Shimshon: A Complicated Biblical Figure By Rabbi Shai Finkelstein

hello everyone uh Welcome to our show and welcome to the OU program obviously it's good it's really what they call them in the Army Cab kov La I don't need to walk all all the way to the you so it's a it's a nice so first I would like uh to uh thank the sponsors for this year and for the entire day so um this year has been sponsored uh for the new Academic Year by Mel and David's Mel David's daughter and son-in-law and they're are in their father's memory we all remember Mel and it's for his memory should be and also uh today is being sponsored by the uh Lio family by the kofman's family and by the Eisen to everyone um we will start a new series so uh this probably not going to accomplish all today uh it's a lot of Hebrew I know uh so there is a lot of translations so we will do it this week and next week as well um we will start to try to figure out one of the most complicated um strange odd biblical figure which is Shimon Shimon is always a the only thing that we have you know oh don't be a shim GI or you are a shim GI but uh he was a complicated person he was a complicated person in a complicated time and a complicated biblical figure and not only complicated biblical figure he was also complicated for our sages to try to understand what's going on with this guy and what do I mean by that even without looking at any of theim and any of the narrative you have a person who obviously use tremendous Force he's very powerful and his power and his strength does not come you know because he's a Torah scholar necessarily because he's uh he's daring he agitates theim he creates fights so he's not the Torah scholar that we know a b he intermarried he does not have even one Jewish wife and obviously this is something that it's a problem how can you be married to someone who is not Jewish okay especially especially in a in a prophetic uh perspective and to be a judge and to be someone a warrior and someone who is respected by our M right so that's the second thing and the third uh and the third thing is is that when you read The Narrative and we will read it obviously Shimon is very lonely he represents no one or he represents everyone and we know for example I'll just give an example is that um when he tried to hide from theim at the territory of Chev Yuda chevet Yuda did not hesitate and extradite him to the ptim like they didn't really care for him so I think I made him as complicated as I could and uh now we're going to deal with the issues okay so first I called it which means little bit of let's get to know him let's get to know Shimon let's get to know what were the expectations from him and then we will go uh go from there by the way there is another biblical figure that I might give you classes about which is also someone who is very problematic schlomo schl is also a very interesting uh colorful biblical figure uh because on one hand he's obviously known as someone who built the BET mikdash brought the people together after David but we also know that he also brought the destruction of the beta mikdash the mean that he did few things at least according to kazal so what do you do with someone who is very smart but at the same time challenge the Torah so what do you do with people like that that by the way and I would just say it now even if we will find some criticism or if we will find points of uh disagreement with them you know they made it to the book of books we didn't so still they have some kind of a Mila more than uh me and you I guess they made it we did not but um let's start okay so it says the following so background so in the Book of Judges which is uh almost always the same thing it's like almost a repetitive theme the Jews doing something wrong then hasem sends a chaet to save them the land is okay for few years Max is 40 years and then a repeat okay same thing nothing changeed and here AEM the Torah said the T says that the Jewish people they added kind of evil that they now do be even more than they did before and hasem delivered them really in the hands of theim for 40 years now theim were always uh a thorn in the Jewish eyes they always tried to what to conquer more territory and basically there were what we call they had five regions we know it also from different stories in and each region was probably controlled by a different ruler and they always tried to NJ the Jewish people there was always a war since we probably know uh since we came to the land of Israel we know also with Natan and Shaul with Pim later on with obviously with with chimon we had it at the time of David as well so we we know theim are not exactly our very friendly people says the ALB says who is a 14th century commentator philosopher he was a physician he was a scholar was an astrologist so he basically says that uh the narrative tells us that the Jewish people really maximized their potential of evil and andm delivered them in the hands of the for 40 years which means the 40 years that's basically the timeline where shim operates meaning Shimon is born into a reality of what of evil and enslavement now what does it mean enslavement not that the Jews were slaves to theim but they had to pay what taxes they had probably they were limited in what do and basically they restricted them so this is the environment that Shimon is growing up with and then om so basically the says it's not a new phenomena it already started we the first Chet who was the first Chet the beginning of and basically the were always a problem but this is where Shimon needs this is the reality that Shimon face faces okay say what is this 40 years this is always good to know you know all the I'm talking about the you know when you learn you need to learn with theim what what other books two other books and we did it with we did it a lot with that was in a different location same uh same program different location okay so definitely you need to know if it's or you learn it with and when you learn shim you also need to know that some of it is also the book of sh cuz we need to know a little bit the timeline so he basically says the 40 years is what is Shimon anden was not just the one who groomed shu to be Shu he was also a judge he was not