• | Print |
•  Email

Parshat Beshalach
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

"ולא נחם א-הים דרך ארץ פלשתים"

"And David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with spear and javelin, and I come to you with the Name of HaShem of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel which you have taunted.... And all this assembly shall know that not with sword and javelin does HaShem save, for the battle is HaShem's, and He will deliver you into our hand."

This declaration, wish and prayer of David is echoed throughout the annals of history, only becoming stronger and truer in the flight of the future. That said, it seems, however, that this bravery and courage is a sign of our People's national development developed over periods of time from the birth of our People, to the reception of the Torah, to the entrance into the Land of Israel, and other important developments as well. In this way we understand why God did not take Israel directly to the Land of Israel through 'the Land of the Philistines', for He foresaw their unpreparedness to undertake such an endeavor - 'lest the People see battle and return to Egypt'.

As we have shown in the past, one of the important components of such courage is the inspiring air of the Holy Land, as each city and area has its own distinct air of inspiration. We find that David, the Bethlehemite, is particularly successful in defeating the Philistines, who taunted Israel for centuries, but after David, become basically obsolete. We have discussed Bethlehem in the past, so we will discuss here 'the Land of the Philistines' in an attempt to discover what 'air of inspiration' in this Land was David successful in retrieving to the Land of Israel more than all his predecessors.

The origins of the 'Land of the Philistines' can be traced back even to the Patriarchs. In this Land Avraham settled - 'vayagar' - first in 'Grar', this name seemingly rooted to Avraham's settling from the verb root 'gar'. It seems from the juxtaposition of events that Avraham's development of 'Grar' lead to the development of Beer Sheva which we have studied numbers of times. This connection is not only based on juxtaposition but also the numerical value of 'gar'=203 -'beer'-well, is the dominant concept of Beer Sheva we have discussed in the past. This assertion is compounded with the Arizal 's teaching that 'Plishtim' - Philistines have the numerical value of ten times 86, which stands for God's Name 'Elohim=86', which represents God's attribute of justice. Justice, according to our Sages is considered a mainly feminine trait, and therefore this fits perfectly with this area's connection to Beer Sheva, one of the more 'feminine' cities, as we have discussed before.

According to the book of Shmuel 5 main cities comprise the 'Land of the Philistines': Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gat, and Ekron. 'Ash' found in both Ashdod and Ashkelon are most probably connected to the word 'Ashed', which means a 'downhill', most probably since these cities lie in the low land on the coast of the Land of Israel (while probably 'dod' means love, and 'shkalon' means weigh or scale). Similarly, Gat means a 'wine-press', again exhibiting a lowered surface, in this case a pit. In truth the image of the 'wine-press pit' is very close to what we noticed in regard to the attribute of justice, since this 'wine-pit' is recognized in Isaiah 63, 3 and many other sources as alluding to the 'pressing' and subjugation especially of evil, a dominant theme of 'justice'. Based on this we understand the names of the other cities. Gaza or 'Aza' means 'strong boldness' (as in 'azut'), also an attribute strongly associated with justice and the strong subjugation of evil. Ekron means to 'uproot' (see Zefania 2, 4 which makes clear reference to this connection) as in the uprooting of evil by justice.

One of the dominant ways to achieve justice on a national level was through the advent of royalty in Israel (see end of Judges which points to the lack of justice then being due to 'then there was no king'), a matter that could only be fully realized after entering the Land of Israel according to Rambam's ruling. This royalty was most fully realized at first only by the figure of King David, the archetype for all kings.(1) Based on this, we now understand why specifically David the King was so successful in conquering the Philistine Lands, for the pursuer of true regal justice can conquer the lands of justice.

Just as we have shown in the past how the development of Beer Sheva stems from Hebron, so too we may say about the cities of 'the Land of the Philistines' also settled subsequently after Hebron by our Patriarchs. This is Hebron, the cradle of royalty and justice to become the first reigning stronghold of King David.  

(1) Saul the first king of the 'temporary' royal line also faught the Philistines, but was not as successful as David. Also Samson from the tribe of Dan which means justice ('din') was also somewhat successful in defeating the Phlstines, but still not on the same level of David.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Real Stories from the Holy Land #153

As I approached the top step on the south side of the Temple Mount I heard a whisper to "remove your shoes this is holy ground." No one was near me, so thinking I was hearing things, ignored it...As I neared the archway, which was going to frame the picture for me, the voice was again but much louder, "remove your shoes this is holy ground". Still, there was no one was around...Again I ignored it and took the pictures, and started back towards the group; but as I crossed a certain spot on the platform the voice now shouted at me (no one was near me). Demanding, almost like booming: "Remove your shoes this is holy ground!" Needless to say, I did; and then walked the entire rest of the way shoeless..." L.M

Comments, questions, and/or stories,email  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.