Reply To: Short & Sweet

Shoftim: Monkey See, Monkey Do

There is a mitzva in this weeks parsha to appoint a Jewish King. And yet, when Bnei Yisroel approached Shmuel HaNavi about doing just that, they were rebuked for it. How can that be?

The Ohr HaChaim explains that although the Jews of that generation were trying to do the right thing, they were doing it for the wrong reason. They didn’t want a king to fulfill the mitzva of Hashem: they just wanted to be like the nations around them, which all had kings. (This is supported by the observation of the Tur that Bnei Yisroel only asked for king in days of Shmuel, since that is when the Pilishtim began to have kings.)

Don’t live your life as a copy of somebody else, even if that person is doing everything right. You have to figure out what’s right for you, and do it for the right reasons.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום