We begin the Book of Daniel. First, let us look closely at the name itself: the name is Dāniyēl (דָּנִיֵּאל), not "Dani-el." In this regard, his name differs from all other such names in Tanach: Mishael, Refael, Mechuyael, Gabriel - in all of them, the alef takes a tzeireh and is sounded at the end of the name. In Daniel, however, the yod takes the tzeireh, and the alef is quiescent, meaning it is not pronounced at all. We read it "Daniyēl," without pronouncing the alef.
What is the reason for this? A beautiful explanation is offered for this: the name "Daniel" is composed of two words - "dani" (judge me) and "El" (God). If we were to pronounce it "Dani-El," it would imply, as it were, that God should judge me, and no person wants God to subject him to judgment. Therefore, we pronounce it "Daniyēl," thereby muting, as it were, the connotation of strict judgment, so that the expression of judgment is not heard.
Who authored the Book of Daniel? The book was recorded by the Men of the Great Assembly - Chaggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Zerubbabel, Mordechai, and their colleagues. They wrote several books, for which the mnemonic is KaNDaG: Yechezkel, Trei Asar (the Twelve Minor Prophets, termed ketanim), Daniel, and Megillat Esther.
בִּשְׁנַת שָׁלוֹשׁ לְמַלְכוּת יְהוֹיָקִים מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה בָּא נְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל יְרוּשָׁלִַם וַיָּצַר עָלֶיהָ׃ - In the third year of the reign of Yehoyakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.
Yehoyakim, as we recall, was a wicked king. In the third year of his reign, the Holy One, Blessed is He, brought Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon against him, and he besieged Jerusalem.
וַיִּתֵּן אֲדֹנָי בְּיָדוֹ אֶת־יְהוֹיָקִים מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה וּמִקְצָת כְּלֵי בֵית־הָאֱלֹהִים וַיְבִיאֵם אֶרֶץ־שִׁנְעָר בֵּית אֱלֹהָיו וְאֶת־הַכֵּלִים הֵבִיא בֵּית אוֹצַר אֱלֹהָיו׃ - And the Lord delivered Yehoyakim king of Judah into his hand, along with part of the vessels of the House of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.
"And the Lord delivered into his hand" - the Holy One, Blessed is He, handed him over into his hand immediately. Do not think that Nebuchadnezzar approached him peacefully and Yehoyakim went out to him and surrendered. Scripture teaches that he fought and captured him immediately, not peacefully. For had it been done peacefully, he would not have taken him captive, nor would he have taken the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash.
The Malbim explains: this goes against the standard customs of kings. From whom does a conqueror seize power by force, and even take his vessels? From one who actively rises up to fight against him - such a king is humiliated. But when a king agrees to accept the authority of the conqueror, the custom was to leave him in his place, paying tribute and taxes, subservient to the conquering empire. Here we see that the Holy One, Blessed is He, delivered him into his hand, and Nebuchadnezzar captured him and exiled both him and the vessels - a clear sign that Yehoyakim did not seek peace. Yehoyakim did not raise a white flag; rather, he attempted to fight, yet Hashem immediately delivered him into Nebuchadnezzar's hand.
Notice the precise wording: the vessels were not brought to the royal treasury, but to "the treasury of his god." Here Scripture foreshadows what we will see later: these vessels brought about punishment - Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, was punished for using them. Here the sin already began: instead of thanking Hashem, he took the vessels and brought them into the temple of his god, as if to say that his deity fought the battle for him and through him he was victorious. We will see later that they even treated these sacred vessels with contempt, and this brought an end to Nebuchadnezzar's dynasty, through the third king of his lineage, Belshazzar.
וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ לְאַשְׁפְּנַז רַב סָרִיסָיו לְהָבִיא מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמִזֶּרַע הַמְּלוּכָה וּמִן־הַפַּרְתְּמִים׃ - And the king told Ashpenaz, the chief of his officers, to bring some of the children of Israel, and of the royal seed, and of the nobility.
