from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
December 9th 2022 -Volume
12 Issue 8 15th of Kislev 5783
Parshat Vayislach
Career
Choice
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got
there, or rather I should say here. I was leaving Seattle, after 15 years of
Jewish outreach work all over the United States, from New York, to Iowa to
Virginia and to Seattle I had finally reached the time in my life to do what my
mother always said I should do; get a real job.
“What type of job is a Rabbi for a nice young
Jewish boy? Leave that for the Goyim and make an honest living”!
We were moving to the Holy Land, where being a
Rabbi is certainly not something that makes you money, and I needed find the
right career that would not only provide for my family and pay my bills, but
that would somehow make the next phase of my life just as amazing as the past
15 years had been. Jewish outreach work set a very high bar to meet. I was
giving classes, connecting with my fellow brothers and sisters many who have
never really experienced the incredible beauty and blessing of a meaningful
Jewish life and how extraordinary it is to be part of our eternal chosen nation.
They’ve never learned or been exposed to the beauty and wisdom of Torah. They’ve
never been part of a Jewish community, or experienced an authentic Jewish holiday,
or Shabbos table. They’ve never even had chulent! Growing up frum, I took all
of that for granted. I wanted to be inspired by my yiddishkeit and by connecting,
teaching and sharing my Torah lifestyle with them it made mine so much more meaningful
and exciting. So what would be next for me? How do you raise the bar on an
already incredible career and life?
I had someone in my shul at the time who was a…
ummm… what do you call them again… Ahhh a life coach. You know those people who
generally don’t know what to do with their own lives, so they figure they’ll
get a job telling other people what to do. So I shared with him my dilemma. How
do I know what the right thing for me would be to do? He told me that the
secret of finding the job and career that would not only be rewarding financially,
but one that would be fulfilling as well, was to first understand what it was
that inspires me personally. Once I know what are the things that I enjoy
doing, what gives me a high, what excites me and what I feel I’m good at, then the
next step is to figure out how to make a living off of it. How I could turn
that into a career.
So after much serious reflection, thought and
contemplation I came to the conclusion that the thing that inspires me the most
and that really gives me energy and that frankly I’m quite good at is vacation.
or as we say in yeshiva Bein Ha’Zmanim. I love seeing new places, exploring new
things, seeing the wonders of Hashem and the beauty of this amazing world He
created. It gives me chiyus, it’s geshmak and I’m really the king of vacations.
So with that in mind, I figured what better way to realize these natural
aspirations than to become a tour guide when I would perpetually be on vacation.
I could be on everyone’s vacation and trips. The amazing part is that becoming
a tour guide in Eretz Yisrael affords me the opportunity to even get a mitzva
doing it. I can share the incredible history of Eretz Yisrael, the beauty of
the country that Hashem has given us and even see the wonder and inspiration through
the eyes of the so many that have never experienced or learned about it before
either. It was a perfect career choice and I have been enjoying it every day
since I’ve been here thanking Hashem for the blessing of being able to realize a
dream come true.
This week’s Torah portion which continues the
sage of the sons of Yaakov as they return to Eretz Yisrael opens us up to their
career choices as well. We’ve got 12 tribes and each one of them will have a
different role, a different career and job in order to fulfill their role in
Creation. In bringing out the light of Hashem to this world. Fascinatingly
enough, there are two of them that seem to have been given jobs that seem to be
unlikely. In fact, if I would be a life coach, I would be probably stay away
from the careers that Rashi tells us Yaakov designated for them. After-all what
career would you advise Shimon and Levi to go into?
The parsha tells introduces us to these two personalities
of Yaakov, his 2nd and 3rd sons, with their zealotry in
avenging the kidnapping and abuse of their sister Dina against the entire city
of Shechem. They convince them all to have a Bris and then on the third day the
go into the city and wipe all of the males. Boom! If that wasn’t enough they
then take all of their women and children as captives and plunder the entire
city. ‘Don’t mess with our sister’ is the message they send out very loud and
clear. The price will be high. It will be disproportionate. We have zero
tolerance for anyone that lifts a finger to a Jewish child of Yaakov.
Next week’s parsha our sages tell us as well
their proclivity towards rashes actions of violence and low tolerance continues
when we find that they are the two brothers that are behind the plot to kill
Yosef. The Torah tells us that one man says to his brother that the dreamer is
coming let’s kill him and see what happens with his dreams. Who is the man and
his brother? Shimon and Levi. The two brothers of Dinah.
Now, our forefather Yaakov was not delighted
with their response it seems. He fears the UN response and resolutions that are
sure to be forthcoming. At the end of his life he even curses their anger and
then he designates the perfect job and career for them.
“Shimon and Levi are brothers their weapons
are tools of lawlessness. Let my soul not be included in their council. Let my honor
not be counted in their assembly. For in their angry they slay a man (Shechem).
And in their desire they maimed an ox (Yosef). Cursed is their anger as it is
fierce and their wrath so relentless. I will divide them in Yaakov and scatter
them in Israel.”
Rashi tells us that Yaakov decided that he
needed to scatter them amongst Bnai Yisrael. The children of Shimon would be
poor people and elementary school teachers, while Levi as well would be the teachers
that would need to come gather their money in the forms of tithes and teruma
from the rest of the tribes. School teachers and shnorrers it seems is the fate
and perfect career choice for them. Hmmm… I don’t know if that’s what my suggestion
would’ve been. If you would’ve asked me I probably would’ve made them the
minister of defense of Israel. They would’ve most certainly been part of Itamar
Bn Gvir’s faction. Put them in charge of security today in Shechem and we would
definitely have a much quieter existence. Why in a classroom? Why make them the
poorest people in Israel that would have to go from door to door raising money?
It’s also pretty fascinating to me as well that we
lop those two career choices together. Teachers and Jewish educators and poor
people. It’s almost as if that’s the fate of those that choose Jewish education
as a career. Someone once told me that the reason why it’s called the Kiruv
Movement, or the Chinuch Movement is because you have to move around a lot.
There’s not a lot of job security, the pay is really bad and one is always
moving from place to place. Why is that? I mean all of us recognize that
probably the most important job in the Jewish world- even more than Rabbis and
tour guides are the people charged with raising our children to be observant knowledgeable
Jews that are connected and inspired to their yiddishkeit. That will raise
another generation after us passing on our 3000-year tradition. That will give
them the tools, skills and passion in a challenging world to remain faithful and
even flourish in todays world. So why are we paying them so little. Why does a
guy that can throw a ball really fast get paid a few million dollars, or the
guy that runs a few nursing homes, or flips property make and get paid so much
more. And most importantly what is it about Shimon and Levi that make them the
best of the tribes to be charged with this holy and most important task.
In yeshiva we would say that one question answers
the other one in a case like this. Reb Yaakov Kamenetzky suggests that its
perhaps precisely because Shimon and Levi are so consumed with zealotry that
they are the right ones for the job and they are the ones that will be the
poorest. See, a person that is a zealot is someone that doesn’t think about the
practicalities of something. They are overtaken by the passion and inspiration that
the moment demands and do what needs to be done and let the chips fall where
they may. They are ideologues to the end. They will give up everything in order
to do what they feel needs to done. Because they are not bound by the political
correctness of the times, they are not influenced by the financial or social repercussions
of their actions. They are consumed with a burning fire that can only be
quenched by action. Everything else is irrelevant. It’s the only thing that
matters.
Do you know why chinuch pays so little?
Its because teachers and educators and people that make the choice to enter
into this career are bad businessmen. Money doesn’t speak to them. How and why should
it? They’re engaged in lifting up Jewish souls, in building a new generation,
in igniting a spark, a holy neshoma and bringing out that light from every
Jewish neshoma. Dollars? Shekel? A nice house or car? Fancy vacations? Really… That’s
nothing compared to what they’re doing. They don’t even see it in front of
them. And the truth is we don’t really want them to. Because that’s the only
really fire and passion that will be able to transmit that Torah effectively.
By the way it’s not only in Chinuch that we find
that. We see that it is only really zealots and idealogues that really can
accomplish anything in this world. The land of Israel was built and developed
my meshuganehs- crazy idealogues that that came here with nothing and gave up everything
to work, to plant, to grow, to fight off enemies, faceoff against pogroms in
terrible conditions when they could’ve moved to America- the guldeneh medina-
and had better and easier lives. But that wasn’t important to them. They were
driven with a passion, a dream and a mission that living the easy life in Boro
Park or Lakewood would’ve ever given them.
It’s not only here as well though. Even in
America, the only reason why many of us are religious and were blessed with a
frum education, with Torah homes is only because of our parents and
grandparents and the great impractical, zealots that decided not to take the
easy pragmatic route of throwing off our faith on these new waters in this new
country. They went from job to job each week rather than working on Shabbos.
