Succession and Legacy of Kings Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz Chayai Sara 5778

[Music] everybody here thank you for coming we first announced we're trying to both cover some aspects of the parsha and the haftorah as well that's kind of the Josefa that we're trying to share hopefully it'll it'll work out basically the common denominator between the parsha and the haftorah is a very critical issue called succession you know Co Hellmuth tells us your whole life the dorba a generation goes and a new generation comes the entire future of the Jewish people the Jewish people have a destiny Hashem made a risk God made a covenant with a frown this was a spiritual covenant in which the Jewish people were given a mission to be a light unto the world and to function within the confines of the holy territory of Eric Israel but a decision has to be made who would carry on the bris with a broom I've run after all get up to children he had yesh morale from hug art and he had get stuff from Sarah and in a sense Avram didn't have to make a choice because her college Marco made that joint atomically said he be it Scott the carvaka Zara it is thrill yet Scott that your cedar is going to be perpetuated and in many ways yesh mail at least initially is surprisingly passive in accepting his fate now of course later that turned out to be a very very difficult predicament for the Jewish people and we suffer from it today but basically Ishmael gets banished with igari never comes back similarly although when after Sarah dies Avraham takes a woman Cotulla and according to Karl the Torah is actually Hadar and she comes back as a new person cateura not in masaha kick thomas her deeds are as pleasant as ketosis your smile doesn't come back per se although we are told that he did sugar of some sort but indeed cateura comes back and she becomes our Brown's life not just a concubine and from cateura Avram has seven children all of which become Nations but they too are sent to the east so essentially the playing board is being cleared so to speak get rid of you smile get rid of the Banega Torah send him somewhere else and who is left the sole survivor so to speak whose mission is to perpetuate the Brits of our own opinion you see it Scott and that is why indeed the particles I haven't talked about you start getting a wife etc who emulates the me--don't of Abraham in terms of present right to the two parts of the story are the death of Sarah and the acquisition of the life of his heart by the way there's an interesting point you know one very very interesting area of halakhah that's recently been the subject of a lot of debates and i mentioned this morning is the status of various alternative therapies that are rooted to some degree in Eastern religions no acupuncture was the first but now you have energy healing and buried knees and chakras and all sorts of things that really their historical origin are in the practices and meditations of idolatrous religions but there actually is a theory the theory I'm not sure if that's a clear marker in Fazal that when Avraham gave the Banega Torah gifts and he sent them to the east the East is are not defined to place essentially he gave them the roots of what later became Eastern wisdom and philosophy and meditative techniques so as a results we Jews claim everything not only to be claimed to be the source of Christianity and Islam which are the Western religions we also claim to be the source of the Eastern religions as well which have a great honor obvious things have been destroyed and things have been changed and the like but at its root it is a masseur from of Rama V know now that doesn't resolve the halacha question because the question becomes have there been enough idolatrous elements that can emanated or conversely can you take something that has its roots in idolatry and uprooted and separated when attacked from the abode Azara so now it becomes power of knowledge becomes neutral Yoga is a very good example obviously the meditative States of yoga were deeply connected to forms of religious worship but you can take yoga separate it and use it as a tool of relaxation and stretching in which there is not necessarily anyone with this connection so this is a fairly lively debate now in Eretz Israel at least among the people I meet every other person seems to be an energy healer seems to be very popular they say in Los Angeles every other person is a screenwriter every waiter in a in every restaurant is writing a screenplay in Eric Israel every other person I meet seems to be an energy healer and they say there was a lively harmonic debate there was a very prominent rub in Lakewood who wrote a huge book 400 English pages and 500 Hebrew pages or almost a thousand pages in which he argued by and large that most alternative therapies can indeed be utilized by a Torah observant Jew he's not saying they're valid that's a separate issue but in terms of Alaka they are not above his RS but then there was another great-grandpa who passed away a few years ago rabbi Belski of the Quran Allah Baraka who actually wrote a book claiming that most of them are still tainted with the boat Osorio so there is a debate going back in back end and forth but be innocent may that's the fate of the Banega tool so partial tricera is very much about succession and the spiritual elimination of all of those who might be rivals for that succession and what is interesting is that number one the choice of the successor was made by our pradesh for who and number two we don't see any disagreements unlike the Yaakov in a sub struggle that we'll have in a few weeks the yet Scottish mile struggle doesn't really seem to exist yesh mile gets banished going he's gone that's about it and the Bonet Couture simply are sent away with gifts and they don't even register a complaint so in a sense the passing of the baton to get Scott was a fairly simple procedure and and indeed got mandated that it be that it be so by contrast the haftorah also deals with a crisis in succession Duggan hemella