Thought for the Week - Rosh Hashana Ha'azinu The Lost King, Rabbi Yaakov Winner - 5787

How are you? I hope everyone is today. It's out of rash and we're going to speak about a thought for rash connected also to the para that we're learning in the week and it's going to speak about one of the we're going to speak about one of the most fundamental aspects of the uniqueness of the Jewish people and the Jewish nation and our relationship with Hashem. But first, as usual, we'll start with Msiah should come now then we'll say a prayer from that we're saying every day twice a day and according to many commentators this is the main focus this is zooming in onto the essence of what the whole is all out. I have only one request of you, Hashem. And this is what I seek to sit in the house of Hashem all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of Hashem and to visit his chamber. So this PK is about getting our priorities in life. What's it all about? And we focus on the idea that my real real request, my real real desire is to come closer and closer to you and to know what's of what's of primary importance, what's of supreme importance, and that is my relationship to spirituality, not materialism, etc. So today we're going to talk about rash and we'll start with a famous of the and the says this it's brought down by the on the literally speaking this was talking about Yehuda was talking to Jaku And Shim was already in Egypt. Ysef was keeping him there. And Yseph had requested for Binyam to come down. And Yakovinu was very weary and had great reservations of letting Binyammon go down there. He already lost one son in his life, Ysef. And then Shim, he sensed that this is very dangerous. So Yehuda was telling his father that if we wouldn't have delayed or hesitated, we could have come and gone back twice. Meaning to say, let's just stop talking about it. Give me let's I'll take and I'll come back. I guarantee it. And he put his life under the line. That's the literal translation. But the said and I'm going to read it to you inside from a letter of the We could have returned coming back twice. The word means return. There are two levels of chuva. Alfashim rash is called one of the 10 days of repentance fromash tiller. So we have one general day of returning through accepting the yoke of hashem's kingship. then bays a particular specific level of cha on the specifics to enumerate the particulars of where I went wrong or did wrong. And this was how the explained that the two levels, the two ways that we're going to do cha from Russium that's all dependent. and he said so means that we we we we settle into it. We we we get involved seriously. Hello. When a person would utilize the time of the month of El in a way is that he really delves into it, immerses himself into it, he settles into it. That means he lingers in it. Then in other words, when he makes the right preparations for Shim then the Shim will be a solid rashim will have its desired effect. So now I just want to ask the question what does it mean over here in general that is also one of the 10 days of repentance. We know that in we say we have to enumerate confess things that we did wrong and acknowledge them. But in there's no. So then the question is why is it one of the cha and what does it mean in general a chaos how do we explain that what does it mean a cha clawless what does it mean a general level of cha what it means a particular level of cha so to understand this we can understand it with the famous famous mush of the kafer probably we spoke about this once before but I'm not 100% sure but in any case famous analogy of the bad was and this is how he explains the blowing of the rash the blowing of the rash the head said is the sound of the of what happened by mountain when we see the was blown so too on we blow the to remind hashem of what happened by the event of Sinai. What happened by? So to understand this the gives a famous analogy which is profound profound profound and that is that a king the king was lost in the forest. There was a king who went hunting and he went hunting in the forest. He loved hunting and he got lost in the forest. He's going deeper and deeper into the forest. He meets a couple of peasants and he asked them, "How do I get back to the palace, to the capital?" They don't recognize that he's the king and they don't know where the palace is. Meanwhile, it's getting later, darker in the night, and the king's life is in danger. He has the howling of the wolves and the growling of the beers. Finally, he comes across a person. And he says, "How do I get back to the to the to the to the palace?" And this king, this person trembles immediately. He was a wise man. He said, "Yes, your majesty." He recognized immediately that this was the king. And he told him, "How we going to get back to the palace, to the capital?" And he brought back the king to the capital to the palace. And the king was so overjoyed and he said I must confess first of all my gratitude is immeasurable. You saved my life and in a certain sense you reinstated my entire kingdom. If not for you who knows what would have happened. So to pay back the deed that this wise person did he made him a minister. Now this king also had a custom that he had to he used to put away the clothes of his adventures. He was dressed in his hunting outfit and in order you know he had his cabinet of curiosities memorabilia and he put away the the outfit that he was wearing when he was hunting to to remember this was one of these adventures of his life. Anyways, one day, one day, many years later, this minister did something wrong and it was a terrible thing that he did and he was the verdict was given. He was tried that he would have to be executed. So, he asked for one final wish and they have to grant him the one wish. And what's his wish? His wish is that he should the king should put on the clothes that he wore when he was lost in that forest. And he, this minister would put on the clothes that he wore when he was a simple person in the forest. And my only request is that I should stand in front of you. As soon as the king, he