The King in the Field and the Power of Your Choice

The Politician Before the Election Think for a moment about a politician just before an election. He goes out into the neighborhoods. He knocks on doors, shakes hands, and listens to people’s problems. “I’m here for you,” he says. “I love you.” And you, in your innocence, believe him. But once he has your vote, once he has won the seat, sometimes he forgets you completely. It turns out he never came for you at all. He came for power. Your vote was a tool, not the goal. This raises a question. If that is what human leadership is really about, wanting power, then what does it mean that Hashem “goes out into the field” in the month before the Jewish New Year? Does He need our vote? The King in the Field There is a well-known teaching in Likkutei Torah, a classic Hasidic work. It explains that in the month before the Jewish New Year, “the King is in the field.” Hashem steps out, so to speak, from His exalted place and shows Himself to every person, easily. “Anyone who wants to come and greet Him may do so, and He receives each one with a warm and pleasant face.” But we need to understand this. A human leader goes out to the people because he needs their votes. What does Hashem need? He is the King on high. His rule is complete without any approval from below. So what does it mean that He “goes out into the field”? What is He looking for? The answer goes deep. He is not looking for power. He is looking for our choice. The Talmud teaches that Hashem says: “Recite before Me the verses of kingship, so that you will make Me King over you.” The prayers of kingship in the New Year service do not add to Hashem some power He was missing. He wants us, down here below, to choose Him and to make Him our King by our own free will. And why? Because “Hashem desired to have a home in this lower world.” These are the words of the Midrash, and Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi brings them in his book the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought. The word “desired” speaks of a longing, something Hashem wants for its own sake. It teaches us that this is not about some outside need. It is a will that comes from Hashem’s very essence. This home has to be built by those who live down below, out of their own will and their own choice. A home built by heavenly beings is not “a home in this lower world.” Only when we below make the choice is the home complete. But What Difference Does My Vote Make? Here you stop and say to yourself: “Beautiful. But what difference does my vote really make? Hashem is infinite, and I’m one small person in one small neighborhood. What is my returning to Hashem worth? My prayer? This small moment when I decide to come a little closer to Him?” Our Sages answer this sharply: “Each and every person must say: the world was created for my sake.” And Maimonides adds, in his laws of returning to Hashem: “One deed tips the scale for yourself and for the whole world, toward the good.” Your vote is not one voice among millions, lost at sea. Your voice belongs to a person the King is waiting for personally. “Anyone who wants to come and greet Him.” That includes you, by name, in your own moment. The politician would forget you. Hashem is waiting for you. The Real Point: The Vote Is for Us Here everything turns upside down. A human leader goes out to the people because he needs your vote. Hashem goes out into the field because you need your choice. He does not grow stronger from “our vote.” We do. He does not build His kingdom on our ballot. He builds us, by giving us the chance to choose. This is the inner work of the month before the New Year. It is not about “doing Hashem a favor” by returning to Him and praying. It is about living up to what we were created for: using our power of free choice and turning it toward Him.