It’s been just one week since we read Megillat Rut, telling of the days when “the judges were judged” (Ruth 1:1). Our haftara brings another example from that difficult era when “there was no king in Israel, and people acted in a manner that seemed proper to them” (Shoftim 17:6 and 21:25).
We are introduced to a couple of rustics from the north of Israel who encounter a visitor from the heavens come to inform them that the wife is about to have a baby. This child will begin to save Israel from the Philistines. It is here that we find the clearest connection to this week’s parsha, because the unborn baby must be a nazir from birth. A nazir is normally an adult who elects to take upon himself additional stringencies not commanded in the Torah. But in this case, the baby is to be born already a nazir. Ralbag teaches that this was an effort to correct ahead of time what would be the licentiousness of Shimshon and his susceptibility to corruption by pretty women. The goal was to hold him to a higher standard from the beginning of his life and hopefully give him the spiritual strength to withstand temptation.
The pasuk before the beginning of the haftara (Shoftim 13:1) sets the stage for all of these events, although our sages kindly left it out of the story. We learn that Israel had persisted in their wickedness, and as a result of their deeds were left at the mercy of their brutal Philistine neighbors for a generation. They would be saved from this fate in a manner that suited Hashem’s purpose – bringing salvation to His people – but also was appropriate to their degraded spiritual state.
Shimshon is the scion of the shevet of Dan, the last of the tribes of Israel to march. Dan leads from behind; he is exposed to attacks from the rear and he picks up the stragglers and returns them to their places. When Yaakov blesses his sons he says, “Dan will judge his nation” (Bereishit 49:16). Indeed his name is from the same shoresh as dan, meaning “he judges.” The judgment of Dan is harsh and unbending. He sees the worst and the weakness in people, but he is also heroic in fighting for and defending the weak from those who would prey upon them.
Shimshon is a tragic, and ultimately tragically flawed, character. He heroically battles the enemies of Israel and wins great victories against them. But he lives in a time of spiritual and political anarchy when people do as they see fit. There is no centralization of political or religious power; there is no higher authority uniting the people of Israel. Tellingly, when the herald of Shimshon’s birth departs from Manoach and his wife, he launches himself to heaven in the flames of the local bama (private altar). The Beit HaMikdash has not yet been built, and every tribe and every neighborhood serves Hashem upon personal shrines.
These people, spiritually conflicted, confused, and compromised, are to be saved in the merit of their forefathers because of Hashem’s love for His people. However, if Hashem had sent a prophet or a king they would not have followed this leader anyway. So Hashem gave them the leader they deserved. One they could understand. A physically powerful man who could slay their enemies, but who ultimately succumbed to temptations.
The message of our haftara is that it’s not enough to hope for leaders to bring us out of troubled times. We must elevate ourselves so that we can become the solution, and when our actions are consonant with Hashem’s will as expressed in His commandments, then we will have leaders who embody this and who can be worthy of us.
