from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
May 5th
2023 -Volume 12 Issue
29 14th of Iyar 5783
Parshat Emor
Temba’s
Temba’s mother was a slave. Well, a maid/housekeeper to be more political
correctly accurate. It was South Africa in the 1950’s and her mother and her
mother and her grandmother all had worked for Mr. Armstrong the plantation
owner and his ancestors for generations. Temba, was raised together playing
with Armstrong’s kids. Armstrong wasn’t a racist and in fact was quite a
generous and kind owner. He would even give his children's old clothing and
toys to Temba to wear and play with. He had no problem with his boys playing
with Temba. It was only as they got older and started to go to school that
things got a bit sticky.
See, Temba was a bright
kid. He loved to read and he loved knowledge and learning about the world. He
wanted to make something out of himself. Yet for slave children that wasn’t
really an option. School cost money and slaves didn’t really have any of that.
His mother made a few dollars a month and their whole family lived in a small
hut without running water on the plantation where the Armstrongs had their
estate. It wasn’t anything personal. It was just the way that it was.
It took some time for
Temba to work up the nerve to talk to Mr. Armstrong and ask him for the request
of his heart. He had already gobbled up all of the school books that his
friends had brought him home from school. He was thirsty. He wanted more. His
dream was to go off to school and learn everything he could about the world. He
wanted to create a better future for himself and his mother and siblings. So he
prepared himself, practicing again and again his sales pitch to his mother’s
employer/ owner. He took a deep breath. He found what he thought would be the
perfect opportunity and he went over to Mr. Armstrong and asked him if he would
consider helping him fulfill his dream. If he could give him a loan. If he
could pull some strings. If he might find it in his heart to help Temba become
the person he wanted to become; the person he knew he could be if only given
the chance.
Mr. Armstrong though got
a grimace on his face though for the first time. He was not playing ball. Temba
was now a threat to him and his plantation. The last thing he wanted was that
the children of his workers would seek better lives for themselves. He needed
them as workers on his sugar cane farm. He had been a kind owner. Unlike his
neighbors he even allowed his own children and his son Michael to become
friends with Temba. Yet, the line ended here. Know your place and your future
he told Temba. Go back to work. Forget about anything more.
Well, Temba wasn’t ready
to accept that. Not long afterwards he hitchhiked for a few days making his way
to the large city and got himself a job selling salt door to door. He stayed by
families and he even slowly was able to pay for his own way in school. At age
21 he returned to the estate and pulled up with his 1960 English Triumph that
he had just purchased for 2000 Rand. (those are those really cool “old
fashioned” English sports cars). The driveway was only meant for guests of the
mansion. White people. Temba didn’t care. He was free. He had made it and no
one ever again would be able to tell him what he could and couldn’t do or
become. There were over 50 slaves that were working there on the Plantation.
Yet, Temba was the only one that broke free and made something of himself.
As he drove us around
Johannesburg in his new beautiful VIP van, he proudly shared with us how his
children were all educated and going to school. How he still had dreams that he
hoped he would be able to achieve of one day seeing the world and traveling .
The odds of ever realizing those dreams were and still are against him though
in the corrupt country where unemployment stands at 45% for its black
population and where homelessness, crime and drugs are rampant. {Incidentally
that doesn’t stop the South African government from regularly condemning and
boycotting Israel as an Apartheid State- talk about the calling the pot calling
the kettle black- quite literally if you’ll excuse the pun}.Yet, that doesn’t
stop him from dreaming for an even better tomorrow. And it only gives him even
more inspiration to continue to work hard and to beat those odds and realize
his dreams.
Temba’s story gave me a
lot to think about. It wasn’t just him, it was the many that we met and talked
to in Africa. As Americans or even Israelis that didn’t grow up in third world
countries- and I know quite a few Americans that probably bristle as being
thrown into the same group as Israelis, it’s hard to imagine that there are
people still today that grow up without running water and flush toliets, or
refrigerators and even roofs over their head. Most can’t even imagine not
having wireless service for their smart phone for a few hours. Yet, there’s a
whole continent full of them.
