pay a small fee. Ling takes out her purse and is about to hand over the money when suddenly… A man, their father, bursts through the door and embraces Ving and tells them, “Don’t stop, be Lee, Ving”, “Hold on to that fee, ling.” ******************************* The answer to this week's question is B- I feel a streak coming on here. This one was pretty easy. Not that I've ever been here, however I know and am familiar that the whole ANZAC thing, the Australian WWI horse brigade forces that fought against the Turks was in Beer Sheva where the memorial is for them. As well the 11 points question is pretty basic and important Israel history where in one night in order that they would be part of the Jewish State in 1946. As if there was Jewish life there, the Two State solution would have to include them. Those 11 points include, by the way Beeri, Urim, Chatzeirim, Tekuma, Nirim and other Kibbtuzim that sit on the Gaza Border that you may be familiar with… By the way what date did this take place. Motzai Yom Kippur. What was the English date? October 6th… Fast Forward 80 year… October 7th… Wow… pretty scary… So we're getting into decent grade level here with Rabbi Schwartz having 7.5 points and the MOT having 2.5 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.

Money for Nothing- Parshat Behar Bechukosai 2026 5786

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

May 8^th 2026 -Volume 16 Issue 28 21^st of Iyar 5786

 

Parshat Behar- Bechukosai

 Money for Nothing

 

It's been rough for us tour guides here. It's been a while since we've seen any of you. I don't think even in Corona, or the beginning of this war have I ever gone this long without touring one of you. Not Pesach. Not Lag Ba'Omer. My summer is still pretty much wide open. Some people refer to a downturn in their business. "It's been slow, lately", others say, when they don't want to really talk about how bad it really is. But I'm here to tell you the real scoop, in case you didn't get it. It's dead. It's almost three months now. It's from before Purim. It's like the Jews in the wilderness and the manna is running out, there's no water and there's just a big hot dry dead wilderness in front of us. I get their kvetching a bit more, these days. I can understand why Hashem got upset at Moshe for being so harsh with us about our lack of faith, at least at one point. It ain't easy.

There are quite a few guys that are doing alternate things. Sruli, started to do some Real Estate. Avi and Ari are doing some driving and deliveries. Some of my driver friends got gigs doing army deliveries. Even my friend who bought an ATV business before this whole thing started is now renting them out to the Army. He figures if they can't be used to share the beauty and nature of Eretz Yisrael with people that are coming here to visit, then at least they should be put to good use killing the mamzers that made this happen and perhaps even potentially, hopefully expanding the current borders of Israel to those more in line with our biblical promise. Creating new routes and trails to take people on, when this is all over.

My friend Yoni, has been on my case to join him on these Auschwitz, Europe, graves, old shuls and dead murdered massacred Jews gig he's got going on. As if there's not enough of that to see over here… It's always interested me, that there are people that want to see that stuff. That are not scared of heading out to countries where they killed all of our ancestors, where they would do it again, where there's no Israeli army that would even pretend to be interested in saving you. Why spend money and help an economy that would use that money to give parnassah to the grandchildren of the same people that helped the Nazi's and even sold your grandparents out to them? Why aren't you nervous about going to a place where anti-Semitism and Jew-killing is a favorite national pastime?

Yeah, I know, you've got that going on in the States as well, these days, so maybe it doesn't make you so nervous. You're used to burying your head in the sand. Which is usually good practice historically for when they make you dig your own graves. Ouch! But what possible inspiration does one get out of those places in Europe? What do people find or see there besides, death, blood, and tumah? And don't tell me that it's to learn the lessons of the past and "Never Again", because where are you still living…?

