The Universe's Guide for the Hitchhiker- Chukas 2012

Insights and Inspiration

from the 

Holy Land

from 

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

June 29^th  2012 -Volume 2, Issue 34 –9^th of Tamuz 5772

Parshat Chukas

The Universe’s Guide for the Hitchiker

It is one of my favorite parts about living in Israel. As I pull over to pick up the hitchhiker on the side of the road, I remember my good old days when I was a student here in Israel, traveling the country with a few shekels in my pocket and waiting to see where the next kind ride would take me to. In America one would have to be a little crazy to stop on the side of the road to pick someone up. We were rightfully scared by our parents and all those horror stories of “picking up the wrong people”. But here in Israel hitchhiking is a way of life. It’s an opportunity to meet someone new, perform a chesed/kindness for your fellow brother or sister and for Rabbis like me- to get a good story and possible sermon out of the deal.

So Chaim a middle-aged bearded Sephardic gentleman dressed in his suit and hat hopped in my car and asked where I was going. Rule 1 of hitchhiking- get in the car first- it’s air conditioned-after that you can figure out where you need to go and how the driver will get you close enough for your next hitch. When I told my passenger Chaim I was going to the Giv’at Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem his face lit up.

“Wow, is Hashem good! He listens to our prayers, He is truly always there! Just a minute ago I asked him for a ride to Giv’at Shaul and sure enough you pull right up!”

Little did I know that my husbandly errand to deliver some clothes to Beitar was a Divine plan to give Chaim a lift to Giv’at Shaul. But hey, that’s the way things work here in Israel. Now I’ve been happy to get lifts before, but Chaim’s response definitely took it up another league. He immediately pulled out his trusty pocket Tehillim (Psalms) and began to sing praises to the Master Divine traffic controller who provides rides to all those who ask Him. I’m not sure exactly what psalms he said that conveyed that message but I knew that Hashem was smiling.

In this week’s Torah portion we read the story and song of the Jewish people in honor of the miraculous well that provided them with water during their 40 year sojourn in the wilderness. It is a short song but nevertheless rich with vivid and poetic imagery:

 “Thus sang Israel …Come up, O well, call out to it! The well that ministers dug, nobles hewed . . . from the wilderness a gift. And from a gift to the valley and from the valley to the heights . . . as it is seen over the surface of the Yeshimon”.

The Shemen Ha’tov, (as does Rashi) note that this song as opposed to the song at the splitting of the sea omits the name of Moshe. Whereas by the sea, the Jews were in their national infancy and still required the guidance and inspiration of Moshe to direct them to focus their songs of praise on the Almighty who had performed the great miracles of the Exodus from Egypt, 40 years later the Jewish people had arrived. The song was their own. The Abarbanel re-enforces this point and suggests that the water they had received in the past came as a result of complaints and fear. Now for the first time the Jewish people received the miracle of this well and the water it produced without any of the previous prerequisite kvetching. The well according to the Medrash went down into the caves and showed the miracles of the salvation they had achieved and water flowed in rivers throughout the camp. Unsolicited love. The unexpected gift. The hitchhike they didn’t even know was already on the way to them.

Living in Israel one has the opportunity to be more in touch with these little “small” “miracles”. It’s interesting; we do not find the Jewish people singing songs of praise for the miraculous Manna they ate that fell from the sky each morning. They do not compose a song in honor of the fantastic clouds of glory that accompanied them paved the roads, protected them and even provided incredible climate control and dry cleaning service, according to the Medrash. The song they sang was about the simplest and most basic of human needs- water, a cold drink on a hot day. Perhaps that is the most essential kind of song to sing. Chaim, my passenger taught me that it wasn’t me who was giving him a ride (although he thanked me profusely when I dropped him off) in the same way that the Jewish people noted that it was not Moshe that was performing the miracles for them. It was the well from Hashem and it was for them. We are all hitchhikers in this incredible universe Hashem manages for us. We just need to open the door, hop in and thank him as he takes us where we need to go.

Have an absolutely perfect Shabbos

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

RABBI SCHWARTZ FAVORITE JOKE OF THE WEEK

A man stood on the side of the road hitchhiking on a very dark night in the middle of a storm. The night was rolling and no cars passed. The storm was so strong, he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him. Suddenly he saw a car come towards him and stop.

The guy, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door to realize that nobody was behind the wheel. The car started slowly forward.

The guy looked at the road and saw a curve coming his way. Scared, he started praying, and begged for his life. He hadn't come out of shock, when just before he hit the curve, a hand appeared through the window and moved the wheel. The guy, paralyzed in terror, watched how the hand appeared every time before a curve.

The guy gathered strength, got out of the car and ran to the nearest town. Wet and in shock, he ran into a bar and asked for two shots of tequila, and started telling everybody about the horrible experience he went through.

A silence enveloped everybody when they realized the guy was crying and wasn't drunk.

About half an hour later, two guys walked into the same bar, and one said to the other, "Look Pete, that's the idiot who climbed into the car while we were pushing it."
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RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Biriya- in the heart of the second largest forest in Israel right outside of the city of tzefat lies this small little hilltop and fortress that in the 1940’s captured the heart and soul of our soon to be fledgling nation. The yishuv of Birya mentioned as the home of various tana’aim in the Talmud and also the place where Rabbi Yosef Karo wrote his first volume of Shulcah Aruch- the code of Jewish law on Orach Chaim was abandoned in the 17^th century until the jews started to return here with the assistance of Baron Rothschild and P’IKA(Palestine Jewish Colonization Association) who purchased the land in the 1890’s and was first settled unsuccessfully in the 1920’s. In 1945 with the British limiting Jewish purchase of land in Israel and emigration, the Jews fought back by occupying hilltops and establishing Jewish settlements. Birya, being one them, was occupied by 24 young men from the Palmach as a training camp for young recruits. However the British after finding an illegal arms cache expelled the Jews from the settlement. This being the first time the British had thrown Jews out of a settlement raised uproar amongst the Jews. And on the 11^th of Adar a few days later (taanis Esther that year) thousands of Jews who pretended to be going to their annual pilgrimage to Tel Chai detoured to Birya and reestablished the camp. The next day after many of the groups had left. The British once again came with tanks and threw the Jews out. But the Jews would not be stopped and that Friday evening  and Shabbos  the Jews returned for the third time from Rosh Pinna and Tzefat- even getting permission to bring food  on Shabbos as the Rav of Tzefat felt that it was a dangerous area that protected the city from the arabs around them. And the British finally caved and allowed 20 men to remain and work the ground. Jews celebrated that Purim throughout the country. Until today each year Purim of Birya is celebrated as youth groups from around the country relive that great moment when it was clear that the Jews were willing to do whatever it takes to never give up the land. Today one can visit the beautiful forest see the short film of the history of Birya in the visitor center and explore the old homes of this early Yishuv.
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Summer Trips Staff Stuff- Korach 2012

