On the upcoming festival of Shavuot, we connect to the figure of King David, “David, King of Israel, lives and endures.” David was born and he died on Shavuot, the 6th of Sivan, and on this day, it is customary to read the Scroll of Ruth, which deals with David’s lineage and ends with the verse, “And Boaz begot Oved, and Oved begot Yishai, and Yishai begot David.”
King David received from God the crown of kingship, for him and for his descendants, forever. The faith and the anticipation of the true and complete redemption, which accompanies the people of Israel throughout all generations (a hope thousands of years old), is bound together with the renewal of the kingdom of the house of David. These are captured in various statements that have become staples of Jewish faith: “I believe in the coming of the Mashiach,” “Speedily cause the offspring of David Your servant to flourish” (the King Mashiach is from the seed of David, and within him rests the soul of David himself ), and as we welcome Shabbat every week, “Shake yourself from the dust, arise. Don your garments of splendor, My people. By the son of Yishai of Bethlehem. Draw near to my soul, redeem it [alluding to the imminent redemption of each individual soul, and the redemption of all Israel and the entire world].”
