Transcript

I have to apologize that this shiur is going to be a little shorter than I’d hoped originally. I have to leave a little earlier than I had thought. The topic I'd like to discuss is a very, very important topic in terms of our understanding of yesodei ha-dat. My own very limited understanding of it is very superficial but I hope not erroneous. Megalleh befumei of anyone when we talk about HaKadosh Baruch Hu we use the word kiveyachol. Kiveyachol translates as it were. Why is it that virtually always we do and should say kiveyachol when talking about HaKadosh Baruch Hu? So maybe let's explain that in light of a diyuk in the lashon HaRambam. The Rambam in Perek Aleph of Hilchos De'os when he's talking about the mitzvah of ve-halachta bi-drachav, so the Rambam writes in

פרק א הלכה ו, כך למדו בפירוש מצווה זו: מה הוא נקרא חנון אף אתה היה חנון, מה הוא נקרא רחום אף אתה היה רחום, מה הוא נקרא קדוש אף אתה היה קדוש.

So the Rambam says again quoting the Sifrei, the Gemara that we have to emulate HaKadosh Baruch Hu, we have to emulate the ways of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Right? מה הוא רחום אף אתה היה רחום, etc. The only thing is the way the Rambam says it, he says it very carefully. And there's a remarkable, remarkable diyuk here in the lashon, right? The Rambam says מה הוא נקרא חנון אף אתה היה חנון. The Rambam says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is called chanun so you should be chanun. Not HaKadosh Baruch Hu is chanun so you should be chanun or HaKadosh Baruch Hu is called chanun so you too should be deserving of being called chanun but the Rambam says מה הוא נקרא חנון אף אתה היה חנון. So there's a certain lack of symmetry here. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is called chanun. Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu is called chanun, so therefore that then imposes a mitzvah upon us to be chanun. So what's the pshat in that? So the Rambam explains in Parshas Ki Sisa after the egel, so Moshe Rabbeinu has two requests from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Moshe Rabbeinu beginning from Shlishi in Parshas Ki Sisa, it's the Kriyas HaTorah of Shabbos Chol HaMoed.

ויאמר משה אל ה' ראה אתה אומר אלי העל את העם הזה ואתה לא הודעתני את אשר תשלח עמי ואתה אמרת ידעתיך בשם וגם מצאתי חן בעיני.

Okay so now comes the bakasha. Pasuk yud gimmel:

ועתה אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך הודעני נא את דרכך ואדעך למען אמצא חן בעיניך וראה כי עמך הגוי הזה.

So Moshe Rabbeinu says הודעני נא את דרכך. That's one request which he has from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Subsequently, subsequently so HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu assents to this request and then in Pasuk yud ches Moshe Rabbeinu has a second request: הראני נא את כבודך. So one is הודעני נא את דרכך and the other is הראני נא את כבודך. So the Rambam explains as follows. He says that when we talk about HaKadosh Baruch Hu, we can talk about understanding the ways of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The English philosophical term that's used is actional attributes. That attributes which describe the way HaKadosh Baruch Hu acts, right? The way HaKadosh Baruch Hu acts vis-à-vis the world, vis-à-vis us in the world. So that's הודעני נא את דרכך. Let me understand how you act Ribbono Shel Olam. But then one can also in a minute, well one can also ask. about what what about HaKadosh Baruch Hu's essential attributes, about understanding HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself. For instance, let's say you you just observe someone from a distance and you see you see what he did. You see I don't know you're standing from afar and you watch how a professional painter is painting the room. So you don't really interact with him at all. You don't you don't really get a sense for who he is, for what he is, but you can sort of observe his technique in in how he paints and how he's careful that that it shouldn't that he shouldn't stain other things. So you wouldn't deem to say that that you could describe anything about that person essentially. The most you could say is well I saw how he paints and and this is I can describe his technique. When Moshe Rabbeinu says הראני נא את כבודך, Moshe Rabbeinu says I want not only to be able to understand Ribono shel Olam your actional attributes, but I want to be able to understand your essence. I want to be able to understand your essence. And and the Rambam explains that that second request is is denied. And that HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells him that the only thing that that we are capable of understanding is HaKadosh Baruch Hu's actional attributes. We can describe how HaKadosh Baruch Hu interacts with the world. We can describe HaKadosh Baruch Hu within the world. We can't describe because we can't understand HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself. So the הודעני נא את דרכיך, that request of Moshe Rabbeinu HaKadosh Baruch Hu fulfills, but the