Insights and Inspiration

from the 

Holy Land

from 

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

June 22^nd 2012 -Volume 2, Issue 33 –2^nd of Tamuz 5772

Parshat Korach

Summer Trips Staff Stuff

Summer is here. It is time once again to begin planning that ancient Israelite tradition that dates back to the moment we became a nation- The family summer trip. You see historically we received the Torah on Shavuot, hung around Sinai for a little over a month and then we began to plan our first summer trip into the wilderness of Sinai on the way to Israel. Like most Summer trips this one had its hitches. The kids complain about the food, angry natives that aren’t too accommodating or interested in the Jewish tourist business and we end up wandering around as the visit turns into a forty year journey. Of course no family trip is complete without all the delightful fights-“Why does he get to see it in front?” “She started it” I’m bored- this is not what you told us it would be like” “Are we there yet?” “When can we go back home again?!” Yes, this very significant Jewish ritual reminds us time and time again of why we are grateful that our children are in school all year round and why we are the people of the book rather than the people of vacations.

This week’s Torah portion shares with us the family fight that took place on our Sinai trip. Not exactly “why does he get to sit in the front?”- But close. Korach and his group of 250 men, we are told, team up against Moshe and Aharon the leaders of the Jewish people and demand equality and new leadership. “Who are you to rule over the Jewish people” “We are all holy”.  Korach wants to sit in the front. Yet unlike Rabbi Schwartz who just turns up the music a little louder in the car hoping to drown out the fighting in the background, Moshe implores them to recant. Ultimately when they refuse, he leaves it up to God to decide, as the earth opens up and swallows them alive. Ahhh… quiet at last.

Not so fast, the Torah, tells us though. Once again the people claim and complain accusing Moshe of being the one responsible for the death of poor Korach. Hashem by this time pretty fed up with this trip wants to terminate the whole thing now. This is not working. A familiar story that I’m sure many can relate to on these family trips. Which is why it’s always good to do them with both parents, so that when one has had enough the other can calm them down and make sure that the trip will continue until its very bitter end. In our family, my wife and I generally alternate that role. The trip must go on. In the Torah’s story Moshe and Aharon calm down Hashem (14,700 deaths by plague later) and the trip continues.

And now we come to the beautiful part of the story. For once and for all Hashem decides to show the nation, who seemingly with all that has taken place still needs convincing- although they are by now probably sitting very quietly in the backseat J, what this is really all about. He commands the head of each tribe to bring a staff and to place it in the Tabernacle and the one whose staff flourishes the next morning will know that they are chosen by Hashem to serve as the Priest for the Jewish people. The next morning as they arise, “Walla”(as we say in Israel), Aharon’s staff sprouts flowers, buds and almonds and the deal is closed. The Jewish people recognizing their mistake (finally!!), fear retribution once again. Yet Hashem reassures them that Aharon and his children are forever charged with protecting the sanctity of the Tabernacle and that the Jewish people will be protected in their merit as long as they continue to respect their authority.

The Rav of Brisk notes that it is fascinating that the Torah points out that at the end of the story each member of the tribe took home their staffs. It would seem that this was definitely not something that we would want to remember. The trip that went really sour, thousands dead, all the fighting and the final blow that no one besides Aharon can lead; their bad lottery tickets that didn’t win the prize-so to speak. Yet he notes that it was this that they took home with them, because they wanted to remember the incident. They needed to remember it, because to a certain extent it was a sign of their desire for greatness to be close and serve Hashem as priests. To a larger extent it was also a sign that Hashem ultimately did not throw them out of the car-although they certainly deserved it, rather He took the time to show and explain to them that Aharon was meant to flourish and lead while their staffs were meant to continue to journey and grow.

Rabbi Yisrael Reisman suggests that in these stories lies an incredible insight into the proper way to guide our children. Maimonides notes that the Jewish people never believed or were inspired or convinced by the miracles that were performed for them and certainly not by the punishments. Sometimes what it takes to convince the Jewish people is the beautiful wonder of Hashem. The flowers, blossoms and almonds and the time to invite them into the Tabernacle to bring their staffs and their desires for greatness, had a much more impactful conclusion then the deaths plague, fire and splitting of the earth. This method worked so well that the nation even took those staffs home with them, feeling and seeing the value and specialness of the lesson.

As the summer begins, our trips begin. Our children and our families will have souvenirs and memories of these special moments that we will share together. I always found amusing and ironic that the Schwartz family souvenir of choice of the many places we went was always a shot class-perhaps because we all needed a stiff drink remembering all of the adventures that we endured on these trips together. Yet with the right frame of mind our trips can be ones that will bring our families closer, that will be learning and growing opportunities and will most important of all give us an appreciation of the staffs that each of us hold and carry as we continue to march forward in the service of Hashem. We just need to focus ourselves on the flowers and the blossoms and the miracles of the potential we all have.

Have a totally awesome Shabbos

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~Susan Heller
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RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

TEL DAN- Located at the lush northern part of the Galile the border of what was once Syria the Tel Dan Archeological site is officially Rabbi Schwartzes favorite spot in Israel. Although with the history of the place it was not necessarily the holiest of places for our nation. The story of Tel Dan begins with the story of the tribe of Dan that was not successful inheriting their portion in Israel on the coast who come up here (after a brief stop to steal the idol of Micha) and conquer the ancient city of Laish making it their own. They are drawn hereby the beauty, water and serenity that until today you can experience as you wander through the flora, Gan Eden streams and ancient walls and city of the biblical tribe. Here also one can see that ancient temple and altar where the Temple of Yeravam and his descendants the kings of the divided kingdom of Israel lived throughout the period of the first Temple. Most exciting as well in the Tel Dan site is the discovery of the Gate to the Canaani city from the times of Avraham- who the Torah tells us chased the kings who captured his nephew Lot to here ( the oldest archway ever found in Israel). In the distance one can see the Moutain named after the Bris Bein HaBesarim which took place afterwards and the fortress of “Nimrod” across the hill. Delightful all year round cold water pools and springs to dip in, Jewish history and even modern history as the in 1964 this was the site of the battle over water with the Syrians. Tel Dan has it all and its right here in the North close to me!
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Time Travel- Parshas Shelac 2012

Insights and Inspiration

from the 

Holy Land

from 

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

June 15^th   2012 -Volume 2, Issue 32 –26^th of Sivan 5772

Parshat Shelach

Time Travel

I hit Enter and I wait… and wait… and tap on some keys…I’m still waiting. It’s not downloading. Why is this taking so long? Maybe if I pull out the plug and start all over again it will work faster. I reach for the plug and all of a sudden it finally goes. Nothing like a little fear tactic of disconnecting your computer from its electrical life force to kick it into shape. Kind of like technological water-boarding, I guess. Now if only I could figure out what to do with the long waits in the post office or the motor vehicle department. But for some reason I don’t think any amount of plug pulling will speed up those lines.

I know I really shouldn’t be that impatient. It is amazing that with a click of a button on our computer we are sending messages all the way up to outer space and back and it seems kind of silly to be upset if it takes an extra nano-second or so. But having lived in that great city that never sleeps, New York , for many years, you somehow develop a lack of tolerance for anything that you can’t beep with your horn and get an instant response. Yet I don’t think New Yorkers are the only ones who have this experience. I think for most of us at different times the clock just seems to be ticking verrrrryyy sssslllooowwwlyy… As a Rabbi friend of mine once said –I don’t mind if people look at their watches during my sermons. It’s when they hold it up to their ears to see if it’s still ticking and checking the batteries that I begin to get nervous.

This weeks Torah portion teaches an important lesson about the passage of time in one of the more tragic stories in the Torah. For those of you who have been keeping up with our journey you will know that the Jewish people have left Mt. Sinai and are marching off preparing to go to the Land of Israel . In order to find out what the challenges that lie ahead are, they send out spies to check out the land. Unfortunately these spies come back with a very scary report about giants and wars, how it’s a land that will eat up its inhabitants and then they show them these huge fruits to demonstrate the scariness of the land. The nation becomes terrified, they weep, they mourn, they long to return to Egypt and they lose faith in God. They have accepted the Lashon Hara-the Evil talk of the Holy Land , and they have forgotten that their God in heaven promised them this land as their birthright. Hashem, once again disappointed by his nation and their lack of faith issues the consequences. For saying Lashon Harah  the spies will die immediately. (According to Rashi who quotes the Medrash their tongues stretched out until their bellies and worms crawled in- just in case you needed a visualJ). The rest of the people from age 20-60 would die in the wilderness, never to enter Eretz Yisrael. And their children the Torah tells us

–

I shall bring them; they shall know the land that you have despised… They shall roam for forty years and bear your guilt until the last of your carcasses in the wilderness. Like the number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, a day for a year… Forty years.. and you shall comprehend straying from me.

Wow! I’m sure your saying. This seems like a very harsh punishment. The truth of the matter is there is something very perplexing about this punishment. First of all why are they punished at the rate of 1 year to 1 day? Seemingly in heavenly punishments we have a concept of the punishment fitting the crime Mida K’neged Mida- Quid pro Quo (for all you latin speakers). Why would they have to pay such a steep price and exchange rate? Also it seems that the children under 20 are not culpable for the sin, as they were not included in the decree of death, so why would they have to suffer and wander for forty years? Seemingly only the sinners above 60 should have died and not entered the land of Israel (an appropriate punishment for their lack of faith and desire to fulfill the Divine mandate to live there). What point was there in them wandering?

The answer, I believe, has to do with our perception of time. We all know the old adage “Time flies when you're having fun”. The Torah even tells us that when Jacob was working for his wife Rachel for seven years it was as if it was only a few days. When you are engaged in something meaningful the hours feel like minutes and the months like days and the years like weeks. It flies by. On the other hand when you’re doing something you dread, sitting in a class you don’t want to be in, waiting in the dentists office, or just waiting for your computer to log on then it seems like hours. Each day that those spies were in the Land of Israel should have flown by; marveling in the wonder, beauty and holiness of this God Promised Land. But it didn’t it felt like a year. When they conveyed that message back to the people they cried and mourned and transmitted that message. Israel is horrible, each day there is as painful as a year. Children who witnessed this needed to learn a different message. They had been traumatized- they “bore that guilt of their parents”. It would take forty years of hearing their parents long to step foot in the Land of Israel to change the impact of that 40 day tragic trek through the land of Israel.

There is a powerful in message for us in this story. None of us can control how much time we have here on this world. We only know that it is limited and the clock is ticking from the moment we are born. What we do have control over is how we will experience that passage of time. Will we be engaged in meaningful, inspirational activities that gives us an appreciation of every precious moment that we have- so much, that we don’t even realize that its passing by. Or are we going to be staring at our watches counting the minutes as they schlep on our march to the grave. The summer months are here and as a parent of children I know that there will be moments that I am spending our quality vacation time and it will be amazing and go so quickly but will be captured for eternity. Then there will be those days that my children will inevitably say “what do we do today Dad??? I’m so bored”. Children know that each day of summer vacation is precious and shouldn’t be wasted. The truly righteous and accomplished understand that we should approach every day of our lives with that same perspective. So maximize those moments when your sitting in front of a computer, or waiting on line. Say a prayer, learn a little bit. Maximize your time with something meaningful and watch how it just flies by.

Have a inspirationally long Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE WEEK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvwpNkJd82w
Lipa- Hang Up The Phone J)

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Mitzpeh Revivim- The year was 1945 the vision of a Jewish state was already starting to be actualized and three dreamers came out to the Negev to expand the borders of Israel in the South. Revivim was one of 11 points in the Negev that were established before the State of Israel as “agricultural scientific expeditions” as it was illegal to open new settlements under the British mandate. The small group lived in old byzantine caves without water and electricity with the sole purpose of creating “facts on the ground” that when the state of Israel would be established the negev would be ours providing an important and strategic border with Egypt. Today one can visit Revivim have a tour with actors dressed in the time period (English and Hebrew) as well as see the planes that fought in the independence war, see the incredible water irrigation tunnels that were made and hear the story and feel the inspiration of the those early settlers who gave their lives to build us this land.

