Butt In- Parshat Devarim Chazon 2025 5785

 Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

August 1^st 2025 -Volume 14 Issue 39 7^th of Av 5785

 

Parshat Devarim / Chazon

 Butt In

 

So I'm not sure if this week's E-mail will qualify as a Dvar Torah. Actually, I'm not sure if any week's does. Especially if you only scroll down to the jokes (yes Shimmy, I'm talking to you…). But this week I'm really not sure. Which is not a bad thing, being that this Sunday is Tisha B'Av and there is a slight chance that Mashiach won't be here and that we will have to fast and watch annoying Chafetz Chaim heritage videos about lashon hara and sinas chinam and we will be forbidden to learn "real" Torah. So this E-mail might work out well for you and be permitted to for you to read. Who knows it may even inspire you as well… Although I doubt it. See, I've pretty much given up hope…

 

It's been 664 days already and I don't see a light at the end of this tunnel. I just don't get it. Why is this still shlepping out? Why are we still fighting in the streets and arguing about stupidities? Why are there protests and more protests and more noise and protests? Why are my brothers and sisters still sitting in tunnels in Gaza? Why are there hundreds of families that haven't buried their dead, because their bodies are still being held captive as well? Eicha? How much longer will this take? When will this end? Why are we still here?

 

There is so much tired sadness in this country right now. I don't think there are enough therapists in the world to deal with the "ba'ayot nafshiyot" the mental and emotional distress, the pain in the soul, the hopelessness, the anger, the betrayal, the lack of light that we have undergone over this past year, since last year Tisha B'Av when we thought for sure this would be over and Mashiach would be here already. I was just in Tzfat yesterday and passed by a friend of mine's store and saw a sign up announcing his death. He was a young man, my age, a father of 8. He ran a "Kabbala" educational center there. Except it wasn't a death. He ended his own life, as hundreds over the past two years have because of the things they've seen, experienced and are going through and the help that they so desperately need either isn't coming to them or its not helping. I walked a little further up the block and met another friend, his son was killed a few months ago. He looked like the shell of a person that he was two years ago. I hugged him. I felt his sadness. It's too much. Eicha. How can this end?

 

I open the papers. I check my news regularly, like every ten minutes or so. I can't disconnect. All I see and read are people not getting it. All I see are a nation that seems to be missing the boat. I see a government that is feeding its enemies, rather than killing them. I see a country obsessed with drafting useless Yeshiva guys out of Beit Midrash to ki"ilu go and fight. Threats of arresting them, with threatening to starve them and take away their subsidies. At the same time I see Rabbis and yeshiva students fighting back. They block my traffic. They scream hateful things. They play the victim. And they refuse to connect and to do what they're supposed to do.

 

 I have a very easy solution that would solve all of these problems. I'm not a Rabbi, I'm not a prophet, I wouldn't even go as far as to say I'm Daas Torah in anyway or form. But can someone please explain to me, what would happen if tomorrow 20,000 yeshiva students and Kollel guys showed up for their draft and demanded guns so that they can go into Gaza and slaughter every single man woman and child there. That they fly over the entire strip with gasoline and then drop a cigarette on the whole place out of their window. That they kidnap all of their children and starve them in a cage until they give us our children back. That we do to our enemies and all of their supporters exactly what our ancestors did to them when we first came into the land. One word. Genocide. Three times in this week's parsha the Torah and Moshe tell us in his final speech how we conquered the land coming into Israel. How we did exactly that. There's a reason we're meant to read this speech each year before Tisha B'Av. It's with the hope that we would finally get it's message and not have to watch inspirational videos on the floor about pillows and feathers and whatsapp groups dangers. That we would finally get to the core of the reason why we're here and what we need to do to get up again.

 

It's a fascinating speech. It's the last message he gives us before we enter the land. It's what this generation who survived the wilderness and the death of all of their fathers needs to know as it approaches what should've been our ultimate entrance to the land. And it is what our generation needs to know as we are here to fix their mistakes, sins, and failings.  It stood out to me as I read the parsha as a whole. What is Moshe really telling us. What is the message he is really trying to convey, that we read each year on this parsha that is always read before Tisha B'av?

 

Moshe starts off naming some of the various sins that we committed in a hint form, by name -dropping locations. The golden calf, our sins of complaining, our sins of idolatry, of the daughters of Midian, of not appreciating the Manna, of our fear by the Yam Suf and the Egyptians. We did a lot of bad things. But that's not what's so important. Those are just hints. The next stuff he tells us about is what's really important. It's here where he starts to be "b'eir ha'Torah ha'zos"- to do some Moshesplainin' about what it's all about.

 

Devarim (1:6-) Hashem spoke to us at Chorev telling us that we have sat too long at this Mountain. Penu-Turn and travel to the land of the Emori, the Arava, the Shefela lowlands, the Negev, the shoreline of the Cana'ani, Lebanon until the Euphrates. See I have given before you the land come an inherit the land sworn to your Patriarchs to give to them and their descendants afterwards…

 

The entire land is ours. It's ours to inherit. Hashem is inviting us in. But we have a problem, the Klei Yakar tells us. We are sitting at Mt. Sinai for too long. Do you know what that problem is? We like learning Torah too much and we don't want to actually do what we are practically supposed to do with the Torah.  He writes

 

"travel from the place you learned Torah to the place you are meant to observe it. For the Study is not what the main thing is, rather it's the action and fulfillment. (Lo ha'midrash elah ha'maaseh)".

