The Capture of the Aron and the Avodah of Elul

Topics

• Overview of the Perek
• The Battle Against the Plishtim
• Eli and the Daughter-in-Law
• Eli’s Death and the Capture of the Aron
• Eli’s Fear and the Rabag
• The Pasuk and the Rabag
• The Yifei Toar and the Midrash
• The Tragedy of That Day
• Two Losses on One Day
• “I Will Break Your Strength”
• Eli, the Aron, and the breaking of Klal Yisroel
• The order of the bad news
• The concern people have when naming a child
• Rav Pam and the Question of a Name
• The Meaning of a Name
• Naming as a Statement
• Bakhel as Hoda’ah
• Levi’s Children and Imo Anochi B’tzarah
• Eli’s Daughter-in-Law and the Kavod of Hashem
• Elul and What a Yid Is
• Terah, Rosh Hashanah, and the Yiddishe Heart
• Rav Giftei on Elul
• The Yiddishe Heart and the Avodah of Elul

Transcript

# Overview of the Perek

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In Shmuel, the perek discusses how Klal Yisrael went to war against the Plishtim, and in the end they lost the war. We will read the pesukim inside in a few moments. Just a quick summary of the perek: not only do they lose the war and many of Klal Yisrael fall to the enemy, but they take the Aron to the war and the Aron is captured.

We also learn in the perek the response of Eli upon hearing that the Aron of Hashem was captured by the Plishtim, as well as the response of the daughter-in-law of Chofni and Pinchas, the wife. Ultimately, Eli and the daughter-in-law both die in this perek from the tzar, from the pain of hearing that the Aron of Hashem was captured by the Plishtim.

# The Battle Against the Plishtim

This is perek daled. They go to war. The Plishtim are initially successful, and this we see in pasuk gimel. The elders of the milchamah decide that the war is being lost and that they have to change course, so they decide to bring the Aron. They believe that if they bring the Aron, this will change the tide of the milchamah for them to win against the Plishtim. And so they do in pasuk daled: they bring the Aron of Hashem and they blow a teru’ah. It shakes the earth.

The Plishtim hear the kol teru’ah and they get scared. They say that this must be HaKadosh Baruch Hu behind this shaking, this rattling of the world, of the earth. And the same way HaKadosh Baruch Hu saved them in Mitzrayim, He’ll save them here too. This is in pasuk zayin and pasuk ches.

Pasuk tes tells us that they decided to be strong and fight on anyway: be Plishtim and fight, don’t be scared. Pasuk yud: they fight on. Thirty thousand soldiers fall here in this milchamah, and of course the Aron Elokim is nilkach — they capture the Aron. The two children of Eli, as was already predicted by the Navi in previous prakim, are taken as well.

# Eli and the Daughter-in-Law

The Aron gets captured, and the pasuk — we’re not going to go into detail of this pasuk — but the Midrash speaks about how Shaul ran and ran for miles to save the luchos. He comes back and he tells Eli the results of the milchamah, and this is what we’ll focus on a little bit: Eli’s response to the tragedy that he hears, as well as the response of the daughter-in-law, who at this juncture is having a baby. The baby starts to come out, and we’re going to learn soon that she hears the bad news of the results of the milchamah.

So let’s take a look at pasuk yudaled. He wants to know what’s going on. Shaul is coming back and he’s giving us the report from the war.

# Eli’s Death and the Capture of the Aron

He could not see. He was old. The verses in the middle of the chapter are the report, Shaul’s report, of what happened in the machaneh. Now let us see what the response is.

He mentioned the fact that the Aron Elokim was in jeopardy. He fell backward, cracked his neck and his back, and died. He was very old, and he was heavy. He had been a shofet for forty years.

