Emor - Speaking With the Dead

You're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari Goldwag. Recorded with Hashem's never-ending assistance in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel, 5786-2026. This week's parsha is parshas Emor. And the beginning of the parsha has the concepts that relate to the coin, to the high to the priests, to the high priest, all the different halachas that apply to him, unique halachas. Priest is not allowed to marry, for example, a woman who's divorced. And a lot of other halachas, a lot of other concepts that allow to become impure. But I'd like to share with you a beautiful measure that connects the very first pasuk of our parsha with the very last pasuk of last week's parsha. And it gives us an insight into a very tragic story, a story which is in Tanakh, a beautiful story. And I think it really holds a lot of different lessons that we can take into our own lives. So I'd like to read to you first from the last pasuk of parshas Kedoshim. And also the first pasuk of parshas Emor. The pasuk says at the end of last week's parsha, "Ve'isha isha ki yihyeh vahem ov o yidoni mos yumasu." Torah says that there's a prohibition. Any man or woman when they're going to be involved in ov and yidoni. Ov and yidoni are basically getting in contact with spirits, getting in contact with the dead, those who have moved on from this realm, and they're in a different realm. It's possible through certain negative powers, through certain dark powers, to access and speak to, communicate with the dead. But the Torah says, "Don't do it. Don't do it." Interestingly, the pasuk right before says, "You should be holy unto Hashem. I have separated you from amongst the nations. It's It's true that it's something that can be done, but don't do it." If somebody does it, says the pasuk, "Mos yumasu." They're liable for death. But even your grandma is some demand bomb. They're to be stoned. >> [snorts] >> And their blood is on their own heads. Okay, so don't have a sayance. Okay, it's it's an issue of Torah, I said. It's a Torah prohibition. But at the depth of it is we're here in this world. Let's focus on this world and the people who are alive in this world. Let's not try to contact those who are in the next world. Let's let's stay within our own realm. Let's be clear. Let's be here. Okay? That's the pasuk of the end of last week's parsha. First pasuk of our parsha, "Vayomer Hashem el Moshe emor el hakohanim bnei Aharon." Hashem says to Moshe, "Speak to the priests, the children of Aaron, v'amarta alehem l'nefesh lo yitama b'amav." And tell them that they shouldn't uh become impure. They're not allowed to come in contact with the dead. Those are the psukim from last week and this week's parsha that we'll see are connected. It's kind of a uh well, you know, at first glance it doesn't seem like there's any connection between these psukim. What does this have to do with that? Maybe a coin is a priest is on a higher level of kedusha, of holiness. Uh ov and yidoni is about being on a higher level than the nations of the world. That could be a pashut pshat. But the measure tells us that there is a connection here in the story of Shaul Hamelach, King Saul. Shaul Hamelach's story is a very tragic story. It's a sad story. Shaul Hamelach was the first king of the Jewish people. He's from the tribe of Binyamin, of Benjamin. And he was appointed, anointed by Sh- by Sh- by Shmuel Hanavi. It's hard to get these names straight cuz one is Shaul and one is Shmuel. The letters are almost exactly the same. Shmuel Hanavi, Samuel the prophet, anoints King Saul. In English it's a little easier. Yeah, to become the king. And he's enjoined as the first king of the Jewish people to destroy Amalek, to to kill out the people of Amalek who are the mortal enemies of the Jewish people. Whereas the Jewish people represent all that is good, Jewish people represent Hashem's light in the world, infusing our lives with godliness, Amalek is the opposite. Amalek infuses the world with doubt, infuses the world with happenstance. The word Amalek is the same as the word safek, which means doubt. And so their job is, as the Jewish people come into the land of Israel, as they're about to get the Torah, they come and they they try to stop us. And they're always there throughout history, the ones who try to stop the Jewish people from reaching our destiny, which is all about being a light unto the nations, shining light of Hashem into the world. Shaul Hamelach is enjoined. King Saul is enjoined, commanded by Shmuel Hanavi, "This is your job. You want to establish your kingdom, you want to establish the kingdom of Hashem in the world, you need to destroy Amalek." And he does the job. He kills out all of Amalek except for one person, Agag, king of Amalek. And he makes this mistake. He allows him to live just long enough to have a child. And that child has a child has a child who ends up being Haman Ha'agagi, comes from this King Agag. Haman, who's the antagonist of the Purim story, was a result of Shaul's family, his misplaced compassion on on the cruel. Can't have compassion on the cruel. You have compassion on the cruel, you end up being cruel to the compassionate. Bottom line