Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
September 9th 2016 -Volume 6, Issue
50 6th Elul 5776
Parshat Shoftim
Going to the Fair
“It’s not fair! She got a bigger slice than I did. He got
to sit in the front yesterday. How come they get to go to sleep at 10:00 PM?
How come you guys don’t have to go to school, get to have soda or ‘shabbos
cereal’ during the week? Everyone else’s parents let them do______ _____ ________ go to _______ _____ _______ (you fill in the blanks). It’s just
not fair!”
If this conversation does not sound familiar to you. Then
it is a sign that not only you do not have children, but that you have a very
short memory from when you were a child. However it is a lot easier to deal with
the former if you recall the latter. There is no home that does not have that
conversation. And although you may look at all the other perfect families in
the park where all the children share with one another. Trust me. I’m a tour
guide. It may take a few days, but ultimately those three magic words “It’s not
fair” will be mentioned. It will be thrown out there like a gauntlet in an
ancient medieval knight’s tournament, like a hockey player throwing off his
gloves, waiting for someone, generally a parent, to pick it up.
My father’s response, I’m sure as handed down by
generations and which I dutifully respond was always “Life isn’t fair”. That’s
it. Simple. To the point. And exasperatingly frustrating. But it was usually a
conversation ender, after a few “but…but… but…buts.” It is one of those
childhood learning moments. That wake-up call that life and the world are not
always going to run with your childhood notions of fairness. Some people will
get a larger slice than others. Some people will get Shabbos cereal during the
week. And despite everything good that you may have done, or how grown-up you
may feel, or how unjust it may seem, the harsh and sometimes traumatic reality
is you may not get a turn to sit in the front.
Is that a depressing thought? Shouldn’t life be fair?
Wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone got a chance? If everyone got
exactly what they deserved. Is life really not fair? Shouldn’t good people get
good things and bad people bad? At least until the bad people say they’re sorry
and become good once again.- that last caveat, being my own little safety-net
of course.
This week’s Torah portion Shoftim- delineates the laws of creating
a just society. It starts understandably with the commandment to establish
courts and officers that will enforce the law. There is an interesting Midrash
on this verse. That states
“A parable to a king that had many children and the youngest
whom he loved the most. The king said I will give my orchard that I love more
than any other orchard to the son that I love more than all of my other children.
So Hashem said from all of the nations I have created I love only Israel- as
the verse says (Hoshea 11) For Israel is a young lad and I love him. And from
all that I have created I love justice as it says Isaiah 61) For I am Hashem
who loves justice. I will give what I love to the nation that I love”
OK, now I know what you’re thinking. Hey that doesn’t seem
fair! Why Israel? What does that mean He loves us more than anyone? I’ll tell
you what you aren’t thinking as well, and I believe that it is very telling.
Hey! Why justice? Why does Hashem love justice more than anything else? Why can’t
I have some justice as well? Did that question enter your mind?
OK, you want
justice. How about we punish you for everything that you did wrong. How about
we start invoking the ‘law’ and only give you exactly what you deserve? That
question didn’t bother you did it? Hmmmm… You just heard what you thought was
an injustice. Hashem favoring one nation over another. It didn’t make a
difference that the special ‘gift’ the ‘orchard’ that we got was a court system
and a police system that would enforce the 613 commandments, that would be
ordered to give lashes, carry out the death penalty and create ‘fences’ around
the Torah with thousands of rabbinical laws. Still feeling special and favored
out? What does it mean that Hashem loves justice and He loves Israel more than
anything?
Perhaps a clue can be from the verse that the Midrash
quotes. It says that we are the young lad of Hashem. We are like his little
kids. The midrash itself goes out of its way to say this is the youngest child
of the King in the parable-seemingly it could’ve just said that the King had a
favorite child non-dependent on his place in the age order of the children. The
one thing I believe that children seem to be naturally obsessed with is that
sense of justice and fairness. Kids see the world in black and white. Kids that
haven’t been indoctrinated and polluted by their parents telling them that ‘life
isn’t fair” that is. Kids inherently understand and appreciate the wonder and
awe of this perfect creation, before their teachers fill their tiny brains with
all types of scientific theories, tables of elements, big bangs, and the ‘real
way’ the world runs. Children have ideals- or at least they used to- about what
leaders are. Presidents, government and court officials, police officers and
even Rabbi’s and teachers, dare I say even their parents. They’re always
supposed to do the right thing. They are always supposed to be interested in
the greater good, making the world a better place. They don’t know about the
foibles, the scandals, the self-interests and tragically the betrayals that
these “perfect people” are capable of perpetrating. They have not-surprisingly
what is rightfully called a “child-like” view of the world. Some call that
being naïve. Hashem calls it His favorite orchard.