Not only Eli dies here. The next pasuk tells us that his kallah, his daughter-in-law, dies as well. Lalas means leda. She was supposed to give birth. There is no other word like this in all of Tanakh, but Lalas means leda. She was supposed to give birth, and she also hears that the Aron was captured, and that her father-in-law and husband were taken: her father-in-law just now, by falling backward and dying, and her husband in the war. She went into labor, and as she dies, those who are standing there—many mefarshim say it was not just the midwives, but many people came, because there was a great Kiddush Hashem here. The Rebbe wanted that everyone should hear and see this Kiddush Hashem.

What was the Kiddush Hashem? That when she gives birth and they tell her that she has given birth to a child, to a son, it is somewhat of a comfort. It means nothing to her. She does not respond, because this was not a comfort for her. As the pasuk continues, the fact that the Aron was captured leaves her with nothing. There is nothing that can comfort her.

She named the child Ikavod, no respect, no honor. The honor was taken away; the glory was taken away. This is the name she gave her child, Ikavod, to announce, so to speak, to tell the world and to tell future generations: Galah kavod miYisrael—the honor of Klal Yisrael was captured. Al hilakach haAron Elokim, the Aron of Hashem was taken, v’al chamiv v’al ishah, as well as her father-in-law and her husband.

She repeats, vatomer, and the Abarbanel explains that she repeats Galah kavod miYisrael so that you should not make a mistake and think that she was also bemoaning the fact that her father-in-law and husband were taken away. That is part of the tragedy, the calamity, the reason she is in a state of mourning. No—that is only a by-product of the tzarah. The ikar tzarah is, vatomer, Galah kavod miYisrael, ki nilkach haAron Elokim.

There is a lot in this perek, boys—much Yiddish hashkafah, so to speak, in this perek. We have summarized and read the pesukim quickly, but one point comes through clearly in the perek: Why did Eli die? What was the fear, what was the pain, what was the suffering, for him and for his daughter-in-law? It becomes pretty evident. It was not about the war that was being lost. It was not about the fact that so many Jewish soldiers were taken away. It was not even the death of his children, Pinchas and Chofni. In the pesukim it becomes clear that his one and only concern, his pain, his suffering, was: vatomer, ki nilkach haAron Elokim.

# Eli’s Fear and the Rabag

It becomes evident and clear in all the pesukim, and the Rabag points this out clearly. If you look at Pesach Yigimel, the pasuk says clearly that Eli was sitting in anticipation and fear; he was taken back by fear. What was he afraid of? The pasuk says it clearly. He was afraid of the oven. He was not afraid of the war. He was not afraid of all the soldiers who were going to fall in the war. He was not afraid that his children would never return from the war.

His concern, says the Rabag, was that he had placed his chair outside to see what was happening, who was passing by, and to receive news from the war. The Rabag says this teaches us the chasidus, how great Eli was. He was not afraid for his children. They came and told him that his children had died, and that was not the issue for him. What was his tremendous fear? His one and only concern, his fear, his mourning, was the oven. Because of that, he fell backward, as the pasuk says, and because of this he broke his neck and died.

# The Pasuk and the Rabag

I want to show you something interesting. The pasuk seems to say that he fell, that he fell. But if you look at the Rabag we just mentioned, it was an accident. He was so taken back by fear. The Rabag also uses the lashon that he was in unbelievable pain, so it was accidental. When you read the pasuk, it would seem that he lost his balance and fell back.

# The Yifei Toar and the Midrash

I would like to read to you the translation. Look at the Yifei Toar; he explains and translates it as follows: He was in tremendous pain over the information, the shmua, that the Aron was taken. So he could have gone and cracked his fingers or torn five garments. He could have done that by breaking his hand. You know, when people are in a state of anger and pain, they slam their hand against the wall. He did not do that, says the Midrash. He could have gone and slammed his hand and broken five fingers. The Midrash says he could have gone and torn five garments. Tear all your clothing from tzaar. No, he went and broke his neck. He broke his vertebrae, from the back of his head to the vertebrae of the neck.

The implication of chayir haBeisay is that he did it on purpose. Pashtus, va-yipon means accidentally. From the Midrash, you see that it was with intent. Because if he wanted to slam his hand, it happened by itself; he lost his balance. You see that he went out to break his fingers.

# The Tragedy of That Day

To break his neck, to break his back—why, Rabbeisai? Let us understand what this means, the tragedy of what happened that day. I do not understand what the tragedy was that caused Eli, for lack of a better term, to almost commit suicide. According to this Midrash, it seems as though it was done on purpose. So we have to discuss that. Is it mutar? Is a person allowed to go and break his neck because of a veil of Adonish of power? If it happened, if it was vayipol, it was accidental, fine. But the comment says vayipol means that he did it because he wanted to show an unbelievable tzar for what happened.

What happened that day? Let me quote you an interesting Gemara in Zevachim, and then you will understand, in light of what we spoke, that the tragedy was not the loss of the war, the tragedy was not the soldiers, the tragedy was not the loss of his children, both to him and to his daughter-in-law. What was the tragedy? The Aron was taken. So what was the tragedy?

There is a Gemara in Zevachim. The Gemara says: this is the beginning of the destruction of Shiloh. Shiloh is finished. According to the Gemara, this is like we understand by Churban Beis Hamikdash: right here, that he lokach Aran Elokim, and Eli responds that he dies because of it. This is Churban Shiloh. Here begins the end of Shiloh.

# Two Losses on One Day

But there is a meiredik in Amal bin Rabbeisai, hafla ufele. Amal bin Pasig hafelef says that there were two problems that happened that day. One is that the Aron was taken. But then there was another problem: that Chofni and Pinchas, as well as Eli, the gedolei olam, the gedolei Yisrael, the tzaddikim.

We all know the Gemara tells us that it is even more than the Churban HaBeis, because there are two parts to Torah. The Torah is Torah shebiksav, and where is that? That is in the Aron. And then there is Torah shebe’al peh. And where is that? So if we have one missing, the other complements it. If we lose Torah shebiksav, we have Torah shebe’al peh. If we lose Torah shebe’al peh, at least we have Torah shebiksav. But to lose both of them on the same day—to lose the Aron, and to lose Eli and Chofni and Pinchas—that means that Torah is the end of Torah.

# “I Will Break Your Strength”

I want to tell you an interesting thing that they say. In Parashas Bechukosai, in the tochachah, the pasuk says clearly, “I will break your strength.” What is that referring to? It is a big machlokes rishonim. Rashi, and most rishonim, say that the Ribbono Shel Olam will break the Beis Hamikdash. The Seforno says, “Your strength I will break”—it is referring to Mishkan Shiloh.

Now let us go back to Eli. Eli sees that the Aron is taken away. Eli sees that Chofni and Pinchas were taken away. Either it is the beginning of Churban Shiloh, or it is the Churban HaTorah, Torah shebiksav and Torah shebe’al peh. “Shavarti”—I will break your strength.

# Eli, the Aron, and the breaking of Klal Yisroel

It is possible that Eli falls backward and breaks his back. It is a remez. It was not that Eli went and wanted to kill himself, chas v’shalom. Rather, it was a direct result of what was happening before him, the strength, the strength — the breaking of the strength of Klal Yisroel. What is remarkable is that Eli falls back, and what does the pasuk say? He breaks, *mithrakte* — he breaks his back.

# The order of the bad news

I want to discuss the response of the Guder law as well, and then you will see why I chose to discuss this point in the Navi at this time during Elul. If you notice, the besorah was given to Eli. How was it given to Eli? First they told him that his children died. Then they told him the rest. It is the exact opposite here. Shaul, who is giving the news, tells first the people, then the children, and then the Aron. To the Guder law, it says the other way around: the Guder law hears that the Aron was taken, and then the children.

We all know how you break bad news to people: you try to break it to them slowly, a little at a time. It says in Barbenel that Shaul knew that to Eli this was easier — tell him about the people, the war, the children, save the main point for last, and break it to him slowly. But to the daughter-in-law it was the other way around. To her, it was harder to hear than to her husband, than to her father-in-law, so they broke it to her in the opposite order: that the Aron was taken, and then they began saying that this one passed away.

