Egg Births- Parshat Beshalach 2025 5785

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

February 7^th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 15 9^th of Shevat 5785

 

Parshat Beshalach

Egg Births

 (my kids will appreciate the title)

 

Why are you asking me what will we be touring and visiting when you come for Sukkos this year? What our itinerary will be for the day that you booked me for on Chol Ha’Moed Pesach? What “the plan” is for your family trip to Israel will be when you come in three weeks from now… Yanky…

Yes, I understand that my daughter Shani is doing the rest of your weeklong itinerary planning and she wants to know, in order to plan around me and make sure that you’re not doing the same thing twice. But there’s a reason she didn’t ask me and told you to ask me. She knows that I won’t answer that question. I rarely plan or give people their itineraries much in advance, even before this war started. Yet since it has, I certainly haven’t wasted much time planning things and spending hours back and forthing it with them just to have it canceled because of the war changes. It’s just a waste of time. Time that I don’t have much of.

Yet, now certainly she knows that I’m really not planning things more than a day or two in advance. See, Mashiach is pretty much here. I don’t know if they got that E-Mail in America, and so I don’t really blame you for wanting answers. But here, at least to me it’s pretty clear that the geula is right around the corner.

I have a really hard time imagining not bringing the Pesach sacrifice in the new Temple on that mountain that has been cleared of that abomination and chilul Hashem that has been sitting upon it for way too long. I’ve been visiting those Red Heifers that are sitting in Shilo and that were brought here a few years ago from Texas and am imagining how immensely cool it will be if in a few weeks after Purim we will actually be burning them up and sprinkling their ashes in time for Parshat Parah, rather than just reading about the mitzva from the Torah as we have done for millenia. How this year Purim itself will be the day that Hashem allows us to finally destroy Amalek for the last time. The spring is here. The trees are blossoming. The dark winter is ending. The holiday of Redemption is around the corner. Your wife is already starting to make Pesach cleaning lists. Did you check if your hotel in Miami or Mexico has a Mashiach-coming- refundable-deposit clause? Don’t count on that great Rabbi who will be the scholar in residence there to have checked for you. I’m not sure he got the telegram either.

Now I know you’re thinking that I’ve been saying this for a while and it’s getting old already. But c’mon… Let me ask you what you would’ve told me, had I told you that the President of the United States just said that all the Arabs should be transferred out of Gaza. That Israel should return to its biblical borders in Judea and Shomron. That the Secretary of State of the America made a statement, that he sees no reason why the Bais Ha’mikdash shouldn’t be built on the Temple Mount already. You would’ve said one thing. That will happen when Mashiach comes.

Sadly, when you would’ve said that to me, it’s not because you believed that it would happen. Rather you would’ve said that because you heretically or perhaps to be more generous, exhaustedly after 2000 years of false hopes couldn’t imagine it really could happen. “When Mashiach comes” is just a way of saying “it ain’t really even happening”. It’s a euphemism for when “hair grows out of my palm”, “when dogs fly”, or what used to be a common one “when Ephraim Schwartz is skinny”. Yet guess what? All those above things happened this past week or two. We’re really heading into the end-game here.

Do you know how Biblical stories always talk about how the Jew in the Kings palace is giving him advice. Mordechai and Achashverosh, Daniel and Belshatzar, Moshe and Pharaoh, Avraham and Avimelech. We know it’s all true, but it sounds weird. Why would the greatest and most egotistical leaders of the world pay attention to this small Jew, who is such a minority of the world and is from a downtrodden nation? Why is all of world history so Israel and Jewish-people centric? Is it really? Or are we just looking at it with Jewish glasses, you wonder. Yet when in 2025, the first guest to the White House is Bibi Netanyahu, when the first statements and decrees of this new president are all about Israel, about borders, about Temples. When this tiny little land, and our tiny little people is all the world seems to be caring and talking and obsessed with. When we’re the only thing on the agenda of the now US sanctioned International World Court is Israel. That’s not Jewish glasses. That’s reality. “Jews is News” is on steroids these days. People… this is Biblical. This is what Chazal have foretold us to watch out for. It’s happening, dudes. It’s happening quickly. 

So don’t bother me please about itineraries and jeep tours and visiting graves of tzadikim or speedboating on the Mediterranean tour for Chol Hamoed. Certainly don’t ask me about Kotel tunnel tours to see the ruins of the retaining wall of the destroyed temple from 2000 years ago. They will be closed by the time you get here. It will be under renovations for the new Bais Hamikdash visiting center. You won’t need virtual reality glasses to see the show. It will be live and real. The day has finally come.