only a Coen he was also a judge so he is somewhat the last chaet the beginning of sh okay so this is the environment and then in it says the following so there is a man from we don't know exactly where that place is so he's from now let's stop here what do we know about Chan smallest maybe the smallest maybe what else before that's that's done according to the mid he he went last okay and what do you know about Chan what did they do like in Jewish history they had no room they had to move up north they had to move up north that's also true what else whates so okay so we all Quote The that they received right he will be like some of them are Judges can you please tell me two judges from done don't give me one give me two yeah but it's we don't know anything about them by The Who was their model Zila right so that's not even bah right I mean b is somewhat you know with ra this is like Rael I don't know if it was RA I think based on yov it was RA so you can understand where she is on the foot chain okay and he is her son we don't know almost any anything about Dan we do know that they had inclination to worship okay so this Dan is really not an incredible I mean again I'm just saying that just for the sh he is not like an incredible tribe that we know something about them so we have here we don't have his name even now yet at the beginning okay now look at that and I know maybe many maybe many of you are familiar with theim here or not but even if you are familiar read it again because you will see something that it's really crying out from the PUK what's the name of the guy wife has no name oh before the wife leave the women for a second let's focus on the men I don't understand the say it seems to be that the is trying to purposely first to hide his name and then we have his name this question obviously is very relevant what's her name I'm joking I'm not it's not man man's wife okay so basically we have manah and so the word is the word is is mostly a language of importance for example okay after that um we have with okay so from that place so he a important man from the tribe of Dan and then his name is by the way we will see a little bit later on I don't understand why is he important but we'll see in a second and then obviously the problem is if she's AAR obviously she's Lo where else we have AAR with and also there is a prophecy right so the mostly based on what we know from before it means not only that she doesn't have children she cannot have children there is no way in the world that she will have children okay so basically what do we see we have first the description of the background of for the birth of Shimon and then we know something about his parents so his father is a name I guess an important person his name is manah and his wife cannot have children okay however this nameless woman she receives what a visit from a Mal I know right you are going to have a child sounds very much like the what little bit of of December 25th right but it's it's more than that um it's more than that it's about what it's about Sarah right or interesting because Sarah the Mal came to tell Abraham that sah will have a child here with Hagar that's when the angel says to Hagar don't worry go home you will get pregnant you will have a child name him ishma but here we see that the angel does not talk today to man saying to him what hey your wife will have a child right no he talks to her which is very rare very rare and also not telling the husband he just tell tell he told her you going to be pregnant and you'll have a child okay and now from now you need to what and from now from this moment no one wine and don't eat anything T now the wine part I might understand but what does it mean what before that she ate might be yes or might be just be more careful right might be more careful okay now this is something very interesting before we even go to the r BG again basically the Mal says to the lady here I you're going to get pregnant but I would like for this child since the Inception that he will not taste any wine and he will not be contaminated by things that are impure so basically this child the environment for this child will be what of a Naz of a Nair now This Is A New Concept because the Torah specifi the laws of Naz and how does the Torah begin with the laws of naut you take it upon yourself okay when a man or a woman takes upon themselves to be Naz and then they have they cannot drink wine they cannot go to to be touch with the dead body the the long hair okay good but to be a Nazir from birth this is a bit strange a b think now about the conflict Shimon is going to be conceived by being in a womb or in a body that basically separates themselves from wine and everything that is contaminating right which means my expectation is that you want to create this holy baby right a baby that his mom never drank wine and never ate anything that is T and my expectation will be that he will grow into what someone who is separate holy Pious and whatever shimon's life were little different okay hanging out with theim getting married with theot okay and can't the only thing that we know for that we know according to the tanak that he did was what he grew his hair which by the way she was not warned she could still go to her hair stylist okay not a problem there was no no prohibition against it so the entire staging I'll call it for shimon's birth is little strange says the RB this is the the Destiny for that she will get pregnant and she will have a child he is going to do what he's going to begin the Yeshua the Redemption from okay so basically he says that the purpose of shimon's birth will be what who is now if you turn to page three I just want you to look at the PUK itself so you know what I'm talking about you see on page three the says to her what you are pregnant and you will have a child he should not get a haircut he will be a from birth and he will begin to save the Jewish people from the hands of now do you see anything little strange in that P he mentions the hair for him not for her right but and what else it doesn't talk about me his what doesn't talk about the wine does not talk about the wine here okay maybe he does not need it because it's already in Bor that's okay that's he noice um that's also okay I mean everything you said probably is okay but it's not what I mean so no moral he should not get a haircut what is he will begin not to finish oh good question he will begin you know there is something that we say every Shabbat that I think probably most people don't pay attention but we say that what does that mean beginning the beginning of our Redemption so what does that mean there yet we are not there yet right so is that like oh and if he will fail and if he will not bring it to come it's going to come back I I don't understand or maybe it's not just his going to be just his role he's going to begin it maybe somebody else will continue it oh so maybe he will just show the Jews you can fight against Bim and someone else will pick it up now there's also something interesting it's all singular who right he's not going to create like a a group of people fighting against Pim it's it's him so it's a very much of a lone wolf that basically is going to what to lead this salvation from also interestingly enough he says but he doesn't give a what a blueprint of how is that going to look like right okay so now have that in mind now take a look now back to the r uh 1 2 3 four the fourth sentence so because it was known obviously knew that Shimon is going to have a somewhat of an inclination to associate himself with theim women so Hashem planned that what that from birth he will be somewhat separated from this world so he says this is why Hashem basically told already his mom don't drink wine and he should not drink wine and why because you know wine you have a little cup here and you to have a glass of wine here and then you start associated with people that you shouldn't be associate with so it's better that you will be totally separate from them you know there is a what did they say uh men plants and God here it's exactly the opposite you know God plan and and yeah so God makes all those plans and at the end of the day Shimon is doing whatever he wants so he proposes God so this is an interesting thing meaning Shimon meaning God knows that Shimon already from Birth has what I will call very extreme inclinations so in order to try to balance it God put tremendous restrictions on him so he will not now this is an interesting thing meaning God knows that he is going to bring to this world a a figure that basically has a mission and the mission is to be what to be a Mia to to be someone that can help the Jewish people to be saved but at the same time he knows that from birth this person has inclinations and tendencies that are not quote unquote appropriate so this is where Shimon comes to this reality with almost an imposs POS situation the continues I'll translate in a minute okay so he basically says what he says God gave him strength that is not only related to what to his hair the hair was just the symptom it was not the root cause he got his strength because of nut the minute he violated his nut that's where the power left in okay so what do we have here so the issue that we have and the rbag is just hinting to it for now is that you basically have a Biblical figure that has tremendous expectations and God tried to what to prepare him for his task but at the same time Shimon is going against that task and not only that we will see later on he's using his Tendencies to hang out with the and especially theot in order to do what to do his mission think about it who joined shimon's Army no one no one no one joined him it was a tricky question so I'm sorry but no one joined him so he fought by himself the only way he fought by himself was what by creating all those tension Point points of tension with the pish team so they went after him and he punished them you know he killed more when he died rather than in his lifetime okay so the idea is is that when you talk about so you know we lived under the the this this idea of like know the four languages of redemption we are talking here about what maybe a little Revolt like some kind of a little rebellious a Jewish rebellious against against the okay the Rak is not as nice as the okay the Rak is asking very strong questions and he says the following you need to wonder you need to ask I told you the radak basically is asking the question in a very direct way God created this guy Pious you know everything and the first thing that the guy does is what contaminate himself with so he says in my opinion says there he took women in Tim in AA in okay he converted them now how does he know how does he know such says you cannot not say that he did not that he didn't convert him obviously he did why because if not he couldn't be a judge kind of backward backward Reas he could have just married Jewish girls I mean it doesn't make sense to me this is the crisis what do we have here look who wanted to get married with a guy he doesn't drink wine have long hair little weird come from this family I'm joking the thing is is what is that I have no proof of that either the thing is that the radak and that's what I want to show you when theim are dealing with the narrative they are dealing with the same questions that we dealt with with the introductory in the introduction to the shoe you have a judge we have a Biblical figure who is complicated how what do you do with this with this with these actions says the radak I have zero proofs to that I can only tell you that I cannot include him as a judge in tanak if he would marry out without conversion by the way how do we know that uh R converted to Judaism oh she said this statement right and where was the bathing when she said it the ba what do you mean where was the Bas in Bas she told to know me probably when they stayed in a bound okay so where was the bathing b b the Jewish Court okay where was it nowhere no no not yet they were on the way to Israel so why am I telling you that because of a very simple answer by the way when seora got converted okay so my point is like that I'm not saying if they did or did not and the conversion back then was not like the conversion that we have today we know it for sure however however and this is the main the main idea is that you can see it and you could sit here with the radak and you see it with many others they couldn't