Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
July 18th 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 36 22nd of Tamuz 5785
It's been an exciting Book so far. Sure the beginning of Bamidbar was a bit boring with all of those counts and numbers and camp positions and flags. But eventually it got exciting. We have stories finally. Complaints, quail, water producing rocks. There are spies, there's Korach and there's lots of wars against giants, Amalekites and Canaanim and miraculous victories. There are sad moments with the death of Miriam and Aharon. Talking donkeys, curses and plagues, snakes, even at the end of last week Pinchas the zealot shishkabobbing the sinning leader of Shimon and Midianite princesses. As I said it's been a pretty action packed few parshiyot which to be honest after all of those sacrifices in Vayikra, has been quite a relief. I like action, as I believe most do. Makes it much easier for sermon making. Email-writing as well.
Even this week's parsha of Pinchas, although a bit more subtle does have a few small incidents. A recap of the Pinchas story, Moshe appointing Yehoshua and looking out over the land of Israel, the daughters of Tzlafchad asking for their portion. Not as exciting but at least it's not sacrifices, until it is… Huh…? What's this? Why do the last three aliyos start talking about slaughtering cows, sheep, wine libations, flour offerings, holiday, Shabbos…? Where did this come from? What's it doing here? I thought we finished with this already. It kind of feels like (l'havdil) after I finished my tour guide course and passed, someone asked me about the various Muslim dynasties, or after my regents wants to test me on chemistry, or after a great meal they bring me out salad for dessert, or gefilteh fish again. Been there- done that, made it through, don't need to go back again. This is Vayikra material; it doesn't belong here.
What's even more troublesome as well is that it seems that this parsha is smack in the middle of this Midyan revenge story. Meaning, after we lost 24,000 in Hashem's plague and even more wild and it's a point that I think most people miss, there were 88,000 judges in Israel that killed 2 people sinning each as Hashem commanded. (look at Rashi if you don't believe me) That’s 176,000 people plus the 24,000 makes it almost 200,000 people killed in that Midyan Zimri story. If there's 600,000 men that left Egypt we're talking about 1/3 of Klal Yisrael just got killed. That's Holocaust level tragedy. It's remiscent of when we left Mitzrayim 40 years prior when 4/5th didn't make it out. Yet this time instead of it happening in the plague of darkness it happened by our judges being commanded by Hashem to kill two people each. As well this takes place on the doorpost of our entry to the land. It makes sense that we want revenge for this sin and horror. That Hashem demands it. And in next week we get that. But all of that is interrupted by these short little stories and of course the sacrifices… again….
This is not a stam devar torah. A nice vort. A good kasha. My E-Mail is never just that. You know that by now. This is today. This now. This is us. This is Mashiach. Our tradition is that Pinchas is the same soul as Eliyahu Ha'Navi. This week's parsha comes right after that Messianic prophecy of Bilaam of the end of days, the final wars, the entrance to the land. The covenant of eternal peace that Pinchas/Eliyahu will bring. This parsha and all that's in it is the parsha of Eliyahu Ha'Navi it is the shofar clarion call for redemption. And it's about time. In that light, the questions above become even more relevant. What do we need to know and do before Eliyahu can finally come? How do we bring this war to an end? How do we finally enter the land?
The answer perhaps lies in some of the hidden people that are mentioned behind the scenes in these narratives. When the Torah tells us in this parsha about the counting-once again, post plague, of the tribes of Israel for whom the land will be divided it tells us about some women. It mentions Yocheved and makes sure to tell us that she was born as we came into Egypt. She was there when we left Israel into that exile. She was the transition. As well it tells us bizarrely, and seemingly irrelevantly about Serach, the daughter of Asher. That's certainly strange, as she is still alive certainly for about 250 years at least, but she isn't really an inheritor of the land. So why is she mentioned. And then of course we have the whole story of the five daughters of Tzlafchad and their request to inherit the land, despite the fact that seemingly according to the law they had no right to do so. We have these hidden women, suddenly being mentioned at first subtly in the parsha and then louder and louder. These women are the secret. They are the balance the ammunition and lesson we need to restore and fix the sin that got us all into this of the daughters of Midian.
