Rosh Hashana: Malchios and Din

The brayseh in maseches Rosh Hashanah that

אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא בראש השנה אמרו לפניי מלכויות זכרונות ושופרות. מלכויות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם, זכרונות כדי שיעלה זכרונכם לפניי,

u-vameh b’shofor? Rosh Hashanah is a day of malchiyos. A day of malchiyos, not simply in the sense that we have the longest Shmoneh Esrei of the year, the Musaf Shmoneh Esrei in which we say malchiyos, zichronos, and shofros, but the entire day, the kedushas hayom is about malchiyos. The Rav used to quote Rav Chaim as saying le-halacha, le-halacha ule-ma'aseh Rav Chaim held that if one were to omit the phrase מלך על כל הארץ in the chasimah, so not only would that be me'akev in Musaf where malchiyos is integrated into the kedushas hayom, but it's me'akev as well in all the Amidos, in Kiddush, because the kedushas hayom of Rosh Hashanah is a kedushas hayom of malchiyos. מקדש ישראל ויום הזיכרון is inadequate, is insufficient if it doesn't explicitly articulate the theme of מלך על כל הארץ. The Baal HaMaor says that he thinks that the original minhag was that they used to daven nine berachos in all the Shmoneh Esreis, not only in Musaf. He thinks that Arvis, Shacharis, and Mincha they would also say malchiyos, zichronos, and shofros. Again, clearly reflecting that same understanding of the day and also equally clearly the fact that other Rishonim disagree, the fact that that's not our practice doesn't indicate any disagreement with that overarching conception. Rosh Hashanah is a time of malchiyos. Many years ago I heard a shmuess from the mashgiach of the Yeshiva in Staten Island and he insightfully explained that Rosh Hashanah as a Yom HaDin is not an independent concurrent theme but that Rosh Hashanah as a Yom HaDin, Din, is one aspect of malchiyos. I don't remember if he gave this mashal, but when a melech consolidates his reign or when a melech celebrates his reign, so one of the expressions, one of the manifestations, he makes appointments, he removes people from positions. Din is one aspect of malchiyos. You see it in

מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיעא. ויהי ביום השלישי יום הולדת את פרעה.

On Pharaoh's birthday, he celebrates his malchut, he celebrates his kingdom, and he's dan the Sar HaMashkim and the Sar HaOfim because malchiyos is an aspect, excuse me, Din is an aspect of malchiyos. And on one level that is the relationship between malchiyos and Din. Malchiyos sort of begets Din. Din is one expression, one application, one reflection of malchiyos. Rosh Hashanah is a Yom HaDin inasmuch as Rosh Hashanah is a yom of malchiyos. When malchut shamayim is celebrated, when malchut shamayim is the focal point, so the Melech kol ha'aretz decides who's... who's welcome in his world. It's an aspect, it's an element of Malchus. Din is an element of Malchus. But there is another dimension to the relationship between Din and Malchus. Let's revisit the Rambam's famous words:

אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב רמז יש בו כלומר עורו ישנים משנתכם ונרדמים הקיצו מתרדמתכם וחפשו במעשיכם וחזרו בתשובה וזכרו בוראכם.

The kol shofar is a wake-up call, a wake-up call that charges us with a threefold charge. It exhorts us chipsu bema'asechem, scrutinize one's actions, chizru bitshuva, and ultimately zichru bor'achem. The Rambam's ta'amei mitzva of shofar as a wake-up call to teshuva, it could be but it's important to realize that it isn't at odds, it doesn't diverge from the Gemara Rosh Hashana we just mentioned which says that shofar is an instrument of Malchus. אמרו לפני מלכויות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם ובמה בשופר. So Chazal see the shofar as an instrument of Malchus. The Rambam sees it as an instrument of teshuva. The way those two converge is to follow the sequence that the Rambam lays out for us. A person begins on Rosh Hashana, on the human level, we begin by reacting and hopefully experiencing the reality of Din. On Rosh Hashana a person begins what the Rambam is describing, he doesn't begin with Malchus, he begins by being cognizant, hopefully feeling and reacting to the reality of Din. What does that entail? How does one react to the reality of Din? chipsu bema'asechem. משל למה הדבר דומה. If a person is told that he's going to be audited, his tax returns are going to be audited, so right away a person gets together with his accountant and he first, he has to first review his tax returns. And he has to make sure to the best of his ability that he has all the documentation at hand. A person has to prepare for an audit. A person can't walk into a tax audit without being prepared. So the first thing is it's a Yom Hadin, so chipsu bema'asechem. Inevitably the chipsu bema'asechem highlights shortcomings, weaknesses, misdirection in life and the chipsu bema'asechem yields chizru bitshuva. And the result, the goal, the substance of chizru bitshuva is zichru bor'achem. Remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Remember what about Hakadosh Baruch Hu? Remember Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Whenever we're told to remember, so obviously there are associations, right? If someone lehavdil, lehavdil, lehavdil, remember the Alamo. wealth of associations that that that you have with the Alamo. You're not supposed to remember the word. There's a whole wealth of associations. Remember Yetzias Mitzrayim. It's not some kind of Rachmana Litzlan sterile Zechira, but it's a Zechira which is replete with associations. There's a broader context of what happened in Yetzias Mitzrayim, what Yetzias Mitzrayim represents. So clearly, Zichru Bacham, remember first and foremost there is a Ribbono Shel Olam. But remember also what it is we believe, who the Ribbono Shel Olam is, what we know about Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון והוא ממציא כל נמצא.

Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists on his own, of his own accord, and all existence is from him, because of him, through him. הוא ממציא כל נמצא. Everything is totally, totally contingent, dependent upon him. And he, on the other hand, is totally independent and absolute.

אם יעלה על הדעת שהוא אינו מצוי אין דבר אחר יכול להימצא. אולם אם יעלה על הדעת שאין כל הנמצאים מלבדו מצויים הוא לבדו יהיה מצוי ולא יבטל הוא לביטולם שכל הנמצאים צריכים לו והוא ברוך הוא אינו צריך להם ולא לאחד מהם. הוא שהנביא אומר וה' אלוקים אמת. הוא לבדו האמת ואין לאחר אמת כאמיתו.

HaMatzui hazeh, continues the Rambam, הוא אלוקי העולם אדון כל הארץ. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn't delegate that. He himself is the Adon Kol Ha'aretz. So what happens when a person is aware of the reality of Din and responds appropriately to that reality of Din is that the Din yields Malchuyos. Kedei shetamlichuni aleichem. What's the tamlichuni aleichem? The tamlichuni aleichem is there's a Ribbono Shel Olam, ein od milvado, and he's the Adon Kol Ha'aretz. The reality, being aware of the reality that it's a Yom HaDin, that ספרי חיים פתוחים לפניו, מי יחיה ומי ימות, being aware of that reality is mechayiv and m'orer chipsu b'ma'aseichem, cheshbon hanefesh. Cheshbon hanefesh is mechayiv and m'orer chizru b'teshuva. Chizru b'teshuva leads to, ultimately consists of, Zichru Bacham. So there's a fascinating, I'm not sure if maybe reciprocity, I'm not sure if it's the right word, but in the relationship between Malchuyos and Din. As it were, if we would describe it mila'ila, so there's Malchuyos. One aspect, one element, one expression, one implementation is Din. If we'll describe or delineate that same relationship miltata, from our vantage point, from our experiential vantage point, it begins with So the תמליכוני עליכם במה בשופר, shofar as an instrument of coronation, and shofar as a wake-up call to teshuvah is ultimately haynu hach. It's the same shofar. The understanding that din is me’orer and mechayeiv teshuvah, and teshuvah leads to zichru barachem, leads ultimately to malchus, reinforces the correct, perhaps broader conception of what it means for Rosh Hashanah to be a day of malchus than sometimes we entertain. Rosh Hashanah, the way we implement that mandate of Rosh Hashanah being a day of malchus, the way we try to live and react to the kedushas hayom as Rav Chaim said, a kedushas hayom of malchus, is not only in the Musaf Shmoneh Esrei when we're saying the ten pesukim of malchiyos, zichronos, and shofros, right, zichronos and shofros are also just aspects of malchus, as New York City, New York State, New York can mean different things. There's malchus with a lower case mem and malchus with an upper case mem. Zichronos and shofros are part of the malchus with the upper case mem. That s’char ve’onesh is an aspect of malchus, Hakadosh Baruch Hu as mechokek, Hakadosh Baruch Hu as the gilluy shechinah of achris hayamim are all aspects of the upper case malchus. So Rosh Hashanah is a day of malchus not only in the context of Shmoneh Esrei when we say the pesukim, not only in the context of the other tefillos when we say the phrase מלך על כל הארץ, when we change the chasimah chasimah Hakel hakadosh to Hamelech hakadosh, but ultimately what malchus means, again this hakarah of ein od milvado. When we talk about uvchein tein pachtacha which the Rav used to say, I think Rav David Tzvi Hoffmann said it earlier, that that was Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri's introduction to malchus. The Mishna in Rosh Hashanah has a machlokes whether you say malchiyos in the third bracha of Shmoneh Esrei or as we do in the fourth bracha of Shmoneh Esrei. So Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri used to say malchiyos in the third bracha of Shmoneh Esrei. So the Rav said the series of uvcheins that we have in the third bracha of Shmoneh Esrei was Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri's counterpart to aleinu and al kein nekaveh that we have in the fourth bracha. It was his introduction to malchus. It was part of his malchiyos. So those paragraphs, if we pay attention, we're able to glean, we're able to reconstruct different aspects of malchus.

