emunah, tefillah, a little mussar, and a shmeck of geula

Monday, January 14, 2013

The Statue of the King



The Torah teaches us that Man is created in the image of Hashem.

Rabbi Avigdor Miller z”l considered this to be one of the most important statements in the Torah and Rabbi Yehuda Litwen drives that point home by explaining that That which constitutes man (his essence) is nothing less than a microcosm of every aspect of how Hashem reveals Himself to the olamos (to all of the worlds).

We are also taught that this image of Hashem is nothing less than a human face which is a direct reflection of Hashem.

It’s the statue of the King.

And as Rabbi Miller z”l explains it, your face is like a screen and your neshama is a projector which projects upon your face the glory of the human soul.  And the human soul contains within it, not so coincidently, the greatness of Hashem because when He breathed into Man He breathed from Himself.

And even though you can reliably take Rabbi Miller’s words to the bank, he would rather that you took them directly to the street to see for yourself how they play out.

He suggests that once a day you should pick a face (men should pick a man’s face and women a woman’s face) and look into it (all the while reminding yourself that you’re seeing the Tzelem Elokim).  If your eyes are open you’ll see nobility expressed in that face.  And a greatness.

How great?

An endless greatness because the truth is that there is nothing in the universe as entrancing and as noble as a human face.

Do it every day, he tells us, and little by little you’ll begin to comprehend this endless nobility that radiates from a face.  And from there it is only a small step to the realization that you are looking at the nobility of the Shechina itself and not far behind that comes a sophisticated understanding of the Gemara’s statement that if A slaps B in the face he slaps the face of HaKodesh Boruch Hu.

The King has given us of Himself and He expects us to exert ourselves to properly maintain that which we have been given.  And to this end the Gemara exhorts us to wash our faces every day.

And as Rabbi Miller z”l was wont to say, when you wash it do it right. 

Have in mind that you’re washing the Statue of the King.