Now, do you know why you’re asking me this and this entire E-Mail until now seems just like a fantasy, a dream? It’s because it really in fact doesn’t seem real. A president of the United States should say we should throw the Arabs out of Gaza!? That we should build a Bais Hamikdash? That we need to destroy Amalek until the end?! That they will give us the bombs to do it? That the largest question on the entire globe today is are you pro or anti- Israel. That countries around the world at the far ends with millions of their own issues and problems are all only busy with one thing, which side are you on? The return of the Jews to their homeland and their borders and the destruction of our enemies or not. It’s a dream. It’s a prophecy. But that as well is exactly what we say each time we bentch when we say Shir Ha’Maalos. Hayinu K’Cholmim- we are like dreamers. Yet, the dream is almost over. We and the world are about to be Woke.

There’s another reason as well, though that I think we’re having a hard time adjusting to this thing and accepting it. It’s because, it’s not the way we imagined it. We’ve been looking for old men with white beards on donkeys dressed in a toga and sandals blowing a shofar. And who knows? Maybe he might come. But Trump? Really? C’mon… Bibi? That’s not the guy… What about the fighting? The army draft? The comfortable Jewish Torah life and new shuls and Beit Midrashes in exile we have built that are meant to fly up in the sky. The Eagle’s wings? Can our redemption really come from these natural in the Evening News type of occurrences?

The answer to that question and hesitation is yes and no. The answer to that question, the Sfat Emet tells us, is something that we need to appreciate and that we should’ve been internalizing every year on the holiday of our redemption of Pesach for the past 3000 years. Our redemption today will come k’yimei tzescha Mi’Mitzryaim- like the days that we left Egypt. As then, so now. The answer of how the redemption is meant to happen and is happening is not one big shofar blast, but rather two different Parshiyot. It’s last week, Bo, when we left. It’s this week’s Beshalach, when we step into the sea and it culminates.

Pesach is a strange holiday. There’s a custom to eat an egg by the Seder right before we start the meal. One of the reasons I saw given is that the chicken egg symbolizes a birth that takes place in two stages. The first is the mother bird creates the egg and it is brought into the world. Yet, the birth happens only later. The final birth of the chicken is when the baby bursts and breaks out of its own shell. The mother can only do so much. It can only bring it into the world. Yet, for the chick to be born, it’s gotta give the final kick itself. Mommy can’t do that for you. Neither could Pharaoh. Neither can Trump.

The Sefat Emet, whose Yartzeit was this past week, in almost every year of his commentary on this week’s parsha reiterates this concept. He notes that when we left Egypt in last week’s Parsha it was all from the hands of Hashem. It was in the merit of the promise to our Patriarchs. It was because if we would’ve stayed there any longer we would have been too far gone to redeem. It was the punishment of Egypt that had finally reached it peak and needed to be avenged and brought to judgement. It was to send an eternal message to the world that Hashem controls everything and we are His chosen nation. It was what the Kabbalists refer to as it’rauta di’li’ayla- it was an awakening from Above. It wasn’t because we did anything to be redeemed. It’s why it’s called Pesach- Hashem skipped over the normal protocols that would bring our redemption. But that’s not enough. That’s only good enough to bring the egg into the world.

This week’s Parsha is phase II. It’s called Parshat Beshalach- and begins with Pharaoh sending us out, because it’s about how we move from phase I to phase II. We didn’t leave Egypt. Pharaoh sent us out. They sent us out with gifts. They told us that we deserve to leave. That we deserve to have our own land. That our exile is over. Hashem gave us favor in their eyes. We went out from Egypt- “chamushim”- armed. Maybe they even gave us 2000 lb. bombs to blow up all the bunkers and tunnels when we got to the land of Israel. The boycott was finally over. The sanctions were removed. Egypt was on our side. But that doesn’t work.

If that’s the way we leave Egypt, as “shluchim of Pharaoh” then we’re really still servants. We still have to play by his rules. Mashiach is not here. The revelation of Hashem isn’t coming from us. It’s coming at best through us. The parsha tells us that when Pharaoh sends us out, we’re not ready to go conquer the Philistines in Gaza. Because it’s Pharaoh sending us out. It’s his rules. We will go back to Egypt and ask them if we’re allowed to do that when we face war with them. Can we get our hostages back or not? For us to make it home and to finally be redeemed, and to fight and win that battle of Amalek, which happens right after this story at the end of the Parsha, we need to understand that we don’t need Pharaoh. That Pharoah is meaningless. That Egypt is a nation that is irrelevant. That we have the power to redeem ourselves. Without him. Without them.

