The Foundation of Emunah
Malchiyos is rooted in the berachah of Melech HaOlam, asserting that the Ribbono shel Olam is the King of the entire world. He supervises, ordains, and designs every event that takes place, and He oversees—with great precision and detail—every creation in the world, doing only what is good for every one of those creations.
The truth is that every one of us wages a great battle to properly internalize this idea. The Rebbe Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk taught that we must constantly and relentlessly cry out to Hashem, searching for His Presence in our lives. This battle for clarity in emunah spans the entirety of our lives.
Based on this, the Beis Avraham of Slonim explains the Chazal, אמרו עליכם שתמליכוני כדי מלכיות לפני, say before Me the pesukim of Malchiyos so that you will coronate Me over yourselves. A Yid must constantly cry out Malchiyos—his constant search and quest for Malchus Shamayim. This ongoing battle touches every area of our lives—because we must approach the hundreds of situations that we encounter every day like Yidden who live with Malchus Shamayaim.
Winning the War
For this reason, we were given the mitzvah to recite these pesukim on Rosh Hashanah... to cry out אחד ה' אלוקינו ה' ישראל שמע, the Ribbono shel Olam is One, in every aspect of our lives. A Yid must proclaim these fundamental truths—and even more, to think and meditate upon them throughout the entire Yom Tov! In everything that transpires, we must reiterate that it is Hashem Who designed and ordained it, and that the Ribbono shel Olam animates me at every moment. In this way, we coronate the King throughout the year.
The Pleasure of Our Desire to Serve
The Sfas Emes explains that there’s a special רוח נחת for Hashem when we express our desire to submit to Malchus Shamayim through reciting מלכיות—because the way of the world is that servants always try to avoid serving their masters... they’re looking for freedom. But the Jewish People are just the opposite: They search for ways and tactics to merit becoming true servants of Hashem, to remember that Hashem is in control of their lives....
This very battle that we wage for Malchus Shamayim, the very fact that we fight to contemplate thoughts of emunah, brings great pleasure to Hashem. It is indeed a life’s work. Our search for servitude to the Melech Malchei HaMelachim, our attempts to maintain pure faith in Him, and our awareness that all our nisyonos and failures stem from our forgetting these truths, bring nachas to the Ribbono shel Olam On High.
Emunah in Every Situation
It’s not enough to reiterate this thousands of times—we must reaffirm these yesodos each and every day. The Ribbono shel Olam has obligated us to recite שמע קריאת morning and night. He has designed an order of constant reminders of His Presence in and control of the world.
In שמע קריאת we say ובקומך ובשכבך בדרך ובלכתך בביתך בשבתך בם ודברת, because each and every one of these circumstances presents its own challenge in remembering the Ribbono shel Olam, and they each require a unique strengthening in emunah. When we go to sleep, we may be tired and irritable and forget the Ribbono shel Olam; when we awake, and we aren’t yet fully alert, we may forget that everything is from the Ribbono shel Olam; when we’re traveling, we may lack the presence of mind to remember the Ribbono shel Olam; and when we’re at home, and we simply want to relax and rejuvenate, we may also become distracted from Hashem’s Presence.
A Constant Battle to Coronate Hashem
Says the Ribbono shel Olam: You must constantly reiterate and strengthen your emunah, in every type of circumstance in your life. We must understand—as we go about our daily mundane lives—that we’re waging a tremendous battle to internalize הארץ כל על למלך ה' והיה, that Hashem will be the King of the entire world! With this, we fulfill the mitzvah of שמע קריאת, of ובטחון אמונה, and the mitzvos of love and fear of Hashem—in addition to fulfilling our purpose in life of always keeping the Thirteen Principles of מאמין אני before us.
Every person is constantly at war—because he is faced with nisyonos to forget that our mission is to bring the Ribbono shel Olam down to This World. As long as a person is alive, he cannot lose focus of this mission—for this is the greatest and most important principle in Yiddishkeit. It’s not merely a “wonderful thing” when a Yid has strong faith in Hashem; it is fundamental!
