from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
November 28th 2025 -Volume 16 Issue 6 8th of Kislev 5786
Time to Leave?
So when is it time to leave? When is it time to just pack your bags and say enough is enough? The writing is on the wall. It's time just get out. And I'm not talking about moving from Brooklyn to Miami either, or from Hungary to Poland, or from Spain to Portugal or from London to Paris. That, history has shown us is just pushing off the generally very short term inevitable. My question is when is it finally time to come home?
The truth is, this isn't my question. I'm already here. The Geula and Mashiach aren't here yet, We've got a long way to go till we get here. Not long in time hopefully, just that lots still has to happen. But I'm already here in the place that it's meant to and going to happen. It's just a matter of waiting it out and riding those exciting and sometimes frightening waves until it's all over, or perhaps more accurately until it all begins. The question is really one that I hear many, many, many of my clients, my friends, my former students and neighbors and my brothers and sisters are asking. Although, my own immediate family don't for some reason seem to be asking it yet…Maybe they're counting on me to pull some strings and sneak 'em in here at the last moment. Kind of like the angels grabbing Lot and his wife and kids and pulling them out before the fire and brimstone show begins. But everyone else fantastically and even prophetically and miraculously seem to be starting to have more serious discussions about the topic. Maybe it's time. Maybe we should do it. Maybe it's not as crazy and far out as we thought it would be. Can we make it work? Is it time to give it a shot? Is this what Hashem wants us to do? Is the game almost over?
Now there are no angels that are coming down to us today and telling us what to do. There are no prophets. There haven't been for a long time. Each one of us need to have a Rabbi, a mentor, a spiritual guide who's advice we cherish. Someone who know each of us and are families and at the same time appreciate what's going on in our lives, in our communities and in Eretz Yisrael today to give us the direction and guidance of what we should be doing. If you don't have a person like that in your life, which sadly too many do not, then in general you're in trouble. But no worries. I'm here for you. I'm taking on new clients. I'm open for business. One tour with me, and I'm your Rabbi for life. The truth is, you don't even have to take a tour, just sponsor this E-Mail one week, and I'll help you as well.
But for those that don't have that Rabbi and aren't coming on a tour, another fantastic way I've found to get guidance in life is to check out the weekly Parsha. The Baal Ha'Tanya would say it is like one's daily newspaper. It's speaking to us today and now and it always has. It can even be your own personal horoscope. Each yid has a letter in the Torah and that letter isn't one of the 22 aleph beis letters. It's a handwritten letter from Hashem that is meant to guide us. Our job is to just rip open the envelop and start reading it as such.
Well when it comes to the leaving galus question though there is no better parsha than this week's of Vayeitzei. Yaakov Avinu is that first Jew that is in galus for an extended time as our sages tell us ma'asei avos siman la'banim- his story is ours. His exile embodies all of our future exiles and his return contains all of the elements of when and how we should return and perhaps the struggles that we have with that very question. It's a parsha that is called Va'yeitzei and he went out. It's a parsha about going and the question of when to come.
Now before we get to the coming back though, we need to understand the going out from Israel first. If you don't know why you left, then it's hard to know when, why, and how we should come back. Yaakov leaves because his parents tell him that he's in danger for his life. That's usually a good reason to leave. A clear and present danger and your parents who happen to be prophets tell you it's time to go. Ther reason for the danger, not so incidentally is because Yaakov steals the blessings. Rather than standing up, as Rivkah kind of originally suggests him to do and to just go on in and Yitzchak with some food and tell him that he wants them. He deserves them. They belong to him. He's the rightful heir.
Yaakov is too nervous and resorts to Plan B, which is getting them through subterfuge. He dresses up like Esau. He pretends he's someone he's not. That he's politically correct. That he's a democracy. That he's a hunter. He may've been successful in pulling the wool he put on his arms over Yitzchak's nearly blinded eyes. But that voice of Yaakov almost always betrays us. It reveals who we really are. And it forces us to go into galus and become the proud Jew that can take that role straight up. That can be Yisrael, who leads and conquers the angel of Esau. That can lift up the world and reveal Hashem, without any qualms or fear of repercussions or of our message being accepted.
