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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 3,543 words · 23:10. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 Truly, the secret with David and Shaul After all, you know, it's a very painful story, about King Shaul The first king of the Jewish people passes away in tremendous pain after he had given so much abundance to the Jewish people and he would go out to war and bring out the spoils and distribute them to the daughters of Israel All the spoils in the war that Shaul would win he would afterwards give to everyone and say, distribute it to your wives They had all the wealth, and the jewelry, and the joy they had it was from King Shaul, from the wars he would win That is how very merciful he was toward the Jewish people He had the attribute of mercy, and also with this attribute of mercy of what happened with Agag, to cut off Amalek
1:06 And in the end too, when it is revealed that in fact the Amalekite of course this Amalekite was a convert; that's also why King David killed him for he said to him, you deserve death, for you sent forth your hand against Hashem's anointed Every time I read this, it's a very great pain it's tears that come up in my eyes; right away the thought of how they took him, and then the men of Yavesh Gilad came and took him down for he was beheaded, and they hung up his body - at the end of Shmuel I In Shmuel I, in the last chapter, at the end of the chapter before Shmuel II begins, there the death of Shaul is told and how the men of Yavesh Gilad came and took him down from the wall
2:03 and they placed him in burial on Mount Gilboa; there they buried him And of course this was credited to them as a remembrance of course, because King Shaul had also protected them back then to save them from the gouging out of the eye What do you need, tzaddik? What do you need? What do you need? Give him, give him. What does he want? What's the matter, tzaddik? A tzaddik - how holy and pure! A child sits, hears words of Torah he has a settled mind - a tzaddik After that, when King Shaul - this was before when he was in such sorrow and he sees the Philistines surrounding him he already understands that this is the end, and he seeks to go to a necromancer of course, this was already after all hope had run out
3:10 He was in a downcast spirit, and he was in sorrow and he already - "he himself does not see, but his mazal sees" for he already understood that it was over, that's it, the kingdom was torn away And that's it. And now the secret was revealed to him, for in Shmuel's lifetime the gap between them was four months and his passing - that he passed away first because he could not see the death of Shaul because the love that Shmuel HaNavi had for King Shaul was a love beyond measure, the love that was between them And of course for Shmuel HaNavi, Shaul's passing was very painful and the sorrow it would cause him; but of course he was waiting for him as he said, "And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me" with me.
4:01 And Shaul goes and looks for some woman who is a necromancer in Ein Dor - there he found her; and of course they were afraid he had commanded to cut them all off so who would dare to cooperate with him? Maybe he'll go and tell King Shaul and then, Heaven forbid, they'll kill her too Indeed, when that necromancer came, he went in there and he could not eat bread, or drink anything, and he had great sorrow I also want you to understand from here a very great moral lesson and this is also, in practice - this is the new insight that came to me, in practice the difference between Shaul and David; I think this is a tremendous principle And then, in fact, he asked her to raise someone up before him through necromancy They would raise them up, and then, in fact, she asked
4:57 Whom do you want to raise up? And then he said to her, Shmuel And then, in fact, she raised up Shmuel The moment Shmuel HaNavi rose up and appeared Shmuel's rising was not like the way they rise everyone who would appear would appear upside down Here the appearance was in such a way that he was rising and she saw all his garments and his splendor But in fact there is a difference between them, between hearing and seeing This one sees and doesn't hear, that one hears and doesn't see That's how the appearance through necromancy would go when they wanted to see - this one hears and that one sees In fact, she can see but she doesn't hear but he hears but doesn't see; so he had to communicate everything reversed between them, in order to see whom she sees
Read the whole shiur in English (21 more parts)
5:41 And then, in fact, she saw him, that he rose up in his full stature and splendor so she understood that he was rising on account of the kingship because he rose in his upright form first; so she was frightened This is the king sitting here, this is Shaul So she said to him, you are Shaul She thought he would kill her And then, in fact, Shmuel began to speak with him, and said to him "Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?" Why are you bringing me up now?
