The Avodah of Rosh Hashanah: Malchios and Simchah

Topics

• Malchios on Rosh Hashanah
• Ein Melech B'loyom
• What “Ein Melech B'loyom” Means
• Hallel on Rosh Hashanah
• Two Types of Simchah
• Yismechu b’malchuscha
• Simcha, Malchus, and Rosh Hashanah
• The approach to shofar and yiras haDin
• Tekias Shofar and the Approach of the Gaon
• Crying on Rosh Hashanah
• Simchah in the Rambam and the Chafetz Chaim
• Hakaras Ha-melech and Simcha
• The Rambam on Including the Needy
• Manos, Aniyim, and Simchah
• The Connection to Simchah and Achdus
• Simcha and Recognition of Malchus

Transcript

# Malchios on Rosh Hashanah

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Rosh Hashanah is approaching, and it is worth speaking a little about the avodah of Rosh Hashanah. What is the avodah of Rosh Hashanah? If you ask anyone, he will tell you: Malchios. The Ribbono Shel Olam is Melech HaOlam; we are mamlich HaKadosh Baruch Hu as Melech HaOlam. It is a Gemara in Rosh Hashanah. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah tells us clearly, on daf tez-vav amud beis, that Amar HaKadosh Baruch Hu: on Rosh Hashanah we have to say Malchios. And through our saying of Malchios, we are proclaiming the Ribbono Shel Olam as Melech HaOlam.

We have asked this in the past, and before I speak about it, what is the lashon of Chazal? Through our saying of Malchios, we are proclaiming the Ribbono Shel Olam as Melech HaOlam. What is the hadgash, the emphasis, in the Gemara?

We have said in the past that a person can be mamlich HaKadosh Baruch Hu over the whole world, and yet not over himself. A person can speak about the Ribbono Shel Olam being Melech, that He is the King, and when it comes to himself, he is missing the Malchios. So Chazal are emphasizing: you, yourself. A person wakes up in the morning and goes to work. Throughout the day, is he mamlich the Ribbono Shel Olam? Does he remember the Ribbono Shel Olam, or is it only when he comes home at night? A person has to be mamlich HaKadosh Baruch Hu, not only that He is the Melech HaOlam, but that He is the Melech over himself.

This year I would like to add, and of course Malchios is a big ענין, with many dimensions and many different inyanim included in Malchios, and in the chiyuv of Malchios on Rosh Hashanah. So, if Hashem wills, today we will say another derech: what is the pshat, what is the hadgash, the hisofah of Aleichem? I think perhaps we can say the following derech.

I was thinking about it: there are two dinim, if we may borrow the term of Rav Chaim, two dinim in Malchios. There are two parts to Malchios. One is the Melech, but there is another part to Malchios: it is about the am. It is about who the Melech is over. A melech b’lo am—the Ribbono Shel Olam is a Melech because He has an am. Without an am, there is no melech.

Therefore there are two things. It is not enough just to speak about the Ribbono Shel Olam as Malchus; rather, there is another nekudah as well, another inyan, another chelek of the avodah, and that is Aleichem—the am part, the Klal Yisrael chelek, shetamlichuni. The person is a king, ...

# Ein Melech B'loyom

King over where? Over what? It is “Shetam lichuni.” The Ribbono Shel Olam also seeks the aleich and the am. “Ein melech b'loyom” — the Ribbono Shel Olam is a melech because He has an am, like Klal Yisrael. “Shetam lichuni” is the avodah, the chelek of the avodah. And the second part, which is zeh v'zeh gorem, is the aleichem, the chelek of the am.

This is well known, or at least mussar sefarim bring it out. The Mashgiach zatzal mentioned it in all the shmuessen in the yeshivah. Then in Kelim there was a sign put up. As the Yamim Noraim approached, the sign read: “Ein melech b'loyom.” In Kelim, few words were spoken. In Kelim, the avodah was to speak less, and every word should have meaning.

The Mashgiach zatzal told me that his best friend in Kelim was Rabbi Daniel Meshovetz, the famous Rabbi Daniel. He was his roommate. The Mashgiach told me: I never said two words to him. We never spoke. But we were best friends. For us, that is almost beyond comprehension. But the avodah of Kelim was “Ein melech b'loyom” — in a few short words, to take in and grasp yesodos of emunah, yiras Shamayim, and Yiddishkeit.

So the Alter from Kelim chose to bring the whole avodah of the Yamim Noraim in a few words: “Ein melech b'loyom.” Four words. What was the shmuess in those four words? What did he mean? And of course, it has a lot to do with what we are speaking about. It is not only about the malchus of the Ribbono Shel Olam, but about the aleichem as well — “Ein melech b'loyom.”

## What “Ein Melech B'loyom” Means

Now let us discuss what it means, what “Ein melech b'loyom” means. What is our avodah in working on “Ein melech b'loyom”? Let us begin, rabosai, with the pasuk. It is the pasuk in Nechemiah. Klal Yisrael was fearful of the Yom HaDin. Nechemiah Ezras Kohen HaMevinah says in the pasuk in Nechemiah: tell them not to fear, not to be in a state of atzvus. They tell the people, “HaYom kadosh hu laHashem Elokeichem” — it is referring to Rosh Hashanah. It happened on Rosh Hashanah. Today is kadosh. They heard and they realized it was Rosh Hashanah, so they were scared.

The pasuk continues: to send portions to those for whom these portions were not prepared. Soon we will explain what that means, what it is referring to. You have to be happy. The fact that you are together with the Ribbono Shel Olam — that is your strength. That should make you happy.

Now what is the pshat? The simple pshat is that it is a day of simcha, a day of pasuk. What do we do, rabbeinu shel olam, with the famous Rambam? The Rambam says:

# Hallel on Rosh Hashanah

That we do not say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. Why do we not say Hallel on every Yom Tov, if one is supposed to say Hallel? It is like the Rambam, because these are not Yemei Simchah; they are Yemei Din uPachad. It is not a problem. This passage is telling us not to be afraid. If so, go out and be happy.

So what do you do with the Rambam? What do you do with the pasuk? There is a mefurash pasuk. How could you explain that we should not be saying Hallel on Rosh Hashanah, because it says Yemei Din uPachad ve’einam Yemei Simchah, and the law of the Rambam is simchah yeseirah?

Maybe we can work it out a little. Can I say that the pasuk wants us to go out and be happy, to eat and drink. That is not this Rambam. When the Rambam says that it is not Yemei Simchah yeseirah, but Yemei Pachad ve’einam, and because of that we do not say Hallel, what does he do with this pasuk?

# Two Types of Simchah

There are two types of simchah. There is simchah, when a person enjoys himself, like Purim, for example. The guf enjoys. And then there is a simchah that is not of the guf, like Chanukah. Then there is another level, rabosai. It is called simchah that is ruchniyus. It is completely a simchah that is ruchniyus. It is not even a simchah gashmiyus. It is a simchah that is not what we think and understand simchah to be.

Soon I will explain to you, rabosai, that only a Yid can be margish and understand, and have an havanah in what this simchah is. You know there is simchah, and there is simchah yeseirah. What is simchah? What is simchah yeseirah? What does that mean? A person can be happy, but is he really happy? A person can dance at a chasunah. Is he happy? Yes, he is happy. Is he truly happy? We have all the books that are written today about what is called true happiness.

# Yismechu b’malchuscha

So I will tell you what true happiness is. We say it every day, every Shabbos and Havdalah: Yismechu b’malchuscha. We say yismechu. A Yid’s simchah is b’malchuscha, the Ribono Shel Olam is Malchus. It is starting to form a little bit of a picture. And we say every Shabbos, Yismechu b’malchuscha. There is a whole Sfas Emes, not on Yismechu, but that there is a chiyuv to be b’simchah. And on Rosh Hashanah, because of the Malchus of the Ribono Shel Olam, b’simchah of simchah. In Rosh Hashanah, the year Tov Reish Samech Aleph, he speaks there briefly.

