from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
I
wasn’t in a good mood when he messaged me. I had just come from a visit that
was unplanned- at least by me- to a mother of a young man, Rom, who was
kidnapped in Gaza. It was unplanned because I had other people who I had meant
to visit with my "Chizuk-trip-philanthropists”, a special mother and
daughter who had granted me a few hours of their precious limited time here to
visit families. The family I had meant to visit canceled on me and Rom’s mother
and two brothers fell into my lap instead. Their story tore me to pieces and
ripped out my kishkas. Thus when my friend Yossi texted me with a
message of someone whom he had met who was looking to sponsor and support a
family who was evacuated, I just wasn’t in the right mood. But first a bit
about Rom’s family situation.
Tamar,
Rom’s mother was an Aguna for many years. Her husband walked out, and the
burden of raising her three sons fell onto her lap. Her oldest son had some
problems of his own that prevented him from finding meaningful employment and he
had moved back into their small apartment in Neve Yaakov where he shared a bed
with his younger brother. Not a typo, by the way… He shared a bed. She was
struggling enough as is, but when she broke her foot a few months ago and
became immobilized and required surgeries, things really started to get rough
for them. Her middle son, Rom, who had just gotten a break from his army
service took on some extra jobs to help take care of his mother and support
their family. Their roof was leaking. Their refrigerator broke. Rom himself
finally earned a bit of money and he rented out an apartment for himself,
little did he know that he would only live there for a few weeks, as Simchas
Torah would be the last time that he would be there until now.
That
weekend of the last day of the holiday, Rom got called up for a job to be a
security guard at the Nova festival. He didn’t even tell his mother he was
going. It wasn’t only until 7:00 or so that his mother got the call from him
that he was alright and that he was in a safe tent and was being evacuated. The
problem was that this wasn’t exactly true. What Rom in fact was doing was
evacuating other people. Going from place to place at the festival and leading
people under fire to safety from the terror that was raining down on them from
all sides. Two young girls told Tamar how they were hiding in a garbage bin
covered in bodies terrified until they heard Rom’s strong friendly helpful
voice call to them and how he cared and encouraged them not to be scared as he
led them to that safe tent where he borrowed a Bedouin's phone to call his
mother and assure her that he was alright. It was the last they heard from Rom
since then. It was only weeks later that the army told them that Rom had been
kidnapped. He was in Gaza. They don’t know when and if he will come home.
Things
went from bad to worse for Tamar and her family. They fell into deep depression.
The older brother Amit stopped coming out of his room for months. He felt
helpless and to blame for his brother having to work and felt he should’ve been
in his place. Little cute and strong Ziv was having problems understandably in
school and he moved out with his aunt to Rishon Li’Tziyon who could give him
the attention he needs. Ironically or tragically enough that meant that Tamar
was no longer able to get her child support from the government- her kitzvat
yeladim provided for every family. To make matters worse even though she
was entitled to some government money as the status of a hostage is similar to
one who loses a son and provider. Her Ex who had not given her a Get and abandoned
the family took half of that money leaving her with not even enough money to
cover their basic expenses- let alone the apartment and rent that Rom took out
just two weeks prior that they had to continue to pay the lease on, that
emotionally she wasn’t able to give up or deal with. Things were very bad and
then they got worse- if you didn’t think that was possible.
See,
they were brought into New York by the father of a basketball player that heard
about their story for them to attend a game, bring awareness to the plight of
the hostages and to help the family out. Before coming to the game, the Chabad
Rabbi had raised 20,000 dollars for the family which he gave to them. That hope
and joy though was taken from them, when within a few hours of them having that
money, it was stolen from them along with their suitcases and passports. The
Breslavsky family was living a nightmare that didn’t seem to end. They felt
cursed. They were drowning. And there was no light at the end of the tunnel.
That was the home that Hashem brought me to, and I had no clue.
It
was after that visit when I received Yossi’s text it went something like this-
“Hi
Rabbi, I just got back to Eretz Yisrael from my trip to America and I had a
meeting with someone who asked me if there was a religious family that I knew
of that was evacuated from their home that he might be able to help out
financially.”