So now we know why he's in galus, the question then becomes though when to leave. Yaakov works for his 14 years and he finally has son number 11. Yosef is born. Yosef, Rashi tells us is the ultimate flame to Esau's straw man. He has the power to set the whole Edomite kingdom on fire. He will tell Pharaoh unabashedly that Hashem is the only one that can reveal dreams. That it's all about Hashem. He can do nothing without Him. And let the chips fall where they may. Yaakov feels empowered with that birth and he makes the hard decision to move home. To make Aliya. To bring this 14 years galus to an end and bring the children of Israel to the Holy Land promised to our family for the first time. But then something bizarrely changes. He meets with Lavan and he decides to hang out for another 6 years and make some money first. What is going on? Is it time or not? Is Yaakov selling out for a few bucks. Is parnassa a legitimate excuse to stay in galus. To ride it out for longer. A few more sheep? Some camels? Some more slaves? Another nursing home? An extension on your house? A summer home in the country? Better meat boards and real steak, not that entrecote thing they try to sell you back in Jerusalem.
The truth of the matter is the story seems even more perplexing as we go through it. If Yaakov is in fact sticking around for the money, then what's pshat with this pretty crazy and ridiculous deal he cuts with Lavan. One doesn't have to be Donald Trump or even have read "The Art of the Deal" to understand that Yaakov is in a good negotiating position. Lavan seems to have admitted to Yaakov that Hashem blessed him because of him. That the key to his successful cattle empire is all due to Yaakov. He even tells Yaakov to write his own check. "How much do you want and I'll give it to you" the verse tells us. So why doesn't Yaakov just ask for a 50/50 cut. For a new car, for easier hours, for profit sharing shares. What's this whole mishigas with spotted/striped seemingly leftover blemished lambchops?
Moving further on into this story it gets even more bizarre and perplexing. Yaakov takes on his new sheep mating habits job with a vengeance, like only a good smart Jew can do. He comes up with new hi-tech solutions. He develops new artificial genetic modification methods. He's revolutionizing the industry. He's reinvesting his dividends. He's expanding his portfolio. He's exploding in new found wealth like the best Lakewood guy during Corona. Slaves, camels, Teslas, and private planes. He's rocking this new world. The man of the tent has come out of the Bais Medrash and has made it big. Listen I'm sure he was sending his kids to Brisk and he avoided lace shaitels and even had a kosher phone and he was supporting Torah like he never did before. But at the end of the day, he probably could've hung out there for a lot longer until something changed. Actually two things changed. The first it doesn't chap right away. The second though, makes it kind of hard to avoid.
The Torah tells us that in three pesukim what changes. The first pasuk of chapter 31 tells us
"And Yaakov heard the words of the children of Lavan saying Yaakov took all that our father has, and it is from what our father has that he has made all of this honor."
There are two things that are fascinating and telling about this verse. The first is that Yaakov didn't chap this on his own. It's only when he read these anti-Semitic canards in the morning newspapers and on the daily blogs and whatsapp groups that he received that he began to see the anti-Semitism that was always out there. "The Jew is getting rich off our system and taking all of our benefits" sentiment he was breeding with his new found wealth just never occurred to him, until "he heard what they were saying".
The second thing is that even when he did hear that, it didn't really affect him so much, and convince him that he should be making plans to leave. He probably just wrote it off to a few fringe elements on the right and the left. At the end of the day. Lavan was his father-in-law. He had Jewish grandchildren… (sound familiar?). Yaakov voted for him. He contributed to his campaign. He made him rich. He made him powerful when nobody else backed him up. That changes when the next verse tells us about the next thing that changes.
"And Yaakov saw the face of Lavan and it wasn't like it was a day or two ago".
Uh oh. Hamdani is in the Bayit Ha'Lavan. So is that terrorist from Syria. We're talking two State solution. Maybe Hamas doesn't need to get destroyed. Tucker's not such a bad guy. This is not the same person's face we saw a few days ago. Maybe this is the point Yaakov should pick up and leave. But guess what? He doesn't. He's got too many business interests. It may not be right for his kids. Who knows if they will acclimate to the holy land? Maybe things will change with Lavan. Maybe Israel is still too dangerous to move to. And thus we get to the next step.
"And Hashem tells Yaakov 'Return to the land of his fathers and his birthplace and I will be with you".
Aram is not your home. It's not where you were born. Thanksgiving isn't your holiday and neither is July 4th and the star-spangled banner isn't your flag. Do you want Me truly be with you? Then get out of there. Because despite all of your Torah, your learning, your tzedaka and chinuch and chesed over there, as Rashi says
"as long as you're connected to impurity-to tumah- it's impossible for Me to rest My Shechina upon you."