We traveled to Zambia,
Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe (all in 10 days!) and it’s wild. How can it
be that in the 21st century people are still living like this? How
can it be that there is a nation and a world out that are living without hope
or even prospects of a better future. What does that say to me about what I
should never take for granted about my life? What do the blessings that I have
and have been given demand that I do to share them with others that aren’t as
privileged?
Am Yisrael is a nation
of kindness and generosity. The Jewish State of Israel is perhaps one of the
leading countries in the world in seeing itself as being the first responders
when tragedies or natural catastrophes take place around the world. Earthquakes,
Tsunamis, collapsed building in Haiti, in India in Africa around the world find
the blue and white flag proudly waving over the medivacs of our Magen Dovid
rescue responders and Hatzala and Zaaka teams. We are solving water crisises
around the world and our alternative energy and technological solutions are
bringing light to the darkest recesses and major problems and crisis that beset
third world countries that don’t have the plenty that we do. "We’re
there and we care" is the message that we are sending to the world.
But to be honest on a personal level, I ask myself, is it really true?
Do I really care? Would
I really do anything or even contribute anything? Would I shed tears or am I
ever shook up when I read about volcanoes, hurricanes calamities and even wars
and terror that hits countries that aren’t mine. Would I give money to starving
children in Africa. Do I care enough to help provide a better future for them?
To donate to their education. To go out there and teach them. To do what, the
quite a few goyim that I met there in Africa on my trips, were doing. Taking a
year or so off in order to teach, to be doctors, to be dentists, to help their
construction and their planning.
I know the answer to all
of the above is no. Leave that to the goyim. Leave that to the Reform Jews. To
the Zionist secular government. Tzorchei amcha Yisrael are merubim.
We have enough of our own problems and needs to take care of. Let them take
care of their own. Why should I think or care about the Tembas of the world?
This week’s parsha of
Emor begins with the laws of the Kohanim. Like much of the book of Vayikra which
is in fact called the book of the Kohanim and deals with laws of sacrifices, at
least the first part of the parsha is one that really doesn’t feel that
relevant to most of us. It tells us about the holiness of a Kohen and the
prohibition for him to become tamey-impure by having contact with a dead
body or other things that make him tamey. It tells us about the blemishes that
prohibit him from serving in the temple and finally it tells us about the pure
state that he must be in to eat the teruma tithes and other holy
sacrifices that are brought to the temple. Yeah, it’s all about things that are
seemingly irrelevant to me.
I’m not a Kohen. As well
I’m not one of these people that like to take pictures of food, or look at
Instagram photos of what you ate for breakfast. At least food that I can’t or
will never eat. Although I do post on my daily status different delicious
Israeli hotel breakfasts and great restaraunts that I happen to be partaking
of. But that’s because I’m eating it- albeit only a few bites, and because I
want you to see it and take me as your tour guide so you can also partake. So
frankly, though, if I’m not ever eating teruma or those special gifts of the
Kohen- it doesn’t really interest me.
Yet interestingly enough
there are two things that jumped out at me when reviewing this parsha. The
first is that this whole series of commandments that seem to be specifically
relevant to the Kohen, the Torah tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu specifically
tells the Jewish people in it’s entirety these laws. This is despite the fact
that when Hashem commands Moshe he only tells him to tell it over to Aharon.
The parsha starts off
And Hashem said to Moshe
to say to the Kohanim the children of Aharon and say to them…
It continues
And Hashem spoke to Moshe
saying. Speak to Aharon saying…
And yet it concludes
And Moshe said to Aharon
and to his children and to all of the children of Israel…
There’s a message there
for us… for me… that’s more than just an Instagram picture of food I can’t eat.
There’s something that I should be getting out of this lesson as well.
There’s another
fascinating halacha that the Torah tells us as well about this holy food that
seemingly I won’t ever be able to taste. That Halacha is that it’s not only me
that can’t eat teruma and the gifts of the Kohen, Reb Chayim Kanievsky as well
can’t eat it either. Neither could Rebbi Akiva or Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai or
even Moshe Rabbeinu. We’re all considered zarim- strangers. We’re not
holy enough to eat this kodesh-holy food of the Kohen. There is one
stranger that can though. Do you know who? It’s Temba. Well, not exactly Temba,
but it’s his mother and even him- if Armstrong would’ve been a Jewish Kohen.
