עלה מזה אתה והעם, “move forward from this place, you and the people!” G’d now indicated that although He had forgiven partially, the people were not on a spiritual level which enabled Him to make His presence manifest among them again, and therefore He would content himself by assigning an angel as their escort representing His Shechinah, instead. G’d made mention at this point of

הארץ אשר נשבעתי, “the land which I had promised on oath” (to the patriarchs’ descendants) G’d hinted that on account of the people who had died by the plague, and their having thus been partially rehabilitated, it was possible for Him to once more mention the merit of their ancestors. He added:

אל ארץ זבת חלב ודבש, ”to a land flowing with milk and honey.” G’d meant that the land itself would not become ruined by their inhabitants nor as a result of the sins of their inhabitants, but neither would the land condone the sins of its inhabitants and G’d would expel the six tribes as mentioned previously. G’d added, as an expression of His goodwill,

כי לא אעלה בקרבך, “for I, in My capacity of My essence, will not go up amongst you.” This was not a description of the Israelites’ unworthiness at that time, but was meant as a protective device. In the event that the Israelites would sin again, in spite of being in the presence of G’d’s manifest Shechinah, He would be forced to react in a manner that would spell their destruction. As a result of the golden calf episode Israel suffered two major setbacks. 1) the absence of the Shechinah from the camp; 2) leadership by means of an angel until the destruction or expulsion of the Canaanites from their land. Once this promise to the patriarchs had been fulfilled, they were not even promised the presence of an angel as visible evidence of G’d’s continued personal interest in their fate. To make this point clear, G’d described the terms of reference for His angel as being limited to בדרך, “while on the way,” Concerning all this the Torah continues with:

וישמע העם הדבר הזה ויתאבלו, “when the people heard this they went into mourning for themselves.” When Hashem observed that the people now mourned their fate, He switched to the Attribute of Mercy, [note that the Torah refers now to ויאמר ה' instead of וידבר ה' and instead of speaking אל העם He addresses the בני ישראל, a complimentary term. Ed.]

אמור לבני ישראל, “say to the Children of Israel, etc.;” G’d now explains that the absence of His essence in their midst would be to their advantage, not as they had thought that it would be a sign of estrangement. Nonetheless, they had done well in considering themselves as in mourning and not wearing any decorative jewelry. They should always react to their own sins by observing a state of mourning, i.e. demonstrating that they were ashamed of their conduct. G’d would then take note of their penitence and react in accordance with the sincerity of their remorse.

הורד עדיך מעליך, “remove your jewelry from yourselves!”

ויתנצלו בני ישראל את עדים, “The Children of Israel divested themselves of their jewelry.” Even though we had already read in verse 4 that the people did not put on their jewelry, some commentators understand the words ולא שתו to mean ולא הסירו, “they did not remove,” i.e. until ordered to do so they did not remove the jewelry they had been in the habit of wearing. Other commentators claim that every Israelite would normally be adorned with two crown-shaped pieces of jewelry. Removing, or better, not adorning themselves with jewelry as mentioned in verse 4, referred to only one of these two crowns. Now they were commanded to strip both crowns from themselves.