Ashpenaz is a personal name; his role was to oversee all the courtiers. The king asks him to bring youth both from the general populace - this is "from the children of Israel" - and from the royal seed, youth from the lineage of royalty and leadership.
And for what purpose did he need these youth? After all, he had exiled all of Israel to Babylon, and from them he was requesting youth. He had two goals: first, that they serve in the royal palace; second, that he would later appoint them as ministers. In place of those in Judah who had defied his will, he would appoint ministers of his own choosing - individuals he had raised and elevated, who would be completely loyal to him. He could send them as governors to rule over Judah, versed in the customs of the Chaldeans and their language, thereby ensuring their submission to his authority. And why did he also need youth from the common folk? Those not of royal lineage were meant to serve him in more minor capacities.
Nebuchadnezzar was an exceedingly wise and perceptive ruler, as we will see later. He was not an ignorant king whom one could easily manipulate. He specifically directed that these youth be educated and taught all the sciences, for he knew that supreme wisdom resides within the Jewish people, "for it is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of the nations." Therefore, he desired that the very nation that produced such great sages would provide his advisors and palace courtiers, enabling him to manage his affairs with wisdom. And as is well known, throughout history many rulers followed this practice of keeping a Jewish advisor, whether secretly or openly - a wise Jewish courtier who advised the king.
יְלָדִים אֲשֶׁר אֵין־בָּהֶם כָּל־מאוּם וְטוֹבֵי מַרְאֶה וּמַשְׁכִּלִים בְּכָל־חָכְמָה וְיֹדְעֵי דַעַת וּמְבִינֵי מַדָּע וַאֲשֶׁר כֹּחַ בָּהֶם לַעֲמֹד בְּהֵיכַל הַמֶּלֶךְ וּלְלַמְּדָם סֵפֶר וּלְשׁוֹן כַּשְׂדִּים׃ - Youths in whom there was no blemish, who were good-looking, skilled in all wisdom, discerning in knowledge, understanding science, and having the ability to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
Notice that the written text (ketiv) is "מאום" (anything), while the spoken reading (keri) is "מום" (blemish). The Malbim explains: The king required the youths to be complete in both matter and form. Complete in matter - physically and bodily; complete in form - intellectually and spiritually, in science, intellect, insight, and reasoning. Regarding the physical aspect, the verse states, "in whom there was no *me'um*." There is a difference between *mum* and *me'um*: a *mum* is a major defect - a missing hand or foot - whereas *me'um* refers to even the slightest imperfection. This is the intent of the written word: they were not to have even the slightest defect, a small scar or any minor flaw, and certainly no significant blemish.
Furthermore, a person can be completely intact physically and yet not be pleasant in appearance. Therefore, the verse adds "and good-looking" - that their external appearance should also be handsome and dignified, as such individuals are more fitting to stand in the royal palace.
All these descriptions represent distinct levels of intellect. The Ibn Ezra explains: "Discerning in knowledge" (*yod'ei da'at*) refers to someone who, the moment you begin speaking, already understands what you intend to say. We are familiar with those who sit in a shiur and anticipate the speaker's thought before it is even uttered - their grasp is so swift that they immediately perceive the speaker's intent. This is "discerning in knowledge": understanding what is in your mind when you speak with him.
"And understanding science" (*mevinei mada*) is yet another quality. A person may be extraordinarily gifted, but ask him to explain something to you, and you will understand nothing. There are great Torah scholars who are colossal geniuses, yet when delivering a shiur, they struggle to communicate effectively. The true talent lies in being able to articulate clearly what is in one's mind and heart. Sometimes, precisely because of the sheer depth of their brilliance, expression becomes difficult: their mind holds so much that it is hard to convey it in terms accessible to everyone. Especially when someone is a genius far above the level of his audience, he tends to explain things at his own level rather than at a level they can comprehend. The king says: I want individuals who are "understanding science" - capable of conveying to others the knowledge in their minds and hearts, while also grasping what is in my own mind. This is a distinct virtue beyond merely being educated and wise.
