Shimshon’s Final Act: Mesirus Nefesh for Kavod Shamayim and Klal Yisrael

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I would like to discuss the episode of Shimshon bringing down the house, expression used by Shimshon. He brought down the house, the Pelishtim. This is in perek tezayin. We all know that they poked his eyes out, and they brought him into the beis avodah zarah of Dagon to ridicule and have fun on his expense. This is in pasuk chaf hei: קִרְאוּ לְשִׁמְשׁוֹן וִישַׂחֵק לָנוּ. Shimshon says, Give me to grab onto the pillars, the people were having fun at his expense. הָרֹאִים בְּשִׂחוֹק שִׁמְשׁוֹן, the pasuk says. Pasuk chaf ches: וַיִּקְרָא... פֶּרֶק ט״ז, פסוק כ״ח. וַיִּקְרָא שִׁמְשׁוֹן אֶל ה׳ וַיֹּאמַר, ה׳ אלוקים, זָכְרֵנִי נָא וְחַזְּקֵנִי נָא אַךְ הַפַּעַם הַזֶּה הָאֱלֹקים, וְאִנָּקְמָה נְקַם אַחַת מִשְּׁתֵּי עֵינַי מִפְּלִשְׁתִּים. So, Yaaser Rabbeinu shleilam, זָכְרֵנִי נָא, remember me. We're soon going to learn, obviously it's a lashon of a zechus. He's being me'orer a certain zechus, זָכְרֵנִי נָא. Rashi is going to bring from Chazal what zechus was he being me'orer over here. Vechazkeini na, give him back his strength. Ach hapam, because he lost it. Vinokmah, and I want to take nekamah. Nekamah? Kamah is the chashveh revach. We make neman nekamah. Since when is there a nusach by a Yid, neman nekamah? Vinokmah nekam achas me'einei. Not both my eyes; he lost two, but he wants to take nekamah from one of the two. Chazal tell us, Rashi is going to bring it, he wanted to take nekamah for one, meaning the zechus and baishtein of them, and the other zechus of the other eyes was ein oilam haba. One eye, I want to take the nekamah; the other eye, ich vil af eilem haba. And avadeh, veistach, that the Ribono Shel Olam—the way the end of the story is—that the Ribono Shel Olam gave back his koach, and this was Tomos nafshi im Plishtim. It's a chiddush. In this case, Tomos; he dies with the Plishtim. What zechus? Zogt Rashi, der zechus, zichreini na, zechor li chavshanah sheshofatti es Yisrael. That's a big zechus, but that's not what Rashi finishes with. Velo amarti lechad meihem, haaver li makel zeh mimakom lmakom. I never told him, do me a favor, bring me the stick from here to there. Keim losh matriach keven yad. Not the zechus that he was shoifet Klal Yisrael for 20 years, no. The zechus is that when he was shoifet Klal Yisrael, tzantzik yaar, it camelish gezogt, nem do, my makel, bring this to me, bring it to me here, which is actually a Gemara in Sotah, daf yud. Rashi is quoting a Gemara, and this is the zechus that he wants. So, on beishtein, al keren ha-karnaim nekamot keged, the פלישת. It's interesting, there's an Ein Yaakov in Sanhedrin, daf kuf hei, that says that what makel, what's he referring to exactly? Veis menach mistama shoifet geraymet a makel for two reasons. One is it's a sign of shrarah, or maybe shoifet, shoifet needs a makel, lildos beis ha'am. What makel are we referring to? You know what makel we're referring to? There's a Gemara: Shimshon was chiger bishtei raglav. Shimshon was a—he couldn't walk, paraplegic, as I heard from those in English, a paraplegic. I think he can't גיין. So he needed a walking stick, he needed crutches. Halocheimush gebet nem mayne crutches, from those crutches to the—no, I never asked anybody.