comprehend and they couldn't fa an idea that a judge a Biblical figure here will violate a love which is clear in the Torah of how do you feel how do I feel about what how do you feel about this that you canver it maybe I should turn the recording um how do I feel about it I understand I fully understand where they are coming from I can also fully understand that there is zero proof to it and I can also tell you that others disagree with them so it's open and also they tell her to do this or no nothing like is she told to do stuff now is he the only person that they tell to do this to to do all those restrictions um yes yes yes begin history pick somebody like this why pick somebody like this emplo okay good the wrong guy okay so the question is why to why do we want to pick a guy like that okay but the same question can be on the his lineage is not exactly you know not only that he was questioned until at the same time he basically told sha don't worry about this guy he can never be a king because his lineage is wrong okay he's not even Jewish that's what was told on David okay so why God did what he did and why he brings yesu through interesting people that there is a Mahal on it uh maybe we'll touch it one day but that's what the says in order to justify it again we'll leave it open now he continues and then he says but now he brings another reason now he basically says I have another proof what's the other proof the other proof is that if he would violate what the Torah says and he will not convert them how come that hasem will make him so successful and that hem will protect him so here there is a proof that what that Hashem agreed with that and not only that the PUK says now he is right but he's also not that right he quotes only half of the PUK there is a second half to the PUK which means when he married all those he basically did it in order to create this connection with them knowing that this connection will create tension and then he can watch he can take his revenge so he married them so they will have this connection create the tension and revenge so does not mean that what that he should marry the convert them but rather just marry theot in order to create a conflict with theim so it's ambiguous therefore what he says again I understand where it's coming from but in terms of the narrative itself it's not that simple then he continues so the radak is now dealing with another question what question the question that we asked before which means he will begin why just to begin he says Ah because the Jewish people at that generation were not they were not a God-fearing people so he says for the 40 years that the had control over the Jewish people 20 of them were in the time of Shimon and even in the time of Shimon the Jews were not totally fully released from the hands of the so the says also because plan was what that it's not going to be a full Redemption whatsoever the Jewish people are just not worthy but they are worthy for a little bit of a break but because they are still under the hands of theim so hasem created you ask the question hasem created an incredible plan the Jews do not deserve full enslavement they deserve only 30% enslavement but they are still under the hands of theim therefore Shimon will fight with them but Shimon will fight with them while being one of them quote unquote so then if the Pim has a tinina they will go after whom after only Shimon and not the Jewish people because the Jewish people never joined sh so this this is what he what he's saying is that this is what Hashem idea was and where does he base it on he based it on few things that a Shimon never ever really save the Jewish people okay you look at the like even if even if did not come from a great lineage over there but after what he did a it it was quiet um take Shu also he was also he was a late judge but he did something that he saved the Jewish people here it's like but he started but he started so what does it mean so I so I see it as you know I'm still back thinking that how unfair it was that they decided he would be a Nazir from prior to his conception and how does that give a person free choice so that's a whole other discussion you know and but then this gets into my thinking of okay this is what we're giv you the strategy is all yours we're you have the free choice of determining how you will start the saving of the of the people and this and so I don't see it as Hashem well of course everything's from but you know what I'm saying I'm seeing it as the allowance to allow sh to decide his own track okay so I would on though no no I I would say that you are right but there is one that I need to do is that in a way pushed him to marry those so he will have points of contention with them because basically what hasem wanted is to separate Shimon as the only fighter against Pim to cause them damage but theim will not go after the Jewish people this is like a weird situation that's why it creates Shimon as a very strange judge by the way when you say judge you also think like a judge here we're talking about what it's a it's a Guerilla of one that's what it is it's one Warrior who should agitate the Pim cause them some damage but they will not do anything against the Jewish people yes and it sounds like I mean there's a concept that the leaders of of our leaders represent also what we are at the time so it sounds like the people that the am was in a very low that's exactly that's very good that's the rad justification of why Shimon was picked to have such a a troubling figure because that's basically shows somewhat uh the situation of the Jewish people at that time so then he says um everything is from Zelda you are correct but even this problematic issue which means I am going to ask you Shimon to do the impossible I want you to be na betan and I want you to be involved with not team I want you to represent the Jewish people but you're going to be alone I want you to start saving the Jewish people but you are really just going to do some little damage to the team so who are you Shimon wait judge leader judge me people came to him a Le for example fun Mo no I'm not saying only part of being a judge can be a judge a leader semi King semi King with they almost