Explanations of the Prayer - Ashrei - Part 9

00:00 There are three verses here that mention kingship. It says, “They shall speak of the glory of Your kingship and tell of Your might.” Then it says, “To make known to mankind His mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of His kingship.” Then it says, “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds, and Your dominion is throughout every generation.” So there are three verses that speak explicitly about kingship. We said that this entire chapter, this whole kapitel, is about kingship, but these three verses speak about it explicitly. We already discussed the first verse in the previous class: “They shall speak of the glory of Your kingship and tell of Your might.” We said that this is what created beings say about the source of their life. “Created beings” includes the angels—all the created beings of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. They praise the source of their life. And where does that life come from? From “Your kingship.” We explained that “Your kingship” refers to the garment of Malchus, the parsa of Atzilus. The sefirah of Malchus is enclothed through the parsa of Atzilus, creating concealment so that a distinct existence can come into being. That is the source of created beings. It is their source, and that is what they sense and contemplate. It is what moves all created beings to sing their songs of praise. It is connected with this level of “Your kingship.” And “Your might,” we explained, refers to the tzimtzumim—the contractions that allow a distinct existence to emerge. Within Atzilus, and at the parsa, there is certainly [unclear]. There is no separate existence, no created beings. For a reality of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah to emerge, there must be gevurot, constrictions. They produce the garment of the parsa, allowing a distinct existence, the reality of created beings, to come into being. That is the first verse. Then it continues: “To make known to mankind His mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of His kingship.” This verse

02:23 the Tzemach Tzedek discusses in connection with souls. The previous verse speaks of what the angels, the created beings, know: they perceive the gevurot and constrictions through which they come to exist as distinct beings. Here he is speaking about what human souls know. “Mankind” does not mean angels or created beings generally. It refers to “You are called adam, but they are not called adam.” Adam refers to the souls of the Jewish people. And regarding making it known to the souls of the Jewish people, the verse says, “To make known to mankind His mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of His kingship.” What does that mean? The Tzemach Tzedek explains in Be’er Mayim Chayim that the souls of the Jewish people perceive His gevurot. They grasp their whole purpose. Hakadosh Boruch Hu made gevurot, constrictions. All the constrictions and gevurot that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings about make the world into a seemingly separate, distinct existence. As we said about the previous verse, “and tell of Your might”: there are gevurot and constrictions that make the world into a reality, seemingly separate from the Divine spark. But what is the purpose of the gevurot? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create such a reality through gevurot and constrictions? What is the purpose of it all? Surely the purpose is that the gevurot, the constriction of the light, should lead to the bittul of that distinct existence. As the Tzemach Tzedek writes in Be’er Mayim Chayim, Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world from nothing into something, and the entire purpose is to turn that something into nothing. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world as a distinct existence. But what is the ultimate purpose of that existence? That it should become nullified. If there had been no gevurot and constrictions, there would never have been a distinct existence, no world, and the purpose of making a dwelling place for Him in the lower realms, within that distinct existence, would not have been fulfilled. Through the gevurot and constrictions, Hakadosh Boruch Hu created a distinct existence. But what is the ultimate purpose of all this sense of separate existence,

04:28 of this somethingness? That through the middos it should come to bittul. So first it says, “To make known to mankind His mighty deeds.” Mankind—the souls—see the inner dimension, the purpose, within the gevurot. In other words, they see that the purpose of the constriction is revelation. All the constriction, all the concealment in the world, is so that afterward there can be revelation—revelation again and again, in different ways, and so on. The whole idea is explained: constriction was necessary for the sake of revelation, and so on. That is the meaning of “To make known to mankind His mighty deeds.” They see the inner dimension, the purpose, within the gevurot and the constriction. And that is why the verse continues, “and the glorious splendor of His kingship.” The souls reveal not merely the glory of His kingship, its garment, but the glorious splendor of His kingship. Splendor means beauty. Beauty points not to kingship as it comes through a garment and concealment, but the opposite: the beauty of kingship is the majesty, splendor, and beauty of the king himself, which brings about bittul. In other words, as explained in several maamarim—the Frierdiker Rebbe explains it in the maamar “Im Devar Chodesh”—there are two aspects to a king. It is like kingship here below, in the plain sense. There are two aspects to a person’s kingship. One is the king as he relates to the people. When the king reaches the people, we say that “his name is called over them.” What the people have is only his name, which governs the country. The king himself remains hidden. This is the whole idea of the king enclothing himself among the people, becoming involved in the affairs of the country to see what they need and provide for them. What the king provides to the people comes through a garment and concealment. That is the garment of kingship. But there is also the essence of kingship, the majesty of kingship, which is “the splendor of His kingship,”

