נֵ֣ר יְ֭הֹוָה נִשְׁמַ֣ת אָדָ֑ם חֹ֝פֵ֗שׂ כׇּל־חַדְרֵי־בָֽטֶן׃
The lifebreath of man is the lamp of YHVYRevealing all his inmost parts.
“My own suggestion is that we must go far beyond any transformation of contemporary culture. We must go back to the genetic imperative from which human cultures emerge originally and from which they can never be separated without losing their integrity and their survival capacity....Our cultural resources have lost their integrity...What is needed is not transcendence but “inscendence”...”
(Barry, T. The Dream of the Earth, 1990[1988], pp. 207-208).
Walking on the ocean floor (Bay of Fundy at low tide), 2023. Photo by Ariel Kiel.
בֶּן זוֹמָא אוֹמֵר, אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם, הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים קיט) מִכָּל מְלַמְּדַי הִשְׂכַּלְתִּי כִּי עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ שִׂיחָה לִּי. אֵיזֶהוּ גִבּוֹר, הַכּוֹבֵשׁ אֶת יִצְרוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי טז) טוֹב אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם מִגִּבּוֹר וּמשֵׁל בְּרוּחוֹ מִלֹּכֵד עִיר. אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר, הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים קכח) יְגִיעַ כַּפֶּיךָ כִּי תֹאכֵל אַשְׁרֶיךָ וְטוֹב לָךְ. אַשְׁרֶיךָ, בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה. וְטוֹב לָךְ, לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. אֵיזֶהוּ מְכֻבָּד, הַמְכַבֵּד אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמואל א ב) כִּי מְכַבְּדַי אֲכַבֵּד וּבֹזַי יֵקָלּוּ:
Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from every man, as it is said: “From all who taught me have I gained understanding” (Psalms 119:99). Who is mighty? He who subdues his [evil] inclination, as it is said: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32). Who is rich? He who rejoices in his lot, as it is said: “You shall enjoy the fruit of your labors, you shall be happy and you shall prosper” (Psalms 128:2) “You shall be happy” in this world, “and you shall prosper” in the world to come. Who is he that is honored? He who honors his fellow human beings as it is said: “For I honor those that honor Me, but those who spurn Me shall be dishonored” (I Samuel 2:30).
הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם. וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁהוּא קָטָן מִמֶּנּוּ. שֶׁכֵּיוָן שֶׁאֵינוֹ חָס עַל כְּבוֹדוֹ וְלוֹמֵד מִן הַקְּטַנִּים, נִכָּרִים הַדְּבָרִים שֶׁחָכְמָתוֹ הוּא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם וְלֹא לְהִתְיַהֵר וּלְהִתְפָּאֵר בָּהּ:
"He who learns from all men": And even though [that person that he learns from] is lesser than he. As since he is not concerned about his honor and learns from the lesser ones, [it shows] that his wisdom is for the sake of Heaven and not to boast and revel in.
(ג) וְקָרָ֨א זֶ֤ה אֶל־זֶה֙ וְאָמַ֔ר קָד֧וֹשׁ ׀ קָד֛וֹשׁ קָד֖וֹשׁ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת מְלֹ֥א כׇל־הָאָ֖רֶץ כְּבוֹדֽוֹ׃
(3) And one would call to the other,“Holy, holy, holy! GOD of Hosts—Whose presence fills all the earth!”
רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן שַׁמּוּעַ אוֹמֵר, יְהִי כְבוֹד תַּלְמִידְךָ חָבִיב עָלֶיךָ כְּשֶׁלְּךָ, וּכְבוֹד חֲבֵרְךָ כְּמוֹרָא רַבְּךָ, וּמוֹרָא רַבְּךָ כְּמוֹרָא שָׁמָיִם:
Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua said: let the honor of your student be as dear to you as your own, and the honor of your colleague as the reverence for your teacher, and the reverence for your teacher as the reverence of heaven.
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: כְּשֶׁחָלָה רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר נִכְנְסוּ תַּלְמִידָיו לְבַקְּרוֹ. אָמְרוּ לוֹ: רַבֵּינוּ לַמְּדֵנוּ אוֹרְחוֹת חַיִּים וְנִזְכֶּה בָּהֶן לְחַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. אָמַר לָהֶם: הִזָּהֲרוּ בִּכְבוֹד חַבְרֵיכֶם... וּכְשֶׁאַתֶּם מִתְפַּלְּלִים — דְּעוּ לִפְנֵי מִי אַתֶּם עוֹמְדִים. וּבִשְׁבִיל כָּךְ תִּזְכּוּ לְחַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא.
On a similar note, the Gemara recounts related stories with different approaches. The Sages taught: When Rabbi Eliezer fell ill, his students entered to visit him. They said to him: Teach us paths of life, guidelines by which to live, and we will thereby merit the life of the World-to-Come. He said to them: Be vigilant in the honor of your counterparts... and when you pray, know before Whom you stand. For doing that, you will merit the life of the World-to-Come.
תָּא שְׁמַע: גָּדוֹל כְּבוֹד הַבְּרִיּוֹת שֶׁדּוֹחֶה [אֶת] לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה.
The Gemara cites an additional proof from a baraita: Come and hear: Great is human dignity, as it overrides a prohibition in the Torah.
“Being careful with kavod is often understood to be common courtesy, but, R’ Eliezer reveals this is a middah which leads us to olam haba, and as such is a middah of inner quality because such are the things which bring us to olam haba: olam haba is the deepest and most all-encompassing inner world, and we only merit at arriving there, after we have achieved pnimiyut (inner reality?). What then is the pnimiyut of being careful with kavod?
As we have said at the opening to this chapter: the value people give to sanctity and pnimiyut expresses itself by the kavod (dignity and honour) people feel for them. Sanctity demands kavod. This explains why being careful to respect our friends is a way of life which leads to olam haba, since it demonstrates the person belongs to pnimiyut. Now we can understand the gravity with which Chazal treat k’vod ha’briyot (dignity for others), so much so that they decreed: Great is human dignity, as it overrides a prohibition in the Torah (B’rachot 19b)”
(R' Shlomo Wolbe, Alei Shur II, Section 2 va'ad 4. translated by Gila Caine)
"What we have lost, in particular, is the journey of soul initiation — a psycho-spiritual undertaking that connects us in the most profound way to both the Earth community and the source of our deepest humanity. This journey, if revitalized and reclaimed, can transform everything for us, individually and collectively.
This loss is our single gravest human and planetary crisis because the journey of soul initiation is the path to true Adulthood — to becoming a cultural visionary and evolutionary — and true Adulthood is essential to a genuinely healthy, mature culture. This journey will be a core element of any future society capable of growing a flourishing culture in partnership with all other species and life processes of Earth."
(Bill Plotkin, The Descent to soul, 2021)