Shake em' Up- Beha'aloshcha 2012

Insights and Inspiration

from the 

Holy Land

from 

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

June 8^th   2012 -Volume 2, Issue 31 –18^th of Sivan 5772

Parshat Behaloscha

Shake ‘em Up

Many people give much thought to the legacy that they will leave over after they die. We buy life insurance so that our family will be provided for. We work hard and put away money so that our retirement years will go easier. For most of us the idea of leaving this world penniless would be a great tragedy. Yes, we all know that we can’t take it with us. But over a lifetime of accumulating, working and building it’s not easy to leave it behind; to leave with nothing to testify we were here.

But that’s us. Not so Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, one of the great Jewish spiritual leaders and thinkers of just two generations ago. Last week I was reading a biography of his life. Being the impatient reader that I am, after reading the first few pages I flipped to the ending.-Spoiler Alert-He dies. L. But in describing his last few weeks before his death, his family said that the one thing that he was absorbed with was the opposite of what we might think. He was giving everything he had away. He had told his family that it was his desire that he would have to borrow the pen that he would need to write his last will and testament. For it was his wish to leave this world without any possessions whatsoever. To be as empty handed as the day he came in, that was his dream.

His reasoning, he told those that were close to him, was because he felt (based on some Talmudic sources…that I won’t complicate you with) that even after one departs from this world, whatever material possessions he owns and is connected to, still binds the neshoma/soul to this physical world in some way. It’s hard to let go. He didn’t want to have anything that would make it hard for him to get to where he knew his soul was longing to connect to. It was time to go ‘home’ and leave everything behind.

I’ve thought a lot about that story this past week as I recall the process our family went through two years ago when we were packing and mostly getting rid of our stuff preparing for our move back ‘home’ to Israel. Should we take this? Do we need that? Will be able to get it there? If we can, will we be able to afford it? Will it work as well? What will fit? We were purging and it felt good. It felt right. I’m no Rabbi Dessler, but his mindset and that story gave me much needed inspiration. I  remember staring at my extra mouse pad that I was thinking of taking and thinking about his pen. We don’t need it. We can’t take it with us. Let’s leave it behind.

I recently started to study the Book of Ezra. It’s a mind numbing beginning. The King of the World- Empire of the time-Cyrus the Great- just 50 years after the destruction of the temple has ordered it to be rebuilt. He encourages and will support the effort for all the Jews to return home. To have it all back. A dream come true? We would think so. But they didn’t come. In perhaps the greatest failure in the history of our people only 42,000 of the millions of Exiles returned. They couldn’t leave. After only 50 years they were too Babylonian. Even great sages and leaders remained behind. The Torah was greater in Bavel, the scholarship, the service of God. But the Talmud states in retrospect that it was a mistake.

This week’s Torah portion carries within it one of the most bizarre Jewish rituals-and we have quite a few. Yet the Slonimer Rebbe gives an incredible insight that challenges us to rise and to move beyond this great challenge, and he shares the pathway by which to grow in precisely this area. The Parsha tells us about the dedication of the tribe of Levi as the servants of the Temple and the intermediaries between the Jewish people and God. Aharon, the High Priest, is commanded to purify each one of them-not strange- accept their sacrifice – still pretty standard…and then shave all their bodily hair off-strange… and then to pick each one up and perform the waving offering upon them-huh?. What is the waving offering? Remember Sukkot time, how we took that Lulav and Etrog bundle and shook them up and down and all around? O.K. now replace Lulav and Etrog and insert 250 lb Levi… 22,000 of them. …one by one.-walla- wave offering.

What is the meaning of this strange and exhausting offering? The Slonimer Rebbe explains that this was the process of the Levis letting go. To be a Levi meant that you were entirely uplifted. You would be free to be thrust to the right and the left and up and down and nothing was holding you to the ground. You could soar and not be afraid or attached. It must have felt great. It’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Yet, the Rebbe continues, it is not just the tribe of Levi. Each one of us can do it. Should do it. We can’t do it all the time. We weren’t meant to live that life. Certainly, Aliyah isn’t for all of us at this point in our lives as well. But there is a time when we can all experience it. When we can work on that feeling. That time he suggests is Shabbos. Each Friday evening as we sing Kabbalat Shabbat and welcome in the Shabbos Queen we sing Lecho Dodi-

Hisnari Mefar KMoomi- Rise up from the dust-

Livshi Bigdei Tifartech Ami- Clothe yourself in the splendorous garments of my nation

Hisoriri Hisoriri Ki Va Orech Koomi Ori – Awaken Awaken for the time to awaken has come

Oori Oori Shir Dabeiri- Awaken Awaken and sing the song of the glory of Hashem revealed.

Can you leave this world behind and just relish in the otherworldly splendor of the Divine? You can. Shabbos is that workout place to soar. It’s the time when we put away all our connection to the worries, the business, the constant accumulation of our things and we let ourselves be uplifted. Rabbi Dessler was able to do what he did and gain the perspective that he had because he lived a lifetime of Shabbatot. He knew how incredible it felt to be able to taste a life disconnected from the illusory material down here and attached to the Eternal spiritual reality up here. He left this world for one that is referred to as Kulo Shabbos- All Shabbos. All the time. And he didn’t want anything to spoil that great day.

We’re not all Rabbi Dessler Jews. I certainly don’t think any of us are even as great as our ancestors, who for whatever high spiritual reasons couldn’t make Aliyah at the time of Ezra. But we can at least be Shabbos Jews. Our Neshomos are just waiting for us to give them that weekly shake up. That special dose of holiness. Let’s give them a lift for one day a week let’s think about giving our souls their Aliya. Lets all experience how wonderful it is to be home.

Have a Great Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

RABBI SCHWARTZ FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them you're a mile away and you have their shoes.”


RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Synagogue of Nitai Ha’arbeli- Actually the incredible synagogue remains that one will find on the foothills of the Arbel mountain overlooking the kinneret are from the 4^th or 5^th century after the period of Nitai Ha’Arbeli yet for close to a thousand years Jews would come to this area and this synagogue and remember the greatness of this great scholar who dwelled here.
Nita’H’Arbeli the Zug or Masoretic partner in the transmission of the oral torah of Reb Yehoshua ben Perachia lived in the period of the Chasmonaim- is quoted in Avot as the author of the statement Distance yourself from a bad neighbor and don’t be friends with a wicked person and never give up hope from tribulations.
The Arbel was a mountain that became a source of hope for the Jewish people it was occupied in the times of the Chasmonaim, during the period of Herod there were great revolts where people hid up in its caves (which he slaughtered capturing them with manmade cranes sending up soldiers). We are told of great heroism that took place during that era.
The synagogue is unique in that it has its entrance from the east rather then the North or south and its glorious entrance gate that still remains was made out of one huge solid rock. The synagougue had two floors making it almost 40 to 50 feet high. This was a community project. Right outside of the shul there was a box that was excavated that served as a charity box for those who would come to pray and those that would need would take from there.
The Talmud tells us that our sages believed that the redemption would first start in the North.
“ As Rab Chiya and Rabbi shimon ben chalafta walked and saw the morning sun over Arbel who’s light was shining they commented- so is the redemption of Israel bit by bit it comes out and grows brighter along the way”
May we see that day soon.

The Lesson of the Receding Hairline- Naso 2012

Insights and Inspiration

from the 

Holy Land

from 

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

May 31^st  2012 -Volume 2, Issue 30 –10^th of Sivan 5772

Parshat Naso

The Lesson of a Receding Hairline

It’s a sensitive issue for most men my age. We look in the mirror after our showers and we watch that once healthy full hairline retreat slowly… inch by inch…just like the French at the slightest confrontation. I don’t want to see more of my forehead, Thank you very much. I am happier knowing about what’s in my mind, not what’s no longer on it. It’s too bad that hair doesn’t weigh that much, my diet plan might be going a little stronger. Well at least I might save on shampoo products soon.

The Torah also seems to have some interesting thoughts and laws regarding hair care. We are prohibited to shave the sides of our hair (seemingly this was an idolatrous practice even back then, I don’t know what type of practice Mohawks are today). We are told we can’t use razors to shave with (electric shavers are generally fine). The Levi and the Metzora would have to have their heads shaved as part of their service. Perhaps most fascinating though, in this week’s Torah portion we are told about two individuals that the Torah seems focus its hair laws on.

The first law mentioned in the Torah portion is that of a woman who was suspected of adultery after witnesses reported that she had secluded with a man whom she had previously been warned not to be alone with. The Torah commands that she would be brought to the Kohen where she would undergo a process of Divine discovery. He would uncover her hair publicly (we derive from here that married Jewish woman customarily would, and should, cover their hair), and then he would have her drink from the Sota water (non carbonated J). This was special water that had the name of God dissolved in it, to discern whether she was faithful or not. (PS- it wouldn’t work if her husband was ever unfaithful).

The second person was the Nazir someone who had undertaken a vow, like the great Samson and the prophet Samuel, to lead an ascetic lifestyle either for a period of time or for life. This person would be prohibited from wine and grape products, from coming in contact with the dead and last but certainly most visible was that was the prohibition to cut their hair. Even more fascinating is that at the conclusion of this process a Nazir must shave all his hair. It seems that God also has this thing about hair. What is it all about?

There is an interesting Medrash, that goes back to the Garden of Eden when Eve, the first woman, was created. The Zohar tells us that when Hashem first brought Eve to Adam he braided her hair. You didn’t know that God doubled as a Hairdresser, I bet? After the sin, when they were thrown out of the garden the Medrash tells us her hair was disheveled and it was from that time that the concept of married Jewish women covering their hair began. Our sages explain that hair is meant to represent the physical extension of our power of imagination; that which grows out of our mind. When Eve was first she was given the role and power to draw out the imagination of man, to be his partner in fulfilling his dreams and to braid together the inspiration of his passions bringing it to a glorious fulfillment in the service of the Almighty. Her hair was perfectly and Divinely braided. Yet when she caused Man to sin, she lost that perfect crown. Her hair and the illusions of the grandeur that she would get from eating the forbidden fruit, itself became a force that tempted mans imagination rather than restraining and channeling it. Forever  thereafter the hair would have to be covered and restrained, to hold that power intact from the temptations of all men, besides one’s own husband.

With this understanding we can explain the lesson of the Sota woman and the Nazir. The woman who behaved in an illicit way with another man serves as a demonstration to all of the Jewish people of what happens when ones fantasy and imagination runs amok. That special crown of the beauty of the perfectly covered hair, which speaks to the modesty of Jewish women in restraining their passion to be used exclusively with her partner in life, is lost on this woman. The results of that loss reflects itself in the ultimate shame that is experienced.

Similarly the Nazir, we are told, is an individual who feels that he is too tempted by his passions and his looks. He feels he cannot express his natural human self-control of living within in this world and elevating it. He wants to take a vow of asceticism and separation. His hair is left to grow unnaturally long and untamed because he has spiritually put the brakes on his passion by his vows and his long hair testifies to imagination run wild. It’s not the proper way to be. We are meant to channel our physical drives and desires. And we are meant to comb and control our hair, those outgrowths of our imagination; to be that Divine image that God created, no holier and not wilder. The Nazir, when his vow is over, shaves his hair to symbolize that he now re-enters the natural path of growth of his live and his drives. The wild temptations are now subdued.

Hashem has given us, with hair, an incredible barometer of our lives. When we are born we are mostly bald; no major dreams or passions. Change my diaper. Feed me, That’s it. As we get older our hair grows. We groom our passions, we direct them, we cut and trim them and they grow properly. Divinely. Yet as we age our hair becomes one of the first symbols of the loss of all those dreams. They turn gray, then white, and then sadly, one-by-one they begin to fall out. At a certain age we don’t dream any more. We have either accomplished or we haven’t. Although in Judaism we know it’s never too late to start, our hair reminds us that unless we act quickly our time is running out. Those strands get thinner and fewer the older we get and no shampoo in the world can bring it back. Hair today-gone tomorrow. So the next time you look in the mirror think of the message of the hair from days gone by and comb those stalwart remaining strands and promise them a better future.

