וישמע העם את הדבר הרע הזה, “when the people heard this bad tiding, etc.” It appears to me that the Israelites imposed upon themselves various kinds of afflictions, corresponding to the sin they had committed. Whereas previously they had worn crowns on their heads, reflecting their joy of being alive, now when they heard that the Shechinah had removed itself from their midst they responded by foregoing their previous joy in being alive. This the Torah describes in stages; 1) ויתאבלו, “they went into mourning;” 2) לא שתו, “they did not put on their jewelry.” The prophet Hoseah 2,5 describes the removal of jewelry as equivalent to being stripped naked of one’s garments when he says פן אפשיטנה ערומה והצגתיה כיום הולדה, “lest I strip her naked and display her as on the day she was born.” What he meant was that G’d threatened to deprive the Jewish people of the glory of the presence of His Shechinah. The Israelites had been in the habit of using this presence just like other people use their clothing to cover their nakedness to give them dignity. The Israelites would remain as they had been before G’d gave them the Torah, i.e. “naked.” Targum Yonatan understands the words of the prophet similarly when he wrote: דלמא אסליק שכינתי מנה ואעדי יקרה ואשוינה רטישא כזמני קדמאי עד לא אתקריבת לפולחני, “lest I remove My presence from them and My precious jewelry, and I will make them forsaken like before I brought them close to My service (the giving of the Torah).”

ועתה הורד עדיך מעליך, “and now remove your jewelry from yourself, etc.” this was a reference to the garments the Israelites wore when Moses sprinkled from the blood of the covenant on them, the blood from the sacrifices offered by the firstborn (Exodus 24,5; see our commentary). This is the opinion of Rabbeinu Chananel in that chapter on verse 8. Seeing that the Israelites had violated this covenant when they made the golden calf G’d commanded them to divest themselves of the symbol of that covenant. This is the meaning of the words ויתנצלו בני ישראל את עדים מהר חורב, “the Israelites stripped themselves of the jewelry they had received at Mount Chorev” (verse 6). In other words, they complied with G’d’s instructions. As to the meaning of the earlier verse (4) where the Torah states that they did not put on their jewelry, this has to be understood to mean that they did not put on all their jewelry, but only part of it. In other words, they understood even without being commanded that in their present circumstances it would ill become them to behave as if nothing had happened and to act as if they were entitled to wear all their jewelry. Now that G’d had commanded them to remove their jewelry they divested themselves of all of it.

According to the interpretation of our sages that the jewelry referred to was the holy name of the Lord (compare Midrash Tehillim 103) the meaning of these verses is as follows [starting with verse 4, Ed.] “they did not put on their jewelry (their clothing).” In response to the command to remove their jewelry they removed the item bearing the holy name of the Lord. This is the reason the Torah did not use the customary word for stripping one’s clothing off, i.e. הפשט מעליך, but it used the expression הורד, “lower!” When they removed the item in question their spiritual distinction disappeared simultaneously. Our sages in Shemot Rabbah 45,2 describe this as זינאות שחגר עליהם, “ a reference to some kind of weapon upon which the holy name of G’d had been engraved.” This is also the meaning of the saying in the Midrash Rabbah in 41,9 that חרות על הלוחות, that on the Tablets was engraved the motto “freedom from the angel of death.” In other words, the weapon the sages speak about was the weapon designed to neutralize the angel of death. Seeing the people had been equipped with knowledge of the various names of the Lord, they had an effective antidote against the angel of death as normally such knowledge can be obtained by man only after death. This is also what Onkelos had in mind when he translated the words ויתנצלו את עדים as ואעידו. He meant to convey that the spiritual accomplishments the people had worn proudly ever since the revelation at Mount Sinai, something which had put them on a par with the ministering angels, were now lost to them, disappeared. It was Moses who removed these symbols of their accomplishments from them. This is why the Torah continues ומשה יקח את האוהל, “that Moses would take the Tent (Tabernacle) and pitch it outside the camp.” The word אעדי refers to the loss of some power. It is therefore an appropriate rendering of the Hebrew word ויתנצלו. The word אוהל in this instance is derived from בהלו נרו, another word for “light becoming frightened.” the meaning of Moses taking the “Tent” is therefore to be understood as something allegorical, not that he literally moved the entire Tabernacle. Moses removed the spiritual light which had been part of the Tabernacle to a place outside the camp to indicate that the people had now forfeited this dimension of their relationship with G’d. The word אוהל should be understood in a similar manner in Numbers 24,8 where Bileam praises the Jewish people describing מה טובו אוהליך יעקב something normally translated as “how goodly are your tents O Yaakov.” The meaning would be “how goodly are your spiritual lights O Yaakov.” I will explain this in due course when discussing that verse in detail.

I have already explained the reason why the Torah refers to the spiritual accomplishments of the Jewish people in terms of “jewelry” in connection with Exodus 24,11 and why this term is spelled out only when the people lost this jewelry and not when they were given it.

ומשה יקח את האוהל, “and Moses would take the tent, etc.” The word יקח in this instance is the present tense. It means Moses would do this on a regular basis. The words הרחק מן המחנה mean that Moses had to go some distance away from the encampment of the Israelites seeing the Israelites were in a state of disgrace vis-a-vis heaven due to their great sin. Moses applied the ruling we have learned in Rashi that whenever the student is in a state of disgrace so is his teacher. Hence Moses had to leave the environment of people whose sin had caused the Shechinah to withdraw.

