Crowning The King

Our entire High Holiday liturgy deals with the King’s coronation. How can we complain about so many people and nations in the world who act immorally, lawlessly, and in total disregard of The King’s statutes when the limbs of our own body have not yet accepted Hashem’s monarchy?
 
Everything in the world must be subservient to a higher governing force. In the physical world – as in the metaphysical world – there is no void. If a person doesn’t choose the upright path and crown Hashem as his monarch, then the forces of the Dark Side – the sitra achra – will rule over him.
 
All year long, we bless Hashem during the Shmona Esrei prayer, HaKel HaKadosh, the holy G-d. From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, we say HaMelech HaKadosh, the holy King. During this entire ten-day period, we have numerous reminders in our prayers that refer to Hashem as The King. Why is it so important that we remind ourselves – especially during this time of the year – that Hashem is The King? Our physical bodies and gray-matter brains have short memories; if we don’t remember that Hashem is The King, than we soon find ourselves subservient to whom King Solomon calls, “The silly old king,” in other words, the Yetzer Hara, or evil inclination. As soon as any of our bodily limbs, our actions, our speech, or our thoughts sever themselves from Hashem’s monarchy, we become subservient – G-d forbid – to bodily lusts, materialism, and bad character traits. In other words, the minute a person breaks away from Hashem’s rule, even though he thinks he’s free to do what he wants, he becomes subservient to the evil inclination. His body will now be compelled to do all types of things, for it will be governed by the physical urges that the evil inclination generates. Those who think they’re free to do what they want when they want by revolting against Hashem are really the worst slaves of all.

We therefore should regard the High Holidays as the greatest gift of all. Rosh Hashanah is the day when all of creation crowns The King. Let’s ask ourselves: why is crowning Hashem so important?
 
One of the names of Rosh Hashanah is Yom HaDin, or Day of Judgment. The Mishna tells us that on this day, all of creation passes before Hashem in judgment. Hashem’s judgment works according to the principle of measure for measure – when we are compassionate, so is He. When we treat others with forgiveness and humility, so does He.
 
Through humbling ourselves and accepting Hashem’s sovereignty, we turn the attribute of judgment into mercy. When we put our life, our actions, and the entire world into Hashem’s hands, we are in effect surrendering ourselves to His absolute mercy. We rely upon Him that our judgment will be favorable. Reliance – like any other type of thought – is really powerful. When we truly rely on Hashem, we invoke amazing Divine compassion that mitigates the severest of judgments.
 
Rebbe Natan teaches us that the main aspect of crowning The King is teshuva, or returning to Him with all of our heart. He writes in Likutey Halachot, Hilchot Netillat Yadai’im, Shacharit 3:5, “For then, on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the Ten Days of Repentance, the main repentance is for arrogance, to humble oneself and to feel lowly and truly deficient… Therefore, we need to nullify ourselves completely… This means to remove our opinions and nullify ourselves completely, as if we had no opinion at all.” Rebbe Natan emphasizes that we have to accept Hashem’s sovereignty with perfect faith and with complete simplicity, without any cleverness, for this is our main task on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
 
By crowning Hashem, we are fulfilling our task to be a “light unto the nations.” Rebbe Natan adds that our mission in the world, especially during the High Holidays, is revealing Hashem’s sovereignty and illuminating the world with this knowledge. We inform mankind that there is a God Who rules over the world; He alone is King.
 
With this in mind, that’s why we spend so much time and effort traveling around the globe spreading emuna. The sooner that all of mankind realizes that Hashem is The King, the sooner we’ll see a spiritually-corrected world where people live lives of peace and productivity. Yet, we certainly can’t be a light unto the nations if we don’t crown Hashem on ourselves. During the High Holidays, we crown The King. Rosh Hashanah is the coronation. We all declare, “Now, Hashem our God, put Your awe upon all whom You have made, Your dread upon all whom You have created; let Your works revere You, let all Your creatures worship You; may they all blend into one brotherhood to do Your will with a perfect heart… You shall reign over all whom You have made, You alone, Hashem, on Mount Tzion, the abode of Your majesty… and there is no God but You,” (Tein Pachdechah prayer, High Holiday liturgy).
 
On Rosh Hashanah, we do not mention our righteousness, nor do we ask of anything for ourselves. We nullify ourselves completely and focus on crowning The King – fully accepting Hashem as our revered and beloved Monarch. The more we are privileged to know His greatness, the more He will reveal His mercy, His true greatness, more and more, upon us and upon all of creation.