Samson’s (Shimshon’s) Last Day by Rabbi Shai Finkelstein

hello everyone so uh we will continue with Shimon Anda so we are on page uh three we are on page three okay so we spoke about the first uh two times that UHA is trying to um basically to convince Shimon to tell her about his secret The Secret of his strength and he eyes and but we already see a difference that the second time he was able to basically release himself but it was not as easy as it was in the first time so we are uh on um on verse giml page three verse and it says the following so says to Shimon but so until now you basically deceived me and you made me a fo really and you spoke to me lies please tell me now it's interesting she's changing the question until now she said right what's your strength and how we can tie you so here she says just tell me how can I imprison you and he said to her if you're going to tie my uh I guess my hair to this um is like almost like an iron thing so that's will what will tie me up and I will not be able to move says he says you know what you lie to me every time you know what I don't care anymore but now it's become my mission to know the secret okay meaning until now you deceived me and it's like a game but now for me it's not a game anymore it's a mission and then he says she says okay I don't know exactly I'm going to translate it without insulting 70% of the participants here uh or 80% so uh I would just say that basically she says the says this that was the way of those women who uh basically tried to get get something from her husband saying they really Lov them but it was not about love it was all about deception okay so basically she asked him how can I imprison you how can I prison you and uh basically it's in my hand she obviously did not mention she didn't mention that the are working with her you know it took her four times to get it right so the first two he basically lied knowingly the second two he really wanted to say the truth however he the third time he added something true with he already mentioned the hair exactly so at the beginning the first two times he spoke about what you know put some ropes around me uh some I don't know um chains whatever we said maybe ropes why he want to do this oh she he was in love and she was not and I guess we also I know if you were here last week we spoke about the the idea of his loneliness no one was his friend he had no friends among the Jewish people they extradite him he have no friends among the so he was I guess looking for some some kind of a of a friend so the second set of the last two times the first one he already began with what with revealing the secret and the second time he just told her the entire the entire truth so he start talking about the hair but he didn't tell her about shaving the hair so is basically where they will um uh what you call it um Loom weaving for weaving Al Loom Al Loom okay right so where they basically will make you know a fabric and they will make clothing so put my hair there and I will be I will be done and what did she do so she basically she tied his hair to this Loom and she also put a now who else used the okay so that's an interesting thing that you use the same destruction okay with and so here he didn't untie himself what did he do he jump he jumped with this entire thing which was probably very heavy with him like tied to his hair and then he start what where where are they now that reminds us little bit of what with SH you remember the gate the Gate of the city that he just took and moved very similar here says the malim PO oh this is interesting this is how those commentators are so meticulous in this verse it says that what that she said he jumped right in all the other times it says meaning the enemies are sitting in a room looking this time the third time they said to her when you can get him call us which means they basically said we don't believe you anymore so now it's a matter of what of Pride and money okay she wants to know but and she says to him this is a hard one how can you tell me that you love me which by the way it seems that he probably told her that that really goes back to my theory that he was looking for love for companionship for a friend for something that he will not be that lonely so she says to him how can you tell me that you love me your heart is not with me your heart is not with me you are not transparent with me for three times you made a fool out of me and you didn't share with me what's the secret of your strength basically she tells him without telling him this is the last time I'm giving you one more opportunity tell me what's the secret of your strength and if not it's all over it's Gamu you don't love me I don't love you anymore we can't do that anymore go home says thebel last Source on page three how can you say that you love me and your heart is not with me it comes to teach you or comes to to tell you meaning everything I did was only for the sake of our love I just wanted to know if you really love me how would I know if you really love me if you share with MEEP the deepest darkest darkest secret exactly okay tell me the secret of your strength no one else knows if you tell me it means what that you really love me he really thinks that whatever she says it's it's correct it's right so sad like so strong but so weak can you translate please I did that was a was test for his love because of that he told her his entire heart which means the secret at the third time he already told her a bit he was talking about the hair that he