Welcome to our Perek Shira Bitachon series. We are now up to the Song of
the Dove. It's a statement from Chizkiyah HaMelech (Yeshaya 38,14)
כְּסוּס עָגוּר כֵּן אֲצַפְצֵף אֶהְגֶּה כַּיּוֹנָה דַּלּוּ עֵינַי
לַמָּרוֹם אֲדֹנָי עָשְׁקָה לִּי עָרְבֵנִי: (ישעיה לח יד)
Like a swallow, and a crane, so do I chirp. I moan like a pigeon
(which is a dove). My eyes were raised on high.Hashem snatch away my illness. Be
my guarantor.
We need a little background to understand where this is coming from:
Chizkiyah Hamelech was told
by Yeshaya the Navi, "Because you didn't get married, you're going to die in
this world, and in the next world."
Eventually, Chizkiyah did Teshuva, prayed to Hashem and 15 years were added to his life
(Masechet Berachot 10a).
Yeshaya was told by God (in 38,5) Tell Chizkiyah that the God of
your father, David heard your prayers, saw your tears, and is going to add 15 years to your life." Chizkiyah then
writes a letter, and Rashi says it was a letter of thanks for the miracles that
happened to him, that he was healed from
sickness. Our pasuk is from his letter, written
labout the birds chirping and the dove groaning. When Chizkiyah says "I am chirping like these
birds," it refers to his constant supplications praise and Thank Yous to
Hashem for the fact You that healed me from my sickness.
And being that these birds chirp without any knowledge, he says, I'm more than that. Ahegeh
K'Yonah/I groan like the dove. The termhegaya refers to heart, like it says, Hegyon Libi lefanecha/the
thoughts of my heart. So there's something about the dove that has more heart.
Maybe it's related to the fact that the
dove is considered a loyal mate. And then he says, I lift my eyes up to the
heavens, that You are the one
that's going to heal me, not the doctors.
And then he says that the Yonah looks up to the heavens and says,
(and this is all part of the Yonah's request) I'm looking up to the heavens. I want my
food to come from You, even if it's bitter, rather than from a person of a flesh
and blood whose food is sweet.
He's saying, Hashem, I want to deal directly with You, I want You to be my Guarantor. I don't want
to be controlled by other people. And that's why Perek Shira continues on with this statement of Chizkiyah Hamelech, citing the dove, that says, "Master of the
universe, I would prefer my food to be bitter like an olive in Your
hands, rather than sweet like honey given by a human being. This happens to
be (there are no coincidences) a Rashi in Parashat Noah (Bereshit
8,11). When the dove comes back to Noah with
an olive branch in his mouth, after searching to see if the land is dry, it
says Taraf B'Piha meaning food
(teref is food)in its mouth. It could mean torn away, but
it could also mean food in its mouth.
Rashi says in its mouth means it made a statement to Noah.
Now obviously birds don't talk the way we do, but there is bird language. What
did the bird tell Noah when he brought in this olive branch? What was the
symbolism? I would prefer my food be
bitter in the hand of Hashem and not sweet like honey in your hands, which
means Very nice. I was locked up in a cage and I was being fed by you. Thank
you, Noah. But the way the Yonah is,
and that's supposed to be the Jewish people, so, I prefer to be busy with hard work and maybe some
difficulties, but have a connection with Hashem. That is his statement of thanks,
based on the message of the dove.
There's another pasuk brought down about the dove that, B'Ezrat
Hashem, we will continue with next week.