What was the chiddush of Barbenel? That to her it was not, just like by Eli, the ultimate tragedy was the Aron. So too, to his daughter-in-law, the ultimate tragedy was the Aron Hashem. If you notice, she does not say anything. So Barbenel asks: why is she not saying anything? Because she had no mechayech; she was dying. They learned that from Barbenel. But most of the mefarshim learned that this was not a nechamah to her that she had a child. It was not a nechamah to her. Why? Because for her, as for Eli, the main thing was the shivri of the Aron Hashem.

# The concern people have when naming a child

I want to tell you something interesting. When you name a child, people spend a lot of time thinking about how to name a child. As a rav, over the years, many people come to me and discuss names, and there is so much thought and so many issues and so many hergashos involved in naming a child. I have a feeling for this name, and the father, and my grandfather, and my mother, and this one is fighting for the name, and the other one is still crying. I see the whole game.

# Rav Pam and the Question of a Name

I’ll tell you a good maaseh, since the time allows me to say one beautiful maaseh. Rabbi Rav Pam, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Tzaddik, I miss him every day. There is not a day that goes by that I do not miss the Rosh Yeshiva of the Tzaddik.

I heard this firsthand from the person to whom it happened, meaning it was his friend who came to ask the shaylah of the Rosh Yeshiva. What was the shaylah? He had promised his mother that the boy would be named after her father. His wife had promised her mother that her grandfather, who had just passed away, would get the name. I get the name, you get the name; I get the name, my mother; my father, your father; my mother, my grandmother.

Rav Pam listened to the whole matter and said, “I cannot pasken, because both sides are right. He just passed away, and therefore she is a fresh almanah. But when I see that you get the name, your mother has the right. She supports me; this one does not support me.” Everyone was smiling at him. Everybody knows that. I guess in every shtub it is the same thing all the time.

He could not pasken. He could not say that he did not know what to do. A few months later, he meets the yungerman. The yungerman obviously did not invite the Rosh Yeshiva to the bris; he wanted to stare him. He tells him, “Tell me, whatever happened with the name?” He said, “You know, my mother said, listen, your wife’s mother, the almanah, she just said let her have the name. Give it to your wife and give it to her mother. Let her have the name.”

Rav Pam zatzal said, “Can I have your mother’s telephone number? I want to give her mazel tov that she won, and she got the name.” But the other one—that is called winning and getting the name. You want to know what is called winning and getting a name? This was the chinuch that Rav Pam zatzal taught us.

# The Meaning of a Name

Now let us go back, and in light of all this, parents who give a name. We know from Chazal that a name is a big thing. The name of a person has a lot to do with his ruchniyus. How does a parent know what name to give? Because the parent decided? He was listening to Rav Teir and liked the word, the name Kohanim, so he gave the name Kohanim? But mainly, that is why she will be like Kohanim. What is the right name for this child? I will be the osaf of this child.

The parents have, in English they would call it a hunch, but it is not a hunch. It is something in their heart, what the right name should be.

I want to tell you all: she was the first one to ever be made to praise Hashem. What are you talking about? And with this I answered another question. She was the first one to name a child—not to name a child, which means that every time the child would walk into the room, you give a kiss to the mezuzah, you walk out, you forget about it. And he makes trouble, the child.

# Naming as a Statement

Imagine a child, Tzadikl, and then he makes trouble. What are you supposed to say? “Tzadikl, come here, you big boy”? What are you supposed to say? Say, “That’s not a good idea. Move away from the kinderlach, Tzadikl.”

So what do we have? That the name is a statement of davar. What was the name of Avraham Avinu’s daughter? Chazal say: Bakhel, shmo — that was her name.

