Transcript

ויהי דבר ה' אל שמואל לאמר נחמתי כי המלכתי את שאול למלך כי שב מאחרי ואת דברי לא הקים ויחר לשמואל ויזעק אל ה' כל הלילה.

Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Shmuel, my position has changed regarding Shaul on account of the fact that he has regressed. He's retreated from carrying out my tzivuy and he didn't fulfill my word. And as a result, he's going to lose the malucha. Shmuel was very upset, Shmuel was very agitated, ויחר לשמואל ויזעק אל ה' כל הלילה, and the entire night he was crying out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu trying to intercede that bizchus hatfilla Shaul be forgiven, that Shaul be spared. Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't accept Shmuel's tfilla. In the morning Shmuel comes to Shaul:

ויאמר שמואל אל שאול הרף ואגידה לך את אשר דבר ה' אלי הלילה ויאמר לו דבר.

Let me tell you what Hakadosh Baruch Hu communicated to me at night. Skipping a few psukim:

ולמה לא שמעת בקול ה' ותעט אל השלל ותעש הרע בעיני ה'.

Why didn't you listen to Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Instead you did what was evil, what was wrong in the eyes of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Yaan, again skipping a few psukim: יען מאסת את דבר ה' וימאסך ממלך. Because you spurned, because you rejected the devar Hashem, so He is spurning you, He's rejecting you as melech. So it's quite remarkable, out of Shaul's sight Shmuel was advocating so strongly on his behalf. He's clearly very devastated by what Hakadosh Baruch Hu has told him is going to be Shaul's punishment. And yet when he encounters Shaul he's so forceful and so unequivocal and so categorical in relaying the devar Hashem. His personal pain in no way interferes with his tziduk hadin, in no way interferes with his surrendering to ratzon Hashem. And itachen that in addition to the obvious connection and the obvious relevance of the Haftorah to Shabbos Zachor, the fact that the Haftorah begins with:

לך והכית את עמלק והחרמתם את כל אשר לו ולא תחמול עליו,

that this was intended to be a timcheh zecher Amalek, that in addition to that obvious connection and obvious relevance, the Haftorah is connected on a second level as well, and that is if there's any mitzva which serves as a prototype for the need to humbly accept ratzon Hashem. Obviously we don't have a moral intuition for me-ish ad ishah, me-ish ad ishah, me-olel v'ad yoneik. It's not something that we have a natural intuition for. And the mitzvah mechiyas Amalek says that a person is supposed to humbly, unquestioningly bow his head and accept devar Hashem and not only accept devar Hashem rachmana litzlan in terms of begrudging compliance but the way Shmuel delivers the message. There's no trace. If you sort of juxtapose the two scenes, the scene that the navi paints of Shmuel at night, ויזעק אל השם כל הלילה, vayichar l'shmuel v'yizak. He's so upset. He's crying out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It's not vayichar af. Anger is vayichar af. This is only vayichar. He's so, he's so upset. He's crying out to Hakadosh Baruch Hu kol halaylah and there's no, he doesn't betray the slightest trace of that when he's talking to Shaul. The Rambam writes at the end of Hilchos Me'ilah,

ראוי לאדם להתבונן במשפטי התורה הקדושה ולדעת סוף ענינם כפי כחו.

A person, it's befitting, it's appropriate that a person reflect on the mitzvos hatorah hakedoshah to try to discern what their goal is, what their tachlis is to the best of his ability. ודבר שלא ימצא לו טעם ולא ידע לו עילה, a person can't understand the rationale which is motivating it, he's not able to uncover any underlying cause, אל יהי קל בעיניו. He shouldn't relate to it with less kovid rosh ולא יהרוס לעלות אל ה' פן יפרוץ בו. Right? And using the metaphor from Ma'amad Har Sinai, he shouldn't recklessly, he shouldn't be reckless in his attitude to mitzvos Hashem ולא תהא מחשבתו בו כמחשבתו בשאר דברי החול. And when a person thinks about this mitzvah, this inscrutable mitzvah, this mitzvah that at least for him defies his understanding, he shouldn't think about it the way he thinks about divrei chol.

בוא וראה כמה החמירה תורה במעילה ומה אם עצים ואבנים ועפר ואפר כיון שנקרא שם אדון העולם עליהם בדברים בלבד נתקדשו וכל הנוהג בהן מנהג חול מעל ואפילו היה שוגג צריך כפרה.

You can't be noheig minhag chol with inanimate, with eitzim v'avanim because they're associated with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, because they were hukdash.

קל וחומר למצוה שחקק לנו הקדוש ברוך הוא שלא יבעט אדם בה מפני שלא ידע טעמה.

