Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
January 14th 2022 -Volume
11 Issue 16 12th Shevat 5782
Parshat Beshalach/ Shira
It’s one of those great Israeli phrases I’ve
become familiar with during these trying economic times. I hear and read about
all these people that are having challenges paying their bills or as we say it
English “making ends meet”. In Hebrew the term is l’isgor et ha’chodesh-
to close the month. I’ve always been fascinated by idioms, different phrases
that are used to describe a concept or idea and the origin of these terms.
Particularly when it comes to Hebrew, where we know that our sages tell us that
if the children of Israel aren’t prophets, we’re the children of prophets, that
there’s something deeper that can be found in what may seem like our mundane
statements. Having plenty of time on my hand these days, and looking for
something to close my chodesh with I figured I’d research it a bit.
Maybe get some closure.
Now in English have you ever thought
about the source for the phrase “making ends meet”. What ends are we talking
about? Why are they meeting? What does me not paying my bills have to do with
getting these ends to meet? Did I mention I have a lot of time on my hands?
Well seek and you shall discover, our
sages tell us. Today, it’s not a big deal. A few clicks on Reb Google told me
that the earliest source for this phrase goes back to 1662 to a work called ‘The
Histories of the Worthies of England’ written by Church of England clergyman Thomas Fuller
who wrote about some Protestant leader. He described him as someone who was so
removed from materialism that
“Worldly wealth he cared not for,
desiring only to ‘make both ends meet’; and as for that little that ‘lapped
over’, he gave it to pious uses in both Universities, and the founding of a
fair Free-school at Saint Bees, the place of his nativity.
The meforshim (commentaries) on
this work explain that the reference comes from tailoring or dressmaking and
refers to the amount of material needed to make a piece of clothing reach round
the body, so that its two ends meet. That therefore explains pshat in
what Thomas Fuller seemed to imply with “that little that lapped over”
in the above-mentioned passage.
They bring a raya (proof) to this
explanation as it seems to be supported by the second-earliest occurrence of
the phrase, in ‘A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting
Crew’ (1699), by “B. E. Gent.”:
Tis good to make both Ends meet, or to
cut your Coat according to your Cloth.
So, making ends meet it seems refers to
having your clothing fit precisely with no overhang. Well, I guess if that’s
the case then I’m in pretty good shape these days, because my clothing are
falling down all over the place since my weight loss. I’ve got enough overdraft
for a few wardrobes.
In Hebrew though they’re not busy with
your clothing size. This is the country where have the members of Parliament don’t
even own a suit and wouldn’t know how to make a tie or even what to do with
one. Here we’re just trying to close the month. The month is opened. It’s kind
of like a doorway, I guess. Things are flowing out of it at a rapid pace.
Pretty soon there’s nothing left in that month. So, we want to close that door.
We want to make sure that something stays inside with us from that month. That we
didn’t lose it all. Thus, our objective is to close that month up. To lock that
door. To have something to be there for next month. We’re right about that. The
only mistake I think we make is that money is never really the thing that ever
closes that door.
Now I’ve never been much of a month
closer, or a door closer for that matter. I can’t even count the times that my
mother and now my wife tell me “What? We’re you raised in a barn or
something, leaving the door open like that?! “ Another phrase that incidentally
perplexed me and that I researched, as most barns that I’ve visited leave their
doors closed. But it seems that during the daytime farmers would leave their
barndoors open so that their animals could go out and graze, whereas they would
only close the doors at nighttime to keep them inside from bad weather or to
keep thieves out. See, how much needless information you get from this weekly
E-Mail?
So yes, I’m not a closer, I’m more of a
guy that likes to live day by day; much to many people in my life’s
consternation. It’s a bit more exciting that way. Do you know what the opposite
of a ‘month-closer’ or an ‘ends-meeter’ driven person is? It’s someone that “goes
with the flow”. You leave that door open to see what flows in. Sure, things are
flowing out, but if that door is closed or you spend so much time worrying
about closing it, you might miss the exciting and sometimes even miraculous
things that happen if you left it open.
