The ten days from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur are the ten most important days of the year, called the Ten Days of Repentance. What is the inner service in which we should engage during these days?
In Kabbalah it is written that these are the days of “Building of the Kingdom.” On Rosh Hashanah, we coronate God as King. The numerical value of binyan hamalchut, building of the Kingdom equals 613, the same as the number of mitzvahs in the Torah. This alludes to the fact that building God’s kingdom includes fulfilling the entire Torah, upon its 613 mitzvahs.
Building the kingdom means to build our feminine side. On Sukkot, the Time of our Joy following the Ten Days of Repentance – and certainly at the pinnacle of the joy on Simchat Torah – the Kingdom has already united with God. This refers to the feminine aspect of God, built through our mitzvah fulfillment, uniting with the masculine aspect of God.
Where do we start? First, we coronate the King. The feminine aspect is the will to accept the yoke of Heaven with joy. It is our will to be servants, God’s subjects. We coronate God – He is the King – but our service is to desire to receive His light with joy. With this will, we continue to build our own feminine side during the Ten Days of Repentance. We build the Kingdom and prepare ourselves to unite with God in joy on the holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
