Today's class is the Song of the Lion. It's a pasuk from Yeshaya 42,13
יְיָ כַּגִּבּוֹר יֵצֵא כְּאִישׁ
מִלְחָמוֹת יָעִיר קִנְאָה יָרִיעַ אַף יַצְרִיחַ עַל אֹיְבָיו יִתְגַּבָּר:
Hashem goes out like a mighty warrior. He's going to arouse vengeance, He
will shout, He will even roar above His enemies. He will be powerful.
This refers to Hashem, Who will, in the future, go out and fight the
enemies of the Jews like a roaring lion, a man of war.
The comparison to the lion is obvious, as it's a roaring, powerful,
ferocious animal.
The sefer Kol Rina points out something very interesting.
As strong as they are, lions don't kill unless they're hungry. They sleep most
of the day. When they do kill, it's for a cause, because they're hungry,
as it says, They roar to eat and they want to take from God their
food. That means they're doing it just to eat, to survive. And when
the morning comes, it says, they, so to say, calm down. They relax and go back
to their den.
That why we say, Gibbor K'Ari/ be strong like a lion. Because
the lion's nature is that although he is strong and gets angry when he
needs to, it's controlled. He's not always roaring and
killing. It's what we call a targeted attack. And he
says that in Yuma 69B, it says Hashem is also a Gibbor, just like
we say in Pirkei Avot, Ezeh Hu Gibbor/who is
someone that strong? Someone that controls his in this Yetzer Hara, which in
this case is anger. The Gemara says that's the strength of Hashem.
Every day we say, HaEl HaGibbor/God is strong. His strength is
that He holds back and doesn't just destroy the world.
So a lion is not just a symbol of strength, it's also a symbol of
self-control. And Hashem is that lion-Just because He's not exercising
his strength right now for whatever measured reason He has, that doesn't mean
He isn't able to do so.
The sefer Lekutei Amarim says this is
the song of the lion, the king of the wild animals, because he
says, Even though I'm so strong, and even though my roar is so
powerful, the ultimate might comes from Hashem.
So the lion's song is, You think I'm powerful? Listen to the
power of Hashem. Realize how strong and powerful He is.
The sefer Perek Bashir adds that the song and
message of the lion comes to counter another lion- Nebuchadnezzar, who
is compared to a lion, as it says in Yirmiyah 4,7, The
lion has come out of his lair. Rashi says this refers to
Nebuchadnezzar. He was the lion. His symbol was a lion and his strength was the
month of Av, which has the symbol and horoscope of Leo the lion.
So his power was the power of the lion.
And that's why the Bet Hamikdash was destroyed in Av. That's the
power of the lion. But there's a counter force. There's a pasuk in Bereshit
40,9 that says Yehuda is compared to a lion. Mashiach
comes from Yehuda. So it's one lion against another.
God is also compared to a lion, as it says, אַרְיֵ֥ה שָׁאָ֖ג מִ֣י לֹ֣א יִירָ֑א/ A
lion has roared, who's not afraid.
So the lion's song is saying, Realize that the lion that will
win in the end is the positive lion, not the negative. There's a
beautiful Midrash Agadda Bereshit Perek 56, that says Hashem is called Aryeh,
like we said in Amos 3,8 אַרְיֵ֥ה
שָׁאָ֖ג מִ֣י לֹ֣א יִירָ֑א
And Nevuchadnezzar, who was called an Aryeh, like we said, עָלָ֤ה אַרְיֵה֙ מִֽסֻּבְּכ֔וֹ the lion comes out of his lair, (Yirmiyah
4,7) in the month of the Aryeh, Av, destroys the Bet
Hamikdash, that's also called Aryeh, like it says ה֚וֹי אֲרִיאֵ֣ל אֲרִיאֵל֔ /Woe
to Ariel (which refers to the Bet Hamikdash (Yeshaya 29,1) And
he's going to control Yehuda, also called a lion, as it says,
גּ֤וּר אַרְיֵה֙ יְהוּדָ֔ה. (Bereshit49,9)
Furthermore, the Gemara in Chulin 59B says, the Caesar
asked Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Chananya, Your God is compared to a lion, but
what's the big deal? A hunter can kill a lion.
And he answered, That's not the kind of lion we're
talking about. We're talking about a superpower lion.
So the Caesar said he wanted to see that lion. The rabbi
said, You're not going to be able to survive.
The Caesar persisted so the Rabbi prayed that this powerful, super lion
would reveal itself. And it says, when he was 400 parsa (about
400 miles) away, the lion roared and the wall of Rome fell. Them he got a
little closer and roared, and it says that the king fell off his chair.
The king then told the rabbi, Please pray for me that he should go
back, And the lion left.
The sefer Pi Eliyahu says, when we talk about Hashem as a
lion, we can't even fathom the strength of the war.
I remember when I was in Israel over 40 years ago, the Biblical Zoo
was in the neighborhood of Mattersdorf. I remember clearly that when the
lion roared, we felt the vibrations even blocks away. It was something so
powerful. And that's just a mashal We can't even fathom
who gave the lion the strength. The strength God is mind boggling.
And now we think we're dealing with Iran or Iraq, but whatever
we are dealing with, Hashem says, Do you know what strength I
have? When I come out as a warrior, I'm unstoppable, but
it's not the right time. I'm holding back.
That's the song with the lion.
