With Which His Mother Chastened Him – How Batsheva Educated Shlomo

THE DAILY CHIZZUK BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A

TUESDAY, 19 TAMMUZ 5785

These are his holy words:

[1]When Shlomo married Pharaoh’s daughter (Midrash Mishlei 31), it was nighttime.  The Tamid offering was brought at the fourth hour.  What is the “fourth hour”?  It means that Shlomo once slept until ten.

So should he be beaten for that?  If a child sleeps until ten, [do you need to beat him?]

The Rav asks Rav Nachman, who is sitting next to him: Did you ever beat your child?

You never in your life hit your child!  So why did Batsheva beat her child with murderous blows?

It’s written in Gemara Sanhedrin[2] (70b) that Batsheva broke Shlomo’s bones.  She beat him with a sandal.  I went to Welfare and complained.  I couldn’t stand seeing this – beating a child?!  So what if he keeps on sleeping until ten?

The Rav asks one of the participants in the shiur: What time do you sleep till?

Until seven.

This is something that’s impossible to understand.  Such a small and sweet child of sixteen – [to beat him?]  So what if he slept one time until the fourth hour?  So it happened once in his life!  It’s understandable if it happens a second time, but once in his life?  Delivering murderous blows?  Breaking his bones?

It’s taught that his mother tied him to a pole…  “With which his mother chastened him” – Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: This teaches that his mother tied him to a pole.  Do you tie a sixteen-year-old child to a pole?  That’s not education!  That’s not how you educate!  She tied him to a pole and told him: “What is it, my son?  And what is it, son of my womb?  I vowed that you would be God-fearing, that you would rise for prayer.  Everyone else vowed that they would have a son fit for kingship, and I vowed that I would have a son fit for prayer and Torah.  I went in and pushed myself [before King David that I would have] a son who is full of vitality and purity.”

Because if a son is diligent, he is sent to learn Torah.  That is to say, if there is a father and the son is sharper and more diligent than the father, then the son is sent to learn Torah before the father.  But if the son sits next to Nechama bakery all day, and this is what happened to Yanky, who ate at Nechama’s and returned home after a half-year.  He didn’t learn a thing.  He was at Nechama’s and ate cakes all day.  His father said to him, “You stay [home] and support the household.”  Because back then, there were no Kollelim like there are today.  One would learn and the other would provide livelihood.

There are ten brothers; nine provide livelihood and nine learn.  In short, his mother said to him: “You were by Nechama’s the entire month, so you stay home now and I will go.”

https://vimeo.com/1101386232?p=1s

[1] “The words of Lemuel the king, the prophecy with which his mother chastened him” (Mishlei  31:1).  Rabbi Yochanan said: This teaches that his mother tied him to a pole and said to him: “What is it, my son?  And what is it, son of my womb?  And what is it, son of my vows?” – You are the son that I vowed to the Holy One Blessed is He.  “Do not give your strength to women” – Why?  So they will not weaken you and mislead you.  “It is not proper for kings who belong to God, it is not proper for kings to drink wine, and for princes to imbibe strong drink.” “Lest he drink and forget the statute and pervert the judgment of all the children of the poor” – What is the statute?  Rabbi Simon said: These are words of Torah, as it says (Shemot 32:15): “They were inscribed on one side and the other.”  “The prophecy with which his mother chastened him” – Rabbi Yishmael said: On the night that Shlomo completed the Temple, he took Pharaoh’s daughter, and there was rejoicing in the Temple, but the rejoicing over Pharaoh’s daughter surpassed the rejoicing over the Temple.”  It was fitting to say the proverb, “The entire world flatters the king.”  At that moment, it occurred to the Holy One Blessed is He to destroy it, as it says (Yirmiyahu 32:31), “For this city has aroused My anger and My wrath…”  Rabbi Levi said: Regarding the Tamid offering that is brought at four hours.  What did Pharaoh’s daughter do?  She made a kind of curtain [and spread it over Shlomo’s bed], fixing stars and constellations in it.  Whenever Shlomo wanted to rise, he would see the stars and constellations and would fall back asleep until the fourth hour.  Rabbi Levi said: On that day, the Tamid was offered at four hours.  [Regarding that hour, we have taught: There was in incident when the morning Tamid was offered at four hours, and Israel was saddened, because it was the day of the dedication of the Temple, and they could not do it because Shlomo was sleeping, and they feared waking him, because of the fear of the monarchy.  They went and informed Batsheva, his mother, and she went and awaked him and rebuked him, as it says, “The prophecy with which his mother chastened him.”]

[2] (Sanhedrin 70b) The words of Lemuel the king, the prophecy with which his mother chastened him” – Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: This teaches that his mother tied him to a pole and told him, “What is it, my son?  And what is it, son of my womb?  And what is it, the son of my vows.”  “What is it, my son” -- Everyone knows that your father is God-fearing.  Now they will say that his mother caused him [to act this way].  “And what is, son of my womb” – All the women of your father’s house, once they became pregnant, would no longer see the king’s face, and I pushed myself in and entered so that I would have a son who is full of vitality and purity.  “And what is it, son of my vow” – All the women of your father’s house would vow to have a son fitting for kingship, and I vowed and said that I would have a son who is diligent and full of Torah and fitting for prophecy.  “It is not proper for kings who belong to God, it is not proper for kings to drink wine.”  “It is not fitting for kings” --  She said to him, “What do you have to do with kings who drink wine and become intoxicated, saying ‘Why do we need God?’  “For princes to imbibe strong drink” – Should someone to whom all the secrets of the universe are revealed drink wine and become drunk?  There are those who say it, “Should someone for whom all the princes of the world rise early at his door drink wine and become drunk?”