shared with her that his strength is part of what of his hair and now he complete the explanation by saying that now it's tangible you see my hair when I'll shave my hair that's it now I will just say that there is little bit of Na also on shimon's part he really thinks that the power is where in his hair it does not mean the power is not your hair it's from Hashem Hashem just use your hair in order to bring that Force did bring that power on you but God could do it through nails through eyes through your ears and through your mouth it doesn't mean anything about your hair it's also some kind of the simplistic nature of his father Yes you remember his father manah it's there is little bit of Simplicity of like a very simple person and not necessarily in a very positive conation um some kind of Simplicity of Na I don't know what you would call it that yeah it's all about my hair okay says the Mal you didn't tell me what's the secret of your of your strength after he deceived her three times when she came to ask toh to know where is the source of his strength so now now after three times she realized she need to change the question she can't talk about what tell me what's the secret of your strength she cannot tell him tell me how you will be in prison she basically is now using the love card okay you tell me that you love me and you lie to me so now tell me the secret IM if she would continue to ask what tell me what's the secret of your strength and tell me how can I tie you up and every time she does it she says what even Shimon will realize after the fourth time that what that is a setup between Anda so therefore she needs to change the question that's why she says to him you tell me you love me you don't where is the Pro prove three times you lie to me now I just want to know what's your The Secret of your strength because it's like it's a question like what's your strength like what's the secret of your long life what's the secret of the fact that you are I know in great shape it's not like a a suspicious question it's a question that really I I admire you so share with me your secrets okay so then Shimon is not that quick to tell her interesting in verse it says wow that's even very hard to translate and it has been what is AA she bothered him she noed him she as they say in Hebrew she sits on his vein okay he she controls she drives him crazy all the days and she basically force him he he wants to die now leave her leave her the problem is if he would he will find himself in the same place which means lonely abandoned no one cares about him so how did he know the secret was his hair how did he I guess he was told by his mom he was told by his mother that you know you shouldn't uh you shouldn't shave shouldn't cut your hair and therefore the strength is there why do he get some men friends who would like like to go out with him no no I'm I'm not talking about the date I'm talking about like who the Jewish people don't want to have anything to do with him they extradite him you remember they don't want to associate with him because if they will the ptin will blame all of them for what he did so he has no friends from among the Jewish people they pleased him they are afraid of him but they are not his friends the only woman who has something to do with him it's this lady so he is basically does not know what to now I want to play t association with you where else it says that was quick yonah and do you remember the story with yonah very similar story Total loneliness the Jewish people don't listen to him the go did listen to him he had this thing with a andm is not exactly happy with him I don't think it says no leave it it's not it's only with yaa it's not only but definitely with yaa okay so the idea is is that Shimon finds himself what in a place that he understand he has he has one choice to make he's going to share the secret and then it might be a problem or he's not going to share the secret and he will need to leave he will need to leave I see the fundamental problem here if God tells me I have absolute strengths can deal with my enemy that is source of my power and strengths no matter how I love this a vanity love why should I give that secret to someone who can destroy me so that's what I tried to explain basically he basically said feels so much alone he has nowhere goes yeah he does not know he has no communication with God zero think about it this is an incredible thing in judges he has zero communication the only thing that we have is that there is some kind of a spirit of God that awakens something in him but there is no you don't see God talks to Shimon says to shim hey Shimon you need to go hey hey shim you need to go there even when Shimon makes his stupid mistakes marrying those wives God does not say no God does not say yes the only time Moshe Moshe Shimon talks to God is when when he's almost when he's almost dead and he says to God please remember what I did okay this is the only only conversation that we have between Shimon and God which is very strange very very strange yes what cut it off exactly this relationship between Shimon and God nothing started it was never was there was nothing to cut the only thing God appear him the angel appear himself to his parents told them what to do with the guy God had a mission for Shimon we spoke about the complexity of the mission since then God does not talk to Shimon why not why should he he's setting him up for a mission why doesn't he want to guide him he told him you need to be you need to be the first one