Do you know what the daughters of Midian call out to us men to do? They want us to become like them. Buy into their narrative. They want us to sell our souls, to pretend to buy into their values even on the surface so we can become a nation like theirs. Hey, they'll hang us with us. They'll marry us. They'll let us into their shops, their schools, their universities, their halls of justice, their United Nations. We just have to be pluralistic and as open-minded as they are. Thirty percent of Klal Yisrael falls into that trap set by Bilaam. He knows that there is one thing that is our Achilles heal. And that is that we just want peace, quiet, love, friendship and to be like every other nation. He knows that we can be tempted to drop our difficult world mission and mandate for a good photo-op in the Rose Garden of the White House. As well he knows that there is nothing Hashem hates more then to see us do that. He despises "zima"- wandering Jewish eyes that make us stray from the whole reason He created us; for why He chose us.
In order to counter that Hashem sends us Eliyah/ Pinchas. He takes us sword and is full of passion, that doesn't fit into the world view. He's a zealot. He's a fanatic. He not only says and does crazy things, he's meant to inspire us in even a situation when perhaps even our Moshe and Aharon leaders are shell shocked and don't know what to do. One can imagine how the evening news looked that day. What CNN had to say. What perhaps even the Mishpacha magazine or even the Yated might of said about this wild man, who's not even a Kohen did while Moshe and Aharon sat by and didn't do anything. The truth is one doesn't have to imagine. Chazal tell us. They shared with us the headlines about Pinchas.
"Look at this radical whose grandfather was an idolater, think he's a big macher. Who does he think he is killing a prince of Israel? Does he think he's frummer then all of the gedolim that were there? These Baalei Teshuva always think they're trying to prove something."
Yet, he was right. He saved the Jewish people. To come into the land of Israel. We sometimes need to look beyond the box. We need to break out of the mold. We need to pick up a sword and let the chips and heads fall where they may.
Coming into the land of Israel, isn't to be like Midyan. It's not to be accepted like other nations. It's not to have a country where we can live safely and study Torah unbothered daily either. You could do that in America. You could do that in Lithuania, in Poland, in Spain, in North Africa and England and France. And we did. That's not the point of us. That's not why we left Egypt. If you don't believe me, ask Savta Yocheved. She remembers when we left Israel and came to Egypt. We were exiled with a purpose to become refined in the Iron furnace of Egypt. To learn to come together as a nation. To see the Hand of Hashem. To bring back the bones of Yosef. To shine the light of Hashem out to the world.
Are you still not sure if that's true. Then ask Serach the daughter of Asher. She's still around. She remembers when Yosef was kidnapped, and she remembers Zaidy Yaakov crying and mourning that all 12 tribes were not together. That there would be no 12 tribes down here to reveal and shine out Hashem Echad to the rest of the world. She as well remembers that Shema that Yaakov said when he discovered that he was still alive. She's remembers that song she sang Od Yosef Chai- He's still alive the dream is still alive. It was she 200 years later when Moshe came to redeem us from exile that reminded us of the code. "Pakod Yifkod"- Hashem has chosen us. He's taking us out. We have a job. We have a light. We have a mission. That mission, Bubby Serach reminds us to create a House of Prayer for the all of the nations of the world. To bring the shechina down. To inspire the entire world to accept His Kingship and to bask in His love and glory.
Moshe will not be there to do that. But Yehoshua from the tribe of Yosef will. The daughters of Tzlafchad, as well from the tribe of Menashe and Yosef, share that message and passion. Yehoshua is no Moshe. The daughters of Tzlafchad are not even inheritors. Much like Pinchas they might feel unworthy to stand up and feel that role and that gap. But they don't. Because they're on fire. Because they are the children of Yosef, who was the first to go into exile. They were the descendants of that first Jew who learned and was the victim of Jewish "isolationism" and "elitism". They had the DNA of the "dreamer" inside their genes. Mashiach ben Yosef is in their family. They know that our coming to Israel is going to be premised on being different then all of the other nations. It's living like a Jew and being a role model to them. It's telling them that only Hashem brings our success, as Yosef did. Only Hashem can interpret our dreams. Our job is merely to do what we need to and not to be intimidated by all of their baseless accusations. That's the path of Yosef. It's the message of his holy granddaughters.
Before we go to war against Midyan, before we avenge the deaths of our brothers and sisters, we have to know what the war is about and what our goal is. It's not about security. It's not about revenge alone even. It's understanding that our job it to come to Israel and to bring sacrifices. Those sacrifices aren't just for us. They're for the entire world.