This is the geise, the geise maila. And I think what Chazal are trying to say, according to the sefer Yankiv, that the pshat is, even this I didn't ask. Even this. I mean, achailech. It'd be so bad if I went and I asked. A mitzvah from bikur cholim, then ... We're not for pikin I didn't ask. And af al pi kein, I wasn't matriach. Kein in Klal Yisroel nisht. That's zechus. How is it connected to the story? It's a she'eina maaseh. It's belaynt in a sefer from, from, from Sippurei Tzadikim. But vos hot es, that this is the zechus, vos er bet a p'sach zechus to, and this nekome vos er nemt kegen plishtim zachreini na, ... vos a shayches epes? Vos er geven a feiner mentch, all right? I imagine he must have been a feiner mentch, nit do tzu lib dos. Geווען haMoshiach Hashem, we spoke last week that he was supposed to be Moshiach, Chazal. So if he was supposed to be Moshiach, I think there was more that we could say over than just he never made them take the mak... and ... Yes, I see you're dying to say something, and I'm trying to not answer, but I guess I'll give in because you're more chashuv than me. We mentioned that a moment ago, but I don't think that's what it means here. ... nisht ... Please don't tell that over to the Rebbe. I didn't mean anything against him. ... ווואס איז דער טייטש? ... און וואָלט איך שוין געבעטן, and if he would have already asked, because it's so terrible. So good, says, ... How did it come into this? This is the only excuse you can think of, that this should be the excuse? ... Maybe it's a beautiful ... L'maaseh, there's a famous kasha, ... He committed suicide. He brought the house down, and he killed tomus nafshi im plishtim. What was the heter that he was allowed to go and put himself in misa together with the Plishtim? Famous kasha, ... If I had to go through the whole sugya with you, Rabbeisei, we wouldn't finish on time. A few of the terutzim, the basic terutzim. Yeah, it's a poshte kasha. Now I can go into the sugya, what is the issur of killing yourself, v'al chisaron is this? That's a big shaila. Could be it's ... and maybe it's ... in the Gimel aveiros chamuros. It's probably ... a little bit. You're gonna ... afterwards. They're gonna think I'm off. I'm not off. It's the camera that's off. Yeah? So ... what's the ... issur of ... A person to commit suicide. It's a big sugya. Again, it's past parashah, shirah halacha, but this is not the context today; we're supposed to learn Chumash. But let us just say, pashut, it has to do with the gimel aveiros chamuros. When a person is תחת אונס, צריך the gimel aveiros chamuros, what makom heter was there for him to commit suicide in this instance? Pashut teretz is, it's a ta'ut rasha. I didn't say this; the Meshech Chochma in the teshuvos up does say. In fact, the kasha, he asks: a shol also we find that Shaul told the person that was taking care of him he should kill him at the end because he was getting caught by the Goyim. Kill me. It's a ta'ut rasha, and kan nireh, we don't see anywhere that he was wrong for saying it. So it's a ta'ut rasha. This is in Igros Moshe, Chelek Beis of Choshen Mishpat, siman ayin gimmel. Ta'ut rasha. Under milchemes, תחת אונס מלחמה, chayrin, every milchamah, in a milchamah, you matir atzmo l'misah. A person is giving himself over to die. Now, there's no sakanas nefashos; that's the way the Minchas Chinuch speaks about it. Maybe it's a little different. This is mamash like a suicide mission.

