From the Cyber Torah Archives

Hope everyone had a great Hanukkah. I wish all of you a happy New Year. I particularly enjoyed getting to meet some of the college students last week to whom I have been sending this email - its nice to get to know the face behind the email.

Last words have a significant impact on us. We crave the opportunity to sum up the meaning of our entire lives at the moment or close to the moment at which our lives end. We at least imagine that such a moment brings incredible clarity and the ability to cut through all the interests and concerns and prejudices that hamper us. The moment of death requires incredible honesty and integrity.

The last words of one of the greatest figures in the Bible are preserved. King David realizes that the moment of his death is upon him and summons his beloved son Solomon to pass on his advice and the meaning of his life. We read those words this Shabbat as the Haftorah. David's advice was aimed specifically at Solomon, yet the first few verses that attempt to summarize the meaning of his existence have significance to all of us.

David tells Solomon that he is about to die (1 Kings 2:1) and then tells him to "Be strong and be a man." David is doing far more than telling Solomon to find the strength to get through grieving his father. Instead, David is teaching Solomon how to lead others. As Gersonides, a medieval Spanish Bible commentator states, David means that "Solomon's problems should be those of a man, not a child." That is, Solomon will still experience failure and problems but they should be those of a person willing to seek the advice of others and to think and plan. That is what really separates the men from the boys.

This piece of practical advice is then followed by what David hopes will be the guiding principle of Solomon's life. "Keep the keepsake of God Your God - walk in his ways and keep the commandments and testimonies written in the Moses' Torah." David first emphasizes the possibility of personal relationship with God. Keep the keepsake of God YOUR God. God is both the God of all and the God of each. Making the choice to serve God opens the possibility of relationship with God.

Walk in his ways, as the Malbim explains, means to follows the attributes of God. Just as God is merciful, so too you should be merciful. Just as God is charitable, so should you be charitable. God may transcend our ability to understand, but his attributes exist precisely to help us reach out to Him. By learning from the behavior in the world of the Holy One Blessed Be He, we draw closer to God.

Finally, keep His commandments. Gersonides explains that David meant Solomon should keep God's commandments in his heart. By studying and learning, Solomon can transform the Torah into the guiding light of his life. Its paths and ways will become the means by which he organizes his whole life. Solomon can then derive meaning from his life knowing that he strove always to bring God into the world through the observance of His commandments.

If death bed confessions are a moment of integrity, then David's words are troubling. He failed on several occasions to live up to the ideal he presents to his son, most notably with Bathsheba. Further, Solomon fails to reach the ideal as well. According to 1 Kings 11, Solomon becomes corrupt and partly turns away from God towards the end of his life. How do these words have any meaning if they fail to reflect the truth about their speaker or their audience?

We are all imperfect. We strive for perfection, but never attain it. One might teach that the commandments are therefore a road to failure and we need a new way. Judaism instead teaches that despite our flaws and our failures, the successes make the striving worthwhile. David failed to live up to these ideals on some occassions, yet on many others he succeeded as a moral exemplar. His example teaches us that while each of us can never always "keep God's way" striving towards God is nevertheless worthwhile. By keeping God's commandments, by striving to make holy the mundane world around us, we make God OUR God and we find the path to lead a holy life filled with meaning and significance.