Our Father, Our King

Yom Kippur

by Rabbi Avi Billet

In one of his Yom Kippur addresses, Rabbi Joseph Hertz expressed that the prayer "Avinu Malkeinu Chatanu L'fanekha” is the prayer most reflective of our Yom Kippur goals.

We are admitting that we recognize a few very important truths about our relationship with God, and about ourselves.

“Avinu” means "Our Father." First we are recognizing, as Rabbi Hertz put it, "We can never cease being children of our Father in Heaven, just as little as we can ever cease being children of our earthly parents. Whether we are deserving of God's love or whether we are not deserving of His love, God remains our father."

The Torah tells us in Devarim 23:6 that God turned Bilaam's curse into a blessing, "Because Hashem your God loves you." It doesn't matter that the Bnei Yisrael had sinned before, or that they were about to sin with Baal Pe'or. Things may go very wrong, but God loves us. He is Our Father in heaven.

He is also “Malkeinu.” Though He is our father and loves us, this doesn't take away from His being our king he will not "permit the wanton breaking of His laws to go unpunished." God's love is combined with God's Law. "There is an everlasting disctinction between right and wrong… [between] thou shalts and thou shalt nots which are absolute and imperative."

There are countless parables in Jewish lore of a King whose son sinned, causing the king to make an example of his own son. Shaul Hamelekh (King Saul) almost killed his own son Yonatan! The story in Shmuel I:14 is incredible. Yonatan and a friend bring about the salvation for the Jewish people through a very decisive battle they wage essentially singlehandedly – while unaware that Shaul had declared that at the threat of death no one was to eat until the battle was over. After incredible military feats, in a fit of exhaustion, Yonatan ate a dabble of honey to rejuvenate himself. When Shaul found out about it, Yonatan was only spared because the people came to his defense arguing, "Will you kill Yonatan, who brought about this great salvation to us?"

A Father who is a King also has laws. And the laws must be followed – even though the father loves his son. If his son can get away with anything, there will not be any respect for the kingship and the Monarchy falls apart.

            The statement of the prayer concludes “Chatanu L'fanekha.” (we have sinned before You)

            The prophet Isaiah said (5:20), "Woe to those who say of the evil that it is good and of the good that it is evil; who present darkness as light and light as darkness, who present bitter as sweet and sweet as bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and in their own estimation, of profound understanding."

            We live in a time where there is rationalization and justification for everything we do or choose to not do. It is one thing to make choices of how to conduct oneself privately, it is an entirely other matter to blast one’s choices and rejections of tradition on the internet, justifying all with much less than a halakhic argument, and merely a “rational” or “emotional” argument.

            Not everything in Rabbinic Judaism is rational, not everything has a full reason or makes perfect sense. But we, the faithful, are committed to making a go of system that has survived for thousands of years. It may have undergone certain evolutions, and it may look a little different from the practices of our ancestors in Biblical times. But it has survived Crusades, inquisitions, massacres, pogroms, a Holocaust, secularism, and many obstacles thrown its way.

            Rabbi Hertz concluded his essay declaring, "This Day of Atonement prayer implies a turning away from the vanities of life, and a resolve to grasp the Almighty Hand which is ever outstretched to receive the penitent. It is that clear recognition of the sinful life which causes the sinner to forsake his evil way, and the man of iniquity his unrighteous thoughts. This withdrawal from sin is itself a return to God, a reconciliation and an at-one-ment of man and our Father who is in Heaven."

            As we undertake our Yom Kippur commitments, let us make the effort to impress upon our Father and our King that we are truly penitent.

            Perhaps it’s a blessing that we don't declare this prayer too often on this particular day of "Yom Kippur and Shabbos," because maybe it will be a retroactive indication that we truly will have done nothing wrong, and everything right on this Yom Kippur.

And if this shall come to pass for all of Israel, may our people be blessed to not only have a successful Yom Kippur, but a blessed year of good tidings, peace in our homes and peace in the Land of Israel.