ובכן תן פחדך ה' אלקינו על כל מעשיך ואימתך על כל מה שבראת וייראוך כל המעשים וישתחוו לפניך כל הברואים,

right, we're mispallel that all of creation should prostrate itself before Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Hishtachavayah, Chazal tell us, connotes pishut yadayim veraglayim, prostration. What does hishtachavayah represent? What does hishtachavayah reflect? Total bitul. When a person just bows at the waist or a person kneels, it's not total hisbatlus. But when a person with pishut yadayim veraglayim, a person prostrates himself, so that's a posture which expresses total Malchiyos again, zichronos and shofaros. There are associations, it's an informed zechirah, it's an insightful zechirah. It represents an understanding ein od milvado. That's what hishtachavayah expresses. Every minute, every second over the 48 plus hours of Rosh Hashanah that a person is medakdek b'mitzvah kalah k'vachamurah, that a person is shokel dibburo, that a person salvages time for talmud torah, all that is a kiyum in malchiyos as well. The asei retzoncha kirtzono is a form of hishtachavayah. It's also a kiyum in malchiyos. These two... So there are, malchiyos can be again depicted from two different vantage points. We depicted it as it were milailah. It can also be depicted miletata. The relationship between malchiyos and din. On the one hand, malchiyos is absolute. The reality is ein od milvado whether we're cognizant of it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not. That's the reality. I think the Maharal comments why is it that the mitzvah of anochi, the Torah doesn't write with an imperative. Most mitzvos, dak, not 100% of mitzvos, but most mitzvos the Torah formulates grammatically in the imperative: Do this, you should do that. And here the Torah just writes factually, anochi Hashem elokecha. Says the Maharal because the Torah's underscoring when it comes to the mitzvah of netilas lulav, ul'kachtem lachem, so it's not a fact that we take the lulav on Sukkos. It's up to us. Maybe we do, maybe we don't. It's a fact that we're supposed to. It's a fact that we're obligated to. But whether or not the mitzvah becomes a practical reality is up to us. Do this. So the mitzvah dak consists of the doing. When it comes to anochi Hashem elokecha, so the Maharal says the Torah wants to accentuate anochi Hashem elokecha is is a reality regardless of whether or not a person is mekayem the mitzvah of anochi Hashem elokecha. Don't think that it's like mitzvas tefillin that if I, if rachmana litzlan, I brazenly choose not to do it, so then the tefillin are takke not on my arm, tefillin are takke not on my head. That's true, that's true. If a person rachmana litzlan doesn't recognize, doesn't acknowledge, doesn't have the mitz... doesn't fulfill the mitzvah of emunah of yedi'ah, it remains a fact nonetheless. So malchiyos is something which is absolute. Objectively the case ein od milvado, it's objectively the case hakadosh baruch hu is adon kol ha'aretz, it's objectively the case that we're niddon, that there's mishpat on Rosh Hashanah. But then there's also malchiyos on the human level. Malchiyos on the human level happens if, when we recognize hakadosh baruch hu, when we acknowledge that absolute objective reality. And what all the sefarim tell us, the Rav used to quote it. As it expresses itself in din milaila, and then there's din and malchios as experienced, as acknowledged, as celebrated milatata. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu allowed for that second process to, as it were, influence and impact what the absolute reality of din is milaila. And the experience of din and malchios, the response to din and malchios, the celebration of din and malchios milatata infuses the rachamim, injects the element of rachamim into the malchios and din milaila. I think it's in Shacharis. Sorry I didn't bring a machzor, I don't remember the whole line by heart. But I think it begins, the line begins beshofar afatenu, maybe beberech trua, and then something במגינת רעים תזרח אור. So if you ask a baal tfila who knows the nusach, ask him to sing it for you. I remember when the Rebbe was giving the shiur so he taka there was someone in the audience who was a baal tfila, so he called on him, he said, say the line. Baal tfila told me he had a sore throat, back down. That the first half of the beshofar afatenu, that there's tension in the melody. You hear the tension. And then and then the second half there's a release and there's more of a celebratory sense. So Rosh Hashana is a frightening day, it's yemei yira vafachad, not yemei simcha yesaira. And it's not a fright which one should avoid encountering. But it's also a day that if we encounter that yira can be tremendously uplifting. Encountering the mora of din, encountering that mora of din triggers a process of chipsu bimaaseichem, chizru bitshuva, v'zichru boreichem, it elevates a person to a level to taka בממליך רבונו של עולם. Lest lest we underestimate the meaningfulness, the significance of one's own private chipsu bimaaseichem, chizru bitshuva within the broader picture of malchios. The Rambam writes in the second half of the same halacha here in Gimel Daled in Teshuva:

צריך כל אדם שיראה עצמו כל השנה כולה כאילו חציו זכאי וחציו חייב.

