A Shepherd to Bring the Prince Home

1“Let Hashem … appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out before them and who will come in before them, and who will take them out and who will bring them in; and let the congregation of Hashem not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”¹ Why does Moshe add the extra words “and let the congregation of Hashem not be like sheep that have no shepherd,” when he had already said, “Let Hashem appoint a man over the congregation”? This question is also asked in the Ksav Sofer, by the son of the Chasam Sofer.

2Let us first cite what the holy sefer Beis Yaakov, by R' Yaakov of Izhbitza, writes about the custom of adding “Menachem” when the new month of Av is blessed on the Shabbos before it, so that the month is called “Menachem Av,” Av the Consoler.² What does the name “Menachem Av” mean? He explains it with a parable. A king had an only son who did not walk in the straight path. The king rebuked him, but it did no good at all, until he had no choice left but to banish him from the palace and send him very far away, so that his arrogance and haughtiness of heart would leave him. The king sent him to a remote village, where the prince hired himself out to work for one of the villagers. He grew used to eating what the village folk ate and wearing what they wore, and so he became very coarse and physical.

3One day one of the king's ministers visited the village and recognized the prince at once. He was deeply saddened and shaken to see him in such a state. Before he left, he said to the prince, “I am going now to stand before the king. What would you like me to ask of your father the king for you?” How shocked the minister was by the prince's request! Winter was coming, said the prince, so would the king please send him a warm coat and sturdy shoes, so that he could survive the bitter cold of the village. When the minister returned and told the king his son's words and request, the father's compassion for his son was deeply stirred. How coarse and fallen his son had become, that this was all he asked! How could it not have entered his mind to ask the king to bring him back to his home and his honor as before? Then he would have lacked nothing at all. The king's compassion grew all the more because the minister spoke up for the prince: surely his great suffering and his being far from the king's palace for so long were what had made him forget his true stature.

4aSo the king asked the minister to travel back to that village and do all he could to remind his son of the great glory of the king's palace, which had been wiped from his heart entirely. Then the son would be stirred to return to his father's house. He would take to heart that his own sins had kept these good things from him,³ ask the king for pardon and forgiveness, and return to the king's palace, for “one who confesses and forsakes them will be granted mercy.”⁴ The minister thought of a plan. He traveled to that village and rented a home next door to the prince. He asked the villager for whom the prince worked to let him have the lad as his servant for a while, and he would pay him for that time. As soon as the prince came to him, the minister gave him food from the king's table, bathed him and dressed him, and within a few days the prince became a different man and began to get a taste of freedom.

4bThen the minister told him that he was going back to his city, “and you must go back to the villager.” At once the lad began to weep bitterly. The minister told him he had one piece of advice. The prince should write a letter to his father the king, plead for himself, ask forgiveness for the pain he had caused him, and undertake to be good and to walk only in the straight path. The son hurried to write the letter to his father the king, and the king's reply was not long in coming: he could return home as before. With great joy the prince and the minister traveled to the king. There, in the king's palace, he lacked nothing, and his whole life turned to light and joy beyond measure.

5The meaning of the parable is clear: every detail of it is about us, Bnei Yisrael. Because of our sins we were exiled from the table of our Father in Heaven, and we have forgotten what the King's glory is. But as soon as we do teshuvah, “one who confesses and forsakes them will be granted mercy”:⁵ Hashem, blessed be He, will accept us and draw us near to His service, and then He will bestow all good upon us as well. Those are his holy words.

6This is especially so in these days of Bein HaMetzarim, the Three Weeks between the seventeenth of Tammuz and Tishah B'Av, when it is very easy to draw close to the King. The holy sefer Avodas Yisrael writes this in the name of the holy Maggid, zy"a, on the verse “All her pursuers overtook her bein hametzarim, between the narrow straits”:⁶ whoever pursues the Creator to reach Him can reach Him more in these days of Bein HaMetzarim than at any other time. The Maggid gave a parable for this. When the king sits in his palace, everyone is in awe of him and many guards are posted before him, so not everyone can enter the king's courtyard, still less come inside to seek his presence. But when the king passes through the markets and streets outside his palace, he is near to all who call upon him, and he listens to the cry of all who call his name. So too in these days, the days of “like a bird wandering from its nest …,”⁷ every person is permitted to draw close to the King of the world, and He answers each one. That is the meaning of the verse: rodfeha, “her pursuers,” is read as rodfei Kah, “the pursuers of Hashem,” those who seek the King's presence, and they “overtook her bein hametzarim.” For since the Shechinah is in exile, it is easy to greet her.

7Even so, every generation still needs a great minister to draw Bnei Yisrael near and awaken them to their Father in Heaven. He stirs us to remember how lofty our souls are and that we are children of Hashem our God, so that we are roused to pour out our hearts before Him, blessed be He, and to greet the Shechinah. This explains well the words “Let Hashem … appoint a man over the congregation.” Moshe Rabbeinu asked that, to the end of all generations, Hashem appoint for Bnei Yisrael such a minister and leader, one able to draw their hearts close to their Father in Heaven. That is the meaning of “and let the congregation of Hashem not be like sheep that have no shepherd.” Because they are the congregation of Hashem, “a man over the congregation,” an ordinary leader, is not enough for them. They need a “shepherd,” who will raise them up and bring them close, so that they remember that they are the congregation of Hashem, children of kings.⁸ Such a shepherd will bring us back close to the King as before, to be His congregation and His portion.

8This also explains the name “Menachem Av,” though the Beis Yaakov we cited explains the allusion differently. In the month of Av, the height of the days of Bein HaMetzarim, we can easily lenachem, console, Avinu, our Father in Heaven. We do so by asking His pardon and forgiveness with great shame and regret, and then it is easy to return and draw close to Him.

9So may the Holy One, blessed be He, help us to be privileged to draw close to Him. Amen, may it be His will.