you will begin to save the Jewish people God does not need to talk to everyone how many times God talks to giddon gon may not initi okay sh andem has a little bit more of a conversation but was a different judge okay many of the how many times does it speak to God God does not speak to everyone unless there is some kind of a message or or some kind of a prophecy yes but if he's a judge the people come to him for judgment no this judge Jud very good that's a very good question some of the judges are some kind of people that like Shu okay so he's almost like a Dian as well and a Prophet this judge means a warrior a leader more of a military military Warrior a leader and not necessarily on the spiritual side yes so usually it talks about um if you're close to Hashem he wants to have a relationship with you if you're not close to Hashem it's like you give your kid a credit card and say leave me alone what did shim sham do in his life where Hashem did not have the closeness that he would have needed to help him succeed he might have the closeness he doesn't need to talk to him the Assumption I don't think is correct which means God can be very close to us you can feel very close to God God does not talk to you which means the idea is obviously we can say God talks to us through I'm talking about like hey you I have a mission for you okay I don't think anyone here had a burning bush experience on the way to the Sho right so unless you had one please share with me uh and then please I think you are in the wrong place I think you should go different place but the idea is is what is that really we don't we don't see that and there so the expectation should not be there the only thing is is that we see that even when Shimon does all those things that no other judge did God does not rebuke which is a very interesting thing okay so let's take look at rashash from the word what isim meaning I'm being like when you have a when I ask you uh can we meet okay next week I said I need to look at my calendar if I have any other elim which means if I have any other obligation so I cannot I'm forced not to what to meet with you so rash says what is to push what does me he couldn't find anywhere in tanak that it says the word and really when you think about it the word is yeah to narrow or to make but the word it's a very strange word says so the narrative is telling us that he felt that he needs to share with her the secret because she drives him crazy and she cries so she would use um um way I guess in in when they were intimate that she will basically run away in the middle okay and he will stay by himself this is very interesting this is a very interesting opinion I will translate from the word short he felt that he's about to die so he says you know what I don't have too many days to live so I'll tell you the secret now this is an interesting thing who else felt that he's about to die and therefore he made a stupid mistake [Music] what's the gain why I should have this first the right of the first birth I give it to you I'll sell it to you right which means Shimon is doing somewhat of the same thing Shimon looks at his life look I'm going to die I already begin began they initiated the idea of the of of redeeming the Jewish people and therefore you now I'm going to die so I'll tell all the secret okay I'll die now I'll die in a month but say the same thing this is very interesting basically says you know what maybe it is a sign from God maybe this lady is the sign of God why because if I will die I will do something big when I'm about to die and therefore she is the tool for what for fulfilling my mission meaning he read the event as what as this is the opportunity to do what God wanted for me because think about it no one I guess and this is goes back to my theory that I'm not sure IFA was atit a female why just imagine after what happened with his first and second wife wife soorry with his wife that was taken given burned whatever who else from the ptin will give his daughter to to be shimon's wife nobody no one they they hate him they hate him they want to kill him so therefore Shimon who only used the tool of marriage in order to take revenge with the Pim he can't find any P it to what to marry which means this is the end of my life my mission was to do what to take revenge in the P I don't want I can't have any other way to do it so therefore this lady somehow I need to do something with her in order to end my life with what a big bang with a big bang exactly okay okay I'm going to finish my life with something that everyone will remember so you verse 17 so he told her everything on his heart and he told her I was never I never got a haircut because I'm a a Nazarite from from birth from bet if they if you will shave my hair that's it I'm done my strength will will vanish and I'll be sick and I will be like everyone else says the what is this is obviously very derogative way to describe Shimon he is like a pigeon a dove talks too much she asked him what what's the secret of your strength he could end the answer by saying what my hair Z and then let her figure out ah so I should uh color is ha that will make it I will uh make a cuckoo a ponytail right and that will make it why do you need to tell her the entire Milla I am a azir for my mother's uh womb and I never got the her who asks you all those questions no one too much information exactly too much no he only have one chance she already told him is he if she if he lies to her again yeah but he that was not a lie but as far as your concern