So what did Hashem do? He turned us around and sent us back to Egypt. He had us camp by Pi Ha’Chirot- on the edge of redemption. The was the last idol that remained that we hadn’t yet destroyed. The idol that said we need the approval of Egypt, we need the world to support us, that without the White House and our friend Pharaoh we can’t do it on our own. We would be walking right into a sea of death.

Hashem brought us back there in order that we learn the lesson of how to break that egg ourselves and be born. And then He told us to march. To enter in that sea as frightening and incomprehensible and counterintuitive as it may seem and watch how the sea and the waters split. The Midrash tells us that each Jew had to do this. It wasn’t just Nachshon, who was the first. Each and every Jew had to jump off into the deep end. And each Jew saw when they did that how the sea split before them. They saw that they could do it. That we could do it. That we don’t need Pharaoh. That if we do what we need to do, Hashem will take us all the way through.

There are two stages of redemption. Hashem didn’t birth us in a second. The entire story of our Exodus is about first getting the world and Pharaoh to understand that we need to be free. That we need to go home. That we have a job to do. A Temple to build. Perhaps Hashem understood that after 210 year of Exile, we wouldn’t even have the dream that this could ever happen. That we could ever get there. Perhaps He understands that even more-so today after 2000 years of Exile.



So, He turned the heart of Pharaoh around. He hardened it. He punished them. He then made him realize that the world will not be fixed and Egypt itself would only be better off if we did what we were supposed to do. We saw this all happening for an entire year. We saw miracles. We saw the hand of Hashem. As well tragically we saw many of our brothers and sisters killed in this process. We lost, according to the midrash, perhaps even as much as 4/5^th of our nation on the way back from the Holocaust of Egypt to the Promised Land. But the time came and we were on the way. But that’s still not a redeemed nation that can be the light to the world. That’s merely a proxy and slave of a world that wants us to be its human shield from the terror and evil that shines in a godless world.

So Hashem turned their hearts against us. He brought us to the point where we had to look the world in the eye and tell them that we deserve it on our own. That we will jump into the sea with or without you. That we understand that Hashem wants us to do this, and he doesn’t need the approval of the Pharaoh. He wants us to drown that concept and flush it down the proverbial Red Sea drain. A lowly maidservant, our sages tell us, saw more on that day, than even the great Prophet Yechezkel who was privileged and holy enough to see the throne and chariot of Hashem itself when the heavens opened up before him. Do you know what that maidservant saw that he didn’t? She saw

“zeh Keli v’anveyhu- This is my personal God and I can glorify Him”.

Yechezkel saw the awesomeness of Hashem and the heavens. The maidservant however saw the incredible power that she herself possessed to bring the glory of Hashem down to the world. That she herself could glorify Hashem. That we could break out of our shell and enter a new redeemed glorious world if we just kicked a bit out of our comfort zone. The shell is not hard. It just needs us to push on our own.

We’re at the end game, boys and girls. Pharaoh has armed us. He’s told us to go ahead and take our land. Hashem has given our favor in his eyes and the eyes of all of Egypt. The only question that remains is if we are ready to jump into the sea and do it on our own without him as well. Are we ready to say that we don’t need you Pharaoh. That we can clean out Gaza. That we can destroy Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and even face-off with Iran and return to our biblical borders and conquer and settle the land as we were meant to so long ago… in its entirety. That we are prepared and feel confident that Hashem is b’kirbeinu- that Hashem is within even the most lowly maidservant of ours. The maidservant who perhaps five minutes ago was serving idols and didn’t have Shabbos. That might have been dancing on Simchat Torah at a festival and in one minute, on one black Shabbos, discovered Hashem within herself. Discovered her faith. Recited Shema Yisrael. Understood that she couldn’t rely on anyone else besides Hashem and that faith. That took upon herself on that moment to become that light. To declare her faith. To sing a song.

Parshat Beshalach- the Parsha of Pharaoh sending us out is not called Beshalach. It’s called Shabbos Shira. It becomes transformed from a story of Exodus at the permission of Pharaoh to one of us all finding and singing a song of redemption that we can sing. We can’t sing a song if Pharaoh is sending us out. We sing when we accomplish and reveal the most inner part of ourselves. The song we sing is not God Bless America and doesn’t have any spangled banners in it. It’s a song of Zeh Keli V’Anveyhu. It’s the God that I have revealed by jumping into the sea that I am glorifying.

