אִם יִרְצֶה הַשֵּׁם
כ״ח חֶשְׁוָן תשפ״ז
The sugya is Sanhedrin 101b. On 101a: He smiled.
Neither post nor transcript has been reviewed by Rav Avigdor Miller zt"l nor the Toras Avigdor organization.
Because he rebuked in public
Mipnei she-hichiach et Shlomo: because he rebuked Shlomo.
Achiyah ha-Shiloni announced that HaKadosh Baruch Hu chose him. A thousand men of Ephraim before the palace. That mesiras nefesh: he risked his life, made him worthy of the malchus.
The same act is the poison. Mipnei she-hichiach be-rabbim: because he criticized in public. The heroic deed already held the seed of the downfall. Had he repaired the damage at once he would have kept the reward of the big deed. Because he did not, he was already on the way down even while the recognition was given.
The raised hand
Vayarem yad ba-melech: he raised a hand against the king.
Shlomo built the Milo: he filled in. He closed the breaches in the wall of his father's city. David had opened those breaches on purpose so people could enter from every side for aliyah la-regel and not make long detours. Shlomo closed them kedei la'asos angaria le-vat Paroh: to collect a toll for the daughter of Pharaoh.
The complaint was general. Taxes too heavy. Yeravam used a real grievance. HaKadosh Baruch Hu was displeased with Bat Paroh and the other wives.
In Shlomo's lifetime he made no rebellion. In the presence of Shlomo he tore the tefillin off his head in a rage of righteous indignation. It is forbidden to remove tefillin in the presence of one's teacher. No subject does it before the king. That was counted as mered: revolt.
He could not bear to stand
Gasus ha-ruach she-hayah be-Yeravam toradato min ha-olam: the arrogance that was in Yeravam drove him out of the world.
Gasus ha-ruach was also the dynamo. It gave energy for great deeds. Misuse of it brings down the greatest men.
If the people go up three times a year they will see Rechavam, their heart will return to the house of David, and they will kill me. He feared for his life. The Gemara presses further. Ein yeshivah ba-azarah ela le-malchei Beis David bilvad: only kings of the house of David sit in the azarah, the courtyard. David sat in the courtyard of the old Mishkan. You and your children shall sit before Me forever. The people will see Rechavam seated and Yeravam standing. This one is the king and this one is a subject. If I sit they will say mered ba-malchus. Therefore he could not bear to stand while the man he despised sat.
He had preached that the house of Yehudah was a house of avodah zarah. As a kanoi: a zealot, he could not accept the role of ordinary Jew standing in the Beis Hashem.
He made two golden calves. Not the Baal. A forbidden symbol. They chose pnei ha-shor from the merkavah: the ox-face from the chariot. He placed one in Beis-el and one in Dan because the gates of Yerushalayim were closed.
A rasha beside a tzaddik
She-hoshiv rasha etzel tzaddik: he seated a rasha next to a tzaddik.
A rasha who looked mizrachic: like an eastern Jew. Easy questions first that elicited yes. A king I desire to be. Everything I say you will do. Then: even to worship avodah zarah? The tzaddik said no. The rasha whispered: a man like Yeravam would not worship idols; he is only testing your loyalty. They signed. Achiyah ha-Shiloni was also deceived and signed. Thereafter the signature settled any question about the calves. Once it existed it became a hechsher: an approval. Even Yehu, sent to wipe out the Baal, left the calves because of Achiyah's signature.
Abaye: beris kerusah li-sfasayim: a covenant is cut for the lips. Yehu said Achav served the Baal a little; Yehu will serve him much, to deceive Achav's men. He did not mean it. The words cost him the later misstep.
Rava: chosmo shel Achia ha-Shiloni ra'ah ve-ta'ah. He saw the signature and erred.
They have deepened their corruption more than I. HaKadosh Baruch Hu said: anyone who does not go up for regel transgresses a mitzvas aseh only. They said anyone who goes up to Yerushalayim shall be pierced by the sword. The same pattern as those who complain of tyranny and then, when they hold power, kill on a scale never seen before.
A new garment
Mekuseh be-salmah chadashah: covered in a new garment.
His Torah was a new garment. No blemish. He knew everything perfectly. His sevara was clear. He said new things no ear had heard.
Shenehem levadam ba-sadeh: the two of them alone in the field. All other talmidei chachamim were grass compared to them. The secret reasons of the Torah were open before them like a field. You see the whole field. A mountain hides the other side.
It was at that time that Yeravam went out of Yerushalayim. Eis muzmanes le-puranus: a time prepared for retribution. Certain days, Tisha B'Av, and places, Shechem. Dinah. The sale of Yosef. The division of the kingdom. The news that looked like great fortune was delivered on a bad day.
Vayetzei me-Yerushalayim: he went out from the pinkas, the honor roll of Yerushalayim. He had not yet done the later sins. The seed of the public rebuke was already there. By leaving instead of remaining and taking whatever was coming, he was erased from those written to rejoice with her.
Kol ha-neheh min ha-olam ha-zeh beli berachah ke-ilu gozel le-HaKadosh Baruch Hu u-le-Keneses Yisrael. The world is His store. The payment is a berachah. The father is HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The mother is Keneses Yisrael, toras imecha: the minhagim. Such a man is a friend of Yeravam ben Nevat who destroyed Israel before their Father in heaven.
There is no small thing. Gratitude is the foundation. Without it everything else stands on nothing. Yeravam himself used pilpul, to protect from the idolatry of the house of Yehudah one may even do something against the Torah, and thereby twisted the Torah until not going to Yerushalayim looked like a mitzvah.
How far the public rebuke must be repaired before the seed is considered to have taken root, and how much weight Achiyah's signature still carries once later generations learn it was obtained by seating a rasha beside a tzaddik, is left open.
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