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

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Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

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"Bestow Your kindness upon those who know you, O Jealous God!"

According to our Sages Southern Israel is associated with the attribute of kindness and for this reason, Avraham, whose attribute is kindness, traveled southwards through the Land of Israel, ultimately settling in Hebron, the City of 'Patriarchal Kindness'. In a similar way, this week's parsha also ties Hebron to Southern Israel in our title quote.

In continuation of our study of various cities in the Land of Israel and their relationship to Hebron, we shall study one of the southern cities of the Land of Israel, given considerable attention in the book of Samuel in David's battles subsequent to the death of King Saul, Ziklag. Another fascinating link of this city to Hebron is the book of Samuel's description of this city being adjacent to the Negev of Kaleb, a matter that strikingly ties this location to Kaleb's journey through the "Negev" to Hebron, where he prostrated himself on the tombs of the Patriarchs in prayer for God's aid to brave against the plot of his colleague spies. Yet another connection is our Sages' assertion that David, the hero of the Ziklag episode in Samuel, is of the lineage of Kaleb (Sotah 11a).

These ideas come together in context of the war with Amalek, who is mentioned in both this week's parsha and in the book of Samuel as residing at this location, 'the Negev'/Southern Israel. Aside from Beer Sheva, which we discussed at length in the book of Bereishit this year, there are other prominent cities in the 'Negev' of Israel today, such as Dimona, Arad, Mitzpeh Rimon, and others.  From both episodes, here and in the book of Samuel it becomes evident that the relationship towards Amalek at this location, whether in courage or in despair, proves to be a turning point in Israel's sovereignty in the Land of Israel.

In this week's parsha's case the People's fear of entering the Land of Israel, greatly due to the Amalekites, who they had battled with just after the Exodus, was a deciding factor in the postponement of Israel's entry and sovereignty in the Land of Israel for 40 years. In contrast, David's courage in battling the Amalekites in the Ziklag episode resulted in his reign upon Israel subsequently after. It is also important to note that David's battling the Amalekites in this episode can be seen as a rectification of Saul's regal downfall in his battle with the Amalekites. Indeed, it seems that for this reason the book of Samuel deliberately juxtaposes the episode of Ziklag with the death of Saul in battle with the Philistines (beginning of Samuel II), who David had just left in order to battle the Amalekites. Halachic sources too tie regal power to the battling of Amalek, an endeavor mainly meant to be taken on by the King of Israel (see Rambam Melachim ch. 1 and 5). Contemplating Amalek's location in Southern Israel we may say that Amalek ties itself to the attribute of kindness associated with this location, for it takes advantage of this attribute to survive.

Based on this, we may understand why Amalek is the only nation on earth which the Torah commands to obliterate entirely, for any act of mercy or kindness given to their survival will be immediately and strongly manipulated into destructive behavior by their very evil nature. One of the important lessons to be learned from the encounter with Amalek can be learned from the location of the first battle of Amalek, called "HaShem is my Banner (Nisi)". The word for 'banner', 'nisi', is the verb root for both 'a trial' - 'nisayon' and 'a miracle' - 'nes'. In other words, one can take the encounter with Amalek as a trial and with fear of defeat as unfortunately was the case with Israel in this week's parsha, or one can turn this 'triyal' into a 'miracle' - 'nes', as a springboard towards yet greater heights, as was the case with David, who, like Kaleb his ancestor, raised his faith in God, defeated the Amaleks, retrieved all they took, and gained even greater material, political, and spiritual prestige than what he had in the first instance.

This spirit of courage is the spirit of Hebron where Kaleb drew his courage, the burial place of Sarah, which means royalty ('serarah').

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #176

"On Shavuos night I delivered a shiur in Givat Gal, a pioneering settlement and neighborhood of Kiryat Arba. Two days later, I 'happened' to hitch a ride with one of the participants of the shiur I had delivered, who notified me that the previous night forces came and destroyed the home of one of the residents of that neighborhood. About 5-10 minutes later I 'happened'  to hitch a ride with the resident himself whose house was just destroyed." M.G

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