Parshas Va'eira
By Rabbi Dovid Zauderer
We Jews have been offering prayers for the well-being of our rulers throughout the Diaspora dating back for millennia.
As we are taught in the Mishnah in Ethics of the Fathers (3:2):
Rabbi Chanina, the s’gan (deputy) of Kohanim (Priests), says: “Pray for the welfare of the government, because if people did not fear it, a person would swallow his fellow alive.â€
A world without a strong governing body is a world in which chaos and anarchy reign – as we all witnessed recently with the riots at the Capitol building In Washington - and Rabbi Chanina, appreciating the important role of government in our social order, encouraged us to pray for the success of our rulers.
In fact, Rabbi Chanina was echoing the voice of the Prophet Jeremiah who taught (29:7): “Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray to G-d on its behalf; for with its peace, you will have peace.â€
This idea is repeated in the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 4a):
Just as in the case of fish of the sea, where any fish that is bigger than another swallows the other, in the case of people, were it not for the fear of the ruling government, anyone who is bigger than another would swallow the other.
Rabbi Meir Shapiro ZTâ€L points out that the rather strange plural - S’gan HaKohanim - deputy of Priests, is specific to Rabbi Chanina. He lived during the Hasmonean dynasty, toward the end of the Second Temple era. The Talmud (Yoma 18a) teaches that the Romans auctioned off the office of Kohen Gadol (High Priest) during this period; many grossly unqualified people bought the position and died prematurely during their terms.
Rabbi Chanina should have been appointed to the lofty position of Kohen Gadol, but the corrupt authorities would not do so, and Rabbi Chanina was not willing to pay for the privilege. Hence, he ended up serving as deputy to many High Priests, but never became one himself.
Yet even though Rabbi Chanina saw firsthand just how crooked the Romans were, nevertheless, he still was able to appreciate the need for a government to rule the land. Thus he taught to always pray for the welfare of the rulers of the countries in which we live.
[Ed. Note: The Kotzker Rebbe interpreted the words of this Mishnah differently: Pray when the kingdom is at peace. When governments are preoccupied with external enemies, they have no time to involve themselves in anti-Semitic schemes. When the rulers are at peace, however, the Jews have cause to fear intrigue against them, and that is when they must pray for Jewish survival -dz]
Even though Jews always prayed for the welfare of the government, it was only at the end of the fifteenth century that siddurim (prayer books) began to appear containing a formalized prayer for the welfare of the reigning monarch. That prayer begins with the phrase: “Hanosein teshuah lamelachim u’memshalah lanesichim - He Who gives victory to kings and dominion to nobles.†It is a beautiful, poetic prayer, drawing heavily on verses and metaphors from Tanach (Bible).
While we do not know who composed this prayer, or exactly when it was composed, a short time after its initial appearance it became popular across the European continent. One can find this prayer, with little variation, in prayer books and machzorim from across Europe and beyond: from Spain, Poland, Germany, Italy and elsewhere—even from Yemen.
Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel, who famously lobbied in the seventeenth century for the return of Jews to England following their expulsion, cites the prayer Hanosein Teshuah in his work The Humble Addresses to His Highness the Lord Protector, dated 1655.
Hanosein Teshuah is still recited in many congregations in Europe, though it is not as common in the US.
[Ed. Note: Some have suggested the reason for the disuse of this beautiful prayer in the modern era is because we have had somewhat improved relations with the non-Jewish governments of the countries in which we are living; thereby obviating somewhat the need to “get on the government’s good side†by reciting the prayer publicly in the synagogue. That said, many great rabbis (including Rabbi Yisrael Salanter ZTâ€L and others) held that this prayer - or some version of it - should be recited in our times as well in order to fulfill the dictum of Rabbi Chanina s’gan Hakohanim to pray for the well-being of our governments. -dz]
The Chasam Sofer, in his responsa (vol. V, Hashmatos, no. 190), extols the virtues of praying for and honoring a king, and notes that G-d commanded Moses to show honor even to Pharaoh (see Rashi to Shemos 11:8), despite his being a despotic ruler who cruelly tortured the Jewish people.
And so has it been ever since the Jewish nation was dispersed in the exile, where we have found ourselves under the sovereignty of countless rulers and assorted forms of government, often despotic kings and evil sultans, wicked emperors and vicious dictators. Nevertheless, Rabbi Chanina reminds us that the success and well-being of the ruler under whose authority we find ourselves can only benefit us, and that we should therefore pray for their welfare.
Here is to hoping that one day soon the entire Jewish nation will live together as one happy family in our own beautiful land and under our own benevolent government with the coming of the King Messiah. Amen!
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