Now, just to give you one last origin-of-a-phrase,
as once I have this google thing open in front of me. Do you know where “go
with the flow” comes from? It turns out is has its roots in the philosophical
works of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus who was pretty big on the idea
of finding happiness in life. In his writings “The Meditations”. He penned a
lot about the flow of happiness and thoughts and he surmised that most things
flow naturally in the world and in his opinion it was better to go with the
flow than to try and change society. In his words it’s pretty hopelessness to
try to “Close the month” for
“Time is a sort of river of passing
events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than
it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept
away."
If that sounds a bit Ecclesiastically Solomonic
and a bit too deep for a heathen Roman goy-fear not. According to many this
Marcus Aurelius was the same Antoninus that Rebbi Yehudah Ha’Nasi was close to and
studied with. Like most successful rulers, Marcus had a good yiddeleh in
the background. Rebbi though, unlike Antoninus, certainly didn’t see going with
the flow as being a reason to allow oneself to be swept away by the times. Rather
he was constantly aware of the changing winds and challenges of the era and stood
up to face them and direct them to benefit of Klal Yisrael; most notably with
the editing of the Mishna
The inspiration this week about seeking
out the meaning and words of phrases shows its hand (that’s a poker phrase) in
this week’s Parsha with the story of the Manna falling down from the sky. The
Jewish people didn’t know what it was and they called it Mann. The Torah tells
us. Why call it Mann though? Why not say… white stuff that takes like honey as
it’s described? Maybe call it Honey Smacks or heavenly Honey Smacks. What does
the word Mann even mean? Rashi tells us the word means manah- or
portion. But the verse says they called it that because they didn’t know what
it was or ma hu-. In fact the Rashbam and other commentaries suggest that
Mann does mean ‘what is this’ in other languages? But if that’s the case
why not just call it ma’hu- what is it, in the good old mama
lashon. It would even have a nice exotic Hawaiian ring to it.
The answer perhaps gets us back to the ‘going-with-the-flow’
versus the ‘closing-the-month’ debate. It is in fact the essence of this
fantastic mystical daily cracker from heaven, that Rav Sa’adia Gaon writes was
the biggest miracle ever experienced by the Jewish people-even more so than the
splitting of the Sea. But first let’s rewind a bit. See, this whole story
started with the Jewish people turning to Moshe and complaining. They’re
nervous not just about closing the month or meeting ends, but rather what they
will eat tomorrow. The food that they brought from Egypt was done. Their cupboards
were bare. What’s for dinner Ma? Sure, they shouldn’t have kvetched about it,
our sages tell us, but the question certainly seems to be a legitimate one.
To that query Hashem tells them an
eternal response and lesson that we would be going to be learning for the next
forty years straight. ‘Get used to it boys’. There are no more cupboards.
No more Costco buying in bulk. You’re heading to Israel and there’s no room in
those apartments over there for all of those huge bulky extra large bottles of
oil, cereal, or herring jugs. Your test begins now.
V’loktu dvar yom b’yomo-
you’ll take each day for its day
And as Rashi quoting the Mechilta
explains
V’lo yilkitu ha’yom l’tzorech machar-
you shall not pick today for tomorrow.
No stocking up here. I’m providing you
every single day with your portion. With everything that you need and are
supposed to get. It’s got all the nutrients and vitamins. All of the iron (a
little throwback joke to two weeks ago). It’ll taste like all the chopped liver,
all of the chulent with Kishka, all of the kasha varnishkas that you want it
to. But it’s only for today. Tomorrow? You just gotta go with the flow, boys.
You have to trust in Me. If you get something in life and don’t understand how
it will work, how it will be enough, what will be? Have no fear. Have faith. I’ve
got you as covered in My heavenly dew as those delicious Manna wafers you’re noshing
on right now. You’re sitting at My table now.
Two great short stories to knock the
concept home. The first is with the Chafetz Chaim. A Rabbinic search delegation
of a large city in Poland once came to the Chafetz Chaim to ask him for advice
on the candidate that they were considering hiring as their community Rabbi.
The Chafetz Chaim told them that the individual they were asking about was
certainly a noteworthy candidate, a renowned scholar, an author of many brilliant
Torah works and someone who had certainly an excellent reputation. His advice
was that they shouldn’t hesitate, and they should grab him before someone else
did. They returned quite excited. But as it was right before the holiday of
Sukkot they figured that they would wait until after the Chag to make their
offer. It turns out that it was a good thing they delayed.
