Introduction (from Kankan Chadash)

Originally published on Kankan Chadash.

There was once a deep well filled with water that was cold, sweet, and good, but there was no one who could drink from it. One man came along who connected rope to rope and cord to cord and drew water from the well and drank, and everyone else began drawing and drinking as well. So too, by moving from one davar (principle) to another and one mashal (metaphor) to another, Shlomo arrived at the sode (hidden first principles) of Torah. This is what is meant by the statement: “The Mishlei of Shlomo, son of David” - through his mashalim, he arrived at the principles of Torah.

The Problems

Problem #1: I learn Mishlei every day, and I've encountered so many beautiful and beneficial ideas that I'd love to write up. The problem is that I have a hard time writing Mishlei ideas for Kankan Chadash. I don't know what it is, exactly. Part of it has to do with the fact that my Mishlei learning is built upon many premises - premises about the book itself, about human nature, about the nature of Torah, and about the methodology of thinking. Whenever I write a post, I feel an obligation to my readers to articulate, explain, and justify these premises. Although this is tremendously beneficial for me and (I hope) for my readers, it is very labor intensive and time consuming. You have no idea how many half-baked Mishlei posts I have sitting in my "drafts" folder, which I was forced to abandon because the writing process was so long and arduous. Moreover, I also feel that I can't just post a "raw idea" in Mishlei. I have to give it some context, or make some additional point above and beyond the ideas in the pasuk. The result of all this is that very few of the ideas I learn actually get written up as blog posts.

Problem #2: Since I learn Mishlei every day, I tend to cover a lot of ground. I'd like to remember the ideas I uncover, but I don't want to take notes in my various Mishlei seforim because I don't want to be biased the next time I learn the pasuk. In other words, I want to be able to remember past interpretations, but I also want the freedom to approach each pasuk afresh.

Problem #3: I don't always figure out what Shlomo ha'Melech is getting at. I'll almost always be able to come up with solid questions and a general approach to the pasuk, but I sometimes I just can't figure out the main idea. Likewise, sometimes I'll come up with an idea, but it doesn't sit well with me. In situations such as these, I tell myself, "I'll come back to this later on and refine my approach," but that almost never happens. Months or years later, when I actually revisit the pasuk, I've already forgotten the approach I was taking, and the potential for developing the idea has been lost.

Problem #4: I have several friends who learn Mishlei, and we often end up overlapping in the pesukim we learn without realizing it. For example, sometimes I'll tell Ken about a pasuk I learned with Yehuda, and he'll say, "Oh, Danny and I just did that pasuk last week!" This will typically be followed by a great exchange of ideas, which helps each of us to clarify our respective interpretations. The problem is that we aren't always aware that we've learned the same pesukim. Plus, my friends also forget their interpretations of pesukim over time. It would be really nice if there was some way to "look up" what my friends said on a given pasuk, without being bound by the memory-eroding limitations of time. It would be even better if I had an easy format to discuss Mishlei ideas with them.

The Solution

This morning I had a "eureka!" moment. I thought to myself: Why don't I start an informal Mishlei blog? This seemed like the perfect solution:

• It would be "informal" in the sense that I wouldn't be writing for a "general audience." Instead, I would be writing for myself and my friends. Since we share common premises about Mishlei, I wouldn't have to explain them - unless, of course, I was taking one of them up as a topic in its own right.
  
• It would enable me to post half-baked, unfinished, and unpolished ideas without feeling remiss in my duty as a blog author.
  
• I would be able to post "raw ideas" in Mishlei without needing to find some additional message or point in which to encase the idea.
  
• The blog would serve as a repository for the ideas I learn in my daily Mishlei, which would give me the option of reviewing old ideas without robbing me of my ability to approach each pasuk afresh.
  
• It would also serve as a place to "store" partial and unsatisfactory approaches to be picked up at a later date.
  
• And to top it all off, my friends who regularly learn Mishlei could also publish their own posts so I could see what they came up with, and the comment section would serve as an additional venue for discussing Mishlei ideas with them.

And so, it is with great pleasure that I present to you: Chavlei Shlomo (after the midrash from Shir ha'Shirim Rabbah 1:1 cited above).

At first I considered keeping this a private blog. After all, I was only going to be writing to myself and to other students of Mishlei. But then I thought: Why not open it to the public? Just because the blog isn't written specifically for them doesn't mean they can't participate. Not only that, but I've learned from my experience with Kankan Chadash that the "comments" section is often where the real learning takes place. Thus, you are all welcome to read and comment on Chavlei Shlomo - provided you keep the nature and purpose of the blog in mind.

Enjoy!