This yesod of simchah on Rosh Hashanah is based on the Malchus. But actually we say it clearly: Yismechu b’malchuscha. What is that simchah? I heard—not from a talmid of Rav Hutner zatzal; I think I never even met him—but I heard from his talmidim that he had a big sign in his room with these beautiful poetic words of the Chazon Ish in one of his igros: Lemi shemakir oros ha’emes. To be makir emes, to be makir metzius—why we are here, what the world is for, the purpose of the world, the purpose of creation, and the purpose of tachlis ha’adam—that brings true simchah. Lemi shemakir oros ha’emes.

# Simcha, Malchus, and Rosh Hashanah

That havanah, that hakarah, that understanding, is called simcha. It is called malchus. It is called Rosh Hashanah. The strength, the happiness, is together with the Ribono Shel Olam—that is simcha. The hakarah, the recognition, the understanding that the Ribono Shel Olam is Melech ha’olam—that is the basis of simchah by a Yid. And it is the ikar of the simchah of Rosh Hashanah: "Yismechu b’malchuscha."

So avad, these are yemei pachad, yemei din. It is not the yemei simcha in the way we understand simcha. It is not the simcha we have on Purim, and it is not the simcha we have on Chanukah. It is a simcha that goes hand in hand with gil b’ra’adah. Gil means happiness; b’ra’adah means fear. It is two sides of one coin. Hakaras haMelech is fear: "Yismechu b’ra’adah v’din." But at the same time, it is also a unique kind of simcha. It is a simcha called, "Ki chedvas Hashem hi ma’uzchem."

It is a different type of simcha. It has to be with a kippah. It has to be understood; it has to be developed properly. It is not simply, “I am going out to be b’simcha,” like another Yom Tov. It is a simcha of understanding, of hakarah, of malchus of the Ribono Shel Olam.

# The approach to shofar and yiras haDin

You know, Rabbi Esaias, there is a very big machlokes, l’maaseh, about the approach we should have for ki yashfer. Most places, most people feel an intense fear, almost a gloom, of the oncoming pachad v’din when you blow shofar. Shofar is a man of pachad; when you talk about shofar, you talk about fear.

This year something caught my eye. In Sefer Avodas HaTefillah—I think it is Rabbi Birnbaum from Pesach—there is a very beautiful explanation, a peirush on the tefillos. He brings a very interesting thing there. He is giving us to understand and to see what was ki yashfer. I was able to see the intense fear on his face. And what was his sichah? What did he tell us before blowing shofar? He broke down with tremendous crying and tears. He read over the letter from Yisrael Salanter, the seventh letter, "Ki yashfer," who weighs din. You have to feel like the Kohen Gadol going into the Kodesh HaKodashim, and that is the measure and intensity of the fear when you come to ki yashfer. How great it is to see, to understand, the depth of the fear of the Melech that they had—the pachad, like the Kohen Gadol going into the Kodesh HaKodashim.

And he concludes: this is what we saw by the Rosh Yeshiva, reverend. Okay, let us rewind a little bit in history and see how it was by the Gaon. How did the Gaon react to ki yashfer? What was his zugang to ki yashfer?

# Tekias Shofar and the Approach of the Gaon

Now, time does not allow us to go through all the reasons for Tekias Shofar. There are ten of them, brought in the Haggadah for Tekias Shofar and in every old machzor. The Gaon, interestingly, did not approach Tekias Shofar in that way. He chose a different reason for Tekias Shofar, and for him that was the avodah of Tekias Shofar: *u-teruas Melech boi*.

What is the lashon of *teruah*? *Re’us*. It is a joyful call. Tekias Shofar is almost like a philharmonic, an instrument of music. Tekias Shofar is *teruas Melech*: a trumpet announcing the Melech, announcing the coming of the King. Here comes the King.

This is brought in *Keser Rosh*, the siddur of the Gaon. Rabbeinu was very happy with Tekias Shofar; the Gaon was ecstatic about Tekias Shofar. He writes that one must be with great simchah and *chedvah*. Not with bitterness, not with tears, but with tremendous simchah and tremendous happiness, *chedvah*. Remember the lashon of Rav Yisrael: *chedvah tza’aseh muzachah*. It is like the state on the day when they proclaim the national king, the inauguration day. That is what he says.