ומשה יקח את האהל, “and Moses would take the tent, etc.;” Rashi writes that what is described in our verse did not happen until after the Day of Atonement, when Moses had returned from the Mountain for the third and last time. Moses continued pitching his camp outside the people’s camp until after the Tabernacle had been assembled and inaugurated. [based on Tanchuma. Ed.] Nachmanides writes that he cannot agree with the above. He feels that there would have been no point in mentioning this at this juncture, seeing that Moses had not even ascended the Mountain for the second time as yet. Moreover, according to our sages, the only reason why Moses removed his tent from the camp was that the people were in disgrace, and just as G’d had seen fit to remove His presence from the people, G’d’s pupil, disciple, merely emulated his Master. After the Day of Atonement, when the people’s sin had been forgiven, what would be the point in positioning his tent outside the boundaries of the camp at that time? Following his reasoning, Nachmanides therefore feels that Moses on the 17th of Tammus, the day he had returned from the Mountain for the first time and had smashed the Tablets, he also burned the golden calf, instructed the Levites to execute active idol worshippers. On the following day he told the people that he would ascend the Mountain again and pray there for forgiveness. He did so and offered a short prayer. This was the occasion when G’d told him that He would not accept his offer to save the people and to die in their stead and to have his name blotted out from the Book of Life. He told the people that he had been told that G’d would punish the guilty and not be content with their leader assuming their guilt and punishment. He then instructed them to remove their jewelry, telling them that the process of mourning would be drawn out, and that forgiveness, if at all, would not be instant, and he told the people to observe mourning. Moses moved his own tent to an area that was not spiritually contaminated by the people’s sin, and in this manner he hoped to maintain his ability to communicate with the Shechinah on a reciprocal basis. This could not be expected within the camp, as the spiritual contamination caused by the golden calf episode had not yet been cleansed. In fact, the Torah itself testifies that until after the inauguration of the Tabernacle Moses could not communicate with the Shechinah while within the camp. [(compare Exodus 40,34-38 and Leviticus 1,1) (compare also Moses’ comments in Leviticus 9,7-24) In all these verses the return of the Shechinah to the camp is illustrated. All of this took place only at the beginning of Nissan of the second year, [some eight and half months after Moses smashed the Tablets. Ed.] Concerning Rashi’s statement that Moses burned the calf on the 18th of Tammuz and that on that same day he executed the people who had been actively engaged in worshipping the calf, and that on the 19th he ascended the Mountain again, this is difficult, for if we do not consider the day of his ascent as a day belonging to the forty days, seeing that this day did not have the preceding night with it, as Moses had still been in camp then, (compare Talmud Shabbat quoted byRashi) we will be left with two days missing, if according to tradition Moses was supposed to have returned on the 10th day of Tishrey from his last ascent and stay on the mountain. Even if we were to assume that Moses ascended again already on the 18th day of Tammuz, we are still short a day if he spent 40 days on the Mountain and returned on the 10th of Tishrey. Unless the actual daylight hours of Moses’ ascending or descending the Mountain are counted as whole days, the calculations do no jive.

ויהושוע בן נון נער, “Joshua son of Nun, a lad,” Ibn Ezra writes that seeing that we know that Joshua lived to the age of one hundred and ten, and we have a tradition that he spent seven years conquering the land of Canaan, and seven more years settling the people on their respective portions of that land, he was 96 years of age at the time the Israelites crossed the Jordan. This means that at this time he was already 56 years of age. We must therefore wonder at why the Torah describes him as נער, “a (mere) lad.” He therefore understands the verse to mean that Joshua, who was the personal valet of Moses, was charged with the kind of errands one charges a lad to do for one. Nachmanides writes that there is no need to resort to this explanation of the word נער in our verse, as there are many instances when a person who performs valet service for others is referred to as נער, and this in no way poses a problem. The person for whom the service is performed is known as איש, which automatically makes the one performing the service a junior to the איש, i.e. a נער. As to the unusual vowel chirik instead of the usual segol under the letter ב in the word בן נון, Nachmanides explains this as a mark of distinction for the bearer, meaning that there was no one who could match Joshua in wisdom and understanding. [an allusion to בינה understanding. Insight. Ed.] An alternative explanation is that the subject here is that בינה מוליד נון reminiscent of Psalms In that verse ינון is a reference to the Messiah, and future Jews are credited to the Messiah as if they were his biological offspring (including the people being resurrected in due course) all on account of the meritorious deeds performed by the Messiah (Alshich)

ויאמר משה ראה אתה אומר אלי , “Moses said: “See, You say to me: “take up this people, etc.” The instructions which Moses claimed to have received at Mount Sinai occurred on the 19th of Tammuz. The Torah did not have to write at that time that Moses ascended the Mountain, seeing that as long as the glory of G’d hovered over the Mountain, it was clear that G’d spoke to Moses from that location.

ואתה לא הודעתני את אשר תשלח עמי, “yet You have not told me whom You will send to be with me.” Rashi understands Moses as referring to G’d’s having said that He would send an angel along (compare 32,20) as something which he was not even willing to consider as a הודעה, an “official information.” Nachmanides claims that this is not the correct meaning of what we read here at all. It does not jive with the syntax employed by the Torah. Furthermore, if correct, why would Moses say this to G’d at this juncture instead of in 32,20 when he had been told to get moving with the people? Did he then intend at this point to gain some advantage of what had happened on account of the golden calf? I believe (Nachmanides speaking) that what happened was as follows: G’d had told Moses that He would send an angel ahead of the people, to which Moses replied that he had not been told the “name” of that angel, i.e. the category of that angel and his terms of reference. He wanted to know if that was the same angel that had traveled with the Jewish people before the unhappy events with the golden calf, an angel who was high up in the celestial hierarchy, so that our sages describe him as an angel אשר שם ה' בקרבו, who clearly represented Hashem, the essence. as G’d Himself had said at the time כי שמי בקרבו, for My name (essence) is within him.” (Exodus 23,21) This is what Moses meant when he continued in a plaintive voice ואתה אמרת ידעתיך בשם, “and You Yourself have said to me that You had become as intimate with me as is possible, i.e. You expressed Your approval of me.” Moses indicated that he would not settle for anything less at this time.

