Malchiyos During the Aseres Yemei Teshuva

Together to reflect upon Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. At first blush our work is clear, our avodah is clear. Kshmon Kein Heim, Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. And yet with some reflection I think we'll discover perhaps another dimension which might help enhance our Teshuvah, our avodah in these days. Tosafos in Shvuos on דף יג עמוד ב based on a Tosefta says that Yom HaKippurim is Mechaper, the atonement which is attained on Yom HaKippurim comes at the end of the day. Sof Hayom is Mechaper. If one, Rachmana Litzlan, were to die during the day on Yom Kippur, so one would not have qualified for the kapparah of Yom HaKippurim. Sof Hayom is Mechaper. It's a little strange. A little strange. After all the Torah emphasizes

כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם לטהר אתכם מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה' תטהרו.

The impression one gets, okay one can't always trust first impressions, but certainly the impression conveyed is that the day itself, the Kedushas Hayom, עיצומו של יום מכפר as Chazal tell us. So it's the day itself which is the source of kapparah. And yet come the Baalei Hatosafos and say no, it's the Sof Hayom which is Mechaper. The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah in Perek Beis writes as follows: אף על פי שהתשובה והצעקה יפה לעולם, even though Teshuvah and Tzeakah are always timely, they're always appropriate,

בעשרת הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים היא יפה ביותר ומתקבלת היא מיד שנאמר דרשו ה' בהמצאו.

During the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur it's especially appropriate and is accepted immediately. Now the Rav zichrono livocha commented on the phraseology here. The Rambam writes בעשרת הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים. Right? He could have said and probably this would have been the more natural formulation, בעשרת הימים שמראש השנה ועד יום הכיפורים. Because after all it's not ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So probably the more exact formulation would have been the ten days extending from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur. Now it's true that you can in Lashon Hakodesh use the idiom of bein as the Rambam does, but אינו אומר אלא דרשני. Now the Rambam here was following in the footsteps of the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah where the Gemara darshens Dirshu Hashem Behimatzo and the Gemara says when is that true, when is Hakadosh Baruch Hu especially matzui, when is Hakadosh Baruch Hu to be found, when is Hakadosh Baruch Hu so accessible, and the Gemara there has the same formulation as the Rambam, אלו עשרת הימים שבין ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים. That same again strange figure of speech. Now on Rosh Hashanah we know there's a mitzvah of Malchiyos. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah tells us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu addresses us and says

אמרו לפני בראש השנה מלכויות זכרונות ושופרות. מלכויות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם. זכרונות כדי שיעלה זכרונכם לפני לטובה.

So there is a mitzvah of Malchiyos on Rosh Hashanah and we associate Malchiyos with Rosh Hashanah in the Shemoneh Esrei so it's Rosh Hashanah's Musaf which has the brachah of Malchiyos. However when you stop for a minute and think about it, the mitzvah of Malchiyos is not limited to Rosh Hashanah. First of all the mitzvah of Malchiyos exists on Yom HaKippurim as well. How do we know that? So the most overt indication is The chasima of the bracha of kedushas hayom on Yom Kippurim:

מלך מוחל וסולח לעונותינו ולעונות עמו בית ישראל ומעביר אשמותינו בכל שנה ושנה מלך על כל הארץ מקדש ישראל ויום הכפורים.