They built schools and recruited students and families and went shnorring from
door to door for money to create the institutions that they understood would
build the next generation and maintain the continuity of our people and our
Torah. It’s that Shimon and Levi spirit that will throw aside all the conventional
wisdom and practicalities and do what needs to be done.
I remember when I was charged with my first job
to open up an outreach Kollel in Norfolk Viriginia, I spoke to a few more
experienced Rosh Kollels that had founded similar Kollels in order to get tips
and advice on how to be successful. One of them told me that he when he had
started his Kollel, he spoke to Rav Yaakov Weinberg who told him that the only
way that he should feel that he is ripe for the task is if he’s a “triple
mortgage guy”. When he asked him what that meant, Rav Weinberg explained that
in order to be a successful Rosh Kollel you have to go in knowing that there
will be times when it will be financially challenging. When money will be tight.
It will be very tight. It will even get to the point where he might have to
take out loans and a mortgage on your house to cover your expenses and to stay
in “business”. And then there will be times when one mortgage will not be enough.
It might take two mortgages and even sometimes a third.
Unless you’re prepared to do that, he told him,
don’t even bother starting. You need to be triple mortgage guy, if you want to
get into the Kollel business. If you want to be a Jewish educator. You have to
be a descendant or at least have the fire of Shimon and Levi to be able to not
only get the job done, but to effectively transmit that authentic holy light of
Hashem and of faith in Him. It can never be about the money. It can never be
about your job fulfillment. It’s about the service and single-minded purpose
that you’re charged with sharing the fire of Hashem with the entire world and
particularly your students.
Yaakov looks at Shimon and Levi and he sees that
passion. That dedication to anything and to take on the entire world on behalf
of their sister and on behalf of the Jewish nation. That zealotry can get them
into trouble as well. They will even be willing to kill their own brother Yosef
if they see him as a threat. Zimri the descendant of Shimon will even challenge
Moshe brazenly because he feels it is the right and proper thing to do. Levi
will stand up and answer Moshe’s call and kill his own siblings after the sin of
the Golden calf. It’s a dangerous tendency, when emotion and fire goes
unchecked. When it’s not balanced by a Torah view and when the only tool to
release that fire is with your sword. A fair better tool for them is to teach
the fire of Torah. To challenge conventional views in the classroom. To serve
as role models to generation after generation who will be facing a world that
is only consumed with making ends meet, with material success and with fleeting
ideologies, pleasures and meaningless pursuits. They need to be our spiritual
guides. They need to be the ones that are willing to be the triple mortgage
guys of Klal Yisrael.
Chanuka is around the corner and unlike all
other holidays it’s one that celebrates the victory of light of the fire of the
Chasmonaim the children of Levi that they reignited in our nation. They did
that again by picking up swords and not caring where the chips fell. Yet, it is
not the swords or the battles that we focus on. It’s the light of the Menorah
and the Torah and the Temple that we remember. It’s what’s eternal. Because it’s
the light in all of us. When we light the Menorah we join this tribe and become
Kohanim.
The Rambam teaches us that when we study Torah
and dedicate ourselves fully to a life of Torah study then we are as well part
of that tribe. We are called by Hashem a nation of Kohanim. We are all teachers
that possess a light that needs to be pure and unadulterated. The career Hashem
chose for us is to be those Kohanim for the rest of the world. To do what it
takes no matter what to shine that light out to the world. It may not be our
full time job, it may not be what we decide to do to pay our bills at the end
of the month. But there are times when each of us will be challenged to answer the
call and put everything else aside for the sake of Hashem. When we do that, we’ll
find that perhaps it will be the most fulfilling thing that we’ve ever done. It’s
what will give us purpose and meaning like nothing else. For we will be
connecting with that eternal flame lit so many millenia ago that burns strong
till today in each and everyone of us.
Have a fantastic Shabbos
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
This
week's Insights and Inspiration is dedicated by my parents in loving memory and
as a zechus for my Savta Elka bas Reb Ephraim Bergman who’s yartzeit is this
Shabbos. May grandmother was a woman who truly passed on that light and love of
tradition in a no-holds-barred kind of way. She saved countless Jews with
forged papers during the Holocaust and came to America and raised her children
on the supremacy of a Jewish life. Her passion and love of Eretz Yisrael and
her family and mostly of me still inspire me daily.
May her
neshoma have an Aliyah and may she continue to be a meilitz yosher for all of
her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who she loved as they raise
doros that are continuing her legacy that she transmitted from the generations
before her.