 

The word "penu"- turn and travel, he notes doesn't just mean to change direction. It means that there has to be a fundamental internalization of what our objective and job is. Why we're here. It's not to study Torah in Lakewood or even in Bnai Brak. It's not to keep Shabbos in Poland, Sukkos in Lithuania, Pesach in Boro Park or Cancun, or Rosh Hashana in Uman. It's about coming to inherit the one land that Hashem promised us and to shine the light of His Shechina out to the rest of the world as we build a house of worship and connection for all of the nations. We eradicate evil and bring down the glory of Hashem. "Penu- turn in" to oneself. Internalize why we're here and chosen and then travel.

 

But as Moshe continues, we didn't do that. We set up bureaucracies. We created court systems, we wanted distance between us and Hashem. We made more and more fights and intricacies of Torah and we forgot the big picture. Tachlis, when we sent in spies to the land, they didn't internalize the message. It's why in pasuk 18 it doesn't say the word penu- rather just that they traveled. They returned from their doomed mission on Tisha B'av and said we couldn't do it. Hashem is not within our midst. We didn't believe in our mission. We didn't believe we could walk in and just kill everyone as Hashem had wanted us and assured us we could do. We didn't believe He wanted us to leave our Beit Midrash and Torah study in order to bring the world to a place where they all connected to Hashem. So we cried and mourned and we stopped traffic and made protests and even called for atzeret ha'tefilla because of our dire situation that we might have to leave the Bais Midrash and conquer our land. It is here that Moshe tells us our biggest problem.

 

"It is in this matter that you do not believe in Hashem".

 

That was that generation's problem and thus they all had to die. Because a useless nation that doesn't have what it takes to bring Hashem's light into the world from Eretz Yisrael really serve no purpose in the Big picture of why He chose us.

 

The next day on the 10^th of Av another group of radical people got up and decided that they would try to conquer Eretz Yisrael without the Ark of Hashem. They would go up anyways. They would fight and give their lives for the country. But they also were wrong. Secular people without the Ark of Hashem coming to the land of Israel and to establish a "Jewish" state is not our avoda either. They were all killed. The nation cried on that 10^th of Av as well, but Hashem didn't listen. The generation died. 38 years later we have a second chance, Moshe tells them. And they listen. Va'neifen, va'nisa- and we internalized and we traveled. tzafona- North to the hills of Esau, of Edom.

 

There, the Klei Yakar tells us is as well a message for our generation, and the fact that we're not paying attention to it is the source of all of our problems. The entrance to Israel and to conquer the land will be through heading North around Esau. North in Hebrew is tazfon- which also means to hide, like we have tzafun, the hiding of the Afikoman at the Pesach Seder. He writes that our job to enter into Israel is not to show off to Esau, rather it's to hide our success and mission. Don't build big houses. Don't try to be influential. Don't try to impress them, Don't be busy all day lobbying and trying to get government subsidies for your schools in a country that it is impossible to reveal the Shechina from. Don't live up to their standards. Don’t' become like them. They hate us. They will try to stop us from reaching the goal. Avoid them. Go around them. We are the nation of Hashem and playing by Esau's rules will just distract and prevent us from reaching our mission. A mission we don't need their toivos for. That we can do with the power of our faith and by being an army of Hashem.

 

It is then that the fun begins. Hashem had promised Amon and Moav that we wouldn't touch them. So we avoid them, but then guess what? Hashem arranges that Sichon conquers them, other nations Zamzumim and Eimim all get involved and poof now we can conquer these lands. It's a free for all. And when we do so, we do it the right way.

 

Then Sichon went forth towards us, he and all his people, to war at Jahzah. And the Hashem delivered him to us; and we smote him and his sons and all his people. And we conquered all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every city, the men, women, and the young children; we left over no survivor.

 

Next was Og and the Golan Heights.

 

And Hashem delivered into our hands also Og, the king of Bashan and all his people, and we smote him until no remnant remained of him. And we conquered all his cities at that time; there was not a town that we did not take from them sixty cities, all the territory of Argob the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls, double doors, and bolts, in addition to a great many unwalled cities. And we utterly destroyed them as we did to Sihon, king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every city, the men, the women, and the young children.

 

And so the Emorim as well and other kings. We killed them all. We didn't provide humanitarian aid. We didn't worry about starving babies in the New York Edom Times. We killed the babies. We ethnically cleansed the area from the putrid spiritual impurities that were there. We burned every church, every mosque. It was all ours. It was all Hashems. We weren't coming stam to have a safe place to live. We were coming to reveal the Shechina and build a Bais Ha'Mikdash. Hashem needs a clean pure foundation for that to rest. He needs a holy people that gets that and will make it happen. That will stop fighting and arguing for NO reason, just because we don't get the bigger and higher purpose for why we are here.

 

We can't rely on a left-wing government or a right-wing government that doesn't have the faith of Hashem in its belly to do this holy job. We can't even expect a daati religious Zionist government or army that feels that its' first obligation is to obey the orders of the State of Israel who has willfully subjugated itself to the evil, cruel and hypocritical standards that Esau and the world imposes on our nation. Because Esau doesn't care about us. They claim they want us to win, but in truth are omdim aleinu l'chaloseinu, they in every generation seek to destroy us.

