Occupation Therapy- Pikudei 2016/5776

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

March 11^th 2016 -Volume 6, Issue 23 1^st Adar II 5776

Parshat Pikudei

Occupation Therapy

I had reached that point in my life when it was time to find a ‘real’ job. After 15 years of Jewish educational outreach work and practicing as Rabbi-it takes a lot of practice- it became time in life to do what my parents always said I should do. Find a ‘real’ job. Or as they so eloquently put it. “What type of job is a ‘Rabbi’ for a nice young Jewish boy”. Leave that for the “goyim”. A Jew is meant to be a doctor lawyer or an accountant. We pay other people to do the Rabbi-thing for us. The guys that can’t make it in the real world. Their assumption being of course that I was a nice young Jewish boy. My teachers and Rabbis had another opinion though. Which is why became a Rabbi in the first place J.

Now although I had a college degree, in Finance incidentally- which actually assisted me tremendously in life in understanding the principles behind why I had no money- I wasn’t really drawn to field. Playing with OPM-Other People’s Money never really enticed me. Other people’s mishegas though I always found fascinating. So there I was trying to figure out what I should do with my life, and fortunately I bumped into one of these personal coach people. Y’know those guys that help you figure out what to do and how to succeed in life and your personal goals by inspiring you and building up your confidence and complimenting you repeatedly- kind of the opposite of some of my High School teachers. These coach people actually are there to repair some of that damage. Kind of like a therapy not covered by health insurance, although with Obama-care I’m not sure anymore, maybe if you’re a Syrian refugee you’d be covered. Anyways this kind coach was happy to help me with my occupational dilemma. His wise words of wisdom to me were to find something that I was good at and that enjoyed doing and then figure out how to make a living doing something in that field. “For if you enjoy what you are doing then it is not really work- it’s doing what you love and getting paid for it. And you will excel at it, for you will be living inspired.

Now as my faithful readers know that there is not really many things I enjoy more than chulent. What can I say, it inspires me, though not so much those that sit next to me a few hours later. Now I really can’t make chulent. I can fry an egg and even make potato latkas, but I’m not really a cook or chef. There is also no real market for a gourmet chulent critic for those connoisseurs either, although the thought did pass my mind to meet this untapped rapidly growing market. At least their waists are growing. So I gave it much thought and came to the realization that I really am good and enjoy vacation very much. I’m like the king of “Bein HaZmanim” (school intercession) vacations. I like fun and I know how to do that well. Now there is certainly no better place to have a great vacation then Israel. Hashem made sure of that for us. I mean where else in the world do you have ski- resorts, beaches, fun water hikes, jeep rides, deserts and hills and valleys as well as great Kosher restaurants and world class wineries. Oh yeah and there’s even some history- like a few thousand years’ worth and holy spots to go tap into your soul as well, so you don’t feel too guilty about having so much fun and can tell yourself that it’s really a “learning experience”. All the party and no guilt-even a mitzva for doing it. It doesn’t get better than that. So we made Aliya. I became a tour guide and I bless God every day for giving me the best job in the world and that special coach for guiding me to my own personal role in this world.

The truth is I didn’t really need that coach. If I had studied a little harder and read the Torah a little better I could have found his tip for life to me in the subtle words of this week’s Torah portion. This week the Torah concludes the Book of Shemot, our Exodus from Egypt that culminates in the building of the Mishkan/Tabernacle for Hashem. From the beginning of the Book when we came down to Egypt, a family of shepherds, we became pyramid builders, persecuted slaves and prisoners under Pharaoh. Yet Hashem rescues us with the greatest miracles of all times, splits the sea, takes us to Sinai and gives us the Torah, in the most important revelation in the history of the world. We of course sin very quickly and in the process achieve an even greater closeness to our Creator as we learn that we can do Teshuva and He will forgive us. Our bond is eternal, if the Golden Calf debacle didn’t shake it then nothing ever will. Yes this story ends this week as we finally erect that permanent home for Hashem, that was the Mishkan not only the physical one that he sojourned amongst us in the wilderness and in Israel in, but the Mishkan within each and every one of us as well.

There is a fascinating verse as the people bring all the handiwork that they had made for the Mishkan to Moshe to put it all together. The verse tells us

“Like everything that Hashem had commanded Moshe, so did the Children of Israel do, all the-Avoda- labor. Moshe saw all the -Melacha- work and behold they had done it as Hashem had commanded, so they had done; and Moshe blessed them.”

Did you guys catch the subtlety there? I wrote it in Hebrew and bolded it for you. The Jews brought their Avoda- their labor to Moshe. But Moshe sees the Melacha- the work. The difference between the two is that Avoda- labor comes from the word Eved- slave. The work of a slave has no personal interest or benefit. The slave works or labors for his master, because he is his slave, his chattel. He serves to accomplish and see that his owners will and desires are fulfilled. Not really a particularly fun or inspiring job or role to have in life. We had close to 300 years of that life in Egypt. 300 miserable, not fun or inspiring years in the slave-pits of Egypt. Yet we came out. We stood at Sinai and accepted upon ourselves willfully and with euphoria to be totally committed servants and yes- Avadim- slaves to our Father, Our King, our Creator. Yet unlike in the case of Pharaoh we weren’t forced into slavery, we accepted it. The reason? We found a job that we were good at, that we were inspired at that would ultimately give us meaning and purpose in each and every days of our lives and in every act that we do. We became partners with our Master in Creation, in healing and uplifting the world. We had become his human angels on this world. His Malachim, whose work was not Avoda but rather Melacha- the same Creative achievement and term that the Torah uses to describe Hashem’s creation of the world.

 “And He rested on the seventh day ‘Mikol Melachto Asher Asa’- from all His work that He made”.