had to grant the request of this person. As soon as he put on his clothes and that this person put on his clothes, the minister put on the clothes that he was wearing and they stood facing each other. As soon as they were facing each other, the king, his memories were aroused of how he felt and the enormous sense of gratitude and thanks that he felt for this person who saved his life and reinstated so to speak, validated, confirmed, made it in such a way that his kingdom should be able to continue for years and years. And of course once he stood like that in front of the king and the king's emotions was stirred and aroused obviously the king forgave him and what he did wrong and the said this is the story of mra what happened by matra hashem wanted to give thera to the nations and he went to all the nations and he asked them if they want to receive the tora and they said, "What's in it for me? What's it about? What does it say in this Torah?" And every other nation, for whatever reason, either because it says, "Do not steal." Either because it says, "Do not commit adultery." Either it said, for whatever reason, it said it wasn't worth it. So, they turned it down. They were not interested accepting the Tyra. When Hashem came to the Eden, all they said was and so much so this is so outrageous and so strange and alien to a normal human being that there's the famous where someone asked a certain you preceded your ears before your mouth. I'm sorry. You preceded your mouth before your ears. You didn't even ask what it says in the contract. Which sane rational person signs a contract without reading the terms and conditions? Only a fool. And this is what he asked. How could it be that the Jewish people willingly say here I am without even knowing what it's about? And the Gor answers, this is the way of the Jewish people that the trustworthiness, the wholesomeness, the earnestness of the Jewish people leads them. In other words, the relationship between Hashem and the Yidden is one of absolute trust, loyalty, and faithfulness. As soon as Hashem appears, we have such an essential bond and love. That's unconditional. Unconditional. So, who cares about the terms and conditions? That's just a side point. And that's exactly how this explains what is the accomplishment and the novelty of that we reach the not the details are not important the specifics are not important yet what comes first is that we accept the identity the very existence of the one who's the authority of the king and this is exactly the same point of so in the point is in this marshall to bring out that we were the ones who told we got your back so to speak that there's a king and it's unbelievable the should say such a concept it blows the mind that we're talking about hashem absolute infinity at to say that he's vulnerable. I'm putting in italics such vulnerability that his life is in danger. And who is the one who saves his life? The hidden. Wow. This is the concept. This is what the says no less. That's the analogy. So by Hashem had a plan. He had a plan through the Tyra that we're going to make the world a better place or whatever the story is. No one was willing to accept Hashem as king and to actualize and carry through to be able Hashem that Hashem should fulfill his desire and his vision. His very life was at stake in the words of the analogy and only were the ones who said we got your back. We're here for you. Whatever the circumstances are, whatever the details are. And that's what it means in concept. First you have to accept the existence of the authority of the other the significant other and then we can talk about details. Now so too it's explained concerning rash even though the bad does not get into this concept but this is really the same idea is that without getting into that length now according to and kabala what happens on rashashan is something called we have to reconstruct hashem's kingship and how does that work every year rashan and hashem's interest in desire and ruling reverts to its source and then we have to reignite it. In other words, he wants us to accept it. So it's not like the common concept that we have the all powerful and he forces his rule on the people and over here we say no. For whatever reason, Hashem's interest is now not ignited. His desire is not inflamed and he wants us we should proclaim him king hand him the crown rash is the coronation and through us accepting him willingly that's how he becomes a king and that's what he wants in rash that we should dig deep in asking ourselves how much we're ready he willing and able to be there for Hashem for whatever Hashem wants. And this is also connected very much with a famous story that rabbi he repeated this story many many times that when he was a child he had aid and for and he was a child but this experience that the teacher the Muhammad brought out what rash was number one it had a profound impact in him for the rest of his life to view Russashana in a different way but in general it gave him a whole new deeper insight profound perspective perspective in Yiddish and Judaism as a whole and that is that before Russ would ask him do you know what going to happen tonight he used to tell them tomorrow what is going to happen and most of them said it's a it's a day of judgment so he told them no what is tonight and tomorrow as the he told them the name of the third who called Rashashana the night of coronation. In other words, Rashashana is the coronation of the king. We make Hashem king. And he told them we And we accept upon themselves. We cry out. We hand him the crown. And how does he become king? So this is wow. In other words, again the idea that the greatest greatest concept of infinity and there's no greater distance that could exist between and between creator and creation and we have mortal finite human beings and it's us through the yank which means simple regular Jew, Mr. Average Yid, who's not all powerful, who's very humble, who's a simple person. By us calling out to the aishta, that's how we make the we draw down a new energy and a new life force that goes through all the cosmic existence of all