Have an amazing Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

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RABBI SCHWARTZ BAD JOKE OF THE WEEK
What do you call 40 rabbits hopping backwards in a row?
A receding Hairline oyyy


RABBI SCHWARTZ FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“CLASSIC: -A book which people praise, but never read”


RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Kfar Nachum Synagogue- THIS IS DEFINITLY NOT YOUR TYPICAL JEWISH SITE. IN FACT VISITORS TO THE ANCIENT VILLAGE OF CAPERNAUM ON THE WESTERN BANKS OF THE KINNERET MIGHT FEEL OUT OF PLACE AT THIS “HOLY” CHRISTIAN SITE. YET IT MAKES IT TO THE SCHWARTZ LIST OF COOL PLACES BECAUSE OF THE ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE THAT IS IN THE VILLAGE AND THE MYSTERY SURROUNDING IT.
THE VILLAGE ITSELF IS MENTIONED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AS BEING A PLACE WHERE THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY RESIDED AND PREFORMED MIRACLES AS WELL AS BEING THE PLACE WHERE PETER LIVED. IN FACT A CHURCH IS BUILT ON THIS SITE OF HIS HOME. THE MEDRASH IN KOHELET 7:26 ON THE VERSE GOOD IS HE WHO RUNS (FROM SIN) AND A SINNER WILL GET TRAPPED IN IT- RABBI ISI OF KISRIN (CASEREA?) SAYS GOOD IS A REFERENCE TO CHANINA THE SON OF YEHOSHUA AND A SINNER IS THE PEOPLE OF KFAR NACHUM.

THE SYNAGOGUE THAT WAS DISCOVERED THERE AND EXCAVATED IN THE EARLY 1900’S BY THE FRANSICANS WHO PURCHASED THE PLACE FROM THE LOCAL BEDOUINS HAS PILLARS AND ORNAMENTATIONS THAT DATE FROM THE 4^TH CENTURY YET INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH THERE WERE COINS FOUND UNDER THE FLOOR FROM THE 5^TH CENTURY A HUNDRED YEARS LATER.  THEORIES OFFERED ARE 1) THAT EITHER THE FLOOR WAS BUILT LATER AND THE SYNAGOUGE IS REALLY 4^TH CENTURY 2) THE SYNAGOGUE WAS BUILT IN A ROMAN PERIOD IN TH E 5^TH  CENTURY WHEN IT WAS PROHIBITED TO MAKE SYNAGOGUES AND THE PILLARS WERE JUST RE-USED FROM ANOTHER SYNAGOGUE OR 3) AND THIS IS THE COOL ONE- THE CHRISTIANS WHO BUILT THE CHURCH KNEW FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT THE THERE WAS A SYNAGOGUE THAT WAS PREACHED IN BY THEIR FOUNDER AND THEY BUILT THE SYNAGOGUE FOR THEIR PURPOSES. INTERSTINGLY ENOUGH THERE WAS A 2^ND FLOOR FOR THE SYNAGOGUE WHICH SOME SUGGEST MAY HAVE BEEN A LADIES SECTION.
\
UNDERNEATH THE SYNAGOGUE THERE IS ANOTHER SYNAGOGUE MADE OUT OF BASLAT STONE (DIFFERENT THEN THE LIMESTONE ON TOP AND THAT WOULD BE THE ORIGINAL SYNAGOUGE THERE FROM THE 2^ND TEMPLE PERIOD MAKING IT ONE OF THE OLDEST IN THE WORLD!  

A Day to Remember-Bamidbar/Shavuot 2012

Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"

May 24^th 2012 -Volume 2, Issue 29 -3^rd of Sivan 5772

47^th Day of Omer

Parshat Bamidbar/ Shavuot

A Day to Remember

Did we really stand at that mountain 3324 years ago? Did we actually witness Hashem come down on the Mountain, hear his voice, and see the thunder and lightning? Do I remember being there and calling out with the other 3 million Jewish souls Na'aseh Vi'Nishma- We will do and we will listen to all the laws of the Torah? Frankly, I barely remember my kids names half the time; forget about their birthdays.

(One of the nice things about having a Teudat Zehut- Israeli citizenship paper is that it has all my kids' birthdays on it, so I don't have to undergo those embarrassing pauses at government offices- as I quickly call my wife- when they ask me for them).

Yet our sages tell us that we were all there. The Torah gives us a commandment to remember the day that we stood at Sinai and according to Nachmonide/ the Ramban this is in itself one of the 613 commandments. Yet for some reason 3324 years seems like a long time for this aging brain of mine. Yesterday does as well.

There is a general rule in the Torah that "the commandments were not given to angels". All of the mitzvos are given for us, simple and forgetful type, human beings to observe. So how can there be a mitzvah to remember something from so long ago. Perhaps on an even deeper level why is it that we have to remember the whole Sinai "production" isn't it enough just to know the Torah and observe the commandments?

Why does the Torah command us to...

(Devarim 4:9-10) "Just observe for yourself and guard your soul exceedingly LEST YOU FORGET the things that your eyes saw and lest you remove from your hearts all the days of your life and you will make them known to your children and your grandchildren. The day on which you stood before the Lord, your God, in Chorev, when HaShem Said to me, 'Gather together for Me the people that I may Cause them to hear My Words, that will teach them to fear Me all of the days that they are living on the earth, and that they will teach their children"

The answer the Ramban suggests is that the significance of the mitzvah is so that one will teach their children. The entire "production" was there to give a message and an impact that one would "just have to" pass down. I may forget what happened yesterday. But what my father heard from his father from his father... that message, that scene was embedded in our national memory forever.

This week we begin the 4^th book of the Torah, Bamibar-In the wilderness. It is the reading that always precedes Shavuot and there are many lessons that our sages and commentaries have forever found in it about the lessons of Sinai. Perhaps one of the most poignant, yet subtler lessons, is the extensive amount of space that is spent in the Parsha recalling our national counting as we began our journey. The Torah notes repeatedly how each Jew would be counted according to their families/ their father's home. The message being that as a Jew we count as much as we associate ourselves with the home of our fathers who stood at Sinai. We are not an independent, self-started, coming-to-it-of-our-own, religion. Rather we are bearers of our family heritage, the stories that we heard and the events that we witnessed. To be counted is to connect oneself to the events of that national moment that has been passed down in full detail to us.

Another message our sages note in a Medrash in the beginning of the Parsha when it discusses the genealogy of the Jewish people is that it was in the merit of their genealogy that we received the Torah. The Meishiv Nefesh explains this medrash with another fascinating Medrash

.

"When Yisrael stood at Har Sinai, Hashem asked them, "Who will guarantee your observance of Torah?" Bnei Yisrael answered, "Our forefathers," but Hashem responded that those were not adequate guarantors. "Our children," Bnei Yisrael then said, and Hashem responded, "Your children are certainly good guarantors." This, the midrash concludes, is the meaning of the verse (Tehilim 8:3), "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you have established strength." And, this, writes the Meishiv Nefesh, is the meaning of the midrash that the Torah was given because of

our genealogy, i.e., our children.

