Shabbat Morning Class -Shavuot
Rabbi Mansour 2011
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On the upcoming holiday of Shavuot we read the book of Ruth, which ends with the birth of David Hamelech. David Hamelech was a most unique figure in our history. He was both the King of Israel, and a prophet. He was an incredible Sadik and prophetically composed the book of Tehilim.
Let us analyze the origin of David Hamelech’s life, as well as his mission and accomplishments in this world.
In the beginning of creation, Hashem showed Adam Harishon each generation and its leaders. Adam noticed the holy soul of David Hamelech that was shining bright. Adam inquired about David’s soul, and was told that it was destined for only 3 hours of life! When Adam saw this, he offered to gift 70 years of his own life to David. Hashem agreed and made Adam sign a contract that was co signed by Hashem, and the Malach ‘?? . Adam was originally supposed to live for 1000 years but after this deal, he was reduced to 930 years of life. When the time came for Adam to pass away, he tried to renege on his agreement. He felt that his life was only just beginning! This is alluded to in a Pasuk in Tehilim; "??? ???? ??? ???? ???
????" (lit; man is like emptiness, his days are fleeting like a shadow). This Pasuk can also be understood as follows; "??? ???? ???" - Adam Harishon felt he was just like his son Hevel. Hevel was killed by his brother Kayin after living only fifty days. Adam felt his life was only just beginning, and that he was being taken at a young age, just as his son Hevel was taken at a young age! "???? ??? ????" -he felt his life had flew by like a fleeting shadow. Life goes by in the blink of an eye!
Hashem showed Adam the contract that he had signed, and explained to him that one must abide by his word. Adam understood, and this is how David Hamelech obtained his years in this world.
What we must endeavor to understand is the deeper connection between Adam and David. In addition, why did Adam give David 70 years?
Why not 50 or 100? What made Adam choose the number 70? What were the ramifications of David Hamelech living off of "Adam’s time"??
The Zohar Hakadosh explains that David Hamelech was a Gilgul (reincarnation) of Adam Harishon. When Adam gave the years to David, it was as if he was giving them to himself! David understood that he was a Gilgul of Adam, and his life’s mission was to be ???? (fix) the sin of Adam and its ramifications.
Adam Harishon ate from the Eitz Hadaat. This was caused by the snake, which was representing the Yeser Hara. How did he convince them to eat? Surely not by coming forth and saying; "you should eat". He convinced them by first engaging them in conversation, and then he slowly but surely convinced them to eat. Adam’s mistake was that he agreed to talk to the snake. Had he refused, he would not have been able to be convinced. The Yeser Hara many times coaxes us to do things that we know aren’t really the best things to do but they seem innocent enough. Once we give a little, the next thing we know, he has us in the palm of his hand. We must be vigilant not to even "engage" him in conversation. Not to get started even a little by giving in to his seemingly innocent requests. David Hamelech realized the mistake of his former Gilgul, and began the Tehilim warning about the trap of the Satan. "???? ???? ??? ?? ??? ????
????? ????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ???" -"praiseworthy is the man who does not even walk by the evil ones. For that will lead him to stand with them and eventually sit amongst them". Do not give the Satan even a little, for eventually he will take a lot!
The sin of Adam resulted in brining death to the world. David Hamelech sought to rectify this damage done by his previous Gilgul, and therefore did not want to have the "taste" of death in his life. When a person sleeps he experiences 1/60 of death. However this is only if he sleeps longer than 60 breaths. David never slept more than 60 breaths, and thus never tasted death. In addition, David Hamelech is the grandfather of Mashiach, and Mashiach will be the one to resurrect the dead in the future, the dead caused by Adam Harishon. As a matter of fact, Mashiach is the Gilgul of David Hamelech and Adam Harishon. The name ??? stands for
??? ??? ???? . This "three prong" Neshama ends up coming full circle as being the cause of death, but then ultimately fixing through ???? ????? .