Tihei
Zichra Baruch
*****************************************************
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SHABBOS DAVENING SCHEDULE
SHABBOS VAYISHLACH
CANDLELIGHTING 4:05 PM
MINCHA KABBALAS SHABBOS-4:15 PM
SHACHARIS - 8:30 AM-
Final
time for Kriyas Shema 9:01 AM
MINCHA- 3:50 PM
MARIV-5:23 PM-10 minutes after tzeitz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB
OF THE WEEK
“Ver es hot lib
di melocheh iz im leicht di melocheh.”.- He who likes his work, to him work comes easy.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE
WEEK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yonpaLGsovw – MBD V’Nisgav-ing Carlebach style this week’s parsha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO2rgwQBFR8
– Shulem
Lemmer, Itzik Dadiya and Benny Friedman doing a Hanan BenAri Medley… Wow it
doesn’t get better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sba5ZriUV3Y
– Simcha
Leiner’s latest video Home we’re going home!
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/al-hanissim
-
And
getting into the Chanuka mode with the first of my Chanuka compositions Dovid
Lowy arrangements and singing
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
NEW EXAM THIS WEEK- JUNE 2022!!
1)
In the Bible, the name "Israel" is the
second name of a man called:
The name
"Israel" appears in:
a) The
Merneptah Inscription
b) The
Ramesses Gate
c) The
Siloam Inscription
d) The
Gezer Calendar
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S
ERA’S AND THEIR PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
The Last Walk Part II- 706 BC – So the last and sad departure of Elisha
form Eliyahu continues, they leave Gilgal and Beit El and
head down next to Yericho. As we mentioned last week. Gilgal was
the symbol of Torah that Elisha would receive and Beit El was the
symbol of Ruach Hakodesh- the Divine spirit that would rest upon him. Neither
of those were enough for him. Elisha wanted more. So they headed over to
Yericho which of course was the first entrance of Klal Yisrael to Eretz
Yisrael and the miraculous victory we had over this huge walled cities in the
times of Yehoshua when the walls came tumbling down. There they were
greeted by the prophets over there who once again told Elisha that it was
the day Eliyahu would be taken. And He responded as he did before hand
that he knew that already.
Eliyahu
tried to tell him to leave him there as well, but once again Elisha
refuses. He wants more than just the power of miracles. So they head off to their
final destinations, the Jordan river. Kasr el Yahud today where we first
crossed into Eretz Yisrael. It’s fascinating when we follow this last journey
as it really is the opposite or backwards retracking journey of the Jewish
nation. Our Mishkan was in Gilgal, which by the way is right near The Yabok
river where Yaakov crosses into Israel in this week’s parsha. Yakov
heads over to Beit El after Shechem which is where the Jews pass
as well when they come into Eretz Yisrael on their way down to Yericho
to conquer the city. But it all started by the Yarden that Yehoshua
split and crossed. And guess what Eliyahu as well splits the Yarden.
He does it though by wrapping up his cloak and hitting it. Perhaps Eliyahu
does this itinerary to symbolize that he
will be the one to return us to Israel. Kind of like a tour guide running over
the route before the big redemption tour.
There at the Yarden, Eliyahu
asks Elisha what he wants before he leaves, and Elisha makes the
brazen request that he wants double of what Eliyahu’s spirit was. What
does that mean? How do you get double and what is double? According to some its
twice as many miracles. Eliyahu preformed 8 miracles and Elisha
had 16. According to others he wanted to be able to learn with Eliyahu even
after he died, achieving all of the spirituality that Eliyahu could
share with him from above. And others explain that he wanted twice the level of
prophecy. Regardless of the pshat Eliyahu told him that he would
receive all of those things if he merited to see him while he was taken. And as
you can imagine, he did.
Next week, the final exit of Eliyahu
at least from this world..
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE
CAREER JOKES OF THE WEEK
Sol Greenwood is retiring from the garment business, and leaving it
to his son Stuart.
"It's all yours now son," Sol says. "I've made a
good living. You know why? Because of two principles that I've always lived by:
honestly and wisdom. Honesty is very important. If you promise the goods by the
first of April, no matter what happens in the shop you've got to deliver them
by the first of April."
"Sure Pop," Stuart says. "And what about
wisdom?"
"Stuey the wisest thing you can do: don't make any
promises."
A boy decided that he wanted to become a rabbi when he grew up, so
his father suggested that he go to speak to their shul rabbi to find out what
the job entailed.
