Devorah HaNeviah

Devorah HaNeviah Yahrzeit - 15 Tishrei Resting Place - Tel Kedesh, Israel   The prophetess Devorah – Devorah HaNeviah – was the 4th judge of the Jewish people in the era of the Judges. She came from the tribe of Naftali. She was also called "a mother in Israel" (Shoftim 5:7). Her husband, Barak ben Avinoam, was a G-d-fearing man. Devorah made wicks for the Menorah in the Mishkan, and Barak would bring them to Shiloh, where the Mishkan stood at that time, and where Pinchas ben Elazar was the Kohen Gadol. Barak was nicknamed Lapidot — from the word "lapid" (torch). The words "barak" (lightning) and "lapid" (flame) are synonyms. And Devorah herself was called "eshet Lapidot," i.e., "the wife of the torch-maker", (Yalkut Shimoni, Shoftim 42, 4). The Midrash "Tana d'vei Eliyahu" (The Teaching of the House of Eliyahu) answers the question of what it was about this woman that made her both a judge and a prophetess: "I call heaven and earth to witness: whether one be a Jew or a gentile, whether man or woman, whether slave or maidservant, according to the deeds that a person does, so does the Divine Spirit rest upon him." This testimony shows that the spirit of prophecy rests upon a person regardless of age, gender, social standing, nationality, and so on. In verse 5, it says of Devorah: "she sat under a palm tree." It is told that she sat under "Devorah's palm tree," in the hills of Ephraim, between Ramah and Beit-El, and the Jews would come to her for judgment. The Midrash explains that, since she was a woman, she could not receive men in an enclosed space – this would have cast a shadow on her reputation, and it was not proper to do so. Devorah was a very wealthy woman, which is one of the necessary qualities for a person to become a prophet. The Jezreel Valley was fertile land and was constantly under attack from the Canaanite tribes. Devorah receives a revelation from the Almighty to save the people from the yoke of the Canaanites by the hand of Barak, and she summons him: "And she (Devorah) sent and called Barak ben Avinoam from Kedesh Naftali, and said to him: Has not the L-rd, G-d of Israel, commanded: Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naftali and from the sons of Zevulun. And I will draw Sisera, the captain of Yavin's army, to you at the Kishon River, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into your hand." Barak answers Devorah: "If you go with me, I will go; but if you do not go, I will not go." He certainly did not doubt the prophecy conveyed by Devorah, but he knew well that the Jews were frightened – they feared Sisera's warriors and might not follow him, for they would not believe his words. If they saw that the prophetess who conveyed the words of the G-d of Israel was with them too, they would believe in victory. Yavin's army under Sisera's command included 900 iron chariots – and it was because of them that Yavin "cruelly oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years" (Shoftim 4:3). The Israelite army encamped on Mount Tabor; Sisera, at the head of his chariots and infantry, advanced toward the valley of the Kishon River. Although the enemy army was at a considerable distance (about 25 km), Devorah ordered Barak to attack the Canaanites immediately, counting on the flooded Kishon to hinder the movement of the chariots. The battle took place at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo (Shoftim 5:19), and the calculation proved correct: Sisera's chariots became mired in the marshy ground, and the Canaanite army was utterly routed. Sisera himself fled the battlefield, abandoning his chariot, and, pursued by the Israelites, tried to take refuge in the tent of Chever the Kenite. His wife, Yael (a descendant of Yitro), offered Sisera "hospitality" and killed him with a tent peg and a mallet. In the "Shirat Devorah", Devorah praises Yael: "Above them (women) she shall be blessed." The Midrash says she is praised above the "women in the tent." The "women in the tent" are Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel, and Leah. Yael is praised even more highly, because although they bore and established this nation, it was she who saved it from its enemies. Rabbi Chaim Vital, of blessed memory, taught in "Etz Chaim" that the prophetess Devorah sat under a palm tree, and the secret of the palm tree is "tzadik ketamar yifrach" – (the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree). "Tamar" has the gematria of 640, equal to the gematria of "Shemesh" (sun) – the