Some of their suicide missions, you go and you don't have to think about pikuach nefesh. But this in tomus nafshi, which means I know I'm killing myself. It's not so poshut halacha if in milchama, goyim have suicide missions. It's not so poshut. You're right. And even though the lashon of the Rambam, and again, you know what it is, I'm trying not to say all this, but it keeps on—it's on the tip of my tongue to tell you all that the Rambam says, that when you go, you have to give yourself over l'misa, v'yeda al kiddush Hashem, hu holech l'milchama. It's mashma you are giving yourself to die. It's not even a safek; it means even on the vadai you have to go. But who says Shimshon was a milchamed? This is a milchama over here. We spoke about this many times. Was Shimshon a maaseh milchama? Shimshon was a lone gunman trying to protect Klal Yisroel. It's not a maaseh milchama, and all the dinim of milchama and the heterim of safek pikuach nefesh maybe don't apply. It's a big reid, rabosai. Is it a milchama? And if it's a milchama, kemeklarin, the din that you're allowed to go even if it means tomus nafshi. Yeah, milchama, this milchama, it's another teretz, okay? There's a third teretz, which the Chazon Ish writes in Pe'er HaDor, a very interesting teretz. Shimshon was a chilul Hashem. The way they were taking Shimshon, the way they were playing around with Shimshon, there was chilul Hashem. B'makom chilul Hashem, there's no din of gimel aveiros chamuros, which means even though you're not allowed to be over any of the gimel aveiros chamuros, which lo yehareg v'al ya'avor is one of them, but you're allowed to be over lo yehareg. The makom is going to be a chil Hashem. It's a Chazon Ish, perek dor famous Chazon Ish. Azoi farshteitel the sugya from Shaul, azoi farshteitel the sugya from Shimshon. Yes, the yesod is because, acher habayis. Like I said, it's not for a few-minute shiur, but we can touch on it and we'll move on, rak l'panim. Either the pshat is there is no pshat; it's a rasha. That's the chameshes teivos. The pshat is an itaken pshat, a rasha, made this. Azoiteh Eibishter gevolt. Or the pshat is milchamah. Okay, once it's milchamah, it has a lot of dinim. You can go through all the sugyas of milchamah. Tumas nefesh has a place in milchamah. Suicide missions have a place in milchamah, right? Or the taiches, like the Chazon Ish says, Lo yirtzach. Even on you, lo yirtzach. But l'maaseh, shayach of chilul Hashem. When it's a shayach of chilul Hashem, chilul Hashem takes precedence over the gimel aveiros chamuros. Now what chilul Hashem is he referring to? Chazon Ish doesn't write klal. It's not klal that what chilul Hashem, which part of the maaseh Shimshon over here was the chilul Hashem. So many want to say not in the Chazon Ish, but stam azoi a yesod, because there's a Yam shel Shlomo in Bava Kama, siman nun tes. He says that if you're afraid that the goy is going to take you and be mefateh you al hadas, he's going to make you do shekelach aveiros, you're allowed to kill yourself. If you're in a matzav where a goy is going to capture you, you see that you're being captured, and you know that he's going to force you to do zachen which are against the Torah, one is allowed to kill himself, me'aver al hadas. Now of course I don't mean simple aveiros; מסתמא means נגד עבירות. Now we know Shimshon, they forced him to do big aveiros. Shteit in Chazal, Gemara in Sotah, that when he was being toichen, they kept him in the Beis HaAsurim, he was being toichen wheat. It's an interesting lashon, toichen wheat. He was grinding the mills. Chazal say it's actually a mashal to something else. All the goyim, the Pelishtim, brought their wives, that Shimshon should be with them. And מסתמא the reason is they wanted sheinah kindel, Shimshon agibos they wanted. So this is mavir al daas. This is a psakilah arayos, u'meileh vu s'da gilah arayos. And who knows what the next thing they would ask of him. Don't forget they brought him into a beis avodah zarah. Who knows what the next mavir al daas was going to be, u'meileh he had a heter to go and kill himself. He had a heter to take himself out of the picture. This is one teretz was brought in the Acharonim, based on the Yam Shel Shlomo, which could be is what the Chilul Hashem is referring to. The Chilul Hashem means, a Shimshon's a little patan, the al aveiros, and they're going to go down in history that he did this and this. Who knows what they're going to make him do next. Of dem Chilul Hashem, Shimshon says, it's nish כדאי, tomes nafshi. Nu shtarben.