הראני נא את כבודך כי לא יראני האדם וחי לא תוכל לראות את פני כי לא יראני האדם וחי

that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that request I cannot fulfill. Now now this idea that that anything that we say about HaKadosh Baruch Hu we're not saying about HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself. We're saying rather about how HaKadosh Baruch Hu in terms of his interaction in the world, how we're able to glimpse HaKadosh Baruch Hu in terms of his interaction in the world. To get משל למה הדבר דומה, let's say you have again someone you encounter in a specific context. You have a Rebbe, you have someone you know in some professional context, a doctor, a a financial advisor. And you never never interact with them on any other level in any other context other than this this limited context. So you you see how the Rebbe says a Shiur, you see how the how the the doctor gives gives treatment. But you don't see them in any in any other context. So then the most you can so then if you're going to describe them, so just in honesty you have to say I can't really tell you that that I know the person as is, the person per se. I know him in a certain context. I know him in a certain context. I say sometimes people call you up, I know the person in a certain context. So whatever we say about HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the Rambam says when we say even when we say what we consider the highest form of praise, the highest accolades that that we can think of, when we say HaKadosh Baruch Hu is רחום וחנון ארך אפים ורב חסד, so we we even then we don't Chas Veshalom presume to define who or what HaKadosh Baruch Hu is in terms of his essence. Because that's beyond us. That's beyond us. That's beyond beyond human comprehension. And that's why whenever we talk about HaKadosh Baruch Hu seeming to describe him, that's why the word Kaveyachol is is ever-present in our vocabulary because it's always that what we're describing is that the Rambam explains when we say HaKadosh Baruch Hu is Rachum, it means that he acts in a way which humanly we we understand to reflect Rachmanus. But we can't define HaKadosh Baruch Hu because HaKadosh Baruch Hu is beyond us. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is beyond our comprehension. Now now this Yesod, this Yesod, I'm just going to mention one or two other Mareh Mekomos that that happen to have come my way, is is not is not just part of the Toras HaRambam, but is a Yesod Gadol in Yahadus. That when we talk about HaKadosh Baruch Hu what we're doing is we're talking about him, we're describing him, we're understanding him, again, in terms of... because that's beyond, beyond us, beyond our comprehension. So for instance, besides the Rambam that we were talking about, one place in which he says it is in Chelek Aleph in Perek Nun-Dalet. So Ramchal says it as well. And again, this is, it's not that it's only the Rambam, that it's only Ramchal. This is just by way of illustration. It's very, very fundamental. So in Daas Tevunos Siman Mem-Vav, Ramchal says the following:

הנה אנחנו רואים חוקים ומשפטים אשר הוא יתברך שמו מתנהג בם עמנו, אנחנו נבראיו, מידות ודרכים צדיקים כאשר גזר עומק חכמתו.

Right? Notice, right? We glimpse there are certain laws according to which Hakadosh Baruch Hu interacts with us. עד שבעבור המידות האלה, because of these laws of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's interaction with us, ייחסנו לו תארים רבים, that we attribute to him different descriptive terms, ככל דברי הנביאים עליהם השלום ואליו קראנו, and as a result of that we call him rachum, chanun, gibbor

וכל שאר הכינויים הרבים שנתייחסו לנו. אמנם כאן צריכים אנו להבין ולדעת אמונה וודאית.

Right? Again, emphasizing just how basic this is.

שיש לנו להאמין בכל זה כי לא יאותו כל התארים והכינויים האלה אליו יתברך לפי עצמו כלל ועיקר.

That none of these again attributes, none of these epithets are appropriate when talking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself. Ba'asher ein, I'll skip those two lines, ודבר זה נתבאר אצל החכמים במקומות רבים בביאור רחב. This is something which is explained many times here in the notes, the editor gives marei mekomos to many other places in Kisvei Ramchal where he himself talks about it.

וכלל מה שצריכים אנו להאמין בו זהו כי הוא יתברך שמו מציאותו נודע לנו וודאי שהוא מוכרח מעצמו אך מהותו אי אפשר לנו להשיגו כלל ועיקר.

So we have to know again that we know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu exists and we know he's there, we know he exists absolutely, but his essence, right? In the sense that we understand a person, that we can really, really depict who the person is, what the person is, so that we can't do. Ach mahuso, the essence of Hashem, אי אפשר לנו להשיגו כלל ועיקר. That's something which we can't comprehend.

