open the gate for me!

For most of us, the image of God as King is uncomfortable. On Rosh Hashanah, we sweeten and swallow it with apples and honey. We mumble it in Hebrew blessings (eloheinu melech haolam), but when confronted with the English translations, we cringe and rewrite the metaphor. 

But this week, God as King is strangely comforting to me. The entire rabbinic tradition of talking about kingship makes sense to me in a new way. As if to say, something compassionate, just, indivisible, and even ineffable is ultimately in charge, not you mortals who cannot control your desires for power and money. 

I noticed this spiritual shift as I was reciting Ashrei, an acrostic psalm we are instructed to say three times daily. Most weeks I am drawn to the word selah at the end of the first line, to the spacious pause it invites. But this week it is the letter mem that calls to me. It reads, 

מַלְכוּתְךָ מַלְכוּת כָּל עֹלָמִים, וּמֶמְשַׁלְתְּךָ בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדֹר
Malkhutekha malkhut kol olamim, umemshaltekha b’khol dor vador
Your kingdom shall last for ever and ever, and Your rule shall extend into each and every generation. 

I took refuge in the repeated emphasis on a divine monarchy in the heavenly realm. I have always been drawn to the midrashim that distinguish between a King of flesh and blood and Melech Malchei HaMelachim - the King of Kings, aka God, because they are a reminder that our ancestors conjured the image of God as King in contrast to the terrible monarchs of their time. And they took the time to reimagine a sovereign source of power that was in service to its subjects, not the other way around. 

I have been singing this line from Ashrei with fervor, reminding myself that for thousands of years Jews have lived under foreign rule that has not represented their best interest or their values. And we developed our own moral codes and spiritual hierarchies to counter the unjust hierarchies we lived under. 

On Thursday night, Rabbi Gila taught me and the KT teens a wild story from the Babylonian Talmud about Alexander, the Great (Tamid 32b).

“After his death, Alexander arrived at paradise:
He called out: Open the gate for me! A divine being from within the Garden of Eden called back: Only the righteous shall enter.

He said to them: I too am worthy, as I am a king; I am very important. 
If you won’t let me in, at least give me something from inside. 

They gave him one eyeball. He brought it and he weighed all the gold and silver that he had against the eyeball, and yet the riches did not balance against the eyeball’s greater weight.

He said to the Sages: What is this? Why does this eyeball outweigh everything? 

They said: It is the eyeball of a mortal person of flesh and blood, which is not satisfied ever. The Sages instructed to take a small amount of dirt and cover the eye. He did so, and it was immediately balanced by its proper counterweight. The eye is never satisfied while it sees what it wants.”

Then and now, the richest men on earth, who dare to call themselves kings, are insatiable and unworthy of our allegiance.

May we have the courage and clarity to honor our ancestors, to defy the will of tyrants and to live righteous lives worthy of the Garden of Eden.
As we sing in Avinu Malkeinu, ain lanu melekh ela atah - there is no King but You!
Such a desperate plea. 
May it be so. ​