See the law is that any non-Jewish slave of a Kohen can eat this holy food.
They’re holy enough. They’re holier than me. They’re more connected to Hashem.
For them it is “lachmo- their bread”.
Even more amazing is
that there can even be a situation where they can eat it and their master Kohen
can’t eat it. For example if the Kohen is impure. Let’s say he bumped into a
dead body or had relations with his wife and didn’t go to the Mikva. Well,
Temba could sit down and have a delicious teruma and gifts of Kehuna breakfast,
while The Kohen is munching on yesterdays leftover non-holy chulent. What is
going on?
The answer it would seem
is that our assumption is correct. Temba is holier and purer and more fitting
to eat this teruma than we are. There’s a famous Rambam that every yeshiva
student is taught, yet that being said there’s one important line in it that I
never noticed before but that is seemingly ignored. The Rambam at the end of
the laws of Shemitta and Yovel tells us that
“Not only the tribe
of Levi, but any one of the inhabitants of the world whose spirit generously
motivates him and he understands with his wisdom to set himself aside and stand
before Hashem to serve Him and minister to Him and to know God, proceeding
justly as God made him, removing from his neck the yoke of the many reckonings
which people seek, he is sanctified as holy of holies…”
Generally this is
understood and taught that any Jew can (and perhaps should) not work and just
sit in Kollel and Hashem will take care of you. Fascinatingly enough though,
the Rambam’s wording does not limit this role and opportunity to Jews.
“Any one of he
inhabitants of the world” includes Goyim. They are people too. They can
become “holy of holies” like the Levi and Kohen. The Talmud even tells
us that a gentile that studies Torah (at least the laws that are relevant to
him of the 7 commandments and faith) is like a Kohen Gadol. What makes him so
great and gives him the power to achieve things that even the average Jew can’t
do? It’s not only a level of holiness by the way and it doesn’t even seem to be
in the merit of the Kohen who has to support him. For a Jewish servant
interestingly enough is not able to eat Teruma. Only a non-Jewish one. Only
Temba.
The answer is an amazing
idea. Do you know what this goy has over us? He was mevatel himself
entirely to the Kohen. He has totally become a servant. His existence is that
of being nullified and existing only for his master. A Jewish servant still has
his only level of freedom. He will go out and be independent in a few years.
Not so the non-Jewish slave. He is totally in. He is one with the Kohen. Now
the Kohen himself as well is not independent. The Kohen himself eats from the
table of Hashem. For the Kohen is Hashem’s portion. The slave of the Kohen then
as well is at that table. He becomes one with Hashem. Even if the Kohen is not
able to eat, the slave can eat. For the slave is plugged in and one with
Hashem; the Master of his Master. He’s got his own invitation to the meal.
Ok. Powerful fascinating
idea, Rabbi Schwartz, but again, how is this relevant to us. To me. For my
dinner? The answer the Chasidic sefarim tell us is that the truth is that every
meal that we eat, every bite that we take the Talmud tells us is also from the
table of Hashem. The Talmud in Brachos tells us that it is forbidden for
man to eat without a blessing for all of the food belongs to Hashem. He created
and owns the heaven and earth and to eat from His holy table is forbidden as
one is prohibited to eat from kodshim- holy food of the Temple.
Brachos (35:A) “He
who enjoys something without a blessing is as if he desecrated and had
prohibited enjoyment from the sanctified food of the heavens.”
Yet after we make a
blessing it is permitted to eat from it as Hashem has given it to us. The
commentaries ask why does a blessing permit us to eat from the Holy Temple and
sanctified food of Hashem? We’re not Kohanim. Only they can eat kodshim.
They answer that the reason is because each time we make a blessing do you know
what we say? Well I know that you know what we say. But did you ever think
about what we say? We say
Baruch Ata Hashem
Elokeinu MELECH HA”OLAM…
We have blessed Hashem and stated that He is the King of the world. We have
made him our King. We have made ourselves as His slaves. His servants. And if
we are the servants of Hashem then we can eat the food because we are the
servants of the King. We are His Tembas. We have a seat at the table. We are Kinyan
Kaspo -His heavenly chattel.