ולא עוד אלא שכבר עשו לנו איסור עולם להיכנס בחקירה זאת.

Since it's beyond our capacity, so we're forbidden to try to understand that. וכבר אמרו חכמים, the Gemara in Chagigah שהמסתכל בארבעה דברים ראוי לו שלא בא לעולם. That a person is not allowed to speculate in areas which go beyond the limits of human inquiry and human comprehension. And Ramchal says and this, again, to understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu in his essence belongs to that realm which is במופלא ממך אל תדרוש. The same thing again just to mention one other formulation of the same very basic idea, you have it in the Nefesh Hachaim in Sha'ar Beis as well. Rav Chaim Volozhiner also talks about this at some length. אבל העניין הוא כמו שאמרו בזוהר, this is in Nefesh Hachaim Sha'ar Beis perek. Ha'inyan hu k'mo she'amru b'Zohar דקודשא בריך הוא סתים וגליא. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is hidden and revealed at the same time. כי עצמות אין סוף ברוך הוא ssum mikol stimin. The essence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is is the most is as is ssum mikol stimin. The most hidden we don't even we can't even describe it. ואין לו נושא חס ושלום בשום שם כלל. We don't even even the shemos of Hakadosh Baruch Hu don't relate to Hakadosh Baruch Hu's essence.

אפילו בשם הוי"ה ברוך הוא ואפילו בקוצו של יוד דביה.

Now ומה שמושג אצלנו קצת, what we do understand, what do we understand? ואנו מכנים ומתארים כמה תארים ושמות וכינויים ומדות. We do have shiva shemos for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. We do refer to the yud gimmel midos k'mo she-matzinu b'Torah u'v'chol ma'amarei ha-tefillah כולם הם רק מצד התחברותו יתברך אל העולמות. All this again is we're not commenting on this is Hakadosh Baruch Hu we're commenting on by virtue of his involvement by virtue of his connection to the world so we glimpse these midos in his connection to the world but not we don't presume to be defining Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The Rambam says that b'emes this is what chazal have in mind in the Gemara in Berachos in the fifth perek when the Gemara tells the story of this talmid who went down to serve shliach tzibur as they used to go down hahu d'nachis and instead of simply saying האל הגדול הגבור והנורא so he had a whole string of descriptive terms for Hakadosh Baruch Hu ezuz etc. a whole long long list and then who is it is it Rabbi Chanina I think I forget who it is who rebukes him and says סיימתינהו לכולהו שבחי דמרך? He says so did you exhaust everything? And he says even these three hagadol hagibor v'hanora if Moshe Rabbeinu hadn't said it and Anshei Knesses Hagedolah had introduced it in the Shmoneh Esrei we wouldn't even be allowed to say these three. So how is that different let's say let's say in לאל ברוך נעימות יתנו right so we say כי הוא לבדו עושה חדשות בעל נפלאות etc. we have

