Insights and Inspiration
from
the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
July 23rd 2021 -Volume 11 Issue 41 14th
Av
Parshat Va'eschanan / Tu B'Av/ 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 too 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 Shabbos 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 15th 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. That
theme seems continues for the next point in history where it comes up even
before the temple was built- which would then make it obviously before its
destruction on the 9th 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, the other reasons for the holiday seem even more bizarre. The Talmud
tells us that it was a day that the 10’s of thousands of killed Jewish soldiers
after the Bar Kochva revolt were finally permitted to be buried. Alternatively,
(or additionally) 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 15th
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 9th 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 7th day by the splitting of the sea until we truly
realized the salvation was complete and we burst out in song. The 15th
of Av- the 7th day from the 9th of Av is the realization of
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 15th 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 15th
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 15th
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 15th of Av. It was a week after the
last 9th of Av in the wilderness. For forty years each morning after
the 9th 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 15th 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 15th 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 15th 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’s 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
an uplifting Shabbos
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
"
Men farshpetikt nit chasseneh hoben un shtarben" You're never late to
getting married or dying.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
38)
According to the Bible, the king in whose time the United Kingdom of Israel was
divided:
A)
Solomon
B)
Rehoboam (Rehav’am)
C)
Ahab (Ah’av)
D)
Hezekiah (Hezkiyahu)
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/choson-choson
– My latest song in honor of my Son Yonah's
wedding this coming week- getting on your dancing shoes for "Choson Choson"
. The words come from the Rambam in the laws of marriage. The singer and
arranger? The great Ari Goldwag!
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/pihah-pascha
– And my second latest song
composed for the Chasuna this week in honor of my lovely future daughter-in-law
Batya for her chuppa. Piha Pascha sung and arranged by my dear friend Yitz Berry
https://youtu.be/AxhRfQdgsVY
- Baruch Levine
sings SY Rechnitzes new song Kulanu
https://youtu.be/5dptj7zzIig - Shabbos Nachamu of course isn't complete without Reb Shlomo's rendition "one
more little bit sad song little bit happy…"
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/ ERETZ YISRAEL CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
The Other Side
– Parshat Va'Eschanan-
We read this parsha right after Tisha B'Av every year and we read about Moshe
Rabbeinu's longing and praying to come into Eretz Yisrael. It's the way we feel
after three weeks of mourning our destruction. Yet there is a question that
always bothered me. You see, Moshe Rabbeinu did in fact come to Eretz Yisrael. He
was actually in The Golan Heights which he conquered from Og and Sichon as well
as the other side of the Jordan that even today has still not be liberated by
us. He wasn't allowed to cross the Yarden into the other side of Eretz Yisrael,
but he was in what is certainly halachically Israel. The other side of the Yarden
is obligated in Shemitta, Yovel, Terumos and Maasros. So what was Moshe complaining about.
Reb Yaakov Kamentezky
even notes that the Midrash that notes that Moshe wanted to come into the land
to fulfill the mitzvos that are only in the land. It doesn't say that Moshe
wanted to come to fulfil the mitzva of settling in the land, why not? The
reason is because Moshe could fulfil the mitzva on the other side of the Jordan
as well. That's also yishuv ha'aretz. So what in fact is the difference between
the two sides of the Jordan?
Reb Zalman Sorotzkin
notes that the one thing that Hashem kept telling us about this side of the Yarden
is that it is a land of milk and honey- zavas chalav and d'vash. It seems that
the other side of the yarden does not have that quality to it. It is for that
reason that Rebbi Yosi in fact argues with the Chachamim and says that Bikkurim
is not obligated on fruits grown on the other side of the Yarden as one cannot
recite that they are from the land of milk and honey. What does this mean on a
spiritual level? Is one part of Israel different than the other?
The Tashbatz
notes that there are two kedushos, two sanctifications. The first is the places
that are conquered by the Jews that sanctifies the land in its obligations for
mitzvos. The second is the land that Hashem's shechina was meant to reside in
and who's air and land has certain
properties to it that have the ability to shine out that holy light to the rest
of the world from. That characteristic is called milk and honey and that is
only on the western side of the Jordan. That is the Eretz Ha'Tova that Moshe
wished to be part of.
The idea of Milk
and honey can perhaps be understood as many commentaries point out that both
milk and honey (at least bee honey) come from sources that are impure. Milk,
the Talmud tells us comes from blood and honey comes from a bee. The tamei
becomes pure and a source of sweetness and life. That is the power that only
this side of the yarden has. All of Israel is holy and it is all obligated in
mitzvos. Yet the primary function of the land it to turn that most impure and
reveal the light and life of Hashem in it. When we do that we bring the
shechina back down where it was meant to be.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE
WEEK
War and the
death of Avshalom- 840 BC – So Dovid and his men were gathered by the city of Machanayim
on the other side of the Jordan river in the portion of Gilead.
This was the same Machanayim that Yaakov passed when he saw the camps of
angels when he left Israel to Charan. He divided his army into three
with Yoav, his brother Avishai and Ittai Ha'Gitti leading the divisions. Avshalom
for his part appointed Dovid's nephew Ammasa (son of his sister Avigal) to lead
his army. Yoav and Avishai as well, being Dovid's nephews, made this a real
family fight. And you know what they say about that. Dovid himself wanted to go
out to battle, but his men and the people of Israel all persuaded him not to.
