Samson and David are “mirror characters,” declared Dr. Yael Ziegler. They start out with similar traits, she said, but they take the traits in different directions. “One succeeds, one fails,” she pointed out, one ushers in a period of failure, one establishes the monarchy and the future of the nation of Israel.

Over fifty men and women listened attentively to Dr. Yael Ziegler, a teacher at Herzog College, Matan, Midreshet Moriah and Migdal Oz, in Israel, who is currently on a limited speaking tour in the United States. She presented an analytical comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of two outstanding and contradictory leaders of Israel, Samson and David, at the Young Israel of North Woodmere this week, sponsored by Karen Yager in memory of her sister, Evelyn Port, a”h, for her 10th yahrzeit.

Dr. Ziegler has a doctorate in Bible from Bar Ilan University and published a book, Promises to Keep: The Oath in Biblical Narrative, in 2008. She has been a scholar-in-residence at shuls across the United States, Israel, and Europe. Ziegler lives in Alon Shvut with her husband and five children.

Karen Yager, a seasoned and beloved pre-school teacher at HALB introduced Ziegler, noted that she and her daughter enjoyed hearing Ziegler’s classes in Israel while Yager’s daughter was in Midreshet Moriah. When she heard that Ziegler would be in town, Yager jumped at the opportunity to share her insights with others in memory of her sister because her sister “always wanted to do things that people enjoy.” Yager explained that her sister’s husband died when she was forty and raised her two children alone until she died from cancer after an eight and a half year battle.

Young Israel of North Woodmere Rebbitzen Lisa Septimus pointed out that Ziegler has thousands of students and that, “ every time I hear Yael—Dr. Ziegler—speak she finds new insights that carry me on in years to come.”