Our haftara describes the death of David HaMelech after we learned in the parsha of the deaths of Yaakov Avinu and Yosef HaTzaddik. Together these are three of the seven “shepherds” of Israel to whom we bid farewell this week (although the tzaddikim live forever).
What’s more, as this essay is being written, it is the hilula of Ezra HaSofer, another shepherd of Israel, albeit perhaps an unofficial one. Ezra was instrumental in framing the scripture – this is why he is remembered as “HaSofer,” the scribe. He probably also had a role to play in matching the haftarot with the weekly Torah portions, so his presence haunts this column as it does our shuls and study halls.
When David HaMelech dies, he tells his son Shlomo that he is “going in the way of all the world” (Melachim I 2:2). And what is the way of all the world? Naturally, we live and then, after a while, we die, leaving this world behind. Tana D’vei Eliyahu, imputed to the “Academy of Eliyahu HaNavi,” uses this verse as a basis for an introduction to the concept of derech eretz – literally, the way of the world (Tana D’vei Eliyahu, Zuta, Prologue 5).
The Tana D’vei Eliyahu teaches that derech eretz is not numbered among the mitzvot. It is learned by example from our scriptures, alongside the mitzvot which are commanded to us. It is often the case that the principles of derech eretz are universal and practiced by all civilized societies, but the mitzvot of the Torah are new principles given uniquely to the people of Israel. The great leaders of Israel are also the exemplars of derech eretz from whom we learn its precepts, as is the case here with David HaMelech upon his deathbed.
Tana D’vei Eliyahu teaches that derech eretz is relevant chiefly in connection with three notable occasions in a human life. It is applicable to birth, to mating, and to death. On each of these occasions human beings are overwhelmed with dread in the face of the unknown, and their prior knowledge is insufficient to prepare them for what is to come. For this reason, humans have developed traditional practices to cope with the trauma and the shock of the change in state that each of these transitions entails. The Torah introduces additional rules and regulations to elevate the Jewish life to sanctity in service of the Creator, but we must also master these more primordial customs that precede the giving of the Torah.
Thus, for example, when Rachel wants to hide her father’s idols, she tells him “the way of women” is upon her and he respects this and does not search. One of the ways that the Egyptians afflicted us, we learn in the Haggadah, was by violating the ways of the world – “p’rishat derech eretz.” Thus, in our haftara, as David HaMelech lies dying, he tells his son Shlomo that he is going in the way of the world and that Shlomo should “be a man.” Only after learning derech eretz, being strengthened and becoming a man, is Shlomo instructed to keep the decrees and the commandments of Hashem (Melachim I 2:3).
The Rokeach on our haftara connects the five terms employed by David to describe Shlomo’s duty to Hashem with the five books of the Torah. Thus we see that in David’s final instructions to his son, he asserts the rabbinic precept of “Derech eretz kadma laTorah” – derech eretz precedes Torah.