אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר מָלַךְ בְּטֶרֶם כָּל יְצוּר נִבְרָא

The Question: Can There Be a King Without a People?

The Frierdiker Rebbe begins his תש״ג maamar on Adon Olam by asking how these words can be true. מלוכה is not simply the ability to control something. A king rules over people who are distinct from him, understand his authority, and accept it. As the familiar expression says, אין מלך בלא עם—there is no king without a people.

The maamar develops that point carefully. A person’s control over his own body is not called kingship, because his limbs are part of him. Nor is tending animals the same as ruling a people.

But אשר מלך בטרם כל יצור נברא describes Hashem as King before any such relationship was possible. There was no creation, no distinct being, and no one who could accept His authority. Who, then, was He King over?

The Rebbe’s Answer

The Rebbe answers in the מוגה maamar ד״ה אדון עולם, said on the second day of Rosh Hashanah תשמ״ג:

ומכיון שעצמותו ית׳ הוא כל יכול, שייך שיהי׳ מלך גם בלא עם.

The מלכות spoken of here is מלכות כפי שמושרשת בעצמותו ית׳—Kingship as it is rooted in Hashem’s Essence. Since עצמות is כל יכול, this essential מלכות is not dependent on an עם already existing.

The Rebbe Rashab and the Frierdiker Rebbe explain the next stage. Once there is an עם, the essential source of מלכות can become a revealed relationship of King and people. Their ביטול awakens the revealed רצון למלוכה—the desire that His Kingship be expressed over them.

What Does It Mean to Accept Hashem as King?

To understand what אשר מלך asks of us, the maamar turns to the Rosh Hashanah theme of שתמליכוני עליכם—accepting Hashem’s Kingship over ourselves.

The Rebbe explains in ד״ה זה היום תחילת מעשיך תשמ״ב:

שישראל מקבלים עליהם עול מלכות שמים ומבקשים מלוך… לקיים כל מה שיגזור ויצוה בדרך קבלת עול.

Accepting Hashem as King is more than recognizing that He created the world or controls what happens in it. It means עול מלכות שמים: I accept myself as subject to the King. That leads to קבלת עול, the readiness to follow His רצון because it is His will.

קבלת עול does not mean having no רצון of one’s own. It means that when my רצון conflicts with Hashem’s רצון, His רצון governs what I do.

The distinction can be stated simply:

I do not create the essential root of His Kingship; that precedes all of creation. But through שתמליכוני עליכם, I accept His Kingship over myself and bring it into my actual life.

Why Begin Davening Here?

In נוסח האריז״ל, Adon Olam is the first שבח after Birchot HaShachar and the three introductory pesukim. Before the larger סדר of praise, contemplation, and request begins, I establish whom I am standing before.

The Mateh Moshe, siman 31, records:

כל מי שמכוון בעת התחלת אדון עולם… ערב אני בדבר שתפלתו נשמעת, ואין שטן מקטרג על תפלתו.

One who says the beginning of Adon Olam with כוונה is guaranteed that his tefillah will be heard and that no Satan will prosecute against it. The Mateh Moshe then suggests that this may be why Adon Olam is said before the blessings and praises.

Before beginning the rest of davening, I pause at אדון עולם אשר מלך and recognize that I am standing before the King.