Jewish History

05:07 – Benayahu ben Yehoyada – “He went down and killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day” (II Shmuel/Samuel 23:20) – immersions in an ice-covered mikveh.

11:02 – Dovid HaMelech (King David) wishes to taste the water of the Plishtim and his generals risk their lives to get it for him.

16:05 – It is prohibited to count Jews. Taking a census caused a deadly plague during the reign of Dovid HaMelech. The king is given a choice as to what punishment will be given. לְהַגִּיד כִּֽי־יָשָׁ֣ר יְהֹוָ֑ה צ֜וּרִ֗י וְֽלֹא־עַוְלָ֥תָה (כתיב עַלָ֥תָה) בּֽוֹ “…and there is no wickedness in Him” (Tehillim/Psalms 92:16).

20:19 – The prophet Gad confronts Dovid HaMelech about the census and its consequences.

22:59 – The mercy of Hashem is shown in His promise that the Jew will outlast all His “arrows”.

*25:59 – When the plague reaches and strikes Jerusalem, Dovid HaMelech prays on behalf of his people. His suffering enables him to compose the universally powerful words of Sefer Tehillim.

28:01 – The ten types of song in Sefer Tehillim.

30:50 – Dovid HaMelech insists on paying money for the site of the future Beis HaMikdash, even though the non-Jewish owner of the land, Aravna, offers to give it for free.

32:53 – The first mishna in Kedushin is about ownership, property, acquisition. Women have more emunah (faith) than men.

33:59 – The death of Avishai.

00:00 – Sheva ben Bichri, a rebel against the monarchy of Dovid HaMelech (King David), takes refuge in the city where Serach bas Asher lives. She saves the city by delivering his head to Yoav, the general of Dovid’s army (II Shmuel/Samuel, 20).

32:38 – Dovid HaMelech is captured and almost killed by the brother of Golias (Goliath), the giant Yishbi beNov.

35:05 – Avishai, on his way to rescue Dovid HaMelech, kills Yishbi’s mother, Orphah (sister of Rus HaMoaviah).

36:50 – Avishai rescues Dovid HaMelech

00:00 – Review of Avshalom’s rebellion.

01:10 – Dovid HaMelech (King David) defends his kingdom against the rebellion of his son, Avshalom. The death of Avshalom.

10:15 – Likutey Moharan 69 – destroying an other’s property has consequences that can harm one’s children.

11:14 – Dovid HaMelech (King David) mourned the death of his son with the words, “O’ my son Avshalom, my son, my son Avshalom! Would that I had died in your stead, O’ Avshalom my son, my son!” By using these specific words he rescued his son from the seven levels of gehinnom (eternal punishment after death).

14:56 – The timelessness of the afterlife.

*15:54 – Account of how Rabi Yochanan rescues Acher from gehinnom.

17:29 – Rebbe Nachman’s promise to rescue his students from gehinnom if they will give tzedakah (charity) at his grave site in Uman.

18:08 – Through performing good deeds, children have the ability to save their parents from gehinnom, but parents cannot save their children from punishment in the next world.

*19:27 – Dovid HaMelech‘s achievement seems to contradict these kabbalistic principles, so the sages of the Talmud explore why and how King David was able to elevate the soul of his rebellious son.

24:01 – Yoav admonishes Dovid HaMelech for mourning his son instead of rejoicing in the victory to save the kingdom. Amasa is invited to replace Yoav.

26:17 – Mefiboshes, the son of Yonasan (Jonathan), is invited to live at the palace of Dovid HaMelech.

31:41 – There are three sins for which a Jew must give his life rather than transgress: idol worship, murder, adultery. Loshon hara (slander) is worse than all three of these sins combined. Because Dovid HaMelech seemed to be acting based on loshon hara about Mefiboshes, he was punished with the division of his kingdom. However in truth, Dovid HaMelech did not sin in this matter.

35:16 – The rebellion of Sheva ben Bichri. Yoav assassinates Amasa.

37:32 – A wise woman saves the city where Sheva ben Bichri is hiding by throwing his head down to the army of Dovid HaMelech.

38:04 – Dovid HaMelech was above the level of Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai.

Dovid HaMelech (King David) mourned the death of his son Avshalom with the words, “O’ my son Avshalom, my son, my son Avshalom! Would that I had died in your stead, O’ Avshalom my son, my son!”

01:12 – The sages of the Talmud explain why and how King David was able to elevate the soul of his rebellious son (II Shmuel/Samuel 19, Sotah 10a).

00:00 – The incident of Tamar, Amnon, and Avshalom.

09:50 – Dovid HaMelech (King David) yearns for his banished son. Father and son are reunited through a ruse orchestrated by the king’s general, Yoav, and a “Wise Woman of Tekoa.”

17:47 – The roots of Avshalom’s rebellion.

22:33 – Dovid HaMelechh is forced to flee from Jerusalem. Shimi ben Gera curses him along the way.

24:09 – Avshalom usurps his father’s throne.

*28:18 – While excavating the site of the future Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple), Dovid HaMelech accidentally dislodged the Even Shesiya (Foundation Stone of the Creation). Subterranean reservoirs of water erupted from the depths, and only with the help of Achitofel was the king able to stop the flood (Sukkah 53a).

37:21 – Statement in Pirkei Avos (Ethics of the Fathers) 6:3 about Dovid HaMelech learning only two things from Achitofel, illustrating the importance of honoring any person from whom one learns Torah.

38:16 – Concluding words about the suffering of Dovid HaMelech.

00:00 – The angel Dumah is appointed over Gehinnam. He demands the soul of Dovid HaMelech (King David) but Hashem Himself tells him: “Dovid HaMelech did not commit a sin, he is pure.”

05:46 – Another proof of Dovid HaMelech‘s innocence brought in the Zohar HaKodesh is related to the statement made about Avraham Avinu, “bah beyomim” (arriving with his days). The teshuvah of someone returning to Judaism from a distant background proceeds more quickly than the teshuvah of a tzaddik.

16:40 – New shiur begins. Dovid HaMelech yearns to build the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple). Hashem tells Nasan HaNavi to tell Dovid that although the kingship of Israel will never be taken away from him and his descendants, even so – the Beis HaMikdash will be built by Dovid’s son, Shlomo (Solomon).

20:14 – Demons are half-human, half-supernatural descendants of Adam. These beings can fly and can turn themselves into different forms. They are born, reproduce, and die.

23:56 – Reference to the story in Gittin about Shlomo HaMelech and Ashmedai.

24:15 – Hashem tells Nasan HaNavi to rush back to Dovid HaMelech. From this we learn the importance of zrizus/enthusiasm, quickness to do a mitzvah.

27:57 – Dovid HaMelech kills the kings of Ammon in retaliation for their treachery in murdering Dovid’s family.

28:46 – Name of King David’s mother is not mentioned in the written Torah but it appears in the Talmud.

*30:20 – Shmuel 2 – Perek 10. To disgrace the emissaries of Dovid HaMelech, the son of Ammon orders that their beards should be half shaven off. Here Rabbi Rosenfeld z”l comments on the importance of not following the styles of non-Jewish culture, particularly citing the Torah tradition against allowing the hair on the top and back of a man’s head to grow long.

36:52 – Yoav attacks Ammon but gives the victory to his king, Dovid.

38:08 – Although Dovid HaMelech was victorious in many battles on behalf of Israel, he was not granted peace in this world. Introduction to the rebellion of his son, Avshalom.

00:00 – Although usually the Torah advises not getting involved in controversy, there are some disputes that we should enter to defend the truth. The dispute about the righteousness of Dovid HaMelech (King David) is an example of a controversy we are obligated to enter to uphold the testaments of the Torah sages that his intentions and deeds with regard to Batsheva were pure.

01:37 – Everything in the Torah She’Be’Csav (Written Torah) has 4 dimensions: Pshat (literal), Remez (hint, allusion), Drush (deeper explanation), and Soad (secret). The initial letters of these four dimensions spell “PaRDeS” (orchard, paradise).

02:33 – The account of Dovid HaMelech and Batsheva on a literal level.

17:14 – The account of Dovid HaMelech and Batsheva according to the understanding of sages in the Talmud.

19:07 – The rebuke of Nasan HaNavi (Nathan the Prophet) – deeper implications.

21:48 – Shabbos 56a: Uriah divorced his wife Batsheva before going into battle.

25:20 – Shabbos 56a: Uria committed two acts of rebellion against the king for which he incurred the death penalty.

27:32 – Sanhedrin 107a.

35:55 – Avoda Zara 4b-5a and the Zohar – Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai’s defense of Dovid HaMelech in the incident of Batsheva assures every Jew that Hashem can forgive no matter how far a person has fallen.

00:00 – Dovid HaMelech (King David) returns to Hevron to reign as king over the tribe of Yehudah. Ish Boshes, a remaining son of Shaul, is installed by Avner as king over the other tribes.

