“Blessed is the kavod
of the Infinite Creator…”
—Yechezkel 3:12
Why does the world exist? The best that science can tell us for now is: life is a random biomechanical accident. No scientist can begin to tell us why a life force, whether bird or bacteria, even wants to live, never mind “evolve” to a more advanced species. Survival of the fittest is often touted as the reason for “evolution,” but that makes assumptions that the electromagnetic life force actually has an innate “desire” to live and progress. Surely, a human, with consciousness, wants to live, but why does an amoeba? The desire of an amoeba to live sounds absurd without the idea of a type of consciousness.
And, indeed, there is no simple answer to the continuation of life without some sort of consciousness directing a universal electromagnetism that animates the world to exist. Thus, strict secular science perhaps would be content to define humans as randomly moving biochemical bags of protein mineral water, that are able to be aware and creative by virtue of an electromagnetic anomaly in the sugar sack we call the brain. And, the scientist claims that life “wants”’ to survive, but—again—what is “life,” and why does it want to continue to survive? To what end? Perhaps grass and gorillas have an even deeper dilemma as to why they might “want” to keep going. Yet they do, whether they want to or not.
Biology, chemistry and physics will have to struggle to scientifically disprove that human consciousness is not part of the greater One Consciousness on High, which guides and directs life to continue living, advancing and changing And even Einstein’s Unified Field Theory, which is widely accepted in the science world, acknowledges an overwhelming one universal force guiding all of nature. The question is: “Is that force a conscious force?”
Science struggles to tell us really what life “is” or even how it came into being. In that vein, the second law of thermodynamics says that entropy (i.e., nature naturally falling apart) is the expected direction of the physical world, yet this unseen force appears to keep life living, alive and intact, despite physicality’s tendency to naturally want to fall apart. Sure, life is temporary, as are rocks and stars. Yet, this unseen force temporarily keeps them all together. And the philosopher asks why. The honest scientist knows that no clear biophysical nor chemical answer exists to this “why.”
Indeed, the purpose of life is just as haggling, complex and unclear to Average Joe as it is to Sagely Shimon. Certainly, from an individual’s standpoint, it takes many years—if at all—to discover one’s unique role and purpose, never mind the purpose of existence as a whole. Individuals go through journeys, searches, adventures, trials and tribulations to even get a glimpse of their own purpose, which even then can be fleeting. Multiply that by 6 billion, and add all animals, plants, rocks and minerals to the purpose question. What is their reason for existence? Not simple to analyze, but the second (out of seven) blessing said immediately after a Jewish wedding gives us great insight on this question, both spiritually and even scientifically. The blessing reads: “Blessed are You, Infinite Creator, our Benevolent Judge, Ruler of the Universe, Who created everything for His kAvOd.”
This blessing provides startling insight into the reason that the world was created in the first place—kAvOd. Yet, what is kAvOd? English doesn’t do this or any Hebrew word full justice. A Hebrew word is full of several deeper layers that pedantic English can only limit. In that vein, kAvOd is typically translated as “honor” or sometimes “glory,” and perhaps “respect,” yet the root (shoresh) of kAvOd is KVD (kaf vet dalet). The letters of a word, Rabbi Zamir Cohen, shlita, says, reveal the true essence of the named entity. Therefore, this tells us that heaviness is at the root of kAvOd. Heaviness. Sure, the body is heavy, the rock is heavy, the earth is heavy, but are the Sages telling us that we were created for the sake of some sort of “heaviness?” It seems like heaviness is some sort of negative trait at first glance.
Yes, the soul in this world (Olam Hazeh) is indeed weighed down into the physical body, trapped, in a sense, not able to gain freedom until death, at age 120. The soul, thus, is said to be bound by a certain kOvEd (physical heaviness), weighing her down. This weightiness is often what gives the soul pause to sense its suffering, as the soul, light in nature, ethereal, does not necessarily want to be weighed down in the body in this world. Thus, it is the heaviness of the body (guf) impacting the soul (neshama) that will cause most humans to ponder meaning, question purpose, and, yes, even struggle. And, life’s struggle is perhaps characterized by the fact that at its source, physicality is also light—invisible waves that have penetrated and become so concentrated that they have descended into physicality. This not only mysticism. This is physics. The universe started as pure light energy. We are pure light energy at the physical core. Yet our life force is pure spirituality, unseen—yet trapped in “heavy light.”
