Shabbat 30

“For a living dog is better than a dead lion” 

The meaning behind today’s text is “not difficult.” It is better to be alive, than dead, a small pipsqueak of a living dog than a dead lion. At the same time, it is important to honor our ancestors and to understand who we are in the context of where we have come from and the gifts we have been given and those we leave behind for our descendants. 

We are told that although a person’s highest calling is study of the Torah and performing mitzvahs, once he is gone, he is gone and no longer able to praise God. We are told that a person should be engaged in studying the Torah while he is alive; once he is dead, he is free of memory and longing and duty and obligation. We are told that “when a person dies he then becomes free of Torah and mitzvot” and any further contributions he might make to the world are lost as well.

 This value of life over death does not mean that we should not remember in our prayers and our hearts, our ancestors who established our faith through their direct connection with God. And especially this time of year we are to remember Moses, who led us out of the desert despite the many times we profoundly disappointed him. We are told that when we broke Moses’ heart through our lack of faith in his promise from God, he “stood before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and he said several prayers and supplications before Him, and his prayers were not answered. And when he said: “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants,” his prayers were answered immediately.”  Moses knew that the way to God’s heart was to evoke the memory of his ancestors, as we remember Moses on Passover.

 David asked God an existential question that has always plagued me: “When will I die?” If only we know the course of our lives, we could make better plans. Maybe we would retire earlier if we knew we would die on the younger side or save more money if we knew we would live a very long time. God tells David that one’s death is not something he reveals to mortal men, but David presses on. God says again that he does not reveal “the measure of a person’s days.”  Finally, after much pleading, God tells David that he will die on Shabbat. But David is not satisfied with the answer and attempts to negotiate the time of his death and asks instead that he will die on the first day of the week so that the Shabbat “will not be tarnished by the pain of death.”

David appears arrogant to ask this of God and to assume that his death alone will tarnish the Shabbat. He makes a deal to “cede a day of his life” and die on the eve of the Sabbath. His punishment is to fear every Shabbat Eve as the day that he will die. He attempts to keep the angel of death away through obsessively studying the Torah every Shabbat Eve. On the day he is slated to die the Angel of Death shook a tree in his garden and as David climbed a stairway to investigate the noise, a step broke under his foot and he fell and died. David had a lot to repent for and fear (there was the whole Bathsheba affair) at the time of his death.

The meaning behind all this is that the time and place of our death is a mystery, and we need to live each day with the knowledge that although it will come one day, with some luck, it will not be this day. There are religious people of all faiths right now who are turning up to worship in churches and synagogues, forming choirs and minyans, who are placing their spiritual missions above protecting their lives and those of their families and the community during this time of pandemic when we are told to practice social distancing and stay home. They believe their higher power will protect them. But there is no mitzvah or religious duty that is more important than one’s life. The Rabbis have told us that. When it is all said and done, it is better to be alive than deceased. 

The angel of death is very busy right now. We are told that the next two weeks will be difficult, and this is the moment not to go to the grocery store or pharmacy, but to shelter in place. Everyone, please stay home and take care of yourselves and your families (including the furry ones who always get fed first.)    

This article from My Jewish Learning outlines 14 things you need to know about King David and includes a link to the great Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” about King David’s affair with Bathsheba: 

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/fourteen-things-you-need-to-know-about-king-david/