Shimshon and the Plishtim/Philistines (Part 1) By Rabbi Shai Finkelstein

okay shall we okay so um we are starting with a with a new topic in that topic of Shimon and um and we will start to analyze Shimon and his encounters with until obviously we're going to reach the ultimate encounter with Thea and and the end of it so let's start with the first cter between shim and his so the says so sh went down to and he saw in Tim he saw a woman from the daughters of now obviously when you look at this verse even without looking at theim at the commentators you see that the world the first world in the can be explained as just you know it was in a valley so he went down from his City down to the valley but if you know tanak and there are some biblical connotations the one thing is obviously vud and when we talk about vud we all know the famous Rashi talking about morally or talking about being removed from a position or basically a symbolic thing for what for going down spiritually as well so the idea of vud again can be explained geographically or can be explained in a different way so obviously this is something that caught the eye of all the commentators and for example the radak says so he said something interesting says with yud as we mentioned before it says to Tamar they told here he goes up and which it says he's going down so the first question of theak is is that the same city or it's not the same city you go up or you go down to to reach that City so one on one way to solve this issue in a very simple way just say it depends where are you coming from okay you can go up or you can go down you know it's like the right like the ups and downs in it depends where you're coming from right it's all Al it's all there's no all but there is it depends where you're coming from that's but he might give you a hint for something when Yehuda went up to Tim and then he met Tamar and all of that that was the beginning of his end back to leadership and it's interesting that in that same place in timat someone can go down start his basically his demise and someone can begin his what his Ascent so this is maybe a hint is giving us and then he says okay so basically says some of our Rabbi says that there are two different cities with the same name that's one or one city but it depends where you coming for so this is what I meant when I said it before with regarding to Shon it says V that was the beginning of his issues going down to timna and getting married with one of the daughters of and for yud it was Aliyah it was inocent because then he met Tamar whatever happened happened but it led him to say yeah probably it's in the front so so that's what the RX okay so basically according to the radak the beginning of shimon's activities is basically already a reflection of what of him going down so it's interesting because he didn't even start anything so the first activity he's involved with leads him to what leads him to his demise okay says the following sh a judge a from birth is going to have relationship with a daughter from the everywhere he will go he will take a woman from the so that's obviously some kind of a contradiction to who he was it says I'm well aware and if you remember the radak said it two weeks ago I mean he said it 600 years ago but we mentioned him two weeks ago talking about the fact that he says oh he converted them and we said and there barbanel agrees with us there is nowhere in the that he converted asked very good question and he says how can we explain how can we reconcile in our own mind the idea of a chaet someone who is mentioned in T someone that we obviously invest in him few chapters and he's doing something that every every person understand not to do yes bothered me what we learned last didn't bother me I don't about what we discussed last week about his father and his mother being such tremendous absent that the father was of am right so could we in a modern way say that there's genetics involved here that he had some and some why not he might he he had a father he had a mother he was influenced by both I don't have any any I don't have any I don't have any ways to I don't have any any ways to uh to prove it or disprove it I will just say I will just say one thing I will just say one thing uh you can say that even understand that he's not going to marry but him you can say because such an he doesn't think that it so important I leave it open this is not something he didn't decide to become a on his own no wasn't his idea he was forced into it m so maybe he was just rebelling okay so basically what you are saying is what you're suggesting is what we saw last week that we saw that God in a way created almost an impossible situation for shim on one hand there is a tremendous level of expectation of Purity and at the same time you put him in the Lion's Den okay and expect him to what to be pure so this is something that it's obviously very complicated yes that's what God right that's what God wanted but it didn't work because you still have a free choicee choice that's that God's plan was exactly what you said I gave you enough strength to overcome your desires and but it didn't work all the time strength maybe not moral Cod maybe yeah is it talking about a lot of women here yeah we will see wejust with the first one just wait wejust with the first one okay so continues we found many times in the stories of the prophets we found that other also did things that are not based on our religiones but at the end of the day the result was something that served God for example now he brings an example which we will need to um analyze if that's a good example or not but definitely he's right about the example the example is that you have a prophet who did something against Hal el el brought sacrifices on the top of Mount carel when you should really bring it only bam in the altars that you built the b in har was what we call altars only in Shilo where the mishkan was but you can't do it in every Mountain decided he's going to bring a sacrifice on the top of the carel mountain and that's against it's called therefore he did something against the so how can you refer to elah as a prophet as answer is he did it what does that mean means that there are exceptions sometimes time requires different measures and therefore he decided he is going to together the entire Jewish people to the carel mountain he will let the false prophets to do their own mesas and then he's going to show the entire Jewish people that what that who so he did something against the in order to do in order to accomplish a spiritual goal okay you can fast forward not a navi but a rabbi he quote unquote wrote down the T why because he saw that if he will not do it people will forget everything okay so therefore the says basically he knew that marrying those Daughters of he is doing something against God but he thought that a is a good thing now what does it mean aish we'll talk about it in a minute basically Shimon says I know I'm going to do something that it's against the but I'm accomplishing the goal that I was sent to accomplish which means I need to fight against the Jewish people are not with me I'm going to be a lone wolf we spoke about it I need to find incidents to find or to create those environment that there is going to be a tension between me and theim so I can take revenge and kill some of them and this is how I'm going to weaken them now that obviously brings us to a discussion of aish for example one of the uh Prime examples of a is what did do when start running away she told him hey hey come come come come to my tent I'll protect you she gave him a cup of milk and she gave him food and she put him to sleep and then she cut his head off okay now that sounds very nice that's what you say to the children in in kindergarten when you read theim especially the song of dor you understand that it was much more than just a hot cup of chocolate milk and a cookie okay that was relationships that she basically had with him according to kazal it was a little bit exaggerated and she no no no she was not Jewish um but what does it mean Jewish let's leave that aside and basically what happened was that she did a in order to what to kill him another example which is not a prime example but it's a secondary example it's a being with a in a way she had to especially if she was married to M according to okay she had to say kill me I'm not going to be with you she didn't why did she do that in order to save the entire Jewish people now it used to be and the talks about it that like we say that it's better for example to learn it used to be a stage in Jewish history that people nowadays no one go out from here and start finding okay try to find even but don't try to sayab told me I need to find an okay I'll deny it even if though am recorded we are not doing that anymore there are no a by the way to the extent just way to the extent um to the extent that we cancel the Boom we can there's today just why because people are concerned people are doing that only just for the relationships and not to really marry her and therefore there is no there is so this is another example just an example not to open up a discussion just an example of how this thing it does not exist anymore however what we see from here we see that theel compared two different examples one example is what eliahu did eliahu made a decision to what to bring a sacrifice outside of the outside of the Tabernacle in order to what to prove the Jewish people that there is only one God so okay so he did that shim according to did the same thing on a different level he violated of that you should not marry someone like that and doing that in order to accomplish his Divine Mission which was to kill okay now I have a one problem with that because if you have only one you are great every figure whether Joseph or the Judah I mean everybody I mean every man screw up some way with a woman in the Torah but every righteous one usually hear what the Hashem command this case to me sounds like it was um shim's own decision by Free Will um did you really come from the Hashem thought and mind so yes and no what do I mean by that sometimes first by the way also with Tamar and Yehuda and YF and potifar God did not talk to them that was their decisions Yehuda failed and in a way according to Kaz the angel pushed him whatever parents came out let's give them credit yeah yeah and from here the many of the were killed because of what he did okay so the thing is like that the problem is sometimes is the uncertainty not sometimes the problem is the uncertainty of God's commandment and Mission which means Shimon was raised that say with a prophecy that he he's going to what to start save the Jewish people he will start the Salvation how he looks here he looks there none of the Jewish people is joining him no one there is no Army there is nothing he looks only a team so what can he do he don't don't forget control the weapon the Jewish people the weapon and the Jewish people so the only thing that you can create tension between me and them is what you might not pay taxation but not paying taxation of one person is not going to make any W so the only way is to marry with them or in them to dwell among them and then ah now we can have fights so the only way in shimon's mind is I need to find a way to be with them what's the best way to be with them marriage marriage so in a way in a way yes there was no choice to Shimon unless he will do that and by the way if he will convert her it will go against it because if he will convert her and she is going to live in a Jewish neighborhood okay so he need to what