Who is the king today?
We all know the famous moshel of the Holy Baal Shem Tov;
ELUL is the time when the 'King is in the field' dressed in his 'field clothes', he greets all the 'common folk' with a 'pleasant countenance'. I find it difficult to relate to this moshel. Sure, we have presidents and prime ministers but they are not kings! The only royalty left (in the free world) is the Royal family of England, and even if Queen Elizabeth and all her kids were out for a picnic in the Green meadows Park (showing a beautiful smile), I doubt I'd even want to go and see them!
So perhaps the we could replace 'the King is in the field' with 'the CEO is at the end-of-year party' and use this contemporary moshel to illustrate the Baal Shem Tov's idea.
How so? Well, during the busy office hours of the finacial year, the CEO, who is responsible for the productivity of the entire organisation, is unreachable to the average employee. You see, even to get close to the CEO you have to pass through numerous middle managers and their secretaries, who may (or may not) grant you an opportunity to speak with the CEO's private secretary and even then, you are not guaranteed an appointment with the CEO. And even if you do get an appointment, the CEO is so intimidating! You feel so overwhelmed by a large powerful man, sharply dressed in a suit and tie, sitting behind a (very) large desk and a 20inch computer screen.
But, once a year, at the end-of-year Staff party, the CEO comes down to the local pub without his suit and tie on. In fact he even undoes a his top buttons on his shirt, and with a cheeky grin on his face, has a few beers with the 'regular staff'.
At this time, the 'regular staff' feel comfortable to approach the CEO and express their feelings and reflect about the ins and outs of the past year.
Sure, there are flaws in this moshel but you get the idea. HaShem is kicking back with us, ready to listen to whatever we have to say...
ELUL is the time when the 'King is in the field' dressed in his 'field clothes', he greets all the 'common folk' with a 'pleasant countenance'. I find it difficult to relate to this moshel. Sure, we have presidents and prime ministers but they are not kings! The only royalty left (in the free world) is the Royal family of England, and even if Queen Elizabeth and all her kids were out for a picnic in the Green meadows Park (showing a beautiful smile), I doubt I'd even want to go and see them!
So perhaps the we could replace 'the King is in the field' with 'the CEO is at the end-of-year party' and use this contemporary moshel to illustrate the Baal Shem Tov's idea.
How so? Well, during the busy office hours of the finacial year, the CEO, who is responsible for the productivity of the entire organisation, is unreachable to the average employee. You see, even to get close to the CEO you have to pass through numerous middle managers and their secretaries, who may (or may not) grant you an opportunity to speak with the CEO's private secretary and even then, you are not guaranteed an appointment with the CEO. And even if you do get an appointment, the CEO is so intimidating! You feel so overwhelmed by a large powerful man, sharply dressed in a suit and tie, sitting behind a (very) large desk and a 20inch computer screen.
But, once a year, at the end-of-year Staff party, the CEO comes down to the local pub without his suit and tie on. In fact he even undoes a his top buttons on his shirt, and with a cheeky grin on his face, has a few beers with the 'regular staff'.
At this time, the 'regular staff' feel comfortable to approach the CEO and express their feelings and reflect about the ins and outs of the past year.
Sure, there are flaws in this moshel but you get the idea. HaShem is kicking back with us, ready to listen to whatever we have to say...
posted by subjewd @ 12:13 am
11 Comments:
At 11:46 am,
Nemo said…
Maybe I'm pulling this out of my imaginatory memory, but you've just reminded me of something.
I remember hearing something about some Chossid who was distressed when the Czar fell because now there would be no way to really understand the Mosholim about kings in Chassidus.
Like I said, I might just be making it up, but it sounds good!
At 11:49 am,
Dovid said…
The Rebbe Rasha"b said that chassidus lost its best mashul for malchus. (I think.)
At 5:19 pm,
BFF said…
the King might be in the field...but who goes to the field anymore?
give me a few lechaims, a good table to dance on, and some chabad nigunnim (reggae style)...during Elul the king comes to the party. THIS is why we have farbrengens!
At 6:56 pm,
subjewd said…
nemo, you are not imagining somthing. When the communists overpowered the czar (by murdering him) the mittler Rebbe expressed that exact feeling...'we've lost the moshel for malchus'
BFG, i think you're on to something.
i've got a whole heap of old nichoach vinyls crying out for the a(neo-rasta-chassidic) DJ to splice them with reggae beats!
At 5:40 pm,
Nemo said…
Glad to be right!!!
A moshul is just a moshul and I don't think we've gotta live with any particular verion of the moshul, as long as its on the right track- whatever gets us going.
We have to remember the lesson of the the Moshul and that is that although the King makes himself available in the field, hes doing it to give us an oppotunity. We've got to take the initiative to seize the oppoturnity before RH comes along. Then Hashem will turn to us in kind.
At 11:23 pm,
Anonymous said…
Oh, how I pine for days of olde. Days of glory and courage, majesty and honour. Woe is to us who have never experienced true monarchy.
At 12:45 am,
subjewd said…
The power of any moshel, becomes realized in its application.
Nemo, once again I agree with you, the Moshel is a call to action, whatever form it takes, whatever a person relates to, king, CEO, sports coach, guru, whoever it is that is in the field, its all about HaShem, waiting for us to take a stand!
At 8:25 am,
Ittay said…
Now that CEO is kicking back with us this Ellul, it is important for us to show him a good time so that he will have fond memories of his visit. Perhaps we should invite him to hagshamic next monday?
At 6:41 pm,
Dovid said…
Hey ML careful what you wish for! mashul in chassiduss or not, the Czars were for the most part murderers and sonei Yisroel, may they rot in hell. Monarchy is a corrupt system and it is inherently flawed. If you desire subjugation, no worries, but I'd rather have my own "glory, courage majesty and honour" then worship someone else’s tyrannical acquisition of power. Viva la populare democracy!
At 9:09 pm,
subjewd said…
This is for you Ittay:
The king will be at the Hagshamic this Monday night @ 8pm as Jewish artist, poets and musicians express their inner voice to the world - Revovler Upstairs, Chapel St.
IY"H the new neo-chassidic folk group : 'Moish feiglin and the SubJewd Chevre' will make their debut performance. Pictures and music to follow!
At 6:05 am,
Anonymous said…
our relationship with hashem during elul, as rabbi levinger put it this week, is like dating.
having time to get to know Him in a casual way. no dressing up in formal clothes that are really just a facad. instead it is time to be real. for the two of us to talk and get to know eachother, discuss things together.
i see the mashal as G-d standing there, knocking at your doorstep or waiting to meet you at green meadows park or even waiting in the car outside. its time to go out and get to know your date.
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