Shimshon: A Complicated Biblical Figure (Part 2) By Rabbi Shai Finkelstein

okay hello everyone so we will continue from uh from last week uh our issue obviously is the biblical figure of Shimon and what we tried to show last week was the complexity of of this biblical figure we spoke about the fact that he became a azir from birth his mom really had to take upon herself the restrictions of an ail and we spoke about the complexity of his upbringing we spoke about the complexity of his nature and God's expectations versus reality uh and we saw some kind of the disappointment that we have from shim and also the the problem that our sages has head really with chimon as a Biblical figure how can you relate to someone as a hero and a savior and someone who is a redeemer when he is married with uh he gets married with people who are not exactly Jewish and according to to some they maybe went through some kind of a conversion that probably today we will like say ah conversion this is not a real conversion whatever it was and some people say no he had no conversions and basically he followed the the lead of his eyes and his heart and he really didn't care so much about it so obviously we have an issue with which him Shon as biblical figure and now we are on page three okay on page three the says the following so you are pregnant and you will give oh sorry one one one just one thing uh the Sho is sponsored um by m David's by his by his daughters and son-in-laws um in their father's memory obviously and should be um so the say the says like that you are pregnant and you will have a child and he should not have a haircut is going to be an for God he's going to be from birth he will be an a he will start he will begin to redeem the Jewish people from we spoke a little bit about the idea of which means what he will just start so the says the following all the judges before him like for example gon they did not fight theim they fought only at different nations but they didn't start with theim theim were always very very strong and not only that they were very strong we know that uh if you fast forward to sh andan the 40 years that the Jewish people were under theim did not allow the Jewish people to build or to produce any military equipment the Pim were very strong they had merot also they iron chariots and the Jews you could barely find the sword they were not allowed to what to produce metal or iron so basically the really had full control over the Jewish people so they were very strong and none of the other judges really started with them so that's what it means he will be what the first one to fight against and that war will end only when at the time of David sha lost they killed him David was the one to finish off with the now so another interpretation which is very interesting is if you remember if you go back in your memory to seph when a and Abraham had a little bit of an encounter so when a went to I know to a not to a apologize to Abraham Abraham and a had a breit they made a covenant and Abraham told a I am going to sign a covenant with you I'm not going to attack you your children your grandchildren and your great grandchildren according to the radak this is exactly the time that that Covenant came to an end they start fighting with us and we started to what to fight with them by the way just as a side note note according to the rashbam and this is obviously have a very it's a very politically it's very loaded but the rashbam in the 11th century 11 12th century in France uh said something incredible the AKA The Binding of Isaac started with what sentence and everyone asked the same question what are those things so everyone gives his own interpretation the rashbam says the following he says it was because of the Covenant between Abraham and a cuz Abraham gave a something that does not belong to him he gave him a promise that he will not attack him which means basically he gave him land and hasem in order to show Abraham that he is vulnerable and the fact that he has no right to give any land he told him okay give me your son so then you will have no future that's the rasham now obviously I'm not sure if he will vote to whatever party uh but this is what the r says in France okay 11th century and 12th century but at the end he does not take it offers him but doesn't take him that's true but just going through the experience and that morning when hasem says to AB ah you think that you are invisible I'll show you how vulnerable you are give me your son your only son your future your descendant and I will take him so I'm just thinking you know ra I I just promised something to a thinking that it will last forever and now I don't have forever so that's what the rasham is basically saying which is a very by the way a very H creative idea you couldn't find it in any MIM he came up with that by his own okay or alternatively we have a different interpretation only began the Redemption but he didn't complete it how do we know when he died still are still there and it only end as I said before at the time of David okay the David says he meant to say so will start and you would think that he's going the right way and then he will what he will stop and there is going to be what a regression again it says and this is really by the way very true which means every other judge when he fought against someone against a nation after that it says I don't know that's exactly 40 years or not but it it quieted down that's it it was done with with Shimon it's only him he's the one to fight against him he starts something and then CL and not only that we will see much later on he does not Inspire the Jewish people to do anything they don't like they don't care he does what he does you can't blame us because we are not we are really we're not going to support this guy he's a like he's a lone wolf if if you have something against him deal with him but that's it by the way as a side note to the side note when he dies you don't hear from the tanak that all the Jewish people were you know mourning for him and sad and eulogizing him just his family took him back buried him V that's it so a very lonely lonely person okay so turn to page four and the T says the following so the woman man's wife came to her husband and she says to him like this a man of God came to me and he looks like an angel of God so I didn't ask him who are you where are you coming from and he also did not give me his name by the way angels has a problem with giving their names right give me another example with yov and the as's minister whatever it is says to him what's your name he says to me why are you asking my name right okay so so that's what she says to her husband now interestingly enough when you read the PUK we mentioned the fact that man's wife's name is not mentioned even though she was the real one and he was like a man okay so the idea is it's very interesting she says to him I think he looks like a angel how how did she know like there's no Google by the way no really how did she know may what she had a certain she has a certain feel she she he looked you know sometimes we even look at people and we say what oh my God he looks like an angel look like a nice fellow a nice fellow that's what you say like an angel oh nice okay okay so she says to her husband so you're going to be pregnant and you'll have a child a son do not drink any type of wine and don't eat anything that is impure because this child is going to be in a from the day he's born until the day he dies now interestingly enough uh when the angel talked to her he just said to her meaning you should not eat or drink anything wine related or impure and he will be inim but he doesn't say okay because really was he still Naz they shaved his head so I don't know exactly what happened and I'm not sure exactly and what okay and the drinking wine it's also a possibility because made him fall asleep so I don't know exactly what kind of method she used but he fell asleep so the idea is is that she added a okay so that's what she conveyed conveyed to her husband the malim um uh no she doesn't say any of those things she just say to him look I know what you are interested in you are interested in a son so I'm going to give you a son who cares right okay so the malim says the following here some questions so first question why didn't she say to her husband look the angel told me I know you are what you are Barren you are childless and therefore I'm going to give you a child okay question number one so all the other questions I can solve but this question is a very difficult one it says why is it that the angel came to her instead of man okay man should be the guy that the angel talks right she he wasn't Roy what he was not Roy to receive the angel oh that's uh you need to but we need to substantiate it right because most of the times the angel appears to whom to the men except to the is came to her and said you're going to have a child no no but that's that's that's it was a prophet not an angel yeah so I'm talking about an angel the angel talks to hag we know from hag God does not talk to Sarah telling her that she's going to get pregnant he's telling it to whom to Abraham later on the second story that he's talking to really to Sarah so we don't really have many too many times that God talks to a woman okay we have many times that God talks does not mean that he shouldn't but but theim is asking a question just very simple just tell the man tell manah especially if his name is mentioned tell him look your wife like like he told Abraham yeah but s didn't have to do anything I mean oh okay she did okay so you are saying there are special um special uh guidance or some kind of restrictions that she needs to take upon herself okay very good that might be a possibility yes he goes again to both of them yeah it's also we'll see that in a minute and then he says says what's the point man says Oh Come Again Come Again I would like to hear what we do we need to do with this child the angel says to him exactly the same thing so why do you need to what to hear it twice what you don't trust your wife confirmation okay so the says shom so first and foremost so the didn't tell the angel told me I'm child this I'm Barren and therefore are you going to have a child why didn't she say that to manah answer she didn't want to what to hurt him now this is a very with one sentence you can just understand the dynamic in the family man and especially in very I mean even today but even in agricultureal society if you don't have a son especially a son you basically walk in the field you plow the field knowing that what it's going to be fruitless you have no one to continue on so basically there is a there is tension definitely between manah and his wife and his wife in a very sensitive way does not want to repeat things that what that can hurt him that's a really interesting why would this hurt him it's giving him hope I don't understand that no no but the begin I can tell him we will have a child without telling him you know I'm Baron that that's just hurtful leave it out no so that's what she did that's exactly what she did yeah that's exactly what she did she didn't give all the details that he shouldn't get a haircut because she already says she's going to be a a I think some of you mentioned it she didn't tell him that he's going to want to begin the Redemption why but just one second she didn't tell it to her husband because her husband has a big mouth where does it say that here she was afraid that he will tell someone the ptin would hear and they will kill the child which almost sounds like the Egyptians okay this is a very interesting thing so on one hand she is trying to be super sensitive to her husband but she knows her husband that's by the way another reason why probably the angel didn't talk to this guy okay why should I tell him right he's going to spill the beans so basically what's happened is is that she look how smart she is I mean emotion sensitive and also intellectually she understands she can't really trust him too much she's just going to tell him look we're going to have a son is going to be very special but she's not going to tell him anything about what the fact that he's going to redeem the Jewish people and then he says she added until the day he dies the angel didn't say that um um directly but they did it him he didn't do it to himself okay but he put himself in a situation that was problematic the what oh the translation sorry so basically she added he will be a Naz and that's right until the day he died the angel didn't say it why because the angel knew that he will basically um disqualified himself being a even before he died okay so that's she said something and the angel said something else now so first and foremost what do we see from here we see that man's wife whatever her name is let's just call her Mana for for our purposes she is a very sophisticated lady um obviously by the fact that the angel talks to her and also what does she convey to to her husband okay please God somehow talks to God which is also you know a nice level and he says to him please send this Angel again isim he calls him isim not who else was called isim what is Nai which means manah still does not believe what an angel that he's an angel he basically says to his wife come on someone tricked you okay or maybe there is a prophet somewhere who came to talk to you you think he's an angel come on you're not talking to Angels I want to see it for myself yeah okay so that's what he's asking but he doesn't say Mal he says only is it says and he should come and teach us what should we do with this child okay says the so he should come to us and he should teach us what should we do with this child man is you understand a little bit of fish is balic balic insulted insulted that's the word I know from balic okay everyone is a Bic everyone is is getting sensitive okay he's insulted he says to the he says to look I understand if you just want to tell ha things that are related to ha that she does not need to drink wine or and she needs to eat three apples a day and two bananas that's fine nothing to do with me but talking about raising their child that's also it's also me I also need to be involved so I'm also deserve what that he will come and talk to me therefore send him again okay she knew exactly what she should do with the child right God told her that the angel told her but she didn't tell man that he told her and he says she was more worthy than him to have that Revelation with the angel rather than him who said that said it the AL the yeah the says the angel came to her because she was worthy to receive to accept this Revelation where manah was not in that madga however because man asked for it and don't forget he would not go uh go along um with um with what she said because he never heard it and therefore the angel needs to what to come back okay now it's called what not isim no no no no one second this is an interesting sentence and we need to pay attention to it what what's you know what why should I I'm not going to uh spoon feed you okay is there anything wrong with that do you feel like there is something wrong here okay so first thing is you ask from God to send this gu to send this Mal right so be on the lookout right last time he came to the field so be so be there right what do you think like he's going to knock on your door sit and you know have coffee with you go out there okay very good one question second question what is she doing in this again again what did he say he needed to have some not her okay so the angel should come to him not not to her okay third this is my main question I agree with Zelda and don't get it like a or something like that this is not but a woman at that time being by herself at the field Z you know what is z it's strange okay we know for example that the time of the judges what other story we have at the time of the judges and is basically warning her go with my guys they will not touch you they'll protect which means what if you don't go with protection they will touch you okay so it was not uh Pleasant and even let say that there is some kind of a of a progress and people are a little nicer still you don't send this woman like that in the field also give me another story from tanak that there is is a woman who has also a child but she's not in the field H if I would be sitting here I would not I would not okay with uh with um Elisha yeah it beit too much with with with theunit she has a child the child goes to the field he says rhi my head my head and then he faints and then he the husband brings him to whom to her because she is at home and he is in the field you don't find women in the field especially not by herself so this is strange so then it says so she runs and to tell again she refers to him as what as man the man not the angel because