Toilet Torah- Vaetchanan/ Nachamu 2017

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

August 4^th 2017 -Volume 7 Issue 39 12^th Av 5777

Parshat Va’Etchanan/ Nachamu

Toilet Torah

They are probably the two most famous brothers in Chasidic lore; Rebbe Meilich of Lizensk and Reb Zusha of Anipol. Their stories fill the pages of all Chasidic tales. I thought I had heard all of hteir stories before but this past Tishah B’Av I heard a new one from Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstien on the Chafetz Chaim Heritage Foundation Videos. And like every good story it has to be shared. After-all what’s a good story worth if there’s no one to share it with. I wasn’t sure how I was going to fit it in, but it turns out that its message and theme fits perfectly with the parsha. I also couldn’t resist the catchy title I came up with. So although some of you may have seen the video and are tempted to skip down quickly to the jokes. Bear with me, it’s a good enough story to hear a second time. And Reb Meilich and Reb Zusha stories are meant to be retold again and again.

So the two of them were arrested once on some false charges that some of their antagonists had fabricated against them. All good Chasidic Rebbes of old had to go to jail. The tradition goes back to Yosef in Egypt. It wasn’t a reflection of their piety or an god forbid negative thing they had done. It was a way of earning your “Rebbe stripes”, lifting up the sparks of holiness in the lowest place, connecting to God from the bottom of the world and experiencing a closeness that can only be felt when you are at the low of the low. That no longer holds true today, in case there are any Chasidic Rebbes reading this and are getting bright ideas.

Well anyways there in this tiny little 7 foot by 7 foot cell that they were thrown in were all these ruffians, murderers, lowlifes, degenerates and basically bad people. The guard upon throwing them into the cell laughed and pointed them to a pail in the corner and told them it was the “bathroom” of the cell and if they needed to go than they should certainly feel free to use it.  It was too much for Reb Zusha to bear. He flung himself on the floor and began to cry and bawl. Reb Meilich, his brother was taken aback. This was not like Zusha who always accepted his fate with joy. Always had faith in their Creator that this was for their own good. He turned to his brother and rebuked him He told him that this was a chilul Hashem- a desecration of God’s name. Their cellmates would think that he had given up hope and had no faith. This was not appropriate behavior. Why was he crying like this?

Reb Zusha turned to his brother and told him tearfully

“How can you not cry? Don’t you understand? We are stuck here in the cell with this pail and we cannot study or think about Torah, it is forbidden to pray when in in an impure smelly place with exposed excrement. What will we do? How can we go on without any mitzvot, Torah or prayer”

Reb Meilich pondered his brothers response for a few minutes and then his face lit up. He told his brother an incredible epiphany he had. He explained that the fact that they are not learning, and that they are not praying is in itself because they are following a mitzva and law that prohibits them to do so. So in fact all of their non-learning and non-praying is listening to the will of God. It’s in fact incredible he pointed out. Every second that we are here we get a mitzva by not studying Torah. When else will we ever have such a holy opportunity to serve God by not serving Him?

Reb Zusha’s face lit up. He started to smile. He started to dance. He got so excited he picked up the smelly pail and waved it around as if it was a Torah or a Lulav and Etrog. How fortunate are we that we get a mitzva with this. How incredible is Hashem that he gave us such a commandment!

Now the cell mates who had first thought this Rabbi a little strange, now really got weirded out, as is quite imaginable when you see someone dancing and singing to God with a potty in their hand. One of them seemingly remembering some of his bible studies noted that there was an idolatry mentioned in the Torah where people would worship human waste. He told the others that this Rabbi was probably praying to that God and he was convincing him to perform a miracle to set them free from the prison. They quickly decided that they didn’t want to be left out of this deal and they got up behind the Rabbi and started dancing and chanting and imitating the holy Reb Zusha as well. It was certainly a sight to behold.

Now this sight was actually in fact beheld by the guard who heard this ruckus and came to the cell to check it out. His eyes probably popped out when he saw this strange dance going on in the cell. When one of the prisoners that he pulled told him what was going on, the guard got a grimace on his faith. No Jewish excrement God was gonna break these Rabbis out of this cell. He would put a stop to this plan right away. He quickly ordered the prisoner to bring him the pail. He then proceeded to wash the entire thing shiny clean. There was not a drop of anything left in it. He flung it back into the cell and told them that they could have the pail back. They were prohibited from using it. In fact the entire cell was prohibited from using it. If someone had to go to the bathroom they should knock on the door and they would be directed to the nearest facility. No more will there be anything here for the Jews to worship their God with. That is that!

As he slammed the door closed. Reb Zusha turned to his brother and they both hugged the empty clean pail. They were now for the first time permitted to recite the words that were in their heart, that was in their dance; that embodied all that they stood for.

“Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad.”

God is one when we can fulfill his commandments. Hashem is one when we cannot fulfill His commandments. He is the same Hashem. There is never a moment when we cannot be connected to him. He is one and we are one with Him always.

This week’s Torah portion, the one that always follows the holiday of Tishah B’av, has these very words in it. Tisha B’Av in itself is also the one day of the year when it is prohibited to study to Torah. The words of Torah make a person heart happy our sages tell us. Tisha B’Av, the day that we recall the destruction of our Temples we are like mourners whose dead is lying before them. We are not allowed to study we are not allowed to gladden our heart in its study. We spend the whole day think about how empty life is without the house of God in our midst. We recall the 2500 years of horrors and tragedies that we endured as a nation in the wake of life without Hashem. Like Reb Zusha we feel empty, forlorn, we stare at that waste-bin with a golden dome on top of His mountain and cry over the loss of our connection to a real spiritual existence. And then comes noon and we get off the floor. We slowly arise from the ashes. We return back to this world because we recognize that our tears are in fact the building blocks of the Temple that is surely soon to come.