Kal v'chomer that a person can't be noheig minhag chol with a mitzvah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu legislated for us just because he isn't successful in understanding its rationale.

ולא יחפה דברים אשר לא כן על ה' ולא יחשוב בהן מחשבה כדברי החול הרי נאמר בתורה ושמרתם את כל חוקותי ואת כל משפטי ועשיתם אותם אמרו חכמים ליתן שמירה ועשייה לחוקים כמשפטים.

So both chukim and mishpatim are governed by shmirah and asiyah. העשייה ידועה והיא שיעשה החוקים. We know what asiyah means, compliance, practical compliance. V'hashmirah, what does shmirah mean? Sheyizaher bahen. ולא ידמה שהן פחותים מן המשפטים. My father used to say that according to the Rambam, the translation of Shmira is to esteem. That was supposed to fulfill mitzvos, but we're also supposed to have a certain attitude towards mitzvos, we're supposed to have esteem for mitzvos.

ולא ידמה שהן פחותים מן המשפטים. המשפטים הן המצוות שטעמן גלוי וטובת עשייתן בעולם הזה ידועה כגון איסור גזל ושפיכות דמים וכיבוד אב ואם. והחוקים הן המצוות שאין טעמן ידוע. ואמרו חכמים חוקים חקקתי לך ואין לך רשות להרהר בהן. ויצרו של אדם נוקפו בהן.

Person's yetzer challenges him with regard to Chukim. ואומות העולם משיבין עליהן. And the umot ha'olam challenge them

כגון איסור בשר חזיר ובשר בחלב ועגלה ערופה ופרה אדומה ושעיר המשתלח. וכמה היה דוד המלך מצטער מן המינים ומן העכו"ם שהיו משיבין על החוקים. וכל זמן שהיו רודפין אותו בתשובת השקר שערכו לפי קוצר דעת האדם.

And as they would pursue him, as they would challenge him, as they would attack him with all their false arguments that they would arrange according to their puny understanding היה מוסיף דבקות בתורה. So the reaction that it elicited from David HaMelech was increased dveykus b'Torah. That they didn't budge David HaMelech from the spot, that we understand, but why did it generate the increased dveykus b'Torah? So suggest two understandings, neither of which is really yored adequately or at all l'omek hadvarim. First of all, if a person lives at a time when certain values are being challenged, so he has to be mischazek in his commitment to those values. Whatever level, whatever degree of commitment a person has, if he's surrounded by a culture or by people or by voices that are constantly assailing these values, so human nature being what it is, it's important that he fortify himself, it's important that he deepen that sense of commitment. And therefore as much as they would be rodeif, so zeh tachas zeh, so David HaMelech was מוסיף דבקות בתורה. But yitachen also, and again this is also only skimming the surface of what this means, but yitachen also when a person hears the תשובת השקר שערכו לפי קוצר דעת האדם, person hears the shallowness and the egocentrism of a self-serving morality which can't acknowledge its own limitations. When a person sees the, again, the shallowness and the bankruptcy of the alternative, So then he has an increased and heightened appreciation for the Torah and he's מוסיף דביקות בתורה. Yitachen that there's an added link in the equation that Chazal are spelling out for us in commenting on the pasuk of

כי יד על כס יה מלחמה לה' בעמלק מדור דור,

so as you know, Chazal comment on the word kes, on the shem Hashem ko:

ומהו כס ולא נאמר כסא ואף השם נחלק לחציו נשבע הקדוש ברוך הוא שאין שמו שלם ואין כסאו שלם עד שימחה שמו של עמלק כולו וכשימחה שמו יהיה השם שלם והכסא שלם.

So שמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא is not shalem, kiso is not shalem, which means malchus shamayim in the world, which means the geulah, all that depends upon mechiyas amalek. So that part of the linkage is explicit in Chazal. But between the lines, between the words, mechiyas amalek is our obligation: והיה בהניח ה' אלהיך לך מכל אויביך מסביב, timcheh zecher amalek. Mechiyas amalek isn't going to happen, evil doesn't disappear from the world until we fully and unconditionally surrender to ratzon hashem and to hakadosh baruch hu's morality. The reason there's amalek in the world is because ויחמל שאול והעם על אגג ועל מיטב הצאן. That's why it's there. Mechiyas amalek will happen when we accept the mitzvah of mechiyas amalek. To accept the mitzvah of mechiyas amalek, again, is as Shmuel does. You do your best to understand in a different context, in the context of Shmuel, when it's appropriate, you do your best with koach hatfilla, but ultimately there's a complete, unconditional acceptance and surrender to ratzon hashem, to dvar hashem. When that happens, mechiyas amalek can happen, and when mechiyas amalek happens, so then kiso can be shalem and shemo can be shalem.