is, Shaul Hamelach is told by Shmuel Hanavi, "Because you failed to destroy Amalek down to the last the last one, as a result of that, you've lost your malchut. Your children will not be kings." And the the Tanakh, the the story in Tanakh continues and tells us how he ended up getting depressed. And then they brought David David who was going to be the next king, King David. He was a beautiful singer. He sang beautifully. He would bring Shaul out of his negative mind states. But Shaul began to sense that David was going to be the next king. Shmuel had implied it by saying, "I'm going to the the kingship will transfer to your friend who's better than you." Which was a reference to David. And indeed, Shaul Hamelach goes through a whole stage of time where he's chasing after David. King Saul is chasing after David to kill him because he considers him a moreid b'malchut, someone who's rebelling against the king. And in so doing, and here's where we get to the connection to our parsha. In so doing, David Hamelach was sequestering himself in the in a city called Nov. Nov was a city of Kohanim, of priests. No vir Kohanim. And they were protecting him, taking care of him. And Shaul realized that they were aiding and abetting David, David Hamelach, who was to be David Hamelach. And because they were aiding and abetting him in his mered b'malchut, in his rebellion against Shaul Hamelach, so Shaul felt justified in killing out the entire city of Nov. Okay? So we're on the topic of the priests now. But what does it have to do with the topic of the ov and yidoni, the the previous parsha? So at the end of the story, as I'd like to actually read to you. I'll read to you from the Navi. I'd like to read it to you inside. This is in Shmuel Aleph, Samuel, First Samuel, uh perek chof ches, chapter 28. It says like this in pasuk aleph, "U'Shmuel meis." The the Tanakh tells us, the Navi tells us that Shmuel had died. Shmuel, Samuel the prophet, had died. "Vayism'du lo kol Yisrael vayivku alav vayikb'ruhu b'Ramah b'iro v'Shaul hisir es ha'ovos v'es hayidonim meha'aretz." Now, the Torah tells us that Shmuel dies. And Shaul had gone through a process as the king, right? Part of the purpose, part of the job of the king is to make sure that the Jewish people keep the Torah. Make sure that the Torah is being kept, it's being learned, it's being studied. Any wrongdoings that the Torah says are forbidden are not being done. And Shaul had gone through a process of weeding out all of the people who were involved in contact with the dead. Which I guess was a kind of prevalent type of practice at that time. People want to be in contact with their loved ones. >> [sighs and gasps] >> They want to know information maybe from from the next world, maybe you can find out stuff about the future. Torah says, "Don't do that." Shaul Hamelach had gone and weeded out any kind of person who was doing those types of deeds. Many of them I assume were killed. But now, what happened and we'll see why that's important, that information. "Vayikatzu Plishtim vayavo'u vayachanu b'Shunem vayikach Shaul es kol Yisrael vayachanu baGilboa." As often happens in Jewish history, the enemies of the Jewish people, which were at the time the Plishtim of Philistines, not to be confused with Palestinians, the Philistines at that time, they had come and they wanted to do battle with the Jewish people. "Vayar Shaul es machaneh Plishtim vayira vayechalel el Elokim So he sees Shaul Hamelach sees the encampment of the Philistines. He's very fearful. And the reason that he's fearful is because they seem to be much more powerful than the Jewish army. By Shaul Shaul b'Ashem, will I know Hashem? Shaul So, as he always did when it came to battles, as a good Jewish king does, they usually ask the prophet. He asked the Urim v'Tumim, the special breastplate of the Cohen Gadol, of the high priest, that would light up with letters and they would get a communication from Hashem. He wanted to know what to do. He wanted to know if he would be successful in battle. So, he asked Hashem. He asked the Navi. He asked the Urim v'Tumim. He didn't get an answer. Gam achalamot, gam urim, gam nevi'im. Not with dreams, not with the Urim v'Tumim, and not with the prophets. I previously had contact with Shmuel, but Shmuel was dead now. V'yomer Shaul l'avadav, Shaul says to his servants, "Bakshu li ishah ba'alas ov el En Dor v'edah shabah." So, Shaul hatched a plan. He's like, "I I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to get access to Shmuel. How? I'm going to find someone who escaped my decree. My decree was to kill out all the people who have contact with the dead. I'm going to find somebody who we missed and I'm going to ask them to bring back Shmuel haNavi so that I can ask him what to do and what's going to be." So, he says to his servants, "Find me somebody who knows how to do this to bring the dead to bring the dead up so that we can communicate with her with them." V'yomru avadav elav, "Hinei ishah ba'alas ov b'En Dor." And they said to him, "There is a woman we have found who escaped our clutches in En Dor," it's a name of place. So, now let's let's get the lay of the land here. Now, and the Midrash is going to say this, perhaps