According to the Gaon, on Tekias Shofar we are *mamlich* the Kadosh Baruch Hu over all the worlds, and we cry that we should be with Him in this world as well. On the day when He is the Melech, *malchus* is *mechayev simchah*. There are, then, two approaches to Tekias Shofar.

# Crying on Rosh Hashanah

There is an interesting lashon in *Ma’aseh Rav*. The Gaon says, *ein lifkos b’Rosh Hashanah*. One is not even allowed to cry on Rosh Hashanah. Everyone knows that this is not the usual approach. *Mateh Ephraim* brings from the Ari that whoever does not cry on Rosh Hashanah, *ein nafsho sheleimah*. The *Mateh Ephraim*, and then the *Mishnah Berurah* as well, clearly say that one has to cry; someone who does not cry, something is lacking in him. The Gaon said otherwise: *ein lifkos b’Rosh Hashanah*.

Why? Because of the Rosh Hashanah pasuk. How typical. They were told not to cry. We just learned that Ezra told the people, *al tit’atzvu*. What is the peshat? That they should sing the Kaddish. People think it is a Chassidishe thing; it is not. It is the Gaon. The Kaddish has to be sung in a march. It is happiness. *Al tit’atzvu*, said the Gaon. A completely different approach.

# Simchah in the Rambam and the Chafetz Chaim

I would like to show you an interesting Rambam. The Rambam explains what simchah is. We just learned it in the pesukim, in last week’s parashah, *tachas*. The Rambam says, as you all know, that avodas Hashem and doing mitzvos is simchah. But the Rambam adds that part of that simchah is not only the simchah of doing mitzvos; it is the mitzvah itself. Simchah means that I understand that what I am doing is connected to something bigger than just the act itself. It is the Ribbono shel Olam; it is the Melech who is metzaveh.

You know, Rebbe, as I always tell you, the words of the Chafetz Chaim move my soul. I saw almost word for word what we spoke, without all the mareh mekomos. A few words of the Chafetz Chaim in his beautiful mashal in *Sha’ar HaTevunah*, chelek beis. The Chafetz Chaim says that we have fallen so far from human emotion. The lashon of the Chafetz Chaim in *Sha’ar HaTevunah* is that we are missing regular, normal feeling. We have become numb to what normal people feel.

# Hakaras Ha-melech and Simcha

Would feel under normal circumstances. What is he referring to? He says to the Chafetz Chaim: I’ll give you a mashal. Could you imagine if the king sends you a telegram and wants to meet you, and he says, “I’d like to meet you in the White House”? Beautiful—so beautiful, so posh, yet so deep. And he would ask you three times a day to come to the White House, not once but three times. And every time he would tell you to come, he would say, “I would like you to talk to me directly. Don’t talk through my aides.” And everything you say is so important to me that I’m going to write it down and keep it with me wherever I go. I’ll keep it together with me in my memoirs, and everything you do when you go home to me I’ll recount it, look at it, and take pleasure in it.

Could you imagine the photo op? Could you imagine when a guy would come back and plaster his walls with this? Ah, you saw the king. The Chafetz Chaim didn’t talk about plastering the walls and photo ops, you understand? All right? Did you imagine the pride and the happiness, and I don’t even know all the verbs you could put in there? We take this all for granted. The king is asking, he’s asking, and it doesn’t mean anything to us. He says we lost the normal feeling, the normal hergesh, but a normal person should have it: hakaras ha-melech. Hakaras ha-melech is a tremendous simcha.

# The Rambam on Including the Needy

The Rambam, in many places, speaks that this simcha is mechayev a person to think about others and to care for others and to care for the needy. In two or three places, in Hilchos Yom Tov and Hilchos Megillah, he says that if someone does simcha, simchas Yom Tov, without including those who are less fortunate, those who are needy, that is not called simcha, says the Rambam. Interesting. Why is it connected to simcha? Why does the Rambam feel that there is a kesher, a connection, between the simcha—which the Rambam says is simchas ha-mitzvah—and what we call simcha, taking care of the downtrodden? What is the connection?

