Avinu Malkeinu … Our Father, Our King

“Avinu” means “Our Father.” First we are recognizing, as Rabbi Hertz put it, “We can never cease being children of our father in heaven, just as we can ever cease being children of our earthly parents. Whether we are deserving of G-d’s love or whether we are not deserving of His love, He remains our father.”

The Torah tells us in Devarim 23:6 that G-d turned Bilaam’s curse into a blessing, “Because Hashem your G-d loves you.” It doesn’t matter that the Bnei Yisrael had sinned before, or that they were about to sin with Baal Pe’or. Things may go very wrong, but G-d, father in heaven, loves us.

He is also “Malkeinu.” Though He is our father and loves us, this doesn’t take away from His being our king he will not “permit the wanton breaking of His laws to go unpunished.” G-d’s love is combined with G-d’s Law. “There is an everlasting disctinction between right and wrong … [between] thou shalts and thou shalt nots which are absolute and imperative.”

There are countless parables in Jewish lore of a King whose son sinned, causing the king to make an example of his own son. Shaul Hamelekh (King Saul) almost killed his own son Yonatan! The story in Shmuel I:14 is incredible. Yonatan and a friend bring about the salvation for the Jewish people through a very decisive battle they wage essentially singlehandedly – while unaware that Shaul had declared that at the threat of death no one was to eat until the battle was over. After incredible military feats, in a fit of exhaustion, Yonatan ate a dabble of honey to rejuvenate himself. When Shaul found out about it, Yonatan was only spared because the people came to his defense arguing, “Will you kill Yonatan, who brought about this great salvation to us?”