Friday, June 29, 2012

Tiferes: Beauty or Compassion?

Many times Chasidus explains that the meaning of the attribute of Tiferes is compassion; yet in other places Tiferes is describes as beauty (not the beauty of the merging of two colors, which is compassion - the combination of kindness and judgment - but the beauty) of appreciation the beauty, preciousness, of a given thing.

I must confess that ever since we learned the Mamar of Usfartem 5711, where the “Huskallus Hamidos” are explained, I always was a bit saddened that the Rebbe did not bring the “compassion”
interpretation which was easier for me to relate to.

In truth, however, these two interpretations are really one and the same, for one cannot have compassion on someone's sorry state of being without appreciating that this person is beautiful and precious, and therefore not deserving of this state of being. Hence the more beauty the more compassion.

- Bihakoscha Ateres

1 comment:

Simons Kingston said...

Nice!
Maybe we can have an explanation for all the different transalation of sefiros such as Gevurah Hod Netzach.