Just as Hashem blesses his Creation and the end so too does Moshe, the quintessential Eved Hashem- servant of Hashem, bless the nation. The blessing Rashi tells us that it that the Divine presence should always be found in the work that we do. This is not a blessing for success, this is not a blessing for health, wealth, and children or even for forgiveness after the sin of the Golden Calf for which the Mishkan is meant to atone. Moshe blesses the Jewish with the ultimate blessing. That we should see Hashem in every act that we do. That all our work no matter if it is an accountant, computer technician, Doctor lawyer, politician and even a Rabbi and teacher should see that their work is something that is being done to serve Hashem. It shouldn’t never merely be a way of just making money and supporting ones family and even paying your bills. Our work should be Melacha, something that has eternal significance. Something that aligns our goals with the Divine. Something that uplifts the world and brings it to its fulfillment. If you live like that then it is never just work. It is doing what we are inspired and enjoy to do, what we were put here to do. And there’s nothing better than that.

 Have a fantastic Shabbos and an ever increasingly happy Chodesh,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

 **************** 

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S VIDEO OF THEWEEK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_y9F5St4j0  –In honor of my English anniversary this week for my dear wife!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i4nN3JyeLg    – the words are Im Al Hamelech Tov from the Megilla If it is good for the King and I have found favor in your eyes give me my life  nation as my request.

https://youtu.be/KI7-Jc2JtUc   –And the fast version of the above with millions of dancing Chasidim-Ok maybe not millions

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

                                                                                  

“Kol zman es rirt zikh an aiver, klert men nit fun kaiver.”- “As long as one limb stirs, one does not think of the grave”

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S JEWISH PERSONALITY AND HIS QUOTES IN HONOR OF THE YARTZEIT  OF THE WEEK

“I am an ignoramus among men; what is man that You should acknowledge him? However, Elokim saw my lowliness and my suffering, and He brought me to the house of "Admor" / our master, our teacher and our rabbi, the Gaon / genius and Chassid / pious one, the rabbi of all the sons of the diaspora, in Vilna. Hashem gave me favor in his eyes and I served him with all my strength. For all of the two years minus one third that I was with him, I did not move from him, I held him and did not let go, and I did not leave his tent day or night. Where he went, I went; where he slept, I slept; and my hand did not leave his at all.”

 Harav Menachem Mendel Of Shklov 1^st  of Adar this Friday 1827-Many people unfortunately associate the return to Israel as having started in the early 20^th century with the Zionist movement. Which intitially was started with the ideas of Theodore Herzl as a secular movement. The real story is the greatest sages from all generations always dreamed of returning to Israel and many of them came here despite the great dangers and almost certain loss of life of many of their loved ones just to realize the dream of lving in Hashem’s promised land, the place from where the Shechina never departed. The Chasidic retrun of the students of the Baal Shemt Tov in the late 1700’s is most famous as well is the return of the atagonists of the Chasidim the Mitnagdim led by the students of the Gaon of Vilna. Love of Eretz Yisrael and its central place in Jewish life crossed all differences. The return of the students of the Gaon was led by his primary student  Harav Menachem Mendel of Shklov.

One of the greatest students of the Vilna Gaon,Reb Menache Mendel was a son of Harav Baruch Bendit. Who traces his lineage back to Rabbi Yehudah Ha’Nasi the editor of the Mishna and a descendant of King David. He studied for only two years under his Rebbi the Gaon however it is he who is credited with bringing all of the writings of the Gaon to the light of the world.

Eventually he became the leader of the Perushim, a group of the Gra’s talmidim who ascended to Eretz Yisrael in the year 1807. Their journey involved many hardships; and even after they settled in Eretz Yisrael they encountered adversity. These challenges were also encountered by a group of Chassidim led by Harav Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, which ascended to Eretz Yisrael at about the same time. Originally they moved to Tiverya where they joined the Chasidim there who had come on the Aliya some years before however to avoid any fighting they moved to the city of Tzefat, where they established their yeshivos.

Reb Menachem Mendel writes that how there he established “batei medrashim full of sefarim.” After a terrible plague hit the city of Tzfat in 1812 that killed many of his students and colleagues, he subsequently relocated to Yerushalayim and there, too, he established houses of Torah and tefillah. He managed to acquire the abandoned Churvah Shul in the old city of Yerushalayim, which he considered a tremendous merit. This famous shul was destroyed by the Jordanians in the war of 5708/1948. It has recently been rebuilt.

Historically, his wanting to settle in Yerushalayim was very significant because the first Ashkenazi settlement in Eretz Yisrael, led by Rabi Yehudah HaChassid in the year 1700, failed, leaving behind great debts. Subsequently, whenever Ashkenazic Jews tried to settle in Yerushalayim, the authorities would demand money from them and then evict them from the city. (Interestingly, traditional Yerushalmi garb closely resembles Arabic dress because their permission to live in Yerushalayim was only because they passed themselves off as Sefardic Jews in the colored robes which did not look like the black and white Ashkenzic attire.

When talmidei haGra arrived in Eretz Yisrael, they initiated settling the old debts of the Ashkenazic community with the Yerushalayim authorities. Later, in 5597/1837, when a major earthquake struck Tzfas, groups of olim dispersed, many of them arriving in Yerushalayim. That is when the old debt was finally cleared, and the Ashkenazi Yidden, led by Harav Yisrael of Shklov, established themselves.

Reb Menachem Mendel was known for his vast Torah knowledge and his profound understanding of Kabbalah, and he devoted many years to writing his insights. It was known that he wrote 10 sefarim, but the only printed work that remains is Mayim Adirim on the Idra Zuta, with footnotes from his student Harav Yitzchak Eizik Chaver. He also printed many of the sefarim of his Rebbi, the Gra. Many of his writings remain in manuscript form, yet to be printed.

