Why is the human face the most glorious object in the universe?
ANSWER:
Because Hakadosh Baruch Hu says so: ki b'tzelem Elokim asa es ha'adam, He made man in His image. Now we know that's a form speech, He's not talking about a man's hands, He's talking about his face. Now we understand to a certain extent that the face is like a screen, upon which a movie projector, the soul, projects an image.
Emotions, noble emotions are expressed on the face. The face expresses yearning - for greatness, for the unknown, a desire for exploration, to discover things that are not known to us. People are yearning for something; it's all on the human face. Even an ordinary human face has some reflections of this greatness. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said openly, a man's face is tzelem Elokim.
Therefore we have to train ourselves, instead of following the silly people who make jokes about human faces - especially cartoonists. They exaggerate certain features, a longer nose, longer chin, and make people's faces an object of jest and ridicule, we have to despise them.
A human face after all is the most glorious possession mankind has. Physically there is nothing more important than a human face, we have to honor the human face. The Gemara says in Sanhedrin (58:): hasoter luo shel Yisroel, somebody who slaps his fellow man's face, it's like slapping the face of Hashem! We have to teach ourselves that.
When you look at your neighbor's face, you should think you're looking at a mirror reflection of Hashem, that's to remind you of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. By looking at the faces of other people, you're reminded of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
Constantly we have to train ourselves in that concept until it becomes second nature to us.
Good Shabbos To All
This is transcribed from questions that were posed to Harav Miller by the audience at the Thursday night lectures.
To listen to the audio of this Q & A please dial: 201-676-3210
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