אִם יִרְצֶה הַשֵּׁם
ח׳ חֶשְׁוָן תשפ״ז
Boaz did not hand Ruth six se'ah because that is how a woman carries barley. He alluded to six who would come from her, each blessed with six. They are David, Moshiach, Daniel, Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah.
Hashem is with him
David never forgot that the battle of Torah is for the emes of Hashem. Siyata dishmaya kept his feet on the path. Therefore halacha kemoso bechol makom.
A servant lists him.
Yodea nagen ve-gibor chayil ve-ish milchamah u-nevon davar ve-ish to'ar va-Hashem imo.
Doeg said the whole verse as lashon ha-ra. Yodea nagen: he knows how to ask. Gibor: he knows how to answer. Ish milchamah: he knows how to negotiate in the battle of Torah. Ish to'ar: he shows a face in halacha. Nevon davar: he understands one matter from another. Va-Hashem imo: the halacha is like him in every place. He arrives at the emes, and the chachamim later agree with him.
On each of them Shaul answered: Yonasan my son is like him. When the words came to Hashem imo, a quality that even Shaul himself did not have, cholash da'ato, and he was jealous of him.
U-ve-Shaul ktiv: u-ve-chol asher yifneh yarshia. U-ve-David ktiv: u-ve-chol asher yifneh yatzliach.
After the spirit departed, Shaul erred wherever he turned. Yarshia: the letters of rasha are those of rash, disturbed, not at rest, as the sea that cannot rest. David, wherever he turned, succeeded.
Cholash da'ato is the first feeling of discomfort on hearing a good quality in another. It is not yet open hatred. The seed of kinah is already planted. The rebbe of Slabodka taught that if a man felt bad at the instant of hearing, the germ has to be cleared from the bottom. Covering it is not enough. Strength has to be mustered at that moment, or it takes hold and later spreads into mortal enmity.
How is it known that the speaker was Doeg? It is written here, va-ya'an echad me-ha-ne'arim: the me'yuchad she-ba-na'arim. Na'ar is not necessarily young in years. It is the attitude of one who still receives from his rebbe. And it is written there that a man of the servants of Shaul was detained that day before Hashem, and his name was Doeg Ha'adomi, abir ha-ro'im of Shaul.
That same Doeg later reported that Achimelech had given David the sword, the bread, and the inquiry of the urim ve-tumim. Shaul commanded the soldiers. They refused. Doeg himself drew the sword. The lashon ha-ra that began with the qualities of David ended with the death of the kohanim of Nov, and with the loss of a chelek le-olam ha-ba.
Six that rest on him
Ve-nachah alav ruach Hashem, ruach chochmah u-vinah, ruach etzah u-gevurah, ruach da'as ve-yir'as Hashem.
Six will rest on Moshiach. Each is a distinct gift. Together they turn knowledge into action, and emunah into constant awareness. Without them the leader cannot judge or guide.
Chochmah is the gift to acquire knowledge, retain it, and file it so that it does not come out confused. The Vilna Gaon could say Shas backwards, because the camera was given for twenty-two hours of labor.
Binah is lehavi'in davar mi-toch davar: to bring one matter out of another. Induction from what is already known. Yishma chacham ve-yosif lekach.
Etzah is to view the coming situation as if it is already present, and to take account of every factor.
Gevurah is the power to overcome the inner obstacles that stop most people: fears, contradictions, weaknesses.
Da'as is the translation of what was known only with the mouth into something real and close. A mother tells a child that fire burns. He can say the words. He knows it in another way after the finger is burned.
Yir'as Hashem is emunah. By a transposition of the letters it is re'iyah, seeing. The eye that sees and the ear that hears are always before the mind.
He smells and judges
Va-haricho be-yir'as Hashem, ve-lo le-mar'eh einav yishpot.
Two readings.
Rav Alexandri: Hashem will load him with mitzvos and yissurim like millstones, ke-reichayim. The world will not welcome him at first. Eliyahu will announce him, and the opposition will melt.
Rava: morach ve-dayan. He is given a rei'ach, and he smells and judges. Not by the sight of the eyes, and not by the hearing of the ears. Ve-shafat be-tzedek dalim, ve-hochiach be-mishor le-anvei eretz.
Bar Koziva reigned two and a half years. He told the rabbanan that he was Moshiach. Of Moshiach it is written that he smells and judges, so they tested him. He judged wrongly. They forsook him, and the Romans slew him. Moshiach is not scheduled to be killed.
In the hall of the king
The four are given six of their own generation.
Asher ein bahem kol mum, ve-tovei mar'eh, u-maskilim be-chol chochmah, ve-yod'ei da'as, u-mevinei mada, va-asher koach bahem la'amod be-heichal ha-melech.
No mum: even the mark that bloodletting leaves was not found on them. Good appearance. Seichel in every chochmah. Da'as, and mada. And ko'ach to stand in the hall of the king.
They forced themselves from laughter, from talk, and from sleep, and they held themselves when the body needed relief, for hours, because of the fear of the kingdom. The same training is required in Shemoneh Esrei. Bustanoy stood while a fly drew blood, and received a principality.
R. Eliezer says all four are bnei Yehudah, and they complete the six promised to Rus. R. Shmuel bar Nachmani says only Daniel is from Yehudah. Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah are from the other shevatim.
Daniel in the palace is an eilon, one without breasts: zacha to learn, and not zacha to teach. Ezra had talmidim.
Sarisim
Hizkiyahu rejoiced over the Gentile emissaries. The punishment is that sons who come from him will be sarisim in the palace of the king of Bavel.
Rav: sarisim mamash. Literally. They were chosen for excellence, and therefore made to serve the king alone, all their days.
R. Chanina: avodah zarah became sterile in their days, and produced no further offspring. Shlomo's foreign wives had planted a poisonous root in the royal house. It continued through generations of mixed kings. These men, in the service of the Gentile court, completed the work, so that idolatry had no more children.
Ve-chaval la itai behon.
No wound on them, after the fire. That supports R. Chanina: they had never been operated on. Rav answers that the verse means no wound from the fire itself. And it is already written that the smell of the fire did not pass on them. Neither the wound, nor the smell.
The Gemara then cites:
Ko amar Hashem la-sarisim asher yishmeru et Shabtotai.
To them, a yad va-shem inside His house and within His walls, better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
On the phrase "better than sons and daughters," the daf does speak. For literal eunuchs, the consolation is that they will have none. For the reading that avodah zarah was sterilized, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says: consolation for children they already had, who died. The everlasting name, as bar Kappara taught in Tzippori: Sefer Daniel, called by his name.
What the daf does not spell is Shabbos.
If sarisim means those who sterilized avodah zarah, how does the promise of a yad va-shem and an everlasting name attach specifically to the keeping of Shabbos? If it means literal eunuchs, what is the precise sevara that links their bodily state to the reward of those who keep Shabbos? The verse is cited. The link is left open.
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