The Jews more than any other nation represents that demand
upon the world to find that justice. To bring the sanctity and dignity of all
humans, all the creations to their rightful and true status of being created in
our Father, the Kings image. Hashem ‘loves’ us most because we ae the youth
that sees the rest of the world with those bright eyes. Hashem loves justice
more than anything else because it is through its carriage, through its
revelation that Hs trueness, His one-ness can unveiled before His creation. It
is the way that He had originally intended the world to be created; with the middat
HaDin- the attribute of justice. But ultimately He recognized that the
world couldn’t exist on judgement alone. We couldn’t handle the truth. The
world needed a healthy dose of rachamim-mercy. Life isn’t fair anymore.
Our parsha tells us that Hashem gave us, His chosen nation,
judges and laws, the Torah and it’s
commandments so that we could serve as the worlds child-like eyes of the Divine
way that justice is meant to look like. The Shela Hakodesh says that the verse
tells us that we should have judges and police on all of our gates can be
understood as being a euphemistic reference to our own personal gates. Our
eyes, our ears and our mouths. We need to appreciate and be careful about what
we allow our souls and our minds see, hear and speak. In a grey world, there’s
freedom of speech, freedom to see and digest anything that a consenting adult
might want to engage in. Just as long as nobody gets hurt….right? Not in a just
world. Not for a child who understands that fairness and purity and holiness
are when one lives fully the ideals he believes in. If I wouldn’t say it, see
it or do it in front of my kids- that’s a good sign I shouldn’t be doing it
all. That’s what fair. That’s what’s right.
Rav Bunim of Peshicha takes this even a step further. He
says that the Torah says tzedek tzedek tridof- justice justice you shall
pursue. Why does it say it twice, he asks? Because not only should one always
pursue and do everything to create a just world, but the pursuit of justice
should also be done with justice. The ends don’t justify the means. The means
must be just as well. One has to make sure that when one is carrying out his
justice it is done in the purest and fairest of ways. One should always find
merit for someone. One should give the benefit of the doubt. One should make sure
that when one carries out the law and the commandments it is never at the
expense of someone else getting hurt, getting slighted. Otherwise it is not
fair. It is not reflective of our Creator. It won’t be that special orchard
that Hashem has given us.
As we have entered the month of Elul, we get closer and
closer to Rosh Hashana; the beginning of the New Year and the day we are told that
we gather in Shul and coronate the Melech HaMishpat- the King of
justice. Our eyes turn heavenward and we pray for that day when all will see
that glory and the oneness of our Father our King. We have already started to
blow the shofar to awaken ourselves from the slumber, the tiredness, the
drudgery of living in a world that is so disappointingly bereft of fairness, of
completion, of peace and of that glorious Divine justice of His Kingship. May
the next shofar we hear be the ultimate one that heralds in that final day when
the entire world will finally see the King once again.
Have an uplifting Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
*************************************
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL VIDEO CLIPS OF THE WEEK
https://youtu.be/N1g8JlG3aRQ – What an incredibly powerful goosepimply story about a group of
Amrican students and the parents of a fallen Israeli soldier. I dare you to try
not to cry…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAy8PaExmdM – In honor of Elul
beautiful composition of Ani L’Dodi by my Friend SY Rechnitz and sung by Ohad.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S
FAVORITE YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Ver es varft oif yenem shtainer krigt tsurik
in di aigeneh bainer.”- He who throws stones on another gets them back on his own bones.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S JEWISH PERSONALITY AND HIS
QUOTES IN HONOR OF THE YARTZEIT OF THE WEEK
“Now it will
not succeed, but there will be another time when it will succeed. That will be
in the time of the footsteps of moshiach.”-In
his commentary on the narrative after
the sin of the spies, Moshe Rabbeinu warned those who regretted their original
lack of faith that they should not attempt to go into Eretz Yisrael by force: vehi
lo sitzlach, it will not be successful.
“Every day there are innovations in
Torah, for God recreates every day his works of the world; and the works of the
world (maaseh bereishit) is through the Torah… And it is for
this reason that after the blessing [of the Shema] ‘Yotzer ha-Meorot,’ which
relates to the recognition of the recreation of the world every day, [the
Rabbis] established a second blessing which functions as a blessing on the
Torah (i.e. ‘Ahava Rabba’). One requests (to God) to know the innovations of
the Torah which are through the recreation of the world. And as I have heard,
that God created a book, and that is the world (olam), and the
commentary (on the book), and that is that Torah. For the Torah is akin to a commentary
of God’s possessions.”