We come to shul this Shabbos and we open up our Torah portion and we hear Moshe’s pleas to come to the land that we have already merited to return to. We read the story once again of the Torah being given , the Ten commandments. Moshe tells us that we are in fact Dveikim Ba’Hashem Chayim Kulchem Hayom- We cleave to Hashem and we have life. And we read and learn the Shema. Yes, that prayer that our forefather-Yisrael- heard from his twelve tribes, as the Midrash tells us as they all gathered around his bed and he wanted to reveal to them the “end of days”. When Mashiach and the final redemption would come. They told him "Hear oh Israel, Hashem is our lord Hashem is one". We are all faithful. We are eternal. We will never lose that. 

In good times, in bad times we have recited and continue to recite those words. Little children’s parents whisper it in their ears as they go to sleep, even before they have learned how to speak yet. We say it in the morning when we arise, when we go to sleep at night. Our ancestors recite it when they went to their deaths as their dying words and we say it on Simchat Torah when we dance around the shul without Torahs. Hashem is one. His love for us and ours for Him is through everything. This is the consolation of Shabbos Nachamu, this week after Tisha B’Av. This is the message that we will ultimately scream out and teach the entire world. May Hashem very soon take out that pail of shmutz and clean His home once again, so it will once again be the place where the entire world will be able to see for once and forever Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad.

Have a redemptive comforting Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Tsores mit yoykh iz gringer vi tsores on yoykh.” Troubles with soup is easier than troubles without soup.”

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c56iA5YlTwQ    – Classic MBD Shema Yisrael

https://youtu.be/S8D1DuVmtVQ   – Shwekey Incredible story Shema Yisrael

https://youtu.be/6J5OIdaEi1k – Simpsons in Israel bad tour guides.

https://youtu.be/PELIqtrMAYc - And of course Shabbos Nachamu wouldn’t be complete without Reb Shlomo Carlebach!

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q. Nebi Musa is located in:
a. The Golan Heights
b. The Judean Desert
c. Samaria
d. The Negev

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ILLUMINATING RASHI OF THE WEEK

Va’eschanan- Even if you don’t have the time, energy or patience to review Rashi with the Parsha each week, certainly the parts of the Torah that you recite daily and actually have a mitzva to recite you should definitely spend the time to review it. It may open your eyes to a new understanding in your prayers. And we are always looking to keep our prayers new and fresh.

In this week’s Torah portion we have the Shema. Yup, it’s the only portion in the Torah that you have a biblical obligation to recite-( well besides the other two portions of Shema that is found in other portions).The first sentence says

V’Ahavta Es Hashem Elokecha BiChol Livavecha U’Bichol nafsheca, U’Bichol meodecha- You should love Hashem with all of your heart   and with all your soul, and with all your means.

Rashi on these three mitzvos of loving Hashem explains

Bichol Livaveicha- With your two inclinations- (your yetzer tov/good and yetzer hara/bad); Another interpretation is that your heart should not be divided with Hashem.

Seemingly Rashi is noting that the word for a singular heart is libcha.. Livavcha is hearts-plural.Kol Livavcha means the entirety of both hearts and thus his explanations.

Bichol Nafshica- even if He takes your life

Again Rashi is learning that the way that you serve with your entire soul, is if Hashem actually takes away your life.

Finally on the last verse Rashi explains

Bichol Meodecha- with all your money. There are people whose money is more important to them than their lives.

Here Rashi seems to be addressing why the money is after the life it seems like it should be going up in order of demand. Thus Rashi explains that it is referring to someone whose money is more important than their life. Know anyone like that? Seemingly the Torah does. Because that is the basic generic standard that it is using and that we all recite. The guy who loves his money more than his life- or to put it better- people who are willing to serve God with their lives, but when it comes to spending his money for mitzvos and his service of Hashem are not the exception to the rule but the average Yankel.

The Chidushei HaRim notes that since Rashi explains that Bichol Nafshicha means even if he takes your soul. Then the same is true for the first part of the verse Bichol Livavicha- even if He takes away your heart. What the Rebbe is saying is that even if you’re not in the mood. Even if you have no desire-Even if Hashem takes all of that away from you; you still must love Him.

Interestingly enough the Hafla’ah makes quite the opposite deduction in the next part of the verse. He writes that since Rashi doesn’t say when it comes to your means and money “even if He takes away all your money. He just translates that Meodecha means your money. Rashi’s understanding is that even if you have lots and lots of money, don’t become haughty and forget Hashem. Don’t attribute it to your own success. Rather use all the money and blessing that He has given you to love Hashem even more and even more.

See what I told you. Incredible insights that are sure to give you a pause the next time you recite these words. And all you had to do was read and think about a few Rashis.

Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Rothenberg –Chidushei HaRim (1799-1866) – Rabbi Yitzchak Meir was the founder and first rebbe of the Ger dynasty, which at one time counted more than 100,000 Chasidim, and to this day remains one of the largest Chasidic groups. He was a child prodigy who was sought after by all the great Polish Hasidic leaders. The Rim’s mother Chaya Sara, was an orphan who was raised by the Koznitzer Maggid, and the Maggid played a great role in Yitzchak Meir’s early development. The Rim became a disciple of Rabbi Simcha Bunem of Pshischa and Rabbi Mendel of Kotzk. He once said that “according to Pshischa Chasidus a person does nothing with his external limbs, the main thing is the inner self, from which one is inspired to act.”

Ger emphasized the centrality of Torah and self-development, the externals of Chasidus were minimized or disdained. Though Pshischa and Kotzk were elitist, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir showed how their principles could be embraced by all Jews. From Pshischa and Kotzk Ger absorbed a healthy skepticism of human motivation and the demands of the ego.

Rabbi Yitzchak Meir was a true leader and was deeply involved in all political events affecting his flock. His halachic writings are characterized by scintillating brilliance and his non-halachic thought by great depth and warmth. The custom to make siyyumim during the nine days was seen by Rabbi Yitzchak Meir as motivated by a desire to bring Jews together in a harmonious spirit and thus rectify the sin of sinas chinam which had caused the destruction of the Temple.

