beauty
At a glance
In short
Hod is splendor or majesty: a beauty that is a thing's own, inner and not seen with the eye, like the sun's own light (Vilna Gaon; Malbim). Rav Hirsch calls Hashem's hod His essence. Hadar is glory: outward, visible, reflected beauty, such as the moon's light, the fruit of the esrog tree, or the trappings of kingship without its essence (Vilna Gaon; Malbim; Rabbi Simcha Maimon). Like all the month names, Adar comes from the Babylonian calendar, where it was Addaru, and since the Aramaic aleph interchanges with the Hebrew hei, it seems to be correlated with hadar. In the fixed pair הוד והדר, hod comes first: splendor and glory.
Distinctions
Hod (הוד)
Root ה-ו-ד.
- Vilna Gaon: self-beauty, as the sun's light expresses the sun's own essence; of a person, his inner good, his morality, which is then reflected in his face. Moshe's karnei hod (Rashi to Shemos 34:34) is inner goodness shining through physically.
- Malbim: inner beauty, the beauty of character (humble, merciful, just), which the eye cannot see and only the intellect beholds; "give of your hod to him" (Bamidbar 27:20) is no physical gift but the unseeable spiritual beauty Moshe passed to Yehoshua. Rabbi Simcha Maimon: hence "the face of Moshe is like the sun, the face of Yehoshua like the moon" (Bava Basra 75a), Yehoshua's hod being received, as the moon's is. The same root gives hodaah, admission and thanksgiving: one recognizes what he knows deep down to be true and lets it come to the front by saying it aloud, so again hod is what lies beneath.
- Sifrei (Devarim 33:17): hod is the quality of kingship, the full sovereignty, possibly (Rabbi Klein's own suggestion) because a king assumes inherent powers; Shlomo receives hod malchus (Divrei HaYamim I 29:25).
- Of Hashem, Malbim: His hod is hidden, deeper than we can perceive; Rav Hirsch: His hod is His essence.
Hadar (הדר) and adar (אדר)
Root ה-ד-ר.
- Vilna Gaon: reflected beauty, the moon's light whose true source is the sun; hadras panim is the visible beauty of the face.
- Rabbi Moshe Shapiro: Aramaic hadar means "to return", apt for the moon, which sends back what it receives.
- Rabbi Mecklenburg citing Shadal: kin to the Aramaic for going backwards, since one who beholds a thing in its full glory recoils in awe.
- Malbim: outward beauty; the esrog tree is eitz hadar because its fruit is beautiful to the eye; of Hashem, His hadar is how He interacts with creation and reveals Himself; Rav Hirsch: His role in the world.
Moshe's blessing to Yosef, "like a firstborn ox, hadar is his" (Devarim 33:17), uses hadar and not hod: Yehoshua of Efrayim would lead but with only the outer trappings of kingship, so Moshe is called a king (Zevachim 102a) and Yehoshua is never explicitly called one. Rabbi Simcha Maimon: for the same reason the Chashmonaim, kohanim and not of royal stock, have hadar malchus (Daniel 11:20), kingship true in practice and not in essence, against Shlomo's hod malchus. Rabbi Klein adds that Yosef mirrors Yaakov (Bereishis 37:2 and Rashi) yet is not an Av, being only a reflection of that potential, hadar and not hod, and that this is the connection the Kabbalists allude to between the month of Adar, when Moshe died and Yehoshua took over, and the tribe of Yosef. Sefer HaKushyos (the thirteenth-century school of Chassidei Ashkenaz): Adar is named because in it the hadar of the trees shows itself, spring being at hand, or because in it Moshe, the glory of Yisrael, was born. Tanach in several places speaks of Hashem as "wearing" hod and/or hadar (Tehillim 104:1; Iyov 40:10; Mishlei 31:25). So too the Midrash: when Yisrael were exiled to Bavel they still had their clothes until they reached Adullam, where the gentiles of that city came out and stripped them, leaving them bare and shamed, and the Midrash finds the allusion in "gone from the daughter of Tzion is all her hadar" (Eichah 1:6), hadar there meaning clothing. There is a fundamental connection, Rabbi Klein concludes, between glory and clothing.
The wider cluster
Rabbi Shlomo of Urbino (Ohel Moed) lists ten words for beauty: yofi, hod, hadar, adar, naeh (naaveh), ziv, ziz, tzvi, shefer (shapir), tov. This entry settles only hod and hadar; shefer and tov are in the tov / noam / shapir entry, tzvi in the ratzon entry. Ziv, radiance, is the old name of Iyar.
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
א-ד-ר
Greatness and mighty strength, in all that comes from this root: אַדִּיר, mighty, the noun אֶדֶר, greatness, and אַדֶּרֶת, a mantle, for its worth.
Might
מָה אַדִּיר שִׁמְךָ (Tehillim 8:2), how mighty is Your name. Everything found from this root, he says, is a language of greatness and the strength of might, as יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאְדִּיר (Yeshayahu 42:21), He will make the Torah great and mighty.
