Dovid Hamelech: Turning your Torah into Tefilos

The same is true of reciting Tehillim (the Book of Psalms) and the like. A person should endeavor to find himself within all the psalms, and within all the supplications, entreaties, penitential prayers and the like. And easily, simply, without any sophistication, he can find himself within all the supplications and entreaties, and especially in Tehillim, which was composed on behalf of the Jewish people—on behalf of each and every one personally. Each person—every battle he has against the evil inclination and whatever happens to him—it is all clarified and explained in Tehillim. This is because it primarily applies to the battle against the evil inclination and its troops, which are a person’s main enemies and foes. They would keep him from the path of life and force him down into the netherworld, God forbid, if he fails to protect himself from them. It was solely about this battle that the Book of Psalms was compiled. For the chief principle, root and foundation of all advice for getting close to God is nothing other than reciting psalms, and other supplications and entreaties, and hitbodedut—speaking to God, pleading with Him to draw one closer to His service. Only through this is it possible to win the battle. If he is very strong and courageous in always beseeching, praying and pleading with God, come what may, then he will certainly triumph. Fortunate is he.

(1) The Philistines assembled their forces for battle; they massed at Socoh of Judah, and encamped at Ephes-dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. (2) Saul and the men of Israel massed and encamped in the valley of Elah. They drew up their line of battle against the Philistines, (3) with the Philistines stationed on one hill and Israel stationed on the opposite hill; the ravine was between them. (4) A champion of the Philistine forces stepped forward; his name was Goliath of Gath, and he was six cubits and a span tall. (5) He had a bronze helmet on his head, and wore a breastplate of scale armor, a bronze breastplate weighing five thousand shekels. (6) He had bronze greaves on his legs, and a bronze javelin [slung] from his shoulders. (7) The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s bar, and the iron head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels; and the shield-bearer marched in front of him. (8) He stopped and called out to the ranks of Israel and he said to them, “Why should you come out to engage in battle? I am the Philistine [champion], and you are Saul’s servants. Choose one of your men and let him come down against me. (9) If he bests me in combat and kills me, we will become your slaves; but if I best him and kill him, you shall be our slaves and serve us.” (10) And the Philistine ended, “I herewith defy the ranks of Israel. Get me a man and let’s fight it out!” (11) When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and terror-stricken. (12) David was the son of a certain Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse. He had eight sons, and in the days of Saul the man was already old, advanced in years. (13) The three oldest sons of Jesse had left and gone with Saul to the war. The names of his three sons who had gone to the war were Eliab the first-born, the next Abinadab, and the third Shammah; (14) and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul, (15) and David would go back and forth from attending on Saul to shepherd his father’s flock at Bethlehem. (16) The Philistine stepped forward morning and evening and took his stand for forty days. (17) Jesse said to his son David, “Take an ephah of this parched corn and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers, and carry them quickly to your brothers in camp. (18) Take these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand. Find out how your brothers are and bring some token from them.” (19) Saul and the brothers and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, in the war against the Philistines. (20) Early next morning, David left someone in charge of the flock, took [the provisions], and set out, as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the barricade as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting the war cry. (21) Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines opposite each other. (22) David left his baggage with the man in charge of the baggage and ran toward the battle line and went to greet his brothers. (23) While he was talking to them, the champion, whose name was Goliath, the Philistine of Gath, stepped forward from the Philistine ranks and spoke the same words as before; and David heard him. (24) When the men of Israel saw the man, they fled in terror. (25) And the men of Israel were saying [among themselves], “Do you see