The Malbim explains that in Lashon Hakodesh, there is a tremendous difference between chochmah (wisdom) and da'at (knowledge). "Da'at" refers to things apprehended through the senses, things that anyone can verify by measurement and confirm their truth, or concepts based on clear axioms. After all, every discipline has its textbooks. When someone sets out to study mathematics, he has a textbook containing basic, elementary arithmetic. These are foundational premises. No one can come along tomorrow and declare that what he learned in school, the fundamental rule, is simply wrong.
These are the introductory foundations of mathematics. A professor now comes to perform intricate calculations and innovate new ideas, but he does not reinvent the fundamentals - there are books where those fundamentals are clearly recorded. And so it is in every field. Someone wishing to study chemistry is told: there are such-and-such elements, and when combined in a certain way, they react or decompose in a certain manner. He does not begin by recreating every single experiment; they have already been conducted, and certain things are axiomatic, the clear foundations of that discipline. This is called da'at: things that can be verified empirically and brought to a definitive conclusion - one hundred degrees is the boiling point, zero degrees is freezing, the force of gravity, inertia. These are things you do not need to test from scratch in order to know them, and they serve as the foundations of all disciplines.
Chochmah, on the other hand, relates to conduct: knowing how to conduct oneself properly, knowing how to distinguish between good and evil. This is not attained through empirical proofs, nor is it dependent on the laws of nature. How does a person attain wisdom? Through intellect - by analyzing, reflecting, and delving deeply, thereby learning to discern, to reject the negative and affirm the positive, and to conduct oneself correctly. We go to a wise person to seek counsel because he has the analytical depth of mind to dissect matters, to extract the good and discard the bad, and to tell you what path to take, what the right conduct is, and what proper counsel looks like.
Mada encompasses all the knowledge gathered by scholars throughout the generations, serving as the foundation for an ever-advancing body of knowledge. That is why it is said that today's scientists discover things that were not discovered back then. Does this mean they are wiser than the scholars of earlier times? No. Rather, they are like a dwarf riding upon the shoulders of a giant: the dwarf sits atop the giant's back, sees everything, and feels great, but people tell him: "Fool, you are merely a dwarf! The only reason you see everything is that you are on the giant's back." The modern scientist discovered something new, but on what basis? On the foundation laid by scientists who investigated for two and three thousand years to establish core principles, all of which you have already learned without needing to enter a laboratory and investigate everything from scratch.
With all the foundational premises already in hand, you begin to discover new things, new compounds, new possibilities - you are indeed a dwarf riding upon a giant. Whoever invented the automobile did not need to invent the wheel; that had already been done before him. When you set out to invent something, you are already building upon primal foundations. Whoever engineered the spacecraft that reached the moon did not have to invent everything anew; he built upon the foundation of the airplane developed by the Wright brothers long before.
It follows that one who can draw conclusions from scientific knowledge and deduce insights through the power of understanding is called mevinei mada ("discerning of science"): he possesses the foundations, and by means of them, he compares one matter to another and draws conclusions regarding phenomena that have not yet been explored. We thus have two categories here: yod'ei da'at ("knowers of knowledge") - who know the foundational axioms of science; and mevinei mada - who are able to draw analogies and arrive at new inventions, new formulations, and novel insights that are not part of the established, universally known rules of science.
For all of this, two preparations were required. First - they had to be physically strong. For even if a person is extraordinarily wise, if he lies sick in bed for most of the day, he will not be able to exert himself and achieve results. Therefore, they needed people who were physically robust.