probably if she will say the angel he will tell her what you're crazy F okay now this is also one of the most famous ones but also you see from the itself she is she's all quick she runs what does he do he walks he takes a shabas walk right after ha and he goes after her you are so anxious to see him you need to what run no he takes time that's no she's not she's she's not she's not so he goes slowly he takes his time he goes after her instead of what of running and he talks to him like his friend like are you the man that talk to my wife he didn't even say is to the woman yeah it's it's me so please tell me what should we do with the child everything I told the woman to be careful for for we will talk about that in a minute she needs to do whatever I told her to do which just I guess probably add to his anxieties right's anxieties like can't you please tell me but he will but for the first thing he says to him what whatever I told the wife your wife I rely on her I trust her there is nothing to tell you he says when I said that your child will be Nazir I don't need to tell you what he needs to do just go and ask the rabbi or just you should know that I assume that you know what a na needs to do which is what not to drink wine not to eat anything in P not to be in touch with the dead body not to get and from here the rabbis learned that what that man was an not to be with women no no no no he can be he can he can be married it's not the problem he can be be married just not to okay is a different problem but uh but the idea is is basically the Mal says and that's what says was an no now what is okay one second simp where is the first time that is being mentioned oh okay I will tell you what is AM because there is an evolution in the concept so we need to start first from when is the first time that the Torah mentioned but you said it no no not a little later in little bit after no with Abraham that's true where no when he bought they told him I will give it it for you for free blah blah blah blah blah now what is it the people of the land very good that's the first definition that's not a curse it's not derogative it's nothing it's the people of the land we simple Farmers not AFA simple no no no they can be very wealthy don't forget in an agriculture Society if you have land and you farm your land you can be very wealthy you can be one of the MERS of the community it doesn't it has nothing to do with what with your intellectual abilities what does it have to do one second one second one second so the beginning or the first definition of am is the people of the land people who understand the land people who are farmers people who love the land and they can be also wealthy and the can be also sophisticated went through a transformation in the time of the mishna in the time of the mishna between let's say zero to the 2 Century became ignoramus the people who are only with the land they couldn't Elevate themselves from what from the land to let's say spiritual Heights so then they became and that's how we have this uh definition he's an which means what ignorance he's he's not the most he's not he's not the sharpest tool in the tool box right that's what we say so you made a separation between you said it didn't have to do with academics or intelligence the so you're making a separation between intellectual academic and spiritual you just said that now just changed time the definition changed during the years like many other definitions the beginning is the people of the land they could be most sophisticated people the wealthiest people the MERS of the community can be great years later thousands of years later became a derogative concept about people who are not sophisticated a sophisticated cognitively and also later on when they created those clubs of was versus were more um diligent and more care with and and where the were the people who didn't care about themselves not only cognitively but Also spiritually but things change Through The Years okay now but it could be could be um here he might be a very Pious guy but uh in terms of uh his cognitive abilities and understanding he was not the the best God okay and then he says he says why did I come to tell her that she's going to have a child and not you because I asked her to do something that I never asked from anyone else which is she already needs to be what a to some extent in order to create this pure incubator that that child will come out already as still so now the last line on the page and the reason now we are page five so if you ask why the Angel reveal himself to her and not to him answer is she was much more ready for to see an so this is I will call it more of a reason if the father if manah would say look Shimon you going to be a Naz Shimon could un undo the N but because it was done by an Angel you can't do that so this is another explanation this is more from a perspective why the angel had to what to say is basically Naz because of me because I said so and there Shimon could not undo the The Vow and the by the way even in in we have what we call which is forever ever and there is no way that you can do a someone says I'm it's for 30 days then there is for year and then there isim which is a different a different breed of a that you cannot really undo this n okay oh so we spoke about it last week yeah to create this conflict between him and theim to create tension between them okay so so the Mal says I already talked to your wife you can talk to her if you want I told her not to drink wine and not to uh to eat anything that is impure and everything I commanded there she needs to what to keep again he doesn't tell him anything about Shimon it's only about things that he told her and he just repeated and now take a look at man he's one of my favorite figures he's so stupid look he he made it to the tanak we didn't so I do have some kind of I know some kind of respect to him but he's all he's a funny he's a funny is a funny figure exle of a man yeah call it he's not the sh stol in the tool box the pen in the the whatever they call it okay thec his defense he gets to be the father of a na so he can't be completely useless and no maybe because he's so useless he didn't intervene no come on no no I'm saying I think no no I'm saying I think in a way by the way man and Shimon had nothing to do with each other yeah there is no rec now the tanak is not going to record any know uh bedtime stories that you know a parent will tell his child or whatever but there is really nothing to my I would assume not assume I think I know but I think manah even tried to disassociate himself from Shimon to some extent there is going to be a time at the beginning Shimon even asked for some kind of an approval from his parents to marry those plot later on he didn't even ask them so there is some kind of a disconnect I don't know what was his relationship with his mom uh but with his father you don't see too much of a of an influence so no defense him H why not it's always good only because he made his he made it to the T I agree he made it to the T yes Z I think we spirituality and it's not a so it might be Zelda I will say one more an additional thing it also might be that he was lazy he sat in home watching TV while she's walking in the fields say that being sitting it might be I'm saying it might be very good so zeld will bring a proof from whom from right but I can tell you from Jakob when he went to the field he went to walk so I can have both okay and we will see in theim how they portray manah so I just want to say so he he does not have too many Role Models that's for sure yeah and also relation we'll give him a discount on the couch right okay now take a look at this guy he's talking to the and says to him you know what let me make for you a meal oh boy he didn't realize he the guy does not get it okay the angel is not interested in a meal okay yeah but AB did not know that they are angels okay this guy says to him I'm an angel of God I'm telling you what to do and he says to him ah you are an angel nice to meet you let's have dinner together right even if you can stop me I'm not going to eat with you if you want to make a sacrifice bring an offering an elevation offering give it to he does not understand still that he talks to an angel the woman says he looks like an angel this guy talks to an angel and does not get it me your name because when you come again we will honor you why are you going to ask my name it's a wonder which by the way this is a game here if you look at the Torah the opening statement for Naz is what is lindorf the word yaf wonder and he says to him my name is what he says to him don't ask my name but my name is I would like to claim and also basically we know that the angel does not have a name but he has a name for his mission that's right this mission for this Angel was what to do this of so that's why maybe he says okay you see the word so takes the and the the offering and the angel is doing all sorts of things with with this animal with his sacrifice and and his wife they watching him so the angel is doing this his magic okay and he's being consumed with the fire now take a look so they fall on their fa so manah I guess goes every day to the field to try to what find this guy he does not get it but only after like 3 weeks and I'm sorry I know I'm recorded I'm sorry man for insulting you looks for every day he looks for him every day okay so basically he does not really realize that what and this is the problem with even if there is a that reveal himself to him he cannot comprehend it he does not really fully understand it yes I just have one ultimate question oh you are asking why to bring and I can relate to unspiritual sort of like doubt always doubt about the God's promise don't even believe Angel why out of all the Israel men this people okay so a he didn't choose him he chose his wife yeah the only thing that that wife had a husband yeah you had to deal with him so that's a and the B is what Zelda said almost every family in tanak if you want to make it as a family to the tanak you need to be dysfunctional really look at almost every every family in the stories it's dysfunctional and there is a reason for that the Mahal talks a lot about it and especially about David and mashia that came from obviously a very unflattering um background and lineage um and there is a reason for that not for today not for now so let's continue because there is something here that I need to show you verse we are going to die because we saw God come on the angel told your wife that she's going to have a child she she's not going to have a child if she's dead she might die after she give birth that's true but not now so look how an he is and he's basically saying to her look we saw something that is above our pay grade we going to die and she says would like to kill us my dear husband it's not going to happen we are going to be okay because if God wanted to kill us he will not tell us all this prophecy about the child and what should we do with it okay but who missing from that call she's calling him a name she's giving him birth that's for sure but she's the one to call him by name not him which is also an interesting thing because then we need to compare it to all the other times look at jakob's wives who gives the name to whom look at yud and Tamar who gives the name to whom about and yob very interesting who gives the name and why but not now basically she says now no one told her to call Shimon now when you look at the word Shimon it's come from the word shees the sun which is a very strong powerful star so that itself is a very interesting thing why to call him Shimon and also it's interesting that the angel did not tell her how to name him right this is an interesting thing the angel says to Hagar how to name her son the angel says to Haram and Sarah how to name their son and uh and but basically that's it but whenever there is like an angel involved is also trying to tell you so the idea is is that there is no Direction but she calls him sh we will deal with that later on so the Mal I'm not misten says there's no explanation why his name is sh from the a servant someone who serves God saying what she didn't want to call him she didn't want to give the reason for the name because Shimon is also from the word sh is Desolation which means it will be he will create desolation to theim and she was afraid that if she will say say why theim will hear about it and they will kill the child again you can understand that theim had such control over the Jews of the Jewish Community or whatever it is the Hebrew community that they I guess every son or every child that was born they will try to figure out is he a threat to us which is very interesting I will translate in a minute okay I'm explaining and first translating by explaining she called him Shimon from the world Sun sheemish now the sheemish is always there right very hot and very it's it's a luminary at night there is almost like a narik it's like a cover on the sun and then when the sun is in the cover you don't really see it but when the the cover is gone so you see the Sun so he said she called him Shimon because when he was in her womb you couldn't see the light just in potential but when it came out so he was what he was strong as his son and he would like quote unquote put fire or use fire against theim that was one of the things that he did by the way with a foxes you remember that one that he tied their their um tails and he sent fire okay and why did she so why didn't she call him sheemish why Shimon because it was a little sheem every time you put a V at the end is little like for example is Ison what is Ison pil it say in your eye a little is okay when you want that for example Katan small tiny tiny okay so many times when you add the VAV at the end you make it smaller okay Y kipur is called Shabbat shabbaton which means like mini Shabbat Y kipur is almost like Shabbat but there is a shabbaton that it's not exactly like Shabbat because of the SK versus okay sorry shabat in other words it's the Shabbat of Shabbat so Yip is even though it's very holy it's still not as holy as Shabbat yeah this is always Yip is the holiest holiday but Shabbat is the holy of the Holy okay and why very simple Shabbat was given to us by God without our intervention all the other are based on our decisions okay inter so then we have three more minutes that I need to go to again what is v it began he has the spirit of God on him Rashi says what is le you see the word le so what is le Rashi says it comes and goes the spirit of God is on him but only what occasionally sometimes yes sometimes no which means it depends on the mood it depends on the day there is no consistency with shim sometimes you will see that he does things that are so Pious and so righteous and sometimes you will see that he does things that have nothing to do with Judaism says so the first thing that he says he says what what does it mean to give him like like to give him strength and he says maybe there is a story of of of strength that was done between by the way you know where it is in in in Israel next to G shalim Gaz that's the area okay shalim and G yeah so that's where it is so he started with aim or maybe but we don't know the story so that's one interpretation but I want you to look at the second interpretation he says this is an incredible per basically says it's from a bell now a bell has the bell and he has inside the what the zag the in the in okay so when you uh move it it's the dinging thing right okay the dinging thing the Dinger basically it says that the Nea that God's prophecy basically was like dinging I know that's the word dinging in front of him this is a very interesting thing that's basically in a way the ne basically try to what quote unquote run in front of Shimon to try to guide him this is an interesting thing because if that's true you would assume that everything he does he does because of what of this now Shon based at least on the beginning he's not only a judge but he's also what has some kind of an divine inspiration almost like a prophetic Vision so that also adds to the idea if he is so good and he's so righteous how come he is what going out with a he so we need to deal with all those issues and um ah you need to see the and with that we end so the strength already got into is a description of almost a split personality he is going back and forth one time he says okay I'm going to take revenge with theim and once oh they are my best friends remember that R bug a it will explain a lot and B it will add to the complexity of his of his of his personality on one hand he's inclined to take revenge and to do what God's want from him on the other hand the only friends that he had in his life are the so that's how he's being torn between these two camps that's for today next week more