“Ahavah She-Ainah Teluyah B'Davar"
"Love that Is Not Dependent on Anything" (Pirkei Avot 5:19)

This Shabbat is also Erev Rosh Chodesh, the day immediately preceding a Rosh Chodesh.  On Shabbatot that coincide with Special Days of this nature, a Special Haftarah is recited, replacing the Haftarah usually recited on that Shabbat.  This Special Haftarah is also the classic example in all of the Bible of "Friendship" between two human beings.

Summary of the Haftarah

Yehonatan, Crown-Prince of Israel, son of Shaul HaMelech, King Saul, plans with David how to make a conclusive determination of the feelings of his father towards David.  The plan is that David will remain hidden till the third night of the New Moon, and the following day, they will use a code contained within the instructions Yehonatan will give to a young child.  Yehonatan will shoot three arrows and if he says to the boy, "The arrows are before you - come and collect them," all is well, and Shaul has only peaceful intentions with regard to David.  If, however, he says to the boy, "The arrows are beyond you," that will mean that Shaul does really intend to harm David.

David hides himself; Rosh Chodesh comes and the King's regular Feast is held; David's place is empty.  On the first day of David's absence, Shaul notices it, but does not say a word, thinking that perhaps David is ritually unclean that day, and could not therefore attend the Feast.

But when on the second day, David is still absent, Shaul interrogates Yehonatan, "Why did the son of Yishai not come to the Feast, neither yesterday nor today?" Yehonatan responds that David had been invited by his brothers to a family celebration and had asked permission of Yehonatan to be excused from the royal feast.

Shaul "sees through" the excuse offered by Yehonatan in behalf of David, and becomes furious with his son.  He calls him a rebellious son who, Shaul knows, prefers David and would willingly withdraw from the kingship in favor of his friend.  Shaul demands that Yehonatan bring David to him to be executed!

Hearing this, Yehonatan angrily retorts, "Why should he die?  What did he do?" (Shmuel 1, 20:32)  Shaul then throws his spear at Yehonatan as if to kill him, making it clear to Yehonatan that his father indeed has murderous intentions with regard to David.

"And Yehonatan rose from the table in a fury, and he ate nothing on the Second Day, for he was extremely upset concerning David, for his father had embarrassed him." (Shmuel 1, 20:34)

Next morning, Yehonatan goes to the field, as he had arranged with David, and a small child is with him.  He says to the boy, "Fetch the arrows that I will shoot."  He shoots three arrows in a direction away from David, and when the boy reaches the place where the arrows are, Yehonatan calls to him, "The arrows are beyond you!"  And Yehonatan says to the boy, "Hurry, don't just stand around," and the boy gathers the arrows that Yehonatan had shot.  The boy knows nothing of the significance of what has taken place; but Yehonatan and David understand perfectly well.  Yehonatan gives his weapons to the boy and says "Go and take these to the city." 

"The lad does as he is told, and David rises from his hiding place towards the south and bows three times to the ground before Yehonatan.  They kiss each other, and they weep each for the other, until David gains control of his emotions.  And Yehonatan says to David, 'Go in peace; may that which we have sworn to each other, in the name of Hashem, be fulfilled; and may the Eternal One remain between our descendants forever.' " (Shmuel 1, 20: 41-42)

Connections Between the Haftarah and Erev Rosh Chodesh

• The most obvious connection is that the first verse of the Haftarah is, "And Yehonatan said to him, 'Tomorrow is Rosh Chodesh' " (Shmuel 1, 20:18)

• Jewish History was poised at that moment in time between the Reign of Shaul, the old King, and the Reign of David, the new King.  Shaul, who never wanted to be king, now does not want to leave center stage, and wants his legacy continued by his son, Yehonatan.  Yehonatan, however, realizes the superior qualities of David, and is stepping aside, willingly inviting the entry of the New King. 

• This appears to be an excellent analogy to Erev Rosh Chodesh, the point that the Old Moon, the Old Month, is barely hanging on, but by the Laws set in place by the Creator, it is required to step aside in favor of the New Moon, and the New Month.

• From the Haftarah, we see  that the Kings of Israel celebrated Rosh Chodesh with a Festive Meal; this is the basis of the custom observed by various Jewish communities to have a special meal on Rosh Chodesh.

• The reference in the second verse of the Haftarah (Shmuel 1, 20:19) to the day preceding Rosh Chodesh as the "Day of Work" conforms with the practice of many communities of limiting work on Rosh Chodesh

• The holiday of Rosh Chodesh is in a sense the Holiday of David HaMelech who, according to the Midrash, was not supposed to live, but received years from "Adam HaRishon," Original Man.  David thus, in an additional way, represented a new beginning.

• The Second Day of Rosh Chodesh, celebrated originally when witnesses failed to appear in Jerusalem to testify as to their sighting of the New Moon, is alluded to in verse Shmuel 1, 20:27, where we find "And it was on the next day, the Second Day, of the New Month…"

• As the moon disappears and re-appears, so do the fortunes of the Jewish People "wax and wane;" we cycle between periods of glory and periods of near-oblivion…

• And so does the Davidic Dynasty, which represents the Mashiach, the Redeemer of Israel, that Dynasty which has been absent for far more than 1,000 years, a long time from the human  perspective but just a day in G-d's eye, as the verse says "For a thousand years in Your eyes, is as yesterday, that quickly passes, and as a watch in the night"  ("Tehilim"/Psalms 90:4); but it is destined to re-appear in its full glory. 

