More Attitude Required
Now, as valuable as it is, this attitude of Avinu is not enough. Because on Yom Kippur another important perspective is needed. And that’s why right after we say נו‡ָטָח יּƒכּינוƒבָ‡ּנוָל חַל¿ס we go on and say ענוָׁ ָ̆פ יּƒכּנוּ≈כ¿לַמּנוָל לַח¿מ. Because there’s a second attitude that is essential for the baal teshuva; and that is Malkeinu: Hashem is our King. Not only do we seek His favor as our Father but we come before Him as our King begging for His forgiveness. And that’s very serious business because a king means law and order; and law and order means that there are consequences to your actions.
Today of course that’s news to people. Law and order? Even politicians when they run for office today they don't say that anymore; it's out of style. They're afraid of the ethnics and so today it’s ‘Law and Justice’ or ‘Law and Charity.’ Whatever they say, other empty cliches, but it’s not ‘Law and Order.’
The Lawmaker
But Malkeinu means law and order! It means the King is in control and nothing goes unnoticed. There’s a system, a Torah system, that must be obeyed or else – or else there are consequences. That’s how the King made this world, a place of law and order, of consequences.
That’s why if a person walks out in an electric storm and runs across a field, there is a very good chance that a bolt of lightning will hit him. And when it does, there’s no escaping the results. And if a man jumps off a roof, it's the law of nature, he's not going to fly. Gravity is a law of the King and there’s no escaping the order that He established.
Now, the fact that sometimes you don't like that law, that sometimes you come into collision with the laws, that's not going to be an excuse. Just because you want to try to run through traffic and you don’t like that law that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, it won’t help you. That law functions and it functions perfectly; only you have to be careful that you shouldn't do anything that will invoke that law to your detriment.
Now, who passed all these laws? Who made such a law that a body in water has to sink? Why shouldn't a body in water float on top of the water always? Let him lie on top of the water, even though he can't swim, and he should be able to enjoy the scenery, look at the clouds and little by little he'll paddle his way to the shore. But no, it doesn't work that way – if a man will jump into the ocean and he can't swim, there's a law that he's going to go down; that's one of the laws that the King put into this world and you can’t dodge it.
The Lawbreaker
And we have to look at all of those laws and remind ourselves that the same thing applies to His laws in the Torah; if you go against the law there'll be the results that the law of Hashem requires. Whatever a person does he must know that there is no getting away with anything in this world. The law is the law and sooner or later everything and everyone will be placed in order.
And therefore, Malkeinu means a law and order that should cause fear in a person’s heart. ך¿ּ„¿חַּפƒמ רַמָס יƒרָׂ ̆¿ּב – “I have goosebumps because I’m so afraid of You,” Dovid said. It means an actual dread, a shuddering.
The truth is that in ancient times this didn’t have to be pointed out. Just the mention of the king brought dread into the hearts of the subjects. Even on dark back streets, people behaved because they knew that with a king there's no monkeying around. If the king said, ‘Anybody who does this and this off with his head’ it wasn’t an empty threat. Every once in a while there were people who were brought to the public square and their heads were lifted off of their necks. And so when someone sinned against the King he wouldn’t just read off his sins from a machzor and bang on his heart; he would throw himself down in front of the throne and beg for forgiveness. He’d cry copious tears.
That Fear?!
And therefore when we talk about gaining the attitude of Malkeinu we have to forget about President Reagan and the Queen of England and whoever else there is today. No, that’s nothing. We have to look back to the days of old when the thought of the King used to bring terror into people’s hearts. That’s what it means yiras Hashem.
Now I know that people will argue with me. “Yiras Hashem means fear actually of punishment? Doesn't it mean awe at Hashem’s greatness? Doesn't it mean yiras haromemus, awe and veneration at the sublimity of His Shechinah?” Big words they’ll use; even bigger words than me.
And the answer is it means that too; but it most definitely includes plain trembling, plain dread of punishment. Not only is He Avinu and we desire to come back to Him in teshuva because we want Him to favor us, but we come back to Him because He’s our King and a king means business; it means He has full power over men's lives and He visits retribution upon wrongdoers for their deeds.
The Real Deal
All around us, we see what happens to people. We have to understand that nothing is by accident. There’s no chaos in the world of Malkeinu. It's all the result of the Judgment of Hashem. Time and time again we have seen people who have done great wrongs and something later happened to them. Terrible punishments were visited on them. And just because people forgot what was the crime that this man had once done so they wonder why he was punished. But if you have a good memory, you'll look back and you'll see. Many times even in our days when the world is so darkened by error, even today we can see how many people have been given what they deserve by the Hand of Hashem.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sending the death penalty constantly. A heart attack, a car accident, a crime committed in the subways or on the streets. Constantly, retribution is being visited upon men, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the One who's doing it.
When people transgress certain things in their youth and they never fully atone then someday suddenly will come k’shoah. There’ll come a sudden misfortune, a black day, and it’ll be collected.
Whatever it is, what we have to know is that everything is done with justice. Nothing is forgotten.
Fleeing The Authorities
Malkeinu means there’s no escape. There’s nowhere to run away. Like Dovid HaMelech said, חָר¿ב∆‡ָיך∆נָּפƒמ הָנָ‡ – “Where can I flee from before You? הָּ ָ̇‡ םָׁ ̆ םƒיַמָׁ ̆ ַּ̃ס∆‡ םƒ‡ – If I’ll go up to the heavens, You’re there. Wherever I’ll go, I’ll find You” (Tehillim 139:7) It’s a poetic form of saying, “Hakadosh Baruch Hu, You are everywhere and wherever I go, I know there You are. So if I do something wrong, can I hide from You?”
So let’s say you don’t pay income tax for New York City. So you leave the city. You don’t pay state income tax, you leave the state. You don’t pay federal income tax, you take a plane and leave the country. The IRS after all can see a lot but they can’t see everything. You can hide maybe in Switzerland or some other country. But if you don’t pay Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s taxes, where can You run away?
I’ll go to Switzerland, and You’ll be waiting for me there. I’ll take a space rocket to the moon? There You are waiting for me. And therefore Malkeinu means to be afraid of Hashem and of the results of what we’ve done. Nobody can escape the fact that he rebelled against the King.
The Two-Faced King
Of course, if you are still alive and you do teshuva and you ask Him for forgiveness, that is something else. But otherwise there is no forgiveness. You’ll get it in this world. And if you’re unlucky enough not to get it here then it’s very bad news. When a man dies with his sins, it is going to be very bad for him because Hakadosh Baruch Hu will then face him in a way that he didn’t recognize in this world.
Reb Yisrael Salanter says that; he says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has two faces, one face is in this world, one face is in the Next World. In this world the face is the face of chessed, a kindly face. He’s maarich af – He gives a chance again and again. But in the next world, Reb Yisrael said, it’s all over. In the Next World Hashem shows the stern face of a judge, an unforgiving King. It’s too late for forgiveness.
And so Yom Kippur is the day to climb out of that pit and say “Malkeinu!” It’s the day to say “I recognize that I rebelled against Hashem Melech and I’m so afraid and so ashamed.”
That’s something to spend time considering on Yom Kippur, that the second emotion required for teshuvah is Malkeinu. It means to understand that Hashem is the King and to generate in your heart an understanding that you sinned not only against a word in the siddur and not only against a loving Father but you rebelled against a King. That’s what it means ענוָׁ ָ̆פ; Please Hashem! Please forgive me for sinning against You and not recognizing You as King.
How Low Can You Go?
Because that’s what a sin is – an aveirah cannot be committed when a man is aware that he is standing before the King. In the presence of a monarch no one would make even the slightest movement that's incorrect. And if he does, it demonstrates that he is not in the presence of the King. And that is the greatest rebellion, when you say there is no king. יםƒ ֹ̃ל¡‡ ין≈‡ ֹוּבƒלּ¿ב לָבָנ רַמָ‡ – The low fellow, says in his heart, ‘There is no G-d’ (Tehillim 14:1). Because when he does something wrong, there is no question that for the moment, ‘Ein Elokim’ was in his heart.
Now you wouldn't say it in such crude words but in your heart of hearts that's what you're thinking. And eventually, even though he remains a frum Jew, he doesn’t believe anymore in Hashem. It could be he is loyal to his nation, he is loyal to his kehillah, he continues to do mitzvos, but in his heart there is no King anymore. This man is finished with that; he is a kofer be’ikar in his heart of hearts. It doesn’t pay for him to believe anymore. If he believed in Hashem, oy vey, he has a big load on his