The Ramban suggests as well that the key to us fulfilling the mitzvah of remembering Sinai is passing that tradition, our story that we heard from our fathers and that resides in our collective memory to the next generation.

"And you will make them known to your children and your grandchildren"

I recall a lecture I once heard from Rabbi Berel Wein who once made an incredible calculation. He suggested that each individual can relate first hand testimony for about 130 years. Meaning that I knew my grandfather who was born in the early 1900's and he knew and heard from his grandfather who lived in the late 1800's. So my personal record goes back about 130 years. If we make that calculation over the 3324 years from Sinai we would only require a chain of about 25 people to pass down the story of that great event. 25 people charged with the memory and legacy of their grandparents who take seriously the mandate to make sure that their grandchildren knew the most important message and revelation of mankind that they were at. It's not so many people. It's not too hard to remember.

We live in a world where, thank God, with the blessing of modern medicine people are living longer. By my son's Bris 14 years ago he had 7 out of his eight great- grandparents alive and sharing in the Simcha. Today, they should live and be well until 120, they have the blessing of of having 4 of their great grandparents still active and passing down those important messages and values. Sinai lives and will always live our memory despite how much so many of us might forget from time to time, despite the challenges of assimilation and persecution we've faced throughout the centuries. It lives because the deepest instinct imparted to us as a nation at the momentous occasion was this message. Remember this day, Remember this moment when we saw and witnessed Hashem a.nd his glory. And never forget to remind your children of their precious heritage and memory as well. Personal birthdays may be forgotten, but our national birthday as the eternal nation will be celebrated each year as we approach and enjoy in the special birthday party of Shavuot.

Have an incredibly amazing Shabbos and a Chag Shavuot Samayach,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

P.S. Happy 1st Bar Mitzvah anniversary to my 14 year old Yonah!! We are so proud of you!!(and me for remembering :))

RABBI SCHWARTZ SHAVUOT YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS03Xkmaf3U



RABBI SCHWARTZ FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Instead of spending a fortune on this trip to climb Mount Sinai and reciting the 10 Commandments on the mountain's peak, I have a better idea. Save your money, stay home and keep the Commandments in Boston."-Mark Twain to the Boston Globe on a proposed expedition to the Holyland with a Sinai finale"




RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

JEZRE'EL VALLEY/ "THE EMEK"-THE TRUTH IS THIS LARGEST VALLEY IN ISRAEL BETWEEN THE LOWER GALILE AND THE HILLS OF MENASHE HAS TONS OF COOL PLACES. MANY BIBLICAL STORIES TOOK PLACE IN THIS VALLEY FROM SAUL, GIDEON, DEVORA, ALIYAHU AND ACHAV. YET WHEN ONE IN ISRAEL REFERS TO THE EMEK THEY REFER TO THE HOTBED OF MANY NEW IDEAS AND SOCIETIES THAT WERE DEVELOPED AND TRIED IN THIS VALLEY THAT WAS FULL OF SWAMPS, SICKNESS AND DETERMINED ZIONIST IDEALOGUES WHO WERE COMING TO BUILD A DIFFERENT FUTURE FOR THEMSELVES.
CO-OPERATIVE LIVING IN MERCHAVIA, KIBBUTZ LIFE IN EIN HAROD, MOSHAV IN NAHALAL WERE ALL ATTEMPTS IN THE 1920'S TO CREATE A SOCIETY THAT WOULD BALANCE A COMMUNAL LIVING AND RESPONSIBILITY THAT WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD. THE ONE THING THAT THEY ALL HAVE IN COMMON IS THAT THEY WERE ALL STARTED AS SECULAR NEW-WORLD VIEWS AND SOLUTIONS AND THEY HAVE ALL CHANGED AND EVEN HAVE ESTABLISHED SYNAGOGUES AND MIKVAOT.
THE JEW IS BUILT TO CHANGE THE WORLD THE EMEK IS A SYMBOL OF THE INCREDIBLE FLOURISHING THAT WE CAN BRING TO A DESOLATE SWAMP AS THE MOUNTAINS FLOURISH WITH WHEAT, TREES AND FLOWERS. MAY WE BE THAT TRUE SPIRITUAL LIGHT AS WELL

Casually Pregnant- Bechukosai 2012

Insights and Inspiration

from the 

Holy Land

from 

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

May 18^th  2012 -Volume 2, Issue 28 –26^th  of Iyar 5772

41^st  Day of Omer

Parshat Bechukosai

Casually Pregnant

It was during one of my wife's pregnancies and I had just returned from Israel on a trip. She was at a rather early stage and so, as the custom in our home, in order to avoid any Ayin Harah/Evil Eye we had not told anyone before I had gone on my 10 day trip. However the good Almighty always has alternate plans, and while I was away my wife became slightly ill (another not so fun pregnancy custom in our house), required some help and the word slowly got out. So there I was getting picked up from the airport when my little son Yonah turns to me excitedly and says

“Hey, Daddy! Guess what? Mommy's pregnant!”

Biting back a smile and ignoring my friend’s who was driving us little comment about "see what happens when you go away for 10 days", I turned to my son with as much surprise as I could muster up and said "REEEAAALLY! Baruch Hashem!!" His response however touched my heart and soul.

"I just knew it would happen, Daddy! It's because I've been davening (praying) a lot and I sent a letter to Hashem and because you must have davened a lot when you went to the Western Wall-The Kotel in Eretz Yisrael to deliver it there."

I remember coming home smiling that night as I told my wife how cute my son was and the wonderful innocence of youth. In doing so however I caught myself. Is his statement and exuberance about the Hand of God and His answering- to- prayers- capacity a product of my son's childhood naiveté? Or is the lack of that emotion and faith an unfortunate testimony to his father's adult Divine callousness to the incredible miracle that was growing inside of my wife. Had I perhaps become so enwrapped in the natural expectations of "the way of the world" and fallen guilty to the sin of not appreciating the wonderful blessing I had been granted in response to my prayers.

This week’s Torah portion and the conclusion of the book of Leviticus discusses the blessing and curses associated with the fulfillment and non- fulfillment of the commandments. In the portion of the terrifying punishments that Hashem spells out in spine-chilling graphic detail (unfortunately most of which our history shows has been meted upon us generation after generation) there is one repeated cause for all these tzoris/troubles; one sin specifically that invokes a response from Hashem; a response of terror and tragedy.