But do you know how that
works? It works if we recognize that Hashem is not just the King of me, rather
that He is the King of Temba too. He is the King of the world. He is the King
of Africa, of Haiti, of Timbuktu as much as He is the King of Lakewood, Boro
Park and Bnai Brak. He is Melech Ha’Olam. And I His servant am dedicated to
shining His light and kingdom to the entire world. To the darkest recesses and
jungles of Africa. Because the whole world is His. And I, the nation of Israel
were selected to be His nation and kingship of “Kohanim” to the entire world.
Not just the tribe of Levi, but all of us have the opportunity to shine the
light and truth of Hashem with the world. His Kingship won’t be complete and I
won’t be doing my job as His faithful servant unless that is at least minimally
in my consciousness. Unless that’s where I want His light to shine until.
Temba told me that his
name in Afrikaans means hope. Hatikva. If there is one thing that perhaps was a
result of ruach ha’kodsesh it was when the early non- religious Zionists
that composed this song chose it as our antherm. I told Temba that is his name
is the national anthem of the State of Israel. We are a nation of hope. Hope
means that we haven’t realized our goal yet. Hope means that I have a dream
that I wish to see realized. Hope means that as no matter how dark it gets
there is a light that can still shine out and fill me with the vision of a
better tomorrow.
This week we celebrate
the holiday of Lag B’omer. We celebrate this holiday and commemorate the
yartzeit of Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai who was shone that hidden light in the
Torah to the entire world in the darkest of periods. We remember the students
of Rabbi Akiva who stopped dying on this day. Rabbi Akiva is most famout
perhaps for his statement and song that we sing of V'Ahavata Le'Rayach Kamocha-
this is the great principle in the Torah. Yet little known is the saying and
response of Ben Azzai Rabbi Akiva's colleague to that statement. Zeh Sefer
Toldos H'Adam hu klal gadol mizeh- these are the generatiopns of mankind is an
even greater principle thatn that. It's not just about our friends. It's not
just about oru fellow Jews our community. Our insititutions or even our
countriy, Ben Azzai says. It's about mankind. It's about the descendants of
Adam. It's the whole world.
Lag Ba'Omer is a day
when a new light was born again. It was when the hope- the Temba, the Tikva of
our nation rose from the abyss and began to build a new world. The period of
the death of Rabbi Akiva’s student was the beginning of what our sages tell us
is the era of Mashiach. The final 2000 years of the 6000 years of the world
before the Shabbos of the 7th millenia comes in. This year of 5783
is the twilight of that year. The time is now. The servants are ready. It is
time for the King to bring us all to His table.
Have a hearty Shabbos
and light filled Lag Ba’Omer,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Gebroteneh
teibelech flien nit in moil arein..” - Roasted
teibelech (?? I think it means crackers-
I know what teiglech are anyone know what teibelech are? ) don't just fly in
your mouth
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
20)
The holiest structure in Sunni Islam is called:
Which
of the following commands is one of the Five Pillars of Islam?
A)
Jihad
B)
alms
C)
honoring one's parents
D) a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or59BFHAqfw
- Ari Goldwag’s Ashira Lashem Acapella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40_Af6CNF-g
-If
there was ever a song about hope this Hebrew song by Berri Weber of a Holocaust
survivor looking back is it. Eifo Kulam.. where are they all…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvBvUIT_LtQ
– Ever
hear Shlom Carlebach Acapelling it? Here you go…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0OCYKvazHk – Check
out the game plan for Lag Ba’Omer in Meron this year…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR
PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
(sorry last week’s got cut off in the copy here’s the full column)
Floating Metal- 680 BC- With Geichazi the Metzora (this week’s
parsha) being sent away, it seems that Elisha’s yeshiva went up in popularity.
Lots of prophet students gathered to Elisha to study by him. It seems
the Yeshiva was bursting at it’s seams to the point where the students
approached Elisha and asked to
begin an expansion campaign to build a wider facility near the Jordan River.
Elisha acquiesced and the campaign began.