We each have a sea in front of us. A sea that is not easy to jump into. For some it’s moving to Israel and leaving Egypt. For some it’s observing mitzvos, learning Torah, Shabbos. And for others it’s finding and uplifting the godliness, the spark of Hashem in the maidservants that we don’t believe have Hashem in their midst. But for all of us there is that sea and we have to understand that the pathway to redemption isn’t through Washington D-SEA. Through declarations of Pharaoh, the UN and even our “Friends” in the Bayit Ha’Lavan. Its within us. So now I ask you. What are you planning on doing this Sukkos?

Have a musical Shabbos and a fruitful Tu Bi’Shvat!

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Di eyer viln zayn kliger fun di hiner”.- The eggs think they are smarter than the chicken.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

6) Following the Mamluks, the Land of Israel was ruled by the ______________?

Which of the following sentences about the Pool of the Arches in Ramla is true?

A. The pool was first built during the Second Temple period

B. The dating of the pool is uncertain despite excavations at the site

C. Some researchers see the pool as a source of inspiration for the Crusaders’ pointed arches

D. Some scholars believe that the arches in the pool were built by the Crusaders

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/shiras-hayam-the-song-of-the-sea-vayosha - Shabbos Shira is not complete without singing the original tune that we sang when we crossed the Sea, that of course I remembered and composed for you, right here…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ti_vBpxYM8  – Funny Eretz Nehedert Red Cross Uber!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmctIbvWe68 - Also from the parsha Ki Lashem Hamelucha this haunting song is done beautiful by Pesach Eidensohn

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgExmPv1Jqg – Motty Steinmetz, Baruch Levine, Hershy and Zanvil Weinberger doing an incredible Memkomcha of Ben Tzion Shenker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljIX-UoDMx0  – Shuki Solomon and Shlomi Meir singing a Shir Shel Eretz Yisrael… a love song of the land…

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

Yehoyakim the wicked- 609 BC – With the youngest son of Yoshiyahu, Yehoyachaz taken to exile in Egypt by Pharaoh Necho after a mere three months of ruling, where he dies, his older brother become the king next. This brother, Elyakim, as he was called when he was born, had his name changed to Yehoyakim by Pharaoh Necho. It seems the custom was that when you put someone new in charge, they get a new name. Fascinatingly enough, and perhaps even bizarrely as well, there is a moshav and intersection right by Har HaCarmel that is named after his original name Elyakim. I say bizarrely because this king was really not good news and non one you wanted to be named after. If you thought however that his brother Yehoyachaz was bad. Yehoyakim really took things to a whole new level.

 

The Navi itself doesn’t really tell us that much about what this king did. The prophet Yirmiyahu however looked at his 11-year rule as being the one that finally brought Nebuchadnezzar to town to being the process of the destruction and mentions that it was sins one the level of his grandfather Menashe that brought this down on the nation. Our sages though didn’t spare any words about this king. There are some that describe him as being an atheist that denied Hashem has any power over the world. Others describe his incestuous relations with his closest relatives, his removal of his circumcision, tattoos of idolatry and heresy on his body. This is 25-year-old almost last King of Israel. It is he that brings the fate of the people to its sad destruction.

 

His end will come and will be bitter as we will see in the coming weeks. However fascinatingly enough his downfall begins when he reads the political map a bit wrong. Pharaoh Necho who appointed him levied a huge fine against the nation of gold to pay and punish Israel for the insurrection of Yehoyachaz his brother. Yet in his third year of rule, Nebuchadnezzar the King of Bavel took control, and he captured and sieged Jerusalem taking Yehoyakim as a prisoner to Babylonia in copper chains along with vessels from the temple. There he subdued him and sent him back to be his faithful vassal king in Israel.

 

The end is near. Nebuchadnezzar is already in Israel and exiling kings. The Kings of Israel are pawns to the world leaders and their decrees. They’re not taking their cues from the prophets, from Hashem, from the Torah. This is bad news. Does it sound familiar?

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S GAZA RETURN MEMES OF THE WEEK

Where in the USA can you keep one day Yom Tov? Gaza

 

In America they started saying last night by Mariv- Ha’Maavir Aravim… (you either get it or not…)

 

Hamas before Trump’s announcement

“We are refugees for 75 years Gaza is not our homeland”

After Trump’s announcement

“We will not move to Egypt Jordan or Syria, Gaza is our homeland.”