בורא רפואות מצמיח ישועות נורא תהלות אדון הנפלאות המחדש בטובו

so we have this whole long list so why was that list of ezuz and yorui and everything else why is that any different than or even of מכלכל חיים בחסד מחיה מתים סומך נופלים רופא חולים why is that different? So the Rambam says because over there we're not describing actions of Hakadosh Baruch Hu we're not saying סומך נופלים רופא חולים מתיר אסורים we're not describing his actions but we presume again in using an adjective to be describing him. So that the Rambam says chazal are expressing this idea when they say that the truth is the truth is that we wouldn't even have been allowed to say these three toarim were it not for the fact that we had the precedent of Moshe Rabbeinu saying it in Chumash and Anshei Knesses Hagedolah introducing it into the Shmoneh Esrei. So the Rav discusses in one of the Yortzeit shiurim why do we need that double justification why isn't one enough? Okay but let's leave that. Now it's for this reason the Rav used to tell a story that Reb Chaim was once waiting he went to visit someone and he was waiting for the person to come into the room and so he went over to the bookcase and was looking in a sefer he was waiting with Reb Simcha Zelig the dayan in Brisk and the sefer was discussing why Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world why Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world and this sefer said that well he created it and this is something one finds in in some sefarim that since it's mimidos hatov l'heitiv if a person is good so then a person... He wants to have a, he needs someone to who'll be a beneficiary. He needs someone to on whom he can shower all his goodness and and his kindness. If if there's no, if there are no beneficiaries, then there can't be any benefaction. And that's why Hakodesh Baruch Hu created the world. So Rav Chaim turned to Rav Simcha Zissel and said that's absolutely wrong. You're not supposed to say such a thing. And the pshat is like the Rambam says in Moreh Nevuchim that the only thing we can say about why Hakodesh Baruch Hu created the world is le-maan retzono. That Hakodesh Baruch Hu willed it. Hakodesh Baruch Hu willed it. Now why why was Rav Chaim so adamant about that? Why was Rav Chaim so adamant about that? And why is it even within the mishnas ha-Rambam? The Rambam devotes twenty some perakim to taamei mitzvos explaining the reasons for all the mitzvos. So if you can explain the reasons for all the mitzvos, why can't you explain the reason for why Hakodesh Baruch Hu created the world? So so the answer is this. That to explain reasons for mitzvos, let's begin from the other end. We can't explain why Hakodesh Baruch Hu created the world because again what the Rambam is telling us, what Ramchal, what what the Nefesh HaChaim among others, and again it's in Chazal are telling us is that our only understanding of Hakodesh Baruch Hu is מצד התחברותו לעולם. The only thing we can understand about Hakodesh Baruch Hu is the only thing I know about my Rebbe is what I saw in the shiur room. I never interacted with him outside of the shiur room. I can't tell you anything about him outside of the shiur room. I can only tell you so if you ask me why did he become a Rebbe, I can't tell you why he became a Rebbe. I only know him post, post that. I know him within that context. I don't I don't claim to know him, it's beyond, right, in the in the in many siddurim there's a maamar from the Zohar printed and in the beginning of the siddur and one of the phrases there is that we say about about Hakodesh Baruch Hu is לית מחשבה תפיסא בך כלל which again is the same idea of of the Rambam, of the Ramchal, of the Nefesh HaChaim, of לית מחשבה תפיסא בך כלל that no no machshava can be tofes you Hakodesh Baruch Hu. The Nefesh HaChaim quotes it, quotes in perek gimmel the Nefesh HaChaim quotes a maamar Chazal which which also expresses this beautifully.

אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה שמי אתה מבקש לידע

Do you want to know my name? לפי מעשי אני נקרא. The only name I have is is a name again which can be derived from my actions. So if our only understanding of Hakodesh Baruch Hu is within the world, you can't ask why Hakodesh Baruch Hu created the world, right? Because to understand why Hakodesh Baruch Hu created the world, so you have to have some understanding of Hakodesh Baruch Hu beyond the world, outside of the world. If our whole understanding of Hakodesh Baruch Hu is only מצד התחברותו לעולם, so then clearly that says that understanding why Hakodesh Baruch Hu created the world is beyond our our comprehension. And that's why Rav Chaim was so adamant in saying no, that the pshat has to be like the Rambam says le-maan retzono, that we can't understand it. Hakodesh Baruch Hu willed that there should be a world. Not not to give all kinds of sevaros. No. Because that's part of במופלא ממך אל תדרוש, that's beyond us. And that's clearly the the fundamental difference between understanding taamei mitzvos and understanding why Hakodesh Baruch Hu created the world. Taamei mitzvos is within the world, right? Within the world, so what does Hakodesh Baruch Hu want for us? That we can understand. Within the world, why does Hakodesh Baruch Hu do this? Within the world, what does Hakodesh Baruch Hu want? So that we can understand and it's a mitzvah for us to try to understand as much as possible. Ma she-ein kein, the minute a person asks the question not why did Hakodesh Baruch Hu give an issur shaatnez, but why did Hakodesh Baruch Hu create the world, so then we're not we're not looking to understand Hakodesh Baruch Hu within. in the world, his actional attributes, would be looking to understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu himself and that is, that's beyond us. Now, it's true that Ramchal himself, Ramchal himself at the beginning of Da'as Tevunos mentions this sevara of mimidas hatov lehaitiv. It's true, but you'll take a look, the note there discusses it as well. So mimidas hatov lehaitiv is depending upon how it's intended. If it's intended as the following: we can't say absolutely why Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, but what we can sort of say is that within the world, we see that within the world, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is then meitiv livru'av. So if a person says it in that sense, not in an absolute sense, so then it's consistent with everything we're talking about. But if a person, which is how Ramchal is saying it. But if a person says it and it's this understanding that Rav Chaim was critiquing and just absolutely rejecting. But if a person is saying it in an absolute sense, not well from a human perspective, so we see that within the world, Hakadosh Baruch Hu is meitiv. No, that's okay. But if a person would presume to say, I know why Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world, this is I'm telling you, something absolute, mimidas hatov lehaitiv, so then a person is presuming to say, I understand Hakadosh Baruch Hu, my machshava is tofes. Okay. Now, so in terms of the diyuk that we mentioned in Hilchos Deios, you see how the Rambam, it's unbelievable, you see how the Rambam encapsulated all of this in the מה הוא נקרא רחום אף אתה היה רחום. Right, that's clear what the Rambam has in mind. Right, it's not that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is rachum. We can't say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is rachum. What we can say is that whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, is above our understanding of perfection, right? Our understanding of perfection is that someone is rachum v'chanun etc. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu is above that, but we can't we can't define it. We can't we can't delineate it. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's mahuso is transcends infinitely whatever conception that we even have of perfection. And that's what the Rambam says, not מה הוא חנון אף אתה היה חנון, but rather מה הוא נקרא חנון אף אתה היה חנון. That certainly, certainly what the Rambam has in mind. Now, this then poses a very big question. And here again, I think now we're going to be even even more superficial than until this point. The Rambam tells us, and not only the Rambam, you find the same thing in the Chovos Halevavos and in other sifrei machshava also, not just of the philosophical bent, but those which are מיוסד על פי קבלה as well. The most famous formulation is the one the Rambam gives at the end of Hilchos Teshuvah of