Chol Hamoed Sukkos, a messenger from
Radin came running into the town looking for the delegation. He had with him an
important letter from the Chafetz Chaim that he had felt was urgent enough to
write and send on the intermediate days of Yom Tov, when writing is not
something that is done if it is not extenuating circumstances. They hurriedly opened
the letter and to their surprise the Chafetz Chaim was retracting his
approbation for this Rabbi and advised them to continue their search elsewhere.
After the Chag they returned to the Chafetz
Chaim and asked him what the change of heart was all about. He told them that a
few days after they had come to him originally, who should walk into the door? None
other than this Rabbi. He sat before the Chafetz Chaim and told him about his
plight as a Rabbi, and how challenging his financial situation was and how
worried about how he was going to feed his family if he didn’t get a job. Now I
imagine if this was me or you that this happened to, we would think to ourselves.
How fortuitous this is! Mamash bashert. Here he needs a job, and
you see Hashem has already sent me a delegation to get him one lined up. But
that’s not the way the Chafetz Chaim saw it.
He told the delegation that he was
aghast at the question. Can it be that someone who aspires and seeks a position
as a leader of a holy kehilla should be worried about what he would eat
or feed his family tomorrow? Does he not have the simple belief and faith that Hashem
provides his daily portion each day. How can one teach faith and inspire others
with those basic teachings if he himself doesn’t possess that basic emuna; the
basic knowledge that Hashem has him covered.
Story number 2 is a parable Reb Chatzkel
Levinshtein once gave to his students of a young man who hadn’t seen his father
for so long and received a telegram that his father would finally be arriving
home by train the following day at 10:00 AM in the morning. The son got up
bright and early and went to the station already at 8:00 Am to wait for his
father. By 8:30 the son is looking up and down the tracks wondering where his
father is already. Why isn’t he here yet. By 9:00 he’s getting a bit more
uneasy. “I’m waiting for over an hour already. Where is he? How much longer do
I have to stand here”. 9:30 comes and he’s pacing back and forth along the
tracks. He’s angry, he’s upset and very confused. This doesn’t make sense.
Trains are not late. I’m waiting and waiting and waiting and he’s just not
coming. How much longer is this going to take?
Finally, at 10:00 AM on the nose the train
pulls up to the station and the father jumps off and runs to his son. But
Yankel, isn’t smiling. He’s upset. He’s been waiting for over two hours and now
his Dad just waltzes off the train like nothing happened. “Where were you?” “What
took so long!” he exclaims. The father looks at him confused. “What do
you mean where was I? I told you I was
arriving at 10:00 AM what are you so anxious about? I came right when I was
supposed to come.”
Reb Chatzkel turned to his students and
tells them. Are you laughing at this silly young man? Well than you’re also
laughing at yourself. Hashem gives us our portion every single day. You got
what you were supposed to get right at the time you were meant to. What are you
asking him about the train that is meant to come tomorrow for? What are you
worried about closing the month about? Why are you sitting in the railway
station a day early. It’s not going to make the train come any quicker to your
track.There is a flow in this world. A train schedule I made it. It works on My
time. Go with it. It is Mann.
Do you know what the shoresh of the word
mann is? It is emunah. It is faith. The letters of the word mann
also spell min- ‘It is from’. It is for you. When we go to sleep
each night, we don’t worry about whether we will have enough air to breathe tomorrow.
Why not? Because we recognize that Hashem has that covered. Guess what? He has
our food and our parnassa covered as well. Each month has a shefa of
bracha that comes down. You don’t want to close that. Quite the opposite-you
want to open your heart, soul and your pockets to receive it. When you have a
question in life of how, what, when or where, remember that first lesson we had
as a nation in the wilderness. Mann hu-when you don’t know than realize
that it’s precisely our portion that we have received. Recognize that it is
from Him our Father above. Remember that He is the origin of all our blessing. Being
close to Him is the only closing we need to do each month.
Have a deliciously musical Shabbos Shira and a fruity Tu B’Shvat!