“And
our Rabbis have revealed to us stories which discuss the bat kol, which is
defined as listening to the voices of everyday people who are discussing daily
matters and do have other intentions. Rather one listener is able to be
informed, through their words, what is required of him… Namely, Hashem
articulates the will of his voice through regular people. Even though they have
their own intentions when they speak and the directives do not seem to emanate
from Hashem with intention and clarity, rather His will relates to us
implicitly…For example when Hashem wishes good it is manifest personally in
each of his creations according to their conception of good. The Jewish people
relate according to their conception of good, gentiles relate each according to
their own conception…and so it is with all creations according to their own
conception. And therefore it is nearly impossible to define what is the
implicit will that Hashem intends to impart since it is manifest through
different being, each with their own conceptions and notions of that message.”
“I
heard from our Holy Teacher in the name of R. Bunim (of Peshischa) that even
though intellectual abilities decline with each generation, understanding and
appreciation of truth (nekudat hachayim shebalev)' increases and has become
purified through the tribulations of exile… Therefore,
even though later generations are inferior (to earlier ones), they nevertheless
maintain their awareness (of knowledge), as dwarfs (on the shoulders of) giants.
. . and they themselves continue the process of this opening of new Gates. Even
though they themselves are greatly inferior (in comparison to their forbears),
their insights are more profound, for they have already passed through the
Gates opened by the earlier generations.
HaRav Tzadok
Hakohen Rabinowitz of Lublin ,(1823-1900) This Tuesday, the 3rd of
One of the
great lights of Chasidic thought and arguably its most prolific author, was not
born a Chasid. Rav Tzadok HaKohen’s father Rav Yaakov was the Av Bais Din
of Kreisberg in Lithuania. His grandfather Rav Zalman Mireles was the Rov
of the three prestigious communites of Altuna-Hamburg-Wansbeck in Germany and
was the son-in-law of the Chacham Tzvi.
Rav Tzadok was a child prodigy. He said about himself that when he was one year old, he would make a bracha on his mother's milk. At age two he davened from a siddur. By age three and a half he was learning Gemara with Tosfos. Before his Bar Mitzva he was already writing Shailos U'Tshuvos-responsa in Jewish law. He delivered four drashos at his Bar Mitzva which were printed in the Sefer Meishiv Tzedek. He was a rising star in the Litvishe world.
The turning point came after his first marriage came to a premature end, but his wife wouldn't accept a divorce. He wandered among the Gedolim to secure a Heter Mei'a-(a halachic dispensation for a man to marry a second wife in extreme cases when his first wife will not accept a get) to enable him to remarry. During this difficult period he met with many of the great leaders of his time the Shoel U'Maishiv (Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson of Lublin), Rav Tzvi Hirsh Chayos, Rav Shlomo Kluger and others. He also met with great Chasidic Rebbes including Rav Shalom of Belz, the Divrei Chaim, the Chidushei HaRim, Rav Meir Premishaln and others. When he met Rav Mordechai Yosef Leiner, the Izhbetzer Rebbe and former student of the Kotzker Rebbe before breaking away, he found in him a soulmate. The Litvishe Rav Tzadok became his ardent Chasid. At the end, his first wife accepted the Get and he did not need a Heter Mei'a. He then remarried and moved to Lublin.
Under Rav Mordechai Yosef, Rav Tzadok learned together with another Litvak turned Chasid (and broke his father's heart in the process), Rav Leibele Eiger the grandson of Rebbi Akiva Eiger and son of Rav Shlomo Eiger. After the passing of Rav Mordechai Yosef in 1854, Rav Tzadok refused to take his mantle of his Rebbe and lead the Chassidim. Instead he pushed Rav Leibele Eiger to become the Rebbe. In the ensuing 33 years until Rav Leibele's passing he learned in solitude composing his multitude of works. In 1887 after Rav Leibele's petira, he again refused to lead the Chasidim and pushed for Rav Avrohom Eiger to lead the flock. This time however the Chasidim refused to give in and he ultimately became the Rebbe of Lublin.
He very much wanted to emigrate to Eretz Yisroel but his Chasidim would not hear of it. Rav Tzadok was Niftar on 9 Elul, 5660/1900. Although he did not leave behind any sons, he left the world with his vast writings which have made a profound impact on Jewish thinking moving forward. His seforim include, Pri Tzadik (Chumash), Divrei Sofrim, Otzar HaMelech (Rambam), Yisroel Kedoshim, Tzidkas HaTzadik, Taanas Hashovim, Kuntras Divrei Chalomos, and many others. Yehi Zichro Baruch.