Rabbi Yitzchak Meir’s personal life was filled with tragedy. Many of his thirteen children died in his lifetime. When he finally consented to assume leadership after the death of the Kotzker he remarked: “I am not a rebbe. I do not want money. I do not care for honor. All I want is to spend my years bringing the children of Israel nearer to their Father in Heaven”.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TYPES OF JEWS IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK

Tour Guides -You knew I would get around to these guys eventually right? My tour guide badge number from 5 years ago states that I am number 11,026. Yup over 11,000 tour guides were licensed before I was. Today there are probably a few thousand more. We are the guys you see all over Israel with our red badges on necklaces around our chest proudly testifying to the fact that we have completed a two year course of study in the land of Israel; it’s history, geography, archeology, botany, wildlife, geology, religions, art, architecture, wars, politics and more… As well we have had over 80 guided tours that we were guided through by top guides and which we had to submit 20-30 page reports on. We then had written exams and oral exams from the ministry of tourism that we had to pass. Oh and we have attended one annual continuing learning tour and paid our renewal fees. Yeah it ain’t easy becoming a tour guide, But we also wear those badges because it is technically illegal in Israel to guide without a license. See tourism is the the second ot third largest industry in Israel and its tour guides are to a large degree the ambassadors of the country to the rest of the world. As a result of that this is very regulated by the state to insure that the guides are qualified. There are of course drivers and other people that offer tours without licenses and if it’s a private family than the government really has no way of knowing if you’re their guide or their “cousin” showing them around. But tour companies Birthright and other organized group operators won’t use you unless you have a license. There are all types of tour guides there are the old Israelis that all seem to have great war stories, there are your religious ones, your very secular ones, old, young, men, women. It’s a great industry and most of us pride ourselves on our ability to share our love and passion of Hashem’s promised land with the rest of the world. Thank God tourism in this country has been booming and as it does so more you’ll be sure to see more and more of those guys with the red necklaces around the country,

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE  JOKES OF THE WEEK

A bus load of tourists arrives at Akko port. They gather around the guide who says, "This is the spot where the Maimonides landed in the land of Israel."

A fellow at the front of the crowd asks, "When did that happen?"

"1255," answers the guide.

The man looks at his watch and says, "OY! Just missed it by a half hour!"

In Alaska's National Forests, a tourists guide was giving a talk to a group of tourists about hiking in grizzly bear territory: "Most bear encounters occur when hikers, being extra quiet along the trails in hopes of viewing wildlife, accidentally stumble into bears. The resulting surprise can be catastrophic." To avoid this, he suggested that each hiker wear tiny bells on their clothing to warn the bears of their presence. "Also," he said further, "be especially cautious when you see signs of bears in the area, especially when you see bear droppings."

One tourist asked, "How do you identify bear droppings?"

"Oh that's easy," the guide explained, "its the ones with all the tiny bells in them!"

A tour guide was talking with a group of school kids at in the Golan Heights when one of the kids asked him if he had ever came face-to-face with a wolf.
"Yes, I came face to face with a wolf once. And as luck would have it, I was alone and without a weapon."
"What did you do?" the little girl asked.
"What could I do? First, I tried looking him straight in the eyes but he slowly came toward me. I moved back, but he kept coming nearer and nearer. I had to think fast."
"How did you get away?"
"As a last resort, I just turned around and walked quickly to the next cage."

A tourist is traveling with a guide through at one of the historical sites in Israel, when he comes across an ancient Jewish synagogue. The tourist is entranced by the synagogue, and asks the guide for details. To this, the guide states that archaeologists are carrying out excavations, and still finding great treasures. The tourist then queries how old the shul is.

"This shul is 2503 years old", replies the guide.

Impressed at this accurate dating, he inquires as to how he gave this precise figure.

"Easy", replies the guide, "the archaeologists said the temple was 2500 years old, and that was three years ago."

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

Answer is B– Whenever I pass this site on my way down to the Dead Sea from Jerusalem in the Judean desert, I ask my tourists how they know that Moshe is certainly not buried here, where the Muslims believe he is. Many people answer that the Torah tells us that the grave of Moshe will never be known. I point out to them that certainly does not prove that he is not buried here. Maybe he is maybe he isn’t, we just don’t know. I want to know how we know he is for sure not buried here. When they can’t answer I ask them what country we are in. Oh! Israel. Wellll… Did Moshe ecer make it in here? No! so for sure he is certainly not buried here. Now the Muslims as well believe in the Torah that Moshe did not cross the Jordan into Israel. Yet they believe that Muhammed schlepped here after he was dead. Yeah… another bubbe maaiseh.

The Greatest Love of All- Parshat Vetchanan / Tu B'Av/ Nachamu 2016/5776

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

August 19^th 2016 -Volume 6, Issue 46 15^th Av 5776

Parshat Vaetchanan/Tu B’Av and Nachamu

The Greatest Love of All

                                                                              

They had known each other for years, but their love had never been consummated. They had grown closer and closer. They could feel the hot oxygen emanating from each other on their faces. But yet they never touched. They never felt that physical contact or the loving embrace of their beloved, their counterpart. All around them was a world full of color, full of connection, generations giving life to new generations. Yet like Romeo and Juliet these two remained doomed to never realizing that dream. They were frozen in time. Only about 2 inches from one another, but there it seemed they would always remain. Until a few months ago. When the tragic love story, seemed like it might just have a happy ending, despite many geologists predictions.