There’s no such thing that a Yid should say, “Baruch Hashem, I believe... I learn Chovos HaLevavos... I live with the Ribbono shel Olam.” We must be honest and truthful with ourselves—...נפשו מרת יודע לב how often do we become angry? And even when a person has enough diplomacy and tact not to become visibly upset—he nevertheless knows what’s transpiring in his heart; he is angry because the other person is at fault for this problem.... Which means that he doesn’t have proper emunah that Hashem is behind every event.
The same applies to our successes in life. We all know how we really feel in our hearts. How many thoughts of ידי ועוצם כחי go through our minds when things go well. We’re constantly at war against these thoughts and attitudes—and it is through these battles that we coronate the Ribbono shel Olam.
Life Itself
In truth, this an existential question—is the person alive or not? Every time a person thinks contrary to emunah, he has experienced a taste of “death,” and he has brought a negative influence into the world. This is something that we can sense. We feel so distant from the Ribbono shel Olam when we don’t think with emunah—and what sort of life is it when we’re distant, R”l—and the entire world is affected by this as well.
One may think that we bring destruction to the world only when we transgress the severest of aveiros, R”l. We must know that the matter of emunah is one of these severe matters—because it touches on avodah zarah, which is one of the three most severe sins.
We are constantly at war in this arena—because the entire atmosphere in the world is permeated with kefirah, and we’re all affected by it. The world is filled with people who think and speak thoughts and attitudes that run contrary to emunah in Hashem. Our work is to cleanse ourselves from these influences every day and do teshuvah for our attitudes and thoughts that are contrary to emunah.
The Sweet Closeness to Hashem Due to Emunah
A Yid who lives with emunah is blissful and fortunate. His life is one of elation and pleasure—in This World and in the Next.
This is not only because people with emunah tend to be happier. It’s much deeper than this. A Yid who lives with emunah merits that Hashem reveals Himself to him. This Yid has toiled to remove the concealment of This World—and therefore, he merits revelation. When there’s no הסתרת פנים, the concealment of This World, we automatically experience a taste of Gan Eden!
Our Primary Prayer
The Ribbono shel Olam, in His great mercy and kindness, has given us a regimen through which we will deeply internalize this emunah over the days of Rosh Hashanah, the days that we draw new chiyus and life for the entire upcoming year.
Sometimes, we become preoccupied with davening for the basics of life—children, parnassah, health, life, etc.—and of course, they’re part of the tefillah, and of course we turn to Hashem for these things, because we’re completely dependent upon Him for them. But the Ribbono shel Olam has so ordained that the best and most direct way of acquiring shefa for the year is by returning to the root; internalizing the yesodos of emunah in ourselves.
This isn’t an area that we can skip over. We can’t say that if we don’t address it, it’s not terrible—because, when we think about it, we will all see that we require a great yeshuah when it comes to emunah. There are so many instances when we experience feelings of anger, aggravation, hubris, fear, worry, etc.—all of which are the result of a lack of emunah. A Yid who understands the importance of emunah thinks about it on Rosh Hashanah, and he devotes his davening to this, because he understands how distant he is from emunah, and how much he needs it in his life.
Living with “Malchiyos”
We must understand that the principle of Malchiyos can resolve all the issues that we struggle with on a daily basis! When a Yid accepts the conduct of the Ribbono shel Olam, His designs, and His plans for his life... he allows himself to be led from Above... he experiences גילוי אלוקות, Heavenly revelation! The Ribbono shel Olam reveals Himself to this person and runs his life up close.
The Ribbono shel Olam has given us the opportunity to experience the feeling of בתוכנו נטע עולם וחיי, Hashem plants eternal life in our lives. He says: I will allow you to come close to Me, and I will help you. Just daven for it!