wasn't a lie as far as her a lie didn't do the job no no he could say my hair my hair so she said so she can respond what do you mean by your hair answer shave it Z why do you need to tell the entire story maybe he was tired of living so that's what the said before it might be that he said must speak enough I just going to tell him also you know there is always a joke that um it's a rabbi's joke so you don't need to laugh really you know a rabbi on Yip goes and play 9 in one nine in I don't and I don't know how to play ho in one hole in one he goes on Yip po plays golf and the first time he does the thing they yeah but he can't tell anyone right because how come a rabbi went to play golf on Yip the same thing here with Chim no one knew no one knew a secret even his mother to some extent did not know the secret she knew that he needs to be a air and he will start Redemption but and God will give him tremendous power but she himself did not know I guess he figured it out by himself somehow even though again he related everything to the hair even though it was not necessarily the reason I guess you know there is a Moment of Truth to some extent and he just what he shared everything but thebel criticizes and he says this and he told her the both questions what's the secret of his strength is what because of what of being a second and how can she TI him up and how can she basically weakening him if she will shave his hair in the first times he said that I would be like any other person and now he said which means which means there is a difference between it means what a special person the Adam is what like everyone else so now basically shim says to her what if you will shave my hair I will be like like really like everyone else zero power saw that he really shared with her the secret obviously we'll try to understand how could could she see that but in a minute so she sent a messenger to the to the ministers and basically telling them what this time this time is Real come up and pay up bring money exactly because he told me his entire heart so the Ministers of the comes up and they bring the money says the saw that he shared with her her entire heart how did she know when people tell you the truth you know that that's the truth it means that what that she is a very smart lady I mean after three times that he lies to her he she's very persistent that's for sure but also she's very smart goes back to my theory that it might be that she was maybe the manager on that River of okay she knew that this righteous person does not say the name of God in vain Kar because he said I'm aite of God now he definitely told me the truth why because he will not use the name of God in vain now you can look at this and say ah okay so now two options of how did she know right the first one is fine with me it's a very general thing when someone says the speaks the truth you know it's the truth that's fine the second one is very difficult because it adds to the complexity of Shimon shimon's personality he is married toik okaying to most did not convert but Shimon keeps Judaism whatever Judaism was he will not say God's name in vain can you understand what's going on there he lives with a non-jewish woman I don't know what he eat for breakfast lunch and dinner if it was a glad kosher or was not kosher at all okay he according to most he never she never converts but he will not say the name of God in vain he has a limit very interesting limit right yes and she understands it this I don't know what is more strange the fact that he does not say the name of God in vain marrying non-jewish woman or the fact that she realized that by the way another story who else realized that someone is very righteous by dka and also by not saying the God's name in vain that the Egyptians saw that whatever y touches it becomes gold and it says because would not say the name of hasm in vain and also hasm will be with him so this is YF so this is very interesting thing that she realized his strength not only his obviously physical strength but also what his spiritual some kind of strength so the radak say so we should explain that she realized that he's telling her the truth he said no no no it's not because she knows you know how to recognize truth or because he never says God's name in vain it's because of something else because he gave her the reason he told her I have the strength why because Elohim meaning he gave her the reason he didn't just say I'm strong because he said what I'm strong because of that reason therefore she realized that by giving the reason he's telling her the truth excuse me I would also say here that the fact that he said it was from God made sense to her because where would somebody have superum right that's also true probably resonated right and it says my power will leave me when you compare his answer this time for the first three times there he says which means what I will get sick but here he says what my entire power strength will be removed from me this time he says basically it will be gone says the and by the way look at how many the trying to understand how exactly she realized that that was true so says the following he gives three different explanations for why she thought at this time he's telling the TR he's telling the truth the first one is that when he said that I was aim that was a azerite from my mother's womb the says you know what maybe heard about that story so she did one plus one and she said Ah that's true he's saying the truth now what are the probabilities that she heard about that story I will not say none I will not say but very small very very small um and also I don't know how old was Shimon here let's say was 18 she remember something from 18 years ago and she heard that story little strange second opinion is that what he took what he swear to her that that what he's saying now it's true now the problem with the second option of the is it doesn't say meaning she just saw he didn't do anything what extraordinary to prove it but whatever that's what says and therefore she asked to come and she would let them know that she knows the truth that's why they brought the money says this is interesting basically she saw that he's saying the truth why because she saw that he doesn't drink wine and he does not shave his hair cut his hair now one second sexual relationship she knows the of very good so knows the of nut how that's very interesting right that's very interesting she knows that he's saying the truth based on her perception or knowledge maybe she was Jewish I don't think so um but uh she definitely a very educated woman that's no question about it and it also might be that um nut was not so rare and maybe she was exposed to it once yes is he really telling the truth did anyone ever tell him if his hair is cut he'll lose his strength that's his so that's what I said that was his perception and he was correct to some extent after they did it and we will learn about it but but no but we we basically said that I don't think anyone told him that the strength is in his hair but the hair was a reflection of the which gave him the strength I learned that his mother had told him not to cut his ha otherwise why would he not cut his different things here a don't cut your hair because you are na B is that the source of his strength he made the connection so verse 19 she caused him to fall asleep on her um B on her legs whatever knees now Association again with very very similar the only problem is that with Y we like the fact that she killed the guy here we are not that happy with her she calls and she cut the seven I what is r sections of his whatever H and she start afflicting him and he strength was removed from him now when you read this P you you see definitely a few questions a she called someone else to shave his hair she does not do it which is [Applause] strange and she calls a person to do what shave it seems to be to shave but then it says she's the one so who is that person okay so that's a b the number seven obviously brings a lot of associations right nature there seven days of the week seven years of seven time seven the Jubilee year so seven obviously has a number and we did not know by the way that he had different know the only times whenever I read this thing is um what no not I have in front of mean rler okay you know the singer Idan rler before he shaved don't you know okay he had those like I don't know he had seven if he had four if you have dread L whatever it's called he he shaved his hair now but the idea is is that whenever I read so I never knew that chimon had it no nowhere until now it says that he had seven and then she started she he always used the word seven with the first couple of times when he told her how many strings right but nothing to do with his hair but that's true this is true um this is so like I'm so in love with you I'm going to torture you right he has no power says so when saw that shim fell asleep on her knees she did it she did it she shaved his hair this time she didn't do it by herself huh so she called the man to do it so she he understand that what that who shaved chim's hair this man this galak okay or she did it through this guy you ask yourself not only yeah what's the ramification who cares who shaved him okay wait wait wait now with one thing with one thing there is no question about the torturing who did it she did it and he has no strength he immediately felt what weak soah started torturing him with afflictions and tying him up and maybe he felt something but he didn't feel that his entire strength left him so when she said are coming he thought that what it's like the last time I'll jump and I'll finish them up God's divine presence left him so he is nothing says and she began to afflict him even though she was the one to shave him and he was still asleep he felt so you can if you want to be very dramatic every time she took one he felt what weaker weaker okay 14% of his strength left him and then another 14% seven times 40% each time times seven is no 98 7 * 14 is 98 14 I said what did I say I said yeah not 14 you said 14 14 so vers 20 so he woke up and he said so I'll do what I did last time so I'm just going to wake up and move on he didn't know he didn't know that what that is is not with him now oh it doesn't say she gave him someone can just turn this thing down can you turn off your phone please just one second yes I can't hear [Music] you how can he know how can he not know that um you feel it maybe he was not in that level I don't know yes doesn't say anywhere she gave him something to drink put him to sleep like it says by to sleep through all this is without maybe she gave him AEL must have been very heavy sleep yeah when your when your was going to kill what's his name she first got him drunk right he fell deep sleep he can't he can't drink wine he didn't what maybe he she he cannot drink wine it doesn't say that she no I'm saying she didn't give him anything and she definitely could not give him wine because he's an azir he will not drink it yeah she gave him a peel I