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Avinu Malkeinu: Our Father, Our King by Rebbetzin Dr. Adina Shmidman
Avinu Malkeinu Our Father, Our King
BY REBBETZIN DR. ADINA SHMIDMAN
The prayer of Avinu Malkeinu plays a central role in our tefillot over the ten day period of repentance. The words drum on our lips and in our minds as we repeat line after line of this powerful prayer. What is it about the significance of the expression of Our Father, Our King that we repeat these words again and again? Studying the history and authorship of this prayer will perhaps answer this question.
The Gemara (Taanit 25b) describes times of terrible drought, when the Jewish people gathered in fasting and prayer beseeching Hashem for rain. On one occasion Rabbi Eliezer, one of the leaders of his generation, led the community in davening for rain. He recited the Shemoneh Esrei, adding six brachot reserved for times of great need. Still, there was no sign of rain.
Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Eliezer’s student, tried. He recited fiver brief sentences beginning each one with the words, Avinu Malkeinu, Our Father, our King. As soon as Rabbi Akiva finished his simple prayer, clouds formed and it began to rain. A miracle! The people began to murmur how Rabbi Akiva, the student, must be greater than Rabbi Eliezer, his teacher. To stop such talk, a voice came from heaven saying that Rabbi Akiva forgives those who do not honor him, while Rabbi Eliezer must be strict to protect the honor of the Torah and the Jewish people.
What was it about Rabbi Akiva’s simple prayer that caused the rain to fall?
As human beings, we have limited ability to perceive others in multiple ways simultaneously. We look at people through the lens of our primary relationship with them. Our behaviors and interactions are filtered through this lens. For example, a mother may be a professor who has spent many years training and practicing her craft and yet her child relates to her as a daughter rather than as a student. Just as in our human interactions we see only one “side” or aspect of a person at one given moment, so, too, we perceive Hashem in our limited human capacity in the mode in which He interacts with us.
Working with this reality of the human condition, Rabbi Eliezer formulated a text based on the words of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, the Men of the Great Assembly, who threaded the Shemoneh Esrei prayer with the many unique aspects of Hashem. Hashem’s manifested greatness is captured in descriptions that include King, G-d, Father, Savior, Almighty, Exalted, Supreme Being, Omnipotent, Omnipresent – to name but a few. If Rabbi Eliezer, in fact, captured all these aspects of Hashem’s Dominion through the recitation of Shemoneh Esrei, what then was the uniqueness of Rabbi Akiva’s formulation?
The greatness of Rabbi Akiva is not that he introduced us to the notion that G-d is our Father and our King. In fact, Rabbi Eliezer himself referred to Hashem as both Avinu and Malkeinu as he recited the bracha of Slach Lanu as it appears in the Shemoneh Esrei, invoking both the titles of Our Father and Our King. The blessing reads, “Forgive us our Father because we have sinned, have compassion upon us our King because we have transgressed.”
The novelty of Rabbi Akiva’s approach is that he fused the Father and King roles together. In doing so, he demonstrated to us that we are able
to simultaneously relate to Hashem as both a parent and ruler. He taught us that we can, and we must, at once perceive Hashem as paternal and regal, our G-d that looks at us as His children and His subjects. It is not contradictory for us to experience love, kindness, and compassion from our Heavenly Father and at that very same moment to be awed by His reverential and regal bearing.
Knowing that we have the capacity to not only understand and appreciate that G-d occupies these roles, but we experience Father-King as an indivisible entity is what enables us to recite Avinu Malkeinu. We turn to Him for compassion and forgiveness in the way a Father can provide it, but we also turn to our transcendental King who has infinite power to provide us and our universe with life and success.
We may then ask where did Rabbi Akiva find the capacity to experience the dual roles of Hashem’s kingship and fatherhood as one? Perhaps the Talmud’s description of the conclusion of the story is the source for the answer to this question. The Gemara’s postscript informs us that Rabbi Akiva was able to forgive those who didn’t honor him. This detail reveals how Rabbi Akiva as a person was able
to experience other people as multifaceted. The same person who slighted him remained worthy of forgiveness. Rabbi Akiva translated his human interactions into his relationship with G-d. The Talmud’s assessment that Rabbi Akiva forgave those who didn’t honor him was precisely what entitled him to refer to Hashem as both Avinu and Malkeinu at once.
Rabbi Akiva gave us the gift of an expanded view of both humanity and
G-d. When relating to others, knowing that people are multidimensional should motivate us to assure that we do not use a singular lens in perceiving their actions. By allowing for alternative narratives or explanations, our capacity to forgive each other is increased.
This concept is certainly true in our relationship with the Divine. We are blessed to recognize and interact with Hashem as Avinu Malkeinu. This knowledge should strengthen and inspire us to realize that even if perhaps we have fallen short of His expectations this year, we remain not only His subjects but His children who will be forgiven.
Rebbetzin Dr. Adina Shmidman is the founding director of the Orthodox Union Women’s Initiative. The OU Women’s Initiative has launched its virtual Yemei
Ratzon program offering ideas and inspi-
ration in preparation for the upcoming
High Holidays. The program offers shi-
urim by world renowned Torah scholars and a month-long learning series on te-
shuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah. To regis-
ter for the program, please visit: https:// www.ou.org/women/yr2021/
