The Secret of the Sefirah of Malchus: The Humility of David Versus the Holiness of Saul
Lesson No. 33 | Morning classes at the Yeshiva, Monday morning, Parashas Masei, 26 Tammuz 5755.
A profound discourse explaining the essential difference between the supernatural holiness and might of King Saul, and the trait of lowliness of King David. Through the words of the Ruzhiner Rebbe, it is explained how it was specifically David's recognition that he is "the dust of the sole of every Jew" that merited him the Sefirah of Malchus (Kingship).
A person is forbidden to have any thought that he is worth anything. As we learned in Psalm 71, when I move my hand or my foot—it is Hashem who moves them for me. I must praise Hashem who gives me the strength to move a hand and a foot. Can I truly move a hand and a foot by myself? Can I wage wars with my own strength?
"My hands for battle, my fingers for war."
Hashem does everything. Therefore, King David says out of his great trust: "For You are my hope, O Lord Hashem, my trust from my youth." I have always trusted in You that You will guide me, lead me, and bring me to where I need to arrive. I knew that I could not do anything or achieve any spiritual level with my own strength.
The Simple Jew and True Humility
King David knew that everything comes only from Hashem. This is true humility—the understanding that everything is from Hashem, and that I believe everyone else does more than me. Whatever I do is only because Hashem is leading me. As it is written: "Stormy wind fulfilling His word." Hashem leads a person like a stormy wind to go, to fight, and to save the Jewish people.
Because David knew that everything is from Hashem, his songs and praises flowed from within him like a surging spring. He never entertained the thought that he was doing anything by himself. He knew that Hashem moves his foot, his hand, his brain, and his thoughts. He felt: "I still haven't done anything in life."
David said: "But as for me, in the abundance of Your lovingkindness I will enter Your house." I, too, come to the synagogue, even though I am the lowliest Jew. The Baal Shem Tov taught that it is specifically the simple Jew who elevates all the prayers. The true tzaddik is the true simple Jew, he is the simple foundation. King David said about himself that he was worse than Doeg and Achitophel, and nevertheless, he comes to pray.
The Dust of the Sole of Every Jew
On the verse, "I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, to the very end (ekev)," the Noam Elimelech explains in the name of King David: All the mitzvos that I perform are only out of lovingkindness. Just as Yaakov Avinu said, "I have become small from all the kindnesses"—the more kindness he received, the smaller and more unworthy he felt.
King David says: "I am forever a heel (ekev), I am forever the dust of the sole of every Jew." I am eternally beneath the heels of every Jew, and I have no other thought. I see clearly that every Jew is better than me—prays better, learns better, gives more charity than me.
The Ruzhiner Rebbe explains that all the Sefiros (Divine emanations) have an element of illusion, except for the Sefirah of Malchus (Kingship). The six Sefiros—Chesed (Kindness), Gevurah (Severity), Tiferes (Harmony), Netzach (Victory), Hod (Splendor), and Yesod (Foundation)—can mislead a person. But the Sefirah of Malchus, which is the Sefirah of King David, is the Sefirah of humility and lowliness, the aspect of "having nothing of its own." One who is in the Sefirah of Malchus knows that when he moves a hand, it is Hashem who moves it for him.
The Supernatural Holiness and Might of Saul
When King David presumed in his soul to speak about Saul, Hashem said to him: Do you compare yourself to Saul? Do you know what the holiness of Saul is? "Saul was a year old when he began to reign"—like a one-year-old who has never tasted the taste of sin. Saul declared all his properties ownerless for the war, distributed his own food and money, and never touched public funds.
Hashem said to David: Do you think you are mightier than Saul? You merely took a slingshot, stood from afar, and threw stones at Goliath. But Saul wrestled with Goliath face to face!
And when did Saul wrestle with him? Not after he ate a hearty meal and rested. When the Ark of the Covenant and the Tablets were captured after the destruction of Shiloh, Saul ran sixty kilometers to the battlefield. When he arrived and learned that the Ark had fallen into the captivity of the Philistines, he did not feel any fatigue, but immediately ran another sixty kilometers back to the battlefield.
When he arrived at the battlefield, Saul saw the Tablets in the hands of Goliath. The Tablets were made of sapphire stone, very hard and heavy, a cubit long, a cubit wide, and three handbreadths thick, weighing close to half a ton or a ton. After having already run 120 kilometers, Saul began to wrestle with Goliath, and succeeded in extracting the Tablets from his hands. With these heavy Tablets, he ran another ninety miles!
Why Was David Chosen for Kingship?
Hashem said to David: Saul never ate unconsecrated food in a state of impurity. Even when he was a shepherd, he would break the ice in the river and immerse, and he never put a slice of bread or a fruit into his mouth without first immersing in a mikvah. Saul ate in absolute purity. Because Saul was so holy and pure, Hashem was exacting with him over every small mistake.
The Gemara states that a Bas Kol (Heavenly voice) emerged and said to David: "If you were Shaul and he were David—I would destroy many Davids before him." That is to say, if Shaul had your attribute, the attribute of shiflus (lowliness and humility), Hashem would have destroyed the entire world before him.
Shaul possessed all the spiritual attributes: He had tremendous Chesed (loving-kindness), as it is written, "Daughters of Israel, weep for Shaul," because he would clothe brides and orphans with perfect kindness. He had Gevurah (might) to fight Goliath, and he possessed Yesod (foundation) and holiness. However, the Ruzhiner Rebbe explains: Shaul lacked the *Sefirah* of *Malchus* (Kingship). He did not have the lowliness and the specific trait of David—to be like a heel beneath every single Jew. David merited kingship specifically in the merit of his profound recognition that there was no one lower than him.
Part 2 of 4 — Lesson No. 33