is of course not the first king of Israel the first thing of Israeli show but it was understood at the outset that show all was intended to be a transitional monarch fact this raises interesting question because remember that it was known all the way back from Yaakov Levinas last will and testament that the mouth would the rulership for qwali Israel should repose in the tribe of Yehuda in a sense shall all who was from the tribe of Benjamin was an anomaly and in fact the Rambam explains that because the Jewish people did not have a proper motive when they requested a king in the time of Shamal God gave them a monarchy that by definition was set up to fail and which show all was never intended to be the permanent manner now that raises an interesting question which is not our subject today and that is the marshmallows of the narrative and Schmuel is that shall forfeit is a monarchy only because of the sin in not eradicating a moment implying had he not sinned his mouth would have continued according to the Rambam that's an impossibility because the mouth was always destined to go to you but we visit many the Davidic dynasty is clearly the mouth words that God has in mind and indeed the Messiah will be a descendant of Javed hemella smile could be stubborn and the life but dumb it has many many sons and the succession issues are not going to be as simple because God does not directly intervene in this process and it is left to the machinations and the various actions of human beings who are sometimes all too fallible again I don't want to sound irreverent to some degree I'm just using an analogy some grapes you're familiar with the Godfather saga and how Michael Corleone had to I like it really big picture okay and Michael probably only had to have to eliminate didn't have to but he decided that he needed to eliminate all of his potential rivals sometimes in a violent way we do see a certain spate of violence that's difficult to understand in this issue now in order to understand that October which is the beginning of the book of Malacca we actually need to go back to the ends of Shmuel and look at some of the preceding events in Dublin mlus life mm Ellis himself had a very stormy rule as we know when he was anointed show rule was still King and show all considered of it to be a rival that he wanted to kill Dublin's life was in danger even when show after show was killed and doubly became King initially for seven years he was only accepted as king by the tribes of Yehuda and Benjamin and his capital wasn't around it took seven years of actual civil war to some degree before Duggan could consolidate his rule over all of armies rail and then he moved the capital to the holy city of who shall I am which he completed the conquest of as well so governor melons forty years as two periods seven years in heaven in which his monarchy was not accepted universally by the people and then 33 years in Yerushalayim where his mouth was was accepted you'll recall that he himself wanted to build the beit hamikdash he was told by none Navi that he is not allowed to do so because he is a man of war a man of bloodshed and the beit hamikdash must be built through the power of peace and that is Riteish lama who was given that ability but nevertheless governor mela drew up the plan mm allah created or amassed the gold and the silver and the resources that were needed he did everything he possibly could short of actually having debates on McDuff constructed so so far governor my luck seems to be a person who achieved greatness through struggle and through difficulty but the end of small base gives us a very sordid and sant left turn in governor Malik's life in the wake of which ok many many many many tragedies and this starts off with the story of David and Bathsheba where David is according to the metrics the measures gives us a backstory that Dublin was proud of himself proud of the righteousness you name and governor Mellon who said to God something that is not wise to ever say God tests me so you will see that my heart is pure now you know every single day in Domini we asked us not to bring us to attention if we are given a test we hope we will pass it but no person dared be so confident that they could pass it in but does except God test me God and immediately he sees this beautiful woman bathing across the way and he must happen he must have dove it's temperament although he was very very righteous but dove it's temperament was he had strong passions he was a person of strong passions these were his weaknesses these were his Achilles heel again God forbidden no one is saying gift of it was generally like sentient the absolutely was not but this was one of the nice Janos in his life that he had to face and what happened was he had relations with my java and bat Sheva got pregnant from those relations and now Govan has to engage in a cover-up what's gonna be your people discovered because her husband is a soldier in the army and she gets pregnant what's gonna be and with those they didn't have you know reporters that were reporting on all of these things but still this could be quite humiliating so dubbins act to here is he summons were you back for more he says hey you want yeah why don't you take a nice vacation why don't you go spend time with your wife and you know have a good time thinking that you could then deny that this was his child and you know when t ever give birth don't say it's oriental warrior as a loyal soldier is actually disloyal to the king's order and said your majesty i really want to get back to the battlefield they need me there so doubled in has a plan - a plan b and he orders yo up tub in general to put Oriya and the front lines Lauria dies in battle then dub is legitimately marries by seven then he can cover up the out-of-wedlock pregnancy or the adulteries pregnancy by simply saying that it was his child after he married so so far so far it's working out well I'll talk about the gamora's comments in a moment but the problem is when you have prophets not so easy to get away