A printable PDF is available here.
Translation (Ein Ayah, Berachot 51a):
A spiritually complete life is not meant to be devoid of joy. On the contrary, God created the experience of joy as a means of drawing man toward the splendor of wisdom and ethical conduct. How does one attain this joy? It is by contemplating the majesty and beauty of God’s creation in its totality. King David expressed this point in two Psalms about the splendor of the natural world, proclaiming “[Y]ou have gladdened me by Your handiwork,” [1] and “You are attired with majesty and beauty.” [2]
It follows that we are not merely permitted to make use of beauty in our religious service, but commanded to do so. For this reason, the Temple, the place from which Divine light and pure wisdom emanate, was designed with a profound sensitivity to aesthetic beauty. [3] And in the Holy of Holies, the most sacred space of the entire Temple, rested two keruvim meticulously crafted with a human visage. Clearly, aesthetic beauty has tremendous sacred value, provided that it is consecrated and kept within suitable boundaries.
However, there is an obvious problem with the notion that the keruvim testify to the Torah’s regard for beauty. How is it reconciled with the prohibition [4] against making any sculpture [5] of the human form? And this is not a ‘minor’ or technical restriction, but part of the Torah’s framework for purging society of idolatry! That seems to suggest that aesthetics is null and void in the Torah’s hierarchy of values, that it belongs to the realm of impurity.
The answer is that despite its tremendous spiritual value, beauty is not an unmitigated good. Many people become trapped in externals and allow beauty to compromise their wisdom and ethical sense. Indeed, the polished surface of aesthetic refinement often conceals a lust for pleasure and material gratification. Many nations became intoxicated with aesthetic pursuits and thereafter fell into moral and ethical corruption. This danger is why the Torah prohibits making images of human forms. However, such danger is only present in the “borderlands” outside of the Temple (lit. בגבולים), where man confronts an admixture of kodesh and chol. But within the Temple, aesthetics is sanctified and purified by the Temple’s holiness. In the holiest place of the entire Temple – nay, the holiest place in the entire universe, God can demand that beauty be given its rightful place.
Thus, we falsify the Torah if we construct our ideology of beauty solely upon the prohibition against making images. The keruvim teach us that beauty is a valued servant in God’s panoply of creation, a ladder for us to climb upwards toward higher levels of refinement and closeness to God. “And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and its sound was like the sound of abundant waters, and the earth shone from His glory.” [6]
Commentary
Rav Kook writes that beauty is meant to draw man “toward the splendor of wisdom and ethical conduct.” How exactly does this work? While Rav Kook does not elaborate, I think the best explanation is given by Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, in an essay on Channukah:
Hellenistic thought… aims to develop, through joy in knowledge and pleasure in all that is noble, harmony and beauty as weapons to suppress brutish outbursts of passion. It makes him responsible to himself, and expects him to ennoble himself by self-control, by doing away with all that is evil and vulgar, attributes that disturb the divine harmony in character and in sentiment, in speech and in deed…. By measuring sensual beauty as a standard for self-perfection which develops nobleness of character, it fosters a loathing of the vulgar as a mortal danger to morality. The Hellenistic spirit appeals to the Godly spark in the human breast and encourages the human mind to perfect his self-perception, to the recognition of the greatness of intellectual pursuit and science, and guarantees man’s spirit of individual freedom… Not for naught did God clothe the world with the garment of beauty, formed the law of harmony into shapes and sounds, and opened the eyes and ears of mankind to grasp these harmonies and to enjoy them intellectually and spiritually. Every perception of the loftiness as demonstrated by a star-studded sky, by the rays of the rising or setting sun, every joy experienced by the grace and beauty of a flower elevates man to the level of lofty concepts and ideals. [7]
Chances are that you’re reading this on Shabbat. Did you know that according to Radak, Shabbat is an opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the natural world? That’s based on the following comment of Radak to Psalm 92, which is introduced as מזמור שיר ליום השבת, despite having no ostensible connection whatsoever to the Sabbath day. On the verse “You have gladdened me with the work of your hands” (also cited by Rav Kook above!), Radak explains that King David is saying “On Shabbat, when I am freed from the burdens of the workweek, I have the opportunity to contemplate the natural world and its fullness on Shabbat, and that brings me joy.” [8]
Many scientists maintain that homo sapiens emerged through a random, unguided process of evolution and natural selection. They are extremely troubled by humanity’s aesthetic sense and appreciation for beauty, which seem utterly devoid of evolutionary value. In fact, there exists an entire sub-discipline of evolutionary biology – known as evolutionary aesthetics – whose goal is to make sense of this dilemma. Perhaps this ‘problem’ supports Rav Kook’s theory about the spiritual purpose of beauty. To quote Rav Hirsch again, “Man is the only creature endowed with a capacity for enjoying beauty. This shows the importance of the aesthetic sense for the moral mission of man.” [9]
In the piece above, Rav Kook deals with what seems like a glaring contradiction in the Torah’s perspective on beauty. One could have taken an all-or-nothing approach and simply ‘explained away’ the sources that contradict the preferred extreme. Instead, he formulates an approach that embraces the complexity of the contradiction. He grants legitimacy and profound spiritual value to beauty, while still acknowledging its dangers. We should strive to emulate this approach anytime we come across competing values and priorities in Torah, whether it be between bein adam l’chaveiro and bein adam l’makom, universalism and particularity, peace and truth, etc. Instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, we should – to borrow a phrase from Rav Kook in a different context – build the palace of Torah above the apparent contradictions.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- If beauty is a Torah value like Rav Kook asserts, how should we understand the pasuk in Eishet Chayil [10] that “Charm is worthless and beauty is fleeting; a God-fearing woman is to be praised”? (If you’re interested in the Vilna Gaon’s answer, which fits beautifully (pun intended) with Rav Kook, see the footnote.) [11]
- Are there other areas of Jewish life that are fraught with danger and bounded by prohibitions, but still fundamentally part of the “Holy of Holies”? [12]
- What are some legitimate venues to express appreciation for beauty in a healthy and spiritual manner? Does the Orthodox Jewish community do enough to provide those outlets? If not, what can we do differently?
