We are on the last pasuk of perek כג which is a famous pasuk:
אַ֤ךְ ט֤וֹב וָחֶ֣סֶד יִ֭רְדְּפוּנִי כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיָּ֑י
Only goodness and kindness should chase me my whole life
וְשַׁבְתִּ֥י בְּבֵית ה׳ לְאֹ֣רֶךְ יָמִֽים
And I should sit as well in the house of Hashem forever and ever.
There are many explanations for this pasuk; we will discuss a few.
The first is that David HaMelech says, I don’t want to chase after Tov/ good and hesed/kindness. I want to sit in the Bet Midrash and learn and serve You. I don’t want to be busy chasing after Tov and Hesed,
So I am asking You, Hashem, That the Tov and the Hesed, should chase after me.
If it is supposed to come to me, I shouldn’t have to run after it. It will just come to me, somehow, some way.
The shidduch will just knock on the door, the deal will just come to me.
There are stories like that, where people just get a phone call for a deal or an opportunity.
David HaMelech is asking Hashem, “I don’t want to be busy chasing after Tov and Hesed, let it chase after me. That way, I can focus on serving You.”
This is a very beautiful prayer, and it is possible for us. David HaMelech believed it, and we can believe it too. Of course, we have to do our Hishtadlut/ effort, but we are asking of Hashem that we would like the Tov and Hesed to chase us, and not the other way around.
Our second takeaway from this pasuk is that the word used for chase here, יִ֭רְדְּפוּנִי usually has a negative connotation. Usually, when someone is being chased, the chaser is out to get him. But here, David HaMelech is saying, “Even when people are chasing me, I realize that it is Tov and Hesed. But this is conditional on the fact that I can still serve You.”
This is called yisurim b’ahava- If a person has challenges, but the challenges do not interfere with his service of Hashem, it is called Tov and Hessed. It is God’s goodness. Everyone needs challenges in life; everybody needs to be perfected and purified. But we’d like that these רדיפות-challenges, should not interfere with our service of Hashem, and we should be able to see it as Tov and Hesed.
So, our first explanation is that goodness and kindness should chase us, without us working on it.
Our second explanation is we should realize that even the chasing is Tov and Hesed.
Our grand finale comes from the Chafetz Chaim, who adds to our second point: chasing is usually negative, and everyone in life has to be chased. But David HaMelech says that he wants those chasings to be with Tov and Hesed.
For example, when your phone doesn’t stop ringing because people are asking you to open your house for a parlor meeting. Or people don’t stop bothering you because they want you to give Sedaka, or lend money or help out. All day, people are badgering you. But what is the badgering? The badgering is only for Tov and Hesed.
And you’re going to be badgered anyway so isn’t this way better? Based on this Chafetz Chaim, that Steipler says that a person shouldn’t complain about all of their meetings, committees, and time spent helping people. He wonders if the person thinks that if they stop doing this work, they will no longer be chased or hounded. But that’s wrong. There is a certain amount of chasing and hounding that every person has to have.
In our Torah center, I see men who can’t walk out of shul because there are so many people waiting to approach them, for money, for time, for help…They can’t even get to their cars. That is one type of chasing; and the other hand, you could have collection agencies coming after you, and other people harassing you. David HaMelech understands that he will have people chasing him in life, but he asks that it be for Tov and Hesed.
The Chafetz Chaim adds that it’s not always that nice picture of people hounding you to do kindness. Sometimes, you do a kindness and you really do get chased. Sometimes, when you do a good deed, it gets you into trouble, even if you haven’t done anything wrong. Somehow your good deed gets you into trouble, and you think, “Oh boy, why did I do that? I did a good deed and it came back to haunt me!”
But the person has to realize that the haunting would be there anyway.
Therefore, David HaMelech says, “I understand that it will never happen that I do something good, and it backfires.” If I was supposed to be embarrassed, then I would rather be embarrassed because I stood up for what is right in shul, than be embarrassed over some silliness. If I’m going to be embarrassed, then that is my lot. Let me be embarrassed because I took the right side on a matter, and people insulted me because of it.
These are some of the lessons of this final pasuk in perek כג
אַ֤ךְ ט֤וֹב וָחֶ֣סֶד יִ֭רְדְּפוּנִי כׇּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיָּ֑י
Let only good and kindness should chase me all the days of my life
We should all think about this, and review these wonderful explanations, in order to really absorb them.