So twice we emphasize melech within the chasima on Yom Kippurim. So clearly again this is the bracha of kedushas hayom so clearly Malchiyos again is essential to the kedushas hayom of Yom Kippurim. And yet on the other hand it's clear from that Gemara Rosh Hashanah that Malchiyos is something unique to Rosh Hashanah. אמרו לפני בראש השנה מלכויות זכרונות ושופרות. So apparently it's not the same Malchiyos. There's an element, there's a dimension of Malchiyos which is the mitzvas hayom of Rosh Hashanah and there's a different distinct element of Malchiyos which is the mitzvas hayom of Yom Kippurim. We have to try to understand what what that is. The picture becomes a little bit more complicated when again we recognize that Malchiyos also permeates the entire tekufa the entire time period of Aseres Yimei Teshuva. How do we know that? Again we know it from the siddur. The Gemara in Berachos tells us that כל השנה כולה החתימה of the third bracha in the Shemoneh Esrei is Hakel hakadosh and as we all know that for the entire Aseres Yimei Teshuva not just on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippurim the entire Aseres Yimei Teshuva the chasima of the bracha shelishis is Hamelech hakadosh. So clearly the inyan of Malchiyos the theme of Malchiyos is paramount not only on Rosh Hashanah not only on Yom Kippurim but throughout Aseres Yimei Teshuva. In fact the Rambam in Hilchos Tefilla I believe records that there was a minhag we don't do it but there was a minhag that the additions that we have in the third bracha on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippurim of the ubechein the ubechein tein pachdicha and that whole series of ubecheins were said throughout Aseres Yimei Teshuva that those additions were not limited to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippurim but they were to be incorporated into bracha shelishis throughout Aseres Yimei Teshuva again clearly to highlight the theme of Malchiyos not only on Rosh Hashanah not only on Yom Kippurim but throughout Aseres Yimei Teshuva. So again clearly there are three stages or three elements three dimensions to the mitzvah of Malchiyos or the mitzvos of Malchiyos of this season. Let's begin with the Malchiyos of Rosh Hashanah. Malchiyos of Rosh Hashanah is clear the Gemara tells us the Gemara tells us that אמרו לפני מלכויות בראש השנה כדי שתמליכוני עליכם. The mitzvas Malchiyos of Rosh Hashanah is kavyachol to coronate Hakadosh Baruch Hu which means not simply to acknowledge Malchus Shamayim but that Hakadosh Baruch Hu charges us with the indescribable privilege and hence responsibility the two always go in tandem of being mamlich Hakadosh Baruch Hu to coronate Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The Rav used to comment how in Chabad circles Rosh Hashanah was referred to as a Yom Tov of Hachtara of coronation. That's how they referred to the Yom Tov of Rosh Hashanah. That's why the fact that Malchiyos of Rosh Hashanah is to coronate Hakadosh Baruch Hu not simply to acknowledge to recognize Malchus Shamayim that again kavyachol as it were to coronate Hakadosh Baruch Hu that's what underlines the fact that it's a machlokes Tannaim between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Yosi whether or not the pesukim of שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד or the pesukim of

וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי ה' הוא האלהים בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת אין עוד

