I'd like to spend a few minutes a little bit on Inyanei Rosh Hashana before we daven Mincha. I wanted to discuss a little bit the theme of Malkhius. The Rav used to quote Reb Chaim as saying that Reb Chaim disputed what some poskim say. The question is whether or not מלך על כל הארץ is me'akev in the chasima of the berakha Kedushas Hayom in Kiddush and in Arvis and Shacharis and Mincha or only in Musaf. So there are some poskim who say that even though we say מלך על כל הארץ מקדש ישראל ויום הזכרון as the chasima throughout Rosh Hashana, but the phrase מלך על כל הארץ is only me'akev, is only me'akev in Musaf where Malkhiyos were featured in the berakha Kedushas Hayom and therefore it has to be included in the chasima as well. But in Kiddush, Arvis, Shacharis, and Mincha where there's no Malkhiyos, we don't, the Ba'al HaMa'or says they used to say tesha berakhos all day on Rosh Hashana, but we don't. So there מלך על כל הארץ is not me'akev. And Reb Chaim disagreed with that and Reb Chaim said that Malkhiyos is the Kedushas Hayom of Rosh Hashana. It's not just that Malkhiyos is a theme of Musaf on Rosh Hashana, no, but Malkhiyos is inseparable, Malkhiyos is the core, the theme of Malkhiyos is the Kedushas Hayom of Rosh Hashana. And consequently מלך על כל הארץ is me'akev throughout in the chasima of the berakha of Kedushas Hayom. So I wanted to discuss a little bit Malkhiyos all year long, not so much as unique to Rosh Hashana and perhaps, perhaps we'll touch a little bit on what's unique to Malkhiyos in Rosh Hashana. The Gemara says that we, that there are only three pesukim in the Torah where you actually find melekh and we need four pesukim in HaTorah for Malkhiyos, so the Gemara has a few pesukim that we can substitute. One of them, the first of them, which the Gemara mentions is Shema Yisrael and in fact that's what we do. The last of our pesukei Malkhiyos, of course kayadu'a, is the pasuk of Shema Yisrael. So Shema Yisrael is one of the first pesukim we ever learned, but probably as long as we live, we'll never fully understand what it means. First of all, our emuna encapsulated in the pasuk of Anochi Hashem Elokecha and שמע ישראל ה' אלוהינו ה' אחד. So the Rambam says at the beginning of Hilkhos Yesodei HaTorah לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון וממציא לכל הנמצאים. Lechol ha, everything that exists in shamayim va'aretz is only because Hakadosh Baruch Hu infuses it with chayos. And that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is totally independent of the world and the world is totally dependent upon Him. So the Rav used to underscore the fact that the lashon HaRambam is לידע שיש שם מצוי ראשון וממציא לכל הנמצאים. That the Rambam formulates it in the present tense. It's not a past tense. It's not that 5,700 and almost 57 years ago, so the Ribono Shel Olam himtzi lechol hanimtza'im, but rather mamtzi lechol hanimtza'im in the present tense. Take a look in the Chinukh also. The Chinukh also in Parshas Va'eschanan also talks in the present tense, talks in the present tense. Dehainu, our emuna is not just that the Ribono Shel Olam created the world and the world exists on its own momentum because of that original beriya yesh me'ayin, but rather as we say in davening every day, the same phrase twice in the berakha of Yotzer HaMeoros of המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית. sustained at that moment by the Ribbono shel Olam. Not that there's any momentum, not that anything just exists by inertia, but it exists at that second. At that second. This idea is further reinforced in Shma. It says in Shulchan Aruch in Siman Heh, that when you say Hashem, so you're supposed to be m'chavein both for what it hints at in the Kree and in the Ksiv. In the Kree it hints at Adon Hakol because we pronounce it as Adnus, and in the Ksiv of Yud Keh, it hints at Hayah Hoveh V'Yihyeh. And when a person says the Shem Hashem, so according to Shulchan Aruch whenever you say it, according to the Biur HaGra only when you're saying Shma, but when it comes to Shma everyone agrees that we're supposed to be אדון הכל היה הוה ויהיה. On Elokim or Elokeinu, what are you supposed to be m'chavein? So it says in Shulchan Aruch תקיף בעל היכולת ובעל הכוחות, Baal Hakochos Kulam. So what does it mean that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is omnipotent? Chaim Volozhin explains it means more than that as well. Of course it means that, but it means more than that as well. And when we say Baal Hakochos Kulam, it also means that Hakadosh Baruch Hu alone is the Baal Koach. We're not merely emphasizing that he is a Baal Hakochos Kulam and in contrast to us, so we can lift the table, but the Ribbono shel Olam is Baal Hakochos Kulam. He's omnipotent, he can do anything and he's Ein Sof so he can do anything. No, that's not what it means. It means much more than that. Not only that the Ribbono shel Olam is Baal Hakochos Kulam and others are just Baalei Koach, no, rachmana litzlan, it doesn't mean that. It means that the Ribbono shel Olam is the only Baal Koach and a Baal Hakochos Kulam, and that no other creature in the world is even a Baal Koach. The same idea reflected that Hakadosh Baruch Hu constantly sustains the world and therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu is constantly infusing us with chyus and we have no independent or autonomous koach. Again, the same yesod. And this is certainly, this is an integral part of קבלת עול מלכות שמים every day