Seeing
this as a sign from Hashem I immediately forwarded him all the information
about Rom and his family’s plight with a link (that I will include below in our
new column…stay tuned for the tzedaka/chizuk/ donation of the week column)
where he could donate to. The next question though he sent me was what set me
off. It was just three words, but that’s all it took.
“Are they religious?”
Yeah…
I wasn’t in the mood, and so this is what came out of my iPhone. Perhaps it was
a message from Hashem.
“The
family religiously observes the biblical mitzva of living in the land of Israel
that Yankel “Five Towns” is not observing. Rom has since he was born. Rom was
moser nefesh and gave his life literally to save other Jews on Simchas Torah
while Yankel “Five Towns” sat on his couch and ate chulent. The family is in
dire financial straits and are drowning in debt and are far more religious than
the Jews who were on the 49th level of impurity in Egypt whom Moshe Rabbeinu
called his brothers and went out to see,to save and to help when they were
being beaten and killed…”
“But I’m not sure if they have a kosher phone, or if he davens
with a minyan, learns daf yomi, goes to the Mikva erev Shabbos or wears a white
shirt and has a black velvet yarmulka, but I can check if that’s important to
Yankel. Just please send me a list of Mitzvos that are necessary to observe in
order to get help from him, and I’ll get right on it.”
OK
maybe Hashem didn’t send the message. As I said I really wasn’t in a good mood.
Which
of course brings us to this week’s Torah portion. I really thought Mashiach
would be here by now. Last week we read about the revelation of Hashem at Har
Sinai and I thought to myself, that’s it. It’s gonna happen. It’s what we’ve
been leading up to. And yet another week passed by. I opened up the parsha and
Mashiach’s still not here. We’re still at War. We’re still at Sinai. The story
continues at the end of this Parsha. Yet there’s a sandwich between the two
narratives of the Sinai revelation. Last week it was Hashem revealing Himself
to us. It was thunder, lightning, shofar sounds and the cloud of Hashem coming
down on the Mountain so we could hear Him speak to us. It was the Ten
Commandments. It was supernatural.
This
week we’ve graduated to kita beit- to 2nd grade. It’s about us serving Hashem.
It’s about our sacrifices to him. It’s the splitting up and sprinkling of the
blood. It’s all the mitzvos of how we can prepare the world and bring Hashem
here. The mitzvos listed in the parsha are diverse. But according to the Sefat
Emet there is a common theme in all of them. They all connect in someway to the
idea of freeing up space in our soul for Hashem to enter. It’s about finding
that point in our hearts that is the spark of Hashem and getting rid of all the
clutter that holds us back from revealing him.
It’s the Jewish slave that has gotten so used
to his lifestyle that he doesn’t see the freedom before him. It’s about helping
a fellow Jew. It’s the first crops, It’s shemitta and the Shabbat and
holidays when we can see the Face of Hashem in our lives. It’s our
responsibility for our actions. It’s how we rectify our sins and bring the
spark back. It's finding and even taking a deep look into the shame of thieves,
of kindness to animals, of developing a sensitivity to everything in Creation.
It’s about taking responsibility and realizing that we are here not just to
follow and listen to the word of Hashem but to create Mishpatim- judgements
that partner with Hashem in Creation. It’s Sinai part II but it’s our side of
the story in the split-screen narrative.
Smack
in the middle of this parsha there is the prohibition to afflict a widow and
orphan.
Kol almana v’’yatom lo ta’anun- Any widow and orphan you (plural) should not afflict.
The
Rambam notes that the usage of the word “all” widows and orphans is even for
the wife or orphan of a king. It’s not just poor helpless people from run down
neighborhoods. A widow is a widow is a widow; as is an orphan. They are
suffering. They are in pain. They are all the same. Watch out and don’t make
them suffer anymore.