And, indeed, the human being in general, and the Jew specifically, is rightly warned to avoid kAvOd. Quoting Rabbi Elazar HaKapor, “Envy, lust and kAvOd drive a man from the world.” 1 Looking again at the word kAvOd, it seems to have both a positive and a negative connotation. Whereas the wedding blessing states that the entire universe was created specifically for the kAvOd of the Infinite Creator, the human pursuit of personal kAvOd seems to be something to actively avoid.
Surely, at the simplest level, it is easy to understand why one should avoid pursuing personal kAvOd. When translated as respect and honor, this type of kAvOd is fleeting and, when partially “achieved,” it is often looked at by others with a jealous eye. “Why does he or she have that kAvOd, and not I?” KAvOd often then escapes its pursuer with even greater speed, leaving the person despondent, especially if one person took that kAvOd from another person.
And, yes, everyone wants kAvOd; its addictiveness is one of the aspects that the Sages may be implying as removing one’s self from the world. One can be incessantly bent on pursuing personal kAvOd, even making it one’s primary occupation, more so than money. “KaVod is sweet,” to quote Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. And why is it sweet? Because it is the kAvOd of the Infinite Creator. It is the reason that the Infinite created the Universe, so it must be sweet. Yet, that same kAvOd of the Infinite may be the spiritual lightning rod that shocks the one who touches it into spiritual death, so to speak. It is not for the individual human to be self aware of his own—rather only of others’ intrinsic kAvOd, derived from the Infinite.
Yet, this struggle of the light light (soul) trapped in the heavy light (body) is where the answer for Creation lies. This is where the kOvEd meets the kAvOd. The Creator created kOvEd to be uplifted with the Creator’s kAvOd. That is what keeps us on this earth and the reason for its creation. Life on Planet Earth can be boiled down to kAvOd (ultimate spiritual heaviness) embedded in kOvEd (ultimate physical Heaviness). The Infinite Creator, the Sages tell us in the blessing above, wants the entire world to be filled with the Infinite kAvOd—but not because the Creator is selfish and needs respect, rather that the essence of spiritual existence is Infinite kAvOd. The Creator allows the microscopic human a taste of that kAvOd by sinking an inseparable part of Infinity (the soul) into a body, which, being born, feels separate from that Infinity. When the light inside of the Jew individually attempts to join the Infinite’s kAvOd, she is spiritually overwhelmed, rejoining the original kAvOd, which is over-encompassing. It can only be experienced safely through the Other. When the Jew absorbs the Divine kAvOd for himself, rather than seeing it, projecting it and reflecting it toward his fellow creations, he finds himself only with kOvEd. This is so, since, when the heavenly soul rejoins the heavenly kAvOd, only the heavy, gravity-bound physical body remains.
Thus, the key to enjoying the eternal kAvOd, and the safe way of experiencing the Infinite kAvOd, is to simply praise the Infinite Creator’s existence amongst people, groups and nations. This is the only way that the kAvOd of the Infinite will not swallow up the fleeting small soul, leaving only kOvEd (physical heaviness). The soul is to appreciate the kAvOd that is all encompassing, without fully possessing it. And while the soul can only perform the Infinite’s will of Torah and mitzvot in this world via the body’s kOvEd, she is naturally fed through and drawn toward the Ultimate world of kAvOd. The kAvOd infuses as well as envelops the body and is a guiding force between humans; Infinite kAvOd is the firmest of bases in interactions with other humans—since the Infinite’s kAvOd belongs to the Infinite Rock (Tzur). Thus, when the Jew guides his interactions among fellow creations with kAvOd, he discovers the reason for existence and ultimately animates and lightens up the kOvEd of the body without losing the soul. May the Zion of Ultimate kAvOd be once again rebuilt in our days.
- Ethics of the Fathers/Pirkei Avot 4:21
Dr. Yosef P. Glassman, IDF Reserve Lieutenant, mohel and Harvard-trained geriatrician, is the CEO of Hadarta.org, which integrates Torah concepts to applied geriatric medicine.
