Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Mishpatim \ Psalm 127 - Heart to Heart

1. A song of ascents about Solomon. If the Lord will not build a house, its builders have toiled at it in vain; if the Lord will not guard a city, [its] watcher keeps his vigil in vain.
א. שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת לִשְׁלֹמֹה אִם ה' לֹא יִבְנֶה בַיִת שָׁוְא עָמְלוּ בוֹנָיו בּוֹ אִם ה' לֹא יִשְׁמָר עִיר שָׁוְא שָׁקַד שׁוֹמֵר:
2. It is futile for you who arise early, who sit late, who eat the bread of toil, to his beloved he will give tranquility.
ב. שָׁוְא לָכֶם מַשְׁכִּימֵי קוּם מְאַחֲרֵי שֶׁבֶת אֹכְלֵי לֶחֶם הָעֲצָבִים כֵּן יִתֵּן לִידִידוֹ שֵׁנָא:
3. Behold, the heritage of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the innards.
ג. הִנֵּה נַחֲלַת ה' בָּנִים שָֹכָר פְּרִי הַבָּטֶן:
4. Like arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of one's youth.
ד. כְּחִצִּים בְּיַד גִּבּוֹר כֵּן בְּנֵי הַנְּעוּרִים:
5. Praiseworthy is the man who has filled his quiver with them; they will not be ashamed when they talk to the enemies in the gate.
ה. אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר מִלֵּא אֶת אַשְׁפָּתוֹ מֵהֶם לֹא יֵבֹשׁוּ כִּי יְדַבְּרוּ אֶת אוֹיְבִים בַּשָּׁעַר:


King David’s life was one of dedication and love of Hashem. He also loved his wife Bathsheba and his son Solomon very dearly. In addition he took great pride that he would father the line of the kings of Israel. Solomon, his son, was overflowing with gifts and faith. Like a good father David recognized early where his son’s imperfections lied, and tried to nip them in the bud. Solomon was only twelve years old when he became king, so this psalm was written when he was still a boy. Psalm 127 is basically a heart to heart talk King David was giving to his son Solomon, the crown prince, interweaving the topics of women, religion, and progeny. Because of his son’s youth and the nature of his concerns, it was necessary to be oblique.

Rashi comments: “David saw through divine inspiration that in the future Shlomo would build the temple and on that day he would marry the daughter of Pharaoh. Concerning this it is written, “For this city has aroused My anger and My wrath from the day they built it until today. Therefore the song is asking, ‘What are you gaining my son to wander from the Omnipresent after that which He does not desire and for nothing is your labor in it?’” The Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b) remarks: “Rabbi Yitzchak said when Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, [the angel] Gabriel descended and stuck a reed in the sea, which gathered a sand bank around it on which was built the great city of Rome”. The Soncino Talmud comments: “By this, his moral weakness, he laid the foundations of a hostile world, symbolized by the Talmud as Rome, which overthrew Israel”.

The kings from the dynasty of David tended to be good kings; even so they made good natured mistakes. King Solomon felt that marrying the daughters of foreign kings, would not only result in peace, but would cause many to learn the book of Proverbs as well. It was not successful. When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart towards other gods and his he did not go fully after Hashem as did David his father (see Kings 1 chapter 11). In the book of Ecclesiastics (7:26) he laments, “I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, her hands are bonds; whoever is good in G-d's sight will escape from her, and a sinner will be taken by her.” Solomon’s son Rehavam is not a bad king, but later on abandons the Torah (see 2 Chronicles 12:1).

The Meiri explains: David saw that his efforts to build the Temple would not succeed and the prophet Nathan told him that his son would build it; he gives him the advice and council typically given at the start of an endeavor. Even though good efforts are being made, he should not place his confidence in these efforts and not think that he will obtain his objective, because it will be obtained by his efforts. Rather everything is from the Almighty, and He arouses ones efforts and He allows one to obtain his objective. The Torah in fact had already cautioned about this when it said, “and you will say in your heart my strength and the power of my hand did for me this magnificence and you should know that Hashem your G-d gave you the power to do great things (Deuteronomy 8:17-8). It also says this generally, “If Hashem does not build the house”, meaning, there would not have been an effort from man’s side without [G-d’s] providence.

The Psalm then uses the labor a person puts into obtaining his sustenance as an example. Basically it says that a person can get up early in the morning and work late and his only gain will be bitter bread. It then continues that G-d will give his beloved sleep. Rashi explains this means that the Holy One Blessed be He will support those that banish sleep from their eyes to be busy with Torah. The idea is that hard work alone may only result in aggravation, but doing the will of G-d often produces satisfaction.

There is a hint that all of this is like having children i.e. many efforts may be fruitless and few efforts can be fruitful. He also praises having good sons and how valuable they can be, hinting that this should be important to him. The Yalkut Shemoni brings an anecdote that Rabbi Judah the prince sent Rabbi Chiyya, Rabbi Yosa, and Rabbi Ami to work in the cities of the land of Israel. There they were to establish in them scribes and students so that not a place would be found without a sofer and a student. They asked if there would be guards for the cities. He replied to them, “You are the guards and that those others do nothing except destroy the city. From where do we know that you are the guards of the city, because it says, “If Hashem does not guard the city useless is the diligence of the guard” (Psalm 127:1). Rashi sees sons of one’s youth as the students a man produces in his youth, as well as wise students that prevail over each other in halacha, who appear as if they are enemies of each other [when debating].

The lesson seems to be that when a person is engaging in a worthy pursuit their actions are the body of a success and the will of G-d is the soul of the success. If a person’s actions do not find favor in the eyes of heaven, they are likely to yield a blemished result. In terms of marriage a man can consider things like politics and positive influence on others, but the woman herself must be right. She should encourage her husband to go down a good path and certainly not the opposite. In addition the children she bears should be raised to be moral individuals who pursue wisdom.

  

לע"נ הסבתא טויבע בת יואל לייב ז"ל נלב"ע כה בשבט תשכ"ג
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