Parshas Chayei Sarah 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
והמלך דוד זקן בא בימים ... (מלכים א' א-לא)
Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon was once in a town anonymously, where a member of the community recognized that he was not an ordinary person, but rather a true talmid chacham. He invited him home and treated him with tremendous respect.
During their conversation, the host discovered the true identity of his illustrious guest and fell to the ground begging the great Gaon for forgiveness. However, Rabbeinu Saadia could not understand; he had been treated with great respect. Why was there a need to ask for forgiveness?
His host responded that in truth, he had treated him with respect, but had he known that his guest was Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon, he would have treated him with even greater respect. Rabbeinu Saadia later explained, that with each passing day, a true tzaddik expands his spiritual growth, thus each day he constantly does teshuva for the fact that the previous day’s actions were not on the same level as the present day.
The Zohar HaKadosh writes that both Avraham Avinu in the parsha and Dovid Hamelech in the Haftorah were elderly men who had “come to their days.” At the time of their deaths, they had both reached a point of near perfection, but since a tzaddik never feels content in his spiritual achievements and is always striving for more, one would think that they left the world with an unfinished agenda. Therefore, the Torah tells us that Avraham and Dovid “came to their days,” alluding to the fact that they both were tzaddikim to the fullest meaning of the word, and had completed their purpose in life.