So I told him, no. I'm not interested. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the occasional tour outside of Israel, as my Swiss and Africa trips reveal. But I don't want to work there. I don't want to take Jews there. I don't want to connect them to those places. Hashem told us that we should never return to Egypt. After the expulsion from Spain, our sages as well declared that we should never go back there- of course they made an exception for 5 Star Pesach programs with separate swimming pools and spas, Mordechai Shapiro and Leiner singing, kosher magicians and poker tables, with big Rabbis who write columns about Mesora in Mishpacha magazine serving as Scholars in residence. But besides that our Rabbis felt that no one should step foot on that bloodied earth. I don't know why they didn't do that in Poland or the Ukraine, though. Maybe it's because the "Jewish travel" lobby would have to much to say. Maybe they didn't want to give up their future scholars in residence gigs. Maybe they just wanted to provide parnassa for tour guides during periods of time when Jews were too scared to come to Israel…

So what have I been up to? Well I filled you in on some of the stuff. My trips down South to Sinai to do some volunteering trimming grape vines in my friend Gal's field. I've started writing for Mishpacha magazine again. Stay tuned for the upcoming Shavuos edition. I'm just about finished with my new book, "War Torah", three years' worth of Parsha material and E-Mails seen through the eyes of a Rabbi/Tour Guide/ Oleh/ Me… which I hope to get out volume I, by the new Torah cycle. Sponsorship opportunities upcoming… Stay tuned! As well, I've been doing some more learning, reading and hitting the gym. Gotta keep the weight off, especially with all the couch sitting noshing, I've been doing.

What about Parnassa? It will come. That's what credit cards are for. As one of my tour guide friends, told me, after Corona, the first years of the war, and all the other gaps in business we've undergone, Hashem has always sent us our manna right back afterwards. It's gonna come. This past winter in fact, He even sent the parnassa beforehand. It was the busiest winter- at least until Purim since the post-Corona year. It's like the promise of getting triplicate in the 6^th year before Shemitta, that this week's parsha tells us about. Hey, why should tour guides be different then Shemitta farmers in that regard. We both make our living off the land. We even bring them all our tourists. So, Hashem gave us the same advance He gives them, in the months before this latest tourism drought. I just wish he didn't have to crush the dollar in the process… But at least, I'm not earning any right now anyways, so I don’t feel so bad.

Well once we’re on the subject of havtachos from this week's parsha and the mitzva of Shemitta, the year that we take a Shabbos from working the land, and step back and say Hashem runs the world. He pays my bills. I'm sitting at His table and I don't have to worry about the next course. Let's see if this is only a farmer thing or not.

The mitzva that follows these laws is fascinatingly enough the laws of the prohibition to take interest. Seemingly this mitzva one would more appropriately expect to find in Mishpatim or in Devarim, as we do, rather than here in the middle of the mitzvos that have to do with Shemitta, Yovel and buying and selling land in Israel. The prohibition to take interest is applicable to every Jew everywhere. Even you guys outside of Israel. What's it got to do with what seems to be only Eretz Yisraeldikeh laws?

Now in case, you thought that this wasn't the case, the follow up verse and even more perplexing Rashi that explain them makes this even more clear. The reason the Torah tells us for this mitzva in Mishpatim is because he's your brother, you should worry about him, he will cry out to Hashem. As well, in Devarim it tells us that Hashem will give us bracha if we keep this mitzva. He will even bring us to the land to inherit it. It certainly seems that it has nothing to do with a specific connection to living in the land. Yet here, the pasuk tells us that we need to keep the mitzva because

 Vayikra (25:38) "I am Hashem, your God, who took you out of the Land of Egypt to give you the Land of Canaan to be Your God."

What does leaving Egypt have to do with charging interest? Rashi seems to address these questions, but his answers at first glance don't really seem to cut it.

Who took you out … " just as I discerned between a firstborn and a non-firstborn, I also recognize and will exact punishment from one who lends money to an Israelite on interest and claims that it belongs to a non-Jew.

Another explanation: “who took you out of Egypt” – I redeemed you on condition that you accept My commandments upon yourselves, even if they be difficult for you.