Make up your mind this is too confusing…

 

If Gaza becomes an American State as least they will be able to keep guns in schools…

 

The US taking Gaza will be the largest US takeover of Israeli land since Ramat Eshkol

 

A cannibal tribe in New Guinea announced that they would be willing to take 10 Palestinians a week.

 

The concept of the US having sovereignty of a mostly ruined lawless enclave of Hamas supporters is disturbing. But so it goes in Detroit.

 

It turns out the two state solution was Israel and America.

 

For Palestinians a new two State Solution- Jordan, Egypt.

 

Trump saw Free Palestine posters and said “Hey, I’ll take it…

***************************************

The answer to this week”s question is C – Ok, I’m getting annoyed now. Another half and half credit. The first part was easy. I knew the history of different empires of Israel and the Ottaman Turks came after the Mamaluks in 1517 and ruled for 400 years on the nose, until WWI. The second part though stumped me. I don’t think I ever took anyone to these fun little pools that you can rent boats in and sail through in Lof under a the mosque there. My tourists just don’t seem to be the type to be interested in ancient Muslim buildings or pools. Despite how fun they might seem. That being said I really had no clue as to the answer. I remember the arches looked Crusaderish, but I didn’t remember ever learning that it was perhaps the source of Gothic mediaval Crusader architecture and Arches. But I guess I was wrong, that seems to be the correct answer. The Crusaders started building that way after they saw this mosque and pools. I guessed answer B that we don’t know when it was from. But actually the opposite is true. This is the only building that has a sign and inscription from the year 789 BC Abbasid period when it was built! So I got them half right this week and the new score is Rabbi Schwartz 4.5 Ministry of Tourism 2.5 on this exam so far.

W'ater You About?- Parshat Beshalach 2020/ 5780

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

Febuary 7^th 2020 -Volume 10 Issue 16 12^th Shvat 5780

Parshat Beshalach

Wat' er You About?

 It is a wet winter here in Eretz Yisrael. According to the news reports, January saw two weeks of rain of over 100MM, that's the most since 1969!  See what a good Seattlite Oleh can bring to this country. Although from what I understand they broke the record there as well with 30 days straight of rain… another reason I'm glad I escaped that city…. It's, how different I feel about rain in America versus here in the Holy Land. As I told my shul here that in Israel when it rains you feel a sense of blessing, everyone is excited and appreciative of the much-needed water and plod happily through the puddles. In America though it just feels, gloomy miserable and depressing-icky.. wet... sloshy... cold. You just wanna roll over and go back to bed. Not that the rain in Israel finds favor with my tourists who somehow felt that they would be coming to our Mediteranean climate country and have their rain rain go away attitude. But hey, they were the ones that said V'Sein Tal U'matar and Morid Hageshem that morning. Is it my fault that Hashem answered their prayers?

 So what does a tour guide do when his tours cancel because of rain? We head to the Beit Middrash to grab in some extra learning of course. Trying to escape the damp weather, I open the weekly Torah portion for some cut and dry Torah reading. Whadaya know? My luck, this week's Torah portion is of course the wettest one in the entire Torah. The portion starts off with the great conclusion of our Exodus at the Red Sea. Water turns to dry land for the Jews and for the Egyptians ...not so much. A few days later when the Jews run out of water they come to a wonderful place called Marah-bitter- because of the undrinkable water they found there. Yet miraculously Moshe throws a stick in and it turns sweet. 

Shortly after that the Torah tells us they come to a place called Eilim where they find 12 springs of water-obviously symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel. And just when you thought you pretty much had enough water stories for one Parsha, the Torah tells us one final one, the incident of Masa-UMeiriva -(testing and quarrelling), where it seems from the commentaries understanding of the text, that there was once again a complaint of the water not being sufficient enough for the Jews satisfaction-as if we are ever satisfied!- and Moshe is commanded to hit the rock (after he complains that the people are getting ready to stone him in their doubt of God and his leadership) and water pours forth.

This rock seemingly continues to do accompany them for the next 38 years until much later in the Book of Bamidbar when we once again-are told the final water story when it seems the water runs out and Moshe makes the egregious error of hitting the rock once again instead of speaking to it as commanded.

 Yes it is a wet wet Parsha...The question is why? What is it about water that the Torah seems to put such an emphasis on its role in the development and becoming of the Jewish people? Even more interesting perhaps is that the story of the destruction of Egypt starts with smiting their source of water-which in fact they worshiped- the Nile River and their end is also through drowning in water.
 For those of you that like word plays- The word for Egypt is Mitzrayim, which is made up of the letters Mayim (water) with the word Tzar, which means enemy or narrow, written in the middle r breaking up or "splitting" the word Mayim. From there they go to a place of Mayim which is Marim (bitter)- almost the same letters as Mitzrayim with just the letter Reish- as breaking up the word Mayim. And then ultimately coming to 12 springs of good water; the journey from Mitzrayim-to Marim-to Mayim has been completed. But what does this all mean?

