Crowning Hashem over all creation
Rosh Hashanah · malchus · kingship · creation · tefillah
בראש השנה מבקשין על כלל העולם תן פחדך כו' כל הברואים כו' ובגמ' איתא כדי שתמליכונו עליכם.
On Rosh Hashanah we pray on behalf of the entire world — "Instill Your awe… upon all the creatures…" — and in the Gemara it is brought: "So that you make Me King over you." (Rosh Hashanah 16a)
Our Rosh Hashanah tefillos ask that Hashem's awe rest upon all creation; Chazal explain that Hashem desires this so that we crown Him as King.
הפי' כי העבד הנאמן צריך לבקש מלכות האדון על כל.
The explanation is that the faithful servant must request the kingship of his master over everything.
A loyal eved (servant) naturally yearns that his master's sovereignty be recognized universally — so too we ask that Hashem reign over all.
רק ע"י שמבקש זה בכל לבו ממילא מתפשט המלכות עליו מקודם.
Only that by his requesting this with his whole heart, the kingship automatically spreads over him first.
When a person sincerely longs for Hashem to rule over all, that very desire causes Hashem's malchus (kingship) to settle upon him first of all.
ומלכיות שאומרים לפניו הוא להמליכו על כל ברואיו ועי"ז זוכין להמליכו עלינו מקודם.
And the Malchuyos verses that we recite before Him are to crown Him over all His creatures, and through this we merit to crown Him over us first.
The Malchuyos section of Mussaf is phrased as a prayer for universal kingship; precisely because we seek His reign over all, we ourselves are granted His kingship first.
ומקוב"ה אית לן למילף שברא כל הבריאה עבור ישראל כמ"ש בשביל כו' ראשית.
And from the Holy One, blessed be He, we should learn this — for He created all of creation for the sake of Yisrael, as it says: "For the sake of… reishis." (Bereishis Rabbah 1:4)
We model ourselves on Hashem: just as He created the entire world for the sake of Bnei Yisrael (called "reishis," the first), so too we are meant to care for all of creation.
א"כ אם בנ"י לא ישתתפו בר"ה לכל הברואים לא יהי' להם קיום בעולם.
If so, were Bnei Yisrael not to include all the creatures in their Rosh Hashanah prayers, those creatures would have no existence in the world.
Since the world exists only for the sake of Yisrael, the survival of all other creatures depends on Bnei Yisrael drawing them into their tefillos on Rosh Hashanah.
ולכן צריכין לבקש בר"ה על כל הבריאה להסכים לרצון השי"ת:
Therefore we must pray on Rosh Hashanah on behalf of all of creation, that it should accord with the ratzon Hashem (the will of Hashem).
Our task on Rosh Hashanah is to daven that the whole of creation align itself with Hashem's will and accept His kingship.
Summary: On Rosh Hashanah the faithful servant prays for Hashem's kingship over all creation; by yearning for His universal reign we merit that His malchus rest upon us first, and since the world exists for the sake of Bnei Yisrael, it falls to us to include all creatures in our prayers so they may align with the will of Hashem.