The problem with this Rashi's pshat is that first of all why is it the fact that Hashem is discerning between the first borns the barometer for Hashem's ability to tell the difference between one who lends with interest and doesn't. Hashem knows everything. He did ten plagues before that and showed he runs the world. He knows everyone's thoughts. The mitzva and prohibition seem to be directed to Jews who believe in Hashem. They're keeping the mitzvos. Perhaps they even believe in everything else. The challenge they may be forgetting and that this mitzva seems to be reminding us is that Hashem can tell who's a first born or not. What does this have to do with Ribbis?

As well, Rashi seems to learn this warning is directed not just to someone who charges interest, but rather someone who does it through a loophole. He gets a goy to lend it for him. He's trying to work the system. A way out of the mitzva. That's who this mitzva and warning is directed to. This is the mitzva that Rashi in the second pshat as well, seems to note is difficult. It's a different aspect of the mitzva then perhaps the other places where it discussed.

As well the next Rashis continue in what seems broader themes, but that the Torah seems to be noting is particularly note and warning worthy here.

To give you Canaan - as reward for accepting upon yourselves to fulfill My commandments.

The land of Canaan is given for many mitzvos. Perhaps even more so, for the mitzvos that can't be fulfilled here. The laws of the tithes, of sacrifices, of shemitta and yovel. What does interest have to do with living in the land. We can do that anywhere?

Yet it was the last Rashi that really threw me for a loop. Because it's not so much what he says, rather it's what he doesn't say. How he changes what is really said. And most of all the message and connection he seems to be making with our mitzva that sheds light on it all.

Rashi writes

In order to be a God to you - for whoever lives in the Land of Israel – I consider Myself his God, but …

Before I finish this famous quote, that Rashi paraphrases here, I want to ask you how you believe it ends. If you're anyone that ever argued with anyone about making Aliya, on either side of the argument, you're bound to finish that sentence as Chazal do in Kesuvot and other places.

"He who lives outside of Israel is as if he has no God."

All good Aliyah snobs (as Rabbi Efrem G. coined the phrase recently) know this gemara and throw it at all of you guys all the time. It's the exact opposite and contrast to the one that lives in Israel. It makes sense. Yet that's not what Rashi quotes. It's not how he finishes off the quote. He changes it. He wants to make a different message here. The question is what.

Rashi ends off that phrase differently. He writes

"but whoever leaves I consider to be an idolater".

Who said anything about leaving Israel here? Why does leaving Israel have to do with lending with interest? As well, it seems that someone that leaves is even worse than the person that doesn't come. As here Rashi calls him an idolator. That's a lot harsher than the godless person that Chazal call he who doesn't live here at all. There's something going on here, and I believe it's an incredible message for tour guides without work in Israel today. That's obviously what Hashem wrote in the Torah to teach us. It's all about me.

Rashi, writes that whoever leaves the land of Israel is considered to be a idolator. It would seem that this refers not only to those who illegally pack out or abandon Israel. As the truth is there's not too many in their right mind that would actually leave when things are going good. As Reb Chayim Kanievsky once told someone that asked him about leaving because he got a better job offer there, that he's a halachic shoteh if he does so. He's patur from all mitzvos because he's a fool, or mentally challenged and isn't liable for his actions which have no meaning. Seemingly he sees him as someone who's given a diamond and throws it away. Rather Rashi says "whoever leaves". Even someone who has a good reason. Even someone who goes when it's permitted to leave. He falls into the category of one who is permitted to leave, whether it's for parnassa, for a shidduch or even to study Torah. He's also viewed by Hashem as an idolator. That's pretty harsh. But that's what Rashi paraphrases. That's what he seems to be saying is the connection to the mitzva of Ribbis over here.

Why would someone leave Israel? There's only one reason. The reason is because you don't believe that you can find all that you need here. That your parnassa can and will happen here. That your bashert is here. That your Torah will even be on a greater level here. That your kids won't go off the derech here. You believe in Hashem. You want to serve Him. You know he preforms miracles. That he's good for His word. That He's quite capable of providing us with Manna and water in the wilderness. That He can even bring ten plagues on Egypt. But you have trouble understanding that He can tell that you’re his first Born. You think that you're subject to the same hishtadlus that perhaps the rest of the non-first born world is.