# Bakhel as Hoda’ah

With this, I want to explain this Midrash. Can I ask you: why did he have to call her Bakhel? What kind of a name is Bakhel? If she were a little older, you know what she would say? “You’ve got to change my name. I can’t get a shidduch with a name like that. Bakhel? What are you going to call her?”

And the Talmud says that he took the child and said, “Hashem, be’erez Avraham, mikha ba’atz.” Hashem, You gave me everything. I named the daughter Bakhel because it is a hoda’ah to the Eibershter: Hashem, be’erez Avraham, mikha ba’atz. And every time he looked at her, and every time he mentioned her name, he remembered that he has everything.

# Levi’s Children and Imo Anochi B’tzarah

You know, Rabbi Yishai, all Levi’s children were named after the yissurim of Klal Yisrael in Mitzrayim: Gershon, Kehos, and Merari. Chazal are saying that Levi’s “Imo anochi b’tzarah” was as if he was in the shibud alone, right? Let’s say in simple terms, we break the middle matzah because Levi said, “Imo anochi b’tzarah.” Right? Ah, he wasn’t there.

So the vel says: Bakhel — he should feel “Imo anochi b’tzarah.” That’s not the pashut pshat. You know what the pashut pshat is? Bakhel — he was more in the shibud than the people were. The people were meshubadim. They were, “Hey, Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe Rabbeinu,” and Moshe Rabbeinu felt the shibud, the pain, more than the people who were there.

And certainly Chazal say, b’zchus Levi we were nigal, because Levi had the “Imo anochi b’tzarah,” and thus is Klal Yisrael. We spoke about it in the past; I just bring it up now. Why? When you name a child, it shows the deepest emotions and feelings you have. Akin git min anamin, ata das tracht min. It’s pure. It’s from the heart.

# Eli’s Daughter-in-Law and the Kavod of Hashem

What about the kallah, the daughter-in-law of Eli? She lost her father-in-law. She lost her husband. And she is dying. Binyamin was called Ben Aini. Even Binyamin — Ben Aini. It is normal for a mother to feel and to express, “Aini,” that it is my tzarah. Yet what is she expressing? Not her tzarah, but the kavod of the Rabbeinu Shel Olam. That the nilkach, the time of galus, kavod miYisrael, kinilkach, arayim, or elokim.

# Elul and What a Yid Is

How does this tie into Elul? I want to tell you something. Many come to me and discuss Elul, and again: what should I feel? It’s not here. The button — I turn the button on, and I turn the button off. First comes Tisha B’Av, and then all of a sudden I’m more happy. Shabbos Nachamu, Tammuz, and Elul — my emotions are all over the place.

So I want to tell you something. I want to tell you about who you are, what a Yid is. And sometimes it is so basic and so simple that we need to hear it. Here in this chelek, we learn tamid yigizach: how Eli, and how a woman, did not focus at all on herself, on her matzav, and on her tragedy. It was all about the kavod of the Rabbeinu Shel Olam. It’s all about the kavod of Klal Yisrael. It’s all about the kavod.

# Terah, Rosh Hashanah, and the Yiddishe Heart

Of Terah, as the Malbim says, there is Terah shebikhtav and Terah shebe’al peh.

When we come to Rosh Hashanah, Ribono Shel Olam is Melech. He is the Melech. Chazal tell us that anyone who stands on Rosh Hashanah and asks for personal things is like a kelev, like a dog that says, “Hav hav,” give me, give me. Hav means to give, and hav is also a bark: “Hav hav.” What is wrong if I come on Rosh Hashanah and say, “Ribono Shel Olam, give me”? What is so bad about that?

The Torah says: Rebbe, you are right. But if it were not given to Yidden, we would not understand this. To a Yid, the Malchus of HaKadosh Baruch Hu is what he wants and what he needs. That is his personal retzonos, more than his own personal retzonos. What a Yid wants in kevod Malchuso is much more than his own personal retzonos.