I’m talking of course about stalactites and stalagmites, you understand. Why what did you think this was about? For those non-scientific types out there or non-geologists. Stalactites and stalagmites are these little icicle-like looking things that are formed in caves from cracks that are formed by water dripping through a cave with a certain humidity level where the CO2 kind of burps out of these little cones and drips water with some of the stone dust and minerals to form another cone from the ground up. I know it doesn’t sound too romantic-especially with the burp in there. Nor does this sound to scientific. But I’m a Rabbi and a tour guide not a scientist. And the geology part of our course was in Hebrew about two month after I moved here when my Hebrew pretty much consisted of ‘shalom’, ‘peetza’, ‘falafel’ ‘shwarma’, ‘toda rabba’, ‘sherutim’. You know the important words. So when they started talking about

pachman and chamtzan du shtayim, I was kind of at a loss. Anyways in Israel in Mearat Hanetifim they have the largest concentration in one place of the greatest variety of these magnificent S&S’es. It’s a great place to really appreciate the beauty of Hashem’s creation. They take on all types of shapes and forms. With a bit of imagination one can see spaghetti, broccoli, a bride a groom, a wedding cake, a boat, smurfs, eggs a finger, Moses and even the Lion King. It’s really cool. Just to think that this is really something that geologists estimate with a growth rate of .2 mm a year it took hundreds of thousands of years if not more to form which for us observant Jews who believe that Hashem created the world 5776 years ago would mean that he created it this way in the 6 days of Creation. So stepping into these caves that were left untouched by man, until they were uncovered in 1968 by a dynamite blast, is like stepping into that pristine world of Creation and it is truly awesome.

One of the highlights of the cave that tour-guides like to show is the stalactite and stalagmite that they have named Romeo and Juliette. They stand literally an inch or so apart and for some reason before connecting it dried up. There was no water dripping out from the top to the bottom. It was the unrequited love. I would bring tourists there and I always commented that it was to me like that love between Hashem and the Jewish people. From top to bottom. We had almost connected. We had almost joined heaven and earth. But it stopped. I always believed that one day they would come together and just few months ago. The impossible seemed to happen. They started dripping once again. There is hope. Much to the geologists and scientists predictions that it was hopeless. Which of course gave me much satisfaction. Like most Yeshiva guys we like when scientists are proven wrong- it makes me feel less bad about skipping all those classes when we were in yeshiva J. That true eternal love is on its way. I’m not one for interpreting heavenly signs. But I sure am hopeful… Maybe that happy ending will be here as well for us.

It’s a romantic week this week. This Friday is the holiday of Tu B’Av- the fifteenth day of Av (Tu is the numerical value of 15 Tet-9 plus vav pronounced U as 6). The Talmud tells us that in early times ‘there were no happier days for the Jewish people then the 15^th of Av and Yom Kippur, when the daughters of Israel would get dressed in white and dance in the vineyards and court the young men to marry them”. A little different then I would say we celebrate Yom Kippur today- I must say. But that’s another E-Mail. In modern times I’ve seen many places that advertise and call this the “Jewish Valentines Day”. Oyy… Primarily flower stores and synagogues that are trying to get people into their doors with some extra enticing summer singles programming. I saw one ad that called it “Tu B’Av is Two B’Love” Oy Oy Oy….

I don’t think that’s what our sages were talking about.

So what is the reason for this holiday? How come most people haven’t heard of it? What’s it about?

The Talmud at the end of Tractate Taanit 26: says

“"On these days, the young maidens of Yerushalayim would emerge in the streets wearing borrowed white clothing [so as not to embarrass the poor who did not have garments of their own. They would form a circle (and dance) in the vineyards. What would they say (while they danced)? 'Young man, lift up your eyes and appreciate whom you are selecting (to marry). Don't look at our beauty. Instead, look at the family (from which we descend).' It is written (Song of Songs 3:11), 'Go out and look, you daughters of Zion, at King Shlomo's crown, which was adorned by his mother, (for him to wear) at the day of his wedding and the day of his heart's rejoicing.' The expression 'at the day of his wedding' refers to the Giving of the Torah, (Yom Kippur when the second tablets were given) and the expression 'the day of his heart's rejoicing' refers to the rebuilding of the Beit Hamikdash (the Temple in Jerusalem), may it occur swiftly in our lifetime."

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? What happened on this day? Perhaps Jacob found his beloved Rachel? No? Adam met Eve? No. How about Ruth married Boaz? And again no? So what did happen on this day to make it such a special day?

The Talmud tells us quite a few things. Some seemingly not so comprehensible. The first thing historically that happened we are told that the Jews as the end of the forty years in the wilderness stopped dying. Doesn’t that sound romantic to you? Makes you just want to go out and dance in the vineyards, doesn’t it? Why is this a happy thing? The reason why the Jews stopped dying is because all the men age 20-60 that were meant to have died over the 40 years were dead. Meaning that there tens of thousands of orphans and widows that entered the land of Israel. This would seem like a good day to make a fundraiser or prayer ceremony for widows and orphans. Or maybe just to have a marry-a-widow holiday. In fact that theme seems to continue for the next point in history where it comes up we are told is even before the temple was built- which would then make it obviously before its destruction on the 9^th of Av-is in the end of the book of judges after the great civil war where we almost wipe out the tribe of Binyamin and the tribes did not want to marry them. On Tu B’Av, our sages tell us, they decided to once again allow their women to marry them. And they would gather in Shilo and dance and carry off their brides. This is certainly a little more romantic however again it is only after they tribe was on the brink of destruction.

To make matters even stranger some of the next reasons for the holiday seem even more bizzare. The Talmud tells us that it was a day that the10’s of thousands of dead after the Bar Kochva revolt were finally permitted to be buried. And because it was on this day that they would stop cutting trees for the altar, as the summer equinox was ending and there was no longer enough sun to dry out the trees. So maybe this should be an ecological holiday or a day for the Chevra Kaddisha- Jewish burial society. What does this have to do with marriage? With romance? With Tu B’Love?