 

The Chareidim, who believe in Hashem, who read the Torah portion, who understand fundamentally that the power of Torah and truth and light can destroy all evil and we don't have to be intimidated by or even think about what the world thinks, could and should do the job. A real Maccabee army. The one that the Beis Ha'Levi described when commented on that play that the "enlightened" maskilim" made mocking what the biblical Jewish army looked like after all the exempted people were sent home. That's what we need. That's what should happen. And if the government and Army won't accept that… then they're back to the Beit Midrash and this whole silly fight is over.

 

But what can they do? They don't have power. They'll be arrested? Good question. So I guess they need some help. Well, that's you guys over there. That's anyone that calls themselves Chareidi and wants to fix the sin of the Meraglim, that doesn't want to fast on Tisha B'Av anymore. That's had enough Chafetz Chaim heritage videos. That truly wants our hostages home. That wants our soldiers safe. That want to finally come into the land and stop hanging around the "Mountain" or the "Lake" or the "Borough" or the "Burgh" anymore. Rav Lachem- you've had enough. It's time to penu- to turn inwards and just come home. Make Aliya tomorrow. Join the army with tens of thousands of others over here and just take the guns and tanks that they give you and start shmoddering everyone in the most beautiful biblical sense. We believe in Hashem. Mi La' Hashem Elai- make that great call of Ahron Ha'Kohen to the tribe of Levi. Be a Maccabee. Don't care about what the world or Edom says. Certainly, don't pay much attention to secular soldiers and officers and military that don't read the parsha like you do. Make it happen. And don't say one word. One terrible word. The word that best describes our situation… Aval- But.

 

We read parshat Devarim in these past nine days of aveilus- mourning. The word Aveilus to mourn shares the same letters and root as aval- "but", however. The reason we are in mourning. The sadness that one experiences upon a death or a hopeless situation is that they are consumed with "but". "But" is an excuse. It's the opposite of "Penu". It's looking outside for why not rather than inside as to what should be. "But" is a reason why I'm not doing what I should. "But" is why things aren't different then what they are now. If only I would've …. Then they would still be alive…But I didn't. I would really do this and this and this, "but"…. And so I'm mourning. So I'm dying. So I'm in galus. So, they're still being held in Gaza. So I'm still in aveilus on the floor pretending to be really sad about the fact that there are tzoris in my life, the Temple is not built, the churches aren't destroyed and the light of Hashem is not shining on the world. So I sit and cry- la'chinam- for no reason. Just as the spies did 3000 years ago. Because if I really believed and did what Hashem tells me He wants us to do, then I would already be redeemed. Because I'm still "but"ting. I'm still coming up with all types of reasons of why it can't work.

 

Our sages tell us he that mourns over the Bais Ha'Mikdash will merit to see its rebuilding. Shabbas Chazon is the Shabbos when we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We can see things that we never see before. But for that to happen we need to mourn the destruction of the Temple. We need to see that it's rebuilding is really right in front of us the entire time. If we truly feel that pain and we see that hammer, that plane ticket, that machine gun, that bomb to clear out that mountain in front of us and make way for the glorious building of fire to finally descend. Then and only then with no "ands" "ifs" or "buts" will we truly merit in its rebuilding.

 

This week’s Insights and Inspiration has been sponsored by my dear friends and faithful (and appreciative!) readers Andi and Sherri Weil in appreciation of the weekly inspiration and Torah and as a zechus for all of our Chayalim and for the return of our hostages! May we not have to fast this Tisha B'av and rather celebrate in Yerushalayim Ha'Binuya!

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Mish zich nisht  arayn.-Don't butt in

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

28. An animal which became extinct from the country’s landscapes, but was restored to its natural

habitat in Nahal Kziv and the Jerusalem Hills in recent years, is ______

Of the following sites, where can you usually observe flamingos?

A. Eynot Gibton

B. Nahal Kziv

C. The Eilat salt ponds

D. Yarkon National Park (Tel Afek)

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/al-eileh-acapella - It’s the three Weeks. Acapella time again… and start off your three weeks with my mournful Al Eileh Composition that hopefully we won’t have to sing this Tisha B’Av

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgv-M16bAXM&list=RDdgv-M16bAXM&start_radio=1  –Soon May Mashiach Come- Oorah! Hmmmm… I wasn't prepared for this Pirate song…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ti-MtIUOmQ  – Reb Yoel Gold Tisha B'aV Trailer

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjcWyNo5fUQ  – The Mourning After- by Living L'Chaim trailer..

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

 

Exile Part I 586 BC  - After the destruction of the Bais Ha'Mikdash on Tisha B'Av Klal Yisrael were divided a very small portion were allowed to remain in Eretz Yisrael in Mitzpa with Gedalya Ben Achikam. We will talk about him and the last Jewish community and the tragedy of his assassination in the coming weeks. In the meantime though let us describe the exile of our broken nation. With Nevuzadran at the head of the army he took the nation broken hurriedly out of Eretz Yisrael. On their way out they passed by Mama Rachel. There, Yirmiyahu describes how they cried out to her in her grave to plead on behalf of her children. There Hashem promised her that they would one day return to their borders and they would return from the land of their enemies.