A person is incapable of knowing where he, or for that matter where the world stands, because the Rambam told us the end of halacha alef that

אין שוקלין אלא בדעתו של קל דעות והוא היודע היאך עורכין הזכויות כנגד העוונות.

The din is not a purely numerical din. It's not just counting mitzvos, rachmana litzlan, counting aveiros. But one mitzvah can outweigh many aveiros, rachmana litzlan, the opposite can also be true, and that shikul is only בדעתו של קל דעות. So the result is that by definition a person can't know, a person cannot know. There's an extraordinary maiseh that they told of Rav Chaim that on Rosh Hashanah one could see the eimas hadin on his face. So someone who was sufficiently close and took the liberty to said to Rav Chaim he doesn't understand why he's, why he's shaking so. He says even, even if the Rebbe in his humility only considers himself a beinoni, so nothing bad happens to a beinoni in Rosh Hashanah. The only people who have to worry about something bad rachmana litzlan being signed and sealed on Rosh Hashanah is a rasha. The two alternatives, if a person's a tzaddik, so then he's signed and sealed lechayim, and if he's a beinoni, so then it's held in abeyance till Yom Kippur. So he said to Rav Chaim, so even if the Rebbe in his views himself as maybe only being a beinoni, so what's the, he can relax. And, and Rav Chaim answered him as, as the story goes, halevai that I knew I was a beinoni. A person never knows, a person doesn't know where he stands. אין שוקלין אלא בדעתו של קל דעות. So because of that, lephi kach

צריך כל אדם שיראה עצמו כל השנה כולה כאילו חציו זכאי וחציו חייב וכן כל העולם חציו זכאי וחציו חייב.

Looking at the world, we don't know where the world stands either, we don't know where the world stands either. We know what we see, we know what it looks like from our vantage point, what it looks like from the vantage point and בדעתו של קל דעות we have no idea. And as a result, given the fact that yitachen it could be balanced,

חטא חטא אחד הרי הכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם כולו לכף חובה וגורם לו השחתה

rachmana litzlan, but conversely,

עשה מצוה אחת הרי הכריע את עצמו ואת כל העולם כולו לכף זכות וגורם לו ולהם תשועה והצלה שנאמר וצדיק יסוד עולם. זה שצדק או צידק

I think the Frenkel has here if I'm not mistaken עצמו והכריע את כל העולם לזכות והצילו. Sometimes, you know, sometimes when, when we're trying to do teshuvah again on Rosh Hashanah in the context of malkhios, the rest of the year in, in its own context, a person can have a chlishas hadaas. A person can have a chlishas hadaas and say tikun hamidos is so difficult, so difficult. And okay, so we sort of have an extra motivation when it's bein adam lechavero, suddenly realize it's not right that someone else should suffer from my midos raos, my midos megunos. So there's an incentive, there's motivation. But what about there are midos raos which are just bein adam leatzmo? There are midos raos that, that affect me, they don't affect anyone else. A person can have a chlishas hadas. It, he experiences it as being difficult, very difficult, very trying, and lemaise in the grand scheme of things, like what do I accomplish? Comes the Rambam and says, comes the Rambam and says if a person entertains such a thought, he should realize asa mitzva achas. He improves bein adam l'atzmo and he's not impacting the whole world and then Rabbeinu Yona writes in Shaarei Teshuva as one one of the ikarei hateshuva is if we can help others, so we should help others as well. That's one of the ikarei hateshuva to the degree that that it's biyadeinu to help others, so avada we should be doing it. But let's say it's not or it doesn't seem to be in on any level or to any degree which is particularly impressive to us. So what can I do? So the way we would think of it and the way we would say it is not much, maybe I can I can try to change myself but says the Rambam: tzarich kol adam, a person is mechuyav to to view things this way, a person is mechuyav to view things that that little change, that little improvement, that baby step forward that a person makes in in his tikkun hamidos, that can be the difference between what his fate is, what the fate of the medina in which he lives is, what the fate of the entire world is. There's no such thing as anything which is insignificant or unimportant in terms of the chipus b'masecha, the chizur bitshuva, the zichu b'rachamim, even even when it seems to us that it's very, very small and located exclusively in our rishus hayachid, in our own daled amos, it's impossible to know, it's impossible to imagine what what the implications of of that are. So wish everyone a gut yohr, a k'siva v'chasima tova, shnas chayim v'shalom, and a Rosh Hashanah of אמרו לפני מלכיות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם.