In Parshas Shoftim, the Torah speaks of the mitzvah of appointing a king. Apparently, a monarchy can be an optimal type of government – assuming, of course, that the right type of king is in place. The king must not be corrupt. He must be G-d fearing. Even though in the history of Klal Yisrael there were kings who were terrible, in theory, if it can be done properly, the Torah advocates the appointment of a king.
Even though every Jew has an independent mitzvah to write his own Sefer Torah, the king has a special mitzvah to write a second Sefer Torah (in addition to his first Sefer Torah).
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 21b) says that the king kept one of his Sifrei Torah in his personal treasure house (i.e. – his palace) and his other Sefer Torah accompanied him at all times. Many Torah commentaries discuss why the king needed to have this second Sefer Torah that accompanied him whenever he appeared in public.
In past years, we mentioned a very beautiful dvar Torah that appears in a sefer called Ner Uziel from Rav Uziel Milevsky, z”l, (among other places): Normally, the rule of thumb that every Jew should try to live by is “a person’s insides should be like his outsides.” A person should not live one way in private and another way in public. Obviously, there is a certain casualness that we allow ourselves at home. People don’t always need to wear their jacket and tie at home, just because they appear that way in public. But in terms of a person’s midos (character traits), his personality, his frumkeit (religiosity) and his hashkafa (outlook on life) — these must be uniform inside and outside the home. This is the default rule for every Jew EXCEPT the king.
The king needs to have a different type of conduct and behavior outside the palace than he does inside. Inside the palace, like every other Jew, he needs to practice humility. He needs to be forgoing and forgiving. But the public king cannot play that role. He must assert his authority and project a certain awe and reverence to the public at large. He must maintain a certain demeanor outside the home, which may be totally different than his natural demeanor when no one is around.
The Jewish king thus has a dual personality – one for the king in the palace and another for the king who is the public figure. That is why he needs two Sifrei Torah. He needs a Sefer Torah b’Chutz (outside) and a Sefer Torah b’fnim (inside). The Sefer Torah that he keeps in his private treasury teaches him how to have humility and to be forgoing – all the things that the mussar sefarim instruct us. But when he goes outside, he needs that second Torah which reminds him to conduct his actions with a certain presence, a kind of haughtiness, and a certain unforgiving-ness when the situation demands it.
In Parshas VaYelech, when Moshe hands over the leadership of Klal Yisrael to Yehoshua, the pasuk says: “And Moshe called out to Yehoshua and said to him in the eyes of all of Israel: Be Strong and Mighty! ...” (Devorim 31:7). There is some ambiguity as to how to punctuate this opening pasuk. I believe most people assume that the comma comes after “in the eyes of all of Israel”. In other words, the body of the message is a blanket statement – “Chazak V’Ematz!” However, the trop (cantillation notes) on the words “l’Einei kol Yisrael Chazak V’Ematz” are munach zarka munach segol. Therefore, the proper way to read the pasuk is “In the eyes of all of Israel be strong and mighty” – which means that the comma follows the words “Vayomer Ailav“! Thus, the instruction “Be strong and mighty” is qualified by the antecedent clause. Only in front of the eyes of all of Israel are you (the king) to act strong and mighty. Yehoshua, now that you are the leader, you can no longer act as the humble Yehoshua who cleaned out the Beis Medrash and swept the floor there! To the eyes of all Israel, you may only show strength and valor. That is the job of the Jewish king.
This is a very difficult balance to achieve. Most people who act on the outside with strength and arrogance think that they are also the king when they walk in the front door to their personal living quarters (until “the Queen” tells him “No such thing!”).
I saw a beautiful comment from the Chasam Sofer: When Dovid HaMelech gave over the kingship to his son Shlomo, how did he signify the passing of the torch, so to speak? The pasuk in Melachim I (1:33) says as follows: “The king said to them, ‘take with you your master’s servants and mount my son Shlomo upon my mule...'” The servants are to take the king’s personal mule and allow Shlomo to ride upon it. The general protocol of royalty is that no one uses the king’s scepter and no one uses the king’s mode of transportation. Air Force One, l’havdil elef havdolas, is uniquely reserved for use by the President of the United States. No one else uses it. If you are president, you get Air Force One. In Biblical times, the king’s mule was the equivalent of Air Force One.
This never struck me when reading the pasuk, but the Chasam Sofer notes that the king should be riding on a horse, not a mule! A horse is a beautiful animal, especially a kingly horse like a thoroughbred. It is a beautiful animal. The Torah talks about “the horse of Pharaoh and his chariot.” Pharaoh did not ride around on a donkey. He rode around on a horse!
However, what was Avraham Avinu’s mode of transportation? What will the Moshiach‘s mode of transportation be? A donkey! A donkey does not have the glamor and status of a horse. This however is the Jewish vision of Moshiach – a poor man riding upon a donkey!
What is a mule? A mule is the product of the mating of a horse and a donkey. That is why King David used a mule. The Jewish king needs to have the haughtiness of the horse, but the haughtiness needs to be tempered with the humility of a donkey. How does he achieve that? He rides on the synthesis of a horse and a donkey. That, the Chasam Sofer says, was why Dovid picked a mule to ride upon and also to be the vehicle of transfer of power to the next Jewish king – his son Shlomo. The mule testifies to the duality, the synthesis of personalities that a Jewish king must possess. He needs to know when to be the Baal Gaivah and when to be the Ani. Therefore, the proper mode of transportation is “the mule that belongs to me.”