Our Own Idols
Tzaddikim taught that when we say נקוה כן על (part of the tefillah of Malchiyos), in which we express our hopes for the eradication of false idols from the world—we must supplicate Hashem for the destruction of the avodah zarah that lies embedded in our own hearts!
The holy Chozeh of Lublin would add his own name when he davened that the evil people of the world would turn to Hashem... a Yid must daven for his own neshamah to be cleansed of avodah zarah! We must all daven for ourselves: Halevai that we would merit it... how much holier and more illuminated would our lives be with more emunah! Our emunah will automatically impact the world around us—for when we permeate our own hearts with emunah, it leaves an impression on our entire surroundings.
Spreading Faith
The Ma’or VaShemesh (Parashas Nitzavim) speaks about the pasuk ולבנינו לנו והנגלות אלוקינו לה' הנסתרות, the hidden are for Hashem, our G-d, but the revealed are for us and our children. He explains that, in general, we must keep our avodas Hashem between ourselves and Hashem, hidden from others. But there’s one area in which we must publicize our avodah: bequeathing our emunah to our children, ולבנינו לנו. We must make an impression upon them. Our conduct and attitude must transmit Elokus to those around us.
When a person thinks and lives with emunah, when he approaches matters with emunah, people are impressed. They point to this Yid and they say, “Look at how this person lives with the awareness of Hashem!” This causes them too, to begin living with Hashem.
Recognizing Our Influence
We all know very well how our surroundings are influenced by our emunah, or lack thereof. When we experience a disappointment or when things don’t go as we would have liked, and we express our feelings with anger and aggravation—what impact does this have on our family and loved ones?!
Conversely, what incredible impression does it leave upon those around us when we say, “Yes, I wanted things to go a certain way, but the Ribbono shel Olam wanted otherwise—and this is surely good. It’s perfect. It’s wonderful!” This influences everyone around us in the most incredible and holy way—and pushes away all manner of judgments!
You Can Bring Them Back
A Yid may think that he’s not in the kiruv field, because he can’t explain Hashem’s existence to others. But this is not true! Of course he can! Every Yid can make serious ba’alei teshuvah all around him!
When a Yid experiences problems in his life... money worries or other challenges—and he lives with Hashem: “It’s bashert... everything is good, and everything is fine. If it’s not mine, I don’t need it. The Ribbono shel Olam will give me my needs in a different way...”—people will be influenced and impressed by this. They will see and sense that there’s a G-d in the world! It awakens within them a desire to live this way for themselves, because they will see how sweet such a life is. They will see the siyata diShmaya that accompanies this person, they will witness his serenity and the G-dliness that rests upon him. His entire surroundings will become influenced by his emunah!
Pure Yidden Exude Emunah
This is one of the reasons that we gravitate to ehrliche Yidden and tzaddikim—whose life experiences have elevated and purified them—because we can literally sense the Ribbono shel Olam in their vicinity. Not merely because of their holiness—but because their holiness is derived from bittul to Hashem. In proximity to tzaddikim, we witness their gratitude to Hashem for everything that happens in their lives... and this has an impact on those around them.
On Rosh Hashanah, the Ribbono shel Olam tells each and every one of us, “I give you the mission of spreading and disseminating My Name in the world! Yes, you... the simple Yid! You can bring Yidden closer to Me!” You must only conduct yourself with simple emunah, speak with emunah, think with emunah... and you will see the way you fulfill עליכם שתמליכוני in the world. You will proclaim the Name of Hashem in the world.
This is a never-ending avodah. It is something that we must toil for our entire lives, throughout the year—but especially on Rosh Hashanah. We must approach the Yom Tov with thoughts and attitudes based in emunah. מלכיות לפני אמרו, speak and think of My Kingdom, כדי עליכם שתמליכוני, so that you will through this coronate Me. I will reveal Myself to you. I will rest upon you... and through you, I will be revealed in the entire world.