Now back then an expansion campaign wasn’t about
fund-raising or Charidy campaigns. It meant that the students actually did the
work of chopping down trees and building the new structure. Not having much
money, the even borrowed the tools to chop down the wood. And wouldn’t you know it? Lo and Behold one of
the students- who it seems was a bit of a shlemazel knocked off the bladed of
his Axe and it went down down down the Jordan River.
Now, I take
tourists all summer long rafting down the Jordan- and yes, where I do it
is the Upper Jordan River. I can tell you that it was more than a few
times that they’ve lost glasses, water bottles, goggles, slippers or Crocs down
the river. When that happens, you pretty much give up hope- although I’ve had
some that have found them. But only by diving in immediately. The Jordan
River today is about 2 % of the size that it was back then. You can imagine
that there was no way you were getting that back. I’m standing today, by the Zambizei
River in Zambia (I’ll tell you about that in a future upcoming
E-Mail- don’t worry). There is no way- your finding an Axe blade that sinks in
it.
Yet, if you’re a student of Elisha, you don’t have
anything to worry about.
Elisha tells his servant to throw in a piece of wood and what do you
know? WhadaboomWadda bing. The axe blade floated up and reattached itself. Now
this miracle which was Elisha’s 12 (can you name the other ones we learned?) corresponds
to Moshe throwing something in the water to make it better. As well it’s
similar to Moshe raising up the bones of Yosef from the bottom of the Nile.
There is nothing lost from Hashem. There’s an important lesson in this miracle
for us. Sometimes we feel that something is beyind us. We’ve lost the skill and
tools we need to accomplish what we need to do. Don’t worry. Throw what you
have into the river and miracles can happen. Hashem will send you what you
need. He only took it from you so that you will turn to him. That’s the lesson.
That’s the miracle.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE SLAVE
JOKES OF THE WEEK
What did the slaves owners use to purchase their
slaves? A MasterCard.
Why did the slave go to college? To pick up his
master's degree.
What does a slave driver do with his slaves when he's
bored? He racism.
God created the dog and said: "Sit all day by
the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past.For this,
I will give you a life span of twenty years."
The dog said: "That's a long time to be
barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"
So God agreed.
God created the monkey and said: "Entertain
people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year
life span."
The monkey said: "Tricks for twenty years?
That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the
Dog did?"
And God agreed.
God created the cow and said: "You must go
into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have
calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you
a life span of sixty years."
The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life
you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the
other forty?"
And God agreed again.
God created man and said: "Eat, sleep, play,
marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."
But man said: "Only twenty years? Could you
possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey
gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"
"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."
So that is why for our first twenty years we eat,
sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun
to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain
the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and
bark at everyone.
Life has now been explained to you.
I believe slaves should have gotten reparations 150
years ago. I don’t believe their descendants should get them. That ship has
sailed.
What do you call the underground slave trade? The
black market.
Did you hear about the Mexican slave trade? Wasn't a
big deal at all, 'Til they offered buy Juan, get Juan free.
I was teaching a bunch of black teenagers about
slavery. None of them liked the concept, but their grandparents were sold on
the idea.
How did the Egyptians trick their slaves into working
so hard? With a pyramid scheme.
A black slave escaped with a wheel of cheese. The
owner was being interviewed by southern law enforcement where he asked: "will
you be able to find him?"
Which the officer replied: Can't say but one
things for sure, he Nacho Negro.
An Egyptian task master fell down a wishing well, The
Jewish slave was amazed, “ Cool!
I never knew they worked.”
********************************
The answer to this week”s question is B –I believe I got this one right enough. The first part of the
question, I knew was the mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. When I say got it right
enough, it’s because that should be sufficient of an answer despite the fact
that I didn’t know the name of the Mosque which I googled and found out is
called Masjid El Haram or the Kaaba. I never know Muslim names of things. It’s
all El Jazeera or Allah Aqbar to me. As far as the second part of the question,
that I did know was alms- or tzedaka. Along with faith, prayer, fasting and Haj
to Mecca their once in a lifetime pilgrimage, those are the 5 pillars of their
faith. Jihad and Kibud Av didn’t make it to the final cut. SO got that for sure
right. And so the score as of now 16 for
Schwartz and 4 for Ministry of tourism on this exam so far…