Our Sages expound the verse, "who had the capacity to stand in the king's palace": that they had to be capable of restraining themselves from sleep, from laughter, and from relieving themselves. A person had to possess self-mastery. If something funny happens, a frivolous person immediately bursts out laughing; a clever person knows how to restrain himself - true, it is funny, but he holds back. That is the capability of a person of strong character. Likewise, if someone needs to relieve himself, if he is strong, he knows how to hold it in. Imagine a person standing before the king, and while the king is speaking to him, he says: "Pardon me, my lord the king, I must use the restroom." They would tell him: "Stay there and never return." When standing before a king, the slightest movement could cost him his head.
In such a setting, a person must know how to restrain himself completely. During the era of the Geonim, there was a man whose ancestral house was called "the Fly Family" - a title of honor bestowed upon them by the king. Why? Because the patriarch of the family once stood before the king, and a fly landed on his forehead and stung him, yet he restrained himself and did not flinch. An ordinary person, when bitten by an insect, brushes it away immediately; he stood motionless until blood began to trickle down. The king noticed this and recognized that he held himself back purely out of reverence for standing before the king. He granted him the title of honor, "the Fly Family," a title celebrated throughout the kingdom, elevating and honoring him on account of this episode.
And this is true greatness: a person's resilience and capacity for restraint - these are the true measures of his character. By what is a person's character measured? By how much he is able to restrain himself, in every area: he has something to say, yet remains silent; there is a sight he wishes to look at, yet he closes his eyes and overcomes his desire. This is how a person is measured. A person is measured by the strength of his brakes, and the stronger the brakes, the greater the inner strength demonstrated.
The second preparation: "And to teach them the literature and language of the Kasdim" - that they be gifted in learning written literature and learning spoken language, which are two distinct things. "Language" refers to speech. There are people who pick up spoken languages quickly, but absorbing written texts takes them a long time; and there are those for whom the opposite is true. The king says: I want people who can quickly grasp both spoken language and written literature, for I want to teach them the Chaldean language, and Chaldean wisdom is recorded in books.
And what is the "language of the Kasdim"? The Malbim explains: they had two languages. There was the spoken, vernacular language of the masses - which was Aramaic, spoken by the common folk. In contrast, there was a more poetic and refined language spoken by the educated elite - this was known as the language of the Kasdim. Similarly, it is well known that English also has two registers: there is the language of Shakespeare and the like, which is on a much higher plane and which many common people would not understand at all, and there is colloquial speech. The same is true in Hebrew: take many words from Tanach and say them to a person on the street - he will have no idea what you are talking about. The very same content can be expressed in simple words, but there is an elevated language, the language of the dignitaries and the noble elite.
Therefore the king says: I desire that they speak the language of the Kasdim, the language of the ministers, dignitaries, and scholars, who know how to speak in high rhetoric. The Malbim adds that this also requires the faculty of imagination, for it is no simple matter to speak poetically or in meter, requiring a rich imagination. He therefore sought individuals possessing this aptitude.
וַיְמַן לָהֶם הַמֶּלֶךְ דְּבַר־יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ מִפַּת־בַּג הַמֶּלֶךְ וּמִיֵּין מִשְׁתָּיו וּלְגַדְּלָם שָׁנִים שָׁלוֹשׁ וּמִקְצָתָם יַעַמְדוּ לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ - "The king appointed for them a daily portion of the king's delicacies and of the wine he drank, to nourish them for three years, at the end of which they would stand before the king."
Here we see how seriously Nevuchadnezzar took this matter - he turned it into an outright royal project. "Vayeman" (and he appointed) comes from the root of manah (portion), meaning he designated portions for them. He saw to their food personally, rather than delegating it to an underling; the king himself personally supervised their menu.
"Of the king's delicacies [pat-bag]" - from the food served at the royal table. The Malbim explains that finer food fosters greater intellectual talent in a person, whereas base, coarse food arouses negative natural inclinations and poor character traits.