with it the nothing that I'm kind of a shmore was no longer alive remember the great turmoil is dead he died very young but the Prophet who took schmorl's role is not time another and that ultimately goes to the king is that your majesty I want to discuss an issue with you there was a rich man that had flocks of sheep and cattle and there was a poor man's it had one little sheet that's all he owned in the world and the rich man appropriated that sheep for his own banquet and he slaughtered it and the poor man was left with nothing at all what do you think of such a person mm Ellis says that person is wretched that person is evil such a person deserves to die and nothing nothing points to govern and say you are that you have the wealth you have the wives Duffy had many wives besides the point lady key wines many children ash lemon was not his only child you had many children and you took the one thing this person had and if you're gonna say well it got killed in war that time said you killed him with the sword of the ammonite maybe the ammonite enemy was the enemy who stuck the sordid but you don't play technicalities now well it is quite amazing about does it is dove its response definitely responded with only one word Kentucky I have sinned like this is actually very very critical in Douglas rehabilitation because people ask the question show hemella was given a commandment by God to eradicate on my living shall did fulfill the commandment 99% he spared some animals and he spared the king Shmuel basically conveys the message from God one strike and you're out you don't get a second chain you're out of here dove it is with but Shepherd that's seemingly a more serious of a role though I'll I'll mentioned what caused all said and although dubbed suffered tremendously as we will see me the reason I'm going back with little bit is because this is the backdrop to Malaga but Dublin is given a second chance he's given the ability to go on and not only that but his progeny remain king all the way in so much yeah why is doesn't given a chance when Shaw was not so there are two answers that Joseph elbow in the sacred quorum which both worked very interesting answers after number one and this is quite fascinating is Shaw Olsen was in the execution of his duties as monarch as a monarch he was obligated to do certain things he did not do them therefore he is removed from office dove inson was a very very serious personal moral failing but it did not it was not connected to a political misfeasance in the conduct of his office now those of you that remember that that's correct that's exactly right some of you might remember some of you might not but this was a live debate in the United States regarding Bill Clinton when Bill Clinton was the Monica Lewinsky or whatever this without getting into its sordid details of that story the question was he was committing adultery at a minimum it's not worse the question was is adultery grounds for impeachment so some made the argument it was not because although adultery was a very serious personal moral thing it did not pertain to how we executed the responsibilities of the office as opposed to something like bribery or the like and there actually is a strong constitutional argument under the US Constitution probably under Israel as well as never in the Constitution but the principal would be that personal moral failures are not connected to political leadership now it is surprising to apply that context in a tour in the tourist society because one would have thought in a tourist Society what are you talking about you're not listening to God's will then of course you can't believe but Rivaldo suggests this dichotomy even in the case of Durban hemella but he gives a second answer that I think resonates a bit more and he says the difference between shoreland of it was not in the magnitude of their sin doesn't sin may have been worse than shows but the differences in shoreland of it is how they respond when they realize that basically if you look in the book of Shmuel when Schmoe L goes over to Sheol and says why didn't you listen to God the first thing shuttle does he denies and he says I've listened to out him I've done everything and then she will says why do I hear the sheep bleating so at that point you can't say he did everything so instead he blames others he equivocate he says Wow the people made me do it in other words denial equivocation not taking responsibility dummies greatness was he acknowledged the media that he was wrong that he sinned and what's interesting is according to kazaaam Dov had actually had a lot of excuses he had excuses that he could have used that he didn't you know the famous teaching of Kazan that technically but Sheva was not a married woman because when soldiers went to war they would give their wives a debt in order that if they're missing in action the wives should not be stranded women by the way in 1948 the rubber Nuits under apartheid was considering whether that should be the policy in the IDF because of missing in action even today women if sometimes I do note for a very long time they concluded they didn't want to do it as an institutional policy because it would undermine combat morale because a lot of y'all always have to have this feeling if he's married that his wife is waiting for him but I understand someone told me that privately privately there are column if they're being called to combat duty in high-risk units and they're religious that they they will give their wife a and get every time they're called to active duty which if you're calling this stuff work unfortunately the coin divorce is sobriety can't marry again but they divorce and they remarried divorced and they remarry in orders asked if God forbid he's missing in action she will be able to marry well if she's divorced you know what can I tell you so in truth the gomorrah says but Shippo is a single woman and what about Devin sending him to the front isn't he an accessory in a murder someone says no before he had to find I'm sorry for you