6:07 From here too we see the conversation the souls have in the upper world their place - that they are alive and exist and are present and so that people won't come and think that a person passes away and that's it... Here, see Shmuel HaNavi And then, in fact, Shmuel HaNavi informs him and announces to him his passing, with the Philistines And in fact he reveals to him for the first time to whom this kingship will pass In his lifetime he did not reveal it to him; he was afraid that he would kill him And then he said to him, "And He has given it to your fellow, to David" He revealed to him where the kingship would go, that is to say Who can conceive the bond that there was between Shmuel "The threefold cord is not quickly broken" - this is Shmuel, Shaul and David
7:08 I once gave a shiur on this, on the bond between them between Shmuel, and Shaul, and David; there was a shiur on it once eight years ago, seven years it was on the bond there is between Shmuel and Shaul and David Of course, this one here was the judge, the leader, the guide the great one of the generation, the tremendous, the wise, who did not want to benefit from anyone the prophet with the spirit of prophecy who is destined to anoint the King Mashiach This is Shmuel HaNavi; and that He taught him, Shmuel "For man sees with the eyes, and Hashem sees into the heart" that man's looking is at the appearance that he sees but Hashem, blessed be He, sees the hearts And I think that from here Shmuel already began to understand how much he did not understand in matters of kingship
8:13 Because before this, one could understand that Shaul was king, that he was handsome and his neck that was splendid, etc., that he was excellent so he was a man of fine form and handsome, King Shaul When he came to search again, when he understood that the kingship, in fact, lies with the son of Yishai, so he went to search so he thought, so maybe here it could be similar someone like Shaul too; let's look for some appearance And then he sees Eliav, so he says, surely this is the successor He looks, he goes by the first sight that he saw This is the king! And then, in fact, he understands that "man sees with the eyes, and Hashem sees into the heart" Hashem, blessed be He, did not want him, for he was irritable, he was quick to anger
9:07 Hashem, blessed be He, does not love a leader who is angry and grumbling So He did not choose Eliav, He chose David, who was merciful who would sit in the field, who was despised and all the time lifts his eyes to Heaven So Shmuel understood that truly, in kingship, it is only Hashem, blessed be He I don't try to look and understand at all where I am turning what I am looking at, where I am going And after all this, Hashem, blessed be He, that King Shaul - the wilderness closed in on him and he sees Philistines surrounding him, and Shmuel tells him that tomorrow he and his sons are with him in the Heavenly Court and he does not flee and does not run away, he goes out to war - that is the new insight
10:18 Everyone who hears this, and thinks after, of course, Shaul received this revelation he would not agree to eat and drink but the necromancer prepared for him, she brought him bread she said to him, now is the time to eat What person can eat after he hears that he is passing away? What settled mind would he have, to eat and drink? Maybe he'll run away, maybe he'll go off, maybe he'll lose heart He hears that his kingship and his greatness pass "to your fellow who is better than you" - to David; they also reveal to him who it is and he discovers that it is his pursuer - in fact you are the pursuer but you held that he was pursuing you for Shaul thought that David was pursuing him, pursuing against the kingship And they tell him that he too is passing away, and the kingship too, and the good
11:09 and this greatness passes to the fellow who is better than him, too He stresses that it is David, and he hears this and he goes out to war; Shaul goes out to war and passes away that there is no despair in the world at all that he went out and went even after they tell him that everything is closed off for him And therefore Shaul is a symbol for everyone who went out and went even against what, from Heaven, they instruct him, that he will not succeed - and he goes out to war This is the greatness of the leader and first king of the Jewish people And this is the beauty in the kingship of Shaul - his end and this is his victory: that Shaul hears that he is passing away and that he hears that this is the death of his sons
12:20 and he hears that his kingship passes to someone else and they also reveal to him that it is to David, that this is his enemy and he goes out to fight against what Heaven tells him, that he will not succeed and also Hashem has left him and torn the kingdom from him Hashem, blessed be He, is also not with you, and also does not want his success and is also going to take him from the world and King Shaul gallops with his horse right into the goal That is King Shaul.
13:00 This reflection that we must always have with eyes to Heaven, always to hope to Hashem and always to do His will no matter what not to go backward, not to look back And King David won, because David is always with his eyes to Heaven, and with this dependence Master of the World, "To You, Hashem, I call; to You, Hashem, I plead" "Many rise up against me, many say of my soul there is no salvation for him in G-d, Selah; but You, Hashem, are a shield around me" David is all the time with prayer and supplication, and prayer and supplication King David's victory is in fact Shaul's victory King David did not win and take the kingship from Shaul in order to crown himself This was the kingship of the Jewish people King David took the kingship from Shaul
13:57 and he gave it back to King Shaul He did not take the kingship from him he took the kingship in order to crown Hashem, blessed be He as Shaul did - for he saw that Shaul went to win in the war and knew that he would not win, and knew that he would pass away in the war and he goes out with sword and spear, with the horse, to fight and leaned on the spear so that the Philistines would not abuse him and kill him And he goes out to war, and to King David the kingship passes And the Amalekite lad comes to him and brings him his crown and brings him his clothes and King David immediately commands to kill him This is because he said, how did you send forth your hand against Hashem's anointed?