prophetess Devorah was to the people of Israel like a shining sun. David HaMelech descends from the root of Devorah, because he sang just as she did. Rabbi Menachem Azariah da Fano explains in "Sefer Gilgulei Neshamot": "Devorah is a gilgul of Tamar, and the tikun is that now Devorah must be found outside" (unlike Tamar, who was found in the place of harlots)". Tziporah, the wife of Moshe Rabbeinu, was also reincarnated as Devorah. When Am Yisrael sang to Hashem the "Shirat HaYam", Tziporah was not with them – she was in Midyan. In the merit of having performed the brit for her son, "vatikach Tziporah tzur vatichrot [et] orlat bnah," Tziporah, embodied in Devorah, merits the song "Shirat Devorah" through Ruach HaKodesh, and the words "bifroa peraot" in Devorah's song allude to the Brit Milah of the son of Tziporah and Moshe Rabbeinu. Tziporah, Tamar, and Devorah are connected to Mashiach Tziporah was the wife of the first redeemer – Moshe Rabbeinu. Tamar and Yehudah are the root of David HaMelech (Mashiach ben David). Devorah's song is a song about the final redemption and Mashiach. The secret of the name Devorah lies in the root – DaVaR (word) – DiBur (speech) (from Malchut). When speech rises to the level of song, speech is elevated through the musical notes of the melody (Taamei HaMikra), which come from a higher level. Dibur (speech) is also the secret of Yehudah – the power he possesses comes from his speech. The name Devorah דבורה contains the word bor – (pit), into which Yosef HaTzadik was thrown on the advice of Yehudah, and this song is a key to the Geulah. Devorah – Yosef – David – gematria = 387. בשכינה – BeShechinah – also gematria = 387. The Wicks Devorah used wicks for the Menorah in the Mishkan at Shiloh and always thickened the wicks so the Menorah would give more light. The "guf" (physical body) is called a wick petilah, and the "soul" is called the flame ner. The wick petilah shares its letters with the word prayer tefillah. Devorah's song is a Prayer of Thanksgiving. The tikun of the final generation is Yesod HaKadosh (Tikun HaBrit), and Devorah connects and purifies the damaged klipah of the Brit through her song. According to the words of "Shirat Devorah," she repairs the damage to the Brit and hastens the coming of Mashiach. How so? Devorah sits under the palm tree and, through Ruach HaKodesh, tells her husband Barak ben Avinoam to summon 2 tribes, Naftali and Zevulun, with 10,000 men, to fight Sisera and his 900 iron chariots. 900 iron chariots – tsha meot rechev – forms the acronym Tamar. The secret of the 10,000 men commanded by Devorah corresponds (ke-neged) to the "Tikun HaKlali" – 10 Psalms. The holy Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that a person who understands this great remez, and reads the "Tikun HaKlali" at the tziyun of Devorah HaNeviah, and then recites her Song with praise and thanksgiving to Hashem, will gain a very great deal. Devorah calls upon her husband Barak ben Avinoam to repair the Yesod of Brit HaKodesh. Barak descends from the tribe of Naftali, son of Yaakov Avinu. Naftali from the words – nafalta li – "you have fallen before me" – the secret of the Tikun for those who have spilled seed in vain. Zevulun ben Leah Imeinu – from the words – zera levatalah – (spilled seed). נַחַל קִישֹׁון גְּרָפָם נַחַל קְדוּמִים נַחַל קִישֹׁון תִּדְרְכִי נַפְשִׁי עֹז: "The river Kishon swept them (the enemies) away, that ancient river, the river Kishon." "Nachal Kishon" (the Kishon River) – the secret of Tikun HaBrit. Eliyahu HaNavi brought the Jews to Mount Carmel, and Nachal Kishon is the point of division. The word Kishon contains the letters of the word "Nishuk" (kiss). In this context – a kiss of Kedushah (holiness). In the words of "Shirat Devorah" — bayom hahu – "on that day," there is a prophecy connected not only to individual redemption, but to the global one — the coming of Mashiach: ותשר דבורה וברק בן אבינעם ביום ההוא לאמר "Then Devorah and Barak, son of Avinoam, sang on that day, saying"; והיה יהוה למלך, על-כל-הארץ; ביום ההוא, יהיה יהוה אחד — ושמו אחד "And the L-rd shall be King over all the earth: on that day the L-rd shall be One, and His Name One." This song serves as an entry ticket for Mashiach ben Yosef to enter the Heichal heichal (Sanctuary) of Mashiach and begin the purifying path toward the Kingdom of Hashem. (from a trip to "Kivrei Tzadikim" with Yeshiva "Yodei Bina"; material based on the site "Shirat Devorah" http://shiratdevorah.blogspot.com/p/song-of-devorah.html)