If you ask me perhaps the most romantic thing about Tu B’Av which is not mentioned in the Talmud is that it is the middle of the month. It’s a full moon. Is there anything more romantic then that? The sky is clear, you are out in the field with your beloved. The sun is setting and that huge moon starts to rise and shines its beautiful light amongst the stars down on the face of your beloved. The 15^th is the peak of the month of Av. It’s when the moon is at its fullest. In the words of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav it’s when the Kinnot-lamentations turn to tikkun- to fixing to completion. This past Sunday we were sitting on the floor mourning the destruction, yet we are told that at Mincha on Tish B’Av from that destruction Mashiach is born. The Talmud noted above calls Tu B’Av the day of the rebuilding of the Temple. In it is pointed out by many that the first day of Passover always falls out on the same day of the week as the 9^th of Av. To tell us that just as the first redemption took place on Passover the eventual celebration of the building of the Temple will as well take place on the same day in Av. Just as by Pesach it took us until the 7^th day by the splitting of the sea until we truly realized the salvation was complete and we burst out in song. The 15^th of Av- the 7^th day from the 9^th of Av is the realization the simcha of that day of the building of that Temple. It is when the moon is fullest it was when we can see clearly that the smoke of destruction has been pre-empted already with the day of return. It is when we reveal that we can reconnect and the juices, the oxygen the fuel that we need to rise up and meet our beloved once again is within us.

Let’s work backwards. Rabbi Akiva and his students felt that the revolt against the Romans was the Messianic period after the destruction of the Temple. Yet they were crushed. Hadrian slaughtered us. It was when we thought it was truly all over. We couldn’t even bury our dead. Hadrian didn’t permit it. Why not? Why do we bury any dead? Because we believe that they are our treasure, because we were taken from dust, we will return from dust, but most importantly because we believe we will rise up again by the resurrection of the dead. There will be a future. Our death is merely like a seed being returned to the ground only with time to grow and flourish. When we were able on the 15^th of Av able to do that again. We didn’t just have closure. We understood that Hashem was telling us that our future would come. We will rise again.

In the times of the Temple ceased to cut the wood for the altar on this day. The sun would no longer be hot enough to dry out the logs. We had all the fuel we needed. We could now light the fire from ourselves. Hashem had provided us with the wood, all we needed to do was to ignite it. With our fire, with our faith, with our longing with our love. The Talmud tells us that on Tu B’Av as well the barriers that were set up to divide the Jewish people by Yeravam and keep the northern kingdom-the 10 tribes separate from Jerusalem were removed by the King Hoshea. We had thought we were divided. That Hashem Echad that can only be seen when the nation is one on this world would never happen. And yet on the 15^th of Av, we realized we are ‘too small a people to be a small people’. We can get together. Love and connection that we share can see past all the politics, the fights and the religious differences. The Jews returned to the Temple.

Even before the Temple when we first came to the Land as well. Can you imagine the devastation after the civil war. The vision of that kingdom of Israel, that dream to one day build the Temple would never happen. Jew killed Jew tens of thousands from the tribe of Benjamin would murdered and tens of thousands of Jews were murdered by them. One can’t even fathom that. The Civil War in America was ‘peanuts’ compared to that war. And yet when all was said and done. On the 15^th of Av we saw that full moon and realized that we could still reconnect. We can still find love. That stalactite from above still had some juice in it and we just need to join in a circle find our bashert and create the highest love, the holiest marriage from what seemed like the ashes of our destruction.

And finally to where it all began from. The first 15^th of Av. It was a week after the last 9^th of Av in the wilderness. For forty years each morning after the 9^th of Av the tribes woke up and buried their dead. But that year they didn’t. They had all died. It was all over. Was it a mistake? Did they miscalculate? They waited a week and on the 15^th they realized that they had truly come to the end. Yet is that a cause for celebration. For weddings? For romance? The Talmud tells us that something else happened that year on that morning for the first time in 38 years Hashem spoke to Moshe face-to face once again. The shechina had once again returned to that same pristine state that it was before we rejected and complained about Israel. The claim that we had that Hashem took us out of Egypt because He hates us was finally eradicated. There was no longer any hate. We had healed. The voice of Hashem returned. Rashi notes in last week’s parsha that although Moshe did not do anything wrong by the sin of the spies, Hashem didn’t speak to him directly with that clarity until the 15^th of Av. “to teach us that the shechina only spoke to him in that merit of Israel”. 38 years we don’t have that clarity. Which if you ask me is why there is so little in the Torah about that period of time. Once the shechina comes back Moshe doesn’t stop transmitting. The entire book of Devarim is the ecstasy of that returned and reunited love. There is nothing more powerful than that.

There are those that say that one does not realize how special, how important, how much you loved someone until that person is taken away from you. The 15^th of Av, that most powerful day of rejoicing is the day that after you realized how much you have lost, how much, you have loved, how much you need that relationship and how much you are in pain and your life is in disarray and incomplete without it, that all of sudden you get it all back. You get it for real. It’s not a day of romance. It’t a day of true love. Of eternal love. Not of Romeo and Juliet and not of stalactites and mites, but of heaven and earth, of Hashem and his beloved, of our people with one another. It is His kingdom and His home finally on earth. It is the greatest love of all. And if those stalactites are any sign, we should be experiencing it pretty soon…

 Have a love-filled Shabbos that is doubly comforting and full of love!

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEO CLIPS OF THE WEEK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmyKFLQDHns – Yaakov Shwekey newest video ‘We Are a Miracle’ Powerful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSA0pkEsenI  – TU B’Av song I think I wanna marry you…OY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T1dnPU0ZlM –Romeo and Juliet stalagtites in Hebrew if you want just skip 2:04 to see Romeo and Juliet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3tMvGgCEx0 – Chevron massacre of 1929 this week Yartzeit of the week- graphic pictures warning but very moving and chilling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWWuYadWME0 –and finally bonus Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach live Nachamu!

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

“Az da krigst zikh, krig zikh azoi du zolst zikh kennen iberbeten.”- If you quarrel- quarrel in  a way that you can reconcile

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S JEWISH PERSONALITY AND HIS QUOTES IN HONOR OF THE YARTZEIT  OF THE WEEK

“Hard as the world is to explain with the Almighty, it is harder yet without the Holy One”

 ""Accordingly, you and I should go there so they can have a sample of each.".-  quoted when he was once seated at dinner next to an important personality and an anti-Semite, who told him he had just returned from Japan where they "have neither pigs nor Jews." 