Who the אדירים are
בְּסֵפֶל אַדִּירִים (Shoftim 5:25), in a bowl of the אַדִּירִים, he reads as a bowl fit for great and honoured men to drink from, or else of the great shepherds, as אַדִּירֵי הַצֹּאן (Yirmiyahu 25:34), the mighty ones of the flock. בְּאַדִּיר יִפּֽוֹל (Yeshayahu 10:34) he reads as falling by the hand of a mighty one.
Made mighty in strength
נֶאְדָּרִי בַּכֹּחַ (Shemos 15:6), made mighty in strength, has an added yud. Rabbi Yonah offers, among his explanations, that the tav of the feminine has fallen and the word is really נאדרית. The first account is then called the right one, in words that may still be Rabbi Yonah's or may be Radak's own, since no word marks where Rabbi Yonah stops. On it, נאדרי goes with the right hand, spoken of in the masculine, or else its sense goes with Hashem.
The feminine, and the noun אֶדֶר
The feminine adjective is לְגֶפֶן אַדָּֽרֶת (Yechezkel 17:8), a mighty vine, and כִּי שֻׁדְּדָה אַדַּרְתָּם (Zecharyah 11:3), for their mighty one is laid waste. The noun is אֶדֶר, as אֶדֶר הַיְקָר (Zecharyah 11:13), the precious greatness, and אֶדֶר תַּפְשִׁטוּן (Michah 2:8), you strip off the אֶדֶר. It may be, he says, that אַדַּרְתָּם is that noun and not the adjective.
The mantle
כְּאַדֶּרֶת שֵׂעָר (Bereishis 25:25), like a mantle of hair, and אַדֶּרֶת שִׁנְעָר (Yehoshua 7:21), a mantle of Shinar. It was called an אדרת, he says, for its worth and its greatness. And אֶדֶר תַּפְשִׁטוּן (Michah 2:8), you strip off the אֶדֶר, may be like it, a mantle.
מָֽה־אַדִּיר שִׁמְךָ (תהלים ח, ב) נֶאְדָּרִי בַּכֹּחַ (שמות טו, ו), נפעל והיו"ד נוסף. ורבי יונה אמר באחד מהפנים, שהתי"ו סימן הנקבה נופלת ועקרו נאדרית, והראשון הוא הנכון, וענין נאדרי על הימין בלשון זכר, או טעמו על השם יתברך. וְצִי אַדִּיר (ישעיה לג, כא), בְּאַדִּיר יִפּֽוֹל (ישעיה י, לד) פירוש ביד אדיר, בְּסֵפֶל אַדִּירִים (שפטים ה, כה), פירוש בספל הראוי לשתות בו גדולים ונכבדים, או פירושו הרועים הגדולים, כמו אַדִּירֵי הַצֹּאן (ירמיה כה, לד), והתאר לנקבה להיות לְגֶפֶן אַדָּֽרֶת (יחזקאל יז, ח), כִּי שֻׁדְּדָה אַדַּרְתָּם (זכריה יא, ג). והשׁם אֶדֶר הַיְקָר (זכריה יא, יג), אֶדֶר תַּפְשִׁטוּן (מיכה ב, ח), בשש נקודות, ויתכן להיות כִּי שֻׁדְּדָה אַדַּרְתָּם שם זולתי תאר. והפועל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאְדִּֽיר (ישעיה מב, כא), כל אשר המצא מעקר זה הוא לשון גדולה ועוצם גבורה, כְּאַדֶּרֶת שֵׂעָר (בראשית כה, כה), טלית בעלת שער כמו אווזה שקורץ אשקלוינ"ה בלע"ז. וקראוה אדרת לחשיבותה וגדולתה, וכן אַדֶּרֶת שִׁנְעָר (יהושע ז, כא), ויתכן להיות כמהו אֶדֶר תַּפְשִׁטוּן (מיכה ב, ח).
ה-ד-ר
To honour; הָדָר, splendour; to make oneself fine and show a pleasant face; and הֲדוּרִים, crooked and winding ways.
Honouring
וְהָדַרְתָּ פְּנֵי זָקֵן (Vayikra 19:32), you shall honour the face of an elder, and וְדָל לֹא תֶהְדַּר בְּרִיבוֹ (Shemos 23:3), nor shall you honour a poor man in his cause.
Splendour
הָדוּר בִּלְבוּשׁוֹ (Yeshayahu 63:1), splendid in his garment; as an adjective, פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר (Vayikra 23:40), the fruit of a splendid tree; and the noun, הוֹד וְהָדָר לְפָנָיו (Tehillim 96:6), glory and splendour are before Him. In the reflexive it is to make oneself fine: אַל תִּתְהַדַּר לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ (Mishlei 25:6), do not make yourself fine before a king, which he glosses as adorning and beautifying oneself and showing a pleasant face.
Crooked ways
In וַהֲדוּרִים (Yeshayahu 45:2), and the הֲדוּרִים, which I will make straight, the word means crooked and winding ways. It is like what Chazal said (Chullin 113a), הדרא דכנתא, the bowels, which are crooked and wind round and round.