14:48 This is someone whom Hashem chose; you should have let it come from Heaven We see how much King David tore his garments? He tore three tears: one over the tearing of Shaul and Yehonasan and of the Jewish people, with all the troubles they went through Three tears he tore in his garments The king tore his clothes, and everyone tore The pain was so great The grief was so beyond measure And this kingship that King David took upon himself was to return the kingship to Hashem; that is the kingship of King David And therefore it is always said - they attribute the Mashiach to the son of David and they don't say the son of Shaul because in fact this kingship is the kingship of Heaven It is the kingship of David; David is prayer it is the eyes upward, it is the eyes to Heaven
15:51 it is no "my strength and the might of my hand", no flesh and blood, there is only the kingship of Hashem And therefore they attribute it to David, the book of Tehillim his prayers and his requests that they should lift their eyes to Heaven; and King David took the kingship and returned this kingship back to Hashem, blessed be He - that is a king And with the vanities of the world - what were kings once, in the world?
16:24 Among the nations of the world, what is a king? Every sin is permitted to him killing, stoning, strange deaths - that is their kings Did their kings lift up their people? Did their kings lift their eyes on high? Did they teach them? Not at all Their kings were only to kill and to destroy and everything that holds back, and annihilation - that is the kings of the nations of the world And the kings of Israel and King David - beyond measure May the merit of King David protect us May we merit to learn from this the hope and the joy and the lifting of the eyes to Heaven and may no one be in sorrow over anything in the world and be only in joy and only in hope, always, always and may Hashem, blessed be He, redeem us with a complete redemption
17:20 May you have good abundance, may you have a good life May we all merit, may we merit together the complete redemption speedily in our days, amen and amen. Good tidings, be strong and courageous Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says... What shall I tell you, tzaddikim? One needs to be so very strong in this world So many trials and difficulties So much gloom and darkness in the world, a gloomy and dark world It is forbidden to be broken by anything, by anything in the world You know, I hear stories and things that one can't even imagine what things - what the world is going through I once told him a story; it was at the beginning, when he started drawing close right at the beginning, fourteen years ago, when we got to know each other I told him a tale, and he loved this story very much
18:16 I told it to him on Rosh Hashanah I said to him, Binyamin, I'll tell you a tale Do you remember the story with the wagon driver? And he loved this story very much Every time I would speak with him, he would say to me I remember that story you once told me There is much wisdom in it, much moral lesson There was one who came to a town; he was traveling the roads with a wagon He is traveling with a wagon, and in the course of his journey as he travels, the wagon driver travels the roads and suddenly he sees ahead of him, at the side, some poor man walking with a pack lugging things with him; so the wagon driver says to him Maybe I'll give you a ride, my poor sir, poor thing
19:09 Why should you walk like this alone in the dark among the trees? To which town are you traveling? He said to him, I need to continue to the town where the merchandise fair is I'm going there to collect; maybe Hashem will help me from Heaven So he said to him, come, I can also take you there I'm also traveling, I'll take you. He told the poor man to climb up and the poor man climbed up with his big sack into the wagon And during the ride, meanwhile, he sits and thinks he says, let's see how this poor man is doing He looks back, and he sees that this poor man is standing with the whole pack still on his back. So the wagon driver said to him Why doesn't your honor take off the pack with the sack
20:06 and set it down on the wagon? Why are you leaving it on your back? Set it down on the wagon So he said to him, I'm embarrassed that you're taking me and if you take my sack too, you'll haul that too... so I'm carrying it; and me you're taking anyway So he laughed, he said to him, do you really think...
