On two occasions in the book of Bemidbar, the nation is involved in some form of frantic rebellion against God – or at least again his appointed leaders. As the mutinies of Korach and the Spies reach fever pitch, order is suddenly and dramatically restored by the “Glory [Kevod] of God” appearing to the entire nation.
The mysterious notion of a tangible “Kevod Hashem” features elsewhere in Tanakh and appears repeatedly in our prayers – but how is it to be understood? Is Kevod Hashem some form of tangible spiritual entity? Where is it to be found?
The extended Kedusha that we recite on Shabbat recounts that this question also troubles God’s ministering angels: “His kavod fills the world [yet] His ministering angels ask of each other “Where is the place of His kavod?!”” The resolution appears to be that his kavod is to be found among “am hameyachadim shemo” – the nation which perceives and declares his Oneness.
Radak explains in his commentary to Yeshayah’s declaration that “God has created everything, and those who are able to perceive God will glorify Him for this [yechabeduhu ba’alei sechel]”. Consistent with Rambam’s interpretations of this verse in Moreh Nevuchim, Radak is shifting the emphasis from kavod as a tangible spiritual entity to a description of humans recognizing and internalizing the nature of God’s existence. It would seem that while God’s kavod potentially fills the entire world – since all aspects of Creation can be said to point to a Creator – this kavod only exists in practice when and where humans perceive and declare God’s existence.
As Judaism Reclaimed analyses, Rambam categorically rejects as heretical the notion that God or divinity can enter into the limiting physical frameworks of space and time. Biblical verses which purport to describe God in this manner are therefore interpreted, in line with the ancient footsteps of Targum Onkelos, to be describing our perception and relationship with God. (Interestingly, Rambam does however consider it legitimate – if not entirely accurate – to understand kevod as a form of “created light” – an understanding which appears to have been favoured by other commentators such as Sa’adiah Gaon).
The extended kedushah prayer can be seen to reflect Rambam’s approach to kevod Hashem. Such kavod does not occupy any fixed place that the ministering angels can point to – rather it is to be found among the am hameyachadim shemo who use their tzelem Elokim – their God given intellect to recognise, internalise and develop a relationship with Him.
A further chapter of Judaism Reclaimed examines how such a recognition of God is not universally proclaimed and is central to the historical role of the Jewish nation. When pagans contemplated the world, they saw a multiplicity of concepts and forces which appeared to be in conflict with one another in the natural world. This they rationalised in terms of there being a multiplicity of deities, each with limited powers and spheres of influence, who engage in battle with one another where their interests come into conflict or their limited spheres of influence overlap. Aristotle, by contrast, contemplated the multiple ‘forms’ that make up the universe, understanding that there must be a single simple source from which they all emanate. This source, however, he viewed as being a natural and constant First Cause, eternally limited to its role of constantly producing the physical universe. In the modern era, atheists have concocted complex theories of multiverses and eternally self-perpetuating cycles of Big Bangs and contractions in order to explain what at first glance appears to be a precisely and finely-tuned universe.
From Avraham and the pagans, Rambam and Aristotle through to Rabbi Sacks’s disputes with New Atheists, Judaism has always stood at the forefront of the battle to declare and accept God’s governance of the world. These declarations have firmly rejected the various competing rival theories which have emerged at different historical junctures, gained popularity and then departed from serious theological and philosophical reckoning. It is this role of the Jewish nation which is concretised in the Kedusha prayer depicting us as the am hameyachadim shemo – the nation whose mission it is perpetually to recognise and declare God’s Oneness and governance of the world. The nation therefore among whom God’s kavod can be found.
The book of Bemidbar describes the formative years of our young nation in which it was being trained for its upcoming mission as God’s chosen people. This crash course required a more intense providential guidance – certain fundamental truths had to be supernaturally imposed on the nation. For this reason, when they rebelled in the episodes of the Spies and Korach, God’s kavodhad to make itself clear to them. Rather than emerging from the free choice of humans to meditate upon and perceive God, He made Himself clear and apparent in order to keep the emerging nation from rebelling against Moshe’s leadership and their destiny in the Land of Israel.
Subsequent generations of Jews, however, are guided by the phrase ברוך הוא אלקינו שבראנו לכבודו"” – “Blessed is He our God who created us for His kavod – our mission as God’s nation is to perceive, internalise and declare to the world His Oneness and governance.
First posted to Facebook 25 June 2023, here.