the worlds and re invigorates the energy throughout all of for the entire year. And it all comes about because we show Hashem willingly and we arouse in him once again the desire for the relationship. And this Rabbi Schvich said change his outlook about religion in general, the relationship between the and the Aishta who's totally infinite wants us to choose him. He doesn't desire to be king through power. He wants us to accept him willingly and that chosen the depth of the relationship between Hashem and Yidd. And now we come to parenu which is unbelievable. We see this message. What is the message? The message of being connected through thick and thin which distinguishes and makes the Jewish nation outstanding. What'su is where is giving us the lessons of history. We should learn from the past where mistakes were made and there were consequences. But primarily and the Reb brings out this point. It's called that even though in in the amount of um quantity not necessarily most of the reflect the positive but since it's called that means that the main point is to stress the positive. It's a song. A song represents happiness and joy. So therefore the main emphasis is emphasizing the positive and that is the unique relationship that hashem has with the yidden and the yen have with hashem and we see this exact point of this moshel of the in not only once first it's in the beginning of the par where mo is talking to the and he says What does that mean? So I'm going to read it to you inside with from the rashi. He found them in a desert land. It was them who he found to be faithful to him in the desert land. exactly we spoke about which is the same exact thing as there we accepted the his toy and his kingship. So Rashi is bringing out this very point that it was the Jewish nation, the Jews that accepted his and not as other nations. And so to the person continues, Rashi says, "A parched and desolate land, a place where jackals and ostriches whale. Even there they were drawn after their faith in Hashem. So the exact point of the mush of the inert in a forest at night even though when you're learning over here rashi it's bringing out the mila that we weren't complaining that it's going to be in a desert which seems We're missing the bare necessities. There's no shelter. There's no security. There's no food. But really, it's also brings out the point that we were there for Hashem and not anyone else. And everything that we said before in the analogy of the bad even though when you look at the P over here it doesn't bring out that we actually saved the kingdom and the king's life but we're still bringing out the point that this is where we were faithful. This is where we were loyal and no one else was loyal. Now later on in he says exactly the same thing. Wow. twice in the same para where over there it says this is going to be recognized the nations will sing praise to his people and what does Rashi say on the words there's going to come a time where the non-Jews are going to praise the Jews look at the praise of this nation See how great is the praise of this nation, the Eden, who have clung to the only one source of blessing throughout the tribulations that have befallen them and nevertheless not forsaken him. They were always conscious of his goodness and his praise. same point. Whatever the circumstances, unconditional bond, unconditional connection, even when things are chaos and even when things are don't look good in the natural scheme of things, nevertheless, who can you rely on who's going to be there for Hashem? The Yidden. So, exactly. And this is the point and this is the of so let's go back to the because this is the of everything we get into the specifics that's after we know already that Hashem desires the relationship then we have to talk about ways how we could improve it and talk about the details but there's something that comes before that which is more basic and more fundamental whether we're having a relationship imagine you have a couple and the wife comes to the husband and says, "You know, we should we should work on our relationship. We want a marriage to be good. We have to work on it. So, let's go to a marriage therapist." And imagine the husband gives the shock of the lifetime and says, "You know what? I don't want to really go to a therapist. I don't know if I want to improve the relationship. I don't know if I want this relationship at all anymore." So, he's calling into question the entire relationship in a certain sense. And this is what rashashana is about. This is the cycle. This is the dynamics of every single rash. That hashem's interest and desire in being king. He set up the system that is used by date till rash. And then the interest is not there. And the dynamic is we're meant to arouse it. And when we arouse it, this causes Hashem the greatest joy to reignite his passion and his desire and his interest in the relationship. And that's what it means. That's going back to the two levels of now we're standing. And by the way, I mentioned today. So this is what we have to ask ourselves about loyalty about. This is what the meant when the chuva clawless. The Juba clothes means we have to not think so much about the specifics but more about something which is existential. My very identity. Who am I? What am I? How much of my day-to-day life reflects this idea that who am I? I'm someone who lives and tries to project as much as possible that I'm a loyal subject. I'm a loyal partner side by side. Wherever you go, I go. This idea that we accept Hashem as the melik that there's only one mel etc. So should help we should do our job in this idea of the general chuva like the says and as we explained in theukim of this week's para it's about being faithful. It's about being loyal. It's about a general commitment. It's about a general depth from my very core that's connected to the very essence of Hashem. And should lots of singing, lots of songas feel many fields of there should be much gold and there should beus. It should be a quick redemption take of mameish. I don't know if it's appropriate to say posting from the Hashem is called to