והיה כל מבקש ה' יצא אל אוהל מועד אשר מחוץ למחנה, “and whoever sought Hashem would go out to the Tent of Meeting.” This teaches that the Shechinah was no longer resident within the camp of the people. Actually, we would have expected the Torah to write: “whoever wanted to seek out Moses, etc.” The fact that the Torah does not use this syntax indicates that seeking out Moses was equated with seeking out G’d’s presence. Moses was described by the Torah as “Hashem” in this regard. We find that our patriarch Yaakov was also accorded the title “G’d” in Genesis 33,20 where the Torah wrote: ויקרא לו אל אלו-הי ישראל. I have explained all this in connection with that verse. [seeing that every judge is called אלוהים in the Torah, this is not as mind-boggling as it appears at first. It is simply an extension of the principle that the messenger is equipped with the status of the sender, a well-known principle in the Talmud. Ed.] When Rivkah experienced an unusual pregnancy, the fetuses struggling within her womb, the Torah describes her as inquiring from G’d what all this meant. The words used by the Torah are ותלך לדרוש את ה'. The meaning there is that she went to a representative of G’d to ask the meaning of her experience. There too the person whom she inquired from is described as Hashem (Genesis 25,22). There are numerous other examples of the same thing throughout the Bible. We learn from Rivkah’s experience that when the Torah wrote ויאמר ה' לה, that she did not experience a revelation or direct message from G’d, but that she received the word of G’d by means of a person designated by G’d to tell her that she would give birth to twins, etc. We find that both the Messiah and the city of Jerusalem have been accorded the title “G’d” on occasion, such as in Jeremiah 23,6 and Ezekiel 48,34. In the latter instance the word שמה must be read with the vowels קמץ twice instead of a שוא under the letter ש. In all the instances mentioned the rule is simply that the messenger adopts the name of the Sender.

A Midrashic approach: The word הרחק is similar to the same word describing Hagar seating herself a distance away from her son Ishmael whose weeping she did not want to hear (Genesis 18,13). The distance in question was approximately one kilometer. Tanchuma Ki Tissa 27 bases this on Joshua 3,4 where the text describes a distance, i.e. רחוק, as being 2,000 cubits, i.e. approx. 1200 meters. In our verse the Torah continues with והיה כל מבקש ה' instead of והיה כל מבקש משה, “It would be whenever someone sought out the Lord,” instead of “whenever someone sought out Moses.” This teaches that if one welcomes a Torah scholar this is equivalent to welcoming G’d Himself. Even when the angels seek out the Lord they described Him as being within the tent of Moses. When the sun or the moon seek out the Lord, they too say that He is to be found in the tent of Moses.

והשתחוו איש פתח אהלו, “and they would prostrate themselves, each one at the entrance to his tent.” They did not bow down and prostrate themselves on account of the presence of the pillar of fire or the pillar of cloud, but as a sign of respect for the attribute of כבוד which was present in Moses’ tent. The matter is similar to the respect we show to the Torah scroll. When we bow down before it we do not mean to honour the scroll but what the scroll represents, i.e. the word of G’d which is written on the parchment.

פנים אל פנים, “face to face.” According to the plain meaning of the text we may explain this expression as belonging to what follows, i.e. “as a man speaks to his fellow.” The meaning of the entire line then would be: “and G’d communicated (spoke) with Moses in a similar fashion to people who speak to each other, i.e.”face to face.” It means there is no intermediary between the speaker and the one being addressed. The purpose of the verse is to describe the level of Moses’ prophetic powers; he was the only prophet capable of being addressed by G’d in such a fashion.

A Midrashic approach (Tanchuma Ki Tissa 27). The expression פנים אל פנים denotes anger. G’d said to Moses: “have I not told you that whenever I am angry with the Jewish people it is your task to defend them and to be well-disposed towards them, whereas whenever you are angry with them I will demonstrate that I am well-disposed towards them? Now we have reached an impossible situation when both I and you are angry at the people.” G’d therefore instructed Moses to return to the camp of the Israelites forthwith. When the Torah writes in verse 11 concerning Moses that ושב אל המחנה, we have to read it as if it were spelled ושוב אל המחנה, “and return to the camp!” The reason for all this is that if both G’d and the Jewish people’s leader are angry, who will bring them back closer to G’d? Rabbi Yoshua ben Levi said that we are not able to judge if in our relationship with G’d we experience an elevation on our part or a deliberate effort on G’d’s part to “lower” Himself to our level. At the revelation at Mount Sinai the Lord definitely “lowered“ Himself as the Torah writes that “G’d descended in a cloud” (Exodus 34,5).

Another Midrashic comment concerning the words ושב אל המחנה is found in Berachot 63 where the Midrash claims that G’d said to Moses: “return your tent to the camp, else your disciple Joshua will not move his own tent from amongst them and will take over your functions.” Even though Moses did return to the camp, G’d’s conditional promise to Joshua was not an empty promise. [Joshua who was mentioned only as a potential successor of Moses at that time did indeed become his successor eventually. Ed.]

A Kabbalistic approach: The words ודבר ה' אל משה פנים אל פנים are to be understood in the sense of פה אל פה אדבר בו, “I speak with him mouth to mouth” (Numbers 12,8). The meaning is not the same as if it had said פנים בפנים דבר ה' עמכם which we find in Deut. 5,4. The description of G’d speaking to the entire Jewish people פנים בפנים implies that they saw a vision within a vision. such as is alluded to by Numbers 14,14 אשר עין בעין נראה אתה ה' “that you have been granted a vision of the Lord eye to eye.”

ומשרתו יהושע בן נון נער, “and his personal disciple, Yehoshua son of Nun, a lad, etc.“ Joshua lived a total of 110 years (Joshua 24,29). If you deduct the 40 years the Israelites marched through the desert and the 14 years which Joshua spent in the land of Israel prior to his death (seven years of war and seven years of distributing the country and allocating it to the various tribes) you will note that at this time Joshua was 56 years old. How is it then that the Torah refers to him as a נער, “a lad?” The answer is that the word נער means “personal valet.” The master is known as איש, whereas the valet is known as נער by comparison. This is spelled out in greater detail in Esther 2,2 where the text speaks of נערי המלך משרתיו, “the lads of the king, i.e. his personal valets.” The word משרתיו in that verse is used to define who were the people called נערי המלך.

הודיעני נא את דרכיך, “make Your ways known to me.” According to the plain meaning of the text the word דרכיך means “Your attributes.” The “ways” of the Lord are His attributes, His virtues. This is the way David used the expression in Psalms 103,7 where he wrote יודיע דרכיו למשה, “He would make Moses conversant with His attributes.” The fact is that in that psalm David immediately proceeds to list these attributes of the Lord, such as רחום וחנון ה' ארך אפים ורב חסד, “the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger abounding in steadfast love.” Moses attempted to gain an understanding of G’d’s essence by means of being told His attributes. G’d’s activities were to be the clue to understanding His essence. G’d responded to him in the following way: “I will allow all My goodness to pass before you” (verse 19). Moses’ second request, i.e. הראני נא את כבודך, “let me see Your glory” (verse 19), was denied. In response to this second request G’d told Moses that it is not given to mortal man to have a vision of G’d’s glory while alive. Solomon elaborates concerning these two requests of Moses in Proverbs 25,2 where he writes: “it is the glory of G’d to conceal a matter; but it is the glory of kings to search out a matter.” The meaning of that verse is that knowledge of the Lord consists of two aspects, one of which is granted to man whereas the other is denied to man. The knowledge which is granted to man is not something which is self-evident to everyone but requires serious study and investigation. Solomon means that by careful analysis of how G’d responded to a variety of events we can form a reasonably accurate picture of His essence. This is what Jeremiah 9,23 had in mind when he wrote: “but only in this should one glory; in his earnest devotion to Me. For I the Lord act with kindness, Justice, and equity in the world.” In other words, knowledge of G’d means familiarity with His attributes; man is to recognize the extreme wisdom with which the Lord acts as a leader in His universe. It is not possible to get to know G’d in abstract terms by talking about attributes in a theoretical way; the only way to obtain a working knowledge of the Lord is to study His actions to the extent He has revealed them throughout history. G’d is distant from us by reason of the essence of His glory, whereas on the other hand, He is most close to us by reason of His actions, i.e. His constant involvement in all that goes on in our lives. This can best be illustrated by means of a parable using the sun as our example. On the one hand, the sun and its effect on our lives is visible and is felt on an ongoing basis; on the other hand, it is millions of miles removed from us. In spite of the great distance the sun is separated from us we are unable even to look at it without becoming blinded. If this is true of a visible and tangible body such as the sun, how much more so is it true of the essence of G’d. This is what Solomon meant in the verse we quoted earlier.

A rational/investigative approach to Moses’ request “please me know Your ways.” Moses referred to the way G’d revealed Himself when He created the universe and man. Just as He knows man, seeing that every creator is thoroughly familiar with his creatures, so Moses asked to be thoroughly familiar with G’d by means of His various creative acts. He who is familiar with all that G’d has accomplished will find favour in His eyes. This is the reason Moses added the words: “so that I may find favour in Your eyes.” Moses added a further justification for his request, saying “see, this is Your nation;” he meant: “if I am to be an effective leader for Your nation, I must know how You would proceed to act in the event different scenarios develop.” [This is a free translation of the author’s words; a literal translation would not help the reader. Ed.] G’d responded to this request by saying: פני ילכו, “My Presence will go (accompany you every step of the way).” The word פנים in this instance (verse 14) is an expression denoting anger just as in Samuel I 1,18 where Chanah is described as being no longer angry when she had been reassured by the High Priest Eli who had become privy to the nature of her prayer. The wording there is ופניה לא היו לה עוד. Obviously this cannot mean that she no longer had a face or a presence, but must mean that her countenance which previously had reflected her anger or anguish no longer reflected such feelings.

