nursing moms and king david

The debate over the number of watches in a night (which would lend itself to a concern for the latest time for the nighttime Shema, hence the relevance) indicates, according to Gemara, that the nursing of an infant is the signifying mark of the end of the third watch. This is followed by a small amendment that the woman speaks to her husband, and thus the night is ended and it's time to get out of bed.

While this perhaps isn't the most important bit of today's Daf (I'm fascinated by the discussion of King David's nocturnal davening....more on that in a minute), I think it's interesting that these men of the Talmud use the nursing of a baby as indication of the end of the night. As a mom, I can tell you for sure that the nursing doesn't just take place in the morning!!! I do understand, however, that one commentator (Ben Yehoyadah, I believe) addresses this (yay, someone is aware of what moms go through in the middle of the night!) and indicates that a woman only sleepily nurses her baby in the middle of the night, but this particular nursing is done while more awake, and she speaks to her husband. (Also because she is tired of being alone at night and it seems to be reasonable that dh should get up with her finally.)

But however you look at it, it's clear that even though the rabbis of the Talmud were busy men, they had kids at home and had wives who got up to nurse them. And I think that's worth acknowledging!

On to King David...

I have always loved the idea that King David stayed up til all hours of the night singing praises to God. But what I love more is the idea of his harp that helped him to wake up at midnight (just in case he had fallen asleep)...certainly an indication that if David needed help to get up and praise God, how much more do we need to remind ourselves to get up and praise God too...and that reminders are okay. It's alright to tape a little note to the mirror to remind us to say Modeh Ani or, as I read once, someone who painted Shema in his shower so he would remember to say it daily....these reminders are okay. We're not perfect, and neither was King David.

I also like the reminder that even kings take advice...as the Gemara relates the story of King David being greeted by the sages of Israel each morning. And they started, perhaps each day, by reminding him of the physical needs of his people. In some ways, they "brought him down" from his lofty, prayer-filled night, into the realm of the real, the realm of the human needs that present themselves to every leader and to each of us....it's important to praise God, it's important to engage in study...and then it's important to go out and do something about it!

And that's today's daf. Hooray. Two down...many more to go. So far, so good.