define a royal order he could have been executed which is interesting you can be executed for not taking implication that essentially order objectification says you're not listening you know actually give the guy for failure to take a vacation when ordered to take a leap so the point is does it have excuses I can take Cox that the Kumar's luncheon is anyone that says doesn't sin he's making a mistake but I think you have to understand anyone that says dove it didn't sin it's also making a mistake because it's obviously it's clear that's spiritually spiritually this was adultery and this was murder even though David had all the technicalities coverage so one of the powerful lessons see this is important a lot of people accuse comes out of whitewashing the story I think it's really the opposite because now they're telling you something very important that even when you have the technicalities that defends your action that does not exonerate you in the eyes of Michelle I think there's something very powerful for the for the lobby to simply tell me adultery and murder are wrong that's an obvious preposition but to say you are an adulterer and you are a murderer when in fact she had again and when in fact he was sorry of misa I think that makes a very very powerful point you cannot be innocent in the eyes of Hashem when your motives and your reasons are tainted no matter what technicalities you have that defend your behavior that is an enormous ly important important lesson so dub it basically says Rev Joseph Alba was given a second chance not because of the nature of his sin but because of the nature of his response leaders can make mistakes leaders can do all sorts of things that are wrong but the key is that Harry Truman said the buck stops here I take responsibility for my actions I don't blame others you know there are leaders in many many fields who are always willing to take credit for these successes of an organization and they're always willing to blame others for the things that go wrong true leadership is almost the opposite true leadership basically is always willing to share the credit and takes a great great share of the responsibility for things that do not don't go back and that was the greatness of so Videla but one has to understand you know there's an expression sometimes there's a pejorative expression in christianity called cheap grace you just go to a priest and confess your sins and you get great the grace of God for nothing Judaism does not believe in cheap grace there are going to be consequences God forgives and God loves you and God brings you back into his loving embrace but there are consequences to actions and the consequences were very very devastating governor MELAS did not have an easy life for the rest of his days first of all as an initial matter the baby that was supposed to have this but Shepherd died shortly after birth and therefore God said this was a tainted child this was a child that came from sin and improper motivations that we don't even know if there was some some aspect of breaks not described as rape but how voluntary wasn't when the king says and I want to have sexual relations with you so God says I'm taking away the kid that's the first then we read the horrendous story of Absalom Absalom was one of David's own children from another wife and half Shalom rises against his father to impose his father and to kill his father if necessary and governor Melek is forced as a relatively old man already in his sixties within the last decade of his life to leave you shall I not only leave the monarchy but really running away for his very life and what happens is of course all of the malcontents relatives and friends of shoham Ellis who have been very unhappy for these past few decades now our jubilant shimmy bangerra a very a relative of Sheol is throwing rocks and dirt depth of it as though it is running away and saying now you're getting what you deserve because you'd oppose the true Anointed One of God and then we know of course that the story of up Shalom has an especially tragic ending because I've Shalom himself died again it's such a complicated story I've shot him on the other hand wants to kill this mother and what happens is remember the story I've shot him as long beautiful hair he's riding a donkey gets clocked his hair gets caught in the branch and he's swinging the leg can something unlikely scenario and y'all of been Surya is a trigger-happy general looks of it who always likes to put his enemies to death figures he's doing a great great favor by killing up Shama and he kills him and you might think that perhaps dubbers would be happy that this enemy is gone but dub it weeks in size shabbat shalom why could I not die instead of you I've shown the knee of Shalom beneath because I'll say he said seven times up Shalom my son of Shalom my son and each time that lifted him up one level there are seven levels of Jahannam each one lifted him up a little bit now we have of course in Rogue Valley Michael Kidron we have a certain Monument that historically traditionally identified as the tomb of the memorial I love Shalom now in all probability I believe that historians archaeologists basically it absolutely is not from us all immigrants from the time of the Crusaders and it has nothing to do with Uppsala but nevertheless know traditionally there's a folk tradition that we connect this to offshore limits called Yad Absalom and it is said that when I'm sure Levites whenever he went to the Kotel he always made a stop at the Atif Shalom to pray dad had got now the other club is not a big place of Prayer you don't find like manana assembled bayada up shallow to dive in there but he always made a point of traveling at the other fella and was very emotional and we saw he would weep and somebody said according you know what are you doing there I've shot him was it was a Russia bad guy he says not only says for the story of up Shalom we see the unconditional love of a father for a son even when a son wants to kill his son the father says better me than you you know I would rather die than you so the capsule ever says I go to a college bar when I say we're your children we have been unfaithful we have for though we are undeserving but even up Shalom look at what his father prayed for can you not God be the same as stuff in MLS in his care for the young worthy option and so he thought it was a very moving place for him to go to so doublet lost his baby doublet lost his son Absalom Javed suffered the humiliation of being deposed and then there's another story there as well in the aftermath of coverton bat Sheva dove its oldest son was unknown and there's a whole sordid story of unknown raping raping taça his half-sister Tamar we have sister meaning from another another mother and government is facing all of this and and although all of them are for some understand that this was somehow the aftermath of dub reason but Sheva which all of these sufferings had to be played out so this brings us to the beginning of the book of Malacca which in fact is the October Kaiser didn't even begin the actual after yet I was giving you the the necessary background and we described a king who's only 70 years old 70 is not young 70 is the new 50 where they say you know if a people are and intellect and especially as I get a little closer on the mouth of my bridge I'm not quite there yet seventy is much younger than then I used to think you think it was people used to say don't trust anyone above 30 that was the matter of that hippies in the 60s until until Abbie Hoffman take 30 there you have to change the year no matter the matter a little bit but double it is worn out dub it is spent you could imagine you could imagine that you know perhaps this actually happened the laugh just the last 10 years too though there's last 10 years took everything out of them lost his children lost them their many many things and it says he is shivering with cold and even though he's covered with garments the garments give him no one to hear because I'll have a very interesting observation like why does he make a point he's covered with blankets with garments so cuz I will say we seek we're an important lesson that if you treat garments with disrespect the garments will not help you at the end and it goes back to a story that when governed with a young man and Schaal was pursuing dove it too killed of it at one point I went she'll was relieving himself in a cave in a maja he left a he left his cloak outside and dug he cut off a little piece of the cloak and then he's standing on a mountain mountain top or a hilltop and he's showing sure you see how close I was to you I cut off a piece of your cloak I could have killed you very easily you were very vulnerable in there so why do you look at me as your enemy and if you remember shall momentarily was a piece as amazing my beloved of etcetera then eventually he turned against him again now it's interesting because I don't choose doesn't of being disrespectful to the king because govern actually what's the king but he was disrespectful to a piece of clothing so why should be sure to tell their husbands that don't throw your clothing around etc because you treat clothing with disrespect the clothing eventually doesn't get you want now so they come up with something which to the modern leader seems very very bizarre but you actually added a perspective here and they said well clothing isn't working but maybe a human body will somehow stimulate the warmth within and they look for a beautiful virgin woman and she's found a be Shia shoe enemies from the city of tsunami and the pus look makes the point and ugly did not know her which is another way of saying yeah they did not have sexual relations now here I want to point out something very interesting all the years that I've learnt this and I think the vast majority of at least religious people who learn this understand that this is essentially making a righteous statement about the other debt don't think this was a matter of sexual passion and gratification this was simply a matter warm you needed warmth the garments weren't working maybe you and being with work in other words the issue well who lo you da is kind of describing doublet spiritual state that he did not use her in a sexual way but for the first time I recently saw an alternative explanation that to me fits a lot of the narrative here and that is it is not making the point he didn't want to have sexual relations with him the intention actually was she would be a mistress that would serve a pledge that would somehow stimulate him and when it says he did not know where it is referring to he lost his ability he was invited meaning not that he didn't want now again overall let me explain what's going on here one of the ways this whole parrot is understood we're going to see that while David is still alive there is a major battle between the sons who will take over it is known that dubbing on their favorite the second son the first time they have from but jeopardize the second son after that Sheva is none other than who at this time is not an old man one more mother has only 12 years old but he has an older brother I don't need your whole bench like in Adana Yelp and I get figured the following mama is a kid I can push him around very easily my father is an infinite sick old man who really doesn't know what's going on this is an ideal time for a power grab so our Mayo is not quite as bad as I've shut him up some wanted to the post until this moment at a time when government was still vigorous and in control as in the Oh as far as we know it's not a tempting two harms of it in anyway but he's basically trying to create the scenario to emphasize there is a leadership vacuum in omnious RAL we have to fill it so according to this some have suggested this is a daring suggestion which is not said in classical commentators that the whole idea of getting the Virgin was part of our own ayaahs own manipulation to highlight the weakness the impotence and the incapacity of Governor Miller in other words he was the leaker right you know Donald Trump is always talking about the people that are leaking in other words this idea this hey we got him a beautiful woman again I forgive me for the in delegating and he couldn't even be with her meaning this is part of the strategy to discredit and demeaned of it and then the argument is and is a kid that's the implicit second part of the argument therefore we need a man of action a man of power a man of determination and in fact if you look at whether Jimmy O did Danny oh did not proclaim himself as king because if he would have done that that would have been too blatant rather what he does is he makes a party he invites influential people meaning he's positioning himself to eventually make the statement hey I'm the guy that's well-connected I'm the guy that knows how to organize people you'll see if you read the puss up you will actually see he does not directly say I am the king but he's trying to create the environment where that choice is going to be seen as inevitable and delight and he gets a number of people who are politically very well-connected yo of been Tsuruga dove it's overzealous general because yo up after all what does yo of look for me leader decisiveness strength determination yo art sees this much more in our doneö if ya Scirocco head we don't know exactly why but of yester was the calling the doll and he gravitated to I go to yo a second color who became colored girdle as a result of this but he was not coming earlier at the time was so duck and a sauna Navi most importantly not son the profit stage with now himself is initially not involved in this at all meaning to say la mode doesn't even know what his brother was doing but now son and avi knows either through prophecy or read those notes and the fact that he wasn't invited he actually sees that as a sign that of Danielle's leadership is not going to be based on spiritual truth so he goes to bat Sheva and he says you know that this I don't know yo is trying to usurp the mouth hood from your son and they concoct a plan where each of them separately will go to Dublin first the order here yeah first the mother right there you go like go to your husband of it and talk to him about it and then I will come in and give the prophetic imprimatur that there is a plot that is going on and there's a description here but Sheva goes to the inner chamber of the King a bedroom of the king as very few people go into and the king is very old and it says I'll be shocked a tsunami is servicing the king that's the actual workmen charrette at Tamela this is a bit of an odd scene for a wife although maybe when there are many wives maybe it's not quite as bad as you might imagine it that's but Sheva comes to the inner chamber of the king while he is being warm clay I be shocked at you nothing but she doesn't lose her composure although one could imagine that this might be a bit emotionally distressing and she bowed down to the king and the King says what can I do for you and he says you swore she says you swore that she lumber will become the king and behold as in yo I'm Ella a wo is trying to become King etc he is bringing offerings he is inviting and many politically well-connected people etc and then now son huh Navi comes because after all you see you're building up credibility here because if she simply says I didn't a yo was arrival that doesn't mean anything because I've been the oh really just made a party he didn't really proclaim himself but no ton of Navi puts the prophetic imprimatur and then what happens is that governor Mela finally gets his energy back so to speak and he's very decisive and he orders that hemella the the anointed king at Giza con is they she will La Silla well that's what's historically that was the main water supply for you who shall I am the geek on and that is where Kings are anointed because just as a river is a gushing renewing current so - we asked a chef of blessing made the Kings from our foot beam in chakra and continued to gush and flourish and it ends with the proclamation of everyone you see hemella may Shalom Hollis live may he prosper Govan of course was not able to attend the coronation because she was sick but nevertheless this is how the issue of succession was now again if you look at it from the political perspective if you look at it from a political perspective you see that here is the issue in a political analysis mm Ella had two different personalities two different faces mm Ella was acting over the mouth was passionate he was a warrior he was strong he was sensual and yet that same mm Ella that was the great warrior and the decisive leader was a deeply righteous and spiritual person at the same time he is the author of most of the to Hillary in which he explores his relationship to God in many many ways he is called in the book of Shinhwa NIM to me Huggies Forel the sweet singer of beautiful songs of praise so dove it is a relatively rare combination because normally we perceive of exotic is kind of a withdrawn person a person who's not involved in the rough and tumble of society and yet dove it had these two attributes though it was the aggressive warrior and the passionate sensual person and the man of action in fact if you remember the induction oil mm Ellis had a practice that when his army went to war he would position himself in the front of the troops which is something that general normally does not do even for good reasons and finally his men forced him to not be in them in the head of the battle but his nature was if I'm sending you out to battle I'm going to fight with you and yet that same person was the righteous meditator I'm a Scottish border so dove it as a multi-faceted person had these different aspects to accept and some sons had one aspect and some sons had other aspects the Absalom's and argentinos of the world had the sensuality had the passion had the determination had the military prowess flora number one was young number two limo was scholarly slo-mo was introspective slo-mo was spiritual of the later he had certain problems the