 Rav Avraham Hakohein Kook, the first chief Rabbi of Palestine in the 1930's reveals a deep concept regarding water and the journey of the Jewish people or "birth" through the trials and lessons of water. He notes how water is the most essential element of human existence. It provides man with energy to move and to withstand outside temperatures. The lack of water creates an almost primordial burning thirst that brings man in touch with the frailty of his existence. It is for this reason that water and the thirst for it is used repeatedly as the metaphor for what one's spiritual desire and connection to God should feel like.

 "Tzam'a Lech Nafshi- Mys Soul thirsts for you," King David says, "My whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water." "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

 In Egypt the one thing that was never lacking was water. The Nile itself was revered as a God that provided for men who were therefore never thirsty. As a result they indulged themselves. Our sages refer to Egypt as Shtufei Zima- flooded in licentiousness (flood being another water word). Measure for measure that flood of self-indulgence was where they would find their end.

The Jews, as newly released slaves, first lesson that they had to learn was to develop a thirst for life. Water, that life-giving force and the lack of it for the first time was a wakeup call that their spirits that had been dulled and dead for so long was now burning with a thirst to live. Yet they also had to learn that water just to fill their thirst and satiate their physical needs alone could be bitter or sweet. Having left Egypt, bitter god-less water would no longer suffice them. They needed and were given the sweetened miraculous waters of Hashem. Coming to their next stop in Eilim they were shown that the water for them was meant to be special. It was not just that Hashem would sweeten water for them, but in fact there were 12 springs that awaited them which symbolized that their water was from a deeper source. It was meant to be a spiritual connection for the 12 tribes to connect with Hashem and to fulfill their individual thirst for Him from their own independent springs of life.

 Having quelled their thirst and developed this finer more spiritual taste, the Jewish people had another lesson to learn. The water and thirst for Hashem will only come with the breaking of their physical nature that seeks only to satisfy its body and not its soul. The strangely worded verse tells us that the Jews camped in Refidim and "there was no water to give drink to the people". The commentaries note that it's not that there wasn't water for them to drink rather that the limited water they had was not "drink" for them. It wasn't coming easy and flowing anymore. Their thirst was more for the easy physical and easy spiritual path. It was a test of God and of Moshe. Here Hashem gives them lesson two, that the flow will and can come even from a rock, yet you have to make the effort to break your own internal heart of stone by maintaining your faith even when you don't see the water flowing. By utilizing your thirst for Me, to push yourselves a little harder and break that simple search for the satisfying easy sweet path, the water will flow. Hashem commands Moshe here specifically to use the staff of the miracles of the Nile. The old Egyptian water thirst was destroyed by your faith in Me symbolized by this staff. Your future challenges as well will be overcome as you once again have that strength to believe and continue to strive for greatness.

 Finally, we come to the last water incident. The water before they come to Eretz Yisrael. Once again their water and rock dries up. The Jewish people are at this point 38 years later about to enter the newest and what was supposed to be final stage of their nationhood; their promised Holyland. Here, the Rav notes, as opposed to in Masa Meriva where Moshe is told to hit the Tzur- a term that refers to a hard rock, Moshe is commanded to speak to the Sela- a soft easier pliable rock. The Land of Israel and the Jewish people in their homeland have a more natural connection to Hashem and spirituality. That burning thirst for holiness becomes a warm flame in Hashem's country. That huge heart of stone that seems unbreakable in the wilderness and Diaspora will crumble and produce soul nourishing life force with a few simple words of prayer in Eretz Yisrael. The connection to those springs of holiness can be found in the division of the 12 portions of Israel to its tribes that draw forth from them. It is here where the rain is always a bracha-blessing. It is why the measure of our spiritual connection to Hashem in the Torah is always connected to the barometer of the rainfall that we are either blessed in a plentiful way with or god forbid not meriting in receiving.