There is an interesting discussion about this Midrash from a technical standpoint as to why and how they would've even passed Kever Rachel leaving Eretz Yisrael. As the direction they would be heading would be North East and Kever Rachel is in the opposite direction. As a result of this there are some opinions that in fact in other places. In fact in the nevua of Yirmiyahu he says Kol B'rama nishma- which would seem to place her grave in Rama, which would more geographically make sense as it's in the portion of Binyamin North East of Jerusalem. Yet the Ramban notes that when he came to Kever Rachel where we have the tradition, he realized that she was there… I trust him.

As well upon leaving Israel, the Midrash tells us about the wonderful humanitarian aid that was provided for us by our dear cousins Yishmael. There we were truly starving and thirsty. Nevuzadran had hurried us out of Israel because he was scared that we would do teshuva or Hashem would regret His decision. So there we were truly famished and Yishmael brought us out salty bread. How nice. Isn't that generous? They then followed up that beautiful gift and aid with empty water pouches. We thirstily sucked in that empty air and died. Yup… I think it's time we repaid the favor.

Finally our nation arrives naked and broken by the shores of the Euphrates river. There we cried, we mourned, Hashem Himself said Kinnot and was ready to turn the entire world around. Nevuchadnezzar sat on a boat and watched our suffering people and celebrated. And our Galus had officially begun. But Hashem watches over our nation. He preserved our heritage by preparing Bavel for our arrival with the earlier arrival of Yehoyachin. They will come to greet us, they will herald us into our 70 year exile in Bavel. And from there we will return.

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S JOKES OF THE WEEK

No Jokes this week… Mourn a little bit… Shame on you for even looking!

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The answer to this week”s question is C-  Ok so after last week, its nice to finally get one right completely. I actually have seen these deer in recent years around the hills of Jerusalem and in the Galil by Keziv. The deer have returned. We are Eretz ha'tzvi once again. So now you guys come back. Part two was definitely easy. Flamingo love the salt and its certainly one of the nice attractions to see when one goes to Eilat. So we're getting back into passing range for this exam. Which all I need to do. But it's definitely embarrassing to be doing so bad.  So the score is now Rabbi Schwartz 17.5 Ministry of Tourism 10.5 on this exam so far,

A Cemetery by the City- Parshat Chayei Sara 2024 5785

 

 

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land

from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

November 22^nd 2024 -Volume 14 Issue 4 21^st of Cheshvan 5785

 

Parshat Chayei Sarah

 

The City by the Cemetery

 

A mother shouldn’t have to bury her child. It’s not natural. It’s not the way the world is meant to be. Children bury their parents, not the opposite. There is nothing more heart wrenching than a mother’s tears at her child’s funeral. A child whose life was taken too early, was cut short, whose parent’s had so much hope and aspiration for.

 

A Jewish mother’s aspiration for her child is not a goy’s. It’s the secret of why we are so successful. Why we have so many Noble prizes. Why we are the light of the world. Why no matter what happens or befalls us, we pick ourselves up and keep moving higher and higher. It’s our mother’s voice in our head. It’s the guilt, the confidence, the charge and the mandate that they have charged, raised and built us with. That they nursed us with. It’s the hopes and dreams of a better world that is placed on our shoulders to realize and bring forth that is in the milk that they fed us and the lullabies that they sung us to sleep with. It’s the Modeh Ani that they woke us up with each morning. There is nothing more painful and unnatural to have to bury that before it is realized.

 

This week’s parsha is Chayei Sarah. It is not the story of the life of Sarah, but rather of her death and burial. It is from that first Matriarch that every Jewish mother descends. The story of her death and burial, the first in the Torah, becomes the prototype for all funerals and burial customs. The grave where she is buried in Chevron of Me’arat Ha’Machpela where all our Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried is registered under her name. They are all buried in “the cave where Sarah was buried”. She is the first “Jew” to die and thus it is her legacy, before anyone else that all her descendants have been charged to carry on.

 

For hundreds of years throughout our history, Jews came to her grave and prayed and took strength from her memory. Sadly there were also centuries when we were thrown out of our land and couldn’t come there. In the last 500 years or so there have been many communities who returned to Chevron with many great leaders, Rabbis, sages, scholars and Kabbalists as well as Chasidim and even the great Slobodka Yeshiva. That lasted however until the terrible pogrom of 1929. On that “Shabbat Ha’Shachor- the Black Sabbath of August 24^th, a little over a week after Tisha B’Av the Arabs whom until that point many in Chevron considered their friends and neighbors and whose weddings they celebrated with and whose children even played together and who worked in the same hospitals and shopped in their stores, revealed their true Yishmaelite colors.

 

 At that time they weren’t being occupied. There were no check points. There was no State of Israel. There was just the children of Sarah living in her city; in her land together with the children of her maidservant Hagar whom she had given to Avraham as a wife.

 

 On that morning, at 6:30 in the morning as the Jews awoke and prepared to go to shul, the Arabs began their attack. Hundreds poured out of their houses and neighboring villages and descended on the homes and shuls of Chevron. With rocks, sticks, knives, swords and guns they pillaged the city. They raped, they burned, the killed children in front of their parents. They murdered massacred and terrorized, while the British sat by idly. By the end of the day 67 people were murdered in Chevron and 133 were killed all over the country, in Jerusalem, Tzfat, Yaffo and other Jewish settlements across the land. It was the worst tragedy to have hit the old Yishuv perhaps until today. Despite the fact that on October 7^th there were more that were killed in even one Kibbutz and ten times as many that were killed, yet back then the entire Jewish population of Israel was less than 90,000. Proportionately to today’s population it would be as if 11,000 were killed on one day. Yet the terror, havoc and callousness of the world which stood by as this took place was even more painful and eye-opening. From that Shabbos, Jews were expelled from Chevron, separated from our Matriarch, longing for her motherly embrace in her cave.

