Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
September 5th 2014 -Volume 4, Issue 43 -15th
of Elul 5774
Parshat Ki Teitzei
Choose Your Own Adventure
As fervent
readers of my weekly musings know ( and by those I mean the ones who noticed I
didn't send one out last week…mom J), I used to be an avid reader…before
my life became too crazy to find any spare moments for my favorite pastime.
Thank God, Hashem at least has created us with the need to use the
"facilities" still, so I still remember how to turn pages and catch
up on some of my backlog of "must reads", much to those waiting's
consternation.
But I can
say that my love affair with reading started in my youth, each week my mother
would take me to the local Oak Park Library and I would pick out books and
would then disappear in my room for hours. Entertained by the imaginary worlds
and stories of heroes, villains, kings and princes, battles and of course all
types of magical creatures, talking animals and mystical worlds and beings my
imagination flourished. As I got older and went to yeshiva they taught us that
all of this was a waste of time and of course contraband in the rigid world of
intense Talmudic study. I could certainly understand this being that we had so
many high expectations for our spiritual growth and to build up our Torah
knowledge base as we were meant to in our yeshiva years. So I had less
opportunity to reach into my imagination to those wonderful worlds Although I
wasn't always the best at keeping all the rules. Yet I do believe that all that
reading and the ability to envision and picture worlds and realities beyond
what we experience in the physical world gave me a step up in appreciating much
of the many messages and parables and beautiful midrashim that our sages
utilize in explaining so much of our reality as it relates to the our loving
though not visible Creator in heaven.
Perhaps one
of my favorite series of books was called the "choose your own
adventure" series. The books were basically different stories that every
few pages gave you a choice. "If the prince goes into the forest then
turn to page 46, if he returns to the castle turn to page 37". And
thus the entire book would consist of different stories based on the different
choices you would make for the hero. I found these books addictive as I would
read them again and again each time with different endings and different
plotlines. How cool! In my Yeshiva days as well, although reading books was
contraband, I will never forget how I was once approached in a dark hallway by
a friend of mine from an older class and asked if I want to join a group of
guys that would get together once a week to play a new game that had come out
and was an upcoming fad. The game, for those old timers that might remember,
was called Dungeons and Dragons and just like those books that I would read it
was basically a fantasy game without any board but just a "Dungeon
Master" who would narrate the players who were all different mystical
figures- I think I was a dwarf…I kind of liked that short, fat, roly-poly hero
image- as they embarked on various adventures together. All of your moves in
this game, played without a board-just a bunch of geeky guys sitting around in
a basement- was based on choices we would make and of course the roll of the
dice on how those decisions impacted our consequences or rewards. We searched
for treasure together, rescued princesses, killed dragons, each late Thursday night
we would sneak down into the basement of our dormitory and disappear into these
fantastic worlds. It only lasted about 7 or 8 months the game until word got
out and we were busted. But those were the days as the saying goes. Interesting
enough some of those original "dunegeoneers' ended up becoming pretty
respected roshei yeshiva, community leaders and rabbis themselves-all who shall
remain nameless of course to protect the guilty's current positionsJ but you
know who you are…It's good to have a little leverage on some important peopleJJ). Although
I think I'm the only one (and probably the least likely if you would have asked
my Rabbis then) that ended up as a Kollel rabbi, Rosh Kollel, community rabbi
and most importantly to you of course a tour guide. I guess that running after
your imagination and following your life's choices in different directions may
be a good exercise in expanding your horizons and bringing you to new uncharted
frontiers. Although it might also take to you Detroit, Iowa, Virginia, Seattle
and Karmiel Israel as well. Hmmm maybe I should've listened to my Rabbis.
This lengthy
introduction is of course necessary to get you, my beloved and patient readers,
to get in the right frame of mind for this week's Torah portion which probably
more than any Parsha in the Torah plays out like a choose your own adventure
book. With more mitzvos the any other Parsha in the Torah, the Torahs
commandments in the Parsha are not merely just random recitations of disparate
laws, but rather there is a process to them. As Rashi notes, if you do this
than this will happen and if you do this then this will occur. The following is
just a short selection of the concept but in truth it is truly amazing to
examine this parsha beyond the first chapter or two and you can see that the
theme runs throughout the portion.
Mitzva 1) you go to war and find a non-jewish women captive that you
fall in love with the process of marrying here and taking her as a wife
Mitzvah 2) A man has a two wives one he loves and one not so much he
can't give the first born rights to the beloved wife son
Mitzvah 3) when a man has a son who is "wayward" bring him to
elders of the city and "justice" is done to him to remove the evil
from our people. (I spare the gory details of what our sages teach us is really
more of a hypothetical case)
Mitzva 4) what to do with the body of one who is put to death by stoning
Can you get the gist of the slippery slope of the choices being made by
our soldier in his "choose your own adventure"? Marrying for the
wrong reason an inappropriate person, the impact it has on one's family, his
children and ultimately himself
On the flip side of the coin the Torah tells us about the mitzvah
potential
Mitzva 1) if one finds a bird send away the mother before taking the
eggs
Mitzva 2) when one builds ones own house make sure you put up a gate on
the roof so that no one will fall and hurt themselves
Mitzvah 3) when you have a field don't mix species between your vineyard
and other seeds
Mitzvah 4) don't plow with your oxe and donkey
Mitzvah 5) wear tzitzis/fringes on your garments
And here once again Rashi notes that these are not just random mitzvos
but rather descriptions of processes. If you show you care and respect the
"home" of the bird as you are walking on the road, than you will have
your own home. And if you show that you fulfill the mitzvos of taking responsibility
for your home, than you will have a field and then oxen, donkeys and even nice
clothing. Turn to page 37.. turn to page 43… and keep following the book to the
happy ending at the end of the parsha of the destruction of the ultimate evil
of Amalek and the promise of Hashem giving us our rightful protion in Eretz
Yisrael.
The truth is that it is truly an amazing parsha if you examine it in
this light. Have fun with your family this Shabbos and crack open a mitzvah
mentioned and look at the following and/or proceeding one and you are bound to
find some connection, some if he does this than it can lead to that. It is a
Parsha that at face value can just be a random reading of laws, but just
scratch the surface and engage in what our sages suggest is the concept of Doreish
Semuchim deriving a teaching from the close proximity between two mitzvos
and new worlds can open up before you. Worlds that are not magical or fantasy
filled but worlds of spirituality and the paths and journeys that we can travel
on.
We read this parsha as we approach the holiday of Rosh Hashana in the
month of Elul the last calendar month before the New Year. We are told that it
is a time when the "King is in the Field" Hashem our Father, our
Creator and who's Kingdom we are meant to proclaim to the world is nearby…next
to us... right here in the trenches...in our workplace, his Shofar is blasting
every morning. He is Semuchim/close to us and we are meant to be Doreish
Him, to seek him out. We are meant this month more than any in the year to
examine our adventures, our missteps, the paths that we took this past year and
where they have led us to. Are we closer or farther? Have we achieved the goals
we have set for ourselves or are we wandering in the dark cellars still looking
for the light that is shining so brightly if we could only start climbing the
stairs.
Have a Majestical
Shabbos,
Rabbi
Ephraim Schwartz
*****************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FAVORITE QUOTES
OF THE WEEK
"Logic will get you from A-Z, Imagination
will get you everywhere." - Albert Einstien
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of
life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstien
"Jewish imagination is paranoia confirmed
by history"
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
(answer below at end of Email)
Q. With which of the following sites is
Biblical Sha’arayim sometimes identified?
1.
Tel Sokho
2.
Azeka
3.
Ekron
4.
Khirbet Qeiyafa
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL GEMATRIA OF THE WEEK
The Gaon
of Vilna once told his students that each and every Jew is hinted to in the
Torah and can be found there. They asked him where his name was found and he
said that it is in this weeks Torah portion the words Even Shleima
Tiyehe Lach- One should have (measuring) stones that are complete (so one
would not cheat) the words Even Shleima are an acronym of his name Eliyahu BEN
SHLoMO and even more interesting is the words that follow it VZedek Tihyeh
Lach- and justice will be to you is gematria 270 the same as his mother's
name Treinah.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Davidson
Center- Jerusalem– It's
right there at the edge of the Kotel and as you enter this fantastic museum you
are as the sign says going down 20 feet and going back 2000 years. The museum
is fantastic in that it truly gives you as sense of the archeological digs that
took place in this most holies of sites and what the temple looked like as well
as the coins found there. There are also great short films that depict what
life was like back then particularly during the holiday season when all would
come here. After the museum one enters onto the actual ancient streets and roads
of the outside of the temple mount walls. You can feel the destruction as you
look at the rocks hurled down from the top that remain embedded in the streets.
You can think of what life must have been like in this busy metropolis with all
of the mikvas for those that would bring sacrifices and shops that must have
been here. One can see the remains of the arches Robinsons and Warrens and hope
that one day soon we will merit to go up and return to our Temple
rebuilt..hopefully this Sukkot!
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S COOL YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
So
this is the new Yiddish song that’s taken over the Chasidic world lately-I'm
kind of getting into it Lyrics translated below
and heres everyone you can think of singing it cuteJ
דער אייבישטער זאגט אונז קינדערלעך אנוכי הסתר פני ביום ההוא, אבער די רבי זאגט
ואפי’ בהסתרה שבתוך ההסתרה בוודאי גם שם נמצא השם יתברך
גם מאחורי הדברים הקשים העומדים עליך, אני עומד
Hashem
says "tell our children 'I will hide my face on that day' but the rebbe
says that even in the hiddenness within the hiddenness Hashem Blessed is He is
also certainly found there. Also behind the difficult things that stand upon
you…I stand…I stand …I stand
*******************
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S IMAGINATION JOKE OF THE WEEK
Several
weeks after a young man had been hired, he was called into the personnel
director's office. "What is the meaning of this?" the director asked.
"When you applied for this job, you told us you had five years experience
had worked on presidential campaigns and was awarded industry medals for your
work and now we discovered that this is the first job and position you have
ever held?!"
"Well"
said the young replied "in your ad you said you wanted someone with
imagination!"
*****************
A
sister and brother are talking to each other when the little boy gets up and
walks over to his Grandpa and says, "Grandpa, please make a frog
noise."
The
Grandpa says, "No."
The
little boy goes on, "Please...please make a frog noise."
The
Grandpa says, "No, now go play."
The
little boy then says to his sister, "Go tell Grandpa to make a frog
noise." So the little girl goes to her Grandpa and says, "Please make
a frog noise."
The
Grandpa says, "I just told your brother no and I'm telling you no."
The
little girl says, "Please...please Grandpa make a frog noise."
The
Grandpa says, "Why do you want me to make a frog noise?"
The
little girl replied, "Because mommy said when you croak we can go to
Disney World!"
*************************************************************
Answer is D: There are so many archeological sites in Israel
and most of them are stones, walls, buildings, pottery, in Khirbet Kayefiah
they found writings that go back to the times of King Saul on an ostracon as
well as remains of what may very well be the palace described as shaaryaim
which means two gates as there is a double gate entering the city. The other
sites all relate to David as well with battles against Goliath in Azeka, And
Philistines in Socho as well as Ekron which was a major philistine city.
No comments:
Post a Comment