whether or not they qualify for Malchiyos. It's true that you don't have the word melech. You don't have the word melech. But what what clearer statement could you have of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's sovereignty than to say ה' הוא האלהים בשמים ממעל in the heavens above va'aretz mitachas and in the earth below ein od there's nothing other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu. There couldn't be a clearer recognition or acknowledgment of Malchus Shamayim so the truth is ein hachi nami but the question is but without using the term melech does it also qualify as a statement of coronation or is it just a statement of acknowledgment of recognition? So that's the mitzvah of... But what does that mean when we say אמרו לפני מלכויות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is our Melech? So our immediate association, which is correct, is that Malchus Shamayim certainly implies on the side of Hakadosh Baruch Hu absolute sovereignty and on our side absolute submission. And that certainly is an important element of the theme of Malchuyos. But Malchuyos means more than that. The sefarim explain that the mida or the sefira of Malchus is associated with giluy, with revelation, and that we speak of Malchus Shamayim when Malchus Shamayim is revealed. Interestingly, interestingly, in halacha, so we know that there are many, also the sefarim explain that there are many institutions which we have here which are supposed to give us a little bit of an understanding, allegorically, metaphorically, for concepts having to do with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דרקיעא, that the notion of malchus that we have here amongst people, amongst men, is k'ein, is to give us an idea of what Malchus Shamayim is. There's a very interesting din in Hilchos Melachim. The Gemara in Megillah darshens the pesukim in Sefer Shmuel, right? Remember the story? Dovid sends to Naval, right? And he wants Naval to provide him and his people with provisions, with supplies. And Naval very insultingly spurns Dovid HaMelech, rejects his request and insults him in the process. Dovid HaMelech then proclaims that he's going to go wipe out Naval and his whole camp. So that much is clear in the pesukim. Then the Gemara reconstructs that Avigayil, again also clear in the pesukim, that Avigayil gets wind of this, Naval's wife, she gets wind of this, so she comes to Dovid HaMelech. And she says to Dovid HaMelech, don't kill him, spare him. So Dovid HaMelech tells her he's a mored b'malchus. This is already after Shmuel has anointed Dovid HaMelech, so Dovid HaMelech says I'm a melech, I'm a melech. If a melech tells one of the subjects to do anything, so regardless of what it is, if the melech says bring me a glass of water and one refuses to do it, so then one has the din of a mored b'malchus. Again, reflecting the din of absolute sovereignty which demands absolute submissiveness. So that's what Dovid HaMelech answers Avigayil, it's within my rights to kill him, he's a mored b'malchus. And she says to him that לא יצא טבעך בעולם. Literally, the words mean teva lashon matbeia, that they used to mint coins with the picture or with the name of the king, right? The same way we have George Washington on our dollar bills, so that was always done. And whenever every melech came into power, so then they used to, they used to reject the old coins. There's sugyas in the Gemara about when you have a matbeia shepasleso malchus, that the coin is no longer considered valid currency, now you have a new king, and they used to mint coins. So literally Avigayil is telling him that your coins are not yet in circulation, עדיין לא יצא טבעך בעולם, which means that, yeah, it's true that in private you've already been anointed, but klapei chutz, vis-a-vis the world at large, they don't know you and they don't relate to you as a melech, so your malchus has not yet been established. And therefore the din of mored b'malchus doesn't yet apply. The Rav zichrono livracha quoted from an Abrabanel an interesting based on this, a very interesting insight into the pesukim in Parshas Shoftim. The pesukim in Parshas Shoftim which have the parsha of melech, says that שום תשים עליך מלך, and then it says it has various issurim which apply to the melech, he can't... amass too many horses, he can't amass too much kesef v'zahav. He's limited in terms of the number of wives whom he marries. Good. Another, the Torah says

והיה כשבתו על כסא ממלכתו וכתב לו את משנה התורה הזאת על ספר.

Then v'haya k'shivto when he ascends his throne והיה כשבתו על כסא ממלכתו, then we know the Melech also has a special mitzvas asei that in addition to the mitzvah which everyone has to write one sefer Torah, the Melech has to write a second sefer Torah. So the question is how come the Torah injects this pasuk of v'haya k'shivto before as a preface to the mitzvah of the Melech writing the second sefer Torah? So Rav Velvel suggested based on this Gemara in Megillah that apparently the psukim are telling us that the mitzvah of ksivas sefer Torah which the Melech has is also a function of yatza tivo ba'olam. It's only when v'haya k'shivto, when his malchus is consolidated and revealed, so then he has a full-fledged din Melech and for whatever reason the Torah says that his mitzvah of writing a second sefer Torah hinges on that v'haya k'shivto, unlike the mitzvos lo sa'asei. Be that as it may, so even in malchusa d'ara, even in the notion of kingship just here between men, we have this notion that malchus implies a sense of gilluy. And that's what the sefarim say that when we speak of Malchus Shamayim, malchus Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we're not simply talking about an objective fact, but we're talking about that fact which is nisgaleh, which is revealed. But even more than that, if malchus connotes gilluy, if when we talk about Malchus Shamayim it means that Malchus Shamayim has been revealed, so when there's a revelation, so that creates a proximity, a closeness, an immediacy, which otherwise doesn't exist. And therefore the bechina of malchus, when we talk about אמרו לפני מלכויות כדי שתמליכוני עליכם, what malchuyos again ultimately represents is not only that we should submit to Hakadosh Baruch Hu's sovereignty, but that there should be this sense of immediacy, of proximity, of closeness between ourselves and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And that is an integral part of malchus because malchus means gilluy, it means when Hakadosh Baruch Hu reveals himself. When