to build a house where in a neighborhood so he will be upset you know basically he's looking to be upset so in a way Shimon in a way did not really have a choice that's what the also wants to claim now let's continue and then he says he's saying two things he's saying one he says meaning God's spirit or the Divine Spirit within Shimon was very different than it was in or whatever it is with each one of them it says the spirit of God was on him and when the spirit of God was on that judge it was fly all all encompassing with if you remember it says remember that was last week the last thing from last week like a bell sometimes yes it's from from the word liim what is liim sometimes so sometimes he was a judge and sometimes he was what a shim amen yeah so therefore therefore also just just imagine how you move now in the 21st century we can only imagine you know how do you move from a spiritual height to just be a regular person so you move from here to there which is very very difficult and especially when you have inclinations desires strength and whatever it is so he continues and he says and also now I don't know what it means meaning I can give you options can means what he was not the smartest guy ever can be ambivalent can be he did not understand or he was confused I think all explanations can be implemented with and then he says which meansem looked at the entire Jewish people and the only guy that he really thought he can trust was Shimon but because Shimon was not really ready so from time to time God gave him what like a glimpse of spirituality and then Shimon got and did what God wanted from him whenever he saw a woman she looks nice in in in in his eyes so like everything in life you have the good and the bad which means on one hand because he was so impulsive whatever woman he saw he says what she's the one for me and then every time someone made him upset he was angry and he was upset and he took Revenge so you have a person who is very impulsive on both ends impulsive in choosing a wife and impulsing in in impulsive also in what in ending a marriage we will see that in a few minutes and also taking Revenge so it's a little bit of a problem in my opinion when you have someone who's chosen from uter to be to be to have a to have a purpose and to to accomplish something and then it turns out he's kind of not so Terri not so terrific uh yeah um so probably two months from now we will address your question Su meaning how come at the end of the day we will portray Shimon in different ways and by by the way I'm not going to always try to find criticism on him we will find some good will favor in him however at the end of the day he a very complicated figure and the question that you need to ask yourself why did God choose choose him cre this whole situation we need to because here it's little different so here it's little different than the question about you know how come that we have David from ru you know here it's like just pick another guy like why do what exactly he accomplish okay so he killed 5,000 yeah the was still there until when so what exactly is the accomplishment here okay so we will need to address it later good question okay not for now yeah so then he says now take a look he's addressing some more issues it seems so thought the only prohibitions that I need to fulfill is what no haircut no wine and um and and now now no impurity the rest of it everything go free for all now little bit of a simpleminded or we will call itan meaning whatever I was told I'll do whatever I was not told to do I am not going to do and then he says if even though Shimon obviously went against God's will God allowed him to do it and not only allowed him to do it as you said exactly he stayed with him by the way just as a side note going forward to the end when Shimon says to hasem please God remember me and Hashem says okay I will remember you and I'll help you out not everyone can do that okay so we need to understand the complexity yes okay I'm getting confused about Shan is a Nair and the three prohibitions are drinking wine cutting the hair and com in contact with the dead did I miss something in terms of his no not at all but then we said that's all he was told to do criticizing everything else he does but he's not violating Torah the Torah one the sure he does and you are correct and you should be confused because theban says that he kept it and we know that he he no I'm saying he he meaning Shimon thought that by not drinking wine but not getting a haircut and but not being in a presence of a of impurity he's fine and only those those the things that he will do and the other things he will not the question here is I think based on the stories is that he touched the bodies he at the end he got a haircut I mean not knowingly but he got the haircut and he definitely in he maybe drank wine with the we will see the okay so all right so the really the only thing he does is doesn't cut his hair right he was forced to cut as right so you you should be confused okay good good okay um the fish yeah the even though all the these activities were wrong so why God was with him even though he basically disrespect God's Commandments it's because of the end goal which was revenge on the so the minute he saw a daughter of for him he already saw a potential for what not a beautiful marriage but for revenge and this is why God allowed him to do that which means so if I make some order here with all the confusion that we will continue to have God has one goal how by Shimon Shimon you have different ways to do it I don't know you can make a business with them and then get upset and burn their entire city okay he chose marriage okay even with marriage there are different ways to do it but Shimon chose marriage and God allowed him to continue on with his actions because