Sir  Moshe Chaim Montefiore- 16^th Av this Shabbos (1784-1884)-Moses Montefiore was born in the  Italian city of Livorno. His grandfather, Moses Chaim Montefiore was a Sephardic Jew from that city, who later settled in London. He had 17 sons, one of whom, Joseph Elijah, was the father of Moses. When Joseph Elijah, together with his wife, traveled on business to Livorno, Moses was born there.

Moses Montefiore was raised in England in an atmosphere of Torah and Mitzvoth, and he remained a staunch, devout Jew throughout his entire life. In London he developed a big business, together with his brother Abraham. They did business with the Rothschilds: dealt in finance, and large industrial and commercial establishments. They formed an Insurance Company; a Gas Company, that introduced gas-lighting into many of the important cities of Europe. They also had a hand in the building of railroads, and in many other industrial and financial enterprises.

Moses Montefiore accumulated great wealth and became famous. In 1837 he was appointed "Sheriff" of London. He was the second Jew to occupy that important position. In the same year, Queen Victoria, who had just ascended the British throne, gave him the honorary title of "Knighthood," with the title "Sir" and in 1846 he was elevated to the rank of Baron.

Moses Montefiore differed from certain other Jews who, upon accumulating wealth and honor, sad to say, turn away from their religion. Moses Montefiore, remained a religious Jew his entire life. At an early age, he started to interest himself in the lot of his fellow Jews. Later on, he used his great influence to obtain equal rights for the Jews in England. He was Gabbai (trustee) of the Sephardic Congregations of London, and was six times elected as Community Leader (Rosh HaKahal). For a period of 36 years, he was the head of the "Jewish Board of Deputies" - the organization of the United Congregations, and of elected Jewish officials, who represented British Jewry. When, at the age of 90, he gave up his position, the United Congregations of England gave him a farewell gift -12,000 pounds sterling. He donated the entire sum to build houses for the poor in Jerusalem. Being an orthodox Jew, he naturally loved the Holy Land, and he supported the worthy institutions most generously. He visited Eretz Yisroel seven times -the last time being in 1875, at the age of 91. If we take into consideration that a journey in those days entailed great difficulties, we can then realize what it meant for a person of such an advanced age to undertake such a trip. He distributed a vast amount of money in Eretz Yisroel; he built Synagogues, supported Yeshivos, and founded various types of important institutions. He had previously built a tomb over Mother Rachel's grave, in 1866, the magnificent tomb which is so well known. The Jews in Eretz Yisroel regarded him as a G‑d sent messenger, sent to help them in their great need.

When the terrible blood-libel broke out in Damascus in 1840, Sir Moses Montefiore went there personally to defend the falsely accused Jews. The outrageously false blood-libel (that Jews use Christian blood in the Matzah for Pesach) that had cost so many Jewish lives in the dark times of the Middle Ages, and was then renewed in Damascus, not only threatened the lives of the accused, but also those of the entire community, and of Jews everywhere. Sir Moses Montefiore (with the help of other prominent Jewish and non-Jewish leaders) managed to persuade the Sultan to issue a "firman" (decree) in which he declared the blood-libel to be false and prohibited its renewal.

In 1846 the Russian government officially invited Sir Moses Montefiore to visit Russia in connection with the Jewish situation in Russia. The Czarist government, aided by some leaders of the "Haskalah" ("Enlightenment") movement, tried to Russify, i.e., assimilate, the broad masses of Russian Jewry. The government hoped that with the support of such an important Jewish personality as Sir Moses Montefiore, it would certainly win its fight against the religious Jewish leaders in Russia, who refused to cooperate with the government in this matter, and who hindered every effort to force assimilation on Russian Jewry. Montefiore accepted the invitation, with the intention seeing what he could do about the persecutions and pogroms which so often plagued the Jews there.

When Montefiore arrived in Petersburg (now called Leningrad), the Czarist minister, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Education, greeted him with a long list of "accusations" against Russian Jewry and their religious leaders. He undertook a trip through the towns and villages where the Jews lived, and upon returning to London, he compiled two memoranda from the material he gathered during his trip. Following that visit Sir Moses Montefiore wrote to them in a polite but firm manner, so as not to incite them that the Jewish problem in Russia had nothing to do with the Jews' education, which happened to be on a high level. He denied the false accusations made against the Jews, and in turn, accused the government of dealing falsely with the Jews; he described the terrible economic position of the Jews because of government decrees, expulsions, pogroms, and economic sanctions. He demanded equal rights for the Jews, and stressed that it would also be a blessing for the country. Thanks to the great self-sacrifice of the Russian Jews, who were strengthened and encouraged by Montefiore's efforts on their behalf, the government finally gave up many of its plans to force conversion and assimilation of the Russian Jews. Their economic position also took a turn for the better because of Montefiore's recommendations.

Sir Moses Montefiore was also received in audience by the Pope in Rome (in 18 5 8 ) when he went there to intercede on behalf of an Italian Jewish boy who was forcibly converted as a small child lying ill in bed. The gentile maid "sprinkled him with water," and the church declared him to be a Christian. The boy was forcibly taken away from his parents and brought up as a Christian. The case of the child Murtara caused a great storm of indignation, but no intercession helped to return the child to his Jewish parents.

When in Rumania, on a visit to help his Jewish brothers there, Sir Moses Montefiore once found himself in grave danger when a wild mob wanted to attack him. He narrowly escaped with his life. Nothing deterred him, however, when it was a question of helping his poor, persecuted brothers.

Sir Moses Montefiore died on the 13th of Av 5645 (1885) at the ripe old age of over 100 years.

