shoftim2021

shoftim2021

King Bling – Shoftim

 

וְהָיָה כְשִׁבְתּוֹ עַל כִּסֵּא מַמְלַכְתּוֹ וְכָתַב לוֹ אֶת מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת עַל סֵפֶר מִלִּפְנֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם. וְהָיְתָה עִמּוֹ וְקָרָא בוֹ כָּל יְמֵי חַיָּיו לְמַעַן יִלְמַד לְיִרְאָה אֶת ה' אֱ-לֹקָיו לִשְׁמֹר אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת וְאֶת הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה לַעֲשֹׂתָם (דברים יז-יח).

This week’s parsha describes when Am Yisrael will be settled in Eretz Yisrael, that they will ask to appoint a king, like all the other nations.  Hashem’s response – “you may appoint a king, but with the following provisos …” and the psukim go on to list who the king must be, what the king is not allowed to do – too many horses, wives, money, etc. Then follows the above two psukim – that the king has to write משנה תורה.

According to the Gemara (Sanhedrin 21b) a king is obligated to write two sifrei Torah.

"כותב לשמו שתי תורות. אחת שהיא יוצאה ונכנסת עמו ואחת שמונחת לו בבית גנזיו. אותה שיוצאה ונכנסת עמו עושה אותה כמין קמיע ותולה בזרועו"

The first is kept in storage in the king’s treasury and the second sefer Torah functions as an “accessory” to the king (what we call today – “bling”, lehavdil). This second sefer is attached to the king's arm and accompanies him wherever he goes (excepting to unclean places) to fulfill what it says in Tehillim –

שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד (תהילים טז, ח)

So obviously the pshat of this arrangement is that the king is “physically” attached to the Torah, it is omnipresent and a constant reminder for the king to unswervingly adhere to the laws of the Torah. There is however something beyond the pshat, which I explore in my sefer (מאיר פנים, פרק יג).

This model of the “Torah-King combo” can be found somewhere else in the Torah.

In the Gemara (Yoma 72b) it says –

"אמר ר יוחנן שלשה זירים הן, של מזבח ושל ארון ושל שלחן. של מזבח זכה אהרן ונטלו, של שלחן זכה דוד ונטלו, של ארון עדיין מונח הוא כל הרוצה ליקח יבא ויקח"

Three keilim in the Mikdash have crowns, the Mizbach Haketoret, the Aron and the Shulchan.  The crown on the mizbeiach belongs to Aharon and the Kohanim, the crown on the Shulchan belongs to David Hamelech and his descendants and the crown on the Aron is “up for grabs” - anyone can claim it. This is echoed in a Mishna (Avot 4, 13) in a slightly different order –

רבי שמעון אומר, שלשה כתרים הם, כתר תורה וכתר כהונה וכתר מלכות

As we know the Aron in the Kodesh Hakodashim was a repository for the Luchot Habrit, amongst other things - a jar of Mann, the flowering staff of Aharon and a sefer Torah (there is a machloket whether the sefer Torah was in the Aron, or on a shelf adjacent to it). The Aron is the “treasury” of the Torah and the crown of the Torah is free for anyone to claim, there are no familial or royal claims to the Torah. Any person who wants to delve into the Torah and study it can claim the crown. The Aron (in the 1st Beit Hamikdash at least) did not budge. It remained in the Kodesh Hakodashim as a permanent fixture (like the first sefer Torah the king is commanded to write and store in his treasury).

There was a second “sefer Torah” in the Heichal however, which was not a permanent fixture – the Menorah! The purpose of the Menorah was to radiate the light of the Torah from the Aron - out to the rest of the world.

Alongside the Menorah was the Shulchan, a symbol of royalty (re: David Hamelech above).

Both the Menorah and Shulchan were mobile, they were not permanent fixtures like the Aron. On the Shloshet Haregalim the Kohanim would bring out the Menorah and Shulchan to show to all of Am Yisrael.

So here we have the identical model of the the Torah-King combo described above in this week’s parsha – The king (Shulchan) with the Torah accessory attached (Menorah) and the second sefer in the Treasury (Aron).

To better understand the symbiotic relationship between the king and his Torah attachment, we need to examine the relationship between the Menorah and the Shulchan.

The Menorah and the Shuchan stood alongside each other in the Heichal, just in front of the Parochet (behind which was the Aron). The Menorah was at the southern end and the Shulchan at the northern end.  This is alluded to in the Gemara (Bava Batra 25b) –

הרוצה שיחכים ידרים ושיעשיר יצפין

which echoes the Menorah’s affiliation with the Torah and the Shulchan with royalty and wealth.

The question is which כלי served which? Did the Menorah serve the Shulchan or vise versa?

Logically one would think that the Shulchan, a symbol of royalty, material wealth and גשמיות is there to serve the Menorah, the light of the Torah.

However, this is not what the psukim tell us.

In parshat Beha’alotcha it says -

דַּבֵּר אֶל אַהֲרֹן וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ אֶת הַנֵּרֹת אֶל מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה יָאִירוּ שִׁבְעַת הַנֵּרוֹת (במדבר ח, ב).

Rashi says that the 6 wicks on either side of the central stem pointed towards the central stem. But this perush is problematic, because the passuk says that all seven wicks lit אֶל מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה. The Rashbam (שם) says that all seven wicks were tilted to light up - the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim , the פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה.

In parshat Truma it says -

"וְשַׂמְתָּ אֶת הַשֻּׁלְחָן מִחוּץ לַפָּרֹכֶת וְאֶת הַמְּנֹרָה נֹכַח הַשֻּׁלְחָן עַל צֶלַע הַמִּשְׁכָּן תֵּימָנָה וְהַשֻּׁלְחָן תִּתֵּן עַל צֶלַע צָפוֹן" (שמות כו, לה).

That the Menorah is נֹכַח הַשֻּׁלְחָן indicating that the purpose of the Menorah is to serve the Shulchan, which is mentioned 3 times in this passuk (the Menorah is only mentioned once).

This relationship is also seemingly echoed in the Mishna (Avot 3, 17) –

אם אין קמח, אין תורה

where the flour (Shulchan) precedes the Torah (Menorah).

Despite the above, the relationship between the Menorah and the Shulchan was not one כלי being subservient to the other, but rather both symbiotically serving each other.

The Menorah shone its light onto the Shulchan. The Shulchan reflected this by “lighting up” its face, פנים, in a smile (as in יאר ה' פניו אליך) – the shape of the Lechem Hapanim was a smile. The Menorah (רוחניות) shone the light of the Torah onto the Shulchan (גשמיות) and gave it direction and purpose. The Shulchan in return fed the Menorah from its material produce with oil to produce light.

This is why the Mishna in Avot above continues with –

אם אין תורה, אין קמח

The two were symbiotic. עולם הזה cannot exist on רוחניות alone, it has a גשמיות component and for the two to exist in the service of HKB”H they must work symbiotically with each other.

Both the Shulchan and the Menorah faced the Parochet and the Aron. Their symbiosis is channeled to serving HKB”H.

Appointing a king was not an idyllic situation. The true and only King is HKB”H. This is why the passuk says –

כִּי תָבֹא אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה' אֱ-לֹקֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְיָשַׁבְתָּה בָּהּ וְאָמַרְתָּ אָשִׂימָה עָלַי מֶלֶךְ כְּכָל הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבֹתָי (דברים יד).

The initiative to appoint a king comes from Am Yisrael, not from Hashem, just like when Moshe sent spies, it said שלח לך אנשים.

However the Torah recognizes the fact that עולם הזה cannot exist on רוחניות alone, it requires materialistic leadership - someone to build roads, someone to wage war, etc. Therefore the Mikdash and the royalty must contain both a spiritual and a materialistic element working together in tandem.

The king had to have two sifrei Torah. One stored for safekeeping in the treasury, on a pedestal as it were, like the sefer Torah in the Aron. This symbolized the purpose, the ultimate direction. The second sefer, like the Menorah, was a “travelling” sefer. It accompanied the king wherever he went (like the Menorah was displayed together with the Shulchan in the Mikdash to Am Yisrael on the Shloshet Haregalim). This was a mobile, living Torah that was not only physically attached to the king’s arm, but was “plugged in” to his neshama guiding his every step, radiating Torah out to the rest of Am Yisrael through his leadership.

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