06:32 the inner dimension of kingship, beyond any relationship to others. At that level, the king is present in all his glory, all his beauty, all his majesty, which is not revealed to the people. It is revealed on special occasions, perhaps only to the important ministers to whom the king reveals himself, at special times, on joyous occasions, times of favor, and so on. Then the king is revealed in beauty and glory. How is it described in Megillas Esther? With the entire royal throne, with all that goes along with it. That is a particular kind of revelation, which brings about a much deeper bittul. So, in general, this is the difference between all created beings and the souls of the Jewish people. “To make known to mankind His mighty deeds,” it says, “and the glorious splendor of His kingship.” What do all created beings perceive, even the angels? The angels have an understanding of G-dliness, but ultimately they perceive only the glory of His kingship: that level of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s kingship, the aspect of G-dliness that is enclothed in the world through descents, constrictions, garments, concealments, the parsa, and so on. It is the outer dimension of Malchus, as the prophet says. But “to make known to mankind His mighty deeds”: Hashem comes to the souls of the Jewish people and reveals the purpose within the gevurot—that the constrictions are meant to bring them to a higher level. The constriction is for the sake of revelation, to reach a higher level of revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Through this, they experience “the glorious splendor of His kingship”: not only the glory of His kingship is revealed to them, but the glorious splendor of His kingship—the beauty, the sheinkeit, the whole thing. That is revealed specifically through the souls of the Jewish people. The Tzemach Tzedek writes here about the word “kingship,” but we won’t go into that. The Tzemach Tzedek writes that “His kingship” has a numerical value. The Tzemach Tzedek writes that “His kingship” has a numerical value of five hundred and two. Five hundred and two—apparently, it is brought that five hundred and two is the numerical value of

08:41 A word, an acronym—its numerical value is... ah, it equals the total years of the Avos’ lives. If we take all the years of the Avos and add them together—175 plus 180 plus 147—we get 502. So the years of the Avos total 502. The words “the fairest among women” also have that numerical value. That phrase is in Shir Hashirim: “If you do not know, O fairest among women,” which refers to malchus, kingship. It is exactly the point we are discussing here. What does “the fairest among women” mean? “The fairest” refers to malchus. A woman represents malchus. “The fairest among women” has a numerical value of 502, which is the same idea: the beauty of kingship. Kingship that comes through contractions and concealments is the essence of kingship, but its beauty is revealed through the souls of the Jewish people. That is why we speak of the Avos, who are the source of the souls. The souls of the Jewish people are bound up with the Avos. You see, the Avos are three. So that brings out the beauty. In other words, this bittul is much loftier. Where does it come from? From malchus. It is revealed to the souls of the Jewish people. These are the two verses: “They will speak of the glory of Your kingship and tell of Your might.” One speaks about the worlds, and one about souls. Then it says, “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds.” It returns to how the kingship of Hakadosh Boruch Hu extends everywhere. First it speaks about how everyone praises and extols Him. Then it goes on to speak about the spread of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s kingship, how it extends everywhere. What does it say now? “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds.” All the worlds, the souls, the angels, and so on—all of them are nullified before this kingship,

