Kvod Hashem in This World
Now, because טוֹב יָצַר כָּבוֹד לִשְׁמוֹ, because the Creator wants to do good to us by giving us the opportunity to think about Him, He therefore made it so that we don’t have to wait for fires that go out from before Him or even go to the fruit store to see the kevod Hashem. What did He do? He filled this world with His phenomena. The world is full of millions of such natural objects that are intended to help us see Him.
Only that we can’t be dummies about it. We can’t be like the unthinking dummies, the mannequins, in the store window. The dummy is standing there today like it was standing there yesterday; it’ll stand there tomorrow too. That’s how most people are – unthinking, not changing. And it’s a tragedy because life is passing by and we’ll take along into the Next World only what we achieved in this world.
Springtime Avodas Hashem
And therefore you have to get busy. It’s springtime now, a wonderful opportunity. You walk in the street and you see that your neighbor was kind enough to plant tomatoes in his front yard. He was doing it for himself, but you won’t let it go to waste – you came here tonight so you know what the purpose of the tomato is. So you stop by his garden for a minute and you’re thinking, “Look at that tomato. Why is it red? Because red makes it more appetizing. I see a purpose there – the Creator wants to give me more cheshek to eat it; He wants me to enjoy it more.”
But where did the redness come from? The tomato seed has no redness in it and yet when it’s put into the soil it’s able to produce such a wonderful result, a nourishing package of food with color. How could the seed accomplish that?
It’s such wisdom and design that the greatest chemical company in the world will never be able to reproduce something similar to that. That tomato demonstrates the presence of a Creator, a Borei, a Designer with tremendous infinite wisdom.
Orange Peel Lessons
Let’s say you continue your walk, your kevod Hashem walk, and you see a little piece of an orange peel lying on the ground. It’s not an accident. Why is it there, that piece of orange peel? So you should look at it. You don’t have to touch it; look at it. On the outside, it’s beautifully colored. On the underside, there’s no color at all. Why is that?
I once asked a man that question. “Why is it that the orange is colored beautifully on the outside of the peel, but the underside of the peel has no color at all? Why shouldn’t the color be on the underside and the outside should be without a color?”
“That’s evolution,” he said. It means he’s a certified dumbbell! He went to college and he listened to his professors and then, after four years, he was given a certificate: “This diploma certifies that you are a dumbbell.”
The Miraculous Peel
But we understand why it’s that way. There’s only one answer. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants you to see the color, to be seduced by it. The purpose of the color is to attract your attention. Once you open it up, you see the color inside, the fruit, so you’ll eat it anyhow – you don’t need color on the underside of the peel.
But the peel is also shiny; there’s a sheen on that orange peel. “What’s that about?” you’re thinking. It adds to the attraction but it’s more than that. The Borei covered the outside with a thin sheet of plastic to protect it against small chewing insects. The underside doesn’t have to be protected and a Great Designer doesn’t waste materials. And so that little piece of orange peel demonstrates the Glory of Hashem.
Don’t Kick It, Think It
But if the orange peel didn’t wake you up so Hashem tries again. You’re walking in the street further and you see somebody dropped a peach pit on the floor. Now, other people they think it’s nothing; they give it a kick, maybe. But you look at it with great derech eretz. For you it’s just like the fire that came down on the Yom Hashemini. It’s kevod Hashem.
You’re thinking, why is the peach pit so hard? There is nothing in the entire peach tree as hard as the pit. Try to break up a peach pit; sometimes even a hammer won’t help. Why is that?
Because the pit is for the purpose of protecting the seed – the seed is the future of the peach tree – and it has to be protected inside against animals that would like to eat it. That’s why the pit is so unusually hard.
Soil Meets Pit
But nissei nissim, when you put it into the earth it opens by itself and begins to grow! A miracle! The pit protects the seed until it’s put into the ground. There’s a paste that is holding together the two halves of the pit and the paste is such a formula that it dissolves inside the earth; it yields to the bacteria and fungi in the soil.
So it’s up to us not to be dummies. Each time you encounter a peach pit in the street, or when you encounter it after you eat a peach, it should be a spur to your mind, to start thinking about the One Who made it that way. And the more we’re thinking, the more we’re living according to this ideal of kevod Hashem, of טוֹב יָצַר כָּבוֹד לִשְׁמוֹ.
Now how many things are there like the peach pit? Trillions of things. Because there is not a single natural thing in the world that doesn’t have the purpose of teaching us of the chochmas Hashem.
Don’t Blow It, Think It
You remember that dandelion I told you about in the beginning of the lecture? It’s not enough to pick them and blow on them. That’s like the man who picks up the maple seed and all he thinks about is that it’s a mustache; he picks it up, opens it, and sticks it on his nose or underneath.
