Parashat Ha’azinu – 5786

“From the hands of his enemies and from the hands of Saul”

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ha’azinu

By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg

The traditional cycle of Haftarot, prophetic readings for each Shabbat and holiday of the year, is one of the more confusing parts of synagogue ritual, between the numerous differences in practice between Ashkenazic and Sefardic communities, [1] the even greater number of divergences in practice when one considers the Italian and Mizrahi rites, and the quirks of the holiday cycle that are hard for anyone to keep track of without a detailed perpetual calendar (or a website like hebcal.com).

This is one of the relatively few years when traditional Jewish communities read the Haftarah for the Torah portion of Ha’azinu, a poem from the end of the 2nd Book of Samuel (2 Samuel 22). Most frequently, the Torah portion of Ha’azinu is read between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, prompting the assignment of a special haftarah for Shabbat Shuvah. This year, however, Ha’azinu is read after Yom Kippur, so this haftarah is read as a fitting counterpart to the reading of the Ha’azinu poem (Deuteronomy 32). (This 2 Samuel passage is also traditionally read each year on the 7th day of Passover, paired with the Song of the Sea.)

This Haftarah passage is a song of gratitude sung by King David after being saved from the various forces seeking his destruction. Like other poems of gratitude in various places in the Bible, it describes in visceral terms what it feels like to be in danger, using water and drowning imagery, and his thankfulness for his liberation. In this regard, the poem resembles Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish (Jonah 2), as well as Psalm 116 from the Hallel psalms. (And this chapter is almost identical to Psalm 18, with what appear to be several scribal variations.)

But what is most interesting to me about this Haftarah is not the poetry itself, but its introductory line: “David addressed the words of this song to GOD, after GOD had saved him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hands of Saul.” (2 Samuel 22:1)

David had many enemies in his life and career, especially the Philistines with whom Israel was in frequent conflict during his lifetime. And yet the greatest threat to David’s early life came from King Saul, his predecessor, employer, father-in-law, and the father of his best friend Jonathan. Some commentators suggest that Saul is singled out for mention here because he was a greater threat than all the others put together (see, for example, Rashi’s comment on this verse.)

But it is also possible to read these words in a different way — that by referring to God saving him “from the hands of all his enemies and from the hands of Saul,” David is noting that even though Saul was a source of danger to David, he was not actually in the category of David’s enemies.

The tragic saga of King Saul begins when the people of Israel clamor to the prophet Samuel asking him to help them to choose a king, so they will be more like all the other nations in their region. (I Samuel 8:4ff) Samuel helps them find a young man named Saul, who is extraordinarily talented, strong, attractive, affable, and appearing to possess all the leadership qualities that a community would want in their king. (I Samuel 10) He serves with distinction for a few years, until — for reasons that are not completely clear — his mood and behavior begin to change radically. A “ruah ra’ah,” an “evil spirit,” descends upon him. (I Samuel 16:14) At times, there are techniques he can use to help him to overcome the influence of this evil spirit, such as listening to music. But eventually, nothing helps. When he is under the influence of the ruah ra’ah, he does and says irrational things, he misinterprets innocent situations and sometimes responds violently to them, and he perceives threats to him that no one else can perceive. King David had been a protege of King Saul, as well as his harp player, but several times King Saul lashed out violently against David. (I Samuel chapters 18 to 27 describe many such incidents.) Saul can no longer have normal relationships with his family members. Eventually he dies a premature death in battle as a shadow of his former self, known primarily in terms of his unrealized potential.

I wonder if the tragic relationship between King Saul and King David is the reason King David begins his poem in gratitude for being saved from his enemies with a reference to his gratitude for being “saved from the hands of all his enemies and from the hands of Saul.” Even though Saul was definitely a threat to David, perhaps David wants to make it clear Saul does not fall in the category of his enemies. Saul is in a different category. Saul when under the influence of the ruah ra’ah, the evil spirit, seems like a different person, as if his condition is an overlay over his soul, preventing Saul from authentically expressing himself. Perhaps David speaks this way because he cannot harbor anger against Saul but can only wish that things had been different and that Saul’s authentic self could have been expressed more fully, as it had been earlier in Saul’s life.

Some contemporary commentators have noted that Saul’s moods, delusions, and behavior make him look like someone living with one or more types of mental illness. [2] Today we are aware that most people with mental illness are not violent, and in general, those with untreated mental illness are much more likely to be a threat to themselves than to anyone else. However, there are contemporary cases like that of Saul operating under a ruah ra’ah, in which someone can be an unwitting source of psychological or physical danger, but definitely not an enemy. The way we seek God’s protection in such cases may be through helping them to access the mental health treatment they need.

Saul’s tragic story makes us wish that he had found more consistent ways to relieve the impact of the ruah ra’ah that tormented him. At the very least, we can take solace that David appears to present him in a sympathetic light, despite his erratic behavior. We pray for the ability, as individuals, as communities, and as a society, to have compassionate responses in the presence of someone who appears to be under the influence of a ruah ra’ah.

[1] See David Stein, http://scholar.davidesstein.name/Articles/HaftarotOfEtzHayim–Stein.pdf, for an analysis of these differences.

[2] See, for example, Saul M. Olyan, Disability in the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting Mental and Physical Differences (Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 70-71. I learned about this book from the book by AJR CEO Dr. Ora Horn Prouser, Esau’s Blessing: How the Bible Embraces Those With Special Needs (Ben Yehuda Press, 2011).