Because the chil Hashem takes precedence, overrides the gimel aveiros chamuros. There's another Yam Shel Shlomo of Beis. A little further past the first Yam Shel Shlomo, a few lines further, there has another mahalach by Shaul. He says Shaul was the melech. The fact that the melech is being caught, and the melech is being killed, b'rabim azoy, fahesya, that itself is a chil Hashem. Forget malachim, we're always called Mashiach Hashem. They represent the malchus d'Rabbeinu Shleima. So, the Yam Shel Shlomo, daas alein, was the melech is being caught, and the melech is being killed, and the melech is being made to be ridiculed. When they kill him, that's going to be a chil Hashem. U'meimeila, Shaul held that he had to let himself be killed; he had to commit suicide, kill. And the Vilna Gaon, that das is a chil Hashem. Mitgenumen shem shel l'sachek boi, and the idea of l'sachek is they brought him into the beis avodah zarah. Nu, ayei elokeichem? Nu, das is tachton. They'll spiel da. They took him and they made a chizuk of him here. ... נעשו לשמחה, ויאמרו, נתן אלהינו בידינו, ושמש נבינו. Says the chil Hashem, the actual party. The actual tzchok, the ridicule, atosa leinu zachil Hashem. ... Megamezechargen, you're allowed to commit suicide; it shouldn't make this chilul Hashem. Now the truth is, it was happening already. So by Shaul, the pshat was he didn't want to fall into their hands and die. I mean, but here it's happening already. So it's in the middle, I guess maybe to stop the dead in its tracks, zecher tach, kiddush Hashem. I mean, the party existed already. The Bizayon, the tzchok is shein da. Halamai it continues, the shein... Even though it's only continuing, it's also enough to stop it and to bring down the house and kill all the Plishtim and to kill himself as well. So this, rabosai, is an overview, basically, basically, of the terutzim of what was the heter of Shimshon to go and say, Tomt nafshi im Plishtim. If I may, rabosai, I suggest a nekudah. A lot of the nekudah... Now you ראו את העם ויהללו את אלוהיהם, כי אמרו נתן אלוהינו בידינו את אויבינו ואת מחריב ארצנו, ואשר הרבה את חללינו. What happens to Klal Yisrael? What position is in Klal Yisrael now, while Shimshon is niftar? How about the fact that Klal Yisrael, they're celebrating the churban Eretz Yisrael and Klal Yisrael. The Ribono Shel Olam took the one that was machriv our house, את אויבינו, was machriv artzeinu. Is the chil Hashem now vos Klal Yisroel is in a matzav of bizayon? I'll tell you where I got this from. It sounds like a shtikel derushdik, but it's not. I'll show you where I got this from. The Gemara says that he wanted to take nekamah me'einai. It says. L'maaseh, what nekamah me'einai? Do you know why his eyes were poked out? His eyes were poked out because he did a chet with his einayim. So vos iz shayach to zogen nekamah me'einai? What nekamah do you want to take me'einai? Which leads me back to the original shaylah of the word nekamah. Remember I asked you a kasha? Vos shayach the nusach nekamah? Huh? Az der Ribono Shel Olam shtraft im itzer, nemtel nekamah in dem oynish? Unless you say it's tzvei zachin: vos kumt dir, kumt dir; vos der goy has getan, kumt im like by Paroh. Paroh came with the same taineh, right? What are you punishing me? The Ribono Shel Olam wanted goy yezer acher b'eretz lo lahem, he says, so I did the Ribono Shel Olam's avodah. The teretz is, you're right. Abal af al pi kein, vos der Ribono Shel Olam tut mit Klal Yisroel zayn cheshbon, ober du bist a shliach.

