How To Earn Respect and Be Fearless in a World of Conflict
As antisemitism proliferates around the globe, many are scrambling to determine a proper and effective response. How can we stem this troubling trend, and how can we assure that Jewish people (and all good people) will be safe in a world that is increasingly intolerant and violent? The Zohar offers a powerful response in reference to the events of this week’s parsha.
After the flood, Hashem told Noah “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth” (Gen. 9:2). On this, the Zohar explains that from the outset of creation, all animals revered humans and would not harm them because they were created in the image of G-d. Yet when mankind began to stray from G-d’s will, the divine image departed from them, and the beasts no longer feared them.
Prior to the flood, humanity had lost its divine luster due to its refusal to act in accordance with its G-dly essence. It chose, rather, to express and pursue its animal nature, and therefore it appeared to the other beasts to be no different or greater than them. The flood purified the earth, and humanity was reset, so to speak. Therefore G-d informed Noah that, once again, “the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth.”
Yet this condition would last only as long as humanity preserved and exhibited its G-dly nature. As the Zohar teaches, “Come and see! All the people who do not sin before their Master and do not transgress against the commandments of the Torah, keep their divine radiance of the supernal image. Therefore all the creatures of the world tremble with fear of them. But when the people transgress against the commandments of the Torah, their shape changes and they tremble and fear other creatures, because the supernal shape has left them” (Zohar Breishit 71a).
We are G-dly beings inhabiting an animal casing. The choice is ours whether to express our essence or to allow it to be concealed and dominated by the flesh that serves as its vehicle in this material world. Does the rider control the reins and direct the beast, or does it abandon the reins and allow the beast to take it wherever it wills?
When we surrender our essential self to our animal self, we shed the divine form in which we are created and through which we are protected. The “tzelem Elokim/Image of G-d” is not a physical figure or structure, but it is a channel through which Hashem’s will is expressed in this physical realm. When we open that channel, an infinite light flows through it. Though it is not visible to our fleshy eyes, it is sensed and respected by all of creation.
When we act in accordance to our original design and show the world what we truly are, we will once again project the supernal image and we will once again have nothing to fear.
— Pnei Hashem is an introduction to the deepest depths of the human experience based on the esoteric teachings of Torah. www.pneihashem.com
