Kriat Shema Al Hamitah (Part 13)
Kriat Shema al Hamitah continues with verses 2 to 9 from chapter 3 of Tehillim: Hashem, how many are my tormentors! The great rise up against me. The great say of my soul, “There is no salvation for him from Hashem. Selah.” But you, Hashem, are a shield for me, for my soul, and to raise up my pride. With my voice I will call out to Hashem, and He answers me from His holy mountain. Selah. I lay and slept, yet I awoke because Hashem supports me. I fear not the myriad people deployed against me from every side. Rise up, Hashem, save me my
This chapter is a part of Kriat Shema al Hamitah because of the verse, “I lay [down] and slept, yet I awoke, because Hashem supports me.” This verse is a powerful testament to King David’s fortitude and his belief that Hashem is continuously watching over him. Rashi, explaining the words “I lay and slept,” writes that after King David was forced to flee from his beloved son Avshalom, who was intent on usurping the throne from his father, he found himself so overwhelmed with worry and fear that he fell into a stupor-like sleep. Despite the dire and desperate reality that he found himself in, King David awoke with certainty that the future would be brighter because he recognized that Hashem’s support had never lessened, even for a moment.
The Malbim, in explaining King David’s certainty, points out that King David knew that all Avshalom had to do that night was to attack and he would easily overcome the few followers still left in King David’s camp. Then he easily could have seized the crown for himself. The fact that he inexplicably chose not to was a clear sign to King David that Hashem had not abandoned him.
After the debacle of the British Expeditionary Forces and its inability to help defend the French from the invasion of the Nazi army, followed by the subsequent retreat and evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk in the summer of 1940, modern-day Britain had never been more vulnerable. It found itself almost entirely exposed to a counter-invasion by a huge and formidable Nazi army with no real way of effectively defending itself. During the withdrawal from France enormous amounts of vital equipment and armaments had been abandoned because there was no way to get them back to Britain. Throughout the entire country the feeling of hopelessness was pervasive until Winston Churchill, the legendary Prime Minster of Britain, gave, perhaps, his most inspirational speech ever in the House of Commons. As the whole nation waited fearfully for the inevitable Nazi invasion, Churchill described the events that led up to the evacuation as “a colossal military disaster.” Hailing the Dunkirk rescue as a “miracle of deliverance” he then continued with his customary stirringly pugnacious eloquence, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!”
Although they will never know for sure, military historians have offered various different theories over the years as to why the ferocious and murderous Nazi war machine did not cross the English Channel. What it was that possessed Hitler, may his name be blotted out forever, to turn his back on a weak and vulnerable Britain and instead to open a front against his erstwhile ally, Russia. However, my mother told me that Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman (1868-1953), the head of the London Beit Din and one of the foremost Halachic authorities in England before moving to Israel, and a close confidant of my grandfather, wrote to my grandfather that there was only one conceivable explanation as to Hitler’s seemingly inexplicable decision. Regardless of how bleak and terrifying any one given moment in Jewish history might seem, Hashem never abandons us. As the “doors of opportunity” seem to be closing and it looks as if Hashem’s nation has lost the capability to escape the manic inquisitions, pogroms and massacres that profusely litter Jewish history, new “doors” open to ensure that the eternity of the Jewish Nation will always endure.
“I lay and slept, yet I awoke, because Hashem supports me.” Such beautifully evocative words portraying King David’s unquestionable trust in Hashem. And who, if not King David, is better qualified to teach us the timeless lesson that, however ominous the present is, Hashem is protecting us. And who better than King David can describe for us with such crystal clarity that, no matter what, Hashem is always with us.
