כי על כן באתי לבקש ולחנן מלפניך שיהא זרעי וזרע זרעי זרע כשר. ואל תמצא בזרעי ובזרע זרעי עד עולם שום פסול ושמץ.
It is for this reason that I come to ask and plead before you that my children and the children of my children should be kosher (upright) offspring, that no blemish or imperfection be found in my children or grandchildren...
This month is Sivan, month of שבועות, the time in which we received the תורה, and the חג in which we read מגילת רות.
Sivan's sign is twins, which we call Gemini in English. One way of understanding twinness is by looking ar duality, which we experience daily living in a physical world as a spiritual being.
Rut's most famous descendant was בועז .דוד המלך, her 2nd husband, was descended from פרץ, one of the twins born to תמר via her secret pregnancy with בועז .יהודה and רות had a son עובד, father of ישי, father of דוד.
רות is portrayed as an ideal heroine - inspired by her mother-in-law נעמי, she ;eaves behind her position as princess with the wealth, protection, and opportunity that it afforded her, and followed נעמי back to a Jewish life of poverty and uncertainty in a land full of turmoil. What's not to like? She's quite impressive - even with the awkward seduction at the threshing floor. But I have never related to רות on a deep level.
Instead it is her great-grandson (my ancestor) דוד המלך to whom I relate. דוד was the youngest of his family and it seems that he wasn't taken seriously by many. Even after he was chosen as king, his own family had a low opinion of him and didn't want him around (Shmuel A, chapter 17):
דוד was, even in this short account, a little difficult. He is not simply like רות, willing to let go of a former self and life to dedicate himself to God - he is a fiery daring boy who challenges his eldest brother and even the sitting king.
And he wins.
דוד continues to be a flawed character. In his excitement at recovering the ark he danced in the street, scantily dressed, setting off a quarrel with his beloved מיכל who felt he made a fool of his station. When she confronted him, he responded with angry prideful words.
דוד lied to his friend אחימלך about being an emissary from שאול, acquiring food and weapons. אחימלך and 85 other כהנים were killed in retribution.
דוד was so angered by נבל's refusal to help him while on the run from שאול that he was going to attack - until נבל ,אביגיל's beautiful wife, rode to him and made peace. When נבל learned of what had happened, he had a stroke, dying 10 days later. דוד then married אביגיל.
And of course - דוד & בתשבע, an episode that included possible adultery and the death of בתשבע ,אוריה's husband.
So... why am I listing off so many of דוד's infamous exploits?
Because even with that, we have a duality in דוד. He was a poet, a seeker of God, whose kingdom we pray to reestablish.
In times of trouble, torment, and joy we sing and recite his poems, our תהלים.
R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in R. Jonathan's name: Whoever says that David sinned is merely erring, for it is said, And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways: and the Lord was with him. Is it possible that sin came to his hand, yet the Divine Presence was with him? Then how do I interpret, Wherefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do that which is evil in his sight? He wished to do [evil], but did not. (translation via http://halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_56.html).
What was דוד's sin then?
Nathan the prophet approached דוד with a story of two men with sheep, rich and poor, in which the rich man took the poor man's sheep.
דוד was outraged - righteous indignation! Shmuel B, chapter 12
| ה וַיִּחַר-אַף דָּוִד בָּאִישׁ, מְאֹד; וַיֹּאמֶר, אֶל-נָתָן, חַי-יְהוָה, כִּי בֶן-מָוֶת הָאִישׁ הָעֹשֶׂה זֹאת. | 5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan: 'As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this deserveth to die; |
| וַיֹּאמֶר נָתָן אֶל-דָּוִד, אַתָּה הָאִישׁ. | 7 And Nathan said to David: 'Thou art the man. |
When we die, each of us will be given a hypothetical situation to judge. When we show righteous indignation and proclaim a fate, that will become our fate.
To go off on one more tangent before I bring this all together: A few years ago I was in the car with my parents. While we were talking, I asked my father what my one major, over-riding flaw was; what was the one big thing that needed to change? I waited to hear the wisdom that would come from his mouth, unlocking my entire future, giving me a goal to work towards, a trait to overcome. My father sat silently, chewing his lip for a good 5 minutes. With each passing second, my anticipation grew. Finally, he turned and looked at me and said "Nothing. Don't change a thing. Not you, and not your siblings." I was gob-smacked.
When we daven that our offspring should have no flaws, we're really davening that their flaws shouldn't be judged!
In this month where we became HaShem's children, we remember דוד's anger and the תפילה of the של''ה הקודש. We teach our children to judge one another favorably, so God will ultimately judge them as they have judged others; that God see our children as His children, with no blemish or imperfection.
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