What Moses requested when he said: “please show me Your ways,” was something that it is possible for G’d to grant, i.e. a display of His adjectives, attributes. This is why He said: “I will let all My goodness pass before you, i.e. I will display all these adjectives of Mine to you.” G’d referred to the description of the מעשה בראשית, the story of creation, as reported in Genesis chapter one which concluded with the words that after G’d had reviewed it He described it as “very good.” [Perhaps we are justified in understanding the author to mean that this chapter of the Torah was inserted in response to Moses’ request at this time. Ed.] When G’d used the expression: “it was very good,” He meant that having reviewed the universe’s response to His creative directives convinced Him that nature would accomplish the task the Creator had set for it. By piecing together the various directives G’d had employed in creating the universe, Moses was able to obtain a good picture of G’d’s various attributes in action. Concerning Moses’ second request that G’d reveal to Him His essence, i.e. הראני נא את כבודך, G’d responded that this was a request which could not be granted to mortal man by reason of the fact that he was only a mortal creature. G’d “softened” His refusal by adding: “there is a place beside Me,” i.e. I will grant you as much insight into the nature of My being as it is possible for man while a living human being to absorb. When G’d added; וראית את אחורי, He referred to all the tangible matter He had created. A creator or artist leaves behind him tangible traces of the objects he has formed. G’d meant that the physical world such as it is is the evidence which reveals something about the nature of the Creator who called it into existence. The word אחורי is similar in meaning to “something which was left behind, thrown away, discarded.” G’d meant to convey that His discards are a far cry from granting insight into His true essence. This may be the reason why Onkelos translated the words את אורי as ית דבתראי, “that which is behind Me.” He meant all the evidence of My creative activity I have left behind for all to see. All of them are only incidental to me, not related to My essence. The words ופני לא יראו, “My face is not subject to being seen by man,” mean that the true essence of G’d cannot be comprehended by man at all. According to Onkelos who renders the word ופני as ודי קדמאי, the meaning is that there are imposing creations, i.e. supra-terrestrial beings, beings which have no bodies, which can also not be properly understood by man. G’d relates to these beings as being “in front” of Him rather than the terrestrial beings which He described as being “behind” Him.” This means also that seeing these beings are “in front” of G’d they are constantly under His active supervision.

In order to make it quite clear to Moses that these latter insights had been denied him, the Torah writes (34,6) that ויעבור ה' על פניו. In this instance the meaning of the word ויעבור is equivalent to Samuel I 20,36 והוא ירה החצי להעבירו, “he shot the arrows past him (compare Moreh Nevuchim 1,21). It means that someone has failed to achieve a certain objective and reached a different objective instead. In other words, G’d deliberately deflected Moses’ request and channeled it into something else. The words על פניו in 34,6 are a substitute for the name of the Lord. The message of the whole verse is that the Lord, the Creator, withheld from Moses the type (the ability to foresee) of Divine supervision accorded to the beings which are described as על פני. The fact that Moses had requested to be granted these types of insights becomes clear from the response of G’d rather than from the words הראני נא את כבודך which Moses used in 33,19. Instead of complying with Moses’ request, G’d responded by revealing to Him the thirteen attributes, i.e. G’d fulfilled his request הודיעני נא את דרכיך, “please make me familiar with Your attributes.” According to Onkelos who translates the words ויעבור ה' על פניו in 34,6 as ואעבר ה' שכנתיה, G’d’s Shechinah passed in front of Moses, something also known as כבוד נברא. When G’d spoke of והיה בעבור כבודי in 33,22, this lends strong support to Onkelos’ interpretation. In that event the wordsעל פניו in 34,6 refer to Moses. The meaning of על פניו would be the same as לפניו, “in front of him.” We have similar construction of the expression על פניו in Genesis 32,22 ותעבור המנחה על פניו, “the gift passed before him.” Another way of explaining the words ויעבור ה' על פניו is that the voice of the Lord passed in front of Moses. It is not unusual to find the ,עבר or העברה in connection with a voice or with a sound. We find an example of this in Exodus 36,6 ויעבירו קול במחנה, “they made a voice (command) traverse the camp.” The word ויקרא in 34,8 refers to that voice which called out. The repetition of the word השם is similar to the repetition of the word אברהם אברהם in Genesis 22,11 or the word משה משה in Exodus 3,4. This, at any rate, is the opinion of Maimonides in his Moreh Nevuchim 1,21.

[At this point the author copies the relevant pages from the Moreh Nevuchim. I have not included this as the Hebrew in the M.N. is itself a translation from the Arabic. Ed.]

Rabbeinu Saadyah Gaon explains the words כי לא תוכל לראות פני to mean that “you, Moses are incapable of seeing the ‘beginning’ of the light whereas you will be able וראית את אחורי ‘to see the end of the light’” (compare Emunot Vedeyot 2,12). G’d applied the cover to Moses’ eyes while the beginning of the light passed before him whereas He removed this cover when the end of the light passed before him. It is possible that Ezekiel’s comment (Ezekiel 1,27) “I saw a gleam of amber from what appeared to be his loins up, and from what appeared to be his loins down, I saw what looked like fire,” relates to this phenomenon. The former refers to the beginning of the light, whereas the latter statement refers to the tail-end of the light mentioned by Rabbi Saadyah Gaon. Concerning this same phenomenon, Chabakuk said (Chabakuk 3,5) “pestilence marches before Him and plague comes at His heels.” In that verse too, the word “before Him” refers to what comes at the beginning, and the word “at His heels,” refers to what comes at the end. Psalms 50,3 speaking of “devouring fire preceded Him, whereas around Him storms swirled fiercely,” suggests that it is impossible to escape the fire that precedes the Lord, whereas the storm swirling around Him may be capable of being survived. When the Torah speaks here about וראית את אחורי, it refers to the aspect of G’d’s “light” man can endure, whereas whatever is described as “in front of Him,” is what man cannot endure if he becomes a witness to it.

A Kabbalistic approach: When Moses asked: “please show me Your ways,” he meant “the paths of goodness by means of which you G’d guide and govern Your universe. It is the means by which You become known.” These are the paths of righteousness and kindness, the mark of the righteous person who is the foundation of the earth. Of such a righteous person David said in Psalms 145,17: “the Lord is righteous in all His ways.” These ways which Moses requested are the same as the ones described by Solomon as the ones which he considered beyond his ability to understand when he wrote: in Proverbs 30,18-19: “three things are beyond me, and four I do not know. The way an eagle flies in the sky, the way of a serpent over a rock, how a ship makes its way across the seas, and the way of a man with a virgin.” Solomon meant that the activity of the Just in this world which is described as “the foundation of the earth” is beyond his ability to understand. This is why he included in the random examples he chose both activities in the air, on the water, and activities performed by man. These three realms comprise the totality of the terrestrial universe. The birds roam the atmosphere; the free-roaming beasts roam the earth, the dust; the people traveling in ships roam the waters, and the human species comprised of males and females are what are meant by “the way of a man with a virgin.” Whereas Solomon understood these phenomena, what he did not understand was what is meant by the “activity of the righteous, the Just.” Moses sought clarification of the very thing Solomon failed to understand. [If I understand this correctly, both Moses and Solomon failed to understand how the activity of the Just is responsible for the continued existence of the universe so that it is termed “the foundation of the world.” Ed.] Moses said ואדעך, “so that I will know You,” meaning “so that I can properly appreciate Your uniqueness.” למען אמצא חן בעיניך, “in order that I may find favour in Your eyes.” This teaches us that a person who properly appreciates the unity and uniqueness of the Lord will find favour in His eyes. וראה כי עמך הגוי הזה, “and see that this nation is truly Your people.” He meant that seeing he was in charge of leading this people, G’d’s people, it was imperative that G’d should grant him these insights in order for him to discharge his duties optimally. When G’d responded by saying פני ילכו, this was a reference to the angel Mattatron who is the instrument by means of which the Lord is known throughout the universe for the marvelous and sometimes dreadful events which He orchestrates. Observing these phenomena set in motion by this angel is what was meant in Exodus 14,31 when the Torah wrote: “Israel saw the great hand which the Lord had employed against Egypt, and the people were afraid and they believed in the Lord.” The words והניחותי לך, “I will give you rest,” are derived from the word נחת רוח, “peace of mind.” G’d told Moses that he should not worry that He, G’d, would apply the yardstick of the attribute of Justice in its full measure when relating to the Jewish people but only what is known as the attribute of Justice in its diminished form. This form of the attribute of Justice co-opts a measure of the attribute of Mercy. The “messenger” (Mattatron) to whom G’d referred at this time is known as the attribute of כבוד, more popularly known as the Shechinah. This is the reason Onkelos translates the words פני ילכו as שכנתי תהך, “My Shechinah will go.” Moses was not satisfied with this response, seeing that it represented the attribute of Justice, albeit, the watered down variety. This is why he insisted אם אין פניך הולכים אל תעלנו מזה, “if Your Presence does not go along do not bring us forward from here.” Moses meant that he did not want any intermediary to be the agent that would accompany the Jewish people on their journey. After all, when G’d took the people out of Egypt He had employed two attributes, both the יד החזקה and the כח גדול, “the strong hand (attribute of Justice) as well as the attribute of Mercy (Exodus 14,11). Our sages in the Haggadah shel Pessach used this wording to state that the process of redemption (killing the firstborn of Egypt while saving the firstborn of the Jews) was possible only because G’d did not entrust this to any of His agents. G’d personally involved Himself in that redemption. Moses demanded no less at this time. G’d consented to Moses’ request in this regard, saying: “also the thing that you have said I shall do for you have found favour in My eyes” (verse 17). Seeing that G’d had responded favourably to his last request, Moses was now encouraged to ask for even more by saying: “please show me Your glory.” In this matter Moses did not elicit a positive response, G’d explaining that it was impossible to grant this request. Onkelos translates the words לא תוכל לראות פני, as לא תיכול למחזי אפי שכינתי, “you cannot see the face of My Shechinah.” Seeing that in Psalms 104,17 the Shechinah is referred to in terms of חסידה ברושים ביתה, that “the stork makes its home in the lofty cypress,” a simile for the far end of the אצילות, (a region of the celestial world), the near end of that region is understandably described as the “face,” פנים. When G’d said “there is a place beside Me,” He referred to the tail-end of that celestial region we described as אצילות, meaning that this was a region Moses would be able to see. This was not a new concession on the part of G’d, but merely a repetition in different words of what He had said previously when He told Moses: “I will make all My goodness pass before you.” The expression אחורי derived from אחור refers to the “West.” similarly to Psalms 139,5 אחור וקדם צרתני, “You have shaped me at the rear and at the front (to look alike from both sides).” [the reference is to Adam prior to Eve having become a separate body. Ed.] It is well known that the Shechinah‘s residence is in the West. [Man (Adam) looked both to the west and to the east simultaneously at that stage of his existence. Ed] Though he was able to view the “western” end of the Shechinah he was not able to view its “eastern” end. Seeing that Moses had already attained a level enabling him to comprehend the emanations כבוד ותפארת, G’d said to Moses that he would enable him to comprehend the higher emanation חכמה also. This is the true meaning of the words וראית את אחורי. The letter א at the beginning of the word אחורי is not part of the word itself, which is derived from חיור a form of light. G’d told Moses that he would be able to see a reflection of G’d’s “Light.” The emanation חכמה, “wisdom” (its source) is also sometimes called לבנון, [from לבן “white,” i.e. reflecting all the light aimed at it. Ed.] “Seeing” that emanation חכמה was not merely for the sake of seeing it, but as our sages said (Berachot 7), G’d showed Moses the knot with which the phylacteries of the head are to be tied. The knot is formed in the shape of the letter ד, and it is a well known fact that the letter ד represents the foundation of all wisdom. This is spelled out in the Sefer Yetzirah in connection with the meanings of the letters בג’ד כפר’ת. Solomon has already alluded to this in Song of Songs 7,6 where he wrote ודלת ראשך כארגמן, “and your crowning braid is like purple.” He meant that this was the highest level of insight that could be achieved by man, the emanation כתר, the highest of the emanations, is not subject to man’s comprehension. This was meant by ופני לא יראו. After these introductory remarks by G’d the Torah proceeds to describe (34,5) that G’d “descended” in a cloud and “stood” beside Moses proclaiming the holy name of the Lord.” The expression וירד, a word which we normally translate as “He descended” is here an expression of השגה, “achievement,” attainment.” The word is used in Talmudic Hebrew when describing that someone “descends” into the deeper meaning of something and as a result gains full understanding. The meaning of the entire verse is that Moses now attained a comprehension of the meaning of the holy name of G’d, the attribute כבוד, which is also known as שם with the vowel kametz. The word occurs in that connotation both in Genesis 2,10 and in Samuel II 6,2. In Genesis the meaning of the word is that from that location and upwards the disembodied beings, angels, would ascend to the higher celestial regions. In the book of Samuel where the author speaks of the Holy Ark, the meaning of that word is justified also as the “ark” is also known as shem, i.e. representing the name of G’d. We find that Moses had already been described as shem in 33,2. When the Torah writes at this juncture: ויקרא בשם ה’, the meaning is that the attribute כבוד proclaimed this name of the Lord. The word בשם in this verse is a possessive clause of the word י-ה-ו-ה. This is also the way Onkelos understood it when he translated the sequence as בשמא דה’, “in the name of the tetragram.” When the Torah continues (verse 6) with ויעבור ה’ על פניו, the word Hashem here is a reference to the attribute כבוד. Seeing that this attribute is equivalent to the Shechinah, Onkelos translates the words as ואעבר ה’ שכינתה “G’d let His Shechinah pass before him (Moses).” The word ויקרא “He called out,” refers again to the subject, i.e. the attribute כבוד. It was this attribute which proclaimed the thirteen attributes of G’d and their functions which were revealed to Moses at this stage. These attributes were part of the emanation תפארת, “harmony,” the sixth emanation [commencing with the emanation מלכות at the lower end of the scale. Ed.] This emanation is equated with the attribute of Mercy, and all the 13 מדות, “virtues,” mentioned here are merely different nuances of the attribute of Mercy and how and when it is invoked. The word ויעבור introduces the point when G’d fulfills His previous promise אני אעביר כל טובי לפניך, “I will let all My goodness pass before you” (33,19). The Zohar (Parshat Vayakhel page 202), when referring to our verse refers to these 13 virtues as מכילין דרחמי, “degrees of mercy.”