His one and final request to Yoav though was to spare Avshalom, despite all
that he had done he was still his son. Avshalom though it seems didn't
reciprocate those affections as he did go out to battle. Unfortunately for him
it was his last one.
The battle took
place in an area called Ya'ar Ephraim which is on the other side of the
Jordan. Despite the fact that this area was in the portion of Menashe, a deal
was made with Ephraim who were near the Jordan river that their animals
could graze on the other side of the Yarden where there was more pasture
area. Dovid's army despite being outnumbered trounced the army of Israel led by
Ammasa killing 20,000 of them. If you think about this number, it's hard to
fathom Jew against Jew fighting blade to blade all over a power struggle
instigated by Dovid's son Avshalom. But Avshalom got his due for this in the
most horrible of ways.
The Navi tells
us as he was fleeing he passed under and oak tree and his beautiful long hair
that he prided himself upon got caught while his donkey kept on going leaving
him dangling there between heaven and earth. When Yoav heard that he was there
he was upset that the soldiers who were fearful of Dovid's wrath and promise
did not kill him. Yoav thus himself went there and disregarding Dovid's orders
he stabbed him in the heart and then had ten youths stab him to death
corresponding to the sin of the ten concubines of Dovid that he took for
himself and then dumped him in the woods piling a huge pile of rocks on top of
his corpse. This will come back to haunt Yoav as well.
Today on Har
Hazeitim there is a huge 60 foot monument called Yad Avshalom. This
is certainly not his grave, for two reasons. Number one, this building was
built hundreds of years after Avshalom in the first century. Second of all
the Navi tells us that Avshalom was buried on the other side of the
Yarden in the forest as I just mentioned. So what is this edifice?
Interesting
enough the Navi tells us that Avshalom himself built a monument to himself in
the Kidron valley over here. He realized that he didn't have children
and felt that this would serve as his legacy and memorial. It seems it did. For
generations there was a tradition that Jewish mothers would come here and throw
stones on the monument. Even better whenever a child misbehaved their parents
would bring them here and tell them what happens to children who rebel against
their parents. Ouch! Whether this is the location of where ancient monument
was, nobody knows, but the story of and Avshalom's memory certainly does,
although not necessarily in the way that he had hoped for.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
TERRIBLE ICE CREAM JOKES OF THE WEEK
New Ben and Jerry's
flavors
Anti- seMINT- Made
with real BdS
VaniAlla wAkbar-
an explosive flavor
Yasser AraFUDGE-
can't get enough of that fudging
Achmed Yas-sinomin-
a Ham-must try flavor
Jihadi Khaffiya
Toffee- Gaza's finest
MIntifada Chocolate
Chip- It will blow you away
Peanut bitter Palestine-
always nutty and bitter
Lynch Banana-
will drive you crazy
Push the Jews
into the Sea Salt and Caramel- It's biblical
Self- Hating Juice-
Those explosive Hamas rocket shaped lollies
Ben and Jerry's
waited until the 9 days were over (and ice cream sales dropped) to launch this…what
a move!
In other news Ben
and Jerry's is now officially Chalav Yishmael
Where do you
learn to make complicated ice cream dishes? Sundae School.
Why does everyone
invite ice cream to the party? It’s cool.
Did you hear
they passed a law banning ice cream? Don’t worry, it was ruled
un-cone-stitutional!
“Hey, Ernie
would you like some ice cream?”
“Sure, Bert.”
What’s
Dracula’s favorite ice cream flavor? Veinilla.
My Ice Cream
gets tested positive for Covid. They've put it straight into iceolation… Oyyyy
Joe and Bob are
sitting outside a cafe enjoying a couple cigars when a young Jewish boy walks
out of the ice cream parlour right next door.
Joe says "see
that Jewish kid Yankel over there, he's dumbest
kid I ever met, watch this...." and he calls the kid over.
Joe puts 50 cents in one of his hands, and a dollar bill in the other and holds
them both out to the boy. Joe says "which do you want, 50 cents, or a
dollar?" Yankel quickly snatches up the 50 cents, says thank you, and
happily walks on his way eating his ice cream.
After the boy leaves, Joe says to Bob "I see that kid once a week, I
always see if he takes the dollar, he never does, he ALWAYS takes the 50 cents!
I told you, he's the dumbest kid I've ever seen!"
Next week, Bob is sitting outside the cafe by himself and sees the same boy
come out of the same ice cream parlour, and calls him over.
Yankel comes over and Bob says "my buddy who I was with last week, he
always offers you a dollar or 50 cents, why do you always take the 50 cents?
You know a dollar is worth more, right?"
Yankel says "Of course I know it's worth more, but if I take the dollar,
he'll quit asking altogether!"
*********************************
Answer is B- Like last week's question this answer
as well was covered on my most recent tour in Emek Izra'el (should be out in
the next week or two). But the truth is this one was easy. Everyone should know
this. The divided kingdom started after Shlomo died and his son Rechav'am took
over who listened to his friends and raised the taxes to show what a tough guy
he was. Yerva'am ben Nevat broke off and started his own kingdom in the north
after that. Achav was a later king in the North and Chizkiya was in
Yerushalayim when the 10 tribes and northern kingdom was exiled. So the correct
answer is obviously Rechavam which I got right. So the score now is 30 for
Rabbi Schwartz and 8 for the Ministry of Tourism on this exam.