power may have gone to his head but at least initially remember he's the one that asks God for wisdom God offers him wealth and power so he just wants with them so you can understand we stub it do we want to take over remember the story of the seven men and the elephant seven blind men seven fine men feel an elephant and they're asked to describe what does an elephant feel like what do you think it looks like so one person who felt the trunk said oh an elephant is a long heel a long snake another person who felt the ears of the elephants as though an elephant is a gigantic butterfly someone who felt the stomach said an elephant just like a hippopotamus weight or whatever whatever it would be all of them are wrong because the elephant has all of these characteristics but each one only sees part of the Nazis of the gate looklive but each one understands only part of the legacy loved' is multifaceted yahwah sees the general the heroic general in war and says I want a not doing a yo type of guy to be the leader but not ton of nothing the Shelia's of God understands that yeah military prowess is important political skills are important passion is important but ultimately it is the connection with Hashem that is a true foundation therefore it is Shu Ouma that at least at this point in his life has that quality in spite of his youth in spite of his inexperience in spite of his passivity so it is helpful to kind of view this in the sense of a political struggle about the contested legacy the contested and mixed legacy of Devon Hama and the fact that succession for Jewish leadership must ultimately be based on spiritual qualities even if there might be better people in some of the other qualities that were there in any event as we know the Jewish Arab Empire reached its maximum size during the reign of Miller anyway and he was blessed with not having to confront military struggles and and warrant so that's kind of two perspectives so once again the common denominator between the haftorah and the parsha is succession passing on the basis of spiritual considerations but as I say in the parsha the transition is very very smooth in the happy Torah it's very very turbulent and I should go on then although dr. only has the first Kirk of Malacca in the second pair of Malacca the struggle continues because even after I do neo sees that is Kenyan what's interesting is unlike up Shalom Adele neo does not contest his father's decision actually very interesting once started as proclaimed slumber was king double yo apparently makes peace with them he's not working in the way up show them worked maybe he's a smarter operator he saw with that gun of trouble and of course remember yo of remember Adele Neos kiella is yellow and yellow is ultimately very loyal to doesn't understand I mean Noah was the one who killed up Java if I drove a yo turns against oven even in dub is weakness Yolo may kill attorney so at the onio seemingly concedes to the coronation of formal dubbed them dice in Perak base our journey no makes a very bizarre request and it's fascinating he doesn't make the request directly he goes to Bathsheba now but Sheva you would figure would not be so friendly and predisposed towards either the young Joe is the one who was trying to take the maltose away from batch ever so but he goes to bed chef I'm saying you know no hard feelings slow-mo was coronated great could you go to the king though the King Schwab of the king and ask for a favor in my BM so but Sheva considers a little island why am I asking for favors and your bf I mean go to your father you want a statement and then you try to go to your brother and the favor remember double died but the favor that janilla wants is he would like to marry I've been shocked assured I met this beautiful woman that was Miss Charlotte Davis in the last months of David's life and Devon did not have sexual intercourse with her Devon did not marry her so it's not his father's Widow beautiful woman she's not part of the royal court I'd like to take her for a wife ask the King the king if I can do so but Sheva all she does is she conveys the request as is no commentary knows OSHA slow-mo gets absolutely infuriated and he takes a step that one might think it's a bit of an overreaction essentially he orders a zone a yo to be killed Giulio is killed for making request now you wonder like what is going on you know couldn't you just say no and apparently this is a much deeper issue and the issue here is that slow-mo precedes that after the OU is trying to establish its entitlement to the monarchy in a very indirect way because there is a general concept that anything that belonged to the king I say possessions scepters chairs can only be used by the king meaning this kind of a royal entitlement that no one else can use the intimate possessions of a melon now it's true I mean I know it's a little demeaning to talk about a human being as a possession it's hard to know how to characterize iviva she was not a wife she was not a concubine the assigned function that she has is a human blanket equipped right now the truth of the matter is if you're not a king you don't get the Kings quilt you don't get a visa now if you're trying together we shine then in the eyes of the public that may indicate why did she know that I don't know get the Kings into my possession maybe he's not really ready to be king maybe he's actually conceding it so I do know is this is a very devious kind of argument in which our Tonio is trying to establish individual a claim and an entitlement to the monarchy through Shlomo's own consent so she Lomo sees that I do Leo's apparent acceptance of the coronation in the lifetime of dubbing was really only a ruse for a further attempt undermine and their present enemy to the king how lucky is this cosmo raid by mullahs he's actually now what one slow-mo opens this up though you know what they say the first murder is the hardest you know a person has to get over a lot of natural inhibitions to kill another human being even if they deserve it yeah so see