Sephardic practice is to arise early each weekday morning throughout the month of Elul for the recitation of Selihot, beseeching Gd for forgiveness in preparation for Rosh Hashanah, the day when we are judged for the coming year. At one point during this service, the hazzan exclaims, “L’Hashem Elokenu harahamim vehaselihot – Hashem our Gd has compassion and forgiveness,” to which the congregation responds by pronouncing, “Ki maradnu vo – For we have rebelled against Him!”
This confession to having “rebelled” is included also in the Ana section, where we describe our shortcomings with many different verbs (following the sequence of the Hebrew alphabet), including “maradnu.”
Let us take a moment to try to understand the meaning of this confession.
Are we really being fair to ourselves by saying that we are “rebels”? We have all learned about rebellions. King David’s son, Avshalom, rebelled against him, violently chasing David and his men from the palace and seizing the throne. Twice during the Romans’ rule over Eretz Yisrael, the Jews launched a revolt, attempting (unsuccessfully) to drive the Romans out of the land. In 1917, the communists in Russia rebelled against the Czar and took power over the country.
Are we guilty of this kind of “rebellion”? Have we ever made any sort of attempt to “dethrone” Gd? Have we rejected His right to the rule the world, and attempted to rule it ourselves?
What do we mean when we confess, “Ki maradnu vo”?
The Annual Coronation
This question becomes even more significant when we consider that this notion of “rebellion” is actually central to our yearly observance of Rosh Hashanah.
The dominant theme of Rosh Hashanah, clearly, is malchut – Gd’s kingship over the world. The majority of our prayer service on Rosh Hashanah is devoted to this theme, expressing praise to Gd and proclaiming Him as the sole Ruler over the universe. Essentially, Rosh Hashanah is our annual coronation ceremony, when we formally and jubilantly “crown” the Almighty as King.
This gives rise to an interesting question.
Just two years ago, the entire world was abuzz when Great Britain crowned a new king – King Charles III. Last year – one year after the coronation – this event was not repeated. Neither is it being repeated this year. And it won’t occur next year. Once a king is formally crowned as king, he does not require such a ceremony again. A king is crowned just once, and he remains king for the rest of his life.
It is thus perhaps reasonable to ask why we observe Rosh Hashanah, Gd’s coronation, each and every year. Why is this necessary? Why don’t we each simply proclaim Gd as king once in our life, perhaps at the time of the bar-mitzvah? Why does Gd, unlike human kings, require a new coronation every year?
We can find the answer to our question by looking at the first story in the Tanach about the coronation of a human king.
The first king of Israel was Shaul, who was chosen by Gd Himself, and who was formally crowned at a national ceremony conducted by the prophet Shmuel, as we read in the Book of Shmuel I (chapter 10). Surprisingly, however, not too long thereafter, Shmuel summoned the people to assemble in Gilgal to renew the crowning of Shaul as king (“Lechu venelchah haGilgal unehadesh sham hameluchah” – Shmuel I 11:14). Here we have a clear precedent for a repeated coronation, for conducting a formal crowning of a king a second time.
Understanding why Shaul required a second coronation might thus shed some light on the nature of our yearly celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the need to crown Gd as king each year.
The explanation emerges from the verses that appear immediately following the story of Shaul’s initial coronation. There we read of cynics who mocked and ridiculed Shaul. They felt he was unworthy of the kingship, and they derisively asked, “Mah yoshienu zeh – How is this person going to save us [from our enemies]?” (Shmuel I 10:27). They felt that Shaul was too humble and feeble to defeat the powerful nations that threatened Beneh Yisrael. Shaul’s reign was challenged, as some segments of the population questioned his suitability. Later, however, Shaul led a successful war against the enemy nation of Amon, thereby putting to rest all doubts about his capabilities. At that point, Shmuel called for a second coronation, as the first had been undone by the king’s critics.