10:33 and all of them connect to it. So this kingship—“Your kingship”—is the kingship over all worlds. This kingship gives life and existence to all the worlds and extends throughout them. “And Your dominion is in every generation.” The dominion of Hakadosh Boruch Hu extends through every generation. Here too, as in many verses in Tehillim, we see a doubling of language. What is the difference between “Your kingship” and “Your dominion”? What is the difference between “all worlds” and “every generation”? On the plain level, it is a repetition. As Metzudas David often says in his commentary on Tehillim, it is a repetition expressed in poetic language. In other words, verses of Tanach repeat the same idea in one form and then another. Of course, according to the deeper meaning, that is not the case. The doubled wording expresses two distinct ideas. So what is the difference between the first half of the verse and the second? In the first half, it says “all worlds.” It is speaking about the worlds: how the kingship of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed in all worlds. “All worlds” includes the entire seder hishtalshelus, even the loftiest worlds—and not only the upper worlds, but Atzilus, and even higher than all the worlds. As explained in the deeper teachings, the word “Your kingship” sometimes refers to a very lofty level: the malchus of Atzilus. But in many places, “Your kingship” refers to malchus of Ein Sof—not just the malchus of Atzilus, but the malchus of Ein Sof before the tzimtzum. About this we say, “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds”: the malchus of Ein Sof extends throughout all the worlds—or the malchus of Atzilus, whichever it may be. From Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s malchus, kingship is revealed and extends into each and every world. This is the kingship associated with the World to Come. The Alter Rebbe

12:28 goes into this, but let’s not get into it now; we only need to understand the plain meaning of the verse. So what is the difference between “all worlds,” which refers to the entire seder hishtalshelus, all the worlds, and “every generation,” which has to do with time? With “all worlds” the word is “kingship,” while with “every generation” the word is “dominion.” What is the difference? The Alter Rebbe explains it in Likkutei Torah. In Likkutei Torah for Rosh Hashanah, there is a maamar by the Alter Rebbe that explains this verse at length, and from there he explains the verses that follow, all the way to the end. I think it is the first maamar in Likkutei Torah for Rosh Hashanah, “Tik’u.” There he explains at length everything from “kingship” to the end of the chapter. What point does he make when he reaches this verse? What is the difference between kingship and dominion? Once we understand that, we will see why kingship is described as being over “all worlds,” while dominion is “in every generation.” In any case, the distinction brought in that sefer is that kingship is accepted willingly, while dominion is imposed against one’s will. Dominion does not apply only to people. We also find the term used for animals and for things of which you cannot say that they want a king; it can be imposed on them. “And have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky”—that is the wording there. He gave man dominion over all creation. So dominion can be a matter of force. It can be that way with people too. There is a kind of king who is like a dictator—a man who rules by force. The people do not want him. Today the whole world is talking about that dictator, trying to get rid of him. People are talking about all the Arab dictators today. That is a ruler; it is not

14:16 a king. A ruler is someone the people do not want, but who forces his rule on them. That is one kind of dominion. Kingship is different: it is accepted willingly. In the words of the verse, as we say in prayer, “And they willingly accepted His kingship upon themselves.” Kingship comes specifically from the people: they submit themselves to the king, and then he becomes king. Now, let’s say we are speaking about the Jewish people, or about the world in general, and the Jewish people’s relationship with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is kingship and there is dominion. Take the course of Jewish history, for example. There were periods when the Jewish people were in a good place in their relationship with Hakadosh Boruch Hu: they served Hashem and devoted themselves to Him. In that way, they brought about His kingship willingly. But there were also periods when the Jewish people did not do the work as they should. Looking at the whole history of the Jewish people, there were times when they willingly accepted Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King, and then He was King. There were other times, periods when they cast off the yoke, and so on. Hakadosh Boruch Hu never abandons the Jewish people, even during those periods. But then His rule was a matter of dominion. In any case, the maamarim for Rosh Hashanah discuss the whole idea of “Say before Me verses of kingship.” The avodah of Rosh Hashanah is to bring about Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s kingship through willing acceptance. That is the whole point of Rosh Hashanah. On Rosh Hashanah we daven and do teshuvah; we spend the whole month engaged in this. And not only on Rosh Hashanah: throughout the year, a Jew wants to connect himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and asks that He be King through willing acceptance. Clearly, there is a very great difference between Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s rule being a matter of kingship and its being a matter of dominion.

