Nach Summary; Shmuel Beis 2-7 and dvar torah
Perek Summaries:
Perek 2 – David goes to Chevron upon HaShem’s instruction and is anointed as King of Yehudah. The people of Yavesh Gilad are rewarded for having buried Shaul. ‘Ish Boshes,’ son of Shaul, is anointed as King over the rest of Israel; with the help of Avner ben Ner, former head of Shaul’s army. Fight between the armies of David and Ish Boshes – Asahel, brother of Yoav (head of David’s army) is killed by Avner.
Perek 3 – List of David’s children born to him in Chevron. Avner defects from the camp of
Ish Boshes and joins David’s camp, after he feels insulted by Ish Boshes. Yoav kills Avner to avenge his brother’s death. David curses Yoav for this and attends mass funeral for Avner, as well as composing a kinah.
Perek 4 – Ish Boshes is killed and his head is brought to David. David orders that the
murderers of Ish Boshes be killed.
Perek 5 – David is crowned king over all Israel and goes down to Yerushalayim. More
children of David listed. David beats the Philistines in war.
Perek 6 – David attempts to bring the aron kodesh from Yehudah. Uzah is killed by HaShem
for trying to hold up the aron when it seems like it is about to fall. The aron is temporarily deposited with Oved Edom, and after his house is blessed, it is brought to Yerushalayim amongst joyousness and dancing. Michal tells off her husband for too much dancing/show of happiness, and is punished in that she is not to have any children from then on.
Perek 7 – HaShem tells Nassan the prophet to tell David that He wants a beis hamikdash
built. HaShem blesses David.
Dvar Torah:
We want the beis hamikdash back! That is the (battle) cry of Tisha B’Av, and everyone feels it in different ways. But unfortunately in this post-mikdash confused time, we do not really know what the Beis Hamikdash is, nor what it was really like to be in those times. For example, the Vilna Gaon said that he did not reach the level of the average Jew who lived in the time of the Beis Hamikdash. And anyone who has the slightest realisation of who the Vilna Gaon was and what he accomplished should be stunned by that statement.
We are, however, given a glimpse of what the beis hamikdash is in perek 7, when HaShem tells Nosson the prophet to relate the task of building the Beis Hamikdash to David HaMelech. HaShem says (7;6) ‘I have not dwelt/sat in a house from the day I took Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt until this day; I was walking in the Ohel [moed] and in the Mishkan.’ Now, we see that HaShem’s Presence in the Mishkan is described as merely ’walking’ as opposed to His ’sitting’ ie a more fixed Presence in the Beis Hamikdash. The point is that HaShem’s House so to speak is the Beis Hamikdash – it is the centre from which kedusha sprouts to the world and the home where Bnei Yisrael and HaShem can keveyachol meet – it is the direct connection between us and HaShem.
The problem is that we do not have a proper conception of that nowadays; what it would be like to do a sin and be cleansed from it by bringing a korban, or everyone going up to the Mikdash for aliyah leregel 3 times a year – imagine the streets to Yerushlayim packed with Jews coming from all over. And the communal Pesach offering….
And the gemarra (sukkah) says that anyone who does not mourn over Jerusalem will not see its rebuilding. What can we do to feel this?
One way to perhaps try and start feeling this is to create a mini-Mikdash inside of oneself (“bilvavi mishkan evneh…”) – to bring HaShem into one’s world more; each one has their own thing to work on and thus their own ideas. But I would like to suggest one…
There is a theme (I have heard it by Rav Pinkus quoting Rav Avigdor Miller) that Shabbes is the point in time that the Beis HaMikdash is in space. Ie both are points of connection between us and HaShem. For example, one can ‘break Shabbes’ by doing the smallest of actions eg uprooting a plant, talking business things, even cutting nails. This reflects the Beis Hamikdash, when small things carried death penalties, eg a stain on a Kohen’s garment, a non-Kohen walking in where he should not be, etc. And the washing before doing the work in the Mikdash mirrors the washing for Shabbes that is a mitzvah to do on Friday. Thus, a way to strengthen our feeling for the Beis Hamikdash is to find an aspect to improve on Shabbes – whether that means learning more about Shabbes, increasing in kavod or oneg Shabbes, etc that’s up to you!
As the Kotzke Rebbe once remarked – where is HaShem? Everywhere you let him in.
Have a great shabbes