ראתה שפחה על הים מה שלא ראה יחזקאל בן בוזי,

zeh Keili v'anveihu, again there was a sense of vividness, of closeness, of proximity, of immediacy, and that's what malchus consists of. Malchusecha rau vanecha. When we change in the third bracha, Hakeil Hakadosh to Hamelech Hakadosh, so the truth is that we're expressing this same theme. My father zichrono livracha used to comment that it seems like a slight change. Zochreinu l'chayim, we're adding a whole two lines to the Shmoneh Esrei. Say nothing of בספר חיים ברכה ושלום, that's a really major change or addition. So he used to say the truth is this slight change, the word of Hakeil Hakadosh, changing that phrase to Hamelech Hakadosh, is the most drastic and dramatic change that we make in the Shmoneh Esrei. Why is that? Because what is the bracha of Atah Kadosh concluding ברוך אתה ה' קל הקדוש? What does that bracha express all year long? When we say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is Hakeil Hakadosh, so kedusha again Rashi tells us that for us it means kedoshim tihyu, that kadosh means to be removed. Right? That's what kedusha means in the beginning of Parshas Kedoshim. Rashi says it means perushim tihyu. So Rashi says it means specifically with regard to illicit relationships, arayos. And the Ramban says no, it means perushim tihyu in a broader sense, in a broader sense from the whole range of gluttonous activities. But it means to be withdrawn. It means to be withdrawn. So what does it mean when we speak of Hakadosh Baruch Hu as being kadosh? It means that we say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is transcendent, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is beyond us. That's what we say when we say אתה קדוש ושמך קדוש ברוך אתה ה' קל הקדוש. You're transcendent. You're beyond us. Soveiv kol almin. When we come and make this little change, this little change, Hakeil Hakadosh to Hamelech Hakadosh, we say that now in Aseres Yemei... from Rosh Hashana to Yom HaKippurim, so it's true you're transcendent, it's true you're Kadosh, it's true that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is מקומו של עולם ואין העולם מקומו, that the world exists within HaKadosh Baruch Hu, HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't exist within the world. He's beyond the world, he exceeds, he surpasses the world. All that notwithstanding, but nevertheless, during this time of year, there's a revelation that you who are so transcendent, during this time of year we know you, we know you intimately, you're ha-Melech ha-Kadosh. And that's what the significance of that again slight, seemingly slight change is from ha-E-l ha-Kadosh to ha-Melech ha-Kadosh. So Malchuyot doesn't only mean coronating a king to whom one then owes absolute, absolute obedience because he's the absolute sovereign, but it also means that that malchut should be nisgala, to have a giluy of malchut, to have a revelation of malchut means to have a close, intimate, immediate relationship. And that is that all of that is entailed by Malchuyot. Now the Rambam in a very famous passage in Hilchot Teshuva when the Rambam describes the remarkable transformation which is brought about by teshuva, so the Rambam says

כמה מעולה מעלת התשובה. אמש היה זה מובדל מהשם אלוקי ישראל,

that just last night, as recently as last night before doing teshuva, so this person was distant, he was alienated from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. tzo'ek she-ne'emar עונותיכם היו מבדילים ביניכם לבין אלוקיכם. Your sins created barriers between you and HaKadosh Baruch Hu. tzo'ek v'eino na'ana, when he would cry out HaKadosh Baruch Hu wouldn't respond. עושה מצוות וטורפין אותן בפניו, when he would perform mitzvot, again in some kind of inconsistency which is all too familiar to us, עושה מצוות וטורפין אותן בפניו, the mitzvot would be ripped up in his face. veHayom, says the Rambam, hu medubak bashchina. Today, again, just last night it was אמש היה זה מובדל מהשם אלוקי ישראל, separate, remote, alienated, veHayom hu medubak bashchina. Today he clings, he cleaves to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, שנאמר ואתם הדבקים בהשם אלוקיכם, tzo'ek v'na'ana miyad, עושה מצוות ומקבלין אותן בנחת ובשמחה. So the Rambam here tells us what the essence of chet is. The essence of chet means it imposes distance between us and HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That's what the definition of chet is. אמש היה זה מובדל מהשם אלוקי ישראל שנאמר avonoteichem hayu mavdilim. chet, when a person is choteh and he's metamei himself, so he thereby distances himself from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. He alienates himself from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Or in other words, chet is the antithesis of Malchuyot. Malchuyot again implies proximity to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, closeness, intimacy to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That's what Malchuyot means. chet is אמש היה זה מובדל, avonoteichem hayu mavdilim. chet is the antithesis. אין לך תרתי דסתרי גדול מזה between chet and Malchuyot. So how do we resolve that stira, that contradiction between our chata'im and Malchuyot? So on Rosh Hashana we're silent. On Rosh Hashana we can't mention chet because it's a day of Malchuyot, a day of hachtara. There's no viduy in the Seder HaTefilla on Rosh Hashana. we're not allowed to be mitvadeh on Rosh Hashana. Again because it's a stira, it's the antithesis of Malchuyot. The Arizal says that you even have to eliminate אבינו מלכנו חטאנו לפניך, even even that indirect, it's not really intended as as a viduy, it's not really intended so much as a viduy, but even that has to be eliminated according to the Arizal. Now as we move onward in the Aseret Yemei Teshuva, so the Rema writes in

סימן תרכג, יש לכל אדם לחפש ולפשפש. יש לכל אדם לחפש ולפשפש במעשיו ולשוב מהם בעשרת ימי תשובה.

The Rema says we're all required to scrutinize our actions and to be chozer b'teshuvah during Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. So according to what we've been discussing, the Rema here is not just giving us an eitzah tovah. Listen, listen Reb Yid, the Yom HaDin is memashmesh u'ba and as of Yom Kippur, the din is going to be nechtam, so chus al nafshacha. Yeah, he's saying that also. Don't squander the opportunity, but this Rema means more than that. The Rema says all week long you say in Shemoneh Esrei ברוך אתה השם המלך הקדוש that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is being misgaleh because He wants to be close with us. So malchiyus is mechayev in teshuvah. The process of malchiyus, the experience of malchiyus which begins to unfold on Rosh Hashanah, we coronate HaKadosh Baruch Hu, so malchiyus also implies intimacy. The intimacy is only possible if we're chozer b'teshuvah because avonoseichem hayu mavdilim אמש היה זה מרוחק מהשם אלוקי ישראל. Hence the malchiyus, the mitzvas malchiyus of Aseres Yimei Teshuvah is malchiyus is mechayev in teshuvah. The Rambam writes, again in Perek Beis of Hilchos Teshuvah, it's the following halachah to the one we've been discussing until now.

יום הכיפורים הוא זמן תשובה לכל ליחיד ולרבים והוא קץ מחילה וסליחה לישראל.

Yom HaKippurim is a time of teshuvah for all, individually and collectively, v'hu keitz, it's the keitz of mechilah uslichah of forgiveness for Yisrael. So what does keitz mean? So the Rambam lichora was prompted by a similar phrase that we have in the Shemoneh Esrei of Neilah.

ותתן לנו השם אלוקינו באהבה את יום הכיפורים הזה קץ מחילה וסליחה על כל עוונותינו.