Rav Tzadok was a child prodigy. He said about himself that when he was one year old, he would make a bracha on his mother's milk. At age two he davened from a siddur. By age three and a half he was learning Gemara with Tosfos. Before his Bar Mitzva he was already writing Shailos U'Tshuvos-responsa in Jewish law. He delivered four drashos at his Bar Mitzva which were printed in the Sefer Meishiv Tzedek. He was a rising star in the Litvishe world.
The turning point came after his first marriage came to a premature end, but his wife wouldn't accept a divorce. He wandered among the Gedolim to secure a Heter Mei'a-(a halachic dispensation for a man to marry a second wife in extreme cases when his first wife will not accept a get) to enable him to remarry. During this difficult period he met with many of the great leaders of his time the Shoel U'Maishiv (Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson of Lublin), Rav Tzvi Hirsh Chayos, Rav Shlomo Kluger and others. He also met with great Chasidic Rebbes including Rav Shalom of Belz, the Divrei Chaim, the Chidushei HaRim, Rav Meir Premishaln and others. When he met Rav Mordechai Yosef Leiner, the Izhbetzer Rebbe and former student of the Kotzker Rebbe before breaking away, he found in him a soulmate. The Litvishe Rav Tzadok became his ardent Chasid. At the end, his first wife accepted the Get and he did not need a Heter Mei'a. He then remarried and moved to Lublin.
Under Rav Mordechai Yosef, Rav Tzadok learned together with another Litvak turned Chasid (and broke his father's heart in the process), Rav Leibele Eiger the grandson of Rebbi Akiva Eiger and son of Rav Shlomo Eiger. After the passing of Rav Mordechai Yosef in 1854, Rav Tzadok refused to take his mantle of his Rebbe and lead the Chassidim. Instead he pushed Rav Leibele Eiger to become the Rebbe. In the ensuing 33 years until Rav Leibele's passing he learned in solitude composing his multitude of works. In 1887 after Rav Leibele's petira, he again refused to lead the Chasidim and pushed for Rav Avrohom Eiger to lead the flock. This time however the Chasidim refused to give in and he ultimately became the Rebbe of Lublin.
He very much wanted to emigrate to Eretz Yisroel but his Chasidim would not hear of it. Rav Tzadok was Niftar on 9 Elul, 5660/1900. Although he did not leave behind any sons, he left the world with his vast writings which have made a profound impact on Jewish thinking moving forward. His seforim include, Pri Tzadik (Chumash), Divrei Sofrim, Otzar HaMelech (Rambam), Yisroel Kedoshim, Tzidkas HaTzadik, Taanas Hashovim, Kuntras Divrei Chalomos, and many others. Yehi Zichro Baruch.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF
THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
Q. Umra is:
A. The Muslim festival of
the Omer
B. The day the Qur’an was first
discovered
C. The prophet’s night journey
D. Going on a pilgrimage to Mecca
not during the Hajj
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL RASHI OF THE WEEK
It never fails to
inspire me, and I hope you as well, how if we just think and examine each word
Rashi writes in his commentary, the amount depth that we are able to glean from
his seemingly easy explanation.
In this weeks Torah
portion the Torah teaches us about the mitzva of when we are not sure about a
particular law how we should go up to the Sanhedrin and inquire of them and
follow what they say.
The Torah introduces
the law
Devarim 17:8 “When it will be hidden from
you a matter of judgement, between blood and blood, between verdict and
verdict, between affliction and affliction; matters of dispute in your gates”
Rashi on the verse
explains the various topics the pasuk is talking about-
Blood and blood-between blood that is impure and blood
that is pure
Verdict and verdict- between a verdict of innocence and a
verdict of guilt
Affliction and affliction-between an affliction that would make you
impure and one that would leave you pure.
Simple enough right?
The Skulener Rebbe notes that in the first and latter cases of blood and
affliction Rashi starts to explain with the negative. Blood that is impure
afflictions that are tamei. However when it comes to verdicts of judgement
Rashi begins with innocent verdict. He derives from that obviously deliberate
nuance in Rashi that when it comes to matters of doubt regarding whether
something is permissible or whether it is impure then one should always assume
and treat it as forbidden until it is clarified. However when it comes to
passing judgment on a person, we are all considered innocent until proven
guilty. We must always give them the benefit of the doubt.
