As we approach ראש השנה there’s an important question that stands out. We know that ראש השנה is the יום הדין, is stated in numerous places in חז”ל. As such, it would seem that our תפלות on this day would center around us asking הקב”ה for a good year. Yet, if we look at the actual תפלות there is very little reference to such בקשות. Rather, the focus of the Davening of the day is mostly about asking for the מלכות of the רבש”ע to be revealed to all.
As we say: וידע כל פעול כי אתה פעלתו ויבין כל יצור כי אתה יצרתו ויאמר כל אשר נשמה באפו ה’ אלוקי ישראל מלך
Why aren’t we instead asking for a good judgment?
The Sefer שפתי חיים explains: We read in פרשת וישב how Yosef interpreted the dreams of Paroah’s servants the שר המשקים and the שר האופים. The Torah then tells us that things unfolded exactly as Yosef said they would.
ויהי ביום השלישי יום הולדת את פרעה ויעש משתה לכל עבדיו וישא את ראש שר המשקים ואת ראש שר האופים בתוך עבדיו
Pharaoh celebrated his birthday and counted these 2 servants among his other servants.
וישב את שר המשקים….ואת שר האופים תלה
The שר המשקים was returned to his post, while the שר האופים was hanged. What kind of birthday celebration is this when you choose to hang your former servant? The understanding is, that everything a king does is done with a broad perspective of how it affects his kingdom, not based on his personal interests. As such, on his birthday, פרעה examined his servants to see which among them is indeed worthy of being in the service of the kingdom for the uocoming year. Based on his judgment, Paroah realized that the שר האופים has no place in those grand plans and as such he was put to death.
מלכותא דארעא כעין מלכותא דשמיא
What’s true down here is true as well in שמים. The birthday of the world is on ראש השנה, as we say in Davening: היום הרת עולם today is the birth of world. And on the world’s birthday the King of the world also examines His subjects to determine where they stand and how they can serve Him in the upcoming year.
And so חז”ל established מלכיות on this day so that we can tell the רבש”ע that we are ready to coronate him. We declare that- unlike the שר האופים- we are ready and able to carry out our role, the role of being ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. And by showing הקב”ה that we want to be his servants, we are doing our part to have a good judgment. And it’s for that reason that we focus on מלכויות instead of our own needs.
Concludes the שפתי חיים, when we focus on מלכויות we need to also remember that when we coronate Hashem on the entire world, we should remember to coronate him on ourselves as well, through doing our part to improve our own רוחניות, every person in their own way.
May we merit a כתיבה וחתימה טובה and a שנה טובה ומתוקה for us and all כלל ישראל.
Weekly Parsha Shiur 