00:39 – Strife erupts between the armies of Avner (who served Ish Boshes) and Yoav (who served Dovid HaMelech).

04:32 – Ish Boshesh insults Avner, who then abandons Ish Boshes and offers to serve Dovid HaMelech. Dovid demands the release of his wife Michal from Paltiel ben Laish.

06:59 – Yoav kills Avner through deceit.

08:06 – Dovid HaMelech reclaims Jerusalem and attempts to return the Holy Ark there but at first he fails. He didn’t honor the law requiring the Ark to be carried on the shoulders, not on a wagon, whereby “The carriers are carried.” (Shmuel 2, Perek 6.)

13:23 – Dovid HaMelech (King David) brought the Aron Kodesh (Holy Ark) to Jerusalem with great honor and joy. This triumphant moment in Jewish history is relived by each of us when we put all our energy in dancing with the Torah on Simchos Torah. Description of how the Arizal would dance all night on Simchos Torah.

15:33 – Michal sees Dovid HaMelech from the window as he’s dancing and when he returns home she rebukes him for not upholding the dignity of being a king. Hashem punishes her for giving this rebuke by making her childless “until the day she passed away”. There is a possibility that she did have a child but that she passed away in childbirth.

23:42 – The pain of shame and embarrassment over a sin can help remove the damage to the soul caused by having committed the sin.

27:23 – The Tikkunei Zohar explains that above all, Hashem wants us to respect Him and to regret our mistakes. Bereishis (“In the beginning…”) is made up of the letters that form the words yira (respect/fear/awe) and boshes (shame). The rewards of serving Hashem with humility.

29:02 – Rav Avraham Kokhav-Lev brings: The time for the coming of Moshiach is from Rosh Chodesh Nissan through Pesach (Passover).

05:00 – Shaul HaMelech (King Saul), desperate to know the outcome of an approaching battle against the Plishtim (Philistines), asks a sorceress to summon his teacher, Shmuel HaNavi (Samuel the Prophet), back from the dead.

12:21 – Shmuel HaNavi tells the king that he will die in the battle, but will be with Shmuel in Gan Eden (paradise), indicating the complete righteousness of Shaul.

15:59 – Two Questions: what gave this sorceress the power to accomplish what tzaddikim couldn’t? And why was Shaul forced to receive the answer to his query through such strange circumstances? Rav Noson of Nemirov explains that this was to show the powerful concern of a teacher for his student.

18:16 – Even though in our time apparent sorcery is false and accomplished through fraud and trickery, in those days, true magic existed. Hashem allowed witchcraft to be effective to maintain the freedom of choice between good and evil.

20:56 – Dovid HaMelech returns to Ziklag to find it in ruins and the wives and children of his 600 soldiers taken captive. After consulting the Urim veTumim (prophetic device of the Kohen Gadol) Dovid decides to track down the marauders and learns, along the way, that the enemy is from Amalek. 200 men stay behind while Dovid and 400 of his men rescue the captives and take plunder. Dovid HaMelech insists that the spoils of the battle are shared equally with all 600 men, to show that the outcome was from Hashem, and not a result of the number of people fighting the battle.

25:05 – The three sons of Shaul, including Yonasan, were killed in the battle against the Plishtim (Philistines). Shaul was mortally wounded and asked his servant to kill him. The servant refused so Shaul HaMelech fell upon his own sword and died.

27:12 – The inhabitants of Yovesh-Gilad heroically rescued Shaul Hamelech‘s body from the enemy and gave their king a fitting burial.

28:23 – When Dovid HaMelech heard of Shaul‘s death he commanded the execution of the Amalekite messenger who brought the news. Dovid mourns the King and even mores so the loss of his devoted friend Yonason.

32:38 – Dovid returns to Eretz Yisrael to take over the kingdom, but encounters opposition from Shaul‘s general, Avner, who installs Shaul‘s remaining son as king.

34:12 – The death of Shaul HaMelech is not considered suicide. In contrast: the execution of Rabbi Chanina ben Teradion (2nd century CE): “Since the scroll of the Torah is burning with me, the Power that will avenge this offense against the Torah will also avenge the offense against me.” (Avodah Zarah 17b).

Shmuel 1 – Lesson 4 – Shaul and Dovid HaMelech Were Both Tzaddikim

Shmuel 1 – Lesson 3 – Shmuel HaNavi Annoints Dovid HaMelech, Defeat of Golias, Who Was Michal?