Kumt dera an oinesh. Mechaye, dos is doch doch ta'ut, right? Many mefarshim say that by Parah he was ... because he was meisiv. Okay, the reason why he got an onesh at this ... knak. Who told you to go and do it b'tazah? ... shemekayem it k'pshuto. This that you were meisiv so much tzaar, tzaar of Klal Yisroel. So how about the ...? He poked his eye. I mean, it doesn't ... an onesh. Habais, this is not my kasha. Every mefaresh frekt that kasha on the Gemara's side. All the Acharonim, everybody asks this kasha. The kasha: how could he come and say, ... from my eyes? It was an onesh that was given to him. Must be ... So I found an interesting ... Yerushalmi as well, not only it's a Gemara in Sotah. It's a Yerushalmi, and the Yerushalmi on the ... is a peirush yafeh mareh. And he says, ... my eyes, they took for Klal Yisroel ... What was my eyes? It's minehagen. This is minehagen. Minehagen, the pshat is, was Klal Yisroel's ... Why are they poking out my eyes? ... They're not coming ... They're doing it to get Klal Yisroel. They think that by poking out my eyes, I destroyed ... On the mamash ... the Yerushalmi. So meileh, ... is not me. ... Klal Yisroel ... Minehagen is an ... minehagen. Not me! Einai is, miti eigen. I went to protect the Klal Yisroel. They went and they poked it out because they want ... to get back at Klal Yisroel. So meileh, ina kama me'einai. What's his pshat is, Klal Yisroel ... The answer is the kasha? No. ... The pshat is gagishmak, yeah, a vad is gishmak. A mensch kumt un zogt, Ich mein Klal Yisroel. I was a shoifer of Klal Yisroel, so all I was was completely masur to Klal Yisroel. ... He's saying, Zachreini, gedenk ... You know who said this first? Who was the first person to say this? Moshe Rabbeinu, ... ... It's exactly what he's trying to say, Zachreini noh, huh? ... Zachreini noh. Zis nit tzurik, yaalta ve'ein. Zochreini na. Gedenk. Remember, the pshat is remember that I, I—there was no zich, there was no me here. My egoin, there was—my whole Klal Yisrael, everything I did and everything. And the ra is, I feel where I needed a kein. ... Zochreini na, chasdeini na. Now give me the koach to take the makom of us with ... Klal Yisrael's ego. That's the pshat. I was a real shofet, shafatti Yisrael esrim shanah, and there was no zich. With this, rabosai, I want to say a ... Tamus nafshi im plishtim. Nafshi? Alef-regel dafka. Dovid pardo, the Marami Pano. Nafshi? His nefesh is not going to die; his guf is going to die. It should say, Tamus ani, or tamus gufi im plishtim. Why says tamus nafshi? Say fekter a kasha. Huh? Many times the guf is called nefesh. Okay, so the Marami Pano feels different. Marami Pano feels that l'chaireh it should have said gufi; it should have said nafshi. So he wants to say efshar.

Baal, maybe he's not going to Olam Haba. Et katcha get shein to the Olam Haba. He married a goyte. Who knows what his... Even that is tomus nefesh. I'm ready to not go to Olam Haba. Tomus nefesh. He kores hanefesh. He said, I'm ready to even—I'm not going to Olam Haba. One of the cheshbones that a person has that he could give up his life, brought down in older Rishonim, and this is a teretz to the original kasha: if it's done l'tzorech Klal Yisrael. If it's a child of hatzalas Klal Yisrael. Esther, she didn't have the cheshbon of the gimel aveiros. Why? Because it was for Klal Yisrael. You remember Esther's lashon in the Megillah? Nafshi... she'eilasi. Esther. Remember who Esther is? B'she'eilasi. Ami bivakashosai. So again, the lashon is nafshi. I'm ready to give up everything for Klal Yisrael. Nafshi b'she'eilasi. I could ask for nafshi, but I'm ready to give it up. There's a vort from Zeiden zechaino livracha. What's the chiluk between she'eilah and bakashah? Nafshi b'she'eilasi v'ami bivakashosai. He says a vort: she'eilasi, I ask, you tell me no is no. Bakashah, intfachshenu kakesh, I keep on asking until I get it. Bikush means I don't give up till I get it. Nafshi. Chazik, I'll try if nisht. I'm ready to give it all up, even nafshi. She went. She went al kiddush Hashem. Ami, Klal Yisroel. There's no stop. When it's for Klal Yisroel, there's a heter for someone to say, it's a tzorech rabim, a tzorech Klal Yisroel. I'm ready to be