Shimshon Hagibor (A D'var Torah by Shmully Moskowitz)
In memory of Shmully Moskowitz, I would like to share (re-post) my notes on a d'var torah that I heard him give at a seudat shlishi a few years ago. May these words of Torah serve as another testament to the great chacham that he was.
In the book of Shoftim, an unusual type of leader emerges for the Jewish people. Shimshon is a man who is over seven feet tall and with extraordinary strength more resembling a Greek warrior than a Jewish leader. Jewish leaders are supposed to be superior in their minds and in their hearts, not in their muscles.
There are other curious facts about Shimshon as well. Before he was born, a messenger from God came to his mother, and proclaimed that Shimshon would be a nazir for his whole life.
Nazirut is a self proclaimed vow for at least thirty days to abstain from
1) coming in touch with a dead body
2) drinking wine or eating any grape product
3) Shaving or getting a haircut.
After the term of the vow is complete the person brings a chataat offering. Becoming a nazir is not obligatory and is simply a self imposed vow that a person can take to help get his life on track. The case of Shimshon is the only case that the vow is not self imposed. This raises two questions:
1)Why was Shimshon made a nazir before he could choose to do so himself?
2)If nazirut is a self imposed strategy, why did God impose this strategy on Shimshon?
To understand the answer to these questions, it is first necessary to understand the nature of a warrior which will give us insight into Shimshon’s character. A soldier must be prepared to kill without mercy when necessary. He cannot hesitate to destroy and to cause suffering to others. It is his job to be an animal and he must use his aggression to fight a war. Strategy can only get somebody so far. A warrior needs to have the killer instinct.
On the other hand, the Torah helps create a person who is guided by his intellect and does not let his animal nature control him. As we progress in knowledge and understanding, we slowly become more drawn to the world of ideas and less drawn to the world of instinctual pleasures.
Shimshon did not have the leisure to develop in this way. It was his mission to be a warrior and to have the animal instinct. He was not allowed to remove it and instead was often forced to express it. While for most people it gets easier and easier to deal with their animal nature, for Shimshon it was a constant battle. How great would Shimshon have been if he did not have this constant impediment?
Now we can try and answer the questions above. Hashem gave Shimshon a certain mission that would limit his ability to develop in righteousness. Since Hashem created a framework that would limit Shimshon, he also had to create another framework that would help his development. Although nazirut is in general a self imposed strategy, in this case God invoked it because it was necessary to counterbalance the warrior mission he had given Shimshon.
Most people have the misconception that we refer to Shimshon as Shimshon Hagibor because of his tremendous physical strength. The truth is that Shimshon was a gibor for constantly fighting this battle within him, and always winning. And yet, he sacrificed his own development for God's mission, by never overcoming the animal within him.
In the book of Shoftim, an unusual type of leader emerges for the Jewish people. Shimshon is a man who is over seven feet tall and with extraordinary strength more resembling a Greek warrior than a Jewish leader. Jewish leaders are supposed to be superior in their minds and in their hearts, not in their muscles.
There are other curious facts about Shimshon as well. Before he was born, a messenger from God came to his mother, and proclaimed that Shimshon would be a nazir for his whole life.
Nazirut is a self proclaimed vow for at least thirty days to abstain from
1) coming in touch with a dead body
2) drinking wine or eating any grape product
3) Shaving or getting a haircut.
After the term of the vow is complete the person brings a chataat offering. Becoming a nazir is not obligatory and is simply a self imposed vow that a person can take to help get his life on track. The case of Shimshon is the only case that the vow is not self imposed. This raises two questions:
1)Why was Shimshon made a nazir before he could choose to do so himself?
2)If nazirut is a self imposed strategy, why did God impose this strategy on Shimshon?
To understand the answer to these questions, it is first necessary to understand the nature of a warrior which will give us insight into Shimshon’s character. A soldier must be prepared to kill without mercy when necessary. He cannot hesitate to destroy and to cause suffering to others. It is his job to be an animal and he must use his aggression to fight a war. Strategy can only get somebody so far. A warrior needs to have the killer instinct.
On the other hand, the Torah helps create a person who is guided by his intellect and does not let his animal nature control him. As we progress in knowledge and understanding, we slowly become more drawn to the world of ideas and less drawn to the world of instinctual pleasures.
Shimshon did not have the leisure to develop in this way. It was his mission to be a warrior and to have the animal instinct. He was not allowed to remove it and instead was often forced to express it. While for most people it gets easier and easier to deal with their animal nature, for Shimshon it was a constant battle. How great would Shimshon have been if he did not have this constant impediment?
Now we can try and answer the questions above. Hashem gave Shimshon a certain mission that would limit his ability to develop in righteousness. Since Hashem created a framework that would limit Shimshon, he also had to create another framework that would help his development. Although nazirut is in general a self imposed strategy, in this case God invoked it because it was necessary to counterbalance the warrior mission he had given Shimshon.
Most people have the misconception that we refer to Shimshon as Shimshon Hagibor because of his tremendous physical strength. The truth is that Shimshon was a gibor for constantly fighting this battle within him, and always winning. And yet, he sacrificed his own development for God's mission, by never overcoming the animal within him.
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