 Yet Moshe failed in his mission to give us that message and for that he was not permitted to enter the land and bring about the final redemption. So we were exiled from the land. The soft and easily accessible rock of Eretz Yisrael was desecrated by our people in our sins and lack of faith. We forgot our thirst. We were too physically satiated and didn't even notice that our souls were starving and parched. Today that we have the blessing once again to be in Eretz Yisrael, we can once again rebuild our nation by nourishing our inner thirst for a connection to Hashem. When it rains everywhere else it's wet, sloshy and icky. Here there is a sense that our prayers that we recite each morning have been answered. It is an incredible feeling to be connected to Hashem through the daily weather report. May our inspiration increase our thirst for an even greater connection to Hashem so that we may soon merit to the day when the prophecy of

Ush'Avtem Mayim B'Sason M'Mayenei Ha'yeshuah- And we will draw water with rejoicing from the springs of Salvation be fulfilled.

Have a "wetty" blessed Shabbos and Fruity Tu B'Shvat

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Fun fartrikenteh baimer kumen kain paires nit arois..."– No fruit grows out of withered trees.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO  OF THE WEEK

https://youtu.be/d7awxGWmIV0 - The incredible holy Beinoni Niggun of the Rebbe by Eli Marcus

https://youtu.be/D5i8PbrORWQ     Kosher Halftime Show for Super Bowl with Meir Kay Simcha Leiner and Comedian Ashley Blaker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fwrXL9eBo – And this one is just LOL!! TRUMP enters State of the Union

https://youtu.be/MgD1eXtVBfM- Check out the Kinneret rising and ancient mikvas and hot springs coming to life!

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

13)  Burial of dogs in the country on a relatively large scale was exposed in:

A.    Caesarea

2. Yaffo
3. Tel Qasile
4. Ashkelon

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/MITZVA CONNECTION OF THE WEEK

V'Anveihu– Beautifying Mitzvos – One of the high moment of our Song at the Sea when we left Mitzrayim in this week's Torah portion was when we sang out the words

Zeh Keli V'Anveihu- This is our God and I will glorify Him

There was this sense of euphoria and understanding that we were taken out of Egypt not just merely to serve Hashem but to make His presence and His commandments beautiful. In fact our sages tell us in the Talmud and Midrash that that one should glorify Hashem through the performance of mitzvot.  Therefore, one should have a nice sukkah, a nice lulav, a nice shofar, nice tzitzit and a nice sefer Torah.   Whether this mitzva is a biblical one of Rabbinic one seems (like many mitzvos) a matter of debate.  The Ra'avad cited in Chidushei Anshei Shem, suggests that hiddur mitzvah is a biblical concept.  The Ritva, writes that it is a rabbinic concept. The latter commentaries take sides of course and the matter seems inconclusive. One thing is for sure though it is certainly a key part of the way we do mitzvos.

Now what does it mean to beautify the mitzvah and how much should one spend. The Talmud tells us that one is obligated to spend a third more for a nicer object of mitzva. The question is a 1/3 more than what? There are some that suggest that it is 1/3 more than the minimal kosher one and others 1/3 more than for a nicer one that one would have taken. So for example if there are two Etrogs or if one is buying a Sefer Torah or Teffilin either pay 1/3 more than the minimal price for a nicer one or if one has a choice of two he should buy the nicer one if the price differential is only 1/3 more.

There is another interesting question is what makes a mitzva nicer? For some things its easier to tell than others. So for a scroll it could be a nicer script or more added stringencies in the writing. A cleaner Esrog with a nice shape can make it more attractive. What about Tzitzis? The talis seemingly is just a garment, the mitzva is the strings. Should one have to get a nicer garment? My Rosh Yeshiva Reb Moshe Shmuel Shapiro said that he felt one should, but when he mentioned that to the Brisker Rav he told him that then would have to get a nicer house to fulfill the mitzva of Mezuza! Maybe that's what some of those palaces I saw in Lakewood and the five Towns are all about…

There are other commentaries that suggest it's not just about getting nicer objects of mitzva it's also about how we preform our mitzvot. With proper kavana, dressed nicely, perhaps going to the Mikva to fulfill the mitzva in a purer state. My personal is hiddur that I recommend to a lot of people is to fulfill the mitzvot in Eretz Yisrael! It's where they have the most meaning. What an incredible Hiddur!

Finally just an incredible idea about this mitzva, The Jews had this beautifying mitzva as the sea split. They recognized that just as Hashem went out of His way to give us a glorious redemption with over 250 miracles by the Sea in the most amazing way when He could have just teleported us away, was to appreciate how we should in turn beautify Him. That is why we sang and promised we would do the same. May we merit to fulfill all of Hashem's mitzvos in Eretz Yisrael with the Beit Hamikdash.

