More than ten million Americans watched the coronation of the United Kingdom’s new monarch. What lessons can we take away from the royal family and from Kingship in general? True, today a “king” does not hold the same power as in bygone days, nevertheless, it is worth it to reflect on what power a king still has, and the relationship between a king and his subjects.
One of the interesting dichotomies of the interaction between the king and his subjects is that on the one hand, when a king gives an edict to his kingdom, the people want to understand why they should do what the king directs them to do. The better they understand the reason behind the demand, the more enthusiastically they will comply. Interestingly enough, the more logically the idea resonates with the populace, the less they comply to connect to the king, but more so because it simply makes sense to them. That is why a king might make a ruling that could be challenging for the public to comply, in order to see how committed they are to him, and to see if they are willing to go out of their comfort zones and do so “just because” the king ordered them to act accordingly.
However, a noble and kind king would not burden their subjects with crazy and unreasonable requests just to test them. That would be mean. That is why the king appreciates it when people start to search for his reasoning. After all, the king is a smart person, and beneath an unreasonable request lies a very reasonable explanation; it just takes more work on the people’s behalf to uncover the way he thinks. The reason why this can be a challenge is because aristocrats and the general public don’t generally think the same way. It takes effort to think differently.
In this week’s Torah portion, Behar-Bechukotai, we learn about these two categories of laws—those that are easily understood, and those that are beyond our comprehension. The reason for these two categories is so that we have a balance between connecting to G-d on the logical, intellectual level, and connecting on the emotional side. When we do something for another person, or for the king, or for G-d without understanding, the bond that is created at the time is beyond our understanding. It is much more
secure because it is not dependent on anything.
Maimonides emphasized that although we perform the Mitzvot that are beyond reason and are difficult to understand and are meant as a test to see if we are willing to do Mitzvot just for G-d without any ulterior motive, G-d wants us to go even further. Now, once we reached this deep connection of no return, G-d says, try to understand me. This may be easier said than done as G-d’s way of thinking is very different than ours, but our search for meaning and understanding should not stop our quest. We, as human beings, as people who want to connect, should not be satisfied by just saying: Sure, “we will do and we will listen.” We should push ourselves to continue to feed our thirst to connect to G-d with every fiber of our being. At the same time, we have to remember that while we want to understand, we may never fully understand everything—after all, G-d is out of our reach.
Let’s connect. Let’s learn.