that man coming out? He comes out to defy Israel! The man who kills him will be rewarded by the king with great riches; he will also give him his daughter in marriage and grant exemption to his father’s house in Israel.” (26) David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine that he dares defy the ranks of the living God?” (27) The troops told him in the same words what would be done for the man who killed him. (28) When Eliab, his oldest brother, heard him speaking to the men, Eliab became angry with David and said, “Why did you come down here, and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your impudence and your impertinence: you came down to watch the fighting!” (29) But David replied, “What have I done now? I was only asking!” (30) And he turned away from him toward someone else; he asked the same question, and the troops gave him the same answer as before. (31) The things David said were overheard and were reported to Saul, who had him brought over. (32) David said to Saul, “Let no man’s courage fail him. Your servant will go and fight that Philistine!” (33) But Saul said to David, “You cannot go to that Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth!” (34) David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and carried off an animal from the flock, (35) I would go after it and fight it and rescue it from its mouth. And if it attacked me, I would seize it by the beard and strike it down and kill it. (36) Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and that uncircumcised Philistine shall end up like one of them, for he has defied the ranks of the living God. (37) The LORD,” David went on, “who saved me from lion and bear will also save me from that Philistine.” “Then go,” Saul said to David, “and may the LORD be with you!” (38) Saul clothed David in his own garment; he placed a bronze helmet on his head and fastened a breastplate on him. (39) David girded his sword over his garment. Then he tried to walk; but he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk in these, for I am not used to them.” So David took them off. (40) He took his stick, picked a few smooth stones from the wadi, put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and, sling in hand, he went toward the Philistine. (41) The Philistine, meanwhile, was coming closer to David, preceded by his shield-bearer. (42) When the Philistine caught sight of David, he scorned him, for he was but a boy, ruddy and handsome. (43) And the Philistine called out to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods; (44) and the Philistine said to David, “Come here, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” (45) David replied to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. (46) This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hands. I will kill you and cut off your head; and I will give the carcasses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. All the earth shall know that there is a God in Israel. (47) And this whole assembly shall know that the LORD can give victory without sword or spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and He will deliver you into our hands.” (48) When the Philistine began to advance toward him again, David quickly ran up to the battle line to face the Philistine. (49) David put his hand into the bag; he took out a stone and slung it. It struck the Philistine in the forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. (50) Thus David bested the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck him down and killed him. David had no sword; (51) so David ran up and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword and pulled it from its sheath; and with it he dispatched him and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their warrior was dead, they ran. (52) The men of Israel and Judah rose up with a war cry and they pursued the Philistines all the way to Gai and up to the gates of Ekron; the Philistines fell mortally wounded along the road to Shaarim up to Gath and Ekron. (53) Then the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines and looted their camp. (54) David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; and he put his weapons in his own tent. (55) When Saul saw David going out to assault the Philistine, he asked his army commander Abner, “Whose son is that boy, Abner?” And Abner replied, “By your life, Your Majesty, I do not know.” (56) “Then find out whose son that young fellow is,” the king ordered. (57) So when David returned after killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him to Saul, with the head of the Philistine still in his hand. (58) Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, my boy?” And David answered, “The son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

