- King Shaul and Purim
- King Shlomo and Pesach
- King David and Shavuot
- King Rehoboam and Tisha B'av; i.e. the last king of a united Yisrael who ultimately split the kingdom apart
Fall holidays:
- King Shlomo gets another callback with Sukkot and Ecclesiastes
How do each of the holidays connect:
- Purim: We see the result of King Shaul's chet (error) with Haman who tries to kill us. Shaul's story is actually recounted in the previous Shabbat: Shabbat Zachor. In the holiday itself, we see the redemption of Shaul through his descendants Mordechai and Esther, who are Benjaminites and according to the Talmud, from Saul's house directly.
- Pesach and Shlomo: So we read about our escape from Egypt and also the Golden Calf and the Song of Songs. Shlomo is considered the traditional author of the Song of Songs and it is he who builds the First Temple. He helps the land become the land of milk and honey. But as we see on Tisha B'av, that wasn't his full legacy.
- Shavuot and David: connection is pretty obvious since we study the story of David's ancestor Ruth this day. David's death is also considered to have occurred on Shavuot.
- Tisha B'av and Rehoboam: The last king of a united Israel and it is here that we see the negative consequences of buildng the First Temple and how the kingdom got split apart. It is through Rehoboam's short-sighted decisions that the Temple got destroyed and his errors are repeated again with the destruction of the Second Temple through baseless hatred amongst our community. Rehoboam's stubbornness led to the split into Israel and Judah, and the baseless hatred within the Jewish community led to the destruction of the Second Temple.
