אִם יִרְצֶה הַשֵּׁם
ט׳ חֶשְׁוָן תשפ״ז
Sarisim, three readings of the word said of Hizkiyahu's sons
Hizkiyahu showed the Babylonian envoys his treasures. The Navi foretold that his children would be sarisim in the palace of the king of Bavel.
Sarisim can mean its plain sense: eunuchs. Or it can mean chamberlains, the office for which eunuchs were used. A third reading: they sterilized idolatry. Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah refused to bow to Nevuchadnetzar's image. That public refusal halted the further spread of avodah zarah in their days. The word is therefore a name of praise.
That fits the verse in Yeshayah that addresses the sarisim who keep My Shabbosos. Machloket remains whether they were in fact emasculated. Everyone agrees that in their days idolatry was sterilized, and that is why they are called sarisim. Whether they were physically sarisim is a separate machloket. When the same word appears in the prophecy to Hizkiyahu, the machloket stands.
Rav Miller zt"l:
If the Navi is speaking in praise of pious men, he would not call them by a name of blemish unless the name itself is the praise. Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah refused the image in public, and that refusal halted the further spread of avodah zarah. Tanach does not record a physical fault of a tzaddik unless the report itself is to his credit.
Better than sons and daughters
The Navi continues: I will give them a place and a name in My house and within My walls, better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
I will give them a place and a name in My house and within My walls, better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
A man without children is listed among those considered as dead. Bar or mezakeh aba: the mitzvos of the son continue to accrue to the father. Even after the parents die, the children and grandchildren still perform the mitzvos the parents trained them to do. The free-will labor of the parents continues through them.
The verse then switches from plural to singular: "I will give him an everlasting name." The individual is Daniel. He was taken from the Jewish settlements in Bavel into the palace and could not conduct a yeshivah the way Ezra later did. Hashem therefore gave him Sefer Daniel as the monument. Every time the twenty-four books are listed, Daniel's name appears. The Torah learned from his words continues. That is the shem olam promised to him.
Rav Miller zt"l:
A man without children is listed among those considered as dead, because a son's mitzvos keep accruing to the father, and the parents' free-will labor goes on through the children and grandchildren they trained. How, then, can any reward be better than sons and daughters? Childless people must exert themselves more. The deeds have to generate peiros: teaching another person's child Torah (kol ha-melamed ben chaveiro Torah ke-ilu yelado), supporting yeshivos, setting youth in the way of Torah, persuading others to have children. Those fruits can equal the fruit of biological children only when the effort reaches that grade. Every mitzvah is forever. To stand on the same level as the peiros of children, the mitzvah has to be of that quality.
Daniel was taken into the palace and could not conduct a yeshivah the way Ezra later did. Hashem gave him Sefer Daniel. Every time the twenty-four books are listed, his name appears, and the Torah learned from his words continues. That is the shem olam. The same holds for anyone whose support of Torah learning produces lasting students and their descendants, even if the supporter remains unknown.
Nehemiah, why the sefer was not called by his name
In the days of the Gemara and the Rishonim the books we call Ezra and Nehemiah were simply "Ezra I" and "Ezra II." Nehemiah wrote the material and was the man who carried out the practical work. Ezra was the greater talmid chacham. Nehemiah was the man who activated the plans. Yet the sefer was not called by his name.
Two reasons are given.
First, he said to Hashem: remember me for good on account of what I have done. That is the language of a creditor. David's request is different: "Remember me with the favor You show Your people."
Remember me with the favor You show Your people.
Second, he criticized the earlier governors, including Daniel. They had taxed heavily.
Later generations restored the name "Nehemiah," perhaps so the two halves of the book would not be confused. The Gemara's ruling stands as it was.
Rav Miller zt"l:
A person is always in debt to Hashem. All previous mitzvos do not pay for the benefits already received. There is no such thing as being a creditor of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. David asks only to be remembered with the favor Hashem shows His people: a share in the merit of the Klal, not personal payment of a debt. Nehemiah should have assumed the earlier governors, Daniel among them, had no alternative, and remained silent.
