The Sefirah that stands opposite to the sefirah we examined last, Netzach, is called Hod. The root of the word Hod has different meanings: majesty, acknowledgement, and gratitude. From these different meanings the kabbalists created a definition of this spiritual energy.
When understood as majesty, Hod is the seat of God’s Kavod, of God’s Glory. In the prophet Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6:3) the angels fly up and down proclaiming God as Holy, Holy, Holy, and affirming that the whole earth is filled with God’s Glory. This passage is said every day when we have a minyan, in the blessing kedusha, the proclamation of God’s Holiness. I believe that when we recite the kedusha we connect with that Divine energy, spreading Glory throughout the world. We bond with the majesty and the grandeur of God’s Glory and act in the world motivated by the feelings that result from that connection. The other two meanings of the word Hod, gratitude and acknowledgement, are deeply interconnected. To have gratitude we must first be able to recognize and to acknowledge all the positive things that are done for us by God and by sentient beings. We acknowledge the beauty of the world, the selflessness / creativity / wisdom of other people, the deliciousness of a piece of fruit in its season, the sweetness of friendships, and are filled with gratitude for what has been given and what we know will be given to us by the majesty of the Eternal.
As all those meanings come together, we can inhabit the sefirah of Hod. The exercise of acknowledging the good, feeling gratitude, and disseminating the results of the encounter with God’s Majesty in our lives allow us to live with plenitude, being present in the moment, and growing spiritually.
The spiritual growth that happens when we immerse ourselves in the characteristics of Hod expands through different areas of our lives. It is in this sefirah that the kabbalists believed we refine our ideas and plans of action, that we make ourselves better, that we connect with friends, and where we explore new beginnings, recognition, gratitude, and our reasoning. I think that it is because we can gratefully acknowledge God’s Glory that we are able to achieve the heights that Hod can provide us. I refine my ideas and plans of action when I am conscious of what has come beforehand, of the steps that were taken so I could be treading my path in the way that I am now. I train my eyes to see goodness and beauty, and I am instantly moved to recognize and be recognized, to acknowledge that what I achieved is possible because I had friends and family that helped me along the way, and that I in turn support them in achieving their goals and dreams. One’s nature may be the kind that is not attuned, at first, to the potential of Hod. I didn’t come this way to the world. Yet the more I push my spiritual boundaries to allow for more gratitude, for more recognition, and for more connection, the more I actually develop the tools to achieve these feelings and spread goodness. We can be better and more helpful to our communities when we connect with the energy of Hod.