I Kings 3:15-4:1

In this week’s Haftorah, G-d bestows King Solomon his wisdom though a dream. We’re then told the story of two women living in the same household who each had a baby within a few days of each other. One of the babies died, and the women came before the king to arbitrate their dispute—each claimed the surviving baby was her own and that the other had swapped that babies.

King Solomon asked one of his courtiers to fetch a sword, cut the baby in half and give each woman one half. While one woman was fine with this, “let it be neither mine nor yours!” the other pleaded for the king to let the other woman have the baby so that he may live. Of course it was the willingness to sacrifice to preserve her child’s life which told Solomon who the rightful mother was, which was, [Read more…]