Coming Face-to-Face with God Ki Tissa 5779

(17) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: (18) Make a laver of copper and a stand of copper for it, for washing; and place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar. Put water in it, (19) and let Aaron and his sons wash their hands and feet [in water drawn] from it. (20) When they enter the Tent of Meeting they shall wash with water, that they may not die; or when they approach the altar to serve, to turn into smoke an offering by fire to the LORD, (21) they shall wash their hands and feet, that they may not die. It shall be a law for all time for them—for him and his offspring—throughout the ages.

(4) This he took from them and cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

הראני נא את כבודך, at first glance we must surely wonder how Moses could have had the audacity to demand to see G’d and to ask for such as a means to derive personal satisfaction from it. It is totally incompatible with the attitude Moses displayed at the burning bush when the very thought of seeing something Divine filled him with fear and he was afraid to look. (Exodus 3,6). There can be no question but that what motivated Moses to formulate the above request was only that G’d would fulfil his two wishes, 1) to distinguish him individually, and 2) to personally travel with the people. To this effect he added הראני נא את כבודך, referring to previous occasions when a covenant had been concluded between G’d and Avraham, and as a sign of this Avraham had witnessed the entire procedure of the covenant between the pieces in Genesis 15,18. Moses, as Avraham before him, asked for some sign that the covenant would endure. We read about this occurring in 34,6 and 10 where Moses has a special personal revelation which includes G’d revealing to him 13 of His attributes, each of which is of relevance when inducing forgiveness and repentance. In verse 10 in that chapter G’d promises to make this special relationship manifest by hitherto unheard of miracles. The distinction G’d provided for Moses personally was such that the people did not dare approach him as the light radiating from his forehead blinded them (34,30)

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.

ויאמר הראני נא את כבדך AND HE SAID I BESEECH THEE, SHOW ME THY GLORY — Moses saw that the hour was propitious and that his petitions were being favourably received, he therefore made a further request — that God should let him behold a reflection of His Glory.