Eishes Yeravam
Hide-and-seek is a classic children’s game. The challenge comes when we fail to outgrow the game and as adults we still try to hide. At the dawn of history when Adam Harishon ate from the Eitz Hadaas he hid from Hashem upon hearing His voice in the garden. Adam despite knowing Hashem is everywhere still tried to hide. Of course there was nowhere to hide and his attempt was poignant in its futility.
We too often try to hide. At times we even masquerade as others to avoid personal responsibility. A classic example of this dynamic is found in the wife of Yeravam ben Navat.
Yeravam was one of the greatest Torah scholars of his generation. He succeeded Shlomo Hamelech as the king over ten tribes ruling the majority ofIsrael. Yeravam’s Achilles heel was his pride. He feared that if the nation traveled to Yerushalayim for the Shalosh Regalim they would look to Rechavam the son of Shlomo as the real king and he’d lose his kingdom. He therefore set up sentries preventing the people from the pilgrimage and even erected two golden calves as places and means of worship. Yeravam embarked on a slippery slope in which he slowly moved farther and farther away from Hashem and took the people along with him.
Disguise
Yeravam’s son Aviyah fell deathly ill and he asked his wife to go to the navi Achiyah Hashiloni to daven for their son’s life. Yeravam instructed his wife to go disguised as a common woman and to take along with her a gift typical of that brought by a poor person.