Daniel greater than the last nevi'im
"I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; the men who were with me did not see it, yet a great trembling fell upon them and they fled." The men were Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. They were nevi'im and Daniel was not, yet Daniel saw what they did not.
Mazal here means the higher soul (nishamah elyonah) that can register a phenomenon the conscious mind does not yet grasp. Their mazal sensed the vision and produced fear. Daniel's conscious mind was granted the sight itself.
Unexplained fear of this kind, when it occurs to great men of those generations, is a message from Heaven. The minimal response is to move four amos, a token of yielding one's place, a miniature galus. If that is impossible, recite the first verse of Krias Shema. If even that is impossible, say the formula that transfers whatever must come upon the heads of the enemies of Israel, the goat standing for Esav and Amalek. These remedies applied only while such messages were still sent.
Rav Miller zt"l:
Their mazal, the higher soul, registered what the conscious mind did not yet see, and the fear was the message. In those generations the response was to yield one's place. Those remedies do not apply today.
The same three acts are the aggadah of Megillah 3a, a man whose mazal is afraid. The jump, Krias Shema when there is no room to jump, and the goat when the place is unfit for Shema, are set out from Ben Yehoyada on that daf in Actions to do when feeling a sense of fear. Rav Avigdor Miller zt"l opens the same gemara in the Beshalach shiur that page cites: the mazal has registered what the man has not, and the goat is Esav, so that he will watch and learn yiras Hashem. On this tape the tremor is the one that fell on the last nevi'im, and the remedies are closed. Megillah 3a is the other door.
Hizkiyahu and the closed mem
"L'marbeh ha-misrah u-le-shalom ein ketz": to the one who will increase authority, and of peace there will be no end. The mem of l'marbeh is written closed.
L'marbeh ha-misrah u-le-shalom ein ketz.
Hashem wished to make Hizkiyahu the Mashiach. Sancheriv could have filled the role of Gog u-Magog. The closed mem shows that the plan was shut. One explanation: Hizkiyahu closed his mouth when he should have opened it in song.
Midat ha-din objected. David composed many praises and still was not made Mashiach. Hizkiyahu received greater miracles, the fall of Sancheriv and the stopping of the sun-dial, and said less. He did compose the song "the living, the living shall thank You," yet the volume of praise was not proportional to the benefits.
The earth then offered to sing in Hizkiyahu's place: in the days of Mashiach nature itself will become more expressive so that people recognize Hashem more clearly. The sar ha-olam asked that the tzaddik's will be done and Mashiach come at once. A bas kol answered with the words of Yeshayah: "My secret is Mine, My secret is Mine."
My secret is Mine, My secret is Mine.
The time is not yet. Further disloyalties, beginning with Menasheh, must still occur.
Rav Miller zt"l:
The sole purpose of life is to recognize and thank Hashem. The more one has received, the more praise is required. Hizkiyahu closed his mouth when he should have opened it in song. He did sing "the living, the living shall thank You," and the volume was still not proportional to the fall of Sancheriv and the stopping of the sun-dial. David composed many praises and was not made Mashiach. Hizkiyahu received greater miracles and said less. That is why the plan was shut.
Nature's function is to make Hashem's greatness visible. In the days of Mashiach it will do so more powerfully. The sar ha-olam asked that the tzaddik's will be done now. The answer was "My secret is Mine." The time is not yet. Further disloyalties, beginning with Menasheh, must still occur.
Terms
- Sarisim: eunuchs, or chamberlains, or sterilizers of idolatry. The physical sense stays a machloket. The sterilizing of avodah zarah in their days does not.
- Bar or mezakeh aba: a son's mitzvos continue to accrue to the father.
- Peiros: ongoing fruit. Teaching, supporting a yeshivah, setting youth in Torah, persuading others to have children.
- Shem olam: the everlasting name. For Daniel, Sefer Daniel.
- Mazal: here, the higher soul that can register what the conscious mind does not yet see.
- Midat ha-din: the attribute of judgment, personified as prosecutor.
- Bas kol: a prophetic voice. Here, "My secret is Mine."
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