I’ll Make Your Peanut Butter Sandwich
In our last column on kavod we discussed how treating another human being with respect is an acknowledgment that the individual has an internal and therefore eternal self. Since we all have a neshamah an internal and eternal self every person is worthy of kavod. Honor gives a person a sense that his life has meaning and substance. This has implications in all manner of human relationships. Here we will expand upon the definition and begin to explore its application in marriage.
The concept of kavod can be derived from its opposite kal. The Navi (Shmuel I 2:30) says in the name of the One Above: “Those who honor Me I will honor and those who humiliate Me will be cursed (yeikalu).”
The meaning of kal or nikleh contemptible is one who has no strength or stability. His existence is dependent on others and therefore is affected by everything around him. Juxtapose this to the mechubad the honorable person from the root of kaveid which implies a reality that is firm stable and sustainable on its own.
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