They Want You Dead
And are powerful as Goliath. Where can you find David today?
Dear Healthy Jew,
I often mention in these pages (like here) the special area of Israel that I call home: the hills immediately north of the Elah Valley, where David battled Goliath some 2900 years ago.
Most folks know those hills as Ramat Bet Shemesh, the burgeoning neighborhoods extending south of the biblical and modern Bet Shemesh.1
On foraging walks in the area, I explain the historical and geographical significance of the Elah Valley. Now I invite you to listen together to the biblical story of David and Goliath (Samuel I 17) . Perhaps you’ve heard the tale a thousand times - I won’t review all the details - but now you’ll learn its relevance for your life.
Right over the hill from where Eitan and I sit, the warring camps faced off in the Elah Valley.
The Jews cowered to the east, their backs to the Jerusalem mountains. The Philistines, to the west, controlled the fertile Shfela (lowlands) stretching out to the Mediterranean Sea.
One day a copper-clad giant, over 6 cubits tall, showed up in the valley, daring the Jews to send him their strongest soldier for a duel. A young lad from Bethlehem offered the terrified Jewish king, Saul, to take on the giant. He was so small that he couldn’t even fit inside Saul’s armor.
Who was stronger? Goliath, of course. David didn’t have a chance.
Yet David picked up his slingshot and shot one round stone that knocked Goliath down dead. The Philistines flew westward to their coastal enclaves (ever heard of Gaza?), and the Shfelah became the central hub of Jewish life in Israel for the next millennia.
David and Goliath aren’t only storied figures from almost 3 millennia ago. They both live today: Goliath threatens our lives and health, and our only hope is finding a new David.
As recent world events have clarified, much of the world wants Jews dead. With all our airplanes and tanks, it only takes a few political realignments (which many signs indicate may happen) for Israel to find itself in a new Elah Valley with a flimsy slingshot facing the combined might of its enemies.
In our personal lives, countless temptations and distractions threaten our physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. Living healthy and Jewish is often an uphill battle - fighting against our personal Goliath in the Elah Valley of our minds and hearts. As the Talmud (Kiddushin 29b) teaches, our inborn desire for wrong is stronger than us, and every day seeks our death.
Where can we find David today?
At the same place we found him almost 3 millennia ago: in his message to the Jewish people from the valley of Elah, just over the hill from where we sit.
“And David told the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and spear; I come to you with the name of the Almighty God, the master of Israel’s camp that you cursed. Today… the whole land will know that there is a God in Israel, and this whole congregation will know that God doesn’t save with sword and spear [that I don’t have], but the war is won [directly] from God.” (Samuel I 17:45-47)
David wasn’t a fool; he knew that Goliath’s sword and spear were stronger than him. We too can admit that our enemies, internal and external, are stronger than us.
And yet, just as Goliath has more power than David, God has more power than Goliath.
Hey, why not? It’s simple arithmetic: if Power 2 is stronger than Power 1, then Power 3 is stronger than Power 2.
So whenever I feel afraid or overwhelmed, which has been happening a lot recently, I peer over the hill at the Elah Valley, looking for the David within me.
Finding David isn’t a fantastic leap of faith. It’s not even an act of strength in the regular sense. I’m admitting my weakness and the power my problems have over me - and continuing the line of power parity until I reach the Power that wants the best for me, and humbly ask Him for help.
In David’s words:
“They surrounded me with words of hate; and fought me for nothing.
In return for my love they loathed me; and I am prayer. (Psalms 109:2-3)”
Oh, one more thing.
David didn’t stand there and pray Goliath to death. He pulled a stone from the Elah Stream and flung it with his shepherd’s slingshot - the only act of war he knew how to do.
I too, after surrendering my struggles to God, must pull stones from the Elah Stream flowing in my heart, and courageously fling them at my Goliaths. I put my faith in God - and show up to do my part faithfully.
Thank you for reading Healthy Jew.
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I look forward to hearing from you!
Be well,
Rabbi Shmuel Chaim Naiman
Bet Shemesh proper overlooks the Sorek Valley, an area belonging mostly to the era of the Shoftim (Judges); Samson, among others, operated there. The Elah Valley, on the other hand, became the focal point of Jewish history from King David onward.
You have an opportunity to reach people, to teach people and you’re using it to promote fear? Hashem gives us over a million things in every moment to be thankful for… to promote, to praise, to glorify! Why would this be the email and headline to read after ending Shabbat? Why would this be the best choice to start the week with?
He’s not promoting fear, he is promoting being comfortable with facing your fears. Everyone has fears , but if we do not embrace and explore them , they have control over us and they can be extremely powerful over us. I think the lesson is so important and not spoken about enough. I appreciate it and I look at it as Chizzuk instead of deterrence