 

In 1967 we returned to Chevron. Hashem miraculously returned us to the city of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. In six days, we quadrupled the size of Israel. The Temple Mount was in our hands. Rachel’s tomb, The grave of Yosef in Shechem, the West Bank, the Mountains of Bashan in the Golan that Moshe had once conquered for us, the Sinai desert and the land of the Philistines where Yitzchak and Yishmael dwelled together and where Sarah was kidnapped in the house of Avimelech was finally returned to us. Gaza was ours. Yet sadly and tragically, then as now, Israel has a problem claiming the exclusivity of our inheritance that Sarah had urged Avraham to engrain in us. We didn’t see ourselves as rightful inheritors but rather as

“ger v’toshav anochi imachem- sojourners and settlers together with Yishmael’s descendants.

 

Those are the words that Avraham used when he first went to purchase that special cave, the first land we bought in Eretz Yisrael. Yet, whereas in Avraham’s case it was because we had not yet inherited the land and the time for the fulfillment of the promise of Hashem had not yet arrived. Today we had no such excuse.

 

Perhaps it was because 2000 years of exile, persecution and being absent so long from our mother’s words and promise that had caused us to forget our Divine promise. That made us give up hope and belief that indeed the time for us to declare and exert our property rights had arrived. That the miracles Hashem was preforming for us then was not merely to give us a “national homeland” and place of refuge after the horrors of the Holocaust, but rather was the start of the long promised and awaited for ingathering of exiles. One in which we were meant to finally claim what was rightfully ours and in the process uplift Yishmael in the only way he can be uplifted; by subjugating the child of the maid-servant, that pereh adam, to the nation of Hashem and the inheritors of their father Avraham. To teach them to follow in his ways by accepting our role just as Yishmael himself did at the funeral of Avraham in this week’s parsha. Where Rashi tells us Yishmael himself becomes a tzadik gamur  and ultimately is described by the Torah as his death being an “expiration”, a term that is only utilized for the entirely righteous.

 

Yet Sarah, had a descendant that did have that faith. Sarah Nachshon and her husband Baruch, who was renowned artist and were Chabad Chasidim, returned to Chevron in 1968 with three other families. The Government did not allow them to live in Chevron proper at the time, yet due to the pressure that they levied upon them, they allowed them to develop a new community of Kiryat Arba adjacent to it. The first three and half years they lived on the army base until their first homes were ready. Yet upon moving into their home, much to their great joy, they were blessed with a child after 10 years, just as their ancestors Avraham and Sarah were. Sarah felt very strongly that as this was the first new child to born in Chevron his bris would take place in the cave of his great-great grandmother Sarah Immeinu. Avraham and Sarah deserve to join in this celebratory return of their children.

 

The army and the government concerned with upsetting Yishmael, and our peaceful cousins in Chevron was not keen on the idea. They prohibited it. No religious services that could be viewed as Jews trying to re-occupy our ancestral city would be tolerated. Yet, as Sarah told them, that would be very important information had she been asking permission to preform the Bris there. Yet, fortunately that was not what she was doing or felt any need to do. Her son was born in Chevron and he would have his bris there. Let the chips fall where they may. And thus Avraham Yedidya Nachshon entered into the covenant of his zaydie Avraham Avinu, whose name he carried, despite the Israeli army and government’s attempt to stop them.

 

The joy and hope however was short lived. A half a year later Sarah woke up one morning to find her young Avraham lifeless in his crib. He had returned his neshoma to Hashem. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is until today an unexplainable medical phenomena that can only be described as a misas neshika, where one’s soul being kissed from them by Hashem as they fall asleep with their pure infant soul not being returned to them in the morning. It was the death of Avraham and Sarah and Moshe and Aharon and all of our great and most righteous. The death that is the highest and most peaceful of levels. It’s what they all longed for and davened to have and it was how Avraham Yedidya Nachshon returned his soul and joined them in heaven.

 

Yet for Sarah Nachshon, whose husband Baruch wasn’t even home that morning and was unreachable in that pre-cell phone era, that wasn’t going to be the end of her son’s story. Avraham Yedidya was born in Chevron, He was circumcised and given his name there. It was the only place he lived his short life, and he would be buried there in the ancient Chevron Jewish cemetery, next to all of the great individuals throughout the last centuries buried there as well. The great-grandfather of the Chida and great Kabbalist of the 17^th century the Chesed L’Avraham, The Sdei Chemed, the Reishis Chochma and Meleches Shlomo and the granddaughter of the Baal Ha’Tanya and daughter of the “Mittler Rebbe” Menucha Rochel Slonim are all there in the cemetery. They are right near the ancient traditional biblical gravesites of Ruth, Yishai, father of Dovid Ha’Melech who ruled here and as well next to the first judge of Israel after the land was conquered and the death of Yehoshua; Otniel Ben Kenaz.

 

For 50 years, since 1929, Jews had been forbidden from going to the visit the graves of the great people there. Perhaps the government wanted to prevent the outrage that would certainly have followed, had the nation known about the desecration of those graves, as well as those of the martyrs of the 29’ massacre that had been buried there at the hands of Yishmael who had been given free reign to do what they wanted as we turned a blind eye. Yet that would end with the burial of Avraham Yedidya. Sarah was determined that her son would be returned and gathered into the resting place of our forefathers.

 

Having already experienced the first failure to prevent this woman, the army was more than prepared that next morning when word got out. Tens of soldiers and roadblocks were placed on the hill down from Kiryat Arba to Chevron. The procession was stopped by armed soldiers and representatives from the Yitzchak Rabin’s Ministry of Defense that ordered them to return and bury Avraham in Kiryat Arba. For hours they stood there arguing, demanding, moving up the ranks of bureaucracy. It was reminiscent of the funeral of Yaakov Avinu, when millions from Egypt and around the world came to bury him and they were as well stopped at the cave from entering. Yet this time it was not our red-headed Uncle Esau and his 400 armed men that were stopping us from entering. It was our own soldiers. It was the children of Yaakov that still hadn’t understood or read the contract that stated that this land was ours. The contract that in Yaakov’s time we sent Naftali running back to retrieve, yet over 2000 years of Exile in the land of Esau seems to have been misplaced from our memory.

 

It all came to an end when Sara while talking to one of the soldiers was told that the reason why they were being so obstinate was because there was a very likely possibility that the city of Chevron would be handed over to Yishmael in any future “peace agreements”. It was those words that sent thousands of years of DeJa’Vu through the Divine spirit into her heart. She remembered when Avraham Avinu purchased this land. She recalled how he as well had erroneously wanted Yishmael to inherit it. She recalled the “deals” that he had cut with Avimelech and the Philistines in Gaza that had delayed our return for hundreds of years in which we were enslaved in Egypt and that took us thousands of years until we finally returned to rectify. Perhaps she saw into the future at what would be the end of this miraculous return if we continued on this path of self-destruction and not realizing our job and what happens when we don’t claim our rightful homeland and place in the world. Perhaps she even saw October 7^th.

 

Without hesitation Sara walked to the back of the hearse and took the lifeless body of her son in her arms and proceeded to walk past the shocked soldiers who melted away before her. Hundreds followed Sara as she arrived at that ancient burial site and dug his small grave and placed him in the earth that he had been born from. As Sarah got up to eulogize her son, tears rolled down every face as she made this declaration to Hashem.

 

“Three thousand five hundred years ago, Ha’Kadosh Baruch Hu, you had a son named Avraham he married Sarah and they came here to the city of Chevron and were blessed with a child. Yet, you told Avraham to take that special miraculous child and bring him up to you as a sacrifice. Yet when you saw the faithfulness of your son and his willingness to give everything to You, You spared that child. You returned him to his father. Yet, Sarah, his mother never got to hug him and kiss him and tell him that she loved him again. She died that Rosh Hashana morning. Her husband Avraham returned her to Chevron and bought a grave for her and buried her here. This is where she rests.”

 

“3500 years later, her children once again have returned to Chevron. My name is Sarah and You as well blessed me with a son, Avraham. Yet him You took as a sacrifice. He was not spared by You. I, his mother Sarah have now come back here to bury her Avraham. He should be the last sacrifice that you take from our people, from their descendants…”

 

“Our sages tell us a story of a young child that was being carried on the shoulders of his father on a long journey to the big city. After many days of wandering the son asked his father when they will arrive already. It’s hot. The journey is difficult. It’s painful. It’s so long… When will we finally be there? The father turned to his child and told his son, that when you see a large cemetery you will know that you have arrived at the city and that it is just up ahead. For in Jewish law a cemetery is always on the outskirts of the city. With this cemetery and with the return of Avraham Yedidya”, Sarah concluded, “the cemetery of Chevron has been reestablished once again. May it be the will of Hashem that very soon the city of Chevron will as well come in sight.”

 

It took them 2 years until we returned to Chevron. It wasn’t until Menachem Begin was Prime Minister that the people in Kiryat Arba felt ready to make the next move. After Pesach in April of 1979, 15 women and 35 children moved in the middle of the night moved into the abandoned Jewish Beit Hadassa hospital and barricaded themselves there until the government would allow them to return to city of Chevron. Begin, on the on the one hand didn’t feel that he could oppose the Supreme Court that prohibited Jewish settlement in Chevron. Yet at the same time refused to be the PM that would forcibly remove Jewish women and children from our Jewish ancestral city. So Solomonically he gave orders that as long as they stayed there they would not be forcibly removed. No men however would be allowed in and no one that left could return. And thus Sara and her friends dug in for the long haul.

 

One month, two months, three months, through the winter, through the following year, the women and children didn’t leave. Each Shabbos the men would come down and sing Shalom Aleichem. They would sing the song of Eishet Chayil, that our sages fascinatingly tell us is written and recited by Avraham as his eulogy on Sarah here in Chevron. They would make Kiddush and dance Lecha Dodi for their beloved heroic women and children who watched from the window awaiting as they welcomed the Shabbos Bride and davened for the redemption and for Jerusalem. For the shame of our nation to finally be erased.

 

On Friday night of May 2^nd though that day finally came, but once again at the price of spilled Jewish blood, as an Arab sniper opened up fire and murdered six of the men in the midst of that holy dance. It was after that when Begin finally gave the order for the Jews to return to Chevron. The cemetery outside the city was getting fuller. It was time for the city to be built.

 

This Shabbos is Shabbat Chevron. Tens of thousands of Sarah’s children will return this Shabbos to the city and sing and dance and pray for our return. For the great Shabbos to finally arrive. This past year our battle with Yishmael it has been more about our own inner struggle and acceptance of the only way that Hashem through the prophecy of Sarah told us that we are meant to return. That we should come back as inheritors. That we understand that the entire land is ours. That Chevron is. That Gaza is. The Golan. Beirut. Jordan. Damascus, until the river of Egypt and Sinai. Those are the borders that Hashem told Avraham are ours. That we have inherited. That He never wanted us to sacrifice our children for that goal. He just wanted us to understand that we have to be able and willing claim. That we need to realize that if we don’t express our claim, Yishmael will.

 

The cemetery is already full. It gets fuller and fuller each day. Mothers shouldn’t have to bury their children. It’s not natural. But neither is being and acting as if we are strangers in our own home. If we don’t feel and appreciate that we are children of Sara and Avraham and this is our home, our kitchen, our living room, our Temple Mount, our Negev, our Golan and our West Bank. If we don’t act like children and stop behaving like apologetic strangers, colonists and conquers, then unnatural sacrifice are demanded from us until we get it. Mothers bury their children and Yishmael will throw us out of our homes and we will live in hotels like guests without residency. Like tourists rather than citizens. It’s not Hashem that has taken those sacrifices. It’s we who haven’t yet gotten what He wants from us. It’s the legacy, life and message of Sarah that we have forgotten. That we haven’t realized.

 

While Sarah and her friends were in Beit Hadassa they sent a message to the Lubavitcher Rebbe asking him how long must they remain there. It’s been a year. There are soldiers outside that don’t let anyone come in. When will this end? The Rebbe in a tearful recorded message told them that their conversation recalled him of the brave message of the daughters of Tzlafchad that turned and asked Moshe Rabbeinu as well why they were not granted a portion in the land of Israel. Why should they be left out? Why should the sins of their fathers be on their head? When can they return to their land? Moshe told them their question was too difficult. He turned it to Hashem. And Hashem told Moshe

 

“Ken Bnot Tzlafchad Dovrot- the daughters of Tzlafchad speak truth”

 

The daughters of Tzlafchad are correct. The time has come. The legacy of Sarah is being fulfilled. It’s time for the unnatural to finally be over. For the city by the cemetery to finally be built.

 

Have a passionate restful Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz 

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YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

 

“Der emess kumt arois azoi vi boimel oif der vasser.”.- The truth comes out like oil on water.

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

 

29.The building of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem was

recently moved to the area of _______.

 

Which of the following figures contributed greatly to the foundation and building

of the city of Tel Aviv?

A. Hayim Nahman Bialik

B. Aharon Chelouche

C. Laurence Oliphant

D. Yehoshua Hankin

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irt1ffsI_eU    – Sarah Nachshon tells story of her son…Amazing…

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/rivkah – One of my most beautiful song compositions in honor of my sister Rivky’s wedding five years ago… From this weeks parsha Achoseinu! Yitz Berry knocked this one out of the park…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtvR_pqSBR4    – Eitan Katz Naftali Kempeh what a great shidduch in this beautiful new release Shema Beni

 

https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/eishet-chayil – My gorgeous Eishet Chayil in honor of Sarah Immeinu…It’s been a long time since I’ve shared with this with you… sing it this Shabbos and make me happy!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmeJ_mDpJ4U&t=230s  -  OU Mearat Ha’Machpela what’s really underneath…

 

 

 

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

 

Chulda Haneivia- 639 BC – Moving on to prophets in the time of Yoshiyahu we arrive at Chulda Ha’Neviah, one of seven important prophetesses in Tanach. The first of course is Sarah Immeinu and the Matriarchs. Isn’t it cool how this column works Divinely with the weekly Torah portion! The other prophetesses, by they way can you guess? I’ll tell you at the end. I’ll give you a clue none of the other matriarchs are not included. Think about it.

 

So Chulda is really only mentioned twice in Tanach, both in her relationship with King Yoshiyahu and his teshuva movement that starts with her encouragement and prophecy. It’s fascinating that she even plays a role being that the great Yirmiyahu as well is living at this period and is the major prophet whom we will get to. The Talmud tells us that perhaps this was because Yirmiyahu went on a journey during this period to gather in the ten lost tribes amazingly enough. We are on the cusp of the destruction of the Temple and yet at the same time with the light of Yoshiyahu it seems it could have even had the potential for Mashiach and the ingathering of exiles.

 

Interestingly enough our sages tell us that the reason she merited prophecy was because of her husband Meshulam who was called the Gadol Ha’Dor- the great man of his generation. What made him so great? One would think it’s his Torah learning or his leadership skills, but the Midrash tells us it was that he would go every day with flasks of water and sit outside the gates of Yerushalayim and hand out water bottles to all who came to the Temple. Think about that next time you see those guys doing that chesed wherever you go… Gadol Hador!

