On the glory of justice and mercy

שו”ת › Category: Talmudic study › On the glory of justice and mercy

asked 9 years ago

What is the meaning of the measure of glory – what does it express? (Kindness is to do good, valor is to overcome, so what is the simple meaning of glory)?

Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

0 Answers

0 Vote Up Vote Down

מיכי Staff answered 9 years ago

In all three Sefirot, the first is the initial expansion (Chesedim), the second is the form given to this expansion (its limitation. Dinim/Gevurot), and the third is the product of the combination of the first two. Thus, Daat is a combination of wisdom and understanding, and Tiferet is a combination of Chesed and Gevurot. In short, think about the description of Abraham, our father, who slaughtered three calves to feed the angels who came to him with mustard seeds. After all, this is completely unreasonable (especially in a world where there are no refrigerators, and all meat would spoil). And couldn’t he have given them a polka? This is Chesed that is not limited by Din. Pure Chesed cannot appear in the world (it is illogical and wrong to act this way). In order for Chesed to receive meaning and logic and be able to live by it, it must be limited by Din (Gevurot). Only the combination of the two can govern the world in a complete (=magnificent) way. Tiferet is this completeness, a proper and complete combination of Chesed with Din. Therefore, Jacob was the chosen one of the fathers because he was Tiferet. Rashi in Genesis explains that God wanted to create the world with the quality of justice (God) and seeing that it did not stand, he combined with it the quality of mercy (God), and thus the name “God God” that appears in the second part of Genesis was received. Why didn’t He create with pure mercy? Because it wouldn’t work, as with pure justice. Only the combination can work in a real world. Pure kindness is a suckership that is not the right way to conduct ourselves in our real world. Absolute justice is to do only what is obligatory without kindness. The combination is what should guide us.

Discover more from הרב מיכאל אברהם

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

יוסי החרדי replied 1 year ago

If glory is a balance between heroism and kindness, what is the difference between it and the “heroism in kindness” or the “kindness in heroism”? These combinations exist even without the concept of glory or in another form: What is the heroism in glory, the heroism within heroism and kindness?!

PS I wish you would write more about the world of Kabbalah. It is fascinating

מיכי Staff replied 1 year ago

Glory is not balance but combination. Kindness, which in heroism is not combination nor balance, but an aspect of kindness within heroism.