For example, the fish permitted to us by the Torah possess fins and scales, while those lacking fins and scales are forbidden. Why? Anyone who pays attention will notice that fish without fins and scales are unable to swim effortlessly through the water - or in the words of Chazal, to "soar" - and instead dwell at the bottom. And what lies at the bottom of the water? Debris and waste. Consequently, their physical composition is far cruder: they dwell in waste and feed on waste, so one who consumes them absorbs these inferior elements. The same is true of the pig: where does it scavenge all day? In garbage. Therefore, for someone who eats pig, the physical consumption itself exerts a destructive negative influence, quite apart from the spiritual harm it causes.
The same principle applies here: he wanted to provide them with the finest foods. As the Gemara states, "Chamra vereichani pikechin" - wine and fragrance made me wise. When a person eats finer, more exquisite foods, these foods are superior. It is not necessarily that all fine foods are physically healthier, but often when a person eats base foods - bran, coarse barley bread, animal fodder - it imparts coarse, negative traits into him, in contrast to purer, refined foods that foster positive faculties.
And what is "pat-bag"? The bread served at the king's table. Some say that "bag" means food, as the Ibn Ezra explains; while others translate it as meat. In other words: from the bread and delicacies that constitute the king's meal.
Beyond this, he provided it to them as "a daily portion on its day." The physicians had a rotating menu tailored for the king according to the weather: in winter, more warming foods are eaten; in summer, cooler foods, and so forth. Precise discernment and medical wisdom were required.
This is like the Rambam, who served in the sultan's court as the royal physician. Once, people asked the king: "How do you know that the Rambam is such a powerful, successful, and gifted physician? After all, he has never cured you of anything!" The king asked the Rambam: "That is actually a good question - how do I know that you are so talented? You have been here for four or five years, and you have never healed me!" The Rambam replied: "My lord king, who establishes your menu and decides what you eat?" The king said: "You do; you are my physician." The Rambam said: "And how is it that you have not fallen ill for four or five years? I ensure you eat foods that prevent you from becoming sick. All the other doctors act clever after the fact - only after you fall ill do they come to cure you; I ensure that you do not become ill at all."
"I know exactly what to give you: which foods are harmful and which are healthy, which combinations are ill-advised and which are detrimental, what is good for you right now, what suits the summer, and what fits your current physical condition. I observe you, and according to that, I prescribe for you." The same was true here: the physicians knew precisely what to provide for the king, and therefore it was "a daily portion on its day" - a menu changing each day according to the weather and temperatures. And they provided for the youths in that very same manner: "from the king's delicacies and from the wine of his drinking."
How long did they need to nurture them? Three years. As Chazal state: Any student who does not see a sign of blessing in his studies within three years will never see a sign of blessing (and there is another version: five years - there are two traditions). All of this preparation was designed so that the youths would succeed in their studies, and for this, three years of intensive study were required.
"And at their end, they should stand before the king" - after they completed their studies, the most talented, sharp, and discerning among them would be selected, and they are the ones who would stand before the king, serve him, and receive royal appointments.
We opened with the precise name of the book and its authors - the Men of the Great Assembly. We saw how the Holy One, blessed be He, in the third year of Jehoiakim, delivered the king and part of the vessels of the House of God into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, not through peaceful surrender; and how the very act of bringing the vessels into the "treasury of his god" sowed the sin that would ultimately bring about the downfall of his dynasty in the days of Belshazzar. We then learned about the project initiated by Nebuchadnezzar: to take youths from the royal seed and from the nobility, physically and spiritually whole, without any blemish or even the slightest deficiency, handsome in appearance, possessing knowledge and discerning science - youths who knew the fundamentals of wisdom and also knew how to deduce further insights and transmit them to others. We saw the distinction between wisdom and insight, the parable of the dwarf riding upon the giant's shoulders, and the power of self-restraint by which a person's character is measured - the virtue that earned the "Zevuv family" their honorable title. Finally, we examined the meticulous care provided for their food and drink as a daily portion, according to the practice of royal physicians, and the three years of education designed to identify those worthy of standing before the king.