"And if you will be have casually with Me and refuse to heed Me And I shall lay a further blow upon you seven ways like your sins……"

"If despite these you will not be chastised toward Me and you behave casually with Me then I will behave toward you with casualness and I will strike you even I seven ways for your sins)"

"And if despite this you will not heed Me and you will behave toward Me with casualness I will behave toward you with a fury of casualness; I will chastise you , even I, seven ways for your sins…."

"And you will confess your sins and your forefather's sins for the treachery with which they betrayed Me, and also for having behaved toward Me with casualness. I too will behave with them with casualness and I will bring them into the land of their enemies –perhaps then their unfeeling heart will be humbled and then they will gain appeasement for their sin."

Thankfully this portion concludes with the ultimate promise of redemption. With
Hashem "remembering" the covenant of our Forefathers and the remembrance of the Land of Israel,  to which will be fully and undisputedly returned to when we finally achieve atonement for our sin.

Perhaps one of the most difficult concepts for people to come to terms with in understanding or coming to terms with about God-run world is the untold tragedies that occur. Interestingly enough no one has that problem or question when blessings and good things befall them. The book titled "Why Do Good Things Happen to me?" has yet to be written and would probably never get published. It seems there is almost an expectation in life that the natural order of the world is that I deserve to have things going good. Although if you ask the average person if they have committed sins, if they have recognized regularly the Source of their blessing, if they truly feel they can approach an Almighty with clean deserving hands, most I believe would respond with an overall "Well I'm generally a good person" type of answer, rather than address the specific merits of the questions posed. An argument that would never hold its weight in any court when faced with a specific charge, nor one that would entitle anyone to getting a foundation grant, government assistance program, or even a job when asked for the merits by which they may be specifically worthy. Particularly because “generally good” is pretty subjective term.

Yet we feel that way. Why? Because we take God and goodness for granted, it's just the way its "spozed" to be. The greatest tragedy is that in doing so we lose out on the experience of the Divine nature, interaction and love by which we receive all that we have and by which we exist. We therefore more tragically lose out on fully appreciating the Divine nature of the significance of wha twe must have been given the capacity to accomplish. Imagine the wife who receives a beautiful diamond necklace from her husband (one day… Rebbetzin… one day…J) yet assumes that it just got there on the dining room table by itself. Imagine that tremendous potential for love that is lost. Imagine the message and knowledge of the incredible sense of love and appreciation her husband has for the value of their relationship that she could have taken from this gift had she only realized it was from him. Imagine the immense sadness of living a life not realizing how valuable and cherished you truly are because you just assumed with casualness that it’s the natural way of the world.

Hashem our ever loving Father in Heaven cares too much for us to let us lead that type of life. So He does that which always seems to get us recognizing and turning and begging for the return of His divine love and blessing. He separates and gives us exactly the type of relationship we are deserving of and have been behaving with, according to our lack of recognition, in order that we learn and appreciate how significant his blessing and love is in our lives.

We conclude this third book of the Torah Vayikra, the book that discusses sacrifices and the process of getting and integrating our closeness with our Creator with this powerful message. The Torah is teaching us that we are in a relationship with God. Our blessing and our existence are all not merely casual natural things that happen, rather they are a direct result of the caring love and significance by which we are meant to relate to the Divine and by which Hashem has a relationship with us. Perhaps even more significant is when we are faced with tragedies and challenges. We should never view them as products of the casual or circumstance. They are happening for a reason. A Divine reason. For they are coming from a loving God that wants nothing more than for His special children to turn to Him once again, whether in prayer or in our deeds and awareness and relate and appreciate the significance rather than the casualness of our lives.

Have an incredibly amazing Shabbos,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

This week’s insights is dedicated in honor of my dear Rebbetzin Aliza who’s birthday is this week!! You are always my tremendous source of inspiration and the strength and the center of all that I have that is good. Thank you for all you are and do and for sharing life together with me. May Hashem continue to bless you and us with many more years growing younger, closer and greater together and may we both merit to continue to see all our dreams come true…

Mazel Tov!!

RABBI SCHWARTZ YOM YERUSHALAYIM YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS03Xkmaf3U


RABBI SCHWARTZ FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“BE KIND TO YOUR DENTIST. HE HAS FILLINGS, TOO.-Anonymous”

RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-
Museum of Rishon Li’Tzion- THE CITY APTLY NAMED RISHON LE’TZION WAS THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL FARMING COMMUNITY STARTED IN ISRAEL IN 1882- LONG BEFORE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL. THE CITY WAS A BLEND OF EASTERN EUROPEAN RELIGIOUS JEWS THAT CAME TO LIVE IN ISRAEL AND WORK THE LAND, OLD YISHUV-NIKS THAT WERE MOVING OUT OF YERUSHALAYIM LOOKING TO SUPPORT THEMSELVES AND WESTERN EUROPEAN JEWS FUNDED BY THE ALLIANCE’- KOL YISRALE CHAVEIRIM THAT WAS DEDICATED TO SHOWING THAT JEWS COULD BE MORE THEN “BUSINESS MIDDLE MEN” AND COULD CREATE FROM THE SANDS AND INFERTILE GROUND OF ISRAEL AND FLOURISHING AGRICULTURAL WONDERLAND. WITH THE SUPPORT OF BARON ROTHSCHILD (AND THE CHALLENGES THAT CAME WITH HIS HARSH DEMANDS) THE MIRACLE TOOK PLACE. THE CITY GREW AND DEVELOPED AND IS TODAY THE FOURTH LARGEST IN ISRAEL. IN THE MUSEUM OF RISHON ONE CAN VISIT THE OLD REFURBISHED PERIOD HOUSES ALONG WITH MEETING MANY OF THE ORIGINAL SETTLERS (DRESSED AND SPEAKING AS THEY DID IN THAT ERA) WHO ARE HAPPY TO SHARE THEIR STORIES. ONE CAN VISIT THE HOMES WHERE THE HATIKVA WAS ESTABLISHED AND SET TO MUSIC, WHERE THE ISRAELI FLAG WAS FIRST UNVEILED, THE OLD SHUL-WHICH IS STILL IN USE AND EXPERIENCE FIRST HAND WHAT LIFE MUST HAVE BEEN LIFE FOR THOSE EARLIER PIONEERS WHO CAME WITH A DREAM OF HOLINESS AND DEDICATION TO BUILD OUR LAND.

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