Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
August 1st 2014
-Volume 4, Issue 39 -5th of Av 5774
Parshat Devarim/Chazon
The Destroyed
City
I'm not
writing about the war. It's too much already. I'm writing about something else.
But still not the fun, jokey, laughy, Rabbi Schwartz E-Mails that we're used to
yet. Maybe after Tisha B'Av…maybe when this is all over. Maybe when we can all
celebrate.
But yet…I
looked at the news pics and the clips and I see a devastated city. Buildings blown
up, women and children crying in the streets holding their babies, the cynic in
me says it for the cameras, the Jew in me is even more enraged at the animals
that are using them as pawns. I think of the fear and terror that those in the
city must feel when flyers are landing on their homes, phones are giving them
messages and texts that it's time to leave. Our missiles will fall. They will feel the full
brunt of our force. We laid a siege first warning them the time was coming. Air
attacks, Sea attacks, and they just don’t seem to get it. We want peace. We want
their success. We want them to be productive to realize their opportunities of
posterity and prosperity. But they just don't understand no matter in how much
we give them, how much we help them, how much we have invested in them, that we
truly want only their best interests. They are not seeing it.
Can't they see that there
is nothing more painful for us than to have to go in and kill them? Can't they see how saddened we are to have to
be here once again, destroying their cities, their villages, their hospitals,
their schools? Why have they not used the blessing and opportunity that they
have been given and instead used it to spit in our eye, to return the goodness
with evil…with treachery…with sin? Can’t they see that all of this could stop? It
could all turn around. It could be over, if they just put down their weapons
and chose peace and love and a future, rather than the path which is certain to
lead only to their destruction. Couldn't we have seen this as well?
As I said I'm not
writing about the war. In fact almost all of the above could very well have
been written about 2500 years ago by the prophet Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah and before
him Yishaya/Isaiah. In fact they did write it. The only difference is that they
were not writing about Palestinians and Gaza. They were writing about us and
Jerusalem. Sadly they were not only writing for their times and days but they
were writing and prophesizing for us who still live with a destroyed Temple and
the Shechina exiled from our Holy Land. They were writing about this week in
the month of Av.
"Eicha Yashva
Badad Ha'Ir Rabasi Am Hoysa Ki'Almana-How does she sit alone, the city that was
great with people has become like a widow.." says Yirmiyahu.
Do you
see the smashed buildings and destroyed cities on TV these days. Yirmiyahu describes the vision on his news networks
"Haya Hashem K'Oyeiv Bila Yisrael Bila Kol Arminoseiha Shicheis
Mivtzaruv- Hashem has become like an enemy. He consumed Israel; He consumed all
her citadels, he destroyed all her fortifications"
He describes the
endless "missiles" falling on his city "Mimarom Shalach Aish
Batzmosai Vayirdena- From on high he has sent fire into my bones and it crushed
them Nisonani Shomema Kol Hayom Dava- He has made me desolate, in constant
misery"
Weeping mothers,
children infants, young, old destruction and even the deaths od innocents and
pure ones, , Yirmiyahu mourns them all. We were the "victims" then.
The Lamentations we read
on Tisha B'Av describes sieges; describe attacks and the spilling of so much of
our blood. But yet the words of our prophets before the destruction, which we
have read in the past Haftoras are even more poignant. For the words of those
prophets continuously express the incredulousness and the head banging words
and questions that we have asked above of our enemies today.
"Even an
ox knows its master a donkey its master trough, Israel does no know, My nation
does not understand"
"Why do you seek
further beatings, that you continue to offend? Every head is ailing, And every
heart is sick. From head to foot No spot is sound: All bruises, and welts…
Your land is a waste, Your cities burnt down; Before your eyes, the yield of
your soil Is consumed by strangers — A wasteland as overthrown by stranger…"
"Come, let us reason, --declares Hashem—Even
though your sins are like crimson, They can turn snow-white; Be they red as
dyed wool, They can become like fleece."
19 If, then, you agree and give heed, You will eat the good things of the earth; But if you refuse and disobey, You will be devoured [by] the sword…
19 If, then, you agree and give heed, You will eat the good things of the earth; But if you refuse and disobey, You will be devoured [by] the sword…
We have been asking
these questions of our enemies, but the truth is our prophets ask those same
questions of us. We could have it all. But we failed to see. We didn't believe
the Chazon the vision. We thought we could continue avoiding our divine
mandate, ignoring the purpose for which we were given this land. We are here
not just because we earned the right after all the years of persecution,
attempted genocide, and wandering. We are not here to build a national homeland
and a safe haven and refuge for Jews from all over the world. We aren't even
here to build a country that will shine the light of innovation, technology,
democracy and scientific advancement to the entire world although we have done
so and it is certainly a worthy cause. A natural one for the Jewish people. And
we are certainly not here to build a country where all religions and faiths can
feel comfortable in their errant ways and worship serving gods that are not
real and beliefs that are misguided, as politically incorrect as that might
sound.
We were given this
country for one purpose. To create a true Bais Tefila L'Kol Ha'Amim- a
home of prayer for all nations to the one true God, their Father in Heaven that
loves all of humanity and is anxiously waiting for us to share that love and
the truths of his teaching and light with the entire world. We were put here in
order to show the world what a Shabbos is. To show them how a society that is
united in its dedication to its Creator can overcome all of their personal
gripes and in-fighting in order to glorify His name. How there is nothing more
important to each and every Jew than achieving that goal of bringing that
knowledge of Hashem and the beauty of the Torah and its ways to our fellow
Jews. There is nothing more meaningful and inspirational that a Jew can do than
to show his love for Hashem's Pomised Land than by coming back here to help build
that country of love and peace and to fill it with his Torah and its light. But
we fail to see that vision. Even as we scream from our blogs, our
"pages" our shares, our networks and our papers about right and wrong
and the battle against evil we fail to see Hashems Blog, his pages and hear His
pain, sighs and groans as we remain stagnant after 2000 years, still not
bringing that Shechina back home.