He passed on the first day of Rosh Chodesh Adar, and is buried on Har Hazeisim in the Jerusalem he had literally given new life to with his leadership and return.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q. Burial in ossuaries appears in Israel for the first time during:

A.    The Chalcolithic period

2. The First Temple period
3. The Second Temple period
4. The Mishna and Talmudic period

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL RASHI OF THE WEEK

Sometimes we can glean an important insight from Rashi into something significant in the text, not by what he says but rather by what he doesn’t say. This week’s Torah portion is the one with the least commentary. Quite easy for someone who reviews the Torah portion each week with Rashi to get through. The reason it is assumed is because there’s not much to comment on. After all the majority of the Parsha is merely a recounting of everything that took place as they constructed the Mishkan and Rashi had explained this time and time again in the various Parshiyot that took place until now. Yet the Rebbe of Lubavitch notes, that shouldn’t Rashi be troubled and at least ask the simple question that troubles everyone when reading the Parsha. Why again? Haven’t we done this and heard this before. Why can’t the Torah just say in one simple Pasuk that they di it all as Moshe commanded instead of elaborating each vessel and each detail of the building. Yet Rashi seems to be silent. What happened to our great commentator?

The Rebbe answers that Rashi already answered this question, and therefore felt no need to explain the obvious. Where you ask? The Rebbe notes that there is another time in the Torah back in Bereshis where the Torah seems to give a seemingly needless repetition. Know where? All the way back in Chayei Sara when Eliezer the servant of Avraham goes to find a spouse for Yitzchak. There the Torah repeats the entire story and the words of Eliezer to “Uncle Lavan”, of how he left Avraham and arrived very fast miraculously there. He recounts the promise to Avraham to find a wife for his family, although the Torah a few verses before that already told us all of this.

Rashi there comments that the Rabbi Acha teaches us that the

“Conversation between the servants of the Patriarchs is more pleasing to Hashem then the Torah of their descendants- the children of Israel. For the Parsha of Eliezer is repeated in the Torah and many essential elements of the Torah were only given in hints.”

The Rebbe suggests that there are two parts of Torah. There are the laws and mitzvos, like Shabbat, Kosher and family purity which are barely mentioned in the Torah in proportion to the vast intricacies and details of these laws. Yet there is another part of Torah that is the stories and conversations and the day to day lives of our ancestors. They are more pleasing and essential to Hashem then all the rest. They are the heart and spirit of the Jewish people and our tradition. We are commanded V’Shinanton LiVanecha- to teach Torah to our children, yet we are also commanded right after that V’Dibarta Bam and we shall speak about them. We should have conversation about our Torah. we must tell over our stories. We must share them perhaps even more so than the laws and commandments.

Thus he explains the Torah here repeats obviously the story of how the people each brought each item. Each one ws special each one needs to be recounted. Hear that story again and again. If Hashem and the Torah repeats the story of the “servants of our Patriarchs- Al Achas Kama V’Kama- how much more so the stories of the children of Israel at their moment of glory.

There was no need for Rashi to explain this again. It was simple. It was obvious. A father can’t stop talking about what His children did. The silence of Rashi is itself is the comment. Beautiful!

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL HISTORICAL EVENT THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DATE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Initiation of the Auto-De Fe (burning at the Stake) by the Spanish Inquisition – 7^th Adar 1481- We have always suffered from anti-semitism yet after close to over a thousand years of Jews living in Spain and close to 800 years of being the aristocracy of that nation led us to forget that we were in Exile. That all changed with the advent of the Inqusition. On 1 November 1478, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella received permission from Pope Sixtus IV to name Inquisitors throughout their domains, to protect Catholicism as the “true faith”. Ferdinand's action intially met great resistance yet in spite of this social discontent between 1487 and 1505 the Chapter of Barcelona processed more than 1000 people, of which only 25 were absolved.

The first auto-da-fé took place in Seville, Spain, on the 7^th of Adar in the year 1481; when six of the men and and one woman were burnt at the stake. Later, Franciscan missionaries brought the Inquisition to the New World. The auto-da-fé was a major aspect of the tribunals, and the final step in the Inquisition process. It involved a Catholic Mass, prayer, a public procession of those found guilty, and a reading of their sentences.

An Inquisition usually began with the public proclamation of a grace period of 40 days. Anyone who was guilty or knew of someone who was guilty was urged to confess. If the accused were charged, they were presumed guilty. Officials could apply torture during the trial. And they did that quite brutally. Inquisitors were required to hear and record all testimony. Proceedings were to be kept secret, and the identity of witnesses was not known to the accused.After the trial, officials proclaimed the prisoner's sentence and administered in an auto-da-fé. The auto-da-fé was not an impromptu event, but thoroughly orchestrated. Preparations began a month in advance, and only occurred when the inquisition authorities believed there were enough prisoners in a given community or city. The ritual took place in public squares or esplanades and lasted several hours with ecclesiastical and civil authorities in attendance.

Bordering the city's plaza, an all-night vigil would be held with prayers, ending in Mass at daybreak and a breakfast feast prepared for all who joined in.The ceremony of public penitence then began with a procession of prisoners, who bore elaborate visual symbols on their garments and bodies. These symbols were called sanbenito, and were made of yellow sackcloth. They served to identify the specific acts of treason of the accused, whose identities were kept secret until the very last moment. In addition, the prisoners usually had no idea what the outcome of their trial had been or their sentencing.The prisoners were taken outside the city walls to the burning place. There the sentences were read. Prisoners who were acquitted or whose sentence was suspended would fall on their knees in thanksgiving, but the condemned would be punished including  whipping, torture, and burning at the stake.

