MIGHT or BRIGHT? ~ TAKE YOUR CHOICE

If your stereotype of a Jew is mild mannered Clark-Kent Cohen, you should have met Samson! What a shtarker! (Yiddish for a strong and brave person) A lion roared against him, and Samson tore him apart. With the jawbone of an ass, he slew a thousand Philistines. Sad to say, unlike Samson, many of our modern-day politicians have as their mandible the jawbone of an ass, and unfortunately are incapable of accomplishing anything. Would you like to know the secret of Samson’s strength?

He was divinely blessed because of the special commitment his father made to God that Samson would never drink wine or allow anyone to his cut his hair. If his locks were sheared, his vow would be voided and his special gift revoked.

But because of the treachery of Delilah, Samson’s hair was cut while he slept, and now his father’s vow was broken; Samson ws stripped him of his supernatural powers, was taken prisoner and was blinded by his jailers.

With all his physical prowess, Samson was unable to withstand the temptations of the “weaker sex.”

The sages of the Talmud would declare,”Who is strong? He who can control his desire.” And that is why brute strength was never so much a Jewish ideal as strength of character. Between might and bright, Jews invariably remember the story of Samson, and choose the latter.

From the book: Jewish History and Culture by Rabbi Benjamin Blech.