Perhaps you believe that you're just a little bit better and more loved then the non-Jews. Enough so that you can't lend Jews money with interest. But you can still work the system through them. You can use the non-Jews and be like them to rip off your brother. To advance your business interests. You can lend money through them, but you're forgetting that you're sitting on the table of the King. That you're brother is a first-born. That all of the mitzvos Hashem has given us is for us to appreciate that we are at his table. He gave us the mitzva that wherever we are living we shouldn't lend with interest because if you do, then you're forgetting that He gave us the land. We have a bank where we are taken care of from where our savings come from.

If you lend with interest, you really don't believe in Eretz Yisrael either. You're worshipping the same idol that someone who leaves Israel is serving. You're serving the dollar. You're worse than someone who's never lived here and never experienced it, who's just a nebach godless tinok she'nishbu, that may even be wearing a black hat in Lakewood or a shtreimel in Boro Park. If you're here and you leave here because you think it's gonna be better there. That, only there is where your yeshuah, your parnassa, your Torah and your children's chinuch is, then you're inherently leaving Hashem to worship idols instead.

The farmers here who have kept shemitta, as the Torah promises them, have seen that blessing. My friend Gal, out in Sinai that I visited told me that the bracha was that he was able to take off and learn Torah in Yerushalayim for a year. The tens of thousands of Kollel families who somehow manage to marry off ten kids and buy them all apartments as well will tell you about the daily miracles they experience. The soldiers, the generals, the families and survivors of this war and the entire country that's lived through this war and seen those missiles flying over our head and the so many times we should've been wiped out, know that we're sitting on the King's Table upon which His eyes aren't removed for even one second.

We're not living b'keri- with the mikreh, the happenstance that those who are living outside in the godless world are living. Hashem doesn't have to put all other things aside to deal with reminding us of where we are, who we are. We can be yashevtem la'betach b'artzichem- we can live, settle, dwell, sleep and just live securely here in our land. It's the final and best bracha. It's the only place where we can do that. So, I'm not going anywhere these days. When are you going to join the party?

Have a Shabbos of Chizuk and Chazak!

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

" Di shversteh arbet iz arumtsugain laidik"– The hardest work is to go idle.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdfk4KAiad4   – Lubavitcher Rebbe gives chizuk to Reb Nochum Partzovitz of Mir… Wow…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPI354InKqU – TYH's latest new release and hit that's gonna hit all over until you get sick of it… Ahavas Yisrael- Yossi Green and Storch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDU4bEDI31Y   - Ronald Reagan's greatest aging Jokes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATo6Pk1fAGQ – Kobi Brumer- New Bar Yochai Kodesh Hakedoshim- nice…!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or3hlR093Qk – Dovi Lowy's Oseh Shalom unplugged… got into it this week…

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

31. A monument designed by the artist Dani Karavan near the city of Be'er Sheva is called

____________

The broad wall in Jerusalem is considered to be part of the fortification that defended

Jerusalem, during the war campaign of which of the following occupiers/warlords?

A. Ashurbanipal

B. Sargon

C. Tiglath-Pileser

D. Sennacherib

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

Hopes Dashed- 351 BC-  The King is dead. Achashverosh dies and his son, who according to Chazal was the child of his and Esther's thus making him Jewish, Darius the Persian becomes King. That year officially concluded the 70 years from the destruction of the Temple by Nevuchadnezzar and thus immediately the Jews with the urging of the prophets Chagai and Zecharia began work on the building of the Bait Ha'Mikdash. But before we get to that….

 

Let's understand how and why the Jews weren't that into it. What the prophets said. Why it wasn't so pashut. And what the message for us today is. See, because this wasn't the first time that we were being called to this task. It happened many times before this and I believe it's critical for us to appreciate the mind-set of those returnees and non-returnees. It's important for us today.

