Welcome to our miniseries on the pesukim of our Musaf prayers. We're in the 4th Pasuk of Malchuyot , Tehilim 22,29. כִּ֣י לַ֭יהֹוָה הַמְּלוּכָ֑ה / To Hashem is the Kingdom וּ֝מֹשֵׁ֗ל בַּגּוֹיִֽם׃ Moshel/Dictator over the nations. The Gaon of Vilna, in Bereshit 37, 8, says there's a difference between a Melech and a Moshel . A melech is chosen willingly by the people. The root of the word melech is hamlacha , which means to advise with . There's a Rashi that says that Yitro tells Moshe Rabbenu, Himalech Bigvurah. Go and advise with Hashem. So melech means hamlachah -people advise with themselves and with their committees and they choose the king. Conversely, a Moshel is someone who rules with an iron hand; a despot, regardless of the people's opinion. Recently in Venezuela there was an election. Maduro lost, but he's still in power, because he doesn't care. He is a Moshel . He's not a Melech . Our modern day presidents are more like Melechs . They are chosen by the people. That's what it means, כִּ֣י לַ֭יהֹוָה הַמְּלוּכָ֑ה - the Jewish people accept Hashem's kingdom willingly . That's why we use the term God's kingdom . Because willingly , we accept it upon ourselves. That's the key point, it's not forced. The whole concept of Rosh Hashanah is that we willingly accept God as King. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky famously asked, Why doesn't the Torah tell us that Rosh Hashana is the Day of Judgment? It's called Yom Teruah , which is the day that you blow the shofar. The shofar is the way you coronate the king and accept the king willingly. Why not call it the Day of Judgement ? It's like if you tell someone, " I'm putting a gun to your head, and if you don't accept me as king I'm going to kill you." That's not accepting the King willingly. That's under duress. But Hashem did not want the driving force of His coronation to be fear. We say B'Simcha Raba…who is like You? It has to be with happiness , not with fear or with a gun to your head. But regarding the goyim , it says, U'Moshel goyim, God is their ruler- even against their will. In Zechariah 14:9 it says, " In the future, Hashem will be King over the whole world," because then, everyone willingly accept God's kingdom. But today, Baruch Hashem, we Jewish people accept Him. The Avat Yonatan in the Haftara of Behar Bechukotai tells us the famous line that En melech v'lo Am/You can't be a king without a nation. Hashem created the world in order that the Jewish people should accept Him as King, because God is not a King without a nation. But does that mean God is not in control? I heard a very interesting explanation from Rav Wolbe, based on the famous prayer of Adon Olam- Adon Olam Asher Malach/God was the king. Beterem Kol Yetzir Nivrach/He was the King, the controller, before everything was created (which seems like a bit of a problem, if we say there's no king without a nation). L'Et Nasah Behefso kol / when He decided to create everything, Azai Melech Shemo Nikra / then He's called a king. That means God is inherently a King, because there's nothing about God that's dependent on the outside world. But to be called a King, He needs to have a people to be King over. Like we just said ,El Melech B'Olam. You need constituents . You cannot be the president of the shul with no congregants. You can't be a rabbi of a congregation without congregants. But, Acharei kichlot Hakol /when everything's wiped out, Levado Yimloch Nora/He still will alone be the king . We don't add or detract to God's kingdom, but rather, for Him to be called and recognized as a king, people are needed. That's what we do on Rosh Hashana, when we recognize God as King, and that is this pasuk of Ki L'Hashem HaMelucha. Over us now, God is the Melech, and on the goyim only a Moshel.