The auto-da-fé was also a form of penitence for the public viewers, because they too were engaging in a process of reconciliation and by being involved were given the chance to confront their sins and be forgiven by the Church. They got a mitzva for watching Jews die…. The Jews and the testimonies of those present record how many of the Jews refused to give up their faith and went to their deaths as proud Jews and with the words of Shema resounding on their lips.

The exact number of people executed by the Inquisition is not known the ex-secretary of the Holy Office, gave the following numbers for the Spanish Inquisition excluding the American colonies, Sicily and Sardinia: 31,912 burnt, 17,696 burned in effigy, and 303,847 penanced.

May Hashem avenge the deaths of all of those whose blood had been spilled and that were burned in sanctification of His Name.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S DRINKING JOKES OF THE WEEK-IN HONOR OR ROSH CHODESH ADAR

Q: What is a drunk man's idea of a balanced diet? A: A Budweiser in each hand!

 Q: What do Russians get when mixing Holy Water with Vodka? A: The Holy Spirit!

Q: What did the man with slab of asphalt under his arm order? A: "A beer please, and one for the road."

 Q: How does a man show he's planning for the future? A: He buys two cases of Miller Lite instead of one. Q: Why do gynecologists only drink Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Smirnoff Vodka? A: "Pabst Smir

 If you drink too much Fanta, does that make you Fantastic?

 I'm not an alcoholic alcoholics go to meetings, I'm a drunk, we go to parties.

 You say alcoholic, I'll say alcohol enthusiast

Why is it called Alcoholics Anonymous when the first thing you do is stand up and say, "My name is Tom and I'm an alcoholic?"

The drunken wino was stumbling down the street with one foot on the curb and one foot in the gutter. A cop pulled up and said, "I've got to take you in, sir. You're obviously drunk" The wasted wino asked, "Ociffer, are ya absolutely sure I'm drunk?" "Yeah, buddy, I'm sure," said the copper. "Let's go." Obviously relieved, the wino said "That's a relief - I thought I was a cripple."

 Police Patrol From the state where drunk driving is considered a sport, comes this absolutely true story. Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a bar in Fort Worth, Texas. After last call the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity in which he tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his truck and trailer and fall into it. He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally, he got into the car and started the engine, switched the wipers on and off....it was a fine, dry summer night, flicked the blinkers on and off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons' vehicles left. Finally, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he pulled out and drove slowly down the road. The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test. To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the man had consumed any alcohol at all! Dumbfounded, the officer said, 'I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the police station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken.' 'I seriously doubt it', said the truly proud Hillbilly. 'Tonight I'm the designated decoy.'

:**************

Answer is A – This is a very tricky question. Ossuaries, as I ‘m sure you are familiar with the concept was an ancient form of burial in which after one year the bones of the deceased were taken out after the flesh had decomposed and placed in stone box and added to a family cave. The majority of the ones that we have found that were in common use by almost everyone was from the period of the second Temple and through the Mishna period in the 2^nd and 3^rd century. Beit Shearim is a classic place to see many of the Sacrophags that the were quite elaborate that people used back then. However we have uncovered quite a number of ossuaries that date back to the copper period of early man, way before even our forefathers. So the correct answer is Chalcolithic period which of course I’m sure you knew means the Copper Age. Right?

Curb Your Enthusiasm or TMI- Too Much I-spiration- Vaykhel / Shekalim 2016/5776

Insights and Inspiration

from the

Holy Land
from

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

"Your friend in Karmiel"

March 4^h 2016 -Volume 6, Issue 22 24^th Adar I 5776

Parshat Vayakhel

Curb Your Enthusiasm or TMI- Too Much I-spiration 

(I wasn’t sure which title I liked better J)

My mother wasn’t the first choice of references for me when I was dating, and matchmakers would call to get information about me. Not that she didn’t love me or even praise me and build up my self-esteem. Quite the opposite, she knew me too well. And when I was deserving of praise, I got it. And when I didn’t I got that too. We’re just a brutally honest family. We’re not really big on false platitudes. We Schwartz’s say it like it is. Although my mother, tells me sometimes I take that a little too far. Perhaps the greatest Mussar she would tell me is “Siyag LChachma Shtika”- a fence around wisdom is silence”.  A rabbinic way of saying shut up and sit down before you get yourself into more trouble. And there I go again…

I remember when a matchmaker called up my mother to ask her for information about me. One of the questions she asked was if I was strict about drinking only milk that was Chalav Yisrael, a basic law that one’s milk has have ben milked or at least observed by a Jewish supervisor to insure that no non-Kosher milk would be mixed in, although there are many that rely on the leniency that government observers of the FDA are sufficient. My mother in her inimitable honest fashion told the Shadchan that although her son was a very religious boy, it kind of ends by his stomach. Ouch! Well that one didn’t work out. When I finally met my Bashert, with whom I share an anniversary this week- Mazel Tov, Rebbetzin-, I remember my future Mother-in-law approaching my mother and telling her how much she was impressed by me. She noted how that although many young men find it uncomfortable to refer to their future in-laws as Mom and Dad, I didn’t have much problem calling her Mom. My mother’s inspiring glib response was “Did you feed him? He calls anyone that feeds him, Mom!” As I said brutally honest. But perhaps a little TMI- too much information.

This week’s Torah portion seems to be the opposite of the message above, as the Torah which generally adopts the policy of less rather than more information goes to a great degree of what seems like repetition in repeating once again all of the contributions of the Tabernacle and all its vessels. It’s a little like Déjà vu. Didn’t we do this already two parshiyot ago? The truth is that in Teruma the Torah just tells us about the commandment to Moshe to raise the funds for each of these vessels and the Mishkan. This week’s Torah portion tells us how it was carried out. There are differences and nuances that are notable between the two. Yet the Torah probably could have just said the standard, “And the Jews did as Moshe or Hashem commanded them” rather than reiterate it all. Obviously the Torah wanted us to note the differences between the command and the fulfillment of the commandment.

What strikes me though as most fascinating of all though is the incredible success of this first capital campaign. Everyone comes running with money, the men, the women are pounding down the doors to bring even the copper from their mirrors. In fact even the leaders of each tribe who had offered to underwrite any deficit and were disappointed to find out there was none ended up bringing precious stones. Amazing! Probably the best campaign ever. Then for the first and perhaps only time in Jewish history they realize that there is too much. “Marbim Ha’Am L’Havi- The people have exceeded to bring- more than we need to work with. Ever here any Jewish organization tell you that before? Too much money! Moshe responds by telling the people and sends a proclamation out in the camp. ‘Enough, no one shall bring more to the work of the contribution of the Mishkan.’ The Torah tells us though in a very strange term. Va’Yikaleh Ha’Am L’Havi- the nation held back from bringing. The root of the word Va’Yikaleh interestingly enough is Keleh-jail- a word too many Israeli politicians are familiar with-there I go again brutally honest. It is certainly an interesting term to use her. The people literally had to almost incarcerate themselves to prevent them from coming and giving more money. I’ve been a fundraiser in the past. That seems to be a little bit getting carried away.

What’s wrong with a little extra money? I’ve never met a Jewish organization that ever halted it and said we have too much. There’s always a little something more we can do with the money. A new project, improvements on some other structures, maybe start serving a chulent Kiddush after prayer services, a little better variety of herring. Maybe just save it for a rainy day, we know there is bound to be deficits in the future. Why stop when the going is still hot? As my uncle once told me as long as the cow is giving milk why not keep it around?

The answer is that sometimes too much is not a good thing. The Sin of the Golden calf for which the Tabernacle is meant to be an atonement for, also began with this incredible outpouring of enthusiasm and money (at least from the men). The idea and inspiration came from the concept that, we need to find a way to serve God, we need a replacement for Moshe. We need to create a God and a religion in our own image. The way that I want it to be. It’s about God and spirituality, but it very quickly becomes about me. And for me I’ll throw everything I have in it. You know those people that contribute to a Synagogue building campaign, or that run an organization or a fundraising event, how after a while their opinions and the way it has to be built or the way that it has to be run is more about them, than the cause they are trying to help. They want to give and to contribute and they do, but the Yetzer Harah- the evil inclination doesn’t sleep and he somehow is able to turn and twist that altruistic giving into something selfish, something that is more about you than about God and helping his children.

The way to know if it’s L’Sheym Shamayim- for the sake of heaven or if I have lost my compass and it is about me, is to know who’s calling the shots. When I’m told to stop. I stop, despite how much more I think I want to do. I need to do. I need to give. It’s not about me, Tataleh, It’s about Hashem. If the people are able to stop, if they can curb their enthusiasm, it is a powerful statement. It tells the world that this was never about us. We are here and we ae doing only for Hashem. Only because we are commanded to. Only to fulfill the will of our Creator, our Father in Heaven.

The Jewish world has come a long way in the past 50 years. We have more Kosher items than ever before and higher and higher levels of stringencies that our ancestors were unable to ever have, although many of them certainly would have wished that they didn’t have to rely on various leniencies just in order to put food on their table. Our Lulav’s and Etrogs are nicer and better than ever before. Our Shabbat observance with all our Eruv’s our innovations to enhance this special day are incredible. Who needs a Shabbos Goy anymore? We have beautiful Mezuzos and Tefillin and Torah scrolls that in the past people could never have. Our level of modesty whether it is in the wigs that our women wear that maintain the beauty of the Jewish women and make it easier for many women to fulfill that mitzva than they would have fifty years ago, the clothing, the honor our men give to the way they dress for prayer, for shul for holidays. These are all incredible things. They are good things. They come from a place a desire to honor Hashem, to glorify our faith and our practices. Yet…yet…yet…

Can it become sometimes about us as well? Can it be that I only can have this food because otherwise I won’t fit in? People will think badly of me. Do I look askance and down on those that don’t have my level of “piety” of stringency? Do I look askance on those that rely on leniencies? Am I projecting my standard on other people and coercing them, by the looks I give them, the way that I disassociate myself and my children from them to do what I do? Did I just read the last sentence with the words “my standards” and not pause and tremble, because I have forgotten that they are not my standards rather they are meant to be Hashem’s standards and I forgot. Did the Yetzer Hara succeed in distorting my inspiration to I-spiration, when it was really meant to be God-spiration? Maybe we need to stop. Maybe we need to reflect. Maybe we need to read the Parsha of the donations a second time, in order to learn not just how much we have to be inspired to give and do, but also to know that we have to somethings lock ourselves up and stop to make sure that we are still on the right track, and that we haven’t turned the most magnificent and beautiful thing in the world into an edifice of my own self-aggrandizement. The Torah definitely felt it’s worth a second reading.

