In this week’s Torah portion, we read about the Ohel Mo’ed that was located in the center of the camp, where the Shechina, G-d’s Presence, appeared to Moshe. The verse says that when Hashem and Moshe communicated, it was “face to face,” like one person speaking to another (Shemot 33:11).
However, just a few short verses, Moshe begs Hashem to show him His Glory (ibid., 20), to which Hashem replies, “I cannot show you My face because no human can see My face and live.” Hashem tells Moshe to stand on the Tzur (literally “rock” but translated by Rashi as “mountain”), in an opening in the rock (cave) and Hashem will pass by the opening, and as He does so, Moshe will get a glimpse of Hashem from behind. Rashi, (quoting Brachot 7a) says that Hashem showed Moshe the knot of the tefillin at the back of His head, as it were.
In the first verse above it says “face to face,” but later that Moshe was not allowed to see Hashem’s face. So, which is it?
Rashi there says that Hashem cannot be limited within any physical location. Also, we have the third principle of faith of the Rambam: “I believe with complete faith that the Creator, may His name be blessed, has no physical body and that those of physical body cannot comprehend Him and He bears no resemblance at all.”
So, obviously, Hashem does not have a “face” and all the above descriptions are simply metaphors to simplify concepts to enable our human intellect to understand, even though the true reality is beyond our comprehension.
The Malbim (on verse 11 above) explains that “face to face” refers to a concept called Aspaklaria Me’ira. When Hashem created the world, it radiated with a Divine light. When Adam and Chava sinned, Hashem instituted a series of “filters” to reduce the radiance of this light because mankind in their diminished state could no longer tolerate its intensity. These filters are referred to in the Kabbalah as the ten sefirot, the ten “spheres.” Hashem took the original Divine light and stored it away for the time of the Mashiach, when once again the world will be filled with its brilliance.
Few people in history merited seeing the unfiltered Divine light; one of them was Moshe Rabbeinu. When Moshe received prophecy, it was with no filters, just the pure, unequivocal message of Hashem – this is Aspaklaria Me’ira – the meaning of “face to face.”
Hashem created us humans with a face because it adds another dimension to our ability to communicate. At the heart of the Tzelem Elokim, the “image of G-d” in which we were made, is the power of speech. Facial expression gives our speech context and constitutes a form of communication on its own. Our facial expression conveys emotion – joy, sadness, worry, curiosity, frustration, perplexity, etc. Often these are automatic responses to an inner emotion (a true reflection of what we are feeling inside), very much like (lehavdil) a computer/cellphone screen is a manifestation of the electronics and programming inside it. Unlike computers/cellphones, however, we humans can manipulate our facial expressions, allowing us to mask what we are truly feeling inside. This is called acting. Some people make a lot of money from it, or so they tell me.
Manipulating our facial expressions is sometimes a good thing. It allows us to protect our children from trauma that they are not yet old enough to comprehend. It allows us to improve our position in business negotiations (keeping a “poker face”). It allows us to deter crime and violence. Manipulating facial expressions at will can directly affect our endocrine system and metabolism.
Hashem, however, sees directly within our heart; it is not possible to mask or hide anything from Him. It is not surprising therefore that in our relationship with Him, Hashem demands from us total transparency, an absence of manipulation. The Gemara (Brachot 28a) tells how Rabban Gamliel placed a guard at the entrance to the Beit HaMidrash. Not a security guard with a baton or a firearm, but someone who was like an x-ray machine, he could look inside you and tell if the image you portrayed outwardly, matched who you were inside as a person. Only if the two matched were you granted admittance.
Hashem wants to see our face, as it were. He wants us to raise our heads skyward in search of Him so that he can see our faces (Sefer Meir Panim). This is what the angels do when they sing praises to Hashem: they face upwards. The Mishna Brurah (Hilchot Tefillah, Orach Chaim 125, 5) quotes Sefer Heichalot, saying that when we say Kedusha in the Amidah and we answer “Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh…,” we should copy the angels by elevating ourselves on our toes and gaze upwards.
When we raise our bodies and our eyes are locked in an embrace with Hashem as it were, in this state Hashem derives His greatest pleasure from us. Hashem then grabs hold, as it were, of the part of the Kisei HaKavod, the Heavenly Throne that bears the face of Yaakov Avinu, and hugs and kisses it, as it were, and recalls Am Yisrael’s merits – and He hastens the geulah, may it arrive speedily in our days.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Why does the verse about the half shekel (Shemot 30:13) state that its weight was ten “geira?”
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: There were different hats for the Kohen Gadol and a regular Kohen. What were each called? The Kohen Gadol’s hat (actually a kind of a “turban” made from a long ribbon wrapped repeatedly) is called a mitznefet. The regular Kohen’s hat (also made by wrapping a ribbon) is called a migba’at. The shape of each was slightly different. The mitznefet was rounded at the top, while the migba’at was pointed.
