Samson vs. David: YINW talk gives new insight into leadership traits

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.”

Ziegler explained that certain traits are hereditary, physical traits such as Naftali’s swiftness, character traits such as Levi’s passion, or a family trait passed down throughout history. The period of the Judges was a time of deficient leadership, of social and religious chaos, of leadership failure. David and Samson came from leader tribes; David was from Yehuda and Samson from Dan. Yehuda was the first tribe to set out from the encampment in the desert, leading the tribes toward Israel. Dan was the leader of the last group in the convoy and was given the title of Hamasef, the gatherer, the rear guard, gathering the weak and tired, not leaving anyone behind and protecting Israel’s back. Both were compared to a lion, in Yaakov’s blessing Yehuda was called a lion; Dan was called a lion cub in Moshe’s blessing. Yehuda was the first to capture its land during the division of the territory; Dan was the last. Both inherited territory in the south initially since the greatest threat to Israel at the early stages of the nation was from the Phillistines, the Plishtim who moved from the Greek islands to encroach on the coast of Israel to take over the land. They needed to protect the territory of Binyamin, the site of the Bait Hamikdash. Later Dan moved up to the northernmost part of Israel, since later on in the history of Israel the greatest threat was from there, although an equal threat from Egypt remained.

Another connection she mentioned was that Yehuda and Dan were united in the building of the Mishkan in the persons of Betzalel and Oholiov. Both David and Samson use whatever weapons they have at hand, a slingshot and rocks for David, the jawbone of a donkey for Samson. Both fight and kill a lion barehanded, but then they diverge. Samson uses his strength for personal vengeance and succumbs to his weakness for women. David sees G-d in his fighting off the lion and the bear seeing that as an indication that G-d will help him fight the Plishti, Goliath. David’s ambition is to serve G-d and the Jewish people. He channels his passion in a positive direction.

Ziegler pointed out other interesting connections, noting that Samson’s mother was from Yehuda and his father from Dan. Both David and Samson were from the period of the Judges, and Ziegler explained that the story of Ruth, the Sefer Hayichus of King David, is also from that period. Both the narrative in Ruth and of Samson have the phrase vayehi bchatzi halayla”—and it was in the middle of the night, signaling a turning point in the story, one heralding Samson’s downfall, the other, Boaz’s changing the downward spiral of the period of the Judges into an upward climb toward the monarchy of David. Another term echoed in both stories is the word vayilaphet, held or grabbed. By Boaz he restrained himself from Ruth, by Samson he grabbed the pillars, and pulled the building down on the Plishtim. Dr. Ziegler notes the symbolism in the use of the same word, “Samson’s lack of restraint prevents his fulfilling his destiny. He brings down the house in Judges. Boaz channels his passions and fixes society “to build a name in Israel.’” She notes thus a connection to the two pillars in front of the Bait Hamikdash, Boaz as one of the pillars of the Bait Hamikdash and Yachin, one of the support pillars.

As the crowd left the main sanctuary, Karen Yager smiled. “As a preschool teacher I know that everyone has different traits,” she said. “If we all realize the gifts we get from Hashem there is no limit to what we can achieve.”