There are not too many things that Hashem say is "impossible" for Him to do. But this is where it ends. This is the one thing that He can't do. The Shechina can't reside in chutz la'aretz. The world and the Jew can't achieve what he was put here and what it was created for to happen as long as you are still there.
Yet fascinatingly enough that doesn't seem to be enough to get Yaakov to book his tickets on El Al and contact his Nefesh B'Nefesh representative yet. There's one more thing that has to happen first. He has to have a dream; he tells his wives. It's the dream and the epiphany that come from there that changes everything. It's what makes him truly decide that it's time to get out and they need to do that fast and furiously.
Yaakov retells them about the whole sheep and goat spotted speckled thing. He tells them about his incredible deals he made, the inventions he came up with, the way he outsmarted and out swindled Lavan. How he stayed ahead of the game. How he flourished and prospered. And then he realized one morning that the whole thing was really a lie. He had drunk his own Kool-aid. He realized that he really hadn't done anything.
"And he lifted up his eyes and he saw in a dream and behold the goats that mounted the flock were ringed speckled and striped."
Pay attention to the pasuk. It changes everything. Do you know what Rashi tells us that Yaakov realized? He realized that the reason why the sheep and goats were coming out spotted speckled and striped had absolutely nothing to do with his stick tricks. It wasn't his smarts. It wasn't his deals. It wasn't his technology. That stuff didn't do anything. It doesn't even work. Try it at home. Rather he saw an angel bringing over the spotted speckled sheep from Lavan's barn every night, that he had separated and mating them with Yaakov's sheep. That's how it all happened. And then an angel appears to Yaakov and tells him precisely that.
"And the angel said to me in that dream "Lift up your eyes and see the goats that are mating with the striped speckled spotted sheep and. Because I have seen what Lavan has done to you."
Do you know what Lavan has done to you Yaakov? He made you think that you made it here on your own. He made you stop raising your eyes up to Hashem and realizes how this whole thing really happens. He made you forget the real reason why you even decided to stick around a bit longer even though you knew Yosef was born and you had what it took to go back and get Esau and reveal the shechina? You forgot the only reason you're here in galus in the first place.
If you look back at the conversation that Yaakov has with Lavan when he tells him that he wants to leave, you'll find something fascinating. Lavan tells Yaakov that Hashem blessed Lavan because of Yaakov and therefore Yaakov is like his good luck charm and he wants him to stick around and is even willing to pay him to do so. It's at that point that Yaakov decides that he needs to stay. Yaakov doesn't feel that he can leave as long as Lavan doesn't understand that Yaakov isn't a good luck charm, but rather that all that Yaakov has is from Hashem. Lavan can't give him or pay him anything. For Lavan doesn't even have anything. Everything is from Hashem.
He doesn't have it b'glalo as the Lavan tells him- as a result of him. But rather Yaakov corrects him and tells him that it's all l'ragli- it's because Hashem wants me to be His foot. It's so that I can reveal the Shechina in the world. So I can be like Yosef, my son who was just born and say everything comes from Hashem and reveal Him to the world.
It is for that reason that Yaakov comes up with his deal. He tells Lavan-
Lo titein li me'uma- you can not give me anything.
Nothing comes from you. I'll take the worst of the worst and Hashem will miraculously provide for me from there. That's why Yaakov stuck around. And after six years though of that miracle happening day in and day out, Yaakov it seems forgot about what he was doing there. He saw it as his own success. He wasn't "lifting up his eyes' and seeing those angels. It was then that Yaakov finally understood it was time for him to get the heck out fast and furiously. It was time to come back and build the altar that he had promised to build. To bring that ladder down to the world and up again.
So when should one come home? What is the lesson of this parsha? What does this letter say to us and what story of Yaakov is the story of his children? There are so many different factors and letters and signs that call out to Yaakov to come home and to his descendants. There's money, there's opportunity, there's antisemitism, there's the changing face of the government, and there's even the command from Hashem Himself to us leave and come home. Yet ultimately the message that perhaps is the one that encompasses all is for us to lift up our eyes. To really see beyond everything that we perceive. To ask ourselves the hard questions and to discuss it with our wives in the field, if what we feel we're accomplishing and achieving in galus is really the mission that we're there for, or is it just an excuse. Are we fooling and lying to ourselves and perpetuating a spiritual existence and raising up the sparks, the kelipos and sheep of Hashem in what we are doing here? Or is that job over again for us and our family and now we're just sitting back and enjoying ourselves, while the altar we had promised to build is languishing with the Shechina waiting for us to return.
I don't have the answer to that question for you. It's not my letter. It's yours. I read mine already. More and more Jews are having that dream and angel appearing to them. More and more are hearing the voices of the sons of Lavan and reading their blogs. Some are even hearing the voice of Hashem and fulfilling what they believe is His command to them. To return to their birthplace and the land promised to our fathers. While there are others that are still out there shepherding, grazing, carving sticks, mating sheep, cutting deals and eating lambchops and who perhaps feel they have a spiritual mission to accomplish. And they may in fact even be correct. They may not yet have birthed that inner Yosef that is ready to come home and fight against Esau. But two things are for certain for all of us. That day is coming closer and closer. We all need to be listening closer and closer. We all need to dream a bit more about angels. We need to have those conversations with our wives in the field. And it certainly may in fact be time to start pulling out those suitcases from the attic. The party is almost over. And the second thing is that the answer to that question is not about My-o'(r)-Me. (excuse the brilliant pun 😊) It's about Him. And Him is only here.
Have a spectacular Shabbos
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" Ver es poret zich mit staleh, shmirt zich ein di hent.- If you deal with tar, expect your hands to get dirty.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
9. The UNSCOP committee arrived in Palestine in the year of ______
Between which two points was it possible to travel on the "Jezreel Valley railway"?
A. Haifa – Zemach
B. Acre - Beit She'an
C. Jaffa - Afula
D. Beit She'an - Jericho
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/vzakeynu-lirot-banim – In honor of the birth of all of the tribes in the parsha this is my V'zakeinu song I composed for my first grandson. YItz Berry arrangements amazing the perfect Shalom Zachor song…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_aWQeRXQLc - Calebach on his songs Bashaynu… what a story… only Reb shlomo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FoDIJbAIuc – Ma Norah Ha'Makom the one and only Chaim Dovid!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-atYl3qRJk – Love this song about Yaakov's dream from Sruly Lipshutz Vayachaloim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYM0rI0xGZ4&list=RDDYM0rI0xGZ4&start_radio=1 – This new TYH Chaim Ghoori song Blessed just has me meditating and floating…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Prophecies of Exile, Redemption and end of Days- 375 BC (see last week for new secular dating and missing years count)- With the death of Avel Merodach we have the new and last Babylonian King Belshatzar. Belshatzar was the son of Avel according to Daniel and as opposed to his father who ruled for 23 years and Nevuchadnezzar for 45 years Belshatzar's reign was for only 2 years. The end of our galus was in sight. It is at this point that Sefer Daniel gives us the visions he has for all of our future exiles. He has two dreams that have animals of all types rising up from the Sea. Each animal, the lion, the bear, the leopard and others all have specific details about their feet, their shapes, their fearsomeness and their wings. Each detail has another secret about each exile. There's Persia, there's Greece, there's the Arab Yishmael world and empire and of course there's the largest and most fierce and deadly which is Rome and the final exile that we are in.
In the prophecy of Rome there are ten different levels that it is divided into. The angel tells him that this last exile will have many different elements to it. It will appear in different forms. The last one will seem the most civilized. Jews will be assimilated and eaten up by it. But ultimately as well it fall. We will be redeemed. Mashiach will come. Throughout the generations different commentaries have enumerated them. Whether it's Spain, Africa, The Cruaders, the Nazis, as well most of our Rabbis seem to agree that America is the last stand. It's here where it all comes together from. Daniel is standing at the gates of redemption and he sees our time. He will only merit to experience that first redemption back to Jerusalem, but even then he realizes it will only be temporary. The world has been waiting for our generation today. There's perhaps no chapters or prophecies that contain that end of Days story more than these chapters of Daniel. This column is too short and to surface to be able to delve into it. Yet, it seems it would be a good place for all those looking to discover the end of days hints to begin their search here.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE DEAL JOKES OF THE WEEK
I don't know what the big deal is about Black Friday. All Fridays matter.
Amazing BLACK FRIDAY deal: Buy NOTHING and save up to 100% in EVERY STORE!
Why was "Art of the Deal" so long? It had six Chapter 11s.
As Adam is walking about the Garden of Eden he is approached by God, "Adam you look quite lonely."
"Well..."
"Listen, my son, how about I make you a companion? A beautiful women, who is smart and funny. She will be your true match and the two of you will be forever happy together."