• As we say in  "Kiddush Levanah," the Prayer which is said at the beginning of the New Month, "David, King of Israel, lives and exists!"

• And this represents an attitude towards time that the Jewish People learned from its  father, Yaakov who, in love with Rachel, worked for seven years to obtain her hand in marriage, and Bereshit (29:29) says that "Those years were as but a few days in his eyes, for he loved her so much."

Friendship

As mentioned  above under the heading of This Year, this Haftarah demonstrates the ideal of friendship between two human beings.  Friendship, in Judaism, is considered to be an extremely important aspect of life.

In Pirkei Avot (2:13), Rabbi Yochanan ben Zaccai asks his five greatest students to define the main ingredient of a good and noble life.  Rabbi Yehoshua analyzed his life experience and determined that the most important way for a person to lead a good life was to be and to acquire a good friend.

Earlier in Pirkei Avot (1:6), Yehoshua ben Perachiah says, "Establish for yourself a teacher and purchase for yourself a friend."  Having and being a good friend are considered by these great Sages of Israel as among the most important values.

Another of the great Sages of Israel, Choni HaMeagel, who preceded Rip van Winkle by a few millenia, after having a long sleep of many years, and awaking to find himself without friends or associates, said to Hashem "Either give me friends or give me death!"

The Special Haftarah read this week takes a piece of life from the tapestry of the  relationship between David and Yehonatan and presents it as the classic example of  friendship, of unselfish love, of a relationship which lasts forever, as Yehonatan said to David at their parting in the Haftarah, "May Hashem Be between our descendants forever." (Shmuel 1, 20: 23)

Pirkei Avot in Chapter 5, Mishnah 19, says the following, "Any type of love that is dependent on some thing, when that thing disappears, the love disappears with it; but a love that is not dependent on any thing, lasts forever." 

"What is an example of love which was dependent on something?  The love of Amnon (a son of David) and Tamar (a daughter of David, from a different wife) - Amnon had a desperate passion for his half-sister, but when that passion was satisfied, the love turned to hatred!"

"And what is an example of love which was not dependent on anything? The love between David and Yehonatan."

Additional Background on David and Yehonatan

The first great impression that David made upon Yehonatan was when he slew the Philistine giant, Galyat, who had been taunting the forces of Israel and their G-d.  David had said to the giant warrior, "You come against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin; but I come against you with the Name of the G-d of Hosts, the G-d of the forces of Israel, Whom you have taunted." (Shmuel 1, 17:45)

After David killed the giant with his sling-shot, he had been brought before Shaul, who asked him who he was.  And David had answered humbly and unassumingly, "I am David, the son of your servant Yishai, of Bet Lechem." (Shmuel 1, 17:58)

It was when David finished speaking with Shaul that "the soul of Yehonatan became knit with the soul of David; and Yehonatan loved him as he loved his own self.' (Shmuel 1, 18:1)  "Then Yehonatan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.  And Yehonatan stripped himself of the royal robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his other royal apparel, even to his sword and his bow…" (Shmuel 1, 18:3-4)

This act of bravery made such an impression upon Yehonatan because he too was a valiant warrior in behalf of his People, and was fearless in attacking forces much greater than his own, as we learn in Shmuel 1, Chapter 14.

Not only were Yehonatan and David warriors on the battlefield, they were also warriors  in the "milchamta shel Torah," the "war of Torah."  They sat together at the head of the Sanhedrin in their time, with David the "Nasi," the "Prince-of-Torah," and  Yehonatan the "Av Bet Din," the Chief Justice, thus comprising the unofficial earliest of  the "Zugot," the Pairs, mentioned in the first chapter of Pirkei Avot, who led the Jewish People in both temporal and spiritual matters.

David's Response

David expressed his friendship and the depth of his feeling for Yehonatan and Shaul in the moving elegy which he recited after they were both killed in a battle with the Philistines.  He praises them both as brave defenders of Israel, and saviors of the people from harm.

But towards Yehonatan, words burst forth from David, as if they had been present but held in check for many years.  He laments, "I am in sorrow for you, my brother, Yehonatan, you were so very pleasant to me; your love for me exceeded the love of women."

Perhaps the last expression, concerning Yehonatan's love for David as exceeding the  love of women, can be understood by referring to the RAMBAM, who compares the love of G-d that a Jew is obligated to have, to the love of a woman, and perhaps this, the Divine Image, is not far from the way that Yehonatan perceived David.

Some of the discussion above was based on that in "Chazon HaMikra," ("Prophetic Vision in the Bible"), by Rav  Yissachar Yaakovson, published by Sinai, Tel-Aviv; some source material was also  found in "The Midrash Says - On the Weekly Haftaros," by Rabbi Moshe Weissman,  published by Benei Yaakov Publications, Brooklyn, N.Y. and some in "Otzar Ishei HaTanach -  Demusam U-Pa'alam Bephi Chazal," ("A Compendium of Biblical Personalities - Their  'Lives and Works,' as Expressed by the Sages"), by Y.Y. Chasida, published by Reuven Maas, Jerusalem - all excellent sources for study of the Tanach!

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel