How shall we define being human? Many objects have a clear definition. It is relatively easy to define a chair, a table, a house, etc. What about a human being?
It seems to me that a human being is the only object in the world with such an unclear definition. One scientist will say that a human is an intelligent animal, and another will insist on a different definition. What is the true definition of a human being? What unique ability does a human have?
The true, and only, definition of a human being is as follows: a creature that has the innate ability to connect to Hashem. So to speak, a human being is like an antenna that can pick up airwaves broadcast from afar. We naturally conceive of Hashem as being in heaven, whereas we are here on earth. Between heaven and earth there is a vast gap.
Humanity is an instrument that has the innate capacity to bridge the gap between heaven and earth, to connect to Hashem and have a relationship with Him.
Once when I was speaking in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a small group of Israelis gathered in someone’s home, a listener (who was not Torah-observant) asked me, “What do you mean when you say, ‘To connect to Hashem?’”
I answered, “If I speak to you, and I know that you are listening, and you know that I know that you are listening, and I know that you know that I know that you are listening, we are connected. It’s a simple fact. In the same way, if you speak to Hashem, and you know that Hashem is listening, and He knows that you know that He is listening, you are connected to Hashem.”
Humanness is the ability to connect to Hashem.
Korbanos is the Highest Level
There are different levels of connecting and relating to Hashem.
The first is emunah, the second is tefilah, and the height of connectedness is korbanos. The word קרבן denotes closeness, קרבה, drawing close to Hashem. By offering a korban, a person says to Hashem, so to speak, “I am connected to You down to my last drop of blood! I am ready to give You even my very life-blood!”
In the relationship between man and wife, when the husband feels love, this could be just an internal emotion, and this, too, is good. But it is very important that he express his love also in speech. And the most important thing is to express it even in actions, for instance, by bringing his wife a gift, which is an expression of love.
So it is with love for Hashem. The strongest expression of our love for Him is when we take an animal, which externally resembles a human being (it has eyes, ears, mouth, etc) and we say, symbolically, “Hashem, I am pouring out my own blood for You!”
When Noach offered a korban, this brought him tremendously close to Hashem. And when “Hashem smelled the pleasing scent” of Noach’s offering, He told him, so to speak, “Now humanity has true worth and content. I will no longer need to destroy the world. You have shown yourself to be a solid base for the world.”
This is what Noach achieved. He built a lasting world for Hashem. But he did not stop there.