After Moses had learned how to employ prayer in order to activate these various forms of Mercy, he asked G’d to be constantly personally present during the Israelites’ trek to the Holy Land. The line אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך אדו-ני, ילך נא אדו-ני בקרבנו means that “if I have found favor in the eyes of the attribute of Justice, let the Shechinah go in our midst.” Onkelos also understands this verse in the same manner. Moses’ prayer focused on the constant presence of the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire as evidence of the presence of the Shechinah. [Remember that the Tabernacle had not been built yet at this time. Ed.] The people needed the presence of the Shechinah precisely because they were a “stiff-necked people” as the presence of the attribute of Justice in its diminished form on a constant basis was preferable to the sudden manifestation of the attribute of Justice in its most severe form should the people become guilty of another serious sin. What Moses asked for here was a presence of the Shechinah in a more manifest form than what G’d had spoken of in 33,2 when He had said: “I will send My angel before you.” The kind of angel G’d had referred to at that time was one of the disembodied spirits. G’d now consented to Moses’ request to upgrade the manifestation of the Divine presence accompanying the Jewish people. He assured him of an upgrading involving two attributes: 1) The Shechinah would remain manifest amongst the people. To this end G’d said “Here I will make a covenant with the people in the presence of the entire nation, etc.” (34,10). This was a reference to a special angel whose presence symbolized this covenant. 2) He added that this angel (read Shechinah) would perform manifest miracles for the people indicating its presence. The miracles would be of the quality never before performed and witnessed by human beings. In order to prove that Moses had attained close contact with the emanation תפארת, G’d added the peculiar phrase את מעשה ה’ כי נורא הוא, switching from the attribute אדו-ני which had been used so far to the tetragrammaton. Not only this, but the Torah should have continued in the plural after having spoken of a variety of miracles and should have written: את מעשי ה’ כי נוראים הם, “the works of Hashem which are awesome.” The reason the Torah employs the singular is that it refers to the emanation תפארת which is equivalent to the attribute of Mercy. When G’d added the words אשר אני עושה עמך, “which I perform with you,” this was an assurance that G’d would relate to Moses personally with the attribute of Mercy. After this paragraph both Moses and the people of Israel were assured that G’d would relate to them primarily by drawing on the attributes of תפארת and כבוד. This had been the intent of Moses when he had asked that G’d demonstrate the distinction of the Jewish people compared to other nations, begging ונפלינו אני ועמך. When Moses said אני, he meant the attribute תפארת, whereas when he said ועמך he referred to the attribute כבוד, i.e. the Shechinah. [Moses, the most humble individual that ever lived, would certainly not have referred to himself before mentioning his people. This why a translation of these words as “I and your people,” would be totally out of character]. We have now explained the entire paragraph. I have already explained under the heading “mystical dimension” on Parshat Yitro on chapter 20 verse 1 that Moses attained familiarity with the seven lower emanations. These seven emanations were symbolised in the text by the seven occasions on which the word קול or קולות appears in connection with the revelation at Mount Sinai. I have elaborated on the subject there. When Moses in our paragraph requested הראני נא את כבודך, he obviously requested a dimension of insight over and beyond the seven emanations with which he had already become familiar. He was not granted this. This is also the opinion of Nachmanides in his discussion of the matter from a Kabbalistic vantage point.

Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra (in the abbreviated version of his commentary on verse 14) takes a different view of the meaning of the wordsפני ילכו , saying that this refers to the angel Mattatron, an angel whose “face” indicates anger. He claims that when Moses said to G’d אם אין פניך הולכים, he referred to manifestation of G’d in His attribute of Mercy, the attribute of תפארת, the manifestation of Mercy which is apt to pardon and to forgive. Once G’d agreed to this request, Moses pressed his advantage asking הראני נא את כבודך, a reference to the כתרים, the attributes of חסד and תפארת. Moses phrased it thus, cautiously, in order not return empty-handed after having offered this prayer. At that point he was told לא תוכל לראות את פני, i.e. “this ‘beginning’ (highest) of all the attributes, you cannot see.” According to Ibn Ezra’s understanding of our paragraph Moses never attained any level beyond תפארת. He only attained the lower levels מלכות, יסוד, נצח, הוד, and תפארת. Nonetheless, we believe that the opinion of Nachmanides is more likely the correct one.

הראני נא את כבודך, “please show me Your glory.” There is an emanation called כבוד beyond what is generally perceived as כבוד, “glory.” Seeing that Moses had already achieved seven emanations at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, he now asked for still greater insights into the workings of G’d, and better understanding of G’d’s essence. The כבוד mentioned in this verse is the emanation כתר, the highest (10th) of the emanations. It is a reference to the tetragram, i.e. the level of י-ה-ו-ה, and this is the reason the word כבדך here is spelled without the letter ו before the ד. Also, the addition of the word את in front of כבדך which is always an allusion to something additional may refer to the emanation חכמה which Moses included in his request. Our sages, when dealing with the word את when applied to what appears to be a reference to G’d,- a problem seeing that G’d has no-one beside Him,- have stated that in Deut. 6,13 where the Torah writes את ה' אלוקיך תירא, “fear the Lord your G’d,” that the word את is meant to include a measure of reverence for the Torah scholars. Alternatively, the word כבדך does not refer to this highest emanation but to the כבוד אחרון, i.e. that Moses requested the insights into G’d’s workings to be made visible to his physical eye rather than to his mental eye.

We need to examine how Moses could have assumed that the abstract, i.e. any aspect of G’d’s כבוד, could possibly have qualified for perception by the human eye. Moses who was on a level where his physicality had receded into an insignificant aspect of his being, [had he not gone without food and drink for 40 days? Ed.], was not conscious of such limitations as he had not really experienced them. He did not think in terms of his physical attributes losing their effectiveness as he had long since ceased to rely on his physical attributes. He thought in terms of what he would retain of his physical attributes after he would leave an earthly existence. He hoped to attain already at this time what he felt sure he would attain as soon as he would die. G’d told him that this was not possible. The fact that his soul was housed in a functioning body made the granting of such a request impossible.

אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך, “I shall make all My goodness pass before you.” We would have expected the Torah to write לפניך instead of על פניך, just as the Torah wrote וקראתי בשם ה’ לפניך in the second half of this verse. According to the plain meaning of the text, I believe that Moses had difficulty with understanding the term ארך אפים as part of the nuances of the attribute of Mercy. He could not understand why G’d had not said ארך אף, “holding back anger (sing.), but had said “holding back angers” (pl.). G’d answered him that He practiced this nuance differently when relating to a righteous person who had sinned and when relating to an habitual sinner. When Moses heard this he exclaimed that the wicked should get their just deserts and perish. G’d responded that Moses would experience in his own lifetime that this nuance of G’d’s attribute of ארך אפים was indeed necessary. When Moses prayed for forgiveness after the sin of the spies (Numbers 14,17-18) we find him asking G’d to apply this very nuance of the attribute of Mercy when he said ועתה יגדל נא כח ה’ כאשר דברת לאמור ה’ ארך אפים ורב חסד וגו’. In other words: Moses reminded G’d of what He had told him here that the attribute of Mercy reflecting G’d’s patience with man would be applied differently to the righteous and to the wicked, but it would be applied in some measure to both the righteous and the wicked. Seeing that this was so, G’d had to use the plural, i.e. על פניך, to allude to the fact that the time would come when Moses himself would invoke this aspect of G’d’s Mercy against his better judgment.

An alternative way of understanding the unusual wording in our verse, i.e. the expression על פניך instead of לפניך, is that it was a reference to the rays of light which Moses would emit from his forehead when he would return from his final visit on Mount Sinai with the second set of Tablets. By allowing all of His goodness to literally pass over Moses’ face, enough would be stored there to enable him to radiate it for the rest of his life unless he covered his face with a veil of some sort (compare Shemot Rabbah 16,11 in reference to Exodus 34,29).