This is what we say: “Zochreinu lechayim, Melech chafetz bachayim, v’koseveinu b’sefer chayim, l’ma’ancha Elokim chayim.” Only a Yid could ask for a thing like this: “Ribono Shel Olam, I want life, because since it is Your kavod, because You are Elokim chayim, I ask for it.”

# Rav Giftei on Elul

I would like to conclude with the words of Rav Giftei. I saw them made with the geshmak of Rav Giftei; I was aiming on him. Rav Giftei says like this: What is Elul? The avodah of Elul is about l’levav yis b’nefesh Yisrael. It is about the Yiddishe hearts. That is his opening remark. What is Elul? Rav Giftei, zatzal, says: It is about their hearts. And everything we do is to open the heart. It is teshuvah, it is cheshbon hanefesh, because in order to appreciate Elul, we have to understand the Yiddishe hearts. Otherwise, we cannot work with the avodah. How could you work with the heart if you do not know what the heart is? What is a Yiddishe heart? What is it that he needs? What is it that he is seeking?

He says, hafla vefela, it is really hafla vefela. “L’cha amar libi, bakshu panai.” The King of kings, the no’am of Yisrael, says—I quote word for word—it is so poetic, so prolific, the words of Rav Giftei. What does he say? “L’cha amar libi, bakshu panai.” It should not be “bakshu panai”; it should be “bakshu panekha.” What does my heart say? Should I be “bakshu panai”? “L’cha amar libi.” I am telling my Yiddalach: lamelech me pashipshat, yes, good, pashipshat. “L’cha,” to You, “amar libi,” which means my heart is telling me. What is my heart telling me? “Bakshu panai”? No, “bakshu panekha.”

There are many words here. “L’cha amar libi, bakshu panai.” “L’cha amar libi, bakshu panekha.” It is an instrument, and what are the strings of that instrument? The heart. The heart is a nevel, it is an instrument. What is it? What are the strings? Migun dvar Hashem. It is the Ribono Shel Olam who plays the song, ha’omer lo’adam, who tells the person, “Bakshu panai.” Ein lo l’lev ben Yisrael migarmei klum. There is no heart of a Yid that has anything of its own; only “bakshu panai.” The Ribono Shel Olam is speaking to it: Search for Me. That is the Yiddishe heart. There is nothing else in it.

# The Yiddishe Heart and the Avodah of Elul

The whole heart of the Yid speaks to him and tells him: search for your Creator, search for your Creator. And this is what he brings from the Chofetz Chaim, who brought a proof to this avodah, and with this I will end, Rabbi Yisrael.

In the pasuk, "Ani yesheinoh, v'libi er," the Medrash says: who is "libi"? "Libi"—this is the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Medrash Yashir, "Mister Rabbeinu, Shleilam." The Yiddishe heart—I do not know whether you ever had to have a heart transplant, what would happen if it came from a goyishe heart into a Yiddishe one; I do not know if it would work. I do not know. It is a very good question. But I do know that the DNA of the Yiddishe heart is completely different, Rabbi Yisrael. It looks for other things; its retzonos are different retzonos. Its sipukim, what makes it happy, is not the same thing.

"Ani yesheinoh, v'libi"—"zeh Kadosh Baruch Hu." My heart is "zeh Kadosh Baruch Hu." "Libi laShem." And that is the avodah of Elul: to work on the heart that is searching for the Eibishter. And there is only one thing that heart wants, and that is "l'mancha Hashem k'vod malchuso yisbarach." His family, his children—it all revolves around the malchus of the Kadosh Baruch Hu. This is the beginning of Elul, Rabbi Yisrael.

Take these words and think about them. Think about it: what are we looking forward to? What do we want? And the truth is, first identify what we really want, because as long as you do not know what you want, everything else will not satisfy you. You run after this and you run after that—it does not work, Rabbi Yisrael, it really does not work. The Yid is never satisfied with this. The Yid is satisfied when he is mekushar, when he is close to the Rebbeinu Shleim. That is "l'cha libi takshu panei." This is the beginning of the avodah, the avodas haleiv of Elul.