This helps shed light on a Gemarah in Berachot (3b) that details David’s nightly schedule. He would hang a harp atop his bed and when the north wind would blow, it would play the harp and awaken him. He would arise, and study Torah until dawn. When the sun rose, the wise men would come to David and tell him "your people need sustenance"! David would then advise them.
Why would David want to be woken by the northern wind? Was there no other method to awaken him when he desired? Also, why would the wise men ask for money and sustenance immediately upon the completion of David’s all night study at sunrise? Could it not have waited just a little?? The explanation is that the northern wind represents the forces of evil and judgment. The Pasuk says; "????? ???? ????" -"from the north, the evil will begin". David Hamelech wanted to subdue the evil forces that had affected his previous Gilgul of Adam, and therefore rose from his bed at the onset of its blowing. Not only that, but David actually utilized this very same wind of evil to awaken him to serve Hashem! He used a ???? -harp for this purpose, and this helps understand a Pasuk in Tehilim chapter 92. "??? ???? ???? ???
??? ????? ?????- ?? ?????? ?' ????? ????? ???? ????" -"upon an instrument of 10 strings and upon a harp to the melody of the Eyre. For you have made me glad through your work; I will triumph in the work of your hands".
It is through the ???? -harp that David arose, and began the process of rectifying Adam thereby causing Hashem to rejoice in his handiwork. Who is the handiwork )???? ????( of Hashem? It is Adam! By using the ???? to awaken him, David caused Hashem to rejoice in his work )?????( of his previous Gilgul of Adam Harishon, and was ???? ???? ???? -the handiwork of Hashem that sang to him throughout the night! After a long night of intense study, and depriving himself of sleep and the taste of death, the Rabbis would immediately ask for sustenance. This is because they realized what David Hamelech was accomplishing through his nightly study. He was nullifying death, the effect of the sin of Adam Harishon! Another rectification ramification of the sin of Adam was "???? ??? ???? ???" -"through the
sweat of your brow shall you eat bread". Mankind would now have to work for a living, and earn their sustenance through labor. The wise men were asking David to please nullify this ramification as well! People need money as a result of Adam’s sin, and now that you have been involved in rectifying it, please rectify this effect of the sin as well and help with the people’s sustenance! If anyone could reverse the effects of ???? ??? it was David Hamelech!
This also gives us a deeper understanding of a Gemarah (Shabbat 30b) that describes how David Hamelech passed away. David Hamelech asked Hashem when he would die, Hashem answered "no one is allowed to know that" however Hashem told David that he would die on Shabbat. From then on, David would learn the entire Shabbat because he knew that the Malach Hamavet cannot take a person while he is learning Torah. When the day came for David to pass away, the angel of death could not touch him because David would not stop learning! The angel of death then made some noises with the trees in the garden of David, when David got up to see what the noise was about, the step under him gave way and he fell and died.
The deeper symbolization of this Gemarah is that it was the noise in the trees that caused David to die. The trees stand for the tree of Adam Harishon, and in his first Gilgul Adam died on account of the tree (eating from it), and in his later Gilgul (David) he again died on account of the trees! This again shows us the connection between Adam and David. This explains the terminology of the Pasuk that describes Adam’s death. It says; (Bereshit Chapter 4 Pasuk 5) "????? ?? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ???..." -"and it was all the years of Adam that he lived 930 years etc." Why does the Pasuk write the "unusual" words "that he lived"? We find this nowhere else in the Torah when it describes someone’s death?! The explanation is that Adam had 70 more years slated for him, but only used 930 out of 1000. Hence, it makes sense to say these are the years that he lived, because this implies that he had years that he did not live, and these were the years he gave to David.
What still needs to be explained is why 70 years?? Hashem warned Adam that on the day he eats from the tree he will die. However, Adam ate and died 930 years later! How can this be? The answer is that Hashem’s days are different than our days. Therefore even though he ate, he was still destined to live 1000 years, which is only one day in Hashem’s eyes and would indeed die on the day he ate (Hashem’s day). From these 1000, Adam gave David 70. This is alluded to in Tehilim (chapter 90) it says; "??
