Part I
כָּל מַה שֶּׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּעוֹלָמוֹ, לֹא בְרָאוֹ אֶלָּא לִכְבוֹדוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ישעיה מג), כֹּל הַנִּקְרָא בִשְׁמִי וְלִכְבוֹדִי בְּרָאתִיו יְצַרְתִּיו אַף עֲשִׂיתִיו, וְאוֹמֵר (שמות טו), ה’ יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד (אבות ו:יא).
Pirkei Avot ends with a powerful and critical message for all mankind. Building off Sefer Yeshayahu, the Mishnah writes, “Everything that Hashem created in His world, He created only for His honor.” Though we may not be able to fully understand Hashem’s intentions,1 we know that—at least on some level—all of creation exists in order to honor Him.
For Hashem or for Us?
Interestingly, the Midrash2 uses the same formulation (“kol mah shebara”) in a seemingly different way when it tells us that Hashem showed Adam Harishon the world and told him that He created it all for him. This midrash makes it sound like everything Hashem created was for man’s use, as opposed to Hashem’s honor!
Rav Yosef Karo3 and the Ramchal4 take this idea further by explaining that the world was created to give people the chance to develop their souls through personal choice and struggle. Instead of being naturally close to God in a spiritual world with no alternatives, Hashem gives us the opportunity to choose closeness to Him in a physical world where His presence is hidden.5 The Ramchal adds that our mission is to realize that real, meaningful pleasure is closeness to Hashem in the next world and a relationship with Him in this one.6
These sources seem to imply that the world was created for us and our own personal development, not for God’s own honor. How can we reconcile these contradictory understandings of why the world was created?
Rav Chaim Freidlander7 explains the relationship between these two ideas by distinguishing between the goal and the means. Obviously, God in no way needs this world nor the honor He “receives” from it. The world exists (as depicted by the Midrash, Rav Yosef Karo and the Ramchal) in order to give us the opportunity to develop ourselves. The mishnah in Avot, on the other hand, is explaining the means—how we achieve this growth. The Mishnah teaches us that personal growth hinges on our appreciating that we and the world exist only to recognize and glorify God.
The Universe and Man
The centrality of kevod Hashem as the world’s goal helps us understand why the world is so vast and intricate. Dovid Hamelech exclaimed: “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork.”8 Pesukei D’zimra9 reinforces this idea with the pasuk “Our Lord is great and full of power. His wisdom is beyond reckoning.” The universe reflects the God who created it. Only Hashem could have created the boundless, sophisticated world we can only scratch the surface of understanding.
Obviously, man—created in the image of God—is able to appreciate and express this recognition on a higher level than the rest of creation. That is why we state in regards to man: “Blessed is He, our God, Who created us for His honor.”10 Man is created for the glory of God, to recognize and appreciate Him. That having been said, sometimes our unique, God-given abilities go to our heads and we come to believe that our lives are about ourselves. This forces God to remind us of our rightful place in His world.
Whose Name?
This tension expressed itself clearly in the world’s first generations. The snake told man that Hashem wanted to keep him down and that he should eat from the Eitz Hadaat in order to become like, rather than be dependent or focused upon, Hashem. In truth, the snake was right. Hashem does not want us to be like Him. We should know that we exist in order to serve and glorify His name, not in order to focus on ourselves.
This problem continued in the generation after the flood with their building of the tower. The stated goal of the builders was to “make a name” for themselves. To keep them from focusing upon themselves and their own name, Hashem split them up by introducing different languages.11 When man recognizes God and aims to work on His behalf, he is entitled to enjoy the world and work together with others who share this sacred mission. When he is focused on his own name, Hashem foils his plans and breaks up the misguided unity.
The contrast to the tower builders were Shem ben Noach and his descendants. Shem facilitated the first kiddush Hashem (sanctification of Hashem’s name) when his noble actions caused Noach to exclaim: “Blessed is Hashem, the God of Shem.”12
His descendant, Avraham Avinu, was the first to spread the name of Hashem to the masses.13 Avraham saw his mission as bringing people close to Hashem. Understandably, Hashem promised to make Avraham’s name great. When we realize that we are here to serve and glorify Hashem’s name, the greatness of our name appropriately contributes to this higher goal.
The Midrash14 attributes this message of the contrast between focusing on our name versus Hashem’s name to Avraham himself. Avraham responded to those who asked for his help in building the tower: “You’ve abandoned God’s name and you want me to help you make a name for yourselves?”15
Avraham is our role model. Hashem chose Avraham’s descendants—the Jewish people—to be a nation focused on glorifying His name. Instead of being focused on a tower that celebrates our name and achievements, we build a Beit Hamikdash that marks Hashem’s name and centrality. We will learn more about this, im yirtzeh Hashem, next week.
Written up by Yedidyah Rosenwasser.
1 Yeshayahu Hanavi writes: “For My thoughts are not like your thoughts (Yeshayahu 55:8).” The Rambam (Yad Hachazakah, Hilchot Teshuva 5:5) explains that “it is not within the power of the knowledge of man to attain this matter of his having been created clearly, just as it is not within the power of man to attain and grasp the truth of the Creator.” In response to being asked why Hashem created the world, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik explained that we, of finite understanding and comprehension, are not able to know why; all we can know is what our purpose and goal ought to be. The Abarbanel explained that, at the most, we can look at the world and understand from it what our goal should be. Rav Soloveichik formulated it this way: “We can rarely ask why when it comes to God, but we can ask what.” This is what the Mishnah is teaching us.
2 Kohelet Rabbah 7:19.
3 Maggid Meisharim, Parshat Bereishit.
4 Ramchal, Da’at Tevunot, ot 18.
5 These Mefarshim use the term “nahama dekisufa” (bread of shame) to describe the reality where souls enjoy spiritual closeness they have done nothing to earn.
6 Ramchal, Sefer Mesilat Yesharim 1.
7 See his comment on Siman 58 (pg. 51-2) of Da’at Tevunot.
8 Tehillim 19:2.
9 Tehillim 147:5.
10 Siddur Tefillah, Seder Birkot Hatorah.
11 Note that the pesukim that describe this in Perek 11 parallel the pesukim that describe Adam being removed from Gan Eden.
12 Bereishit 9:26.
13 Bereishit 12:8.
14 Mishlei 18:10.
15 Yalkut Shimoni, Tehillim 26, remez 703.
By Rabbi Reuven Taragin