We are entering the Month of Adar Beis. It’s a second month of happiness. Marbim B’Simcha times two. We start this month with the reading of the special portion of the mitzva of Shekalim, the contributions to the building of the Mishkan from last week. Two weeks in a row we read the same portion; Times 2. Yet we also read the portion of VaYakhel of the curbed enthusiasm. The message perhaps being that the way to achieve the extra Simcha, happiness with which we are meant to achieve and can tap in to this month is by contributing to others. The mitzvos of Purim are sharing food packages and giving charity. For many this can lead to a sense that it is about me giving. The Shalach Manot are about me, the charities that I will give to are the ones that are doing what I feel they need to be doing. That are being run the way that I want them to be run. We are offering our honest brutal opinions and doing it our way. We forget that we need to shut up and just give because it’s not about us. It shouldn’t be so hard. After-all we only want the best for Hashem. We only mean for His sake. Yet it is so very hard. And that is so very sad. On Purim, our sages tell us that the Mitzva to give to all who stretch out their hand to you. No questions asked. No opinions offered. Restrain yourself. Can you do it? If you can then you will know that it’s all about Him and not me… not you… If it’s too difficult, then don’t worry our sages gave us another mitzva. Drink a little bit. A little more. And a little more. You’ll find it gets easier. You’ll get happier. The “I” goes away and the essence, the soul comes out. Get that Yetzer Hara too drunk, to allow you to think it’s about me. Then you can achieve the true Simcha. The giving that is not about me. The holiness that is only about our Creator. We have become one with Him. It is he that we will always sanctify.

 Have joyous and totally amazing Shabbos and a Simchadike Chodesh,

Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz

***************************

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S VIDEO OF THEWEEK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPzLE1UmTxc  –I’m loving this song this week. It’s also to help Ari Lindner get the other song L’Maancha out of his head J

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIs0BjJIbnk   – Tribute in Yiddish (with subtitiles) and english to Sarah Schneirer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr4jSBlk7rM –Rak Simcha- in honor of Adar II

RABBI SCHWARTZ’S FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK

                                                                                  

“Ah falsheh matba’ieh farliert men nit.”-One never loses a false coin”

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S JEWISH PERSONALITY AND HIS QUOTES IN HONOR OF THE YARTZEIT  OF THE WEEK

“People are such perfectionists when it comes to clothing their bodies. Are they so particular when they address themselves to the needs of their soul?”

“My dear sisters, don’t you realize that secular studies have all the glitter of gold and all the utility of gold to the body? Think! Can gold satisfy a physical hunger? By the same token, a Jewish soul can never be satisfied from secular studies. Only our sacred studies can satisfy the soul. I very much doubt if any student is as happy as I am when I read Sifrei Kodesh (sacred literature)”

“If only I could speak in such a way to my Cracow girl friends,” she thought, “how differently they would understand the preciousness of being a daughter of Israel. If I could only describe for them, the prophetess Deborah, Yehudis, Chanah,, how differently they would understand their shtreimel-wearing fathers, their mothers with heads covered, their brothers, the yeshivah bachurim.”

“Who can understand my feelings now? Who can compare himself to me now? How their faces shine – their eyes sparkling with happiness – when I explain the meaning of a berachah to them!”

Sarah Schenirer  26^th of Adar this Sunday (1910 – 1935)- Sarah Schenirer a”h was not blessed with children of her own. And yet she was a mother. In fact, one could rightly say that no mother in our generation had as many children as she did.

When she departed this life in 1935, hundreds of Jewish girls walked behind her coffin, towards the Cracow cemetery, and wept with heartrending outcries, as one does for one’s own departed mother. And when news of her passing became known throughout the cities and towns of Jewish Poland, thousands of Jewish girls ripped their garments in mourning and sat shivah as if for a mother. The very same year hundreds of young Jewish mothers named their new-born daughters Sarah, after a woman, who – two decades earlier – was still an unknown Jewish seamstress, but who had since become: Sarah Schenirer, the legendary mother of a new Torah-true generation of Jewish women in pre-war Eastern Europe.

It was during the years following the First World War. “New winds began to blow” in many homes throughout Chassidic Poland. New ideas – charged with magnetic promise – reverberated in the Jewish street. Youth clubs and organizations sprouted like mushrooms after rain and beckoned enchantingly to Jewish youth to enter their doors. The first victim of the new “light” they brought to Polish Jewry was the Jewish girl. She received no systematic Jewish schooling and was therefore most vulnerable to the empty but ensnaringly attractive slogans of the carriers of the new “light”. In previously idyllic Jewish homes, strife suddenly erupted. Mother and daughter ceased to understand each other. Brother and sister no longer seemed to have a common language. A “modern” daughter who had learned how to recite a few of Mitzkiewicz’s and Slowacky’s Polish poems, began to feel ashamed of her “backward” mother. She began to look with disdain upon her “fanatic” father, and had nothing but ridicule for her brother. She felt embarrassed over her parents’ “broken jargon,” and finally began to hate everything Jewish. At that dark hour a saving angel appeared, in the form of a Jewish seamstress – Sarah Schenirer.

She was an unassuming and withdrawn daughter of Chassidic parents. She was a diligent pupil, but never dreamed of taking on leadership of any kind. At the age of thirteen she completed school. She wanted to continue with her studies, but her parents’ material poverty prevented her from doing so, and she became a seamstress. Her thirst for knowledge remained undiminished. She continued to study and to read. In truth, such was the case with many of her friends at the time. But there was one difference. Her friends were “immersed” in Polish novels; she was drawn to her father’s holy books. She began to swallow every one which contained a Yiddish translation or commentary. The more deeply she probed her “new treasures,” the further removed she became from her friends. A new world opened for her.

When her father noticed her thirst for spiritual matters, he began to bring her Hebrew sefarim with Yiddish translations. Every Shabbos she would review the weekly portion in her “Tzenah U’renah” (which cites Midrashic interpretations). Her family soon dubbed her the Chassidis’te. Because of her keen intellectual interest, she was invited by a relative to attend a Friday night lecture at “Ruth,” a girl’s club. She was shocked when one of the leaders flicked on the light on Shabbos.

