Parshas Shoftim contains the mitzvah to appoint a king. The Torah lists some of the restrictions placed upon a Jewish monarch. Among them is that he should not own too many horses lest he bring the nation back to Egypt (Devorim 17:17). In those days, horses came from Mitzrayim, and the need for a large stable of horses would necessitate the establishment of a Jewish horse acquisition center in Mitzrayim, which was not in accordance with the Divine will. Additionally, the king was not permitted to marry too many wives, lest they turn his heart astray. Nor was he allowed to hoard too much gold and silver.
By Biblical law, a commoner has no restrictions regarding the number of simultaneous wives that are permitted. However, a king is limited to eighteen wives. A famous Gemara (Sanhedrin 21b) teaches that Shlomo felt that these laws applied to all other Jewish monarchs, but not to him. He reasoned (regarding his multiplicity of wives), “I will be able to exceed the limit and not be led astray.” As the Navi says, Shlomo did in fact exceed the limit — he had a thousand wives. But despite his feeling that he could exceed the limit and not worry about being led astray, his wives did turn his heart astray. (Melachim I 11:1-4)
The obvious question is — how could this happen to Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of all men? Shlomo was the smartest man who ever walked the face of the earth, even smarter than Moshe Rabbeinu! He was not a Navi on the level of Moshe Rabbeinu, but in terms of chochma, he had no match! We would think that he would be smart enough to figure this out and think to himself, “No. I am not going to do something that the Torah forbade.” Where did he go wrong? How did he make this mistake?
Similarly, we can ask about an incident mentioned in the Gemara (Shabbos 12b). The Gemara forbids reading on Shabbos by candlelight (lest someone forget that it is Shabbos and tilt the candle or attempt to fix a flickering wick, which would be forbidden on Shabbos). The Gemara relates that a certain Tanna, Rebbi Yishmael ben Elisha, thought to himself, “I can read by candlelight without being in violation of any Shabbos prohibition.” He basically fell into the same trap as Shlomo HaMelech. He felt that his level of yiras shamayim was such that he would not come to accidental chilul Shabbos. In fact, it is brought down in Shulchan Aruch that a person is permitted to daven from a Machzor on Yom Kippur by candlelight “because the fear of Yom Kippur is upon him.” Rebbi Yishmael held that “my regular Shabbos is like everyone else’s Yom Kippur.”
The Gemara relates that there came a time when Rebbi Yishmael ben Elisha was reading by candlelight on a Friday night and almost came to tip the candle towards himself. At the last second, he caught himself and remarked “How great are the words of the chachomim, who legislated that a person must not read (on Shabbos) by candle light.”
We can ask two questions here: (1) Why did Rebbi Yishmael ben Elisha make the same mistake that Shlomo made? (2) Why did it take this incident to cause him to recognize “How great are the words of the chachomim“?
Rav Eliyahu Baruch Finkel (cited in MiShulchanoi Shel Rav Eliyahu Baruch) cites a very important principle regarding this from Rav Aharon Kotler, zt”l:
As we have said many times, there are certain immutable laws of nature that cannot be changed. Just like there are certain laws of nature and physics, there are also certain laws of metaphysics or spirituality. The laws of physics are such that if someone throws something up, it is going to come down. This is due to the “Law of Gravity.” No matter how fast or how powerfully something is thrown upward, eventually it is going to come down. A person cannot change the laws of physics.
The same is true regarding the laws of spirituality: Once the Torah writes something, it becomes an immutable law of spirituality. Given the fact that the Torah wrote: “He shall not take too many wives, lest they cause his heart to stray...” that became a reality such that just as no one can deny or break the law of gravity, this law cannot be broken either!
This was the mistake of Shlomo HaMelech. Certainly, he knew that this prohibition was recorded in the Torah, but despite all his great wisdom, he did not recognize the power of something being recorded in the Torah. Rav Aharon Kotler references the Kabbalistic teaching (in the Zohar on Parshas Terumah) that the Almighty “looked into the Torah and created the world”. This teaching implies that the world and the Torah were not two independent creations, but rather, the Torah preceded the world and in fact was the blueprint for the creation of the world. If the Torah says that a king having too many wives will lead his heart astray, that becomes the reality. That is how HaKadosh Baruch Hu created his world. Just like the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, this too is a reality of creation. This is what Shlomo HaMelech failed to realize.
The Chazon Ish writes in his Emunah U’Bitachon that when the Torah writes that a bribe will blind the eyes of the wise, it becomes a law of spiritual nature. No one can claim that he is so honest that a bribe will not affect him. Baloney! You take money? You are bought!
There is a famous incident involving Rav Chaim Soloveitchik. Every once in a while, the Russian Government would try to introduce secular studies into the Volozhin Yeshiva. Every time a Russian official would come in and try to investigate how much Russian culture was being studied in the Yeshiva, the administration would resort to the time-honored tradition of bribing the government official. That is the way life worked in Russia.
There was a new minister of education who had a reputation for refusing all bribes. This fellow was straight as an arrow. He could not be bought! The Yeshiva administration was in a panic. “This fellow will come and see we are not teaching Russian subjects. He does not take any bribes. What is going to be?” Reb Chaim said, “Don’t worry. I will take care of this minister.”
Reb Chaim went to the office of this minister of education in the middle of July wearing a fur coat and a fur hat as if it was the middle of January. The minister looked at him as if he was crazy. He asked, “Why are you dressed like that?” Reb Chaim responded, “My mother came to me in a dream last night and told me that tomorrow the temperature is going to drop 100 degrees and it will be 10 degrees below zero!” The minister looked at him and said, “With all due respect to your late mother, I assure you this is not going to happen in the middle of July.” Rav Chaim insisted, “My mother told me. That is the way it is going to be!”
The minister was incredulous and became even more incredulous when Reb Chaim told him “I am willing to put money on it!” He simply could not resist when Reb Chaim told him “I am willing to bet you 100 rubles that tomorrow the temperature will drop 100 degrees, and it is going to be 10 degrees below zero!” The minister gladly took the bet. Reb Chaim came back the next day. It was still 90 degrees outside, and Reb Chaim gave the minister the 100 rubles.
Reb Chaim then returned to the Yeshiva and confidently told the rest of the administration, “The minister of education is in my pocket!” Reb Chaim understood that once a person takes money, he becomes blinded, just as the Torah decrees. Once the Torah states that a person’s attitude changes towards any person from whom he takes money, that becomes an immutable law of spiritual nature that impacts even the most honest person in the world!
Rav Baruch Finkel cites these incidents to explain the Gemara in Shabbos with Rebbi Yishmael ben Elisha. The chachomim said “A person should not read on Shabbos by candlelight lest he (unthinkingly) tip the candle towards himself.” Rebbi Yishmael thought “this does not apply to me!” He thought that Shabbos by him was like Yom Kippur by everyone else!
In the end he almost moved the wick. At that moment, he proclaimed, “How great are the words of the chachomim...” In other words, I already knew that when the Torah states a prohibition (such as that a king should not take too many wives lest they cause his heart to stray, or that a judge should not take a bribe lest his eyes be blinded), it creates an immutable spiritual reality. But I did not realize that this even applies to rabbinic prohibitions – that the words of the chachomim also create such a reality. However, I never realized that a decree of the Sages (such us don’t read by candlelight on Shabbos lest you tip the wick) could also change reality! Now I realize that even the Rabbis have the power by their decrees to change spiritual reality and guarantee that one who violates their decrees will transgress the sin they were warning against.