 

Outside of the Southern Wall of the old city of Jerusalem in an area that we call the Ophel stands the Chulda Gates, Rashi in Melachim tells us that it was named after her as she would sit there and teach the elders Torah She’Baal Peh! That’s like Mishna and Talmud level. And it was being taught by a woman. How’s dem apples? Her husband handed out water bottles and she gave shiurim. Now obviously this was done in a very tznius way as our sages praise and find hints to her modesty and even count here as one of the 22 righteous woman mentioned in Tanach. On the other hand Chazal tell us that she was given a lousy name- as Chulda is a rat or weasel, because she referred to the King Yoshiyah as an “Ish” a guy rather than respectfully as a king.

 

Her burial place is a bit controversial, although all agree that she is buried in Jerusalem, some place her on the top of Har Hazeitim, while the Tosefta seems to say that she was in the city of Jerusalem itself within the walls. The Maharit tries to explain that in the 2^nd Temple the walls of Jerusalem incorporated Mt. Of Olives but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen evidence of that. Today there is by the Mount of Olives a Church or Temple of Ascension where silly x-tians believe Yoshka went up to heaven and Muslims as well view it as a holy place and it is accepted as truly being Chulda’s grave. Certainly Har Ha’Zeitim is where we have a tradition the resurrection of the Dead will begin from so hopefully we will get the answer soon. She will rise together with the other 6 prophetesses….

Sarah, Miriam, Devora, Chana, Avigayil and of course Queen Esther…

 

 

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY GRAVESTONE JOKES OF THE WEEK

 I saw a gravestone that said ‘Here lies a math teacher. He finally found peace in being a sum of all parts.'”

 

 My friend’s gravestone says ‘Beloved coffee lover. He couldn’t espresso how much he meant to us.'”

 

On another gravestone, it reads ‘An avid baker. Life really kneaded him, but he always rose to the occasion.'”

 

A musician’s gravestone reflects ‘He was always in treble, but found harmony in the end.'”

 

A chef’s gravestone bears the words ‘He spiced up our lives and left us with seasoned memories.'”

 

A skydiver’s gravestone bears the words ‘He soared through life and embraced the fall. In the end, he took a leap of faith.'”

 

On a magician’s gravestone, it says ‘He pulled off disappearing acts with such poise. Now he has vanished into eternity.'”

 

 A carpenter’s gravestone reads ‘He crafted a life full of love and sawdust. Now he’s nailed the final masterpiece.'”

 

 In memory of a librarian, the gravestone declares ‘She was always bound to books. Now she rests between the pages of history.'”

 

 A comedian’s gravestone states ‘His jokes will forever echo in our hearts. Laughter was his final punchline.'”

 

A lawyer’s wife died. At her grave, everyone was appalled. The tombstone read, “HERE LIES PHYLLIS, WIFE OF ATTORNEY MURRAY WILLIAMS; SPECIALIZES IN DIVORCE AND MALPRACTICE”.

Murray burst into tears. His brother said, “You SHOULD cry, pulling a cheap publicity stunt like this. Murray said, “You don’t understand. I gave them my business card”

His brother apologized.. But then he continued “…and they didn’t include the phone number!”

 

 Two men walking in a cemetery find a recent gravestone , so they read it:

"Here lies an honest man and a competent lawyer"

So one of the guys turn to the other:

"When did they start burying two people together?"

 

What is written on a very successful hacker’s tombstone? “R” His IP is well hidden.

 

Why would I want to buy a tombstone? It's the last thing I need.

 

Yankel was blessed with 12 children yet that was turning out to be a problem for him when he was trying to rent a house.  No landowner would allow him to rent their house due to the number of children he had. Frustrated, Yankel told his wife to visit her father's tombstone and bring all but their youngest child with her.

He then visited a property and told the landowner that he would like to rent the place.

"Is this your only child?" asked the landowner.

"No, I have 12 children" replied the man.

"Then where are the other 11 kids?"

"In the cemetery with my wife," he truthfully replied.

 

Late one night, Jack takes a shortcut through a cemetery. Hearing a tapping sound he becomes scared and quickens his pace. The tapping gets louder and Jack is now scared out of his wits. Then he notices a man chiseling a tombstone.

"Thank goodness!" Jack says to the man. "You gave me a fright of my life. Why are you working so

late?"

"They spelled my name wrong."

 

There was once a man named Odd. He was very embarrassed by his name and didn't want anyone to know about it. When he died he had no name written on his gravestone. One day a bunch of tourists came to his town and visited the graveyard where they came across a gravestone with no name on it.

"That's Odd!" He said.

 

This morning as I was walking through I saw someone crouching behind a gravestone. I said, 'Morning.

' He said, 'No I'm just lost my keys.'

 After my friend died from an allergic reaction to peanuts, I went to his funeral. Everyone got upset when I put an Epipen on his tombstone.

So I explained: "It's what he would have wanted"

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

The answer to this week”s question is B – Oh well…back to a 50/50 score… I got the second part right. It was an educated guest,but I knew the Shalosh family was involved with building and settling the land and I got this this right. The first part though I have no clue and don’t really care too much about as the Betzalel school really doesn’t interest me or any of my tourists. I guessed Tel Aviv because I knew that there was a school there and figured it had to do with the first part of the question. The correct answer though was by the Iriya and Russian Compound across from Mamilla in Jerusalem. So the  new score at Rabbi Schwartz having 18.5 points and the MOT having 10.5 points on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam. to them...