And the heresy and false ideas they lecture there! While the fathers of those girls are probably studying Gemara, and the mothers poring over a Tzenah U’renah. Then and there the idea was born in my mind: if those girls would only have a proper environment ….

Meanwhile, World War I broke out, and Sarah Schenirer – together with a stream of refugees – left for Vienna. Day and night she sat and sewed “clothing for bodies” to earn her livelihood. All she then wanted was a little bit of rest. But a visit to a Synagogue on the Viennese Shtumper Street, summoned her to a larger task than that of a seamstress. It was Shabbos Chanukah and the Rabbi spoke of Matisyahu and the Chashmonaim; of Chanah and her seven sons; of Yehudis. Sarah Schenirer felt a new inspiration and enthusiasm. In her inspired and exalted state she began to think of the Jewish girls in Cracow, for whom everything Jewish seemed alien and everything gentile seemed so alluring and enchanting.

Sarah Schenirer returned to Cracow full of enthusiasm. She would begin with little girls, whose Jewish souls were still pure. She rented two rooms; one served as a “tailor shop,” where she “sewed clothes for the body,” but the other she set up as a new kind of “shop” where she began to “sew clothes for young souls.” She began to teach the daughters of Israel their duties as children of G-ds people .She wrote about her undertaking to her brother – a Belzer Chassid living in Czechoslovakia. At first he ridiculed her. But when she insisted that nothing would stop her, he invited her to come to Marienbad: “The Belzer Rebbe is here and we shall ask him.” She invested her last pennies in the trip and visited the the Rebbe who told her “Berachah Ve’hatzlachah” (Blessings and Success)! These two words gave her all the impetus she needed.

She began with twenty-five children, whom she had prevailed upon her customers to entrust to her. People at first shook their heads in contemptuous dismissal when talking about the “undertaking of the seamstress.” But the educational results of her new school quickly yielded fruit. The parents who entrusted their children to Sarah Schenirer saw a new spirit in the hearts of her pupils. Sarah Schenirer’s pupils somehow talked differently from the pupils of the Polish schools. They did not answer in Polish when spoken to in Yiddish. They did not answer with arrogance, and defiance. They showed respect to their parents. They wanted so much to go to shul with their parents. They asked what berachah to recite for this or that. They wanted to hear stories about the Tzaddikim and the pious. The twenty-five became forty and seventy-five and one hundred.

Her main challenge came not from the opposition of the secularists, but from the indifference in Orthodox circ1es. How was she, a girl, to convince learned Rabbis and Chassidic Rebbis that girls also need a Torah education? Under the pressures of earning a living, parents often neglected their children, especially their daughters. Hence her cry, “Girls also need yeshivos!” She did not have to fight Reform or Conservative rabbis (they did not exist in Poland). She had to overcome the opposition of Orthodox leaders.

Then suddenly the ice broke. The influence and appeal of the Chofetz Chaim helped her succeed in her endeavors. Exactly two years after Sarah Schenirer had opened her little school, demands began to arrive from all over Poland: Please open a school in our city! Save our girls! Her oldest student was only fifteen, and she simply did not feel ready to fulfill the requests. She had traveled out of Cracow, leaving her senior students to replace her; but that was in Cracow. Finally, she was forced to graduate her senior class and appoint them as teachers in various cities.

The renowned Rabbi Meir Shapiro visited her school, which had grown to 280 students. He was so impressed that he immediately suggested that she organize a seminary. She accepted the proposal, and Agudath Israel undertook the job, and a seminary was officially opened. One hundred twenty girls registered for the seminary the first year. Then Agudath Israel erected a five-story building, with dormitories, classrooms, and dining halls.

She was only fifty-two when she passed away on 26 Adar, 5695 (1935), but she enjoyed the great satisfaction of seeing the widespread success of her revolution “Leshem Shomayim” (for the Sake of Heaven). When Sarah Schenirer departed this life in 1935, there were close to 300 Beth Jacob schools in Poland alone. And Beth Jacob schools had also risen in many other countries. She was the spiritual mother of them all. She loved them all as only a mother can, and they responded with child-like love. She knew all the schools, and maintained contact with all the Beth Jacob teachers. She wrote for them and to them. She wrote hundreds of essays on a wide variety of themes. She had a share in almost every single school, because she personally visited almost every city and town. She herself never attended a teachers seminary, but nevertheless became the “life spirit,” of one of the finest teachers seminaries in the world – the Beth Jacob Seminary in Cracow.

Today more than fifteen thousand Jewish girls are enrolled in over a hundred Beth Jacob schools within the frame of Chinuch Atzmai in Eretz Yisrael. In America, there are approximately twenty five thriving Beth Jacob schools. They are now to be found by the tens of thousands in Eretz Yisrael, in America, in England, in Switzerland, in Belgium, and even in Argentina and Uruguay. And everywhere they are characterized by profound love of Torah and of all that is holy to the Jewish people; by wholehearted piety and pride in their being Torah-true daughters of their people. They are all children of Sarah Schenirer. For she lives on in the hearts and actions of them all.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK

answer below at end of Email

Q. The term “headers and stretchers” indicates:

A.    Lichen appearing on a rock

2. A method of stone laying in the building of walls
3. Arrow heads from the Roman period
4. The name given to the Pharisees in the New Testament

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL RASHI OF THE WEEK

Rashi, the great commentary does not only come to explain the simple meaning of the verses and the narratives of the Torah but sometimes Rashi will as well come to explain the choice of particular words and its nuances as well. Because as we know every word in the Torah is precise and has its own unique translation and definition. In addition to that however Rashi will even come to explain each letter in the Torah. The particular spelling of a word upon occasion. For each letter as well contains within it an interpretation, a lesson, an eternal teaching.