וְהָֽדַרְתָּ פְּנֵי זָקֵן (ויקרא יט, לב), וְדָל לֹא תֶהְדַּר בְּרִיבֽוֹ (שמות כג, ג), הָדוּר בִּלְבוּשׁוֹ (ישעיה סג, א). והתאר פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר (ויקרא כג, מ), והשם הֽוֹד־וְהָדָר לְפָנָיו (תהלים צו, ו). ומשקל אחר מַֽעֲבִיר נוֹגֵשׂ הֶדֶר מַלְכוּת (דניאל יא, כ), בשש נקודות. והקבוץ הֲדָרִים בְּֽהַדְרֵי־קֹדֶשׁ מֵרֶחֶם מִשְׁחָר (תהלים קי, ג). ועם ה"א הנקבה הַדְרָה, והסמוך בְּהַדְרַת־קֹדֶשׁ (תהלים כט, ב), בְּרָב־עָם הַדְרַת־מֶלֶךְ (משלי יד, כח), או יהיה הֲדֵרָה בפלס שְׁלֵמָה כי הסמוך בשני המשקלים שוה. והנפעל פְּנֵי זְקֵנִים לֹא נֶהְדָּֽרוּ (איכה ה, יב). וההתפעל אַל־תִּתְהַדַּר לִפְנֵי־מֶלֶךְ (משלי כה, ו), ענין התנאות והתיפות והראות סבר פנים יפות. וַֽהֲדוּרִים אֲֽוַשֵּׁר [אֲֽיַשֵּׁר] (ישעיה מה, ב), דרכים המעוקלים והמסובבים. ודומה למה שאמרו רבותינו (חולין קיג, ע"א), הדרא דכנתא, בני מעים שהם מעוקלים ומסובבים סביב סביב.
ה-ו-ד
Strength and majesty, הכח וההדר, which he gives as the sense of all its uses.
The whole entry
הוֹד וְהָדָר לָבָשְׁתָּ (Tehillim 104:1), You have put on majesty and glory; הוֹדוֹ עַל־אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם (Tehillim 148:13), His majesty is over earth and heaven; הוֹד נַחְרוֹ אֵימָה (Iyov 39:20), the majesty of his snorting is terror; וְלֹא־נָתְנוּ עָלָיו הוֹד מַלְכוּת (Daniel 11:21), and they did not give him the majesty of kingship; כְּסוּס הוֹדוֹ בַּמִּלְחָמָה (Zechariah 10:3), like his majestic horse in battle; וְהוּא־יִשָּׂא הוֹד וְיָשַׁב וּמָשַׁל (Zechariah 6:13), and he shall bear majesty, and sit and rule; וְנָתַתָּה מֵהוֹדְךָ עָלָיו (Bamidbar 27:20), and you shall put of your majesty upon him; הוֹי אָדוֹן וְהוֹי הֹדֹה (Yirmiyahu 22:18), alas, lord, and alas, his majesty; וִיהִי כַזַּיִת הוֹדוֹ (Hoshea 14:7), and his majesty shall be as the olive tree. The sense of all of them is strength and majesty. Rabbi Yonah brought וְלֹא־הֵד הָרִים (Yechezkel 7:7) into this sense as well, which would make it mean, and not the majesty of the mountains; Radak has already mentioned it under the root הָדַד.
הוֹד וְהָדָר לָבָֽשְׁתָּ (תהלים קד, א), הוֹדוֹ עַל־אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם (תהלים קמח, יג), הוֹד נַחְרוֹ אֵימָֽה (איוב לט, כ), וְלֹא־נָֽתְנוּ עָלָיו הוֹד מַלְכוּת (דניאל יא, כא), כְּסוּס הוֹדוֹ בַּמִּלְחָמָֽה (זכריה י, ג), וְהֽוּא־יִשָּׂא הוֹד וְיָשַׁב וּמָשַׁל (זכריה ו, יג), וְנָֽתַתָּה מֵהֽוֹדְךָ עָלָיו (במדבר כז, כ), הוֹי אָדוֹן וְהוֹי הֹדֹֽה (ירמיה כב, יח), וִיהִי כַזַּיִת הוֹדוֹ (הושע יד, ז), ענין כולם הכח וההדר. ורבי יונה הכניס בענין הזה וְלֹא־הֵד הָרִֽים (יחזקאל ז, ז), וכבר זכרנוהו בשרש הָדַד.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Beauty of Adar," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 17 February 2018.
Cited in the essay: Sefer HaKushyos; Rabbi Shlomo of Urbino, Ohel Moed; the Vilna Gaon; Rashi to Shemos 34:34; Bamidbar 27:20 with Malbim, Sefer HaCarmel (ח"א ערך הוד הדר הוד והדר); Bava Basra 75a with Rabbi Simcha Maimon; Sifrei to Devarim 33:17; Zevachim 102a; Divrei HaYamim I 29:25; Daniel 11:20; Bereishis 37:2 with Rashi; Tehillim 104:1; Iyov 40:10; Mishlei 31:25; Eichah 1:6 with the Midrash; Rav Hirsch; Rabbi Moshe Shapiro; Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg, citing Shadal.