Rav Itamar Schwartz Shlita
The Concept of Hashem’s Kingship
מלך עוזר מגן ומושיע In the end of the first blessing of Shemoneh Esrei, we express how Hashem is our מלך, King. In the days of Elul, we prepare for Rosh HaShanah, in which we declare Hashem as King over us; שתמליכוני עליכם, “That I rule over you.” What is the malchus, the Kingship, of Hashem? There were kings in the Jewish people, but these were just to give us somewhat of an idea to the Kingship of Hashem. Hashem’s Kingship is totally different than what we understand about a human king. Chazal state, “There is no king without a nation.” It seems that there can be a nation without a king, though. The Jewish nation wanted a king at one point, but they were still a nation even without a king. It seems that a person can survive without a king. A king is more like a luxury. But the Kingship of Hashem is a whole different understanding than how we view a human king. From Hashem’s perspective, not only is there is no king without a nation, but there can be no nation without a king. There is a very big difference between how we accept Hashem’s Kingship, with the way other nations relate to a king. Our whole existence depends on how we accept upon ourselves the Kingship of Hashem. What is the concept of a kingship, a malchus? The sefarim hakedoshim say that malchus is a revelation that there is a king. In a malchus, there is a root of the malchus and the branches of the malchus. The “branches” are the rules of the king which the nation must follow, but the root of the malchus is the very fact that there is a king, and that the nation must recognize this. “It is our desire to see the King” – our very will to see and recognize the king is what defines the kingship of Hashem. The behavior that this obligates us in are the “branches” of that recognition, but the root of the malchus is to simply recognize that there is a King and that we desire to know the King. To recognize the King is how we realize that Hashem is the King. To illustrate, we have 365 negative commandments; there are levels of punishment. But if someone rebels against the King, he is liable to capital punishment. All of the 365 commandments are like a rebellion against the King, and in that aspect, a person deserves death for committing any of the 365 commandments. Since there is a malchus of Hashem, everything we are doing is being committed in front of Hashem.
The Avodah of Elul
We are in a time in which we declare Hashem as King (through reciting Selichos and asking Him for mercy) and we are also in a time in which we must seek out Hashem; “Seek Hashem where He is found.” These two recognitions are not two separate concepts; they are intertwined. If we recognize that Hashem is King, that makes a person realize that wherever he is, he is in front of the King. This is the depth behind the words of the Rema, that a person must always be cognizant that he is in front of Hashem, wherever he is. Thus, to declare Hashem as King is to realize that we are constantly in front of Him. A king cannot forego his honor. If so, how does Hashem forgive us? The simple answer is that a human king cannot forgive, but Hashem can forgive. The deeper answer is that when we ask for forgiveness, we are asking Hashem that he should not see our sins in the first place, as Bilaam declared in his song, “I do not see sin in Yaakov.” Thus, we have two parts to our preparation for Rosh HaShanah, during these days of Elul. These are days of yirah, in which we fear Hashem, in order to declare Him as King. The other aspect is to realize the meaning of the possuk, "וה' אלוקיו עמו, ותרועת מלך בו" – the word teruah תרועה comes from the word reia ריע , “friend”. Chazal say “Do not abandon your father and the friend of your father”, and this is referring to Hashem, that Hashem is the “Friend” whom we must not abandon. Chazal say, “Either a friend or death. The question is who our “friend” will be… So on one hand, Elul is a time of din and yirah, in which we do teshuvah, and we make cheshbon hanefesh and take upon ourselves various resolutions; each to his own. But this is just the external part of Elul. The inner aspect of Elul – which all of the external avodah is supposed to lead to – is to realize that Hashem is our true Friend. “Either a friend or death.” A human friend, a chavrusa, is only temporary. You are not bound together forever with him. A real friend is someone who never leaves your side and you can always be with him. The only real friend you can ever have is Hashem, because you can always be with Him.
We cannot live a lonely kind of life. If you know anyone who lives alone, you can see what kind of lonely and sad life he has. But that is only true regarding the external part of our life. In the inner place in our soul, we can live “alone” with Hashem – inside a deep place in our soul, we can be in His palace. These days of Elul are days to prepare for accepting Hashem’s Kingship upon us. The way we prepare, with our soul, is by realizing that we cannot live alone. We need a friend, a true friend, and the only One whom we can connect to eternally is Hashem. As we declare on Rosh HaShanah, “And You are the King, the Almighty G-d, Who lives forever.” We need an “inner” and true kind of chavrusa. These are days in which we can reach deeper layers in our soul. We need to clean ourselves out inside, by doing teshuvah, but that’s not the ultimate goal. We must be aware of why we are cleaning ourselves out inside. It is because we want to make way for the King to enter. That is the goal of all our teshuvah during Elul. Elul is thus not just about doing Teshuvah. These are days in which we can enter deep into our soul. Our heart is a Kodesh Kodashim within us.19 This is not an exaggeration. The Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur would enter into the innermost chamber on Yom Kippur; so too, during these days of Elul, we need to reach deeper and deeper into our soul, by getting in touch with our heart, until we reach our innermost chamber of the heart. May we merit to recognize the Kingship of Hashem, from the depths of our soul, to realize the possuk, "וה' אלוקיו עמו ותרועת מלך בו".
