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Rabbi, scholar, activist Abraham Joshua Heschel tells us, “The human being is a disclosure of the divine.”
Has there ever been a more gorgeous use of that word, disclosure?
It is one thing to say, or even to know, that each of us is created from divinity. That is a truth that can help us be decent and kind toward one another.
But it is another thing to hold that every human being is a disclosure of the divine. To disclose is to make known. To expose to view. To reveal or uncover.
Heschel believed that the divine was hidden, and couldn’t be seen or known directly by us mere mortals. But, he offers to us in these words the idea that each human being offers us some clue of what the divine is, some reflection, some refraction of the sacred. It is in us that the hidden divine is revealed.
We can look at each other – even the others that challenge us – and say, what do you show me about divine wisdom, mercy, brilliance, creativity? What do you show me about what the divine is? We can look at each other and ask, who are you as a piece of a hidden divine revealed?
Love,
Tara
