Kabbala 101: Malchus or Dignity
At the bottom of the chain of Divine attributes is Malchus, which means royalty or dignity. The great Rabbi, Schneur Zalman of Liadi, imprisoned by the Czar over two hundred years ago. Not only was he on trial, but his seminal work on Jewish Philosophy, the Tanya, was also cross-examined. One of the reasons the Czar disliked this book is that, when the Rebbe was describing the Divine Attributes, he mentioned that Malchus (also translated as “kingship”) was placed last. The Czar thought that this meant that kings occupied a lower level than most people, and considered his writing heresy.
What the Czar failed to realize is that, even though Malchus is placed last in the order of Divine Attributes, Divine energy needs to travel down through all of the other attributes, such as kindness, discipline, beauty, etc… before reaching Malchus. This trait is actually the “mother” that “gives birth” to the divine energy, and is a gateway between worlds. This means that when the divine force travels down all of the other attributes, it reaches Malchus as the lowest of that world, and the “crown” of the next world. The fact that Malchus acts as a “crown” is one of the reasons it is associated with dignity and kingship.
Is it ironic that the trait that corresponds to “kingship” is actually on the “lowest” level (although we have discussed they way in which it is actually the highest or a crown)? Does this tell us something about the nature of dignity? In our world today, there is so much competition and struggle to be number one. This is alright in the world of business and in our pursuits, but what if our sense of self gets lost in this struggle? Are we fighting that our product or skill should be considered valuable, or are we fighting for our own value?
Dignity can tolerate occupying “last place” and still not feel threatened. When a king goes out with his entourage, he has horsemen and guards preceding him. Does this mean that the horsemen are better than the king because they come out first? The king is willing to be last because it is obvious that he has value. And this is the essence of dignity; to have a feeling of worth in spite of one’s physical position or status in life.
Dignity has a role to play when combined with other Divine attributes:
Dignity and Kindness: Is my giving dignified. Does it compromise my feeling of worth?
Dignity and Discipline: Can I correct myself and others without getting angry? Can I discipline without degrading myself and others.
Dignity and Beauty: Is my sense of dignity balanced? Does it give way to pride? Does it need more support?
Dignity and Endurance: Can I remain dignified in embarrassing situations?
Dignity and Humility: Is my dignity tempered with humility?