{"id":81790,"date":"2020-10-20T15:26:52","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T12:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=81790"},"modified":"2020-10-20T15:26:52","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T12:26:52","slug":"clarifying-our-own-singular-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/clarifying-our-own-singular-wish\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarifying Our Own Singular Wish"},"content":{"rendered":"
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David has been pursued by the Philistines, targeted by King Saul and suffered his own son scheming to kill him. He\u2019s been chased, forced into hiding, hungry and tired. Most who find themselves in those situations or even with lesser challenges may pray to God that they be protected, that their enemies get their due, that they receive some relief from their woes. But David has only one wish. \u201c<\/span>Achat sha\u2019alti,<\/em> <\/span>I ask just one thing of God \u2013 <\/span>shivti b\u2019beit Hashem<\/span><\/em>, that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life to see the beauty of the Lord (27:4).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Granted, this chapter opens with a recognition that God has already provided David with physical salvation, but nevertheless, given his circumstances, this seems like a rather grand aspirational goal.\u00a0 But that is precisely the point. Rabbi Norman Lamm Z\u201dL, in his 1964 sermon \u201cThe Royal Reach\u201d says of David, in reference to this verse, \u201cDavid prayed like a sovereign \u2026. and a King, even if he is starving, remains proud, his vision large, his deportment grand, his goals lofty, his purpose elevated high above the crowd. David had the <\/span>royal reach<\/span><\/i>.\u201d And that reach, said Rabbi Lamm, is what we should all aspire to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Ibn Ezra and Radak suggest that this psalm was written late in David\u2019s life, at a time when he had the luxury, in the absence of war and struggle, to consider his heart\u2019s desire. He\u2019d served as a warrior and a king, but those were not the roles that defined him. They were but a means to an end \u2013 that end being to dwell in the House of God and see the beauty of the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether David was demonstrating the <\/span>royal reach<\/span><\/em> at a time of hardship or was expressing his deepest desire in a moment of reprieve, he was articulating his essence. Every prayer David had ever had, for relief from enemies, for protection, even for the honor of building the Temple, which he ultimately did not merit, boiled down to <\/span>achat sha\u2019alti<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> one singular prayer to dwell with God.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we, among all the things we ask God for \u2013 health, prosperity, peace, family, stability \u2013 can remember that all of those wishes are not an end in themselves but a means to fulfilling our true purpose, then, to paraphrase Rabbi Mendel Kaplan we will find \u201cour <\/span>shivti<\/span><\/em> – the place we make in our own lives to dwell with God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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