GEN121 The term kavod seems to be used in the Torah to signify different things. Sometimes, particularly in connection with God, kavod, translated as “majesty” or “glory,” seems to refer to the outward manifestations or visible expressed effulgence associated with Divinity. Examples of this use are such passages as “The kavod of Thy kingdom” and “the entire earth is filled with His kavod.” Yet even in this usage, the word kavod does not simply refer to some sort of “light” or celestial clouds.  To perceive the kavod of the Lord is certainly to experience inwardly some appreciation of that which is the distinctive essence of God insofar as it is given to man to experience. Therefore, when used in connection with man, as in the rabbinic phrase, kavod ha-beriyot, it naturally slides into meaning “worth” or “value” or “dignity,” which is tied in to man’s individuality or selfhood and equated with his inner personality. In many passages in the Book of Psalms, the word kavod refers to man’s self or soul.  Genesis 49:6; Psalms 16:9, 30:13, 7:1, 13:10  As such, man’s kavod, or dignity, comes to mean his intrinsic value, not as a means to an end but as something absolute in and of himself. But in Judaism man is so endowed because he was created “in the image God,” which according to Nachmanides means “as it is written, ‘… and thou has crowned him with kavod and glory’” which refers to man’s intelligent, wise and resourceful station. See his comments on Genesis 1:26. Man’s dignity is therefore to be equated with his freedom, his creativity, his responsibility and his self-consciousness. Kavod is indeed something that is felt subjectively by man within himself. SPERO 162-3