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

Shimshon- Gaza-Gate  959 BC- Coming off of the week of Trump-Gate or Ukraine-gate whatever they're calling it, it's perfect timing to understand the origin of that term "gate" to describe a scandal. Now I'm sure some of you assume it started with Richard Nixon and Watergate. That's an understandable mistake as this week is the Parsha that is full of water (see above E-Mail). But like all things in the world, it really starts with us. With our Torah, with our Navi. So let me introduce you to the original Gate scandal. Shimshon's Gaza-Gate.

Our sages tell us that the downfall of Shimshon begins in Gaza. After his incredible defeat of the Plishtim who had tried to kill him after he had been handed over by the men of the tribe of Yehuda, Shimshon heads over to Gaza to flex his muscles a bit. Let them know that he is around and they shouldn't mess. This was not a good idea. This expression of his strength and lack of fear of them led to him "wandering after his eyes" and picking up a woman of "ill repute" there. The Philistines see this and plot to kill him. They figure they will wait to the morning and hit him as he leaves the gates of the city. Shimshon however one-ups the once again. He gets up in the middle of the night and seeing that they locked him into the city rips up the 60 Amos wide gates (about 120 feet!) and brings them on his shoulders to the city of Chevron and places them there. Now you know where the Hercules, Atlas and Superman bubbeh maysehs come from- I told you it's all in the Torah!.

Our sages see in this some interesting observations. First of all, Shimshon doesn’t' seem to have the power anymore to kill the Plishtim. He can only shlep their gates. It seems that with his sin with this woman his might and Divine assistance is fading. Second of all it's interesting to note that the measurements of these gates 60 amos is the exact measurement of the length of the Temple that Shlomo Hamelech will build. Chevron, of course is in the portion of Yehuda. The same Yehuda that seems to have stepped down from its role once again of leadership by handing Shimshon over to the Philistines. By Shimshon bringing the Philistine gates to Chevron he is sending a message that it is their tribes job to bring the redemption. To build the house of Hashem we were brought to Israel to build. Shimshon's blessing of Jacob is that he longs for the salvation. He is a lion like Judah is a lion. They both have a role in bringing the redemption. Shimshon is failing in his so he hands over the mantle to Yehudah.  It will take some years but ultimately King David will arise and establish his kingdom in Chevron…not far from Shimshon's gates. It is there Yehudah begins the return to Yerushalayim the ultimate resting place of Hashem.

I can't really take tourists to Gaza these days, and Shimshon's gates are no longer in Chevron. But the story of the lion of Yehuda and Shimshon is something I regularly point out when we look at the emblems of Yerushalayim which of course has that lion upon it.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE TU B"SHVAT FRUIT JOKES  OF THE WEEK

The local ice cream shop has introduced a new mixed fruit flavour of ice cream dedicated to the president of the United States-They call it the Im-peached orange.

What kind of fruit can you have two of, but never have one of? A pear.

What’s my wife’s favorite fruit? Honey-do.

What do you call the vanishing fruit? Disappear.

What happens when you knock over a fruit stand? An apple-anche.

What's the worst way for a fruit farmer to die? Berried alive

Why was the Apple uncomfortable in the fruit bowl? Pear pressure

 Chana a young Jewish girl walks up to Berel the fruit stand sales man in the shuk and she's crying…

Berel : Hey what’s wrong?
Chana  My boyfriend and I tried to run away and get married but we were caught by my parents. My parents wanted a big formal wedding but we don’t want to do that.

Berel: Oh I’m so sorry, can I offer you some fruit on the house?
Chana: Oh thank you, I would love some. What do you have?
Berel: Cantaloupe
Chana: OYYY…

My wife is on this tropical fruit diet. Our kitchen is full of this crazy food.-It’s enough to make a mango crazy.

What do you call a fruit that’s very sympathetic? A compassion fruit

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Answer is D–  I personally have never toured in Ashkelon- I missed that one in my tour guiding course and never went on a tour there, and thus I've never toured tourists there. Although I've been there by the beach and some water activities. Yet, in studying for my exam I had to know everything about everywhere. I don't know if I studied this then or I got the right answer from this weekly E-Mail on one of the questions from a previous year's exam. It's one of the reasons why I have this column. Anyways I remembered that the dog cemetery in Ashkelon where they found over 1000 dog skeletons each buried nicely from the Persian period (about 500 BC) in this city was a mixed Phonecian, Persian and Jewish city.  It was discovered in the 80's and is certainly one of the strangest finds in the world. But I got it right! So the score is Schwartz 8 and 5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.