his brother but once you do it the other ones get a little little easier and then he turns to another fellow who is not related to the family shimmy Ben Guerra now Jimmy Ben Guerra this is a very very strange story just to remind you again shimmy Ben Guerra was a man from the tribe of Benjamin in fact he's an ancestor of mortified with the Mordechai over the porta maggiore she be Ben Guerra threw rocks and dirt clods of mud at David and mocked him as he's fleeing yerushalayim to get away from up Shalom of the other son of shovel Noah wanted to kill shimmy Ben Gary at the time dubbing others a very immoral spiritual saintly sentiment that basically said everything that happens to a human being is decreed by the Almighty if God did not want me to be shamed or humiliated this wouldn't have happened now philosophically this raises an enormous issue of the intersection of free will as human suffering I'm not going to address that right now but the one thing we can say for sure is that dubbins attitude what's forgiving of his attitude was accepting the obits attitude is don't attack turn the other cheek essentially okay well that's fine but I'm dug his deathbed he gives slo-mo and instruction dubbing gave the instructions and he said be sure you take care of this shimmy bengay run and give him what he deserves so right off the bat you got a real problem because on one end doesn't and it's not so much a problem with it's a problem with dove it or it since the Contra was done because dub it exemplifies forgiveness forbearance willingness to accept humiliation and pain because it all comes from God so I must accept it with love and then he tells Lama after I'm gone take care of him and indeed then Moluccan just to finish the story it talks about what sure mo did slow mo set up a kind of a trap he told shimmy listen I'm not gonna kill you now why did you say that it's not clear why didn't he just do it but he's I'm not gonna kill you but I'm putting you under city arrest you stay in Jerusalem don't leave the city and the day that you leave the city you're a goner I can hear Mick left don't leave and the story goes he has some slaves that escaped and he went looking for the slaves and of course one mo had people watching him movements and at that point that gave I don't know the excuse to kill him you kill him the clown shoe elevenses to say very interesting words he says what type of idiot is shimmie I mean he knows if he leaves Jerusalem no he's gonna get killed or he might get killed he could have sent other people to look for his slaves why is he putting his life in danger over this torrential episode psychologically very interesting idea if he wouldn't have been told that he couldn't leave he wouldn't have left as soon as you're told you can't do something there's an unbearable urge I gotta do it yeah even if even if you know he wasn't confined to a house he was confined to a city so a person can live in your schleimann never leave but as soon as you're told you can never leave the city again you have to get out you're having to get out and that which level is playing on that's best the idea that a person just can't stand to be confined and they'll even take risks to their life but Beavis it may the question still is not the same with this question is how do we understand of it is dubbing the forgiving accepting humble person or he's dug it out to settle scores after he dies like what's going on here did you just change his mind it's tricky I don't have a hundred percent answer but but I would suggest maybe the following idea and that is double Anila did not want to act out of vengeance and anger over the melon when today act other than judgment of what would be best for the Jewish people now collectively shimmy Ben Guerra was high of Mesa he publicly assaulted them on earth and that's a sea of Mesa but thought they didn't want to act in the heat of the moment because had he acted in the heat of the moment part of his action would have been not the abstract a luffing principle it would have been his own anger and his own humiliation so he waited until he no longer had those feelings of rage and then made a disinterested judgement as to what his best I remember hearing from the bus new Rebbe the Coronel de braga that his father who was the first bus in the Rebbe in Boston used to hit him if he misbehave he would hit him but his father always waited 24 hours if the boy did something wrong the father would not hit him right away the father would hit him 24 hours later because he wanted to discipline him based on an objective judgment that this is what is best for the child because if I hit because I'm angry I'm upset then I'm not always thinking about what is best for the child yeah that's a very interesting point I once mentioned this story to a child psychologist and she she had she had a problem she said that little kids don't have a very good sense of time and memory so you hit again you hit a kid 24 hours after something like that kid doesn't even doesn't even remember what it's connected to I mean anyway so she felt it was a bit of a problem okay I understand but to the point that one does not discipline the child because they're in a bad mood the bridge is a very valid point parents have a mitzvah to properly discipline children that's 100% true disciplining a child I'm not enjoying hitting but whatever would be setting limits is very important part of cleaner but it always has to be because it is the best interest of the child not because I had a bad day at work and I'm upset over things that happened else again I'm not putting myself at the static I mean I I fail at this as much as anyone else fails that it doesn't work out but in theory in theory any discipline directed to a child has to be only because it is the best thing for the child and not because I'm angry I'm upset so if you have to wait until your discipline you know there would be a point and there would be a point and a justification after then okay so you all have a good week and a good Shabbes [Music] you [Music]