16:10 When Hashem’s influence comes by way of kingship, He bestows it because His kingship is wanted, and it comes with greater revelation, more expansively. His will is revealed in the world. Kingship is the higher form of revelation. If Hashem guides the world only by way of rule, then that is rule, not necessarily kingship. In other matters, things may not go so well. So on Rosh Hashanah we ask for kingship that is accepted willingly. But each person knows in his own soul that there are different periods. There are times when, in our service of Hashem, we accept Him willingly. There are times when we do things against our will. Those are times of kingship and times of rule. Everyone goes through both kinds of periods. Sometimes he explains it this way, and sometimes he explains that it is the difference between the G-dly soul and the animal soul. For the animal soul, it is more a matter of rule: it does not want to. For the G-dly soul, it is willing. He explains it in several ways. So how do we understand the sequence here? When we get to the verse’s application to our service, it becomes clear why it is worded this way. The verse speaks of “all worlds”—what does that primarily mean? The higher worlds. There is also this physical world, but “all worlds” includes them all, including the higher worlds, which are in a state of bittul and accept Hashem willingly. That is why the phrase “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds” uses the language of kingship. In those worlds, Hashem’s kingship is revealed and accepted willingly,

17:52 because all the worlds willingly submit to Hashem. But then the verse speaks of “all generations.” Generations are how this reaches our world, with the differences between times and periods. Here we cannot simply call it kingship, because there are times when it is accepted as kingship and times when it is not. Hashem rules in every generation, even in generations that did not accept Him willingly. That is why the verse says, “and Your rule.” On the one hand, this emphasizes Hashem’s kindness: even when there were generations in which the conduct of the Jewish people was not as it should be, and they did not willingly accept His kingship, Hashem did not abandon them. If we reflect on Hashem’s kindness and want to respond to it, we see that even in times of exile, in the days of Haman and Esther, in times of darkness—even when the Jewish people themselves are in a state of sleep, “I sleep in exile,” and so on—Hashem has not abandoned us or stopped thinking about us. He continues to guide us, at least by way of rule. That is one side of the reflection. On the other hand, we need to think about moving beyond rule: we should want our service not to be against our will, but willing, so that Hashem’s kingship is accepted willingly. Then we will bring about an influence that comes by way of kingship, entirely accepted willingly. All right, now to the next verse. In this group of three verses, we see that the letter nun is missing. Yes.

20:03 We already spoke about this at the beginning, I think: in Ashrei, David omitted the letter nun. King David composed Ashrei but did not include a verse beginning with nun. Why? Because in Amos there is a verse, “Fallen, no more to rise, is the maiden Israel.” There is a passage in Amos that also follows the order of the letters, and it says, “Fallen, no more to rise, is the maiden Israel.” It describes such a great fall of the Jewish people that, as our Sages say, there would be no rising from it: “no more to rise.” It is the most severe verse in all of Tanach. It sounds as though the fall is final, with no way back. So King David did not want to include a verse beginning with nun because of that. Instead, he went straight to samech, and the samech verse answers what Amos said. Amos said, “Fallen, no more to rise, is the maiden Israel.” Then King David comes along—of course, David lived before Amos, but Rashi adds this explanation—and writes, “Hashem supports all who fall.” Even those who have fallen, about whom Amos said, “Fallen, no more to rise...” To them he says, “Hashem supports all who fall.” Even those who fall have Hashem’s support. The Baal Shem Tov also gives an explanation of this verse. How does it connect to the preceding verse? What is the sequence? After saying, “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds, and Your rule is in every generation,” the verse indicates that there are generations in which kingship is not accepted. Hashem is revealed only by way of rule, and that leads to a fall. As we said, the Jewish people are not accepting Hashem of their own free will. That is a state of falling, and because of that fall,

21:56 we need to ask that “Hashem supports all who fall.” We’ll leave that for next time.