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
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RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH
PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Faran dareh gvirim un fetch oremeleit.- Rich men are often lean and poor men
fat.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION
OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
11) The Sapir site is
related to the following projec: ________________
The location of this site was determined, among other things, in
consideration of the following reason:
a) Topographical
b) Economic
c) Security
d) Religious
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE
WEEK
https://youtu.be/wHimGB1y7PM
- Mordechai Shapiro’s latest hit Ki Yeish Siba- there’s a
reason for everything
https://youtu.be/PrCK7zLj2U0
– In honor of
Shabbos Shira My Rabbi Schwartz Va’Yosha with the best retelling of Pesach
Story with the Entire Schwartz clan and Rabbi Schwartz b’pijama b’emtza ha’layla
https://youtu.be/HT67xc_evOE
- Ilan Ilan by Fligman brothers
never heard it before it’s nice..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZx_TgcAH8A – Hisyatzavu
this week’s Parsha a Fried Classic
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S PARSHA/SHABBOS
CONNECTION OF THE WEEK
The Blessed day of Mannah -Parshat Beshalach- We
know in the Creation of the world, the Torah tells us that Hashem blessed the 7th
day of Shabbos. There is a perplexing Midrash on that verse that tells us that Shabbos
was blessed with the Manna. The question of course is that Shabbos is the one
day that the Manna- that special daily mystical bread from heaven didn’t fall.
It fell double on Friday. So what does it mean Shabbos is blessed with Manna.
In addition today we don’t have manna, in fact in the history of the world we
only had Manna for forty years in the wilderness. So what does the eternal blessing
of Shabbos have to do with Manna which seemingly was only for a very short period
of time.
The Nesivos Sholom offers many inspiring
insights into this cryptic message. The first is that just as the Manna had a
special quality that any flavor and taste you wanted it to taste like it did.
Shabbos as well was blessed with that same quality. Whatever you want to get
out of Shabbos will be there. If you want it to be a day of rest and relaxation,
you will find it to be the most relaxing day of the week. If you want it to be
a day of pleasure and enjoyment and good food, it will have that for you as
well. If you’re a bit more spiritual and want to achieve Torah growth,
closeness to Hashem, it’s all there for your taking. Shabbos is like Manna and
has that blessing.
Another approach he brings is that we
find that when the Jewish people later on in the wilderness complain about the
Manna and wanted food of desire instead they complained to Hashem. What was
their complaint? Reb Menachem Mendel Vitebsk explains that the people felt it
was unnatural that the eating of the Manna gave them no physical desires. They felt
it was unnatural. Usually when you eat good food you want more. It brings on
tai’vos. Manna being entirely spiritual food didn’t have that component to it.
As well he suggests Shabbos has that power to it. All of the physical pleasure and
enjoyment one has on Shabbos is holy like the Manna and won’t lead to any
physical drives or desires that would bring him down.
Lastly he explains that the Manna would
fall each day anew. Each day had its own blessing to it. It would fall every
morning in proximity to where the spiritual level of each Jew would be. Shabbos
as well has that aspect to it. Each Shabbos is an opportunity to build and
refresh anew. It has it’s own source of blessing. It’s our manna that renews us
each week and gives us all of the sustenance, physical and spiritual for the
upcoming week. That is the blessing Hashem gave this special day from Creation.
It should always be the Manna of our lives.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES
AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
The
Kingdom of Shlomo- 827 BC- With the Bais Hamikdash being built Shlomo
raised Israel to it’s greatest heights until today. He created alliances and trade
treaties with countries around the world. Many of those treaties as we will see
were sealed with Shlomo marrying the daughters of these Kings and rulers
bringing them under the wings of the shechina. Or not? As I said we shall see.
The Navi records many of the major cities that
Shlomo built. Three major cities that we have excavated today that are
mentioned as being cities where he collected taxes from where Chatzor, Gezer
and Megiddo. I’ve never been to Gezer which is between Ramle
and Latrun was the border of the Plishtim that was conquered by Pharaoh
and annexed to Shlomo by him. Meggido and Chatzor are UNESCO
recognized Biblical World heritage sites along with Beer Sheva. Megiddo
in the lower Galil and Chatzor in the Hula Valley near the
border between Israel and what was Syria and the empire of
Dameshek back then as a crossing point into Israel. They are both great
visiting sites with centuries of history to them and hope to take you there.