He thinks it’s nothing; it’s a toy. What a waste of an opportunity! It’s a seed and it’s a wing; a seed with a wing! A glorious contrivance! A flying machine! Maple seeds are for thinking!
Studying Dandelions
And dandelions are for thinking too. That’s what they’re for, for kevod Hashem. You see yellow dandelions in the green grass. Why are the dandelions yellow and the grass is green? The answer is, Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants the insects to see the yellow flowers and to pollinate them or to feed off them. And so the yellow color attracts the bees.
But what happens? Once a dandelion is pollinated and it germinates, then it turns into a seedpod, a pad with gray seeds on the top of it. But now there’s no color anymore; it’s grayish. Why is it that when it was a flower it was a beautiful color and now that it turned into a seedpod, it’s colorless?
The answer is, before when it needed to attract the bees, the color was yellow. But now it has to attract the wind and the wind doesn’t need any color. The wind has to blow and the seeds scatter. That’s why you notice a queer thing happens. When the yellow dandelion turns into a gray puff ball, the puff ball is taller than the dandelion used to be; because that will accommodate the wind. The extra few inches make it easier for the wind to blow the seeds away.
The Ultimate Purpose
Now, what is a dandelion for? Well, you'll say, it has a lot of purposes. It’s nice; it adds color, happiness, to the world. Very good. Dandelions also feed bees and butterflies and hover flies. They supply the pollinators with nectar and pollen.
The dandelion feeds people too. As soon as it grows in the springtime the jagged leaves at the bottom that look like lion’s teeth — dent de leon is ‘the lion's teeth’ in French; that’s how it got the name ‘dandelion’ – those leaves are good to eat. For poor people who can't afford to go to the fruit store, they go out with a knife and they can eat the dant de leon. That’s what they used to do; they would cut off those leaves and eat them; they’re good to eat in salads and they’re nutritious too. It's not only for bees and goats; it’s for people too.
That’s a good enough reason for Hashem to create dandelions but Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't do things merely for that. There’s a bigger reason, and the bigger reason is to recognize the wisdom of the Great Designer Who made this miracle. The dandelion was created to make you aware of Hashem and that means it’s our obligation to look. And the more you look at the dandelions and the seeds and the clouds and the leaves and the everything, that’s called living with purpose – with the purpose of kevod Hashem.
Wake Up and Respond
Now once a person realizes that the purpose of everything in the natural world is kevod Hashem, for the purpose of recognizing the Borei, so his life becomes transformed. He’s living now in a different type of world, a world crammed with things that are all made for one purpose: לְהוֹדִיעַ לִבְנֵי הָאָדָם – to make known to people, תוֹכְבוֹד הֲדַר מַלְכוֹ – the glory of the Creator.
Only that you have to wake up and respond. Say, “Yes, Hashem, I’m going to try to know.” And not merely to say it; we have to train ourselves to recognize Hashem by means of kol maasecha, all His works. And when we try to live that way, you’ll be amazed at what’s going to happen to you. Your mind is going to flourish.
And you should never falter. Don’t weaken because whatever you accomplish in this field of kevod Hashem, of being aware of the Shechinah, it will be the most important achievement you made in this world because it will go with you to the Next World.
Crowns of Knowledge
Because what is our career in the Next World? Listen what Rav says in Mesichta Brachos (17a), צַדִּיקִים יוֹשְׁבִים וְעַטְרוֹתֵיהֶם בְּרֹאשָׁם – Tzaddikim sit with their crowns on their heads. What are the crowns? The da’as, the awareness of Hashem, that they gained in their lifetime, will be a crown on their heads, וְנֶהֱנִין מִזִּיו הַשְּׁכִינָה – and by means of that daas they’ll gain joy from the splendor of the Shechinah.
‘The splendor of the Shechinah’ means that they’re going to see the Shechinah itself. In this world they saw only a shadow of the Shechinah but in the Next World they’ll see the real thing. And that’s a tremendous and intense happiness that has no end.
It’s so great that the Gemara says we won’t be able to tolerate it; we’ll burst from the joy. You know, from too much happiness, some people die. Here’s a man who received good news that he won a sweepstakes. They called him from the lottery office to tell him and he fell dead from the good news. His body, his heart, his nerves, couldn’t handle it. And we wouldn’t be able to survive being נֶהֱנֶה מִזִּיו הַשְּׁכִינָה either, only that in Olam Haba Hashem will give us koach to withstand the happiness of seeing the Shechinah.
And therefore, you begin to understand now how big of a function it is in this world for us to study Creation, to look everywhere and think. That’s the kevod Hashem! And just because of that Hakadosh Baruch Hu will say, “Because you strove to see Me in this world, to see Me as much as you could, so I’m going to reward you when the time comes לַחֲזוֹת בְּנֹעַם ה'.” Forever and ever you will gaze at the sweetness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu and enjoy the splendor of His Shechinah.
Have A Wonderful Shabbos