we'll see this together. Connection. Connection. Oven u'yidoni Cohen. Oven u'yidoni and Cohen. What's the connection between the concept of the priests and the concept of asking necromancers, those who have contact with the dead for information? What's the connection? So, in this story there's a very powerful connection. As we're going to see in the Midrash. Shaul haMelech, why didn't he get an answer? Why did Hashem not respond to him through the Urim v'Tumim? Why did no Navi, why did no prophet give him information? Why did he Why did he end up Why was he Why was it necessary for him to stoop to the level of using a means to contact Shmuel, which what the which is against the Torah, which the Torah does does not want? And the answer is, as the Midrash explains, because he had killed out the city of of Nov. He had killed out the city of Kohanim. He had wrongfully taken all of their lives. And because he had done this great sin, he lost Hashem's voice. He lost that connection to Hashem. And the Urim v'Tumim, which is the the special breastplate that that would light up, where did it rest? It rest on the chest of the Cohen Gadol, of the high priest. But he had killed out the priests. He had diminished his value for them. And he had diminished his own spiritual connection to Hashem. And as a result of that, he couldn't get an answer. And so, as he was holech u'medarder, he was continuing to fall into a deeper level of degradation. And as a result of that, he ended up going to the deepest level, which is to call to call Shmuel from the dead to find an answer for what's going to be. And he will get an answer. It's not going to be the answer that he wants. But aveirah goreret aveirah. Running after King David, not recognizing his own mistake, didn't kill Amalek, didn't finish the job, loses his malchut, running after David who's the next king, killing out the city of Nov, ends up bringing him to a place where he as the next pasuk says, "Vayischapes Shaul v'yilbash b'gadav acherim." Shaul haMelech, in order to go there, he had to dress in plain clothes. People didn't have pictures in those days of what the king looked like, so no one recognize him if he took off his royal garments. V'yelechu shnay anashim imo. So, he he takes off his royal garments and he wears plain clothes, regular clothes of of his subjects. And it's very appropriate, as the Midrash says, that he wore plain clothes because it it indicated the fact that he was losing his malchut. He took off his bigdei malchut, he took off took off his royal garments because he was going to lose his royalty. And it was through this very act, it was the final straw that broke the camel's back. It was this act that caused him to lose it completely. So, he went and he took two men with him. V'yavo el ishah l'eilah, they came to the woman who would be able to call up Shaul from the dead. It was night time. V'yomer k'samini na liba'iv v'ha'ali li ish asher omar eilecha. He said to her, "I want you to perform your magic. I want you to bring up somebody from the dead, the person I'm going to tell you about." Now, this woman knew. She didn't know that she's facing Shaul haMelech. She didn't know she's facing King Saul, but she did know that Shaul haMelech had sent out his men to find anybody who is doing this forbidden act. And so, she was suspicious. V'tomer ha'ishah elav, "Hinei atah yada'ata asher asah Shaul." She says, not again not realizing she's talking to to King Saul, "You know what Shaul haMelech has done? He sent out all his people to This is forbidden. Asher hichrit et ha'ovot v'et hayidonim me'ha'aretz." She said, "No one's allowed to do that. Anyone who did it was killed." V'tomer ha'ishah b'nashi, "Lameh atah m'naseh oti?" you asking me to to do something which could get me into hot water, which could which could end me up losing my life?" V'yishava lah Shaul b'Ashem lemor, And Shaul swore to her in Hashem's name and said as follows, "Chai Hashem im lo yikrecha avon badavar hazeh." He said, "I I swear to you by God." Right? So, he's It's very interesting, the Midrash points this out. He's going against Hashem's will by coming to this woman. But he swears to her in Hashem's name, "Nothing will happen to you. I swear to you, nothing will happen to you," said Shaul. V'tomer ha'ishah, "Et mi a'aleh lach?" V'yomer Shaul, "Ha'ali li So, the woman says to him, "Who do you want me to bring up? Which soul do you want me to bring?" And she says and and Shaul haMelech says, "I want you to bring up Shmuel haNavi, Samuel the prophet." V'tomer ha'ishah, "Shmuel." Now, the way that it worked as the as the Midrash explains, I don't know if we're going to see the whole Midrash inside, probably we definitely won't. Midrash explains that whenever a woman would do a seance and bring up a soul like this, so the person bringing up the soul sees the soul, sees the image of the person who's being brought up. But the person who's asking hears his voice. So, one person has an image without sound. One person has a sound without an image. So, as soon as she sees Shmuel haNavi, vatitzak b'kol gadol, she screams. She screams. She makes a huge sound. V'tomer ha'ishah el Shaul, "Lameh hirg'aztani la'alot oti?" She immediately