This is why we must crown Gd as king each and every year. Since last Rosh Hashanah, we, like the cynics who ridiculed Shaul, have challenged Gd’s rule. We “rebelled” against Him by disobeying His commands. Therefore, we assemble anew each year to fully and unreservedly commit ourselves to His rule, formally crowning Him as our King once again.
This only sharpens our earlier question. Is this really true? Are we actually guilty of “rebellion”? Have we ever questioned Hashem’s rule? Did we really pose a challenge to His royal governance over the earth, to the point where He needs to be crowned anew?
Causing “Distress”
The answer to this question lies in the precise definition of the Hebrew root m.r.d., which is used in reference to rebellion.
The meaning of this word is found in Masechet Ketubot (63), where the Gemara discusses the status of a “moredet” – a wife who has “rebelled” against her husband. This term refers not to infidelity, but rather to a different type of violation of the marital bond, which constitutes halachic grounds for divorce, allowing the husband to divorce the wife without paying her ketubah. Specifically, the Gemara explains, a “moredet” is a woman who says, “Ba’ina leh umetza’arana leh – I want him, and I want to cause him distress.” In other words, she wishes to remain married to her husband, she is happy with the arrangement, but she insists on the right to do what she wants, even if this causes her husband distress. She does not “rebel” in the sense of rejecting him. She continues accepting him as her husband and enjoying the privileges of marriage – but on her terms, acting as she pleases even if this upsets him.
If, indeed, this is the meaning of “m.r.d.,” then we can easily understand why we confess each morning during Elul, “Ki maradnu vo,” that we have – in a certain sense – “rebelled” against Gd. “Rebellion” does not require complete rejection. We don’t need to become heretics to be considered to have “rebelled” against Gd. Even if we believe in Gd and generally accept His rule, we are guilty of “rebellion” if we fail to commit to His laws unconditionally.
We, too, like the “moredet,” sometimes want the best of both worlds. We want the unparalleled joy, satisfaction and fulfillment of religious life, but in a manner that suits us, that does not inconvenience us too much, that doesn’t limit us too much. We don’t reject Gd or the Torah, but we want to continue doing things that “upset” Him, as it were. For some, this means having conversations during the prayer service, or during the Torah reading. For others, it means being dishonest in business. It might be compromising standards of kashrut or tzeniut (modesty) when traveling. If we are honest with ourselves, we will have no trouble identifying the ways in which we occasionally “upset” Gd, so-to-speak, the times when we choose to do what we want to do instead of fulfilling our obligations to Gd. The annual coronation on Rosh Hashanah expresses our commitment to unconditional loyalty, to fulfill Gd’s will even when it is inconvenient, even when we need to sacrifice, and even when we need to exert a great deal of effort or restraint.
A New Beginning
Nothing that we said here should cause anyone to feel down and depressed heading into Rosh Hashanah. To the contrary, it should inspire us with joy and enthusiasm.
According to what we have seen, Rosh Hashanah is comparable to King Shaul’s second coronation, where his formal crowning was renewed (as Shmuel said, “unehadesh”). Rosh Hashanah is about renewal, an opportunity for us to push the “reset” button, to start from scratch, and make a new commitment. Throughout the month of Elul, we confess “Maradnu” so that this time around, we’ll get it right, so that we will fully accept Gd’s rule without any conditions or stipulations.
Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first day of Tishreh – the day when Gd created Adam and Havah, because this is the day when He became King. In order to be a king, one needs subjects. And thus it was only with the creation of the first human beings that Gd became King.
On Rosh Hashanah, we are to resemble Adam and Havah on the day of their creation – embarking on a new beginning, recognizing that we have been created for the sole purpose of serving Gd. This realization will lead us to a new, fresh, wholehearted commitment to fulfill Gd’s will even when it is inconvenient, even when we do not feel like doing so, even when this gets in the way of things we would like to do.
May we all experience a true renewal during this season, and be worthy of a year filled with blessings, and a year of peace and prosperity for the entire Jewish Nation, amen.