don't know a sleeping peel yes Su one second one second we need I can't hear yes person to sleep you can't do extraordinary things that require strength I'll try it time if you're in generally good health you don't feel weak right so if you take the extraordinary strength away from him why does he right away feel weak that's what I don't understand Rel okay it might be relative but this entire PUK is very strange he is not aware which is also interesting he wakes up he doesn't feel that his head is little bit lighter you know I can imagine I don't know exactly how old is he but I I guess he has hair until you know here okay and it's okay so it's like those big so you don't feel like a little bit lightheaded right so that's question number one question number two we just said that the strength did not come through the hill it comes from hasem so how what that was my question he said at the beginning that he thought it came from his hair but it's really from Hashem so why did it make her weak and weak cut it off very good if the hair is a nothing it's just like a a reflection of the but it's not the source of his strength or as so what's going on here and then there is another question meaning until now he always felt the presence of God have that's the only way now I know that it departed from me if I never sensed it how do I know that it's not there it means what he felt it now if he felt the presence of God with him you're talking about a very spiritual person very spiritual person married to a non-jew never says God's name in vain and uh I don't know eat honey from a lion as we say in Hebrew strange and complicated so have all these questions in mind we will try to deal with that says what do you mean he didn't know he told her everything so is asking our question says I don't understand him he told her everything the entire secret and he himself told that what that if you will remove my hair if you will cut my hair I will have zero strength you wake up so you know you told her everything and she probably what shaved your hair so what do you play games obviously you lost your power so what are you trying to what to pretend that oh I don't know what happened to me says radak I don't know even what to do with it memory he went to a deep sleep he woke up and said I'm not sure what I told her ah probably I told her what I told her the last three times which means I lied to her so he thought it was the same thing like last times and he didn't really remember yet that what that his uh strength departed from him meaning he was not yet fully awake so he wakes up and he's like where am I I'll do the same thing I did last time and he did not know that come on that sense he didn't know that his strength left him because he thought even though his strength was basically left him he thought yeah maybe my strength left me but God did not meaning God will use this opportunity to somehow with my fingers I don't know my fingers Pinocchio I know my nose will grow okay and I will kill all of them with my nose s you brought Superman last week okay so I'll bring Pinocchio okay so Shimon in a way this is this is a very interesting thing because there is so much psychology here meaning shim knows that what that that before that that the perception is that my hair gives me the strength they cut my hair I lost my strength however because God chose me to be the judge to be the leader it means what he will not leave me like that he helped me when they extradite me you remember with the know not when we spoke about like two weeks ago and God never left me and also think what God would let me die with them like that and that's the end of my career obviously is going to help me and he did not know that what that a for From hashem's perspective it was also what the last time come I'm not helping you anymore it's always such a sad verse the take a hold on him by the way why why do you think they did it why did they uh took his eyes out oh one what confuse him confuse him what else see who took them can't see I will give you a hint connected to the par that we're going to read on Shabbat it's also true but it's it's true but not from the par but I think you said not when you hurt a heid when you beat up an he and you broke his teeth or you took out his eye especially in the time of the Romans but that was probably something from ancient times most of the slaves they will take one at least one eye why so they can guide them and they can do with them whatever they want when you lose your eyesight when you don't have the ability to see you are being guided you are being led by others you have zero op almost zero opinion this is also why but blind people are also like um it's hard for them to navigate so so they stop there we know that place not not from 2024 that was the first time he saw the the first was in AA so where he started his decline that's where he's going to end his life they tied it up with what with chains and he was a basically means what grind to grind like so I don't know if he was in the wheat Factory or whatever he did but he walked very hard the gamar says in and we will end with that one went after his eyes meaning the is obviously trying to find mid M which means measure against measure and basically Shimon went after his eyes how do we know that he said the beginning he says to his parents a I she looks good in my eyes your eyes we're going to what to take them out so um you know what let's see one more and then page six you know what uh let's leave it for next week okay that's for today