King & Subject: Ruling Over Desires

“For dominion belongs to God, and He rules over the nations (Psalms 22:8).” One who completely accepts on himself the Yoke of God’s Kingdom, will merit to, “Rule over the nations,” meaning, over his physical desires (Rav Mordechai Melkovich; Torat Avot)

When we accept God as King on Rosh Hashanah, we are not simply becoming His subjects, but, we too, are achieving as sense of the power of royalty, and will be able to achieve greater control over the physical desires that lead us into actions that distance us from God; the very actions for which we are being judged. We can use our acceptance of the Yoke of God as King as part of our Teshuvah, with the confidence that the acceptance will empower us to improve over the coming year.