the end goal is going to be there now this is an interesting thing because we know that we always have a discussion about right which means in English what mean and the end justify the means yes so the thing is according to what we see here the answer is yes yes yes maybe for leader and War do not necessarily might be might be but for now with chimon God is in a way not only don't stand in the way he's helping Shimon in order to what to reach that to reach go okay so the continues he didn't care that he's going to marry a daughter of he's not going to convert her waste of time she's good in my eyes take her he just he saw her she looks good I'm taking her but just one second his mom was very upset with him why are you taking this girl what take R take Leah take H Miriam why you taking I know what do you call that do we know but probably there is another okay it says look at the it says where is the but later on he says only to aiv why because his mom will chastise him and say why why are you taking care take a Jewish girl and and then it says so we will talk about that a little bit later but basically he says that what shim did was not not exactly right in God's eyes but also in his mom's eyes that goes back to our story story before that when you compare manah to his wife obviously manah is in a different Madre and his wife is in a different level so he went down to so then he goes up and he says to his father and his mother I saw a woman in from the daughters of take her to a woman to me she I want her to be my wife excuse me so when it says about it's not no's meaning it's sh's m in order to fulfill God's Mission meaning God's mission to Shimon was you need to start the salvation and you start taking Revenge from the Ping now it's up to you how you're going to do that so Shimon chose the way of marriage so and God allowed him to do it because that was his Divine [Music] Mission so the the first one yes the second one not that's oh yeah yeah someone asked only one woman no no I said he took many okay 14th century so he tried to find what a plan exactly what I said yet to find a way that he can take revenge on the so he can beat them up this is the best way I marry one of you so it shows that I'm I'm great with you and that's the way you treat me so he brings the in the middle of and our s says so he converted her first so the r unlike the Abel the r in the 14th century says no no no no no no he converted her where we don't know who was debating we don't know who wrote for her a certification we definitely don't know and somehow he converted her because if not how come he's The Naz and how come he's a judge we saw thatan and theak and many other says there was no conversion but okay that's a fair discussion between the commentators okay take a look at what his parents tells him what are you doing like take a Jewish woman here you got it by the way just put it in your back burner the word is mentioned many times and at the end of the day get one eye is on is off so then what is that he wants to marry her that's a meaning he can go directly to a war to wage a war against why he's lose he's going to lose and no one is going to join him so therefore he's looking for what for points of tension a fight with them knowing by the way that no one is going to join him okay says it's from that because he's looking for a a point of tension between him and it comes to teach you Ed it to happen so shim will be able to fulfill his Divine Mission at that time controll the Jewish people wanted that Revenge to be not in the hands of the Jewish people but rather through shim planned it in a way that when Shimon will take his revenge he will do it from within the Pim neighborhood and Nation meaning it's not that Shimon will be living in Baka okay and will take revenge in theim because then the will go after whom Baka after Baka now shim will tell him you have problems with me deal with me right it's almost like really is being chosen to take the entire responsibility on him he is going to marry atit he's going to to take their Revenge he is going to be blamed for their revenge and the Jewish people are only going to what to enjoy the fruit of his labor which means 5,000 less to deal with at the time of King David this is a tremendous expectation from shim and then he says it's brilliant brilliant interpretation he says look at at the divine's plan Shimon will marry atit he will create points of tension he will take his revenge the will look at him and say we cannot go after the Jewish people why they didn't do anything against us it's only this guy Shimon but one second the only people we can blame for what he did is him and and us it's not the Jewish people they they did not send him here look he did something against their Torah okay he sits among us we are responsible we shouldn't blame anyone else therefore God created it in a way that it will all be shim yes they hated us since we came no no the only question is control there is fight and there is control okay they always fought against us but they had control over us for 40 years so in this situation they're controlling us control yeah that's what we spoke about they didn't allow us to create any weapons and they control us we probably pay this this situation of shiman fact took wife they felt that they were losing control no no they're not losing control the thing is because they have the control and Shimon is taking Revenge the only people that they can blame it's not the Jewish people it's them that's that's what it means which means even in the time of sha the only people who had a sword was Shaul and yonatan yeah so basically the Jewish people are too weak therefore God does not want the to wage a war against the isra because they will lose why should bother them that he's taking a wife who why should bother no