This week for example in verse 35:27 the Pasuk says “V’Hanesiim Heiviu ET Avney Shoham”-and the Princes brought the Shoham stones (in the contribution for the Mishkan). The problem, Rashi notes is the word Nesi’im-princes is spelled without the Yud –Nsim- Rashi quotes the Midrash to explain this is that the Princes did not bring right away their gifts. They decided that they would wait to see what was left to bring, after all the people brought their gifts. At the end everything was pretty much brought, so all that was left to bring were these stones. And since they were lazy or lagged in the onset of the bringing of the gifts, a letter (Yud) was taken out of their name.

Now if on would ask me I would think that the act of the Nesi’im was a commendable one. It would seem to be every fundraisers dream to have a philanthropist get up and tell him in advance that whatever the organization is short after their fundraising campaign they will cover. Why did they lose out as a result of this, seemingly magnanimous offer?

 Rabbi Yochanan Zweig explains that the problem with the Nesi’im is that their role was to be the leaders od the Jewish people. Leader are meant to lead. To show the people how to give. To lead by example in giving. It’s not about covering the budget in as much as it is about inspiring others. Hashem can worry about his budget. Their job was to be the ones to show the people how to give by being the first to donate. In addition he notes that what they did as well marginalized everyone elses gift. For now when the people are giving what is happening is that they are essentially not contributing to the campaign rather they are saving the Nes’im who had offered to foot the bill and deficit fund it. To a large degree they took the “yid” out of the campaign. It became about them. It is for that reason the yud was taken out of their name. It’s even more interesting to note that two yuds are in fact missing from their name. Perhaps one is for the yud that they last for not showing their leadership and the other yud for doing the opposite and minimizing the level and altruisim of the gifts of the nation. Either way its pretty amazing one little lack of a letter and a pretty powerful message. What a Torah, What a Torah!

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL HISTORICAL EVENT THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DATE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-

Death of King Nevuchadnetzar– 25 Adar 3365 - 396 B.C.E.-Death of King Nevuchadnetzar, the Babylonian emperor who conquered Yerushalayim and destroyed the first Beit HaMikdash 26 years earlier and exiled the Jews from Eretz Yisrael,(Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 52:31). (There are a number of opinions regarding the sequence of events of the next few days; we follow the braita of Seder Olam. See Luach d’Var Yom b’Yomo for further discussion of this topic.) 

Nevuchadnetzar built the most powerful nation in the world by ruthlessly attacking and annexing neighboring countries. He is sometimes called "Nevuchadnetzar the Great," but he is reviled by Jews. The biblical Book of Daniel tells how Nevuchadnetzar erected a large idol for public worship; three Jews refused to take part and Nevuchadnetzar ordered them cast into a roaring furnace. (They miraculously emerged unscathed.) Nevuchadnetzar was a megalomaniac who built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; in testimony to his grandeur, each brick was inscribed with his name. Amazingly, in our time, Saddam Hussein pronounced himself as the reincarnation of Nevuchadnetzar, and dreamed of restoring the Babylonian empire to its former size and glory. Saddam commissioned archaeologists to restore the ancient Hanging Gardens, and each new brick was inscribed with Saddam's name. The Book of Daniel (4:30) describes the downfall of Nevuchadnetzar: "He loses his sanity and lives in the wild like an animal." And so it was with Saddam -- driven into a grimy hole, disheveled and deposed. Nevuchadnetzar later regained his sanity and returned to rule.

May all the animals that seek to destroy us thus perish.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE JOKES OF THE WEEK

(In honor of Stalin may his name and memory be erased, death day)

"Donald Trump insists that he is going to run for president. I guess he figures if he can pull off that hairstyle, he can do anything." 

He unveiled his slogan this week: 'Are you better off than you were four wives ago?'"

"If Trump does become president, I hope he puts a wig on his plane and calls it Hair Force One." 

Donald Trump said last night that despite calling Ted Cruz a 'maniac,' he has since learned that Cruz has a 'wonderful temperament.' And if Donald Trump thinks you have a 'wonderful temperament,' you're probably a maniac."

"Donald Trump is now accusing Ted Cruz of having a Canadian passport. Cruz said he doesn't have a Canadian passport, but like everyone else he'll get one the minute Donald Trump becomes president.

Ted Cruz released a presidential campaign video in Spanish. Cruz explained, "It's important for me to reach out to the people I'm trying to deport." "A member of Marco Rubio's inner circle said his boss benefitted from the Trump-Cruz fight because, 'Marco is everyone's second choice.' That explains Rubio's new campaign slogan, 'I'm the Least Worst.'"

During the debate last night, Marco Rubio said, 'We need more welders and less philosophers.' Graduates with a philosophy degree were so furious, they got on their parents' computers and wrote angry emails."

"In a recent interview, Donald Trump hinted that he might consider Chris Christie for his ticket if he wins the nomination. Not to be his vice president — to be his wall between America and Mexico."

"I heard that a couple weeks ago, Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz spent some time hunting pheasants in Iowa. When Donald Trump heard that, he was like, 'Why wasn’t I invited? I love hunting peasants.'"

"Donald Trump said in a new interview, 'We started off with 17 and one by one they're disappearing. It's a beautiful thing to watch as they go out.' Which begs the question, have we actually just been watching 'The Apprentice' this whole time?"  

:**************

Answer is B – The answer is really the only one that makes sense. Headers and stretchers are ways of positioning rocks to fortify a wall one this way and the other on top of two to make it strong. Dumb question. Boring topic archeological buiding techniques. I mean not the methodology which is not bad, just the silly names that they make you responsible to know that no one is really interested in.