WHERETO PLACE MALCHUYOS?
Malchuyos is the first of the three majorberachos which, as a unit, constitute the "center-piece" of the RoshHashanah Musaf Amidah.
Thisblessing declares the reality of Hashem’s sovereignty over all that exists,elaborates upon that theme, reinforces that theme with ten Biblical citations,and concludes with a petition that ultimately all humanity will recognize thisreality and surrender to Hashem’s will.
MishnahRosh Hashanah 4:5 (32a in the Talmud) presents a controversy between RabbiYochanan ben Nuri and Rabbi Akiva regarding the placement of the blessing ofMalchuyos in the Rosh Hashanah Musaf Amidah.
Yochananben Nuri’s opinion - Include Malchuyos in the beracha of Kedushas Hashem – the“Blessing of Sanctification,” which asserts God’s absolute uniqueness.
Akiva’sopinion - Include Malchuyos in the beracha of Kedushas Hayom, which celebratesthe sanctity of the day.
Thepurpose of this essay is to speculate on the possible basis of thiscontroversy. I want to suggest that R. Yochanan ben Nuri is stressing thataspect of Hashem’s sovereignty which emanates directly from Him, and whichtherefore exists independently of his creations. Rabbi Akiva, on the otherhand, prefers that we focus upon that aspect of God’s kingship that requireshumanity's acknowledgement of Him. To elaborate:
Accordingto R. Yochanan ben Nuri, the aspect of God’s sovereignty upon which we are tofocus on Rosh Hashanah is the reality of His absolute power: that all thingsexist by only by dint of His will; that He determines the ultimate fate of allbeings; that He enables all free-will strivings and determines the results ofthose strivings. This aspect of Hashem’s sovereignty is not dependent uponman’s acknowledgement or acquiescence.
Yochanan’sversion of the Malchuyos prayer assumes that humanity-at-large will recognizeHashem’s sovereignty and submit to His will only after perceiving His absolutepower. Therefore, his Malchuyos blessing opens with a petition that Hashemcatalyze this ultimate goal for humanity.
ובכן תןפחדך ה' אלקינו על כל מעשיך, ואימתך על כל מה שבראת, וייראוך כל המעשים, וישתחוו לפניךכל הברואים, ויעשו כלם אגודה אחת לעשות רצונך בלבב שלם. כמה שידענו ה' אלקינו שהשלטוןלפניך, עז בידך וגבורה בימינך, ושמך נורא על כל מה שבראת.
InstillYour awe…upon all Your works, and Your dread upon all Your creations. Let allworks revere You, all creatures prostrate themselves before You. And may (allhumanity) become one society, (devoted) to fulfilling Your will wholeheartedly.
Accordingto Rabbi Akiva, in contrast, Malchuyos should focus upon that aspect of God’skingship which is exactly the opposite of the one just described. In thisaspect, Hashem has chosen to make his Kingship dependent, as it were, uponman’s free-will decision concerning whether or not to acknowledge and surrenderto His Malchus, whether or not to “coronate” Him. This decision must be aninner-directed one, not imposed from without. Only through his autonomouschoice - thereby preserving his Divinely-endowed dignity - is man ablesuccessfully to relate to a world that belongs entirely and exclusively to theCreator. Man, indeed, is free to live a relatively decontextualized,self-contained, and ego-centric existence, constantly repressing his inbornintellectual and spiritual need to seek out the Source-of-All. He is free, aswell, to further repress his need to ponder the purpose of his own existencewithin the context of “the all”. The focus of Rabbi Akiva’s Malchuyos is thisaspect of the Divine reality, the God Who waits patiently for man toself-actualize by seeking Him, finding Him and, in the yearly renewal,re-coronating Him.
RabbiYochanan ben Nuri’s vision of Malchuyos fits appropriately into the beracha ofKedushas Hashem, insofar as that beracha asserts the total otherness and gloryof the Creator. The angelic world perceives His glory in all aspects ofreality, with powers of observation that significantly transcend our own, andthey respond in awesome praise. Thus, they provide a model for all of humanity.
Inlike manner, the Kedushas Hayom beracha is the most appropriate context inwhich to express Rabbi Akiva’s vision of Malchuyos. As Rashi notes in hisopening comment to Bereshis, the first mitzvah that Hashem commanded Israel isthe mitzvah of determining the calendar. In this manner, Hashem grants humanbeings, specifically Israel, autonomous control concerning exactly which daysof the year are to be sanctified as holy days – endowed with kedushas hayom. Asthe Talmud explains, each Kedushas Hayom beracha in the holy day liturgiesalways closes with the phrase, …God who sanctifies Israel and the appointedtimes, implying that God sanctifies Israel who, in turn, sanctifies theappointed times [Berachos 49a]. Thus Rabbi Akiva’s Malchuyos vision that stressesman’s autonomous quest for God belongs with the beracha that celebrates man’sGod-endowed autonomy in determining which days will be holy days, times thatare devoted primarily to Him.
Ofcourse, both aspects of Hashem’s sovereignty co-exist. The controversy betweenRabbi Yochanan ben Nuri and Rabbi Akiva is limited to the issue of which aspectis to be given precedence in the Musaf Rash Hashanah service. I once heardRabbi Soloveitchik point out that the first two lines of the popular liturgicalpoem, Adon Olam, asserts the reality of both aspects of God's Kingship:
אדון עולםאשר מלך בטרם כל יציר נברא 1. The Eternal Sovereign - Who reigned before anything wascreated -
לעת נעשה בחפצו כל אזי מלך שמו נקרא 2. When everything, according to His will,was created, then His name was declared, “King”.
AdonOlam’s first clause asserts the reality of Hashem’s kingship which haseternally existed, independently of His being recognized by His creation. Thesecond clause, which refers to creation declaring that Hashem is King, evokesthat aspect of Hashem’s Malchus [Kingship] which is dependent upon therecognition of others.
Thesetwo aspects of God’s Kingship co-exists despite the fact that “top-down” andbottom-up” Kingships appear to be mutually exclusive. Rabbi Soloveitchik wouldoften assert that Judaism rejects the Aristotelian principle known as “TheExcluded Middle” which states that: “If A is not B, there exists no C that isboth A and B.” Both Rabbi Akiva’s and Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri’s respectivevisions of the Divine reality and of our eschatological yearnings co-exist notonly in Judaism’s theological world-view, but also in the Rosh Hashanah MusafAmidah.
TheHalacha follows Rabbi Akiva’s opinion. Therefore, we integrate the full berachaof Malchuyos into Kedushas Hayom. Nevertheless, we integrate a large portion ofRabbi Yochanan ben Nuri’s Malchuyos into Kedushas Hashem as well. Furthermore,this integration is not limited to the Rosh Hashanah Musaf Amidah, but it isincluded in all thirteen Amidos recited during the three days of Rosh Hashanahand Yom Kippur!