לזכות גילה שושנה בת נעכא גיטל
Man was created as a creature of כבוד - dignity. That is why we are so hurt when our dignity is compromised. We are also the only creature who brings about or denies Hashem His proper כבוד. This כבוד in man is expressed by his upright posture and זיו הפנים - shiny countenance. An animal generally faces the ground and and their faces don't possess the richness of expression that a human being has. [Maharal Derech Chaim 3/14]. We say about a person "s/he was radiant". Have you ever seen an animal who you would describe as radiant?? You see that dog over there - Sparky? He just made a siyyum on Temurah and his face is SHINING!!
Yaakov was the אדם השלם - most complete person. He revealed this middah in the world. The beauty of Yaakov was reminiscent of the beauty of Adam Ha-rishon [Bava Metzia 84a].
The nature of this revelation is that the external reveals that there is something beneath the exterior - the pnim [insides] radiates outward. Light and honor are the same - "והארץ האירה מכבודו" the earth shone from His honor [Yechezkel 43/2]. That is what is unique about the face of man. His face reveals the internal spiritual world that shines within him. This revelation is one of כבוד.
The gematria of כבוד is 32 - "לב". The first letter of the Torah is "ב" and the last "ל". Also 32. The name א-להים is mentioned 32 times in the creation story. All there to bring to כבוד.
One of the sheva brachos we say is שהכל ברא לכבודו - Everything was created for His honor. Rashi says [Ksubos 8b]:
שהכל ברא לכבודו אינה מן הסדר אלא לאסיפת העם הנאספים שם לגמול חסד זכר לחסדי המקום שנהג עם אדם הראשון שנעשה לו שושבין ונתעסק בו ואסיפה זו כבוד המקום היא וברכה זו לכך נתקנה ומשעת אסיפה היא ראויה לברך אלא מכיון שיש ברכה על הכוס הזקיקוה לסדרה עליו
Rashi says that this bracha was inserted at this point because people are gathering to perform chesed for the chosson and kalla in memory of the chesed of Hashem that He performed for Adam being his "Best Man" and helping him. This gathering is for the כבוד of Hashem and thus the bracha of שהכל ברא לכבודו.
The Gemara [Sukkah 49b] says:
והיינו דא"ר אלעזר מאי דכתיב (מיכה ו, ח) הגיד לך אדם מה טוב ומה ה' דורש ממך כי אם עשות משפט ואהבת חסד והצנע לכת עם אלהיך עשות משפט זה הדין ואהבת חסד זו גמילות חסדים והצנע לכת עם אלהיך זו הוצאת המת והכנסת כלה לחופה
And this is what Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “It has been told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord does require of you; only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)? “To do justly”; this is justice. “To love mercy”; this is acts of kindness. “To walk humbly with your God”; this is referring to taking the indigent dead out for burial and accompanying a bride to her wedding canopy, both of which must be performed without fanfare.
The Maharal explains as follows: דין and גמילות חסדים are the archetypes of Love and Fear. הצנע לכת relates to כבוד. When we talk about כבוד we refer to what is hidden in man. הצנע - hidden. Something exposed is not dignified and Mechubadike. [ובהיכלו - where He is hidden - כולו אומר כבוד. Kavod means "more than you can see is here". The outside hints that there is more more inside.]
An אדם מכובד - dignified man, is someone whose מהלך is "חכמת אדם תאיר פניו". The wisdom of a man lights up his face. There is an indication in his external countenance of the deep wisdom that he contains.
Yaakov's middah was נורא [as we say in Shmoneh Esrei "א-להי אברהם יצחק ויעקב, the הגדול corresponds to Avraham, הגבור to Yitzchak and הנורא to Yaakov]. יראה is the same letters as ראיה. The word נורא denotes two things: 1] יראה - fear. Something far away in which we have no conception and to which we can't relate. 2] ראייה - Seeing. The perception of man in this thing. THAT is כבוד - something we can see [ראייה] which indicates something much deeper and beyond our range and purview [יראה].
כבוד is revealed at a funeral or wedding. The entire matter of הלויית המת is to give כבוד. The idea of הכנסת כלה is a unique חסד with צורת האדם. We place a person in his or her true form as being יחיד בבריאה - a sui generis creation. The idea of מלכות in marriage is that nobody is like the person getting married and thus everybody is obligated to take part in their wedding. His uniqueness relates to every individual because he is a king over the entire creation. [חתן דומה למלך].
Chazal say that Hashem was Adam's "Best Man" [שושבין]. his "job" was to bring Chava to Adam "ויביאה אל האדם". The meaning is that the מלכות of man is expressed in the concept of "וכבשוה" [Breishis 1-28] - we are commanded to conquer. Chazal say that the MALE conquering gender "איש דרכו לכבוש" [Yevamos 65b]. Rav Yosef Kra [Yeshayahu 44/13] writes on the words "כתפארת אדם לשבת בית"
A man's תפארת, his glory, his כבוד, is his wife. In the act of ויביאה אל האדם, bringing Chava to Adam, he received his כבוד.
That is what Rashi means in Ksubos when he says "ברכה - זכר לחסדי המקום" this bracha is in commemoration of the חסד of Hashem when he gave man his כבוד i.e. his אשה. [Man's כבוד Is supposed to reflect Hashem's kavod. "שהכל ברא לכבודו"].
The כבוד if Hashem is expressed when even the highest kings become subordinate to Him. That is what happened at קריעת ים סוף. Paroh was so strong and mighty but he was humbled before Hashem. כי גאה גאה - Hashem is raised above the high - גאה על הגאים [as the Targum there says]. סוס ורוכבו רמה בים - The person with all of his might riding the horse were cast into the sea. Paroh with all of his גאוה was defeated.
As the pasuk says in Ovadiah [1-4]:
אִם־תַּגְבִּ֣יהַּ כַּנֶּ֔שֶׁר וְאִם־בֵּ֥ין כּֽוֹכָבִ֖ים שִׂ֣ים קִנֶּ֑ךָ מִשָּׁ֥ם אוֹרִֽידְךָ֖ נְאֻם־יְ-הֹ-וָֽ-ה:
If you go up high like an eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says Hashem.
Shemos 14-2:
Speak to the children of Israel, and let them turn back and encamp in front of Pi hachiros, between Migdol and the sea; in front of Baal Tzephon, you shall encamp opposite it, by the sea.
Rashi - in front of Ba’al Tzephon: [Only] this was left from all the Egyptian deities in order to mislead them [the Egyptians], so they would say that their deity is powerful. Concerning this [tactic] Job explained: “He makes nations great and destroys them” (Job 12:23). — [from Mechilta]
There is a מהלך where Hashem brings the evil people to greatness in order to reveal His כבוד as a גאה גאה - גאה על הגאים. [Note the Third Reich of the Nazi's ימ"ש, the Communist Regime ימ"ש in Soviet Russia etc. etc. who reached incredible levels of power only to be brought down with a bang. בבחינת - The bigger they are the harder they fall].
[עפ"י זה השער]