 

The truth is from the time that Sancherev exiled the 10 tribes, 150 years before the destruction. Yeshaya and other prophets spoke of the redemption and ingathering of Exiles. Chazal tell us that it is for that reason that many of the good kings of Israel were considered to be Mashiach, like Yoshiyahu and Chizkiyahu. In fact, Yirmiyahu Ha'Navi even thought it was the Messianic time and he went to galus to try to bring the 10 tribes back. But we weren't worthy at that time and ultimately the Temple was destroyed. It's as the parsha tells us this week in the tochacha, we have chance after chance and if we don't grab the opportunity, it will get worse.

 

Even with the periods of Exile, there was hope maybe with Gedalia it would be rebuilt. There was hope that Yehoyakim could bring them back. The many moment though was when Cyrus gave the go ahead and Ezra returned with Zerubavel to be the Kohen. Chazal tell us if the Jews would've returned with them it could've all been over. But they didn't. And thus the work was halted it was put on pause. The children of Haman stopped it. The Shomronim made problems. The Jews in Bavel said… see we told you so…" It was another false hope that was crushed.

 

Thus when the time came in the time of Darius once again. Hashem gave Chagai prophecy tell the Jews to return. Chagai turned to the Jewish people and told them this prophecy, but they didn't buy it. What was their tayna? Sit back and hold your seats and tell me if this sounds familiar…

 

They claimed there were no miracles, like Egypt, and this was supposed to be even greater than then. They claimed that we were still in Galus. That the nations still ruled over us. That we can't upset them. Hashem through the earlier prophets spoke of a period when we will be at rest from our enemies and we're not. This is not like the period of Shlomo Ha'Melech. This is not what we were waiting for. They wanted a supernatural redemption and this wasn't it.

 

Sounds familiar? Sounds 2026. It's good to know history and Tanach. What was Hashem's response through Chagai. Let's see next week. 

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE AFTERLIFE JOKES OF THE WEEK

 

I have like 50 jokes about the unemployed. Trouble is, none of them work.

 

I’m unemployed and asked my friend for advice.

He told me: “Get a job at NASA, they always have space.”

 

Why couldn't the unemployed teacher see? She had no pupils!!

 

My wife and I are both unemployed. My mum died in a car crash. We have three children and we're all staying in my grandma's place, and my grandma died this week. My dad has to work at 73. I'll do any job to take care of my family. Please share.

Sincerely,

William, Prince of Wales

 

I hate it when engineering students refer to themselves as engineers...

Like you don't see med students calling themselves doctors or arts students calling themselves unemployed.

 

My wife didn't leave me because I'm lazy, overweight and jobless. She left me because I don't know anything about baseball.

That was strike four

 

Why can't you trick an unemployed jester? Because he's nobody's fool!

 

What do you call an Apple employee who got laid off? Steve Jobless!

 

Being unemployed is horrible. I never thought I'd lose my job as a psychic.

 

Common synonyms of unemployed. Writer, blogger, and activist.

 

University: just the same as being unemployed. But your parents are proud of you.

 

The number of unemployed musicians today...Is disconcerting

 

People ask whether I’ll make cheese in my afterlife. I tell them, “There’s no whey in hell.

 

Ok, I admit it. I’m an unemployed leather worker. I’ve got nothing to hide.

 

I have 50 jokes about the unemployed. the thing is none of them make any cents

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The answer to this week's question is D– Finally! An easy one to get me out of this 50/50 rut I'm in. I'm not a big architecture guy or know many of the monuments. But Andartat Ha'Negev is a pretty famous one, commemorating the soldiers of the Negev brigade of the Palmach that fell in 1948.The second part as well is pretty easy. Tanch is one of my stronger points and the Broad wall in the Rova is where we tell the story of the Pesach night siege and miracle of Sancherevs army that were killed by an angel when we woke up the next morning.  So full point for me on this one and the new score is Rabbi Schwartz having 22 points and the MOT having 9 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.