This Shabbos is named
after that Haftora that we read it is called Shabbos Chazon the Shabbos of
Vision. The great Hasdic Rebbe Levi Yitzchak
of Berditchev explains that on this Shabbos, the week before the day of Tishah
B'Av when we mourn the destructions of
our Temples and all of the tragedies and persecution throughout our Exile,
every Jew is given a vision of what the 3rd Temple and the
redemption will look like. He compares this vision to a father who gives a
child a garment and the child rips it up. The father than gives him a second
garment which again the child destroys. Finally the father makes one more
garment for the child, but this time rather than giving it to him, he waits.
Each year the father brings out the garment and shows the child what he could
have if only he would show the maturity and appreciation for what the garment
is. How it could envelop him, it could bring out the best of his soul and his
personality. It could be his sign that he is part of society in the most basic
and fundamental of ways. Without it he is naked, bereft and lacking.
This Shabbos we need not
do more than look at the pictures of the destruction we are thank god
inflicting on our enemies to think about our destruction, our own lacking to
see the vision of our own Temple that is so close. That our Abba is taking out
of the closet and showing us. If we see the vision so clearly this Shabbos than
hopefully we will not have to mourn once again this Tishah B'Av. Rather than
spending one more naked year on the floor with our candles mourning, we can be
standing and shouting with celebration from the roof tops as we once again
welcome the Shechina back home. I am not writing about the war…I am writing
about our redemption
Have a Shabbos that brings the light and
vision of peace to the world,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
*****************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERETZ YISRAEL QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"“I am from the Land of Israel, but because
of our sins we were exiled from there, and I must live in Ostrovtza. Any man
who is asked where he is from must answer, ‘I am from the Land of Israel, but
at the moment I am temporarily in the Exile’” -The Admor of Ostrovtza
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE
WEEK
(answer below at end of Email)
The
following animal species was successfully restored to nature in northern
Israel:
- The
mountain gazelle (tsvi eretsyisraeli)
- The
Nubian ibex (yael)
- The
Persian fallow deer (yah’mur)
- The
red deer (ayal adom)
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL GEMATRIA OF THE WEEK
Moshe begins the parsha and book of devarim with a
description of their location
11 days journey from Chorev- which the commentaries note is
Mt. Sinai. Rashi notes that the reason is to show the Jewish people how close
they were to being here 40 years prior if not for their sins. The Klei Yakar
notes that the 11 days correspond to the 11 days a year that we in exile mourn
for our our Temple. The 9 days of the month of Av and the fast of the the 17th
of Tamuz and the Tenth of Tevet. We are also just 11 days of mourning away from
entering the land once again for it states that
he who mourns the temple will merit to see it being rebuilt. May it be
this year…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE
WEEK
Ari Shul, Tzefat-
There are two of these in the old city of Tzefat. The Ashkenazi one is up on
top and the Sephardic near the cemetery on the bottom. The Sefardic one where
he prayed was dedicated to Eliyahu Hanavi where he studied with him in an
alcove. The Ashkenazic one was originally a field where the great 16th
century Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria the Ari'Zl would go out and greet the
Shabbat Queen each Friday night and sing Kabbalat Shabbat Lecha Dodi that was
composed and instituted as part of the service during that period. The Shul was
originally built by Greek Jews and was taken over by the Ashkenazi students of
the Baal Shem Tov who came in the 18th century. It was destroyed in
an earthquake and rebuilt with a beautiful ark and wood décor that is like the
forest with all types of mystical and fascinating designs. In addition the Bima
has in it a hole where shrapnel hit during the 48 war of independence,
miraculously no one was hurt. Finally there is a chair for Elijah the prophet that
is used for circumcisions that was donated by a great Chasidic Rebbes daughter
upon which it is said that all who sit in it and pray it is a great omen for
fertility. The Ari's Yartzeit is the 4th of Av!
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
A childrens view of Tisha B'Av…beautiful
*******************
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S JOKE OF THE WEEK
It's Av we minimize Simcha/joy in order to mourn
the destructions of our Temple. Shame on you for even looking here..:) …
Instead I give you ..
RABBI SCHWARTZ ANECDOTE OF THE WEEK
Rabbi Yehoshua from Kotna once traveled to Eretz
Yisrael, and took in all the holiest sites amidst their destruction and
desolation. When he returned, the
inhabitants of his city arranged a large banquet in his honor, and asked him to
describe his impressions. “As you are all well aware,” Rabbi Yehoshua sighed,
“the country still lies in desolation.
However, there is one thing which is as fresh and vibrant as it was all
the way back in the times of the Second Temple.” All those present strained to
catch what the Rabbi would say next.
“And that is unwarranted hatred.
Alas, it is still in existence in full force….
*************************************************************
Answer
is C: One of the big projects of the State of Israel in addition to
planting and bringing back the trees and crops of biblical times is to restore
the animals as well. That being said there are many types of deer and
most of them seem the same to me which is why I would not pass this question in
English. But in Hebrew I do know that the Yachmor the prsian fallow deer was
restored to mountains not far from me in the western galilee by nachal kziv.
Interesting that we got the first ones from Iran during the times of the Shah because
he had good relations with the head of the nature society. Right after that he
was overthrown. So the deer made it just in time…
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