(יא) וְדִבֶּ֨ר יי אֶל־מֹשֶׁה֙ פָּנִ֣ים אֶל־פָּנִ֔ים כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר יְדַבֵּ֥ר אִ֖ישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵ֑הוּ
(11) The Eternal would speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another.
דע - כי אדון החכמים 'משה רבינו' ע"ה ביקש שתי בקשות ובאתהו התשובה על שתי הבקשות. הבקשה האחת היא בקשו ממנו ית' שיודיעהו עצמו ואמיתתו; והבקשה השנית - והיא אשר ביקש תחלה - שיודיעהו תאריו... נענה על המבוקש הראשון - והוא 'הודיעני נא את דרכיך' - ונאמר לו "אני אעביר כל טובי על פניך"; ונאמר לו במענה השאלה השניה "לא תוכל לראות את פני וכו'".
THE wisest man, our Teacher Moses, asked two things of God, and received a reply respecting both. The one thing he asked was, that God should let him know His true essence: the other, which in fact he asked first, that God should let him know His attributes... Respecting his first request, "Show me thy way," the following favourable reply, "I will make all my goodness to pass before thee" (ib. 19); as regards the second request, however, he was told, "Thou canst not see my face" (ib. 20).
Herman Melville, Moby Dick
The more I consider this mighty tail, the more do I deplore my inability to express it. At times there are gestures in it, which, though would well grace the hand of man, remain wholly inexplicable. In an extensive herd, so remarkable, occasionally, are these mystic gestures… Nor are there wanting other notions of the whale in his general body, full of strangeness, and unaccountable to his most experienced assailant. Dissect him how I may, then, I but go skin deep; I know him not, and never will. But if I know not even the tail of this whale, how understand his head? Much more, how comprehend his face, when face he has none? Thou shalt see my back parts, my tail, he seems to say, but my face shall not be seen.
(ג) רַבִּי יוֹסִי וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה וְרַבִּי חִיָּיא, הֲווֹ אַזְלֵי בְּאָרְחָא, פָּגַע בְּהוּ רִבִּי אֶלְעָזָר, עַד דְּחָמוּ לֵיהּ, נָחְתוּ מִן חֲמָרֵי כֻּלְּהוּ. אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר, וַדַּאי אַנְפֵּי שְׁכִינְתָּא חֲמֵינָא, דְּהָא כַּד חָמֵי בַּר נָשׁ צַדִּיקַיָּא, אוֹ זַכָּאִין דִּי בְּדָרָא, וְאִעֲרַע בְּהוּ, וַדַּאי אִינּוּן אַנְפֵּי שְׁכִינְתָּא. וַאֲמַאי אִקְרוּן אַנְפֵּי שְׁכִינְתָּא. בְּגִין דִּשְׁכִינְתָּא אִסְתָּתָּרַת בְּגַּוַּויְיהוּ, אִיהִי בִּסְתִימוּ, וְאִינּוּן בְּאִתְגַּלְּיָא. בְּגִין דִּשְׁכִינְתָּא אִינּוּן דִּקְרִיבִין לָהּ, אִקְרוּן פָּנִים דִּילָהּ. וּמַאן אִינּוּן. אִינּוּן דְּאִיהִי אִתְתַּקְנַת בַּהֲדַיְיהוּ, לְאִתְחֲזָאָה לְגַבֵּי מַלְכָּא עִלָּאָה. וְהוֹאִיל וְאַתּוּן הָכָא, וַדַּאי שְׁכִינְתָּא אִתְתַּקְנַת עָלַיְיכוּ, וְאַתּוּן פָּנִים דִּילָהּ.
Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Yehudah, and Rabbi Hiyya were traveling on the road, and Rabbi El’azar met them. As soon as they saw him, they all dismounted from their donkeys. R. El’azar said, “Surely, I have seen the face of Shekhinah! For when one sees the righteous or virtuous of the generation and meets them, they are surely the face of Shekhinah. “Why are they called the face of Shekhinah? Because Shekhinah is hidden within them: She is in concealment and they are revealed, for those close to Shekhinah are called Her face. And who are they? Those with whom She adorns Herself to appear before the supernal King. Now, since you are here, surely Shekhinah is arrayed upon you, and you are Her face.” (Pritzker ed., V 443ff, D. Matt transl.)
(ה) יאר יי פניו אליך היינו שתהיה השכינה שורה אליך ולא ס"א ת"ו:
(ו) עוד ירמוז ע"ד דאית' בזה"ק פרשה יתרו צדיקייא אנפיהון אנפי שכינתא ממש איהי באתכסיא ואינון באתגליא ואינון פנים דילה ממש ע"ש וזה י"ל הרמז יאר יי השם יאיר לך פניו אליך שיהיה לך פניו כביכול כנ"ל שיהיה אנפך אנפי שכינתא ממש והבן:
“May YHVH shine His face on you” (Num.6:25).
This means, may the Shekhinah [God’s presence] dwell over you, and not the sitra achra [the evil impulse] (heaven forbid). We can also understand this in light of the teaching in the Zohar (Yitro, II 163b): The face of the righteous is truly the face of the Shekhinah: She is hidden, but they are revealed, and their face is truly her face. This is the mystical meaning of “May YHVH shine”: May God enlighten you, shining His face on you, so that you will have God’s face, as we mentioned above (would that it could be so), that your face truly should be the face of the Shekhinah. Understand. (Rabbi Jonathan Slater, transl.)
Prof. Arthur Green in his... Radical Judaism (pg. 121-2) offers this teaching in the name of Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel:
“Why are graven images forbidden by the Torah?” I once heard Abraham Joshua Heschel ask. Why is the Torah so concerned with idolatry? You might think (with the Maimonideans) that it is because God has no image, and any image of