Melech

וְיֵדַע כָּל פָּעוּל כִּי אַתָּה פְעַלְתּוֹ, וְיָבִין כָּל יָצוּר כִּי אַתָּה יְצַרְתּוֹ, וְיֺאמַר כֺּל אֲשֶׁר נְשָׁמָה בְּאַפּוֹ, ה' אֱלֺקֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֶלֶךְ, וּמַלְכוּתוֹ בַּכֺּל מָשָׁלָה

“Let everything that has been made know that You are its Maker, let everything that has been molded understand that You are its Molder, and let everything with a life’s breath in its nostrils proclaim: Hashem, the G-d of Israel, is King, and His kingship rules over everything.” (Rosh Hashana Shmoneh Esreh)



What's pshat in the 2 different terms used here? We have פָּעוּל, which means ‘made,’ and we have יָצוּר, which means ‘molded.’ The Malbim explains that these words refer to two different types of people on different levels. The word ‘made’ implies something imperfect that is continuously being worked on towards completion. On the other hand the word ‘molded’ implies a finished product that is faithful to its inner essence. So this Tefilla is referring to different types of people who will ultimately come to recognize the Borei Olam. First to a common, imperfect person, and then it goes on to someone who is more fully developed, closer to his/her shleimus (completion).
I believe it’s the Chovos Halevavos who speaks of the unbelievable simcha (happiness) that one achieves when he b’emes recognizes the existence of Hashem as his Creator and King. This amazing simcha stems off the recognition that we exist in this awesome world that Hashem has created, and even more so that we are His chosen nation, his beloved children As the passuk states: “Banim atem L’Hashem Elokeichem.” “You are children to Hashem your G-d.”
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(King pic courtesy of here)
(Sunrise pic courtesy of here)

Ata Vichartanu

אַתָּה בְחַרְתָּנוּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים, אָהַבְתָּ אוֹתָנוּ, וְרָצִיתָ בָּנוּ, וְרוֹמַמְתָּנוּ מִכָּל הַלְשׁוֹנוֹת, וְקִדַּשְׁתָּנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ. וְקֵרַבְתָּנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתֶךָ, וְשִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֹל וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ עָלֵינוּ קָרָאתָ

"You have chosen us from all the nations; You loved us and found favor in us; And exalted us above all the languages, and You sanctified us with Your commandments. You brought us close, our King, to Your service and proclaimed Your great and holy Name upon us." (Shmoneh Esreh for Yom Tov)

"You have chosen us from all the nations..." A famous Medrash speaks of how Hashem offered the Torah to all the other nations before offering it to Klal Yisrael. As the Medrash goes, when Hashem offered it to each nation, they each replied "What's in it?" and Hashem responded with the one Mitzvah that that nation has trouble with. When Hashem offered it to Esav, for example, Hashem said that you can't murder, and that's what Esav is all about! When Hashem offered the Torah to Yishmael, Hashem said you can't steal, and that's what they do for fun! etc. etc. But When the Torah was offered to us, Hashem didn't say "You can't speak lashon hara" or any of the other major problems plaguing our nation today, he offered it and we accepted it. So why is that fair? Why does it seem that Hashem tried to avoid giving the Torah to all the other nations, but willingly gave it to us? There are many answers to this Q but the one that really hit home for me was this one: When Hashem offers you something, its gold! There's no need to ask questions! Maybe its not right for you?...impossible! Hashem would only give us the best of the best, He's Kulo Tov(completely good)! So when the other nations responded "What's in it" they were demonstrating their lack of trust in G-d. They were expressing their misunderstanding of the reality that G-d is The Man. Once they asked that question Hashem knew that the Torah wasn't for them. So He told them "Yeah you prob wouldn't want it anyway, you'll have to change yourself and work hard according to the restrictions that come with it..." But Klal Yisrael knew the deal. Hashem offered us the Torah and we responded "Naaseh V'nishma." "We will do and we will listen" We didn't even need to know whats in it, because we knew its for sure whats best for us. And that's why we were zoche (merited) to get it, because we knew the emes. We knew and still know today that G-d gives us only the best, never anything less.

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(Pic courtesy of CAJE)

U'vchein Tzaddikim

וּבְכֵן, צַדִּיקִים יִרְאוּ וְיִשְׂמָחוּ, וִישָׁרִים יַעֲלֺּזוּ, וַחֲסִידִים בְּרִינָּה יָגִילוּ

"And so too, (When Mashiach comes) the righteous will see and be glad, the upright will exult, and the devout will be mirthful with glad song." (Shmoneh Esreh, Yamim Noraim)

The three types of man mentioned here; The righteous, the upright, and the devout, are three categories that men fall into. The Sfas Emes explains that they are listed in ascending order of worthiness. Righteous people (Tzaddikim) are those people who do the will of Hashem even when they “aren’t feeling it.” They push past their strong temptations for other things and they follow Hakadosh Baruch Hu even though they may not understand the Justice of His ways. The upright (Yesharim) are those people who have such perfect faith, that they never question God’s will or ways. As a result, they are in a constant state of joy; more so than the merely ‘righteous.’ [This is all according to Rashi’s opinion in the Gemara in Taanis 15a, that the upright are greater than the righteous. However, the Rashba over there holds that the righteous are greater. Seemingly this is because they have to put in more effort to go against what they want to do, and instead do what they know they should be doing. Someone who is constantly willing and joyful when it comes to his/her Avoda has less struggle, so the schar (reward) and accomplishment aren’t necessarily as great. -Unlike my Bio-Psych Professor, Hashem grades of effort.] And finally, The Zohar Hakadosh explains that the devout (Chassidim) are those who try to serve Hashem by doing more than the minimum requirements of the law; in effect they do Chessed with Hashem, kavayachol. So basically the moral is- We should all be Chassidim!!

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(Pic courtesy of Judaic Art Exchange)

Ein Kitzva

אֵין קִצְבָה לִשְׁנוֹתֶךָ, וְאֵין קֵץ לְאֺרֶךְ יָמֶיךָ, וְאֵין לְשַׁעֵר מַרְכְּבוֹת כְּבוֹדֶךָ, וְאֵין לְפָרֵשׁ עֵלּוּם שְׁמֶךָ. שִׁמְךָ נָאֶה לְךָ וְאַתָּה נָאֶה לִשְׁמֶךָ, וּשְׁמֵנוּ קָרָאתָ בִשְׁמֶךָ

"There is no set span to Your years and there is no end to the length of Your days. It is impossible to estimate the angelic chariots of Your glory and to elucidate the hiddeness of Your Name. Your Name is worthy of You and You are worthy of Your Name, and You have included Your Name in our name." (Chazaras HaShatz Yamim Noraim)

This piyut is drawing a sharp contrast between feeble man and Almighty Hashem. The one preceding it, which ended describing the mortality of man, read: “We are but a dissipating cloud… flying dust, a fleeting dream…” The first words of this piyut, however, seem superfluous. First it says “There is no set span to your years (Hashem)…” and then it says “…and there is no end.” These two phrases mean almost the same thing but there is a slight difference. A ‘set span’ refers to an amount of time, so we are saying that Hashem has no life span, as it were, of like a billion or a trillion years. An ‘end’ refers to a deadline; so in effect, we are saying that Hashem’s existence is endless; He has no beginning and no end, which is coincidentally the 4th of the Rambam’s Ani Maamins.
The piyut ends with “And You included Your name in our name.”
Here are a few explanations of this:
-The Last 2 letters of יִשְׂרָאֵל are 'א' and 'ל' ; a Name of Hashem.
-When the Torah names the families of the Jews in Bamidbar, Perek 26, the letters of Hashem’s name, 'י' and 'ה' are added to each name. For example: שָׁעוּל’s Family is called הַשָׁעוּלִי.
-If you spell out each letter of Hashems name ('י'and 'ה') You get yud, vuv, daled, and hei, and yud, and those letters spell out יְהוּדִי, Jew! (My favorite)
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(Clock pic courtesy of CoolChaser)
(Kippa pic courtesy of here)

Ko Amar Hashem

כֺּה אָמַר ה': זָכַרְתִּי לָךְ חֶסֶד נְעוּרַיִךְ, אַהֲבַת כְּלוּלֺתָיִךְ, לֶכְתֵּךְ אַחֲרַי בַּמִּדְבָּר בְּאֶרֶץ לֺא זְרוּעָה

"Thus said Hashem: I recall for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials, your following Me into the Wilderness, into an unsown land." (Yirmiyahu 2:2)

This passuk is referring to Klal Yisrael's amazing faith in Hashem when they followed Him into the desert after being taken out of Mitzrayim. They left without any food other than the Matza baking on their backs; not knowing how they were going to survive. They just knew one thing: Hashem was leading them in a certain direction, so that was obviously the best way to go. They knew, as we still know today, that Hashem would NEVER steer us wrong. If he asks something of us, we are guaranteed that not only are we capable of accomplishing it, but also that it's the best possible thing for us.
In the Torah when it talks about the holiday we call 'Pesach' it doesn't call it by that name. It is called 'Chag Hamatzos' The holiday of Matza. So why do we call it by a different name? I heard from R' Moshe Bamberger that the theme of Pesach is love. This difference in names is a sign of the "conflict" between us and Hashem as to how to approach Yetziyas Mitzrayim. We see it as a clear sign of Hashem's unlimited love for us. He rocked the Egyptians with 10 makos and on the last one he "passed over" (Pesach) us and only killed the Egyptian first born. So to celebrate this affection we feel from Hashem, we call the holiday Pesach. But on the flip side, Hashem sees it differently. He sees Yetziyas Mitzrayim as a sign of our faith and love for Him. He saw us rush to follow Him into an unsown land. We rushed so quickly that we didn't even wait for our bread to rise, and as a result, we have Matza. So that's why Hashem calls the holiday "Chag Hamatzos."
If only we were to realize how much Hashem loves us, life would be so much more enjoyable. 'Kol mon de'avid Rachmana, letav avid!!' Everything Hashem does is for the GOOD! The Boss is on our side! He's got our backs! We have it made!
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(Top pic courtesy of TravelBlog)
(Bottom pic courtesy of DailyJews)