The King and I

                    The Karliner Rebbe would serve as Chazan on Rosh Hashana morning and lead the congregation for Shacharit. One year, he began the special tune that prefaces Shacharit. As he said the word “Hamelech” (Birnbaum Machzor page 169) he fainted. It took a while before he came to and was able to continue with the service. Afterwards, his Chasidim asked him what had happened.

                    The Rebbe replied by recounting the story from Tractate Gittin pg 56a.

    The story is set during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem, and the situation was dire. The city’s food supply was severely compromised due to fires started by insurgents. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai snuck out of the city in a casket in an attempt to secure temporary relief for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. When he reached the Roman military camp, he went to see the general Vespasian. Rabbi Yochanan prefaced his appeal by saying “Peace be Upon You oh King, Peace be Upon You oh King”.

    General Vespasian replied in anger, “Your speech has made you liable for death on two accounts. Firstly, I am not a king- and you are mocking me by calling me such. Secondly, if I am indeed the king, why have you not come to visit me sooner to plead on behalf of your people?”

                    Rabbi Yochanan responded to Vespasian’s first reprimand by explaining that the day would come soon when the general would indeed be king. Although Rabbi Yochanan attempted to counter the second critique, ultimately the Gemara tells us “Ishtik” – Rabbi Yochanan was silent. He had no persuasive reason to support his delay in approaching and beseeching the king.

                    “It was the thought of this story that made me faint”, explained the Karliner Rebbe. For if Rabbi Yochanan had to concede defeat, and could not offer a compelling reason for not approaching the human king sooner, certainly our guilt is much greater for not optimizing our opportunities to approach Hashem, the King of all kings.”

                    The central theme of Rosh Hashana is that G-d is King. He owns exclusive sovereignty over creation. I don’t know about you, but when I hear reference to a king, I assume that it is in regards to a far-off place or a far-off time.

                    It used to be that Jews lived in places that were ruled by kings. On Rosh Hashana they were able to relate to what it was like to stand before royalty. Perhaps they or a family member had once met or saw the king. There might have been a story that circulated throughout the village about a person who had an audience with the king. Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe explains that this real life knowledge and experience of monarchy was a blessing.  It made appreciating G-d as King on Rosh Hashana familiar and more accessible. If people know what the position of king and royalty entail, then they can more readily imagine that Hashem is the King of all kings; with the respect, obedience and reverence due thereon. Today the world’s political state of affairs is such that we have limited knowledge of kings. Of those monarchs that remain today, most are mere figureheads without real power. Many exist in the context of a constitutional or democratic system.

                    Rabbi Wolbe suggests that the fact that we have no model of kingship exacerbates our difficulties in crowning Hashem as King. It highlights our current predicament in which we are experiencing Hester Panim. G-d’s kingship is neither readily evident nor apparent to us. At best, our point of reference for G-d’s Kingship is analogous to that of an exiled government. G-d often seems distant. And yet we know that He is involved in the details of our lives and in the activities of the entire world. On Rosh Hashana, our task is to bridge the distance that can exist between how we feel about God and what we know to be true; how we often feel about ourselves and what we know can/ should be the case.