- What might Rav Kook’s insights about beauty teach us on how we approach tzniut?
Additional Resources and Food For Thought
- The Torah emphasizes that some of our holiest ancestors – Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Yosef – were quite beautiful. For an extraordinary shiur on how to understand this point – and the Torah’s perspective on beauty in general – check out this shiur by Rabbi Jonathan Ziring.
- If you’re interested in slightly different takes on the spiritual value of beauty, see articles hereand here (both from Aish haTorah) and here (from Tablet Magazine).
- Earlier, we included two quotes from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Aside from Rav Kook, Rabbi Hirsch is one of the view Torah thinkers with a positive regard for the value of beauty and aesthetics. He believed that centuries of exile and persecution had created an unnatural separation between Torah and life, a casualty of which was a disregard for beauty. As he writes, “The high, dark walls of the ghetto had prevented the Jews from seeing the blue skies and the wonders of nature… Happy the generation that had lived to see the exodus from the darkness of the ghetto into the light of liberty, that had been granted the opportunity to widen the borders of the kingdom of the Torah to include the world of thought and action from which the Torah had been barred by the harsh conditions of galut.” [13]
- If you’re interested in a comprehensive academic overview of Judaism and the visual arts, check out this article, or this article at VBM if you’d like something shorter.
- Rav Kook is far from the first Jewish thinker to address the seemingly problematic nature of the keruvim. For other approaches, check out these shiurim at YUTorah.comand this thought provoking video by Rabbi David Fohrman at AlephBeta.
About this Piece
Ein Ayah is a commentary on the aggadic portions of the Talmud, specifically Berachot, Shabbat and Seder Zeraim. Rav Kook began writing Ein Ayah when he was a young rav in Lithuania, and continued adding material until the end of his life. Ein Ayah seeks to extract profound and fundamental principles of Torah hashkafa from the world of Aggadah. It is an excellent introduction to Rav Kook’s thought, inasmuch as the pieces tend to be shorter, self-contained and less esoteric than many of Rav Kook’s other worlds. While Ein Ayah has never been translated in its entirety into English, selected excerpts have been published by Betzalel Naor in Of Societies Perfect and Imperfect. An online course covering Ein Ayah on Masechet Shabbat is available from WebYeshiva.
[1] Tehillim 92:5.
[2] Tehillim 104:1.
[3] In the Hebrew, Rav Kook alludes to Gemara Zevachim 54b, which refers to the Temple as נויו של עולם, lit. “the beauty of the world.” See also Tehillim 50:2.מציון מכלל יופי אלוקים הופיע –
[4] According to the Sages, this prohibition is latent with the very keruvim themselves! They teach that constructing the keruvim out of the wrong material or making more than two of them is regarded as making an idol. See Rashi on Shemot 20:19.
[5] Although poskim disagree on whether it is prohibited to make two-dimensional representations of the human form, it is universally agreed that three-dimensional sculptures are prohibited. For an excellent English summary of this topic, see this article by Rabbi Michoel Zylberman.
[6] Yechezkel 43:2.
[7] Collected Writings, Vol. II, pg. 202.
[8] בהתבונני בפעליך ובמעשה ידיך שהוא העולם ואשר בו ביום השבת שיש לי פנאי להתבונן בו אז אשמח וזהו חכמת הטבע, וכשאתבונן בה… אשמח וארנן בלבי. For what it’s worth, I once read someone suggest that this is where the practice of taking walks on Shabbat developed.
[9] Commentary on the Torah, Bereishit 2:9.
[10] Proverbs 31:30.
[11] According to the Vilna Gaon (Commentary on Mishlei), the verse means that beauty is worthless if that is a woman’s only praiseworthy trait. But a woman who is God-fearing deserves praise for her beauty as well.
[12] Well, apparently you couldn’t resist cheating and had to peek at this footnote. The Holy of Holies is referred to as the חדר המיטות (lit. the bedroom) – see Rashi to Melachim Aleph 11:2-3. Our Sages also teach that the keruvim (!) embraced each other intimately like husband and a wife. See Gemara Yoma 54a-b. והמבין יבין ויוסף לקח.
[13] Collected Writings, Vol. VII, pg. 12-13.