it doesn't bother them no no doesn't bother it bothers them that when he will take revenge with them then obviously when they see 500 Pim are dead because of him they will be upset but they cannot be upset with the Jewish people because the Jewish people basically disown Shimon Shimon is basically wolf so the only person you can be upset with is Shimon or yourself okay since since when an stop interestingly enough there are La of War meaning if they did not wage a war on you not only did they did not wage a war on you they don't have have the tools to fight you we this own I will tell you even more than that why I think I agree with theel and D that he never converted him her because by not converting her he basically says to theim I'm one of your I don't belong to the Jews am Israel has nothing to do with me and we will see it later on that the tribe of yudah EX extradite Shimon to the hands of the pish without hesitations they just gave them Shimon here you go take him the Jewish people didn't like too much some of them I can already hear saying probably to themselves what is he doing he's putting us in troubles okay we want to serve the let us let it be so that's what God does with this plan which is an incredible plan basically Shimon will be a parah in the Jewish people's eyes according to theim is quote unquote one one of them and by the way you see that I mean the narrative does not say anything but her parents that ped it they don't care they they don't have any say I don't know if they have a say in the ancient times but but but the thing is is that the point is the point is is what the point is is that Shimon is basically like not with us and is more with them so it's your problem it's not ours and also it a brilliant way in that time without allowed to make a weaponary system without Allah to have any idea God separated Shima just like you said or empathize God separate Shon as a one Mighty giant leadership the rest of them perhaps don't have a god yet want to Liv in peacefully without conflict with the Philistine God doesn't want not like a Gideon's battle even Gideon's battle God told Gideon I only only going to give you few thousand the rest of them go home enjoy their life perhaps that time the rest of folks not ready for the battle that's what I said yes with gon is a little different that was to prove a different point here it's the Jewish people are not ready we are talking about the beginning of Salvation we're not talking about a final uh Salvation and Redemption we're talking about the beginning and the beginning starts with what with the lone wolf that basically takes Revenge okay think we we beat up one question yes did the women the police team women did they always want him and want to be married to him or was he them in a way that that they weren't to go so much but for some reason okay you're you're asking a good you're asking a good question you're asking a good question the thing is like that Shimon basically took whatever wife he wanted from theim and theim I guess agreed with it for whatever reason maybe because he was able to provide uh tremendous nunia for them maybe he was uh good-looking maybe he was very strong I have no idea but not every ptit says please take me so that's for sure not the only thing is that after a while and that's what kazal basically are saying that when he was captured many of theot were sent to be with him because they thought that his strength will go through a DNA not knowing that it was a prophetic promise and whatever it is but the the idea is did he have children one but the idea but the idea is is that not all of them threw themselves on his you know to him and say please marry me I don't know if he had children I don't think he had children now let's continue they controlled is David agrees with our uh Theory basically the idea of um of associating with Pim and not with the Jewish people that will basically um provide us with an alibi it's not us meaning if the will tell the Jewish people why are you sending him we will tell them it's not he's not ours he's yours okay so they go down again to to what to cement the marriage so they reach the Vineyards of so there is a lion cob who is r and obviously it's probably a terrifying event from nowhere the spirit of God basically comes on him so you basically tear up this lion CB like that he has nothing in his hands just his hands and he didn't tell his parents what he did so now this is an interesting thing know he's going with his parents and then he goes somewhere else so I know maybe they went to the bathroom maybe he went to find food yeah when you go with your he was a teenager you know he can't go with his parents it looks bad so he went he went ahead and found this lion CB and he decided to what to tear him apart and everything is great okay Hees oh interesting until they didn't reach Vineyard themselves but then take a look at what the says [Music] not a big deal what do I need to uh to glorify myself and to this was okay I just tear up like a line cup that's that's easy now interesting his parents didn't ask him anything he didn't tell he didn't tell his parents anything and that was like almost like a maybe a sign for him you have the strength it must have been very neat I mean you know get yeah yeah yeah yeah maybe he had a spare shirt I don't know this is a very important um explanation of the malim the malim says look Shimon understood that this is a Divine sign not everyone understand those things he understood that this is a Divine sign that he has the strength but he didn't want to tell his parents why didn't he want to tell his parents we spoke about what I'm saying now it's not the malim it's me you like it you like it you don't like it you should like it the thing is like that last week we spoke about I think we spoke about last week about the idea or two weeks ago that um one of the questions that we asked was why is it that he was called Shimon remember that one yes and we spoke about and why it was uh told only to the mother and not to the father and we said that the mother was concerned that what that the father will talk too much and the ptin will hear that this baby is a is um destined destined for greatness and they will kill him very much like with MOS Renu right so that's why she didn't shared it with her husband perhaps Shimon also knew that and he it's almost like an ish mad okay it's like almost like working in the FBI I can't tell you where I walk because it will put you in danger which means Shimon realized that now he's starting his path towards fulfilling the Divine Mission if he will tell his parents look I just you know I just uh te apart the line CB okay so basically he will put them in danger because they knew about it and now they go to Tim to start that to initiate this this process so maybe he said you know what it's better for me not to tell them anything so they don't know anything about my strength so if they were question they will say I had no idea what you're talking about now can someone tell me why lion cob and not the lion lion lion Lion's pretty big is it would have been more of a challenge so why why a line C make sure he succeeded I think just to show that's the beginning you are just starting says a bear okay meaning when when sha says to David like who are you like what are you say yeah I'm thin guy but don't look at me like that I I killed the lion I killed the bear when they came to attack my flock I killed them both okay good so the idea is is that according to the Mal Shimon realizes that what that the beginning Starts Now Okay so again's eyes that's when I will give a full class on all that's not today but you are correct you are correct um so he basically I guess creat some kind of an engagement or some kind of a contract that he's going to marry her by the way we don't know anything about her just the fact that she's a so he sees in this line CB mouth or what used to be this line he say he so what um honey honey honey he takes from the honey you have a and you have honey there and he takes it it to his parents and he didn't tell them that uh where it's from so they think he probably found what beehive yeah somewhere it's nice maybe he bought it they don't ask anything and they also eat it which by the way reminds us reminds us something very famous that the woman gave it to Adam arish and he didn't ask any questions just say thank you he didn't even say thank you and he just ate it okay you don't ask especially you the Mal told you be careful with everything that it's impure so don't you ask that where did you get it from nothing everything is fine just get the honey and they move home now there is also one more thing with honey by the way when the Torah says we're not talking about bees we're talking about dates however there is in there is obviously a question about honey that comes from bees why because they are okay so and on that there is a meaning this is an interesting thing when you think about this example and we speak about the complexity of shimon's uh personality you have the T and the T at the same time you have a the itself is T mean it's cure it's it's okay to eat but it comes from what from an impure and T anim not animal Beast so in thank you so the idea is also with Chim from T he's going to do now something which is to marry this but something will come out from it okay says I interpret it as a sign for a good thing the malim says the opposite he ate something why not it's because it was where in the mouth of this what used to be right so this is so this is basically what assigned to sh you are going to what to do something okay so now so still still P the last PUK on page to so his father went down to this woman so Shimon will make a feast like all the other guys will do okay we will stop here and I'll just sum it up and next week Vach will continue so he's doing a mish so uh in a mish what do you serve I would guess you serve wine so first first and foremost when you make when you make a mish uh the first thing that you need to have when you have a mish besides the wine and the alcohol he's friends right you need to have friends because it's a part if not it's a party of one okay and it seems to be that he has a mish and uh he's one of the guys it says so it seems to be and this is something that we will build for next week he feels pretty comfortable with the Ping boys he's one of them they treat him like he's one of them he feels like he's one of them and also don't forget just add to it and we will deal with that later on is that he comes from chevan and really the first first class we spoke about it and I asked you do you know anything positive and nice about chevan and most of you came up with zero answers besides Shimon which become now more and more complicated we're not sure if that's a that a compliment or that's not a compliment Chan is known to be MEF the last tribe of the other tribes but also someone who brought an idol p m with him and was not known to be M the best tribe ever they improved whatever it is but Shimon is their like their hero um and yov himself give a to him and whatever it is so the idea is is that it might be this is more for the 21st century when you are being rejected or you have no friends with your own people you find you find different people so Shimon goes to Tim and he does it in a very natural way he's one of the gang he's one of the boys now it might be that it was also his plan to show I'm with you and now when made me so upset I will take my revenge so we will leave that for next week take those papers with you just give it back to the front desk so we will have it for next