and is certainly, certainly an integral part of malchios on Rosh Hashanah of שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד, that an absolute, absolute, unconditional sense of dependence that a person is supposed to have. A recognition that he has no independence, no autonomy, and that everything that he's able to do is because of the Ribbono shel Olam's perpetual constant Siyata Dishmaya. That's why the Rambam goes on in Sefer Hamitzvos in the mitzvah of Shma Yisrael of Yichud Hashem and says this mitzvah of Yichud Hashem is also a mitzvah of קבלת עול מלכות שמים. The belief in Yichud Hashem is elsewhere referred to by Chazal as קבלת עול מלכות שמים. What's this equation? Belief in Yichud Hashem is a theoretical belief. קבלת עול מלכות שמים is something very practical. So the answer is that there can't be any gap between the two. If our belief is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu sustains us every second and that we are absolutely totally dependent upon him, so then as an automatic inseparable consequence it means that we are totally, totally meshubadim to carry out his divine plan. So the question is, and the question is much bigger and the answer is much more involved than we're going to spend time on now and maybe what we're doing now is even too superficial that we shouldn't, but just a little bit to begin and maybe you can spend some time thinking about it in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah. How does the, if all this is part of שמע ישראל השם אלקינו השם אחד which is a mitzvah every day, it's a mitzvah to say it twice a day, morning and night, but it's a mitzvah temidis to be aware of it, it's a mitzvah temidis to be aware of it. So how does the mitzvah of Malchiyos on Rosh Hashanah differ? What's involved in Malchiyos on Rosh Hashanah which goes beyond these awarenesses which are supposed to accompany us a whole year long? So again the question deserves much more attention than we're giving it now. So for now let's just comment on two, in two ways in which the mitzvah hayom of Malchiyos goes beyond the קבלת עול מלכות שמים of all year long. Number one is the mitzvah temidis we have all year long notwithstanding so we also have to discharge other obligations whether it's parnassa, whether it's preparing for parnassa, whatever the other distractions are as much as possible we contemplate and never lose our awareness of this mitzvah temidis but nevertheless you can't say that our kochos are focused a hundred percent on it. The Gemara says that you, that you you do things which prepare for later in life that לעולם ילמד אדם אומנות, ילמד אדם תורה ואחר כך ילמד אדם אומנות ואחר כך ישא אשה.
So our energies are diverted and they have to be diverted, they're supposed to be diverted at times. So again as much as possible we're never ever supposed to lose awareness of this and even as successful as we are nevertheless we can't say that a hundred percent of our energies are focused on this. Clearly on Rosh Hashanah, on Rosh Hashanah, the kedushas hayom of Malchiyos, hayom hadin, so clearly on Rosh Hashanah we should try as much as possible that a hundred percent of our energies are focused upon this and as much as possible that the day should be spent totally in Torah u'tefilla, cheshbon hanefesh, and all the other legitimate and even obligatory distractions which we have all the other days of the year which divert some of our mental energies away from from focusing and concentrating and contemplating on שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד. So clearly one thing which is involved in the mitzvah hayom, the kedushas hayom of Malchiyos, is to try to eliminate all such distractions on Rosh Hashanah and that it should be a day of again through Torah u'tefilla, through Torah u'tefilla and cheshbon hanefesh, of focusing all our energies and all our kochos on on the קבלת עול מלכות שמים. We also find on Rosh Hashanah unlike our קבלת עול מלכות שמים of all year long we find that there's also a bakasha that the קבלת עול מלכות שמים of Rosh Hashanah is supposed to be embraced so openly and so enthusiastically that our desire for Malchiyos is not just our own resolution and our own conviction and our own belief in Malchiyos but also should be expressed in form of the bakasha of meloch. מלוך על כל העולם כולו בכבודך. And in that sense too, the malchiyus of Rosh Hashanah perhaps is more far-reaching than the malchiyus of all year long. I think perhaps if we contemplate Rosh Hashanah is a day of malchiyus, it's also simultaneously the first of the Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. This doesn't really require two different efforts on our part. Nothing is more conducive to our teshuvah, nothing is more of an impetus and nothing will arouse us to teshuvah more than reflecting upon the theme of malchiyus on Rosh Hashanah, and that leads us into Rosh Hashanah as the first of the Aseres Yimei Teshuvah. A person tries to inculcate and to feel as deeply and genuinely as possible the notion of Ba'al Hakochos Kulam and ein od milvado, so certainly certainly his perspective of hakaras hachet is magnified, the charata which he can then experience is infinitely more profound and I hope the Ribbono Shel Olam should help us, should give us the siyua that we should observe and fulfill and experience the malchiyus of the kedushas hayom and that we should all be able to lachazor bitshuvah sheleimah and we should all have a ksiva vachasima tova.