The last of the holidays is Sukkos. We bring 70 sacrifices for all of the nations of the world. All together we bring 98 sheep they correspond to the 98 curses that are given to us if we don't understand why we are meant to come to the land. The curses that Bilaam tried to make upon us that were turned to blessings, are fixed by our sacrifices that correspond to Balak's sacrifices. There is a spiritual sacrifice battle of blessings and curses going on here at the doorstep of our entry to Israel. The parsha of Pinchas and Eliyahu Ha'Navi is to remind us of that. Only then can we do what we need to do to Midyan. Only then can we fight the battle that we need to fight. Only with that spirit of Yosef, the messages of our Bubby's, the fire of Yehoshua, will we have the strength to finish the job. To destroy what needs to be destroyed, to build what needs to be built. To remember why we're coming to the land. To not fall into the temptations of the approval and love that the Midianite world pretends to shower upon us, that sells us short. That is really just one big Baal Pe'or. One big smelly false idol that we haven't flushed down the worlds toilet yet.
Our parsha begins with the name of this Midianite princess; Kozbi bas Tzur. Kozbi is falsehood. It's fake news. The Jewish prince that sins with her Zimri, is just singing her song. He forgot the song of Serach bas Asher. He didn't hear the prophecy of Bilaam of our matriarchs who he calls Me'rosh TZURim, the peak of the rocks. Our nation forgot that Tzur Yisrael is Hashem. That we just need to talk to the Tzur- to the rock and that the water will flow. The Shechina will descend. The shofar will blow and Mashiach will come. This week we read the first of the prophecies of doom of Yirmiyahu. Hashem tells us that all the nations will come to Jerusalem. They are coming to wage war. Yet, the redemption will come when we stand strong and unabashedly declare for Whom and What we are fighting. Hashem will then remember our kindness. He will finally bring us to the land. And we will forever be redeemed. The time is now.
Have an inspirational Shabbos!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
" Ven di bobbeh volt gehat a bord, volt zi geven a zaideh..- If your grandmother had a beard, she’d be your grandfather..
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
The name of the only Circassian settlement located in the Upper Galilee is ______
The Antiquities Law applies to sites built prior to which year?
A. 1850
B. 1800
C. 1750
D. 1700
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/achainu - On the first anniversary of my song Acheinu Acapella… Dovid Lowy on vocals and arrangements…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2qeJ7UxVNo&list=RDL2qeJ7UxVNo&start_radio=1 – L'Abba sheli yeish sulam acapella… powerful song… My Father's ladder…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNBOwsHW1ZI&list=RDqNBOwsHW1ZI&start_radio=1 - Thank You Hashem Helaing Acapella Medleys….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2IdjWV4dU – AI destruction of the Temple Hebrew…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Destruction Part II Looting Burning- 586 BC - Here in the three weeks of mourning in this column this year we are up to the final stages of the destruction and loss of our Temple and our exile. Last week we discussed the massacre over the boiling blood of Zecharia. This week the carnage begins with the 8th and 9th of Av the Babylonians entered the Temple Mount and ate and drank and pillaged. All of the golden and silver vessels were packed up and stolen. The great huge copper pillars of Shlomo, the magnificent copper basin and pools were smashed and destroyed. They went through the city and burnt every house of anyone important as well as the walls of Jerusalem were burnt. The city was turned to rubble. It looked like Gaza.
The children of the Kohanim handed through the keys to the Temple up to heaven and a hand came down and grabbed them as they plunged into the fire and died. A cry went out from heaven. Hashem's palace was destroyed. On the tenth of Av the fire continued to burn. The Jews were all corralled together. Most of them were taken back to Bavel as slaves. Yirmiyahu accompanied them. The musical instruments that they once played with were put to rest. The song of our temple had been vanquished. The 410-year tummultus era of the temple had come to an end. Already for hundreds of years, we hadn't all worshipped there. The ten tribes of the North had been exiled 150 years before. The prophecies all the prophets had been yelling at us about had finally come to fruition. The curses of the Book of Vayikra had been fulfilled. Jewish life in Israel would still have one more chance. There was still a remainder that held and lived in the city. Would we be able to save the day or not? Next week, we conclude this saga, and hopefully with that the exile as well.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S BUBBY JOKES OF THE WEEK
10. Lessons Your Bubbie Taught You
If you can't say something nice, say it in Yiddish.
If you don't eat, it will kill me.
Never take a front-row seat at a bris.
Always whisper the names of diseases.
If it tastes good, it's probably not kosher.
Why spoil a good meal with a big tip?
Twenty percent off is a bargain; fifty percent off is a mitzvah.
Wine needs to breathe so don't rush through the kiddush.
No one leaves a simcha hungry; but then no one leaves with a hangover.
And what's so wrong with dry turkey?
A shmata is a dress that your husband's ex is wearing.
Anything worth saying is worth repeating a thousand times.
