A Crowd for the King, and a Private Room with Him
“Before Hashem you shall be purified.” The Power of Many King Solomon wrote in the Book of Proverbs: “The glory of a king is in a great crowd of people.” This holds a deep truth about serving Hashem. Jews come together. Many voices rise up in one prayer. One person warms up the next, and one carries his friend. When that happens, a “glory of the King” shines that can never shine through one person alone. This is the power of the gathering, the power of the rally, the power of the community. We should not take this lightly. Praying together with others is not just good advice for warming the heart. It is truly a different level. The power of many does things that one person alone cannot do. Each of us knows the feeling. You walk into the synagogue with a heart that is a little cold. Within a few minutes you are warming up, because the crowd lights you up. The Question, and a Parable about a King But let us ask a simple question. Say a man needs to speak with the king about something real. Not a general blessing. Not an announcement to the whole nation. He needs something private, urgent and personal. Does he ask for one more gathering? One more big event with speeches and cheering? No. He asks for ten minutes alone in a room. Some things can be said out loud in front of a crowd. Other things can only be said when no one else is there. When there is no audience, no image to keep up and no show, it is just him and the king. There, and only there, can he open his mouth and say: “This is where I went wrong. This is what I really need. This is who I really am.” Two Different Rooms So there are two places, and they are different at their root. The big gathering belongs to the outside. Its strength is an outward strength. In the language of our holy books, it is a revelation toward the outside. There a person shows up as part of the whole, and that is beautiful. But walking into the “private room” is something else entirely. There a person takes off his masks. There he is allowed to be broken. There he can tell the truth. About this the Bible says: “Let him sit alone and be silent.” This is a quiet sitting, an inner sitting. There are moments when the soul needs it more than any voice from outside. The Book of Psalms says the same: “A broken and humbled heart, Hashem, You will not despise.” A broken heart is not something you say in a speech. You say it alone, quietly, with complete honesty. The Private Meeting Inside the Heart Now for the lesson of the parable. In serving Hashem, too, there are these two “rooms.” Praying together with the community is a foundation and a pillar. But real inner change, the kind of returning to Hashem that reaches the very core of the soul, happens in the “private room.” The Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, explains in its section on returning to Hashem that true confession is not an announcement. It is a conversation between a person and Hashem, a conversation of total honesty. And there, in that place, Hashem is waiting. Hannah the prophetess is a great example of this. She did not stand up and give a speech in front of a crowd. The Bible says: “Hannah was speaking upon her heart.” Upon her heart: just between her and herself, between her and Hashem. And out of that private room came Samuel the prophet. Then there is Elijah the prophet, standing at Mount Horeb. Hashem was not in the storm. He was not in the fire. He was not in the great noise. Hashem showed Himself to Elijah in “a still, thin voice.” The thinnest voice, the most inward voice, is the one that carries the greatest truth. This idea is the very heart of what the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement, taught. Every Jew, just as he is, simple and sincere, can cling to Hashem in a personal and direct bond. This does not happen only inside the big settings. It happens in the private room deep inside his own heart.
Putting It into Practice
You walk out of the synagogue after a good prayer, and that is very beautiful. But take a few more minutes before you go back into the noise of the day. Sit down. No phone, no audience, no show. Then say to Hashem, in simple words and in your own language: “Here I am. This is what is hard for me. This is what I need.” This is a private meeting that no gathering in the world can buy. And this is the place where real change begins.
Questions and answers
Q: What does "The glory of a king is in a great crowd of people" teach about praying together?
Rabbi Landau answers: King Solomon wrote in the Book of Proverbs: “The glory of a king is in a great crowd of people.” This holds a deep truth about serving Hashem. Jews come together. Many voices rise up in one prayer. One person warms up the next, and one carries his friend. When that happens, a “glory of the King” shines that can never shine through one person alone. This is the power of the gathering, the power of the rally, the power of the community. We should not take this lightly. Praying together with others is not just good advice for warming the heart. It is truly a different level. The power of many does things that one person alone cannot do. Each of us knows the feeling.
Q: Why would someone who needs something personal from a king ask for a private meeting rather than a big gathering?
Rabbi Landau answers: But let us ask a simple question. Say a man needs to speak with the king about something real. Not a general blessing. Not an announcement to the whole nation. He needs something private, urgent and personal. Does he ask for one more gathering? One more big event with speeches and cheering? No. He asks for ten minutes alone in a room. Some things can be said out loud in front of a crowd. Other things can only be said when no one else is there. When there is no audience, no image to keep up and no show, it is just him and the king. There, and only there, can he open his mouth and say: “This is where I went wrong. This is what I really need. This is who I really am.”
Q: How is a big public gathering different from a private room with the King?
Rabbi Landau answers: So there are two places, and they are different at their root. The big gathering belongs to the outside. Its strength is an outward strength. In the language of our holy books, it is a revelation toward the outside. There a person shows up as part of the whole, and that is beautiful. But walking into the “private room” is something else entirely. There a person takes off his masks. There he is allowed to be broken. There he can tell the truth. About this the Bible says: “Let him sit alone and be silent.” This is a quiet sitting, an inner sitting. There are moments when the soul needs it more than any voice from outside.
Q: Why does Rabbi Landau say real inner change happens in private, not in the crowd?
Rabbi Landau answers: Now for the lesson of the parable. In serving Hashem, too, there are these two “rooms.” Praying together with the community is a foundation and a pillar. But real inner change, the kind of returning to Hashem that reaches the very core of the soul, happens in the “private room.” The Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, explains in its section on returning to Hashem that true confession is not an announcement. It is a conversation between a person and Hashem, a conversation of total honesty. And there, in that place, Hashem is waiting. Hannah the prophetess is a great example of this. She did not stand up and give a speech in front of a crowd.
Q: What practical step does Rabbi Landau suggest after praying in the synagogue?
Rabbi Landau answers: You walk out of the synagogue after a good prayer, and that is very beautiful. But take a few more minutes before you go back into the noise of the day. Sit down. No phone, no audience, no show. Then say to Hashem, in simple words and in your own language: “Here I am. This is what is hard for me. This is what I need.” This is a private meeting that no gathering in the world can buy. And this is the place where real change begins.