His Yahrzeit(anniversary) is observed yearly by the institutions which are maintained even today from the funds that he left for this purpose.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

In the past, the Jews of Acre were buried in:

A.    Kfar Yassif

B.  Yarka

C.  Jadide

D.  Tel Regev

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL RASHI OF THE WEEK

OK we’ve been doing this for close to a year now. It’s your turn to learn a Rashi the way it should be learned. Let’s see how far you’ve come. Let’s see if anybody actually reads this section of the E-mail. Let’s do it different this week. I’m going to give you a Rashi and it’s your turn to examine and try to come up with the secrets, the ideas and perhaps something Rashi is trying to teach us. It’s a verse that we are all familiar with. We recite it twice a day it’s part of the Shema. The Torah tells us (Devarim 6:7)

 V’Shinantom l’vanecha- and you shall teach them {the words of Torah) to your sons

The verse seems simple enough, the previous Rashi notes the strange terminology of Vshinantom rather then Vlimadita means to express sharpness so that they know it well enough to answer anyone. Then comes the Rashi that I want to focus on that has been troubling me this week here it is

L’vanecha-to your sons Rashi- these are your students. We have found in all places that your students are called sons as it says (ibid 14:1) ‘You are sons to Hashem, your God’ and it says (Kings II 2:3) ‘The sons of the prophets who were in Beit El’ and so it is with Hezekia who taught Torah to all Israel and called them sons, as it says (Divrei Hayamim II 29:1) ‘My sons do not be negligent now.’ And just as students are called sons so is the rabbi/teacher called a father as it says Kings II 2:12) Avi Avi Rechev Yisrael- My father my father chariot of Israel etc…)

That’s it. That’s the Rashi. Anything bother you about it? I’ll pause for a minute so you can read it again. Ok. So I had about 10 questions on this Rashi. Let’s see what you came up with.

Here’s what bothered me. Remember our rules about Rashi. First of all Rashi as we know is coming to explain the simple understanding of the text, in his words so that even a five year old may understand it. Second rule Rashi only quotes sources when necessary. He only quotes additional sources when one is not fully sufficient. Third rule Rashi only quotes the words necessary that he quotes to understand any problems he might have in the text. Ink cost a lot of money and when Rashi writes etcetera that means everything until the etc. was necessary. Fourth rule Rashi generally will try to utilize the words of the Midrash that he needs to explain it. If he changes the words of the Midrash it means he wants to express something different over here. Finally Rashi doesn’t just throw in extra information ‘while I’m at it’ when he writes something it as well is necessary for understanding the text.

Ok now go back and read the Rashi and tell me if you have any questions….

So I’ll share with you some of mine. And perhaps from there I’ll even give you a hint on where to go with it. But you have to do the rest of the work on your own,

A)    The simple understanding of sons is actually children why does Rashi understand that this is not the simple pshat of the verse and says that it means students?

B)    Why he does he need to quote so many sources? What does one have that the other doesn’t? Seemingly Rashi feels that need because he says that we ‘find in all places’ that it mean students. He thus needs to prove it from Torah, Prophets and scripture. Why?

C)    Why does he have to add in the children of the prophets of Beit El, why does he have to add in the words do not be negligent and why mention chariot of Israel as parts of the quotes.

D)    The Sifri-which is the Midrashic source for this is changed a bit by Rashi. There it mentions that Hezekia is the king of Israel which Rashi leaves out, yet Rashi adds in that he taught Torah to all of Israel.

E)     Finally why does Rashi have to add in that a teacher is called a father and why does he say it in an interesting way that just as they are children a teacher is a father what does one have to do with the other and what is he adding by that?

There’s some food for thought to ponder. I’ll give you an answer to at least the first part of the question A by the Lubavitcher Rebbe (you can cheat and look there for the answers to all of them as well as some other questions). He suggests that Rashi is troubled by the notion that a child will ask. If there is a mitzva for the father to teach his son Torah then why do I have to go to school? Why are there Rabbis and students? We don’t find anyone going to a Rabbi to fulfill any other commandment for them why by the teaching of Torah would someone try to absolve themselves of their commandment by having a Rabbi do it for them. Thus Rashi understands that the simple meaning of the word ‘sons’ over here is as it is in many places not literal natural children, rather it means spiritual children.

So there’s the beginning of your answer. I’m leaving it up to you figure out the rest.

But isn’t it amazing how much info can be found if we just took the time to really examine Rashi in  serious way! Amazing!

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL HISTORICAL EVENT THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DATE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

The Palestine Riots and Massacres of 1929- 10^th Av August 15^th 2005- In the summer of 1929 the Arabs of Palestine initiated rioting and massacres against the Jewish population in several towns. The targets were not Zionists who had dispossessed Arabs of their lands, but for the most part Jewish communities of the "old Yishuv," communities that had lived in Palestine for many hundreds of years. The pogroms were of the same general character as pogroms that had taken place sporadically  in Palestine for hundreds of years, usually referred to euphemistically by Jews of Safed, Tiberias, Jerusalem and Hebron as "Meoraot" - "events." The worst massacres took place in Safed, Hebron, Jerusalem and Motza. Like the pogroms of past ages, these "disturbances" featured angry crowds stirred up over a religious or other dispute, Imams preaching "Kill the Jews wherever you find them" and mobs screaming "Aleihum" (get them) and "Itbach Al Yahood" - murder the Jews. In a few days, over a hundred Jews were murdered and several hundreds were wounded.

Throughout the 1920s, tension had been brewing between Palestinian Jews and Arabs for some time, with little or no action by the mandate government to alleviate it. The Husseinis controlled the Palestine Arab Executive and Supreme Muslim Council. Haj Amin El Husseini was Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. The Husseinis hoped to further their position by exploiting hatred against the Jews. The issue of contention was an imagined Jewish threat to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, centering around Jewish attempts to improve the facilities of the nearby wailing wall, a remnant of the Jewish temple, where they gathered for prayer. The wailing wall is part of the West Wall, Al Buraq, where according to Muslim belief, Muhammed tethered his horse when he was miraculously transported to Jerusalem. Thus, it is holy to Muslims too.

There is no doubt that the mosque built on the site of the temple was never a source of joy for Jews, but Jewish tradition holds that the temple can only be rebuilt when the messiah comes. The Zionists certainly had no designs on the mosque itself. The wailing wall however, because of its proximity to the mosque of Al Aqsa, was long a source of friction. Islamic law holds that no non-Muslims may pray in proximity to a mosque while prayers are held in the mosque, because that would disturb the prayers of the faithful. The Jews of Jerusalem had gotten many warnings during the hundreds of years of Muslim rule, about prayer at the wailing wall or in synagogues in the Jewish quarter that supposedly disturbed the prayers of the Muslims. This "Holy Place" was a natural place of contention.