moser nefesh. That's another taich that they say in the Chazonish. The Chazonish meant, it's not that the aveirah of chilul Hashem. Chilul Hashem means—and they bring a pasuk—that if Klal Yisroel gets destroyed, Rav Hutner zichrono livracha said such a vort, that if Klal Yisroel gets destroyed, that's called chilul Hashem Shamayim. That's a chilul Hashem. That's the chilul Hashem over here. Nafshi. That's, he says, tomus nafshi. I'm ready to give up everything. Zeide once told me over—Rashi, a little bit, we'll end in a minute or two—Zeide once told me over, I don't remember, I was a child at the time, that there was a certain Rebbe that everyone was meshabeach his ahavas Yisroel. He once said that he's ready, he doesn't think he's going to Olam Haba. He believes he's not going. Can you imagine a person gets up and says, I don't think I'm going to Olam Haba. Olam is looking. He says, I plan that lachar meah v'esrim, I'm going to come to the kisei hakavod and I'll say, Ribbono Shel Olam, I'm not moving. So he brings shuvim and comes to Klal Yisroel. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not staying right here. I don't plan on going to Olam Haba. Az de Eibishter vet oysmaken. This is what Shimshon is saying: Nafshi, I'm ready to not go Olam Haba also. I'm great with that. Tomus nafshi, pleased for the chilul kvod Shamayim and the chilul kvod Klal Yisrael. That's nafshi. Tomus nafshi. Not אפילו גופי. Like, how did the ger tell the goyim, when they kill me, it's like it's breaking a castle. What's the big deal? Tomus nafshi, that's the greatest of Shimshon. Tomus nafshi, I'm ready to lose everything, everything. Nafshi, even loss of love, my Olam Hazeh and my Olam Haba, everything I'm ready to give up, kiddush Shem Shamayim and kavod of Klal Yisrael. That's tomus nafshi. That's the heter. Someone who lives like that, has a heter, gives himself up selflessly for Klal Yisrael. I'm going to end with a little bit of a controversial topic, but I'm going to give you my look at it. Yemach shmo, yeg, yeg, this gadol, that. Listen, the gedolei Yisrael are bigger than I'll ever be. I don't even—they have their cheshbonos, and... but it doesn't end with the discussion of what they told us to do. You see, what happens is we get involved with the yegoy and the nish...

And the yego and the nishko. Veisai, just because we live in America, if there's a gzeirah in Eretz Yisroel, it's Klal Yisroel. A person has to feel that he's ready to give everything up for Klal Yisroel, you see? And what does that mean? I'm not talking about going or not going. I'm talking about it should play an in Yiddishkeit. It has to affect you in some way. Either it means you feel you want to daven better or learn better for it. But it has to be tomus nafshi. Your nefesh should be ready to. It should be that it concerns you that you're ready to jump. I don't know what the jumping is. Whatever the Gedolim tell you to jump, that's what the jumping is. But it's about jumping. It's not about sitting back and then thinking and going away and it's not נוגע to me. Tomus nafshi, in the means a Yid reacts. I give up everything for Klal Yisroel. I give up everything, kvod Shamayim. That's tomus nafshi. It's deep. Nafshi bshe'eilasi. There's no zich. Now the question is what you should do, discuss each one with his posek, with his baal horaah, or each one who kesh banefesh on his own. But there is a part of us that feels we're not going to the army. How does it affect me, really? It doesn't really. Yeah, we'll talk about it. This gadol said this and this gadol is my rav and he's not my rav, he's my posek. You know, the Satan has a very nice way of taking the ball off the issue. You had the good dezachter, but the Satan knows how to get us to refocus on what's really not negea. What's negea is, Ipsida, a matzav in Klal Yisroel, and it's tomus nafshi, in that you have to think, varf zich arain in dem. If you're ready, I don't know what the mesirus nefesh is, whatever the mesirus nefesh is, wherever you feel you can do mesirus nefesh, you got to do that mesirus nefesh. If it means more davening or more learning or whatever it is, mesirus nefesh is ... You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.