A Midrashic approach (Shemot Rabbah 45,6) to our verse, i.e. the words כל טובי. The word כל refers to an additional dimension of this attribute, a dimension which appears to the recipient as if some disaster struck him.

וחנותי את אשר אחון, “and I shall show favor when I choose to show favor, etc.” At this particular time G’d showed Moses all the kinds of reward in store for the righteous, each one in accordance with the deeds he had performed while alive. Moses would look at the various treasures and ask: “whose treasure is this?” G’d would answer that it was in store for Torah scholars. Of a different kind of treasure G’d would say that it was in store for people who had shown honor and respect to Torah scholars. Eventually, G’d showed him another treasure greater than any of the previous ones. When Moses inquired who this treasure was for, G’d answered that it was reserved for people who perform good deeds (practical good of immediate benefit to their fellow man). G’d added that whereas the people who had various merits to their credit would receive part of the treasures Moses had been shown first, the ones who did not have such merits would receive part of that great treasure He had shown Moses last. This is what is meant by the words: “I shall show favor to the ones I choose to show favor to.”

A Kabbalistic approach: The 'goodness' referred to in “I shall make all My goodness pass before you” is the attribute known as כל as in such verses as (Exodus כי לי כל הארץ (19,5, or in כי כל בשמים ובארץ, (Chronicles I 29,11) i.e. the word כל is a reference to an attribute of G’d.

כי לא יראני האדם וחי, “for man cannot both have a visual perception of My essence and remain alive at the same time.” According to the plain meaning of the text this line means that man cannot live on physically if he is granted a vision of G’d’s essence. We find something similar in Judges 13,22 where Manoach voices the opinion that he and his wife are going to die forthwith as they believed they had “seen G’d.” If he thought that even seeing an angel of the Lord was beyond living man’s capacity to endure, the same applies all the more so to someone who beheld an even higher celestial being. Of course, the difference is that the essence of G’d, unlike the appearance of a angel, is never something that can be perceived with the human eye. After death, such essence does become visible to the soul’s mental eye; this is what our sages meant when they said (Sifra Vayikra first section chapter 2,12) that whereas during their life on earth they cannot see Him, they are able to do so after they have died.” This concept is confirmed by David in Psalms 22,30 where he writes: “all those at death’s door whose spirits flag shall bow down before Him.” [If they could not see Him how would they know before whom and when to bow down? Ed.] We also find a statement in the Jerusalem Talmud Avodah Zarah 3,1 that shortly before his death Rabbi Avuhu was granted a vision of the reward in store for him in heaven. He marveled at the vastness of that reward, exclaiming: “is all this for Avuhu?”

A Kabbalistic approach to the words: “for man cannot see Me and remain alive.” It is noteworthy that G’d did not say כי לא יראה אותי but כי לא יראני האדם וחי. Had the Torah used the former wording we would have concluded that man’s inability to behold G’d was due to an objective reason, i.e. that G’d had categorically ruled this out. By using the wording in front of us, the Torah made it plain that our inability to behold Him is rooted in subjective causes, i.e. as long as man is subject to influences originating in his body he cannot qualify for such insights as looking upon the essence of G’d. Proof that theoretically, man can behold G’d is found in Isaiah 6,1 who said: ”I have seen the Lord.” [In fact King Menashe used this line as the excuse for condemning Isaiah to death as a false prophet citing our verse as proof that seeing G’d while in a mortal shell is impossible. Ed.] Another verse in which “seeing” G’d is reported as something a number of people were able to do is Exodus 24,10: ויראו את אלו-הי ישראל, “they saw the G’d of Israel.” In that verse the word את which does not appear in our verse of כי לא יראני האדם וחי gives food for thought. I have explained in that instance that the word את in the verse in Parshat Mishpatim refers to these people having had a vision of the Shechinah rather than of the essence of G’d. This is also why Ezekiel used the word את when describing his vision in Ezekiel 2,2 ואשמע את מדבר אלי. Clearly, the word את with the vowel tzeyreh is a reference to a noun, i.e. the Shechinah. We find the word את being used in a similar capacity in Psalms 145,20 ואת כל הרשעים ישמיד, “He will destroy all the wicked people,” where that word also refers to a certain attribute of G’d (the attribute of Justice) carrying out this retribution, seeing that the attribute of Mercy is the one which ensures that the ones who love the Lord stay alive as mentioned in the first half of that verse. The word אדם in our verse is preceded by the letter ה meaning that the verse speaks about someone familiar to the reader. Had the verse intended to make an all-encompassing statement including all humans, the Torah should have written כי לא יראה אותי אדם וחי, “for man will not see My essence and live.” This would have proved conclusively that G’d had initiated this denial of man’s insight on a unilateral basis. The failure of the Torah to use the wording we just described makes it clear that the denial of the insight Moses requested was not rooted in the nature of the essence of G’d Himself. Ezekiel could not have had the visions he described in chapter one of his book (the famous Maaseh Merkavah 1,10), if the inability to see the essence of the Lord had been decreed by Him as something absolute. This then is the true meaning of the words: “for man (such as he is) cannot see Me and live.”

Rabbi Akiva adds (in the Sifra mentioned earlier) that the chayot (high-ranking angels) which Ezekiel depicted as the carriers of G’d’s throne in his vision, cannot see Him either. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai adds further that even the ministering angels who are equipped with eternal life (not subject to the limiting factor וחי, “while alive”) cannot behold the essence of the Lord either.