??? ???? ?????? ???? ?????" -"for 1000 years in your eyes (Hashem) is like the day of yesterday". Later on David writes; "??? ??????? ??? ????? ???" -"the days of our years are seventy". The reason why Adam chose to give David 70 years can be explained with a concept revealed by the Baal Shem Tov.
The Baal Shem Tov says that decrees upon a person come down as letters and based upon his deeds it can be either a good decree or a bad decree. For example; if the letters ?-?-? are destined to come down to him, these letters can either be ??? -suffering, or it can be rearranged to spell ??? -to find favor. Same with the letters ?-?-? , that can be either ??? -affliction, or can be reconfigured to form ??? -pleasure. A Sadik will often bless a person, and help him by rearranging the letters he is destined for to spell things that are beneficial for him.
What happens when the letters ?-?-? come to a person ?''? ? These letters spell ??? -death and cannot be rearranged to spell anything positive?! In this case, the Sadik has a special letter that he holds to be used only in certain situations. This is the letter ?. When a person who is fated for ??? comes to a Sadik, the Sadik utilizes this ? and adds it to the letters ?-?-? and thereby creates the word ???? -money, blessing the man with riches instead of death!
This is what happened with Adam Harishon, he was obviously the Sadik (he was created perfect and the only man in existence!) when he saw the Neshama of David with no life, he took out his ?- (? equals 70), and gave the ?-70 to David to give him 70 years of life!
This is hinted to in the Pasuk in Tehilim that says; "??? ??? ?' ?? ?????
??????? ?????- ????? ???? ???? ??????? ????" -"Behold the eye of Hashem is to the ones who fear him and await his kindness to save their souls from death and to sustain them in famine".
The word ??? stands for the letter ?, and it shows that the ? is given to the Sadikim who fear Hashem and with it they save people from death - ???
)????? ???? ????( and instead, "????? ????" -"give them sustenance by adding this ? to it to create ???? !
Another understanding of why Adam gave David exactly 70 years is based upon the effects of Adam’s sin.
It is written that in the Torah of R’ Meir it said ???? ??? instead of ????
??? (the ???? ??? were the leather garments that Hashem made for Adam and Chava after they sinned and they realized they were naked). ???? ???
means garments of light rather than garments of leather.
What is the meaning of this? How could R’ Meir’s Torah been different than ours?!
The explanation is that before Adam and Chava sinned they were filled with a blinding spiritual light. Their bodies radiated a holy light, and they therefore did not require any clothing. Upon sinning, this spiritual light had left them and they now required clothing and Hashem gave them leather garments. Garments thus represent the effects of sin. The word ???? (garment) means to conceal or cover, this refers to cover up our embarrassment and shame for our sins.
We also see this in ???? when we say ????? (lit: we have been rebellious). The word ????? comes from the word ??? (clothes) again showing us the connection between garments and sin.
Consequently, the Sadikim who focus on rectifying sin and rectifying the sin of Adam Harishon represent removing the physical clothing that stand for sin, and replacing them with the spiritual pre-sin light that we were clothed in.
The great Rabbi Meir focused on rectifying the sin of Adam Harishon! For this reason he was involved in turning ??? (leather) into ??? (light), by nullifying the effects of the sin of Adam Harishon! This is the depth behind why it says his Torah ??? instead of ??? .
David Hamelech as mentioned was the Gilgul of Adam and was given his 70 years by Adam so that he may rectify his sin. The sin of Adam is symbolized by the ? of the word ??? (the leather garments that were required as a result of his sin). ? equals 70. Adam Harishon gave David
exactly 70 years, 70 represented the mission of David Hamelech to fix the sin of Adam Harishon.
This mission of David is also alluded to in the ???? (harp) that would wake him nightly. The word ???? equals 276. The word ??? (leather- for the leather garments that were required as a result of Adam’s sin) is also 276. We see from here the correlation between David Hamelech’s waking at midnight from the ???? , to his goal of rectifying the sin of Adam that resulted in clothing of ??? .