פני ילכו והנחותי לך, “My Presence will go and put your mind at rest.” Nachmanides writes that the commentators agree that G’d agreed that His essence would go with the people. We find similar words with the same meaning in Samuel II 17,11 פניך הולכים בקרב, when Chushai advises Avshalom to personally lead his troops against his father David. [the word פניך, meaning that Avshalom would prove that he was serious in his rebellion, that his innermost self was involved, and knowing this his supporters would not need to fear that he might change his mind at the last moment, leaving them to appear as the rebels and having no longer a cause to fight for. Ed.]

אם אין פניך הולכים, “If Your essence will not be going…” according to Rashi these were the terms under which Moses was willing to settle for the presence of an angel. He did not mean that his previous words should have been understood as a kind of ultimatum to G’d, seeing that G’d had already assured him with the words פני ילכו, that He, personally, would accompany the people [or Moses, as became clearer in Joshua 6,14 when the angel that had first been appointed here, replaces the one whose stature had been approved by Moses who had remained with the people as long as he lived. Ed.] Ibn Ezra explains that the initial promise by G’d to personally come with him was addressed only to Moses, but not the people as a whole. Moses, in remonstrating, had in mind the people whom he also wanted to benefit from G’d’s personal Presence, rather than that of only an angel of relatively low standing in the celestial hierarchy. This is why he said to G’d: אל תעלנו מזה וגו', “do not lead us up from here” (in the plural mode). Nachmanides rejects this interpretation also, seeing that in his opening remarks Moses had spoken in the singular mode: לא הודעתני את אשר תשלח עמי, “You have not informed me whom You would send with me.” Besides, the whole argument of distinguishing between the angel being for the sake of Moses or the people respectively, is not valid, as in better times before the sin of the golden calf, in 32,20 G’d had said to Moses:הנה אנכי שולח מלאך לפניך לשמרך בדרך, “here I will send an angel ahead of you (sing.) to watch over you (sing.) on the way, etc.” If Ibn Ezra were correct in his distinction between angels for the benefit of Moses and the people, respectively, why did Moses not protest G’d’s promise already in 23,20? This whole paragraph in the Torah is so fraught with mystical aspects which only selected few are privy to, that it is not appropriate to comment on them here in such a public forum. Thus far Nachmanides. Seeing that I have not attained such insights as are required, I have only touched on the subject ever so slightly, limiting myself to the plain meaning of the text.

ויאמר, הראני נא את כבודך. “I said: please reveal to me Your glory.” Moses requested that G’d show him His true face in a vision, something our sages are in the habit of referring to as אספקרלריא המאירא, “a clear, unambiguous visual image.” G’d answered him that what He would do was to parade before him a number of phenomena, each of which represented some of the ways in which He demonstrated His earnest desire to be of benefit to His creatures; as a result of viewing these phenomena one after another, he, more than any other human being, would develop an appreciation of what G’d’s essence was all about; however, it was impossible to do more without terminating Moses’ life, as it was not given to mortals to get a still deeper insight into what an Eternal G’d, the Creator of the universe, was truly like.

וקראתי בשם ה' לפניך, “I will proclaim the name Hashem before you.” I will let you hear My ineffable Name, seeing that it is not given mortal man to view a visual imagine of My essence.

וחנותי את אשר אחון ורחמתי את אשר ארחם, “I will show grace to those to whom I choose to show grace, and I will treat with mercy those whom I deem fit to be treated with mercy.” By means of My proclaiming My Name, you will realize something about the facet of Me known as חנינה and the result of the exercise of this facet of My various characteristics you will know who has been the recipient of חנינה and who has been the recipient of mercy. The meaning of the line ולא יראני האדם וחי, is not- as many misunderstand- that as a result of man being granted a visual image of the essence of Hashem that he would die; rather, the meaning is that before a living human being would attain the spiritual capacity to view such an image his soul would depart from his body, for we know that even angels cannot experience the kind of visual image Moses requested, to wit: (Daniel 10,16) במראה נהפכו צירי עלי, “in the vision my joints shudder.” [Daniel who was shown the vision of an angel who experienced the overwhelming awe with which that angel related to his own vision. Ed.]