We are now up to the 4th pasuk of Malchuyot/ Hashem’s Kingdom of the Musaf prayers of Rosh Hashanah.
It’s a pasuk in Tehilim, Perek כב, pasuk כט
כִּי לַה׳ הַמְּלוּכָה
To God is the sovereignty/kingdom,
וּמֹשֵׁל בַּגּוֹיִם
and He rules over nations
The pasuk differentiates between two types of rulership. One is called Melech- king, and another is called Moshel, which is a ruler or dictator.
What is the difference?
The Gaon of Vilna, as well as the Malbim explain that the word Melech refers to someone appointed by the people willingly. The root of the word is Himalech, which means to advise-everyone advises together, and they decide to appoint a king. Like we say in our prayers,
ומלכותו ברצון קבלו עליהם
Hashem’s kingdom, they accepted upon themselves willingly.
The words Kingdom and willingly go together. A king is someone accepted willingly. Everyone wants that one person to lead them. They understand the need for a leader, they join together to appoint him, and everyone is happy with their king.
A Moshel, on the other hand, is a dictator. He’s somebody who rules, but the people do not accept him. He is just stronger than they are, and more powerful than them. He might have an army to suppress the people.
So the pasuk says,
כִּי לַה׳ הַמְּלוּכָה
Hashem has the Melucha/Kingdom
Why? Because the Jewish people accept Hashem’s kingdom willingly.
וּמֹשֵׁל בַּגּוֹיִם
And Hashem is Moshel over the Goyim. He rules and dictates over the nations of the world against their will.
In the future, as the pasuk in Zechariah says, והיה ה׳ המלך על
כל הארץ Then Hashem will be the Melech of the whole world, because then, everybody will willingly accept Hashem as King. But that is in the future. Currently, only the Jewish people accept Hashem willingly. And that acceptance mostly occurs on Rosh Hashanah. That is the day when Hashem becomes King. That is the day that Adam HaRishon was created.
Therefore, on Rosh Hashanah, we willingly accept Hashem as King. The more that we do that, the better a year we have.
We are supposed to understand and believe that the best thing for us is to have Hashem as our King. It’s not that we run our lives, but that Hashem runs our lives. We willingly accept Him as our king. He knows better than us, and He can take care of us. We are His loyal servants.
I am not interested in running away. If there was a hole in the wall, I would not try to escape. I want Him to be my king. And I want to be His servant.
The Sefer Ahavat Yonatan says that this is the purpose of the world. God created the word in order to have people, with freedom of choice, to choose Him as king. The rule is:
ואין מלך בלא עם
You can’t be considered a king without a nation that accepts you as king.
In order for Hashem‘s kingdom to come to fruition, there needs to be a people that recognizes and accepts Him. This is what the Jewish people are doing in this world.
It doesn’t take away from God if he doesn’t have us. He rules everything regardless. But in order to have the title of “King” you need to have subjects. Without subjects that accept you, you can’t be called the king.
It is an extremely important principle in our religion. Rosh Hashanah is the time to reinforce all of these important principles, and the better we do that, the better year we will have. And course, these principles are important every day of the year..
With this understanding, Rav Wolbe reads through the famous prayer of Adon Olam.
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר מָלַךְ
God is the Boss, who was King
בְּטֶרֶם כָּל יְצִיר נִבְרָא
He was King before anything was created
לְעֵת נַעֲשָֹה בְחֶפְצוֹ כֹּל
When He decided with His Will to create everything,
אֲזַי מֶלֶךְ שְׁמוֹ נִקְרָא
Then He got the name of King-
He is called “the king” when He has subjects.
He was the king beforehand, (but you can’t be called “King” unless you have subjects)
וְאַחֲרֵי כִּכְלוֹת הַכֹּל
And after everything is going to end
לְבַדּוֹ יִמְלוֹךְ נוֹרָא
He will remain awesomely a King.
Hashem is not changed inherently by the world not recognizing Him. But to be called King, we have to be the subjects that call Him the King
(which is for our benefit) and merit to recognize Him as King. He only wants to be King in order to benefit us.
That is the purpose of creation.
So on Rosh Hashanah we reiterate this important principle,
כִּי לַה׳ הַמְּלוּכָה וּמֹשֵׁל בַּגּוֹיִם
For to Hashem is sovereignty/Kingdom
And He rules over the nations of the world.
Have a wonderful day.