Chasidut sur Samuel 1 20:25
וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב הַ֠מֶּלֶךְ עַל־מ֨וֹשָׁב֜וֹ כְּפַ֣עַם ׀ בְּפַ֗עַם אֶל־מוֹשַׁב֙ הַקִּ֔יר וַיָּ֙קָם֙ יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן וַיֵּ֥שֶׁב אַבְנֵ֖ר מִצַּ֣ד שָׁא֑וּל וַיִּפָּקֵ֖ד מְק֥וֹם דָּוִֽד׃
Le roi s’était assis à sa place, comme d’habitude sur son siège près du mur, Jonathan se tint debout, Abner prit place auprès de Saül, et le siège de David resta inoccupé.
Kedushat Levi
Leviticus 26,16. “I will wreak misery upon you;” the root פקד usually refers to the lack of something, something being missing that should have been there. We find it in this sense when David’s seat near King Sha-ul was empty. (Samuel I 20,25) G’d says that He will remove certain plagues from us, seeing that the fact that we will sow and not reap but our enemies are reaping the fruit of our labours, this is sufficient punishment. According to the predictions of our sages (Shabbat 30) in the future the soil of the land of Israel will bring forth ready made buns and scones so that the Israeli farmer does not need to plough, sow, and harvest. At that time these labours will be performed for us by the gentiles. Our verses describe the very opposite occurring as G’d’s retribution for neglecting the Torah, so much so that even when we perform these labours ourselves, they will serve only others, as we will not benefit from our labours.
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Kedushat Levi
Another approach to understanding the opening verse of our portion is based on the fact that the root פקד frequently is used to describe something that is missing or lacking. Sometimes a person feels he is on the way to becoming a tzaddik, or has already become one.
Such exaggerated self-esteem is not proof of a spiritual accomplishment, but, on the contrary, indicates at least immaturity if not arrogance. Anyone thinking of himself in such terms has not even begun his career as a servant of the Lord. This is hinted at in the words: כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל, the Torah teaches that “when you want to elevate the spiritual level of the Children of Israel to a higher spiritual plateau”, then לפקודיהם, “you have to point out to them the areas in which their personalities are still below par, still miss a basic ingredient, humility.” One of the well known verses in which the root פקד describes the absence of someone, something important being missing, is in Samuel I 20,25 when David’s absence at the festive meal given by the King on New Moon, is described with the words ויפקד מקום דוד, “David’s seat had remained empty.” When considering the dual nature of the meaning of this root, we may translate this word in our verse as “their contribution consisted primarily in their awareness that they still lacked many good qualities and had to work on acquiring them.”
The word כופר in our verse, translated as “ransom,” also appears in different meanings, one that is familiar being in Genesis 6,14 where Noach receives G’d’s instructions in how to ensure that the ark he is building will be waterproof. The Torah writes: וכפרת אותו מבית ומחוץ בכופר; “smear it from the inside and the outside with כופר, i.e. the awareness that you need atonement.” An appropriate translation, based on our understanding of the word פקד as something lacking, would be that “when is man truly attached, ‘glued to’ G’d, when he is truly aware of his shortcomings.”
Such exaggerated self-esteem is not proof of a spiritual accomplishment, but, on the contrary, indicates at least immaturity if not arrogance. Anyone thinking of himself in such terms has not even begun his career as a servant of the Lord. This is hinted at in the words: כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל, the Torah teaches that “when you want to elevate the spiritual level of the Children of Israel to a higher spiritual plateau”, then לפקודיהם, “you have to point out to them the areas in which their personalities are still below par, still miss a basic ingredient, humility.” One of the well known verses in which the root פקד describes the absence of someone, something important being missing, is in Samuel I 20,25 when David’s absence at the festive meal given by the King on New Moon, is described with the words ויפקד מקום דוד, “David’s seat had remained empty.” When considering the dual nature of the meaning of this root, we may translate this word in our verse as “their contribution consisted primarily in their awareness that they still lacked many good qualities and had to work on acquiring them.”
The word כופר in our verse, translated as “ransom,” also appears in different meanings, one that is familiar being in Genesis 6,14 where Noach receives G’d’s instructions in how to ensure that the ark he is building will be waterproof. The Torah writes: וכפרת אותו מבית ומחוץ בכופר; “smear it from the inside and the outside with כופר, i.e. the awareness that you need atonement.” An appropriate translation, based on our understanding of the word פקד as something lacking, would be that “when is man truly attached, ‘glued to’ G’d, when he is truly aware of his shortcomings.”
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Kedushat Levi
Yet another interpretation of the opening verse in our portion. We have a rule that when someone prays on behalf of a Jew or Israel, which is in trouble, it is important that he prefaces his prayer by pointing out Israel’s virtues first, i.e. that such a virtuous nation surely does not deserve the troubles that have come upon it. He must also point out that when any troubles befall a member of the Jewish people, the real target is G’d Himself seeing that He is our father. This is what the Talmud Chagigah 15 means when it quotes Rabbi Meir saying: “when a person is in difficulties, the Shechinah reacts to this by saying: “My head hurts, My arm hurts.” In other words, G’d feels personally hurt by whatever hurts a member of His favourite people. It is therefore reasonable to remind G’d of this before pleading for the individual Israelite on whose behalf one offers a prayer to Hashem. This is the allusion in the words כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל, “when you point out what ails the head of the Jewish people, etc.” The word פקודיהם, is used to describe shortcomings of the Jewish people, their needs, in the sense it is used in the verse we quoted from Samuel I 20,25. The words ונתנו איש כופר נפשו לה', refer to man reminding G’d how his soul is inextricably linked to G’d.
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