Royalty

Ok, it's that time of year again. It's the beginning of the year, when we focus all of our attention on crowing Hashem as our king. It is difficult for me to explain and express the meaning of G-d as a king. What is very natural and comforting to me as a student of Chasidus, seems foreign and unattractive to people who are raised in western cloture.

So here goes my annual attempt to find the words to share what is in my heart, to share that which Jewish people have been feeling for thousands of years.

There is beauty in royalty. The word king evokes negative feelings, while royalty evokes beauty. Beauty is overwhelming. When you look at the water poring down the Niagara Falls you can't pull your eyes away. I was never at the Grand Canyon, but I know that when something is awesome you loose yourself; you forget that you exist, you don’t get hungry and you don't need the bathroom, your attention is captured. You can't sleep the following nights the image keeps coming back to you.

On Rosh Hashonah we pray that Hashem be our king, we want to submit ourselves to him. But we ask that he should "Appear with the splendor of your strength onto all the inhabitants of the world" we want him to lure us with his glory. We want to be persuaded by Hashem's beauty as we say time an again in the prayers "reign over the hole world with your glory".