The boy went to meet the rabbi. "Ask me any question about
the rabbinate," the rabbi declared, "and I'll give you the
answer."
"Well, besides giving a sermon for about 15 minutes on a
Shabbat morning, what else do you do all week?" the boy asked.
"You don't want to become a rabbi," the rabbi
said. "With questions like that, you want to become the synagogue
president!"
I just lost my job as a psychic. I did not see that coming.
Now I’ve gotten into astronomy, and my whole career is looking up.
I quit my job at the helium factory. I refuse to be spoken to in that tone!
I love being a maze designer. I get completely lost in my work.
I wanted to be a computer programmer, but I couldn’t hack it.
Inspecting mirrors is a job I could really see myself doing.
Sure I’m willing to work longer hours at work. As long as they’re
lunch hours.
Interviewer: What’s your biggest weakness? Me: I don’t know when to
quit. Interviewer: You’re hired. Me: I quit.
I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I didn’t have any
patients.
I became a professional fisherman but discovered that I couldn’t
live on my net income.
I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company,
but the work was just too draining.
I got fired as a yoga instructor.
And I bent over backwards for those people!
After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job
as a historian until I realized there was no future in it.
I worked at Krispy Kreme, but I quickly got fed up with the hole
business.
I had a job at MinuteMaid orange juice. I got fired because I
couldn’t concentrate.
I became an archaeologist. Before long, my career was in ruins.
I worked at the bank as a teller for a while…until I starting
losing interest.
I wanted to be a baker, really kneaded the dough.
I considered telemarketing, but it wasn’t my calling.
I didn’t like my job as a waiter. But at least I was putting food
on the table.
I focused on being a photographer, but nothing ever developed.
After that, I wanted to be a barber, but I just couldn’t cut it.
After that, I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for
it. Mainly because it was a so-so job.
Next, I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting.
I am always late for work but I make up for it by always leaving
early.
I hired a handyman and gave him a list of jobs to do. Of the jobs
on the list, he only completed numbers 1,3,5 and 7. Turns out he only does odd
jobs.
If you are in need of a job, you could always try search and
rescue. They are always looking for people.
I sold glasses for a while but I couldn't really see myself making
any money.
Me to HR: Your careers page says the company offers
"competitive salary". What does that mean exactly? HR: That means
your salary will be competing with your bills.
Which job entails you asking people to pick their nose? A plastic
surgeon.
I didn't think my chiropractor was very good. However now I stand
corrected.
I've been trying to break up with an Optician recently....it's
really hard! Every time I tell her I can’t see her anymore, she moves an inch
closer and says ‘How about now?'
Employer: For this role the candidate needs to be responsible
Me: I'm your man, in my last job whenever anything bad happened
the boss always said to me "you are responsible".
I have a hilarious joke about an Israeli postman, but I am afraid
you may not get it.
Boss:
Why do I always have to come looking for you?
Me: Because a good worker is hard to find.
********************************
Answer is A -I’m very excited to be
starting a new and latest exam. Last one I go 16/20 correct so that means I
would’ve passed easily, at least the part one of the exam. Let’s see how I do
on this one.
Well, I’m off to a good start, as should you be. As the first
question is this week’s parsha. If you got this one wrong than you should not
even bother going further. Yisrael was the name given you Yaakov, by Hashem and
the Malach after his battle and victory over the angel of Esau. The 2nd
part though is pretty hard and I took an educated guess and got it right! I
knew it wasn’t the Siloam inscription in Chizkiya’s tunnel, as that one is
about the digging on his tunnels, and you see it there when you go through the
water tunnels. I wasn’t sure about the rest. But I figured that since there
were two Egyptian ones there Ramses and Mernaphtah that it would be one of
them. And it didn’t make sense that it would be on a gate. So, I went with the
inscription of Mernie and I was right. Turns out it’s the oldest inscription
with Yisrael written in hieroglyphics and it’s in Egypt. The king ws probably
the son of Ramses Pharoah from the Pesach story and he claims he came to Canaan
and mentions cities including Gezer and Ashkelon. Whats funny and perhaps
appropriate is that the conquest he describes and the context of Yisrael is
that he killed us and there are no descendants. Umm… really…? Where are you
today, Pharaoh? We’re still around. I guess fake news happened back then too… So starting off on a good foot the score this week
is Schwartz 1 and 0 for MOT (Ministry of Tourism) on this exam.
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