Where there's smoke, there may be smoked salmon.
Next year in Jerusalem. The year after that, how about a nice cruise?
Little Shmuli and the Marcus family were invited to their grandparents for Friday night dinner. Everyone was seated around the table and Zadie Marcus was getting ready to recite Kiddush. Just then, Shmuli reached for the challah and appetizers on the table and began eating.
“Shmuli, wait until Zadie says kiddush and hamotzi!” demanded his father.
“I don't have to,” the five year old replied.
“Of course you do, Shmuli,” his mother insisted forcefully. “We always wait until after kiddush and hamotzi at our house.”
“That's at our house,” Shmuli explained, “but this is Bubbie’s house, and she knows how to cook.”
Rivky Adler went to spend a few weeks with her Bubbie Miriam. They had a lot of time together so Bubbie Miriam decided to teach Rivky how to sew. After the first day, having gone through a lengthy explanation of how to thread the machine, Rivky stepped back, put her hands on her hips, and said in disbelief, "Bubbie, you mean you can do all that, but you can't figure out how to use an iPhone?"
Sarah just gave birth to a newborn baby boy and her mother had to drive her to a doctor’s appointment, so her grandmother, Bubbie Miriam, was tasked to take care of the baby. As soon as Sarah left for her doctor’s appointment, Miriam called her friends to come over.
"Can we see the baby?" they asked.
"Not yet," said Bubbie Miriam.
Fifteen minutes later, they asked again. "Can we see the baby?"
"Not yet," said Bubbie Miriam.
Another quarter of an hour later, they asked again: "Can we see the baby?"
"Not yet," answered Bubbie Miriam.
The ladies were growing impatient. "Well, when can we see the baby?"
"When it cries."
"Why do we have to wait until the baby cries?"
"Because I forgot where I put it."
As the bus pulled away, Bubbie Shwartzbaum realized that she had left her purse under the seat. Frantic, she called the bus company and was relieved to hear later that the driver found her bag.
When she returned to pick it up, several off-duty bus drivers surrounded her. One man handed Bubbie her purse, two typewritten pages and a box containing the contents of her purse. "We're required to inventory lost wallets and purses," he explained. "I think you'll find everything there."
As Bubbbie started to put her belongings back into the purse, the man continued, "I hope you don't mind if we watch. Even though we all tried, none of us could fit everything into your purse. And we'd like to see just how you do it."
Little Bubbie Bayla Bernstein seated herself right behind the bus driver. Every ten minutes or so she'd pipe up, "Have we reached Niagara Falls yet?"
"No, lady, not yet. I'll let you know," he replied, time after time.
The hours passed, Bubbie Bayla kept asking for Niagara Falls, and finally the town came into view. Sighing with relief, the driver slammed on the brakes, pulled over and called out, "This is where you get out, lady."
"Is this Niagara Falls?"
"YES!" he bellowed. "Get out!"
"Oh, I'm going all the way to Toronto," she explained sweetly. "It's just that my daughter told me that when we got this far, I should take my medication."
Shirley and Sadie, two elderly ladies in a senior’s residence in Miami were enjoying the sunshine on a bench outside their residence. This was their daily ritual on every sunny day for the past 9 years, chatting and enjoying each other's friendship. One day Shirley turned to Sadie and said, "Please don't be angry with me, bubbaleh, but I am embarrassed after all these years. What is your name? I am trying to remember, but I just can't."
Sadie stared at her, looking very distressed, said nothing for two full minutes, and finally said, "How soon do you have to know?"
Four bubbies in Miami are playing cards.The first sighs and says “Oy!”
The second in a pained voice responds, “Oy vey!”
The third wails “Oy vey iz mir!”
And then the fourth one replies, “I thought we agreed not to talk about the children!”
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The answer to this week”s question is D- Ok I'm back on the saddle again! Got them both right this week. I pass by Rechania all the time when going from my ATV in Dishon to Tzfat or Meron or Dalton and it’s an interesting place as the Circassians are really fascinating people. They are Muslims but very different. Loyal Israelis. Fierce fighters. They have their own language and culture. It's a cool story. As well The antiquities law is 1700. I would’ve guessed even older if you had asked me, but this was the earliest choice and so I went with it. But something to think about that I point out to my American tourists. America started in 1776, that's 75 years before it even makes it into the antiquities laws here in Israel. We can throw anything in garbage after that. Hows that for a rich history. So the score is now Rabbi Schwartz 16.5 Ministry of Tourism 9.5 on this exam so far, Slowly slowly getting back on track…