Right? You, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, lovingly gave us this day of Yom HaKippurim which is the keitz of mechilah uslichah of forgiveness for all our sins. So what does keitz mean? So keitz has two meanings. Keitz can mean time, time. And that's how the machzor I have in front of me translates it. It translates this phrase of keitz mechilah uslichah into Hebrew as zman mechilah uslichah. But we also know that keitz means the end, right? ויהי מקץ שנתיים ימים. Keitz also means the end. And it's entirely possible that what we mean in the Seder HaTefillah and what the Rambam means, again, he just used the word zman. Okay, so maybe a good stylist varies his vocabulary. We try not to repeat the same word. No, but maybe the Rambam, it's not just a question of variation of words, maybe the Rambam means that Yom HaKippurim represents the culmination. Yom HaKippurim represents the culmination because ultimately to fully realize the malchiyus which begins on Rosh Hashanah, we have to attain mechilah uslichah. We have to consolidate again all the opportunities and all the avodah of Aseres Yimei Teshuvah and Yom HaKippurim is a climax. It's not just a day, Yom HaKippurim is a climax. There's a whole process which has been unfolding from Rosh Hashanah which begins with hachtarah, with coronation. But coronation, hachtarah, then also implies the immediacy, hence the malchiyus of Aseres Yimei Teshuvah, the avodah of teshuvah to remove those barriers of avonoseichem hayu mavdilim and Yom HaKippurim is a keitz, it's a climax, it's a culmination of these ten days. And maybe that's the pshat that the sofa yom is mechaper because Yom Kippur doesn't stand in isolation as a day of kaparah. Yom HaKippurim as a day of kaparah is the climax, is the culmination of Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. Keitz mechilah uslichah, it's the climax, it's the culmination when the malchiyus which begins on Rosh Hashanah is fully realized, is fully accomplished because we're worthy to receive the kaparah and then there's nothing being mavdil beineinu l'vein Elokeinu. והיום הוא מדובק בשכינה שנאמר ואתם הדבקים בהשם אלוקיכם. But let's try to understand this a little bit more, this progression of malchiyus from... progression of malchuyos from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippurim through Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. In the Shemoneh Esrei every day, in the second bracha we say melech meimis u’mechayeh, right? We describe Hakadosh Baruch Hu as melech and in that context we say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is meimis rachmana litzlan. He he puts to death and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mechayeh and Hakadosh Baruch Hu sustains, Hakadosh Baruch Hu endows with life. So there are two bechinos. There’s a manifestation of malchus, it’s an act of malchus for the melech to decree death. In Hilchos Brachos there’s a din that when you see a melech so you make a bracha, you make a bracha. So the question is let’s say if you see the President of the United States or something do you make a bracha? So many rabbanim say that you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t make a bracha. So first of all they say if it’s someone you can throw a tomato at, so what kind of melech is that? But even more than that, even more than that that the definition of a melech is b’yado l’hamis u’l’hachyos. So it’s true that the President can pardon, so on a certain level it’s b’yado l’hachyos, but there’s no din of b’yado l’hamis by a President. So there’s a bechina of melech that melech meimis and then there’s another element, another manifestation of malchus of mechayeh and both of these are necessary in order to be a melech. Simply the same way lacking the authority l’hamis is an indication that he’s not truly a melech, so too not being mechayeh, not providing life, not granting life is also a shortcoming in melucha. Melech requires melech meimis u’mechayeh. Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu kavyachol, kavyachol wants to be our melech. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to be our melech. On Rosh Hashanah our involvement in malchuyos is that we coronate him. Having coronated him the b’yado l’hamis doesn’t require our involvement. That’s unilateral. Hakadosh Baruch Hu without our help, without our input has the status, has that partial status of melech of b’yado l’hamis. But we pasken not like Rebbi, we pasken like the Chachamim that Yom HaKippurim is only mechaper lashavim. Yom HaKippurim is only mechaper. A person is only deserving of life, of the kaparah of Yom HaKippurim and hence continued life if he does teshuvah. So what emerges is that the element, the manifestation of malchus of Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s kingship that b’yado l’hachyos, yeah of course he has that power on his own, but nevertheless in order for Hakadosh Baruch Hu to act on it, in order for Hakadosh Baruch Hu to be able to implement that b’yado l’hachyos, he doesn’t need our permission, we don’t give him the ability, but he needs our cooperation kavyachol. The Malbim explains in a couple of places in his Sefer Artzos HaChayim and then in his peirush in Tehillim what does it mean when we say Baruch Atah Hashem? Right? We say a hundred times a day Baruch Atah Hashem, Baruch Atah Hashem. The obvious difficulty in Baruch Atah Hashem is we know when you give someone a bracha it means you’re giving him something, right? So we all run to gedolim, to tzaddikim to get a bracha. They’re giving us something, they’re giving us something, and that’s what it means to give a bracha. And to be nisbareich means to receive a bracha. So how can one speak of being mevareich Hakadosh Baruch Hu? How can one speak of being mevareich Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is kol yachol? Hakadosh Baruch Hu is eternal, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omniscient, so how can you be mevareich Hakadosh Baruch Hu? So some say that when we say Baruch about Hakadosh Baruch Hu we mean that we recognize him as the source of bracha. That’s what it means, source of bracha. Others say that Baruch in this context means praised. It doesn’t mean blessed but really praised and the correct translation of Baruch Atah Hashem... Mehulal ata. בכל יום אברכך ואהללה שמך לעולם ועד assuming that there's a parallelism in that pasuk between avarchaka and ahallela, I'll praise You. So Baruch means Mehulal. So those are two pshatim one finds in the Rishonim. The Malbim and others say now that actually when we speak of bracha, we're really maintaining the same understanding of bracha that we have in other contexts. Taka to give someone a bracha means to give them something. How can you say that, isn't that blasphemy to say that about HaKadosh Baruch Hu that we're being mevarech HaKadosh Baruch Hu? So the Malbim elaborates on a phrase which the Chachmei HaSod have, the Ramban has it in his peirush al haTorah of tzorach gavo'ah. Tzorach gavo'ah, the Ramban has a phrase in the peirush al haTorah that our avoda is tzorach gavo'ah, the kavyachol it's what Hashem above needs, kavyachol, kavyachol. So what does it mean? So the Malbim explains that there's one thing for which HaKadosh Baruch Hu needs our cooperation. HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants to be mevarech us. HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants to bestow kol milei demitiv, all kinds, He wants to shower us with blessings and with bounty. HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that's what HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants to do, but we have to allow Him to do it in the sense that we have to be worthy. And in that sense we're taka mevarech es Hashem. And in that sense in making ourselves worthy, somewhat worthy as it were to receive HaKadosh Baruch Hu's bracha, in that sense we mevarechim him. So there's a similar thing which happens in the Malchiyos between Rosh Hashanah and Yom HaKippurim. Our involvement in the Malchiyos in Rosh Hashanah is lehamlicheini aleichem, we coronate HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Beyado lehamis doesn't require our cooperation. It doesn't require our participation. But beyado lehachayos does. Beyado lehachayos is a function of our attaining kappara. Yom HaKippurim is only mechaper lashavim. It's a function of our gaining atonement and that atonement is only forthcoming to people who have done teshuvah, to complete and to close the circle of malchiyos, to make HaKadosh Baruch Hu again befoal, not just potentially but actually Melech Memis Umechayeh again to the maximum degree possible. So again the malchiyos is mechayiv us in teshuvah that we should be able to attain that kappara, therefore again completing the malchiyos of Melech Memis Umechayeh. Certainly the notion that kavyachol Malchus Shamayim hinges, Melech Memis Umechayeh, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu should be misgaleh as

מלך מוחל וסולח לעוונותינו ולעוונות עמו בית ישראל ומעביר אשמותינו,

that hinges upon us, that depends upon our cooperation, is at the same time tremendously energizing and at the same time terrifying. It's an awesome and sacred duty that we have during this time of darshu Hashem behimatzo when HaKadosh Baruch Hu knocks on our door to respond. And that's true every year Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, על אחת כמה וכמה when that knock is louder than ever, when that knock is magnified as it were through a megaphone of all the tzaros and all the yisurim which are also a call to teshuvah, also a call to rip down the barriers of עוונותיכם היו מבדילים ביניכם ובין אלוהיכם. The sins which create barriers between us and HaKadosh Baruch Hu, when there's a tzara so that's a call, a trumpet call that there are barriers and that those barriers have to be torn down. May HaKadosh Baruch Hu give us the sensitivity, give us the koach, הבא ליטהר מסייעין אותו, to be chozer beteshuvah sheleimah to be zoche. To be zoche bechlal uvifrat to a gmar chasima tova.