When Shabbat falls on the eve of Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon, a special Haftorah is read. It is from the Book of Samuel, and recounts a conversation between Jonathan, King Saul’s son, and his close friend David. David is the hero who killed Goliath, and he married Saul’s daughter Michal, but Saul is jealous of his popularity. David has been staying in King Saul’s household, on certain occasions eating together with the King, Jonathan and others, but he feels he should flee for his own safety. But, what does Saul really think?
So Jonathan suggests a plan. ‘Tomorrow will be Rosh Chodesh’. The point is that on Rosh Chodesh the whole household eats together. Jonathan continues: ‘It will be noticed that you are missing.... You should wait (in hiding) till the third day.. (Then I will come to where you are hiding).. and I will shoot three arrows’.
Jonathan’s plan is that when King Saul notices that David is missing, either on that day or the following day, he would make some kind of comment which would indicate his true attitude to David. Does he love him as a son-in-law and a hero, or does he hate him and want to kill him? Jonathan would come to where David was hiding and after shooting the three arrows would call out to his young attendant a code message, which only David will understand. If he calls ‘the arrows are nearer to me’, it means that Saul is friendly to David and he can come out of hiding. But if he calls ‘the arrows are further away’ it means Saul is angry with David and he should run away and escape. (In fact Saul was very angry with David, and was angry with Jonathan for being friendly with him).
So far, this is the beginning of the Haftorah as a chapter in Scripture. But from the point of view of the Kabbalah and Chassidism, everything has a deeper meaning.
The discourse starts by focusing on the number three. What is the significance of the third day and the three arrows?
Previous Chabad Chassidic Teachings
Previous Chabad Chassidic teachings point out that the ‘three’ links with the concept of the Hebrew vowel Segol which is composed of three dots, two above and one below:
This links with the word Segulah, ‘special treasure’, as when G-d says ‘You (Israel) will be for Me Segulah, a special treasure among all the nations’.
Through the positive transformation which the Jewish people achieve among the nations of the world, they become together like the vowel Segol. This is because the upper two dots represent the main two groups of nations, descending from Esau (the Christians) and from Ishmael (the Moslems). All the other 70 nations are included in them. The Jewish people, distinguished for their humility, are the third dot underneath. Their effect on the nations of the world should be to elevate them to a higher level of spirituality. It is as if the dot underneath elevates the two upper dots, higher and higher.
The full effect of this will eventually be the transformation of the Segol into another triad of three dots. This is one of the cantillation signs in the Torah and it is called Segolta, in which the single dot is above the other two.
This will be when the nations of the world openly recognise the positive input that they are receiving through the Jewish people and the Torah, with its universal teachings of the Seven Noachide Laws.
This transformation of the position of the Jewish people in relation to the rest of the world relates to the theme of Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon. The Sages tell us that the Jewish people are compared to the moon. Unlike the sun, the moon waxes and wanes. At the beginning of the Hebrew month it starts as a thin sliver, and then it gradually becomes a full moon on the fifteenth of the month.
In the same way, the Jewish people are like the dot underneath the Segol, but then eventually become the dot on top in the Segolta.
This also relates to the content of Sedra Toledot, which tells of the birth of Jacob and Esau. Jacob is the ancestor of the Jewish people, and in this context Esau represents the realms of human negativity, violence and evil.
The task of Jacob is to elevate Esau, to transform him, to reveal his positive aspect, to turn the evil into good. [Chassidic teachings explain that this is why it was important for Jacob to have the blessings from his father Isaac: so that he would have the power to transform Esau in a positive way.]
This is what will happen in the time of Moshiach when, as the Biblical Prophets predict, the nations of the world will become helpers to the Jewish people, and in that role, they will see their happiness.
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