It’s interesting: we even use a lashon here, v’shilach manos. The pasuk says clearly, yes, there is a mitzvah with them, v’shilach manos. Who is that? Rashi says clearly that the v’shilach manos is what’s going on down here: v’shilach manos, he doesn’t have what to eat. I think there is a baag, if I’m not mistaken, that the Rambam is from here, that when you go out to be b’simcha, Ezra is teaching us that it has to be with manos, la’einachum lo yitdion.

Okay, it’s a Rambam. I have a kasha about this. I always bother with this kasha: so why is it v’shilach manos? Why are you sending manos? Doesn’t the Rambam, in all those halachos where he talks about simcha and aniyim, talk about bringing the ani to your house and feeding him at your table? Doesn’t the Rambam speak...

# Manos, Aniyim, and Simchah

He does not bring in the aniyim. That is not called simchah. So why does the pasuk, why is Ezra instructing them, “shilchu manos”? Why not invite them into your house? The aniyim—you send them packages. The greater mitzvah would seem to be, “l’einoch hayloi,” to bring them into your home. What happened to “Mishaneh dalti besai”? You are not supposed to close your home. You are supposed to have a tish for all the aniyim in your house. So why is the pasuk saying to send manos l’einoch hayloi?

This is actually another Gemara in Beitzah. The Gemara in Beitzah, daf Peh-Vav, amud Beis, says: what is called “l’einoch hayloi”? The Gemara says that “l’einoch hayloi” means not necessarily the aniyim. According to the Gemara, it is your friend. Your friend does not have a proper Shabbos seudah; he does not have a warm meal, so to speak. Ezra is concerned that when you are mesamei’ach badir neshdu mit a gud suda, it is not the aniyim. It is, as the Gemara says, Erev Tavshilin—someone who did not leave Erev Tavshilin, someone who is not even able to prepare the seudah.

# The Connection to Simchah and Achdus

Why is that the concern? How is it connected to simchah? The teretz could be as follows. Simchah means the keli that tzivah the Rabbeinu Shel Olam, the melech—the melech who is the metzaveh. “Ein melech b’loi am.” The Rabbeinu Shel Olam is not only concerned about the melech; He is also concerned that there should be am, because “ein melech b’loi am.” And I quote the words of the Mashgiach, zatzal, who learned up the letter that was on the wall of Kelm, “ein melech b’loi am,” exactly the way we explained it.

This is malchiyus. The Mashgiach, zatzal, explains—what does that mean? That is one of the peshatim the Mashgiach says, in a few beautiful, eloquent words, capturing in Kelm what malchiyus is: a melech needs an am. And if there is machlokes, if there is no achdus, there is no am.

Yes, but according to the peshat of the Gemara, it is not your chaver, not your friend, who needs a good meal because of achdus. And for the same reason that on Purim we are marbeh b’achdus, “ein melech b’loi am.” According to many—and I do not want to be marich too much, because I really want to come to a conclusion—a chelek of the simchah on Purim is the ribui ha’achdus. The fact that we do peulos to create achdus brings out simchah on Purim, and that is where simchah comes from. The pasuk says it clearly, and therefore a chelek of the simchah brings it together: simchah. That is why the Rambam brings it together, that is why the Rambam brings it together, that is why the Rambam brings it together. Ein melech!

# Simcha and Recognition of Malchus

Simcha means hakara, recognizing that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the Melech. If we notice this, it will come to an end.

I always wondered about another expression we say. It appears twice. We begin, “Ki anu amecha ve’Atah Elokeinu,” and then after a few other expressions of “anu,” we say, “Anu amecha ve’Atah Malkeinu.” What are the two “anu amecha”s?

The answer is that “Anu amecha ve’Atah Elokeinu” refers to one din, and “Anu amecha ve’Atah Malkeinu” refers to another. It is a beautiful hakaras ha-tov. Every year I look at it and say to myself: we are saying something here. There are two dinim in the “anu amecha.” One is that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is Elokeinu, and there is another “anu amecha” — “ve’Atah Malkeinu.”

This becomes the avodah of “ki yedei shetamrichuni aleichem,” the need of aleichem of Klal Yisrael, in order that there should be malchus. Take the opportunity, Rabbi Yisrael, to be mardechtis, to ask mechilah one from the other, and we should come as “anu amecha ve’Atah Malkeinu.” That is the koach of malchus.