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.