As well Shlomo built up Jerusalem and it’s
walls and built the Melo- the flat plain between the city of David
and the Temple Mount as well as the walls around Yerushalayim.
Today a visit to the Southern wall excavations which is mostly second
temple excavations one is walking in the area that was once the Melo
and that has many mikvas, as this is the way that pilgrims would come to
the Bais Ha’mikdash with their offerings three times a year and of
course their Bikkurim first fruits and all the regular sacrifices.
Finally Shlomo’s kingdom went all the way
South to Eilat. Yes, Eilat was a Jewish city back then as well.
The Navi mentions that Chiram the King of Tzur helped Shlomo build a
Navy whereby he would send ships to Africa from Etzion Gever- which is a
port near the gulf of Aqaba in Jordan and where he would trade
for gold from there. As well we have Shlomo’s copper mines not far from there
in Timna which they would export around the world. It was the best of
times for the Jewish nation. The nations that remained in Israel paid taxes,
the economy was booming, the citizens were all happy. It felt like the
Messianic era had finally arrived. But it didn’t.
Next week things start to go down hill.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE POVERTY JOKES OF
THE WEEK
When someone says “I got it”
In Baltimore it means Covid
In NY it means the vaccine
In Lakewood it means the
stimulus check
And in Miami it means the restaurant
dinner reservation.
A wealthy man threw a party in
honor of his son's graduation from university. Yankel the local shnorrers happened
to be in the vicinity, and joined the party. Amidst all the commotion he was
let in and seated at the far end of the table.
"Son," the
wealthy man said, "share with us some of the great knowledge that you
have acquired in the university."
"Well," began the son, "Copernicus
proved that the earth turns on its axis."
"That is false!" came the objection from the poor
man at the other end of the table.
"How do you know? Prove
it!" shouted the
student.
"It is very
simple," replied the beggar. "If the earth turned on its axis,
then the food that was placed at the head of the table would have by now come to
this side of the room."
A beggar told Rothschild that
since the orchestra had been dismantled all he had was bad luck.
"What instrument did
you play,"? Asks Rothschild.
"The bassoon," was the answer."
"Wow that's my
favorite," declared Rothschild. "Here is my bassoon, play
something for me."
"I told you all I have
is bad luck,"
replies the poor man.
"What do you
mean,"? Asks
Rothschild.
"Well, from all the
hundreds of instruments I had to pick the one you own."
President Biden was invited to
visit a poor African country. A soccer match was arranged between two local
teams in honour of Trump's visit. During the match, the Prime Minister of the
country explained about the poverty his country was facing. Biden listened
intently and said
"Mr PM, I've seen
enough and I fully understand the extent of the poverty you are facing. You
have my word that you will be getting help soon"
The next day the Prime Minister
receives a huge container and a note which said 'From your friend Joe Biden'.
The Prime Minister was very
happy and immediately opened the container. To his surprise, the container was
full of soccer balls. He decided to give Biden a call.
" Mr Biden why did you
send me all these balls? What does it mean? "
Biden replies
"I understood how poor
you were when I firsthand witnessed 22 of your men fighting over a ball. Now
everyone in your country can have one".
Igor a Russian government official
and a Ahmed his Palestinian counterpart met each other at a conference. they
soon became good friends and exchanged their business cards.
"If you ever come to Russia
call me and we can hang out!" said Igor.
"Really? Cool! Same to
you. If you ever come to Palestine call me and we can hang out!" says Ahmed
6 months later, Ahmed comes to Russia
remembering about Igor and decides to call him.
"Hey, I'm in Russia,
want to hang out today?" he asks.
"Sure! Just a question,
where are you staying?" Igor asks.
"The Hilton." Ahmed
replies.
"Pack your things and
meet me at the front. You can live with me for your trip."
"Sounds good."
Igor pulls up to the hotel with
a BMW, the latest model. Ahmed gets in and Igor takes him on the freeway to his
condo. On the freeway, Ahmed admires the beautiful scenery. Once at the
condominium, Ahmed is impressed at how big the condo is: 5 rooms, 3 bathrooms,
and much more that he was baffled about.
Ahmed goes to the master
bedroom and asks
"You are just a Russian
official, how do you have enough?"
Igor tells him to come to the
window and asks, "What do you see outside?"
"Houses, apartments,
and people."
"You see that freeway?
Yeah, I took 10% of the funds and pocketed it".
Fast forward 3 months when the Igor
comes to visit the West Bank.
"Hey, I just got to Palestine,
want to go grab food later?" he asks.
"Sure! Where are you
staying?" the Ahmed asks.
"The Ramallah Hilton." Igor replies.
"Well, pack your things
and meet me at the front because you are going to be living with me."
"Great, I'll get ready."
Ahmed pulls up to the hotel
with a Lamborghini. Igor gets in and Ahmed takes him. Igor is really excited,
wanting to see the beautiful place Ahmed lives. They drive and drive when
suddenly the road turns into a muddy unpaved road, filled with mud. Broken shanties
and children running around. Igor is shocked until they get to the Ahmed's
place: a mansion. The mansion is gorgeous, 35 bedrooms, completed with a slide
to the pool from the 2nd floor to the 1st.
Igor goes to the master bedroom
and checks the toilet, in disbelief. The toilet seat is pure gold. He then asks,
"You are just a Palestinian
official, how do you have enough?"
Ahmed tells him to come to the
window and asks, "What do you see outside?"
"Huts, poverty, and
barren wasteland."
"You see that dirt
road? I took 100%."
Just because you were born in
poverty, it doesn't mean that you'll be poor forever. I was born in a hospital,
yet I'm not a doctor.
The Canadian government spends
more time and money taking care of other countries than its own people in
poverty. You may think I’m wrong but it’s Trudeau
How do you solve world hunger
and poverty simultaneously? By feeding the poor to the hungry.
The presidents of Serbia,
Mexico and the United States were each granted the ability to ask God one
question...
The Serbian president first
went up to God , and asked, "Father, when will my country finally be
rid of poverty and corruption?
God paused, and then answered, "In 300 years, my son."
The Serbian president began to weep, "I won't live to see that day!"
Next the Mexican president went up to God and asked, "Lord, when
will *my* country finally be rid of poverty and corruption?"
God answered him, "In 500 years, my son."
The Mexican president sank to his knees and began to weep. "I won't
live to see the day."
Finally, the US president swaggered up confidently to God and asked, "Hey,
God, when will my country be rid of poverty and corruption?"
Then God began to weep. "I won't live to see the day."
The father, hardly believing
his eyes, whispered to his son, “Quickly, go get Mommy!”
"Tsk Tsk!" said the passer-by to himself. "What a sad sight. That
poor old man is fishing over a bed of flowers. I'll see if I can help."
So the kind fellow walked
up to the old man and asked, "What are you doing, my friend?"
"Fishin', sir."
"Fishin', eh. Well how would you like to come have a drink
with me?"
The old man stood put his rod away and followed the kind
stranger to the corner bar. He ordered a large glass of beer and a fine cigar. His
host, the kind fellow, felt good about helping the old man, and he asked,
"Tell me, old friend, how many did you catch today?"
The old fellow took a long drag on the cigar, blew a careful
smoke ring and replied, "You are the sixth today, sir!"
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Answer is C – This one was a bit challenging, but I got it right! The fill in the blank site was easy. As of course anybody that lives in the North of Israel or visited Tiverya would know that the Sapir site is the first pumping station located at the top of the Kinneret of the national water carrier or Movil Artzi that pumps water throughout the country. The question though is why is it located there. The truth is from a topographical prespective it might have made more sense to locate it a little further south or perhaps even from the middle of southern part of the Kinneret as it is closer to where it needs to be pumped. But in reality the primary reason why it is over there and kind of even cut out of the mountain where they pump up water hundreds of meters above sea level from the Kinneret is because when it was built we were nervous about missiles from Syria and Jordan and even the West Bank that would try to target it. So Security is the correct answer the score is now Schwartz 8.5 and 2.5 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.