20:32 Really, you're not weighing on me; it's the same weight, what difference does it make? The reflection: that we live in the world we carry things on our heart, when we are in the wagon anyway One can simply throw them off, throw them onto the wagon not take it to heart, not live with the sorrow and the heaviness However hard it is - it's true there are difficulties, and it's true there are trials and that we go through hester panim, the hiding of the Face And I also think the whole generation is going through hester panim and everyone is going through a great and terrible hester panim I don't know who isn't going through it; everyone has his own hester panim But most of the world, you see today that they are in a very great hester panim, hester panim
21:26 If a person carries on his heart all his troubles and his burdens, and his difficulties and sleeps with them and gets up with them - is that what will solve the problem? The sack has to be set down on the wagon; to say to Hashem Master of the World, I have set my sack down in the wagon I have no strength to lift it; You take my troubles my burdens. Take it off your heart Don't carry it to heart, don't lift it onto your heart Get it out, unload it - "Worry in a man's heart, let him speak it out" - get it out Speak to Hashem, blessed be He, all that is in your heart Don't let anything in the heart that comes try to weaken your spirit, to break, Heaven forbid, anyone True there are difficulties, true a person goes through what he goes through, true
22:22 but still, that's not a reason to be in sorrow and in hardship In this house, much gladness and joy, and may sorrow and sighing flee For today there was (a bris), and Eliyahu HaNavi, may he be remembered for good, also came to the hillula day of Rabbi Binyamin Eliyahu HaNavi also came to this hillula day Also at the shloshim. He also came at the sheloshim, yes (then too there was a bris) He came at the shloshim too, and also to the yahrzeit.
22:50 When Eliyahu HaNavi comes, then it's the angel of the covenant all the hope and the good abundance and the good tidings that he announces good and brings good tidings and announces salvation May there be good abundance, may there be a good life May there be good abundance, and miracles and wonders, and all good and from all good
The sources this shiur stands on
Cited by The Yanuka — Rav Shlomo Yehuda in this shiur — tap a source to open it in the beis medrash, or the time to hear him bring it.
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What’s said in this shiur
The opening of this shiur, in The Yanuka — Rav Shlomo Yehuda’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.
The secret of David and Shaul… As you know, King Shaul's story is very painful. The first king of the Jewish People passed away in immense pain, after he gave so profusely to the Jewish Nation. He would go out to war, and take plunder, and allot it to the daughters of Israel. All the spoils from the wars Shaul won he would give away to everybody and say, 'give it to your wives.' All the riches and jewelry, and all the happiness they had was from King Shaul, from the wars he won. He was very compassionate on the Jewish Nation, he possessed the attribute of mercy, and this very attribute of mercy [caused] what happened with Agag, during the wiping out of Amalek. And ultimately, it was an Amalekite, or more correctly an Amalekite convert [who claimed to have murdered Shaul], and therefore King David killed him, and said to him, 'you are bound to die, for you stretched forth your hand to destroy Hash-m's anointed.' Each time I read this, it's so incredibly painful. Tears come to my eyes at the thought of how they took him, and then the people of Yavesh-Gilad came and demounted him. He was beheaded, and they impaled his body alone, at the end of Shmuel I. Shmuel I, at the end of the last chapter, before Shmuel II begins, there King Shaul's death is recorded, about how the people of Yavesh-Gilad came and demounted him from the wall and buried him on Mount Gilboa It was engrained in their memory that King Shaul once protected them and saved them from their eyes being gorged out. 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:28,360 Tzadik, so holy and pure, a child sitting and listening to words of Torah, with serenity…tzaddik.
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- 0:00The secret of David and Shaul… As you know, King Shaul's story is very painful. The…
- 2:10that King Shaul once protected them and saved them from their eyes being gorged out. 00:02:20,080…
- 4:19and she would also be killed. When the necromanceress arrived, and Shaul entered, he couldn't eat…
- 6:56Who can comprehend the bond shared between Shmuel… "a three stranded cord cannot be quickly severed,"…
- 9:03Hash-m Yisborach did not want him, for he was wrathful and prone to anger. Hash-m Baruch…
- 11:52This is the greatness of the first leader and king of the Jewish Nation. This was…
- 14:00He didn't take the kingdom from him, he took the kingdom in order to establish Hash-m…
- 16:06[inspired them to] lift their eyes to the heavens. King David took the kingdom and returned…
- 18:42During his journey, while his was in his wagon, and travelling on the way, he suddenly…
- 20:49We can just toss them, toss them in the wagon and not take them to heart,…
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