realizes that the person who's in front of her is Shaul haMelech, King Saul, because as the Midrash explains, when usually when a person who was dead would come up and and be seen by the person who's bringing up the dead, so they would come feet first. Their feet would come up and then their head. But in this case, in honor of Shaul haMelech, of King Saul, Shmuel came up head first. She saw him rise out of the earth head first. So, she immediately knew. She had never seen this before, I I would imagine. She immediately knew that Shmuel is coming up for Shaul haMelech. Or maybe another p'shat, I'm just thinking now, maybe it could be that she didn't know which Shmuel she was bringing up. As soon as she saw that it was Shmuel haNavi, she realized, obviously, this is Shaul. V'yomer lah haMelech, "Al tir'i ki mah ish." So, the king says, "Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything to you. Just tell me what you see." V'tomer ha'ishah el Shaul, "Elohim ani ro'ah olim min ha'aretz." She says, "I see God coming up from the land." Meaning, "I see a godly person. I see Shmuel haNavi." V'yomer lah "Mah to'aro?" He wants to confirm that it's the right person, that's the right identity. She says, "What does she What does he look like?" V'tomer ha'ishah, "Ish zaken oleh v'hu oteh me'il." It's an old man who's come up. He's wearing a cloak. V'yeda Shaul ki Shmuel hu. It was classic. Shmuel always wore the special cloak. V'yikod Shaul apayim artzah vayishtachu. And he bows down there. So, Shaul and Shmuel face off once again. Shmuel is is And been raised from the dead and as the possuk will see says that it's very traumatic for someone to be raised up from the dead. Why did you anger me to bring me out from Why did you anger me to bring me out from the dead? And and the Medrash explains that Shmuel when he heard his voice being called, he thought he was being called to judgement. He didn't realize he was being called back to earth to engage in a conversation with Shaul. He thought he was being called to judgement. And I think it means that when ultimately the great the Yom HaDin HaGadol, there's a great day of judgement when everyone comes back and everyone it's decided what their place will be in this world cuz this world is where the world to come is. It's in this world. They're called up. We're going to all be called up and we're all going to have to face off with the reality of our actions. So Shmuel would have been nervous. And Shaul tells him what to push them and be. So Shaul tells Shmuel the truth. He says uh we're we're in a very tight spot. The Philistines are coming to battle. Shaul said to him I don't know what to do. Hashem has left me. I can't I can't get an answer about what to do what how things are going to be. I have had a dream and I don't know what it means. I tried with prophets. I tried with dreams. Interestingly it doesn't mention that Shmuel is dead. I didn't know my essay. I'm calling you I want to know what to do. I don't know what Shmuel told me to tell him and be. Shmuel says why are you asking me? Hashem has left me and I don't know what to do. Shmuel says Hashem has removed his presence from you because he's placed his presence on your enemy. Hashem has done to him what I told him to do. Hashem has done to him that which he has that which I said to you previously. Hashem has taken it away from you and given it to to David. So Shmuel was telling him a very stark and clear statement. In the previous time when Shaul had said it, the Medrash points this out as well. When Shmuel was still alive after Shaul failed to kill Agag after he failed to destroy Amalek completely so Shmuel HaNavi had said to him Hashem has taken it away from you. He's given it to your friend who didn't who's better than you but he didn't specify that it was David. He was afraid that that Shaul would kill him. But obviously now that Shmuel is dead, he's not afraid that Shaul will kill him. So he says it explicitly. Hashem has given that power the power of kingship, the power of Siyata Dishmaya, the power of divine the divine help. He's given it to to David. It's it's been taken away from you. You didn't Shmuel HaNavi says the ghost of Shmuel HaNavi says to Shaul HaMelech you didn't listen to Hashem. You didn't destroy Amalek. That's why Hashem is not responding to you today. You didn't listen to Hashem and you didn't listen to the Philistines. Hashem is going to the the people of Israel are going to have a fall in the hands of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Which means to say you will die. But interestingly as the Medrash points out you're going to be with me. You're going to be with me Medrash says. You're going to be with me in an exalted place in heaven. Even though you've made all of these mistakes, even though you've lost your Malchut but through the trials and tribulations that you're going through and through your death you're going to have a kapara, you're going to have an atonement and you're going to end up in a very high place in heaven. Hashem is going to give over the Philistines. >> [sighs and gasps] >> And Hashem is going to give over the the encampment of the people of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. There's