Yet
the Ibn Ezra takes this prohibition even a step further. I don’t believe that
there is anyone of us who would ever persecute or harm or even pain an orphan
or a widow. The Torah is not talking to wicked people. The Torah however when
it comes to this prohibition utilizes the plural ta’anun- as if many
people shouldn’t pain a widow or an orphan to teach us in his words that
“Anyone
that sees a widow or orphan suffering and doesn’t help them he is also
considered as if he pained them”
And
just in case you don’t think this is literal, the Midrash in Tana D’vei Eliyahu
tells us of the two greatest sages and the first of the ten martyrs that were
taken out to be killed in the time of the destruction of the Temple; Rabbi
Shimon ben Gamliel and Rebbi Yishmael Ben Elisha the High Priest. Rabbi Shimon
began crying at this terrible torturous death that they were facing. They were
to be mutilated publicly. Facetimed and Telegrammed live by the Hamas Romans.
He turned to Rebbi Yishmael and asked him
“Why
has Hashem decreed that we are to be killed like idolators, like Shabbos
violators, like people who eat non-kosher and bugs and worms? Why should our
deaths be this way?”
Rabbi
Yishmael answered him that perhaps we went once to the bathhouse or we were
busy eating and drinking and a widow and orphan came to ask us for their help,
for some support and they were sent away because we weren’t available, and they
were pained by that. And the Torah tells us that if one afflicts a widow and
orphan then Hashem says
“And
my wrath will flare, and I will kill you (plural) with a sword and your wives
will be widows and your children will be orphans”.
That
is why this is happening. Because we were too busy to note their pain. They
were hurting and we weren’t there for them.
The
Torah fascinatingly enough describes the pain and the cause and effect of this
affliction in a very wordy doubled language that Rav Shimon Schwab notes is
reflective of the psychology of the widow and orphan.
“If afflict, you shall afflict them, then call out they will
call out to Me, then Hear I will Hear their cry”
He
explains that when someone is afflicted, picked on or hurting, they experience
the pain and suffering that they are undergoing. Yet when it is an orphan or
widow there is a double pain. There is whatever they are suffering and then
there is the thought of the old pain that they had of their loss. They think
that if my husband or father were around to be there for me, this wouldn’t be
happening. They experience that loss and suffering of the original death of
their loved one and protector once again. And thus every pain is doubled. Every
cry to Hashem that they have is not only about their current suffering but of
their original loss as well. And thus Hashem Hears both cries and responds and
avenges accordingly doubled.
The
Klei Yakar even reads the verse homiletically. When it says that you are
afflicting them, you are also afflicting Hashem who is the Father of all
orphans. He is in heaven as is their father and husband watching His loved ones
suffer and Hashem is pained as well.
The
one thing that shook me up though the most was the Rambam. Maimonides in his
Sefer of Mitzvos when he describes the prohibition to afflict the widow writes
(Hilchos
Deios 6:10) “And this prohibition although we do not give lashes for its
violation has its punishment written in the Torah as it says “And I will
flare my wrath and kill them with sword” Hashem has made a sealed covenant
that anytime that they cry out to me from CHAMAS (persecution/robbery) they
will be answered.”
Yes,
he uses and writes and adds the words Hamas there. He’s speaking to us. He’s
telling us not to ask if they’re religious or not. Not to be too busy eating or
drinking or taking a shower while they’re suffering. He’s telling us that
Hashem is their Father and is suffering as well. And he will see that they’re
taken care of. That they are avenged.
In
Rom’s case Hashem was certainly there for his family. As I approached the door
to their house- the house that I had no clue I would be coming to an hour
beforehand, the woman that was with me froze. She looked at his picture on the
door on the sign that said “Bring Rom Home” and she started to shake. She
turned to me and told me that since the start of the war she took upon herself to
daven for the name of one hostage. Each day, and every prayer she has been
davening for the return of Rom Ben Tamar. She chose that name out of the
hundreds of others because her name as well was Tamar. And wouldn’t you know it?
That was the house Hashem had brought the one person in the world that had the
wherewithal to help this poor suffering family and to give them chizuk and
support.
The
two Tamars embraced and couldn’t stop crying as she entered the house. Tamar
was overwhelmed that Hashem had brought her to the home of the family she had
been davening for and Rom’s mother, who had no clue who this lady was and what
her financial capabilities were, was crying because a mother with the same name
as hers across the sea had been davening for her and her son and Hashem had
brought her there to take away some of her pain. To hug her, to tell her that
she is suffering together with her. That her pain and that of all of the
mothers, the widows, the orphans, the so so many suffering, is the pain of all
of us. That we are all one. That Hashem is suffering as well, and that despite
His Hiddenness there is a small light at the end of that tunnel peeking out
telling us that He is still here and that miracles can still occur.
The
Revelation of Sinai is still happening. The voice from Sinai calls out to us
each day. It doesn’t ask us if we are religious or not. It asks us if we are
one Nation. If we can reveal Hashem’s light. If we care enough to feel our
brothers suffering. If we care enough to do something about it. If we can
create a just world. It’s calling to us and asking if we can serve Hashem on
this mountain, not whether He can reveal Himself. He can do that anywhere. The
Exodus from Egypt, that first redemption occurred, Hashem told Moshe when he
asked Him what merit we had to be redeemed, in order that the nation would
serve Hashem. That we would reveal that spark. We would bring our sacrifices.
We would divide that blood amongst all of us and feel that it is our sacrifice.
It was for our narrative of Sinai in this week’s parsha. It was for the caring
of the so many orphans and widows that He has created for us to help. That need
us.
The
month of Adar is here. This year we have a double month of Adar. An extra month
of joy. An extra month of charity and extra month to wipe out the evil of
Amalek. An extra month before the month of Nissan which we are promised will be
the month of redemption. It’s right around the corner. It’s less then 60 days
away which is half the time since this war has begun. The Hiddenness is almost
over. The light is ready to shine out forever. All we need to do is our part of
turning on the switch and opening up our hearts for it to come out.
Have
the most amazing light-filled Shabbos and joyous Chodesh Adar,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
NEW COLUMN!!
CHIZUK/TZEDAKA OPPORTUNITY OF THE WEEK
Just when you thought this E-Mail couldn’t
get any longer… well here it goes. Don’t worry it’s not like I have any extra
time on my hands to write another column here. In fact I’ve been meaning to do
this already for weeks and it’s only now after 125 days of War that I finally
have a chance to add this essential column which is dedicated to giving you
readers an opportunity to have a meaningful part of helping out our country and
nation by donating to a weekly link of a different organization, a cause,
soldiers, refugees, supplies, Hostage families, widows, farmers etc… There are
so many needs and I know that you want to participate and help them not just
read about them. So each week I will feature in our E-Mail in this column
another cause and link that you can contribute and make a meaningful difference
to. (this of course should not come at the expense of your sponsorship of my
weekly E-Mail or our upcoming Purim appeal in another month 😊) But this is a
way that you can bring light and money to the so many that need it. Give what
you can. But give regularly and if you can I’d really appreciate if if you send
me a screenshot or message of your donation as I can then forward it to whoever
receives it so they know that it came from our helpful readers. So here we go…
And here’s the link to donate
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
"Ven
a yosem leidt, zet kainer nit; ven er frait zikh, zet di gantseh velt.”- When an orphan suffers,
nobody notices; when he rejoices, the whole world sees it.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
26.The
name of an ancient Temple which was found in the Uvda Valley is ___________.
In which period
did the first "Agricultural Revolution" occur according to research?
a.
Neolithic period
b.
Paleolithic period
c.
Chalcolithic period
d.
Canaanite period
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/layehudim - in honor and celebration of Adar it’s not too early to start getting happy with my La’yehudim composition arranged and sung by Dovid Lowy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PZ6DIKQ8gk – Gad Elbaz’s latest song Ima Yikara
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER
INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
A Poor Man’s prayer – One of the most important aspects of tefilla is to appreciate the sense that we are needy and depend upon Hashem to take help us. We all have to come with our hands outstretched and ask for our basic needs. It's an incredibly humbling experience. It's what it's supposed to be. One of the more oft recited Psalms of Dovid Ha’Melech begins Tefilla L’Ani- the prayer of the pauper. The Zohar tells us that there are three prayers that have a description. There is the Tefilla L’Moshe- the prayer of the great Moshe. Tefilla L’Dovid- the prayer of the King of Israel and the composer of all of our Psalms and songs. And last but as the Zohar tells us not only not least but rather holiest and most readily accepted is the Psalm of the Oni- the pauper, the poor person who has no one besides Hashem to rely upon. Hashem is closest to the broken hearted it is the Oni the poor person whose prayers are the first and most accepted.
