A Vort On Parshas Shoftim: Why do we need to have a king?

00:15 Shalom Aleichem. This week's parsha is Parashat Sh'lach Lecha. One of the mitzvahs in Parashat Sh'lach Lecha is all about how the Jewish people are told by Hashem that when they go into Eretz Yisrael, they must appoint a king, a king over themselves. You know, all the goyim have kings. The Jews also have to have a king. But why do we need a king? Why, why, who cares about a king? Isn't Hashem our king? Very soon it's gonna be Rosh Hashanah, and we say Hashem is the king of the whole world. So why do we need a human king, a person to be a king? We have Hashem as a, as our king. Hashem tells us what to do, gives us mitzvahs, tells us how to live and how to do things. So why do we need a person, a human king? Well, one of the explanations is Hashem really wants every one of us to feel Him, that He's next to us all the time, and we're standing in front of Him, and therefore we feel fear and awe of Hashem all the time, 'cause we're always standing in Hashem's presence, and He watches us and looks at us. But it's not so easy to have that, 'cause you don't see Hashem. If we could see Hashem, we could see how He watches over us and looks at us and sees what we do and how we behave, of course that would be different. But we don't see Him. We can't see Him. So then

01:58 how are, uh, can a person actually feel Hashem is there next to him all the time and feeling a sense of fear and awe of Hashem all the time, be bottled to Hashem? So that's why you need a king. The king that Hashem wants us to, to, to, to appoint, appoint a king sh- has to be somebody who's a tzadik. Like David HaMelech was a king, he was a tzadik. Hashem wanted us to elect kings that are tzadikim, holy people, and they have all the time the fear of Hashem in their heart, 'cause they feel Hashem's presence all the time. Wherever they are, they feel Hashem is right there. Hashem is everywhere, and they feel it really, and they, and, like, gives them... They're humble all the time. They feel they're always standing in, in front of Hashem. On one hand, they're kings. They're the leader of the country, right? They're very powerful. But you know what? That's just on the outside that looks like they're very powerful and they're, but they're not really arrogant. The real king that Hashem wanted us to appoint, like David HaMelech, is somebody who's inside very, very humble, 'cause he always feels Hashem's presence is there, and Hashem is infinite. So what are we compared to Hashem? Nothing. Now, not everybody can feel that, because we can't see Hashem, as I said before, but great tzadikim have it, and you can see the way they daven, the way they learn. They're so humble. They s- they feel such a

03:38 strong fear of Hashem all the time. Today, we don't have kings, but we have rebbes. They're like kings. As the Gemara says, "Man, malcha rabba man." The rebbes, the rebbe, the tzadik, is like a, like a king, 'cause he's also very humble to Hashem and feels very close to Hashem all the time. Uh, and therefore, when we look at them, at these tzadikim, or when we had kings and the kings were there and we see how close they are to Hashem, then we feel also excited. We wanna be close to Hashem like that as well. So by being afraid of a king or afraid of a rebbe, of a tzadik, not afraid, as I said, because they're gonna hurt you, chas v'shalom. That's a chas v'shalom. A rebbe doesn't do that. But it means that you are in awe. You feel like how great he is, right? And you feel very humbled in front of him. So that makes you also closer to Hashem. So the purpose of a king is that we should become more closely to, closer to Hashem, and we will feel that Hashem is our king. Through the person, the human king, we become closer to Hashem, and then we are able to see how Hashem is our king all the time. Same thing with the rebbe, with the tzadik. Now, as you know, it's the month of Elul. That's the time where we make sure that we, we know that Hashem is our king. And in order to make sure

05:07 that we know that Hashem is our king, right, we wanna prepare for Rosh Hashanah, so we, Elul, we work very hard to make sure we understand and remember that Hashem is our king. But Hashem wants to make it easier for us. So what does He do in the month of Elul? He comes down to us. Instead of us trying to figure out how to get closer to Him, He say, "You know, I'm gonna come close to you, and I'm gonna make myself very close to you so that you don't have to do much. All you have to do is say, 'Yeah, you're my king. You're my master. I want you to be my king.'" As you all know, what the Alter Rebbe said, it's like a mashal of a king comes into the field to meet all the people that are out there in the field working hard. He's coming to them. Hashem is coming to us in Elul. So I wanna tell you a great thing the Rebbe said in Yechidus to a boy, a little boy or a young boy, a young boy that learned Chassidus, and the Rebbe asked him what he learns. He says he learns what the Alter Rebbe says, that in Elul the king is in the field. So the Rebbe asked him, "Did you meet the king? It's Elul now. Have you met the king in the field? Did you see him?" And the boy didn't answer. So the Rebbe said, "I want you to know, every time

06:29 you say a bracha, every time you say a bracha, you're meeting the king." When you say a bracha, who are you talking to? You're talking to Hashem. Hashem is right there. That means you're meeting the king in the field. I'm sure you all remember when you watched the videos how the Rebbe would say a bracha. The bracha acharonah after the farbrengen, always open up the siddur and look inside and look at the words. The Rebbe didn't get distracted by what goes on around. He looked at the words and connected with the words and felt that he's standing in front of Hashem and saying those words of the bracha. And the Rebbe wanted each one of us to do that. Every time you say a bracha, you think about the words, "What am I saying? Who am I talking to?" So that means you meet the king in the field, 'cause you're aware that Hashem is there right next to you. He listens to the bracha you make.