A discussion on malkhuyot, God’s sovereignty, is part of the Rosh Hashana canon, as Talmud Rosh Hashana 16a:15 records. Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rabbi Akiva:
“And recite before Me on Rosh HaShana verses that mention Kingships.”
But, in Society Hill Synagogue, which blessedly takes a liberal and wide-ranging approach to such things, I will slant malkhuyot in a different way.
Instead, let’s look at our own sovereignty. We are supposed to be free in the United States, and have personal sovereignty. And yet we form a social compact, an agreement that society has a duty to care for citizens, “in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty.” There is a constant tension between personal sovereignty and communal care. We need to deal with other countries, and gain their ally-ship for the betterment of us and kol yoshvey teyvel, of all the inhabitants of the Earth. National and personal sovereignty have limits.
We are Jews, a nation, who lives within other nations. We ought to have sovereignty over our internal Jewish affairs—and yet the surrounding secular society, in obvious and less-obvious ways, often interferes with that sovereignty, whether it be the health issue of women’s reproductive freedom, or in handling Jewish yonteyvim in the context of a Christmas-centered world. Jewish sovereignty has limits.
We are a synagogue, which has, for half a century, chosen to go an independent route, not belonging to any specific organized Jewish movement. Therefore, Society Hill Synagogue has its own sovereignty, but we still need to consider our relations with other shuls, thus synagogue sovereignty has limits.
Does ANY being have sovereignty?
How about God? God is even bound to a contract with us. In Sh’mot chapter 19, verse 5, the Torah says,
V’atah im shamo’a tish’m’u b’koli ush’martem et-briti vih’yitem li s’gula mikol-ha’amim
“Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples.”
God has a covenant, a contract with us, which God must follow. God, therefore, also isn’t completely sovereign.
In our quest for freedom, for sovereignty, whether personal, congregational, or national, let us remember that even God has limits on sovereignty. When we think about our deeds for the past year and attempt to improve things, consider those boundaries on our own sovereignty, and act, in God’s image, with due respect for others.