wanted to appoint him as a king he didn't want it come to they had a problem with their neighbor I don't think so I don't think he lived in the Jewish neighborhood he was out of the a you know he was uh he lived in with Pim so uh and then he says what but at the end they took one of his eyes he says so why with he was punished says so he says like that he says at the beginning even Shimon knew and this is don't forget the radak says that he converted all the women that he was married to before by the way he was married many times the thing is is what so he married let's say let's say three women at the beginning okay and he knew that he's doing it in order to find points of contention with the okay so he did it as God's Will and that's also here why he converted him however with he says to his father to his parents he says she fits in my eyes she she looks great says the radak here Shimon made a decision to keep her probably even did not convert her or maybe he did but he just really did it not because of ronm but rather he put He put his own Raton and when you start put your own agenda that's the end of it okay so now before we see abarbanel we do see that even according to radak if I would ask you know what are the issues that we have with chimon the issues that we have with chimon is basically the idea of you creating a judge with extreme circumstances like the extreme restrictions that no one else was expected to do and at the same time you put him m in in a place of impurity so what's the point here okay we will hold this question we don't have an answer now but even according to radak like what do you expect the guy to do okay he does not hang out with Jews at all you will see and he's a lone wolf he's married toim he's always always always with like what do you expect him exactly to do so even though the radak is trying to quote unquote justify what he did to an extent it still creates the same issues with this biblical figure okay says the following okay so he says that in his opinion this angel that revealed himself to manoah's wife she he was which means like a separate um how would they say it's not a it's a cognitive spiritual experience of of a spiritual entity now I'm not trying to make it complicated but I am trying to convey a message man's wife was able to see him we'll talk about come to you not to me yeah he was an important person right most humorous characters in he's a right and he he's insulted but she gets it she gets the Revelation he does not which is very interesting right because we don't even mention her name so then he says he continues so first and foremost he wanted to say begin the introduction by saying look don't think it was just like a a navi a human being who became a prophet it was a real angel who revealed himself as a human being but then he showed them that this human being is really what an angel because they gave him to eat and he didn't eat and then he went when they put a Corban we'll see that later on he went like he was consumed with the fire so obviously you're talking about a real quote unquote a I don't know what does it mean a real a Unreal Angel but a real angel that came and revealed himself to man's wife [Laughter] so he says the is addressing a different question he says why do we need this ceremony Hashem needs to send an angel to a woman that we don't even he know her name and to tell her about all those things can't you send just one of the Nim like send one of the Nim that already exist yeah and tell her no go to this address and tell the wife that she's going to get pregnant why do you need to send a real angel says thean God wanted to create a tremendous event so the parents will tell Shimon you are what you are a Divine gift so the this child will always remember that what is what vessel a a conduit to hashem's will so it's not so much the theel does not put the focus and the emphasis so much on the but rather on what on the Revelation the revelation of a true Angel was to instill in shimon's heart the idea that he cannot do whatever he wants but rather only to be the messenger of God's Will and then he says now take a look this Abel is brilliant he says so first the Revelation then the restrictions the restrictions don't drink wine don't eat anything that it's basically putting him on the edge of why basically it's to make him from birth someone who is so sensitive to what to wine and so he will not be able to even to stand them you know I don't know how people who never smoked and were never around smoking the minute that they smell smoke they run they cannot stand someone else who smoke who smoke next to them God wanted to create Shimon with such nature that when he sees someone who what who say an impure thing or drinks wine he will what he will hate him but now take a look according to the exact opposite what he see so now take a look at the impossibility for Shimon to be normal you take the guy who can't stand wine and impurity and you put him well in the dark side with theim with the with the wine with the and you expect him to do what to stay pure and Thrive why did he live in such a bad neighborhood why didn't he he was from Chan it's only eged don't get you problem is that it is so m in other words to appear for him and to and even with mosha was hard to convince him but at least he you ask the question again and I will give you the same answer don't know really don't know I think but I know one thing that he did it like that because I can give shim on that right so maybe he did it for us for the rabbis yeah you know everyone can come up with a commentary and everyone can give an interpretation but the before we go before we go there is by the way there is M upstairs if someone wants 120 um I will just uh conclude and please uh take the pages home and bring them next week or just give it to the front desk um I will just say one thing that I think is important we will continue with the next week but I want you to think a little bit about this Shimon and to think about the complexity and the almost impossibility that he was put in and to try to understand also when do we start getting disappointed from him and when do we think that he's still on the on the and we can accept him so that's next week