Es ha’ani imach- to the poor person with you.
“Look and examine yourself as if you are poor”.
The Maharal says something very powerful. He says that when a rich man gives a poor man money then the poor man gives the rich man more then he receives. Because until now he was just a rich person. But now he has become a “giver” a nosein- Now he has become like Hashem. That is the ultimate gift.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
740 BC-Yotam the Righteous King- Many are familiar with the famous statement by Rabbi
Shimon Bar Yochai who is buried of course in Meron, that even if the
whole world were judged for a harsh decree he would be able to absolve them and
find mercy for them in his merit. Yet there is a different Chazal that brings
his statement a little differently that is less well known in the Talmud in
Sukkah. There it says that Rebbi Shimon could find mercy for the entire
world from the day he was born, if his son Elazar was with him then he
could even absolve the world from the first day of Creation. However
fascinatingly enough he stated that if Yotam the son of Uziya the King of
Yehuda was with the two of them then he can find enough mercy until the End
of Days! Wow!! Who was this King and what’s his story?
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY WIDOW JOKES OF THE WEEK
Sam died and left
$50,000 in his will for an elaborate funeral. As the last attenders left, Sam's
wife, Rose, turned to her oldest friend, Sadie, and said: "Well, I'm
sure Sam would be pleased."
"I'm sure you're
right" replied Sadie, who
leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper: "tell me, how much
did it really cost?"
"All of it" said Rose. "50,000."
"No!" Sadie exclaimed "I mean, it was very
nice, but really.......$50,000?"
Rose nodded. "The
funeral was $6500. I donated $500 to the church for the priest services. The
food and drinks for another $500. And the rest went towards the memorial
stone."
Sadie computed
quickly: "$42,500 for a memorial stone? Exactly how big is it?"
"Seven and a half
carats."
What do you call a woman who knows where her husband is at all times? A widow
"I lied about my
age by 20 years" he said.
"What, you told
her you're 50?" They replied
"No, I told
her I'm 90" he answered.
Faygie’s husband Chaim’l dies, and she spends many years as a widow, missing him terribly.
In time, she too
passes away, and is excited to see her husband in heaven. She runs up to him,
ready to give him a big hug, saying, "I've missed you so much!I can’t
wait to be with you now forever"
Chaim’l gets a big
frown on his halo’d forehead and says, "Hey, hey, hey, not so fast. The
deal was 'til death do we part.'"
Why didn't the widow attend the 9am funeral? She wasn't a mourning person
"Of course", she replies.
The man plucks up the courage and says, "Bargain".
The Widow looks at him, teary eyed and says, "Thank
you so much, that means a great deal". OYYY!
Just before the funeral services, the undertaker came up to the very elderly widow Zelda and asked her how old her husband was?" "98," she replied. "Two years older than me."
"So you're 96," the undertaker commented.
She responded, "Yeah I know it’s hardly worth going home
is it?"
"This is the hardest part of our
job," said the police officer to his rookie trainee after Adam was
pronounced dead in the accident.
"Yeah, you have to learn how to break
the news slowly. His wife is a very sensitive person."
So the rookie police officer knocks on the
door and Adam's wife opens it.
" Hi,” he introduced himself , “Are you Adam's
widow?" said the police.
The answer to this
week”s question is A– Remarkably I got this one right! The only real temple I
remember is the leopard Temple not far from Eilat. I’m surprised because it
seems to be a non-memorable type of place. A bunch of rocks that they say are
in eh formation of leopards if I recall correctly. They say it goes back to the
Stone Age or Neolite period… who really cares. As well Part B of the question
that talks about agriculture as well I took an educated and figured it was Neolithic
as well. Cannani is too late obviously, Paleolithic seemed like more dinosaur
period and too early. Which left Calcolithic which is copper age and the New stone
Age of Neolite and that seemed to make more sense. So I went with it and was
right! So both right this week again making the latest
score is Rabbi Schwartz at 19.5 point and the MOT having 5.5 point
on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
