FROM FATE TO DESTINY: KING DAVID'S HARP
Berachot 3b and 4a describe David Hamelech arising at midnight, to sing prayers of thanksgiving and to study Torah:
David had a sign indicating when it was midnight. As Rav Aḥa bar Bizna said that Rabbi Shimon Ḥasida said: A lyre hung over David’s bed, and once midnight arrived, the northern midnight wind would come and cause the lyre to play on its own. David would immediately rise from his bed and study Torah until the first rays of dawn. Once dawn arrived, the Sages of Israel entered to advise him regarding the various concerns of the nation and the economy. [3b]
Said David before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, am I not pious? As all the kings of the East and the West sleep until the third hour of the day, but although I am a king like them, “At midnight I rise to give thanks” (Psalms 119:62) [4a]
If we may view these sugyot metaphorically, I suggest the following interpretation:
“Midnight” refers to the realm of tragedy intrinsic to the human condition generally and the suffering of Bnei Yisrael in particular. In Rav Soloveitchik’s terminology, it represents the realm of goral, meaning, fate – referring to the undesirable and uncontrollable aspects of reality, events which we are not able to change. The Torah teaches us, explains the Rav, that God has endowed humanity with the power to transform goral into yi’ud, meaning, destiny. The concept of yi’ud empowers us to redeem the goral reality by responding to it in a meaningful and significant way. To paraphrase the Rav’s formulation of this principle: “.…to hear and to obey the Divine, Commanding Voice emanating from the tragic darkness.”
David Hamelech transforms the midnight, goral-reality into a redemptive, yi’ud reality. Instead of sleeping, which would constitute a passive response to the midnight realm, he had chosen, before going to sleep, to position his stringed instrument so that the harsh midnight wind would awaken him - to the strains of harmonious music! That music - which expresses aesthetic beauty - symbolizes the potential inherent in every phenomenon - in every event no matter how tragic - to catalyze the positive and the good within us.
King David knows that even the tragic reality of Night possesses this potential.
Awakened by the music that he had pre-arranged, David immediately throws himself into a meaningful, pro-active mode, singing songs of thanksgiving to the Source of all – the Enabler of life’s cacophonies as well as of its harmonies. As the prophet Elisha demanded, when he searched for the Divine spirit:
“Now then, get me a musician.”
And as the musician played, God’s hand came upon him. [II Kings 3:15]
David proceeds to engage in Torah study, thereby preparing himself for his active role as judge and chief administrator - the servant par excellence - of God’s chosen people.
David Hamelech’s engagement in Talmud Torah, in addition to its practical value, possesses another yi’ud element: Torah study constitutes actively listening to God’s message and reverentially internalizing it. It thus transforms King David’s monologue of prayer – as well as our own - into intimacy of dialogue.
Hear O Israel…
Hear our voice, O Lord our God…