Musar zu Könige I 11:78

Come and see how great is the power of peace. For in the beginning of the creation of the universe the Holy One Blessed be He employed Himself in the creation of an instrument of peace, as it is written (Bereshith 1:3): "And G-d said: 'Let there be light' — and there was light." And how do we know that light is peace? For it is written (Isaiah 45:7): "He fashions light and creates darkness; He makes peace and creates evil." On this basis, our teachers of blessed memory ruled (Shabbath 23b): "As between a candle for his house and wine for kiddush, to sanctify the Sabbath [if he can afford only one], a candle for his house takes precedence because of the peace of his household." What is more, our sages enacted many ordinances in pursuit of the paths of peace, viz. (Gittin 59a): "They declared the following in pursuit of the paths of peace: 'The Cohein reads first [in the Torah], then the Levite, then the Israelite, because of "the paths of peace."'" An eruv [a halachic enabling device] is placed in an old house, because of "the paths of peace." The pit nearest the irrigation canal is filled first because of "the paths of peace."'" And so is it written (Proverbs 3;17): "Its [Torah's] ways are ways of pleasantness and all of its paths are peace." And thus did our sages of blessed memory say in the aggadah (Bamidbar Rabbah 15:13, Tanchuma Beha'alothecha 11): "There are thirteen things that the Holy One Blessed be He loved, and of all of them, He "doubled" [in profusion of love], only "peace." They [(the thirteen)] are: Cohanim, Levites, Israel, Sanhedrin [the high court], the first-born, the offerings of the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the oil of anointment, the Land of Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple, the kingdom of the house of David, and the silver and the gold. The Cohanim — (Shemoth 28:41): "And they shall be priests unto Me." the Levites (Numbers 3:41): "And I shall take the Levites unto Me." Israel — (Shemoth 19:6): "And you [Israel] shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests." Sanhedrin — (Numbers 11:16): "Gather unto Me seventy men." The first-born — (Shemoth 13:2) "Sanctify unto Me every first-born." The offerings of the tabernacle — (Ibid. 25:2): "And they shall take unto Me an offering." The sacrifices — (Numbers 28:2): "You shall heed to sacrifice unto Me in its appointed time." The oil of anointment — (Shemoth 30:31): "The holy oil of anointment shall this be unto Me for your generations." The Land of Israel — (Ibid. 19:5): "For unto Me is all the land." Jerusalem — (I Kings 11:36): "The city that I have chosen unto Me." The Temple — (I Chronicles 17:12): "He shall build unto Me a habitation." The kingdom of the house of David — (I Samuel 16:1): "For I have seen in his sons a king unto Me." The silver and the gold — (Chaggai 2:8): "Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold." But, of all of these, none was doubled [in profusion of love] but "peace," as it is written (Isaiah 27:5): "Or let him take hold of My strength. He shall make peace unto Me; peace shall he make unto Me." Great is peace, which takes precedence to praise of the Blessed One Himself. For when Yithro came to Moses, immediately (Exodus 18:7): "And each made inquiry of the other's peace," whereas only afterwards (Ibid. 8): "And Moses related to his father-in-law all of the miracles that the Holy One Blessed be He had wrought for Israel." What is more, for all of the mitzvoth that the wicked perform in this world, the Holy One Blessed be He gives them their reward in this world — such as wealth, property, years, honor, and the like — except peace, which He does not give them, as it is written (Isaiah 57:21): "There is no peace, says my G-d, for the wicked." And, what is more, the Holy One Blessed be He gives peace as a reward to the righteous, as it is written (Ibid. 32:17): "And the reward for righteousness shall be peace…" What is more, it is with peace that He draws near to Him converts and penitents, as it is written (Ibid. 57:19): "He creates the utterance of the lips: 'Peace, Peace,' for the far and the near, says the L-rd, and I will heal him." Great is peace, for in regard to all of the journeyings in the desert it is written "And they journeyed and they rested," journeying in strife and resting in strife. But when they came to Mount Sinai, they made one great "resting," as it is written (Shemoth 19:2): "And Israel rested there, before the mountain." (Vayikra Rabbah 9:9): "The Holy One Blessed be He said: 'The time has now arrived for Me to give Torah to My children.'" For as long as they are at peace with one another, the Shechinah is among them. And thus is it said (Devarim 33:5): "And He was a King in Yeshurun when the heads of the people were gathered, together with the tribes of Israel." When does the kingdom and the Shechinah of the Blessed One abide in Israel? When they are all gathered together as one. Come and see how great is the power of peace; for it is through the power of peace that the world endures. For thus have our sages of blessed memory said (Avoth 1:18): "On three things does the world stand: on judgment, on truth, and on peace, as it is written (Zechariah 8:16): 'Truth and a judgment of peace shall you judge in your gates.'" What is more, when there is peace among men, there is blessing in their fruits, as it is written (Ibid. 12): "For as the seed of peace, the vine shall give its fruit, and the earth shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give its dew, and I shall bequeath all of these to the remnant of this people." And thus is it written (Psalms 147:14): "He makes peace on your borders and sates you with the fatness of wheat." Our sages have said (Vayikra Rabbah 9:9): "Great is peace, for if one erases one letter of G-d's name, he transgresses a negative commandment, as it is written (Devarim 12:3): 'And you shall wipe out their [the idols'] name from that place,' followed by (Ibid. 4): 'You shall not do so to the L-rd your G-d.' Yet to make peace between a man and his wife, the Torah says (Numbers 5:23): 'And the Cohein shall write these curses [containing G-d's name] in a book and erase them into the bitter waters.' The Holy One Blessed be He says: 'Let My name, which was written in holiness, be erased by the waters.'" And Chazal have said further (Vayikrah Rabbah 9:9): "Great is peace, for all of the goodly blessings and consolations that the Holy One Blessed be He convokes upon Israel conclude with "peace." The Shema — "He spreads a canopy of peace." The Amidah — "He makes peace." The priestly blessing — "And He shall repose peace upon you." "Therefore, my sons, be circumspect in this trait — to love peace and to pursue peace. For there is no end to the reward for loving peace and pursuing peace." Until here, the language of Ma'aloth Hamiddoth.

Israel's dispersion to many parts of the globe instead of exile to a single country held another advantage for us, as described by Rabbi Oshiyah on the same folio. He interpreted Judges 5,11: "G–d did Israel a favor by dispersing it." He based his interpretation on the remarks by a heathen to Rabbi Chaninah that they were superior to the Jews in religious tolerance. Whereas Yoav and his men killed all the male population of Edom in six months, as reported in Kings I 11,16, the Jews had been in exile amongst the Gentiles for many years and had not been harmed. Rabbi Chaninah delegated a student to engage in a discussion with this heathen, and Rabbi Oshiyah was the student chosen for that task. The latter told the heathen that they could not claim to be tolerant. They had not been able to kill all the Jews since the Jewish nation was dispersed all over the globe. Had they killed the Jews in one country, that country would have acquired a reputation of killing off its own citizens. The heathen was forced to admit that they did indeed have the problem of how to kill all the Jews. This incident illustrates how G–d did us a favor by dispersing us all over the globe.

The following is the commentary of the Rekanati on the limitation of the number of wives a king may marry: "In view of the fact that the attribute זאת must dominate in the conduct of the king, G–d has warned him not to be attached exclusively to the philosophy of מלכות represented by that attribute. Were he to do so, he would remove himself further and further from the attribute of חסד. (Cf. Solomon in Proverbs 30,20 who describes the adulterous woman as: "she eats, wipes her mouth and claims not to have committed any wrong.") In order to prevent the king from falling victim to such influences, the Torah warns the king only (because he is more at risk than the ordinary citizen) not to marry too many wives, not to amass too many horses, etc.

I must confess that I have been troubled for many years by what happened to king Solomon. How is it possible that a man who is described as having been wiser than anyone (Kings I 5,11) and beloved of his G–d, could become so bereft of wisdom when he became old that he is described in the Book of Kings I 11,4 as having been misled by his wives to follow idols, in particular the cult of "Ashtoret the idol of the Tzidonites and Milkom the abomination of the Ammonites?" Such conduct would be totally incomprehensible if an ordinary Israelite had engaged in it, how much less could one credit such behaviour to the wise king Solomon? Besides, most of the Book of Proverbs authored by Solomon in his prime is devoted to warnings of the wiles of women! Once I reminded myself that the one thousand wives and concubines Solomon is reported as having wed or consorted with were predominantly of non-Jewish descent, the veil was lifted from my eyes. The genuine Kabbalists have said that the total number of levels of impurity leading to the highest level of impurity is one thousand. These levels of impurity are referred to collectively as נכריות, "foreign-born wives." [I believe that Rekanati here deliberately leaves open the question of whether the number one thousand mentioned as the number of Solomon's wives is to be understood allegorically. Ed.] Solomon's very wisdom was the cause that he investigated the significance and influence of all these various levels of the original serpent's pollution. When the Book of Kings describes Solomon of having "walked after Ashtoret the idol of the Tzidonim," it does not say that Solomon served or worshipped such idols. The meaning is that 'he went to investigate the philosophical basis of that cult.' In the process, he became more involved than necessary for the purpose of his investigation. This was accounted a sin on his part. Whereas it was incumbent upon Solomon to understand the nature of that cult, it was wrong of him to develop any kind of attachment to it." Thus far the Rekanati.