"Well that does sound pretty great," replies Adam.
"Wonderful, I'll only need your arm to make it so."
"...my arm? Can I think about it?"
God allows Adam to mull over the deal and says he will ask again tomorrow. The next day, God again comes up to Adam, "Have you decided, my son?"
"I've thought it over a great deal, God. She sounds amazing but I very much like both my arms. What can I get for a rib?"
What do you call a gangster who’s always on the hunt for a good deal? Al Coupon
Our company has been working on this big deal for a year and I just blew it. Oh well, I guess it’s no big deal.
One day Yankel walks into a dentist’s office and asks how much it will cost to extract wisdom teeth. “Eight hundred dollars,” the dentist says.
“That’s a ridiculous amount,” Yankel says. “Isn’t there a cheaper way?”
“Well,” the dentist says, “if you don’t use an anesthetic, I can knock it down to $700.”
“That’s still too expensive,” Yankel says.
“Okay,” says the dentist. “If I save on anesthesia and simply rip the teeth out with a pair of pliers, I could get away with charging $200.”
“Nope,” moans Yankel, “it’s still too much.”
“Hmm,” says the dentist, scratching his head. “If I let one of my students do it for the experience, I suppose I could charge you just $100.”
"Marvelous,” says Yankel, “book my wife for next Tuesday!”
Berel and Shmerel both really love baseball and they made a deal that whoever died first would have to come down from above and tell the other guy if there was baseball in heaven.
When Berel died, he came down to tell Shmerel.
Berel: I have good news and bad news.
Shmerel: The good news?
Berel: There is baseball in heaven!
Shmerel: And the bad news?
Berel: You’re pitching next week!
My local gym costs $120 for an entire year. That’s $60 per visit, not a great deal.
A Salesman is working late one night to close a deal with some clients. They start to get hungry, so he calls down to the office cafeteria to see if they can fix anything. The kitchen is already closed for the night, so the best the chef can do is whip up some sandwiches. As the chef is plating them up, he accidentally knocks the pickle jar off the counter and shatters it on the floor. The Salesman ultimately fails to get the clients to sign on. Apparently, the sandwiches were a dill breaker.
What’s the difference between Americans and the engines of the El Al plane on which they travel here on? After they land, the engines of the jets quit whining.
There once was a clan of hunter-gatherers dedicated to being self-sufficient. They would ONLY ever hunt and gather. Absolutely no trading or sales of any kind was allowed in this clan. Being self-sufficient was religion to them, and they hated the idea of money. Then one-time, little old Joe from this clan had had enough, he wanted to try some of the other clans’ produce for once.
So he secretly made a deal and met with one of the other clan’s members in the dead of the night. Just as they were exchanging goods and were about to close the deal, 3 spies from Joe’s clan popped up from behind the bushes to catch him dead in the act. They all shouted in unison,
“TRADER!”
A man walks into a brain store to buy a new brain. He goes to the clerk and says
"Hello, I'd like to purchase a new brain".
The clerk replies with "Sure, here are some of our brains we have on sale"
"Here's the brain of a physicist, 5 dollars."
"Here's our second deal for today. The brain of a C Liberal Free Palestine Supporter, 10,000 dollars".
The man, completely confused, asks "Why is the brain of a Liberal Free Palestine Supporter Liberal Free Palestine Supporter more expensive than of a physicist?"
"Because it's never been used" The clerk replies.
A man grabs a case of beer off the store shelf. His wife stops him and asks "What do you think you're doing?"
The man responds "It's a 24 pack on sale for $10. That's a great deal."
His wife tells him they can't afford it and to put it back. A little while later the wife grabs a $20 jar of skin cream off the shelf. The man stops her and asks "What do you think you're doing? That's $20! We can't afford that!"
She quickly answers back "This is different. This makes me look beautiful for you."
The man says "So does the beer and that's half the price!"
*******************************
The answer to this week's question is A – At least I didn't get this one entirely wrong. So I wasn't thinking and I confused the UNSCOP with the PEEL commission so I wrote 1936 rather than 1947. Both of them were pretty much just how to do this dumb two state solution thing. The second part though was easy. The rakevet ha'emek I speak about often as we do an overlook from the Mt, Carmel and it of course ran from Chaifa to Tzemach right under Tiverya. So I got this one half right and thee new score is Rabbi Schwartz having a 5.5 point and the MOT having 3.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