In 1928, the Muslims tried to get the British to confirm their rights over the Western Wall, including the space used by Jews for worship. Husseini had helped to organize refurbishing of the long neglected mosques in Jerusalem now he initiated new construction activities in October of 1928. Bricks from the "construction" fell "accidentally" on Jewish worshippers in the wailing wall area below. The Arabs drove mules through the prayer area. Muezins (the announcers of the mosques) who called the faithful to prayer turned up the volume in their PA systems so as to disturb the Jewish prayer.

The Zionist community, especially the right, took up the challenge. Right-wing Zionists of the revisionist movement demanded Jewish control of the wall. Some even demanded rebuilding the temple, alarming the Muslims even more and providing a factual basis for the agitation. On August 14, 1929, about 6,000 Jews paraded in Tel Aviv and that evening, about 3,000 gathered at the wall in Jerusalem for prayer, a huge crowd for the then very cramped space. The next day the right-wing Betar revisionist youth paraded by the hundreds, carrying billy-club batons. Rumors circulated that the Jews were about to march on the Haram as Sharif - the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The Arabs circulated inflammatory leaflets, apparently printed earlier. One read, "Hearts are in tumult because of these barbaric deeds, and the people began to break out in shouts of 'war, Jihad... rebellion.'... O Arab nation, the eyes of your brothers in Palestine are upon you... and they awaken your religious feelings and national zealotry to rise up against the enemy who violated the honor of Islam and raped the women and murdered widows and babies." The Jews had killed no-one, and had attacked no-one.

On Friday August 16, after an inflammatory sermon, a mass of Arab demonstrators proceeded from the mosques to the Western Wall, where they burned prayer books. The British were woefully unprepared to deal with disturbances. In all of Palestine there were 292 British police. In Hebron, there was a single British police officer commanding a tiny force of Arabs, many of them old, and one Jew.

On August 17, a riot in the Bukharian Jewish quarter of Jerusalem left one Jew dead. The funeral, held August 20, turned into a mass demonstration with cries for vengeance. Beginning on August 22, Arab villagers, armed with sticks, knives and guns, gathered in the Haram as Sharif. Following Friday prayers and the usual inflammatory sermon on August 23, they poured out into the streets of Jerusalem and proceeded to murder and loot. By the time the riots were over in Jerusalem on August 24, 17 Jews were dead. The rioters opened fire simultaneously in several neighborhoods. The small town of Motza was attacked by Arabs who killed every member of the Makleff family but one. A very young boy, Mordechai Makleff, hid under a bed. He grew up to be Chief of Staff of the IDF for a brief time during the War of Independence. Several settlements next to Motza had to be abandoned. Kibbutz Hulda was evacuated by the British. Arab marauders burned the kibbutz. The British killed 40 Arabs there. The worst fury of the Arabs, however, was directed at the tiny ancient Jewish community of Hebron, where 64-67 Jews were massacred in a few hours of rioting on August 24, 1924.

The British flew in additional reinforcements from Egypt and elsewhere. The riots spread to Tel-Aviv and Haifa and Safed.  In Safed, 18 Jews were killed and 80 injured.

In all 133 Jews and 116 Arabs were killed in the riots, 339 Jews and 232 Arabs were injured. Most of the Arabs were killed by the British police and some by the Haganah in self-defense.The massacres of 1929 had thus launched two themes that were to recur in the history of Israel and Palestine: agitation related to the al-Aqsa mosques and the Jewish desire for separation from the Arabs of Palestine, for self-protection.

The immediate consequences of the riots were that the British caved in to every demand of the Arabs. Though only a small number of Jews had immigrated to Palestine under the mandate, the British accepted at face value the claim of the Mufti that these immigrants, rather than the world economic depression, were at fault for the real or imagined woes of the Arabs of Palestine. In the year 1930, when unemployment reached 25% in some countries, Palestinian Arabs had an unemployment rate of 4%. This "misery" was the "fault" of the Zionist immigration. These were the findings of the Shaw commission which investigated the "causes" of the riots, and of the Hope-Simpson report, which was commissioned to justify the policy changes. Simultaneously with the Hope-Simpson report the British Government issued the Passfield White Paper, which made it clear that Britain intended to sharply curtail Jewish immigration. The Passfield White Paper of 1930 caused an uproar in Parliament however. The British also issued a set of discriminatory regulations that restricted Jewish rights in the wailing wall, returning the situation to the same state as existed under the Ottoman Empire, when Muslim - Jewish relations were governed by the inferior dhimmi status of Jews in Islam. And thus the stirrings of the War of Independence had begun.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S  JOKES OF THE WEEK

Q: Did you hear the one about the geologist?

A: He took his wife for granite so she left him

Q: What did the boy volcano say to the girl volcano? A: I Lava You!

Q: How did the geology student drown? A: His grades were below C-level

. Q: Anyone know any jokes about sodium deposits? A: Na

Geology One Liners Did you hear oxygen and magnesium got together? OMg

And the one that helped me remember the difference in the above E-mail which is which

Cave formations are like ants in the pants: the mites to up and the tights come down

  

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

Answer is A – To be honest I don’t even know where the other places are on this question although I have heard of Yarka and sure I must have passed it just to lazy to check. But the truth is I pass Kfar Yasif often as it’s a few miles out of Akko. Jews back then would be buried over there as there is a question in the Talmud if the present day Akko was part of the biblical borders of Israel as the border cut inland. So they wanted to be sure that they would at least be buried in Israel. In fact there is a grave in this arab village in the old jewish cemetery that supposedly said Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato on it. Although today his grave can be found in Tiverya by Rabbi Akiva. Where is he truly buried? Was he moved? Why to Tiverya? You need come on one of my tours to find out J