לפי הדעה תהיה האהבה אם מעט מעט ואם הרבה הרבה.

That a person, the substance of the, right, ahavah is something which is sort of all-encompassing in that a person is just totally totally involved. In Yiddish you say ibergegeben, that he's totally totally involved and totally moser nefesh, moser himself for the ahavah. That's the expression. But what fuels the ahavah? So the Rambam says that what fuels ahavas Hashem is yedias Hashem.

לפי הדעה תהיה האהבה אם מעט מעט ואם הרבה הרבה.

So the question then becomes, but if ultimately we can't know Hashem, if ultimately Hashem is beyond beyond our comprehension, so how do we how do we have any, how can we have any ahavas Hashem? So this is something which the Rambam himself talks about and you'll take a look, the Rav also talks about this in Uvikashtem Misham. And the basic answer, I think the way the the Rav... Well before we come to the answer maybe just one other, one other point. Now the Rambam then based on this idea again that HaKadosh Baruch Hu's mahus atsmuso is beyond our understanding has what again what's known in in English philosophical terminology as as the idea of negative attributes. That when we talk about HaKadosh Baruch Hu, if we talk about HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself, all we can do is talk in the negative, right? As we say in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is eino guf. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is is incorporeal. So it's not really saying what HaKadosh Baruch Hu is, right? We're just saying that he's he's eino guf. Well when you say that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is infinite, right? So if you stop and think about it so in English grammatically it's also true. So infinite is just saying HaKadosh Baruch Hu is not finite, right? Is not finite. So since whenever talking about HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself we can't we can't understand him, he's beyond us. So so therefore that that gives rise to this idea again of negative attributes, that we can understand what he isn't. Right? We can we can understand all these imperfections or limitations which don't exist in HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But but we can't we can't formulate what HaKadosh Baruch Hu's perfection is. That that's beyond us. So basically what the Rambam answers and you'll take a look in Uvikashtem Misham you'll see that the Rav, the Rav deals with this is that yedia on this level, even a yedia on the level of attributes, actional attributes of Darkei Hashem, even a yedia in terms of saying what HaKadosh Baruch Hu isn't, that that also is a yedia. We shouldn't mistake that for again understanding HaKadosh Baruch Hu's essence, but that also is a yedia. And that's why it's still possible to talk about it's still possible to talk about

אם מעט מעט ואם הרבה הרבה לפי הדעה תהיה האהבה

despite the fact again that ultimately yedias Hashem is beyond our comprehension because this lower form of yedia is also a yedia, is also a level of of of yedia. משל למה הדבר דומה. משל למה הדבר דומה. Again let's go back to the the analogy of a Rebbe, right? The reason for that analogy the Ribono Shel Olam is המלמד תורה לעמו ישראל. So go back to the the analogy of a Rebbe. A person never ever glimpses the Rebbe outside of of the shiur. So on the one hand, on the one hand we recognize that we can't we can't begin to define who he is or what he is. And yet to to say that oh we see his great wisdom, we see his great wisdom in in the classroom. And we see his great concern that the talmidim should understand everything. And we see his his infinite patience in explaining things again and again that they should understand. So do we understand him ultimately? No. No. But but that is a foundation for an ahava. That's a foundation for an ahava even while combined with this crucial, crucial understanding recognition awareness that we're not understanding HaKadosh Baruch Hu as he is. So no I don't know I don't know do I know who the Rebbe is? No. But all I can tell you is I don't know who he is. He's he's beyond my understanding. He's too great for me to understand. But all I can say is that without understanding him just the the benevolence which filters into the classroom, the chochma which which filters into the into the the classroom, the rachmanus, the chanina which filters into the classroom, that combined with combined with my understanding that he doesn't have all the limitations of of every other Rebbe, that he doesn't that there is no limit to his wisdom. I can't understand it but I know that there's no limit to his wisdom and and that there are none of these limitations, so all of that does constitute a yedia. And that's what the Rambam says. says is ultimately what makes possible our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu and the fact that we do aspire to ahavas Hashem and yet at the same time recognizing that everything we say about Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in the bechina of kaveyachol. And if anything, I'll try, I hope bezras Hashem to express it somewhat clearly. In other words, we relate, Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells us you can't relate to me on the ultimate level, you relate to me on the level of hischabruso la'olam, which is why sometimes people find it very unnerving, and understandably so, that when one talks about Hakadosh Baruch Hu's perfection or one talks about Hakadosh Baruch Hu being beyond, so sort of the question occurs to us, and it's a natural question, there's nothing wrong with the question, the question occurs to us, how do I relate to him? How can you expect me to have this consuming passion? If he's just beyond everything that we relate to, so then how am I supposed to have this consuming passion? And the answer is this, that a person is supposed to have the following combination: we relate again to the Hakadosh Baruch Hu whom we know in the world, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu says relate to me on that level, you can't relate to me on the ultimate level, לא תוכל לראות את פני, you can't relate to me in the ultimate level. Be aware, again, that you're not understanding me, but there's so much in this world in terms of what you can understand about my interaction with you, that you can see and understand the yud gimmel middos. And then when you think and tell yourself, yes, in terms of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, everything we say about Hakadosh Baruch Hu is mizad hischabruso la'olam, mizad hischabruso la'olam, so we know that אהבת עולם בית ישראל עמך אהבת. We know Hakadosh Baruch Hu is מלמד תורה לעמו ישראל. And these again, mizad hischabruso la'olam, we understand and we can relate to. If anything, the fact that we realize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is so great that he's beyond our comprehension, that doesn't undermine the impetus for ahava, but it accentuates it, because it says, you know the Hakadosh Baruch Hu of whom we speak in אהבת עולם בית ישראל עמך אהבת, the Hakadosh Baruch Hu about whom we speak when we say הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה is so great, is so exalted, nisgav Hashem, he's so great, he's so exalted that we can't even describe him, his essence, his atzmus in positive terms, because it surpasses, it transcends even our understanding of perfection. That Hakadosh Baruch Hu, he's the one, he's the one who comes into the shiurim, he's the one who comes into the classroom and again, and he sits with us and הבוחר בעמו ישראל באהבה and המלמד תורה לעמו ישראל. So the recognition which we have to have, which we have to have, that what we understand is mizad hischabruso la'olam, it doesn't distance us from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. On the contrary, recognizing just how exalted Hakadosh Baruch Hu is, so exalted, I think the rav quotes that in one place later, the Rambam says that the aim of all knowledge is to understand that ultimately we don't understand, that's the aim of all knowledge. But that recognition again that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is so exalted that we don't understand, so that also serves to accentuate just how amazing, how amazing the interaction is that we have with Hakadosh Baruch Hu in the world. So the effect of saying that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is nisgav al hakol, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is exalted, so much so that לית מחשבה תפיסא ביה, so that effect is not to make us feel just how indescribably special and wonderful and how much more we have to appreciate everything that we can understand mitzad hischabruso le'olam and that's why again everything notwithstanding yedias Hashem is fueled fuels ahavas Hashem עם מעט מעט ועם הרבה הרבה. So first point about Kavod Shamayim. So isn't Kavod Shamayim requires... what does Kavod Shamayim mean? Standing in the essence? And isn't kavod in essence given from one to somebody else? Kavod should be returned? Mean different things. It doesn't mean kavod. In what context does it mean kavod hazulas? Question is what Kavod Shamayim in general means as to כבוד השם מלא את כל הארץ. So what does Kavod Hashem mean in all these contexts?