Now why didn’t I read
that in Rashi? Because I just read Rashi as a simple commentary to the verse
for elementary school kids. But that’s the brilliance of his commentary. It’s
written so that everyone can get something out of it, the smallest child and
the greatest Rabbi. The only question is how are you learning Rashi like a
child or like a Rebbe?
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S COOL HISTORICAL EVENT THAT HAPPENED ON THIS
DATE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-
Operation Magic Carpet-11
Elul 5710 - August 24, 1950:- Operation Magic Carpet, which secretly airlifted 45,000
Yemenite Jews to Eretz Yisrael, was successfully concluded. Many of
the Jews had never before seen an airplane; they likened the ride to a
fulfillment of the biblical verse, "And I bore you on eagles' wings"
(Shmot / Exodus 19:4). According to tradition, Jews had lived in
Yemen since the 7th century B.C.E. Upon arriving in Eretz Yisrael they
were housed in tent camps; there was very little infrastructure and resources
to accommodate them, as the Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael nearly
doubled in its first three years. There has been much criticism of the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Israel, which abandoned thousands of
Jews in the deserts on the border between North Yemen and Aden. Mismanagement
or corruption by the imam of Yemen, the British authorities, and the Jewish
Agency also played a role. Some 850 Yemenite Jews died en route to their
departure points, and in the community which reached Israel infant mortality
rates were high, but still lower than in Yemen. According to David Ben-Gurion's
diary, the Yemeni children in the Israeli ma'abarot or tent transit camps were
dying like flies. Children were often separated from their parents for hygienic
reasons, or taken away to hospitals for treatment, but often parents only
received notification, often by loudspeaker, they had died. According to some
testimony, there was a suspicion that the state kidnapped healthy Yemeni
children, for adoption, and then informed the parents they had died. As a
result, some decades later, the Yemenite Children Affair exploded, in which it
was rumoured that something of the order of 1,000 children had gone missing. The
state nearly collapsed under the burden. Calculations made that year showed
that the state needed some $3,000 for the absorption of each immigrant, which
meant that the state required about $700,000 for the whole campaign; the entire
state budget was less than that. Yet, despite everything, the young state was
more than willing to do all that was necessary to absorb the immigrants,
believing that this was the reason for its establishment in the first place. Within
a short time, the immigrants had been absorbed into the fledging Israeli
society.
RABBI
SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY JUDGE JOKES OF THE
WEEK
When asked for her
occupation, a woman charged with a traffic violation said she was a
schoolteacher. The judge rose from the bench. "Madam, I have waited
years for a schoolteacher to appear before this court," he smiled
with delight. "Now sit down at that table and write 'I will not pass through
a red light' five
hundred times."
hundred times."
What did the judge say when a skunk entered the courtroom? Answer: Odor, Odor in the court!!!
The judge said to his
dentist: "Pull my tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth."
Taking his seat in his chambers, the judge faced the
opposing lawyers.
"So," he said, "I have been presented, by both of you, with a bribe." Both lawyers squirmed uncomfortably. "You, attorney Leon, gave me $15,000. And you, attorney Campos, gave me
$10,000."
The judge reached into his pocket and pulled out a check. He handed it to Leon ... "Now then, I'm returning $5,000, and we're going to decide this case solely on its merits."
**************
"So," he said, "I have been presented, by both of you, with a bribe." Both lawyers squirmed uncomfortably. "You, attorney Leon, gave me $15,000. And you, attorney Campos, gave me
$10,000."
The judge reached into his pocket and pulled out a check. He handed it to Leon ... "Now then, I'm returning $5,000, and we're going to decide this case solely on its merits."
**************
Answer is D – So we have moved on from Christianity questions to Islam
questions another subject that thankfully I deleted most of the minor details
about a religion that I was confident that my tourists wouldn’t really give two
whits about knowing the details. Yet I got this answer right. Process of
deduction, don’t worry I didn’t remember it. It was obviously not the omer.
That would be too easy and Muslims don’t have that concept. The Koran wasn’t
discovered it was ‘revealed’ so I knew it wasn’t that one. Although I thought
maybe the ministry of tourism got the translation of the word wrong. The night
journey I remembered when Mohamed went from mecca to Jerusalem Al Aksa
supposedly and then up to heaven. Because I gave myself hints to remember. The Jerusalem
journey is called israa- like Israel-although it’s not mentioned. And the
heaven part is called miraj- like mirage which is basically a made up
illusion. Thus the right answer is D the optional visit to Mecca anytime
imitate Hagars walk back and forth looking for water for her son Yishmael. Now
you can delete this information also.
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