...(3) Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left with her two sons. (4) They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth, and they lived there about ten years. (5) Then those two—Mahlon and Chilion—also died; so the woman was left without her two sons and without her husband. (6) She started out with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab; for in the country of Moab she had heard that the LORD had taken note of His people and given them food. (7) Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living; and they set out on the road back to the land of Judah. (8) But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Turn back, each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me! (9) May the LORD grant that each of you find security in the house of a husband!” And she kissed them farewell. They broke into weeping (10) and said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” (11) But Naomi replied, “Turn back, my daughters! Why should you go with me? Have I any more sons in my body who might be husbands for you? (12) Turn back, my daughters, for I am too old to be married. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I were married tonight and I also bore sons, (13) should you wait for them to grow up? Should you on their account debar yourselves from marriage? Oh no, my daughters! My lot is far more bitter than yours, for the hand of the LORD has struck out against me.” (14) They broke into weeping again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law farewell. But Ruth clung to her. (15) So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Go follow your sister-in-law.” (16) But Ruth replied, “Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. (17) Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus and more may the LORD do to me if anything but death parts me from you.” (18) When [Naomi] saw how determined she was to go with her, she ceased to argue with her;

The verse introduces Goliath: “And a champion [ish habeinayim] went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath” (I Samuel 17:4). The Gemara asks: What is indicated by the term beinayim? Rav said: The word is related to the root beit, nun, heh, meaning build, and means that he is built [muvneh] perfectly and free of any blemish. And Shmuel said: The word is related to the word bein, meaning between, and means that he was the middle [beinoni] among his brothers. A Sage from the school of Rabbi Sheila said: The word is related to the root beit, nun, heh, meaning build, and means that he was made strong as a building [binyan]. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The word is related to the word bein, meaning between, and means that he was born from among many, as follows: He was the son of one hundred fathers [pappi] and one dog [nanai], as his mother engaged in sexual intercourse with one hundred men and a dog, and he was fathered from among them.

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10. The concept of “we will do and we will hear” applies on each and every level, and likewise in each and every world. Each individual, commensurate with his level, possesses the aspect of “we will do”/Torah—namely, that which is revealed to him. And [he possesses] the aspect of “we will hear”—which corresponds to the hidden/prayer. For when someone comes to a level higher than the first one, then his “we will hear” takes on the aspect of “we will do,” and he then has an aspect of “we will hear” <even higher than this one>. And so it is from level to level. Each person, relative to his level, also possesses the concept of “we will do and we will hear.” Likewise, in each world, there is the concept of “we will do and we will hear.” That which for this world is the aspect of “we will hear,” is, for the extraterrestrial world, the aspect of “we will do.” And they possess an even higher aspect of “we will hear” than this. And so it is from world to world. {“Hidden things pertain to God our Lord, but that which has been revealed applies to us and our children, forever; to do all the words of this Torah” (Deuteronomy 29:28).} This is also the concept of the “Torah of God” and “his Torah” (Psalms 1:2). [Our Sages say] (Avodah Zarah 19a): “At first it is ‘the Torah of God.’” This is the aspect of hidden, <corresponding to,> “Hidden things pertain to God our Lord.” And afterwards, <when he merits to the level> higher than this one, it becomes “his Torah.” <His> “we will hear” becomes “we will do,” which is “… but that which has been revealed applies to us and our children.” Thus, “Hidden things pertain to God our Lord”—this corresponds to “we will hear.” “But that which has been revealed applies to us and our children”—this corresponds to “we will do.” “Forever; to do all the words of this Torah”—he should go from level to level, so that he comes to a world where “we will hear” becomes “we will do.” And this is, “To do all the words of this Torah.” The “words of Torah” refers to the statements of the Torah accompanying the precept, such as “And God spoke,” as explained. They correspond to “we will hear,” as above. They will be made into the aspect of “we will do.” And thus [the verse says] “ahd olam (forever).” He should go from level to level and from olam (world) to olam. “To do”—specifically “to do,” the aspect of “we will do.” “All the words of this Torah”—the “words of Torah” correspond to the statements of the Torah accompanying the precept. They are the aspect of hidden/”we will hear,” as above. They will made into the aspect of “we will do”/the revealed. And each person must go from level to level and from world to world, so that he is always meriting even higher aspects of “we will hear and we will do.” For him, the aspect of “we will hear”/hidden/prayer/Torah-statements-accompanying-the-precept/”Torah of God,” will each time be made into “we will do”/revealed/Torah/”his Torah”; and he will have an even higher aspect of “we will hear.” And so, each time he will be going from level to level and degree to degree, until he comes to the genesis of Creation—this being the first stage of Atzilut (the World of Nothingness).

Come and see how the characteristics of the Holy One, Blessed be He, are unlike the characteristics of flesh and blood: When a flesh and blood person is conquered, he is sad; however, when the Holy One, Blessed be He, is conquered, He rejoices, as it is stated: “Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn back His wrath lest He should destroy them” (Psalms 106:23). In this verse Moses is called “His chosen,” although he defeated God, as it were, by preventing Him from destroying the Jewish people.