[Avodah] malchei yisrael

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 03/09/2016 07:14 PM, saul newman via Avodah wrote:
> please explain the halachic basis to allow  breaking away from the kingship  of a scion of  david melech yisrael...

Well, for one thing they had a navi's endorsement.  But more generally,
it's the right of any nation to choose a king of their own liking.
A king's legitimacy ultimately stems from the people's recognition, and
if they stop recognising him then he's no longer their king.  Ein melech
belo `am.   Malchus is a relationship, not an entity in its own right;
that's why it represents speech.  And that's why it's so important that
we accept Hashem's kingdom every Rosh Hashana; it's the one thing He can't
impose on us against our will, because if it's imposed then by definition
it's not malchus.


-- 
Zev Sero               All around myself I will wave the green willow
zev at sero.name          The myrtle and the palm and the citron for a week
                And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm doing that
                I'll say "It's a Jewish thing; if you have a few minutes
                I'll explain it to you".