going to be a great fall for the Jewish people unfortunately. Obviously if the Jewish people's king falls so it's a great fall for the Jewish people as well. Right? The king represents he's the he's the person he's the human being who is all encompassing of the entire nation. That's what a king is. He has a Neshama Klalis. So if Shaul falls, there's a fall for Klal Yisrael. So I mean when we read the story so what we what we hear here is a is an incredible thing a few incredible things. I'm going to mention a few more things from the Medrash. I don't think that there's time to read it all inside. But the Medrash points out that these two psukim these two psukim about the Oiv U'Daini about seeking out contact with the dead which is a prohibited thing to do and the possuk of Kohanim speaking about the Kedusha, the specialness of the of the priests these two psukim are placed next to each other because the Torah is hinting to something that's going to happen a thousand years in the future. Or >> [snorts] >> five hundred years in the future. I should exact timing. And the Torah is given to Moshe Rabbeinu and in there is a hint to to something that's going to happen. It says in the possuk Ish o Ishah a man or a woman who will seek out Oiv U'Daini will seek out contact with the dead. The Medrash says the Ish and the Ishah is the Ish, the man is Shaul HaMelech King Saul and the Ishah is the woman who brought up the soul of Shmuel HaNavi. So there's a hint here that why did he do that? Because he had violated the holiness of the priests. He had killed out the city of Nov. And as we said before Shaul HaMelech he made one mistake and that mistake led to another mistake. First he doesn't kill Amalek. Then he's chasing after David. Then he makes another mistake. He kills out the city of Nov. Then he makes another mistake which ultimately creates the potential for his ultimate downfall because as the Medrash explained he didn't he he might have lost his Malchut. His kids are not going to be the king but maybe his his Malchut his personal kingship would continue. Who says it has to end here? But it ends here because one aveira leads to another aveira. One sin leads to another sin. One fall leads to another fall. If a person doesn't catch themselves so important. If a person doesn't notice that they're making a mistake and learn from the mistake correct the mistake that mistake can lead to other mistakes and deeper and darker mistakes. And and Shaul HaMelech was a tzaddik. Let's let's be clear. The way the Torah describes him, the way the Chazal speak about him, he was a tzaddik. He made mistakes and he didn't correct those mistakes. He was somebody who had killed out all the Oiv U'Daini. He had followed the dictates of the Torah but he I would say as pointed out actually by one of my students yesterday I would say that he he made a mistake of leaving over this one woman that he could go to just like he made the mistake of leaving over Agag that one king who would have a child and create the problem just the nation of Amalek would return. So if we don't nip it in the bud, get it all the way if we don't get it all the way, if we have a mistake that we're making and we don't do full teshuvah, we allow it to fester, it gets worse and it spills out into other areas. It's so important. Shaul HaMelech made this mistake and it cost him his life. It cost him it cost him he he was able to get a a kapara. He was able to get an atonement. But it cost him his Malchut, cost him the ability to have a continuing kingdom. And it it cost him that his children would not would not be the future kings of the Jewish people. He himself lost his kingdom. His life was lost. So it's a very deep lesson. But within it all as the Medrash points out, he still even when he's there in the speaking to this woman doing this terrible aveira, he refers he promises her that nothing will happen to her in the name of Hashem. So in it all number one, he is still connected to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's clear. But at the same time he doesn't use that connection to make sure that he stays connected. He still And and it can a person can fool themselves. A person we all can fool ourselves and think oh I've got this I'm okay in this area. And it's true I am okay in this area. But I got to be careful, wary, watch out for the areas where I'm making mistakes and not allow those areas to get worse but rather to clean them up. To clean them up so they don't affect any other place. I want to bless you and ask you to bless me. Hashem should help us. That we should indeed recognize the places where we're making mistakes. We should be honest with ourselves. Hashem should help us to be able to correct our mistakes. Hashem should be able to help Hashem should help us to be able to to fix them and to rise higher and higher in our service of Hashem and constantly constantly be on the lookout careful with lovingly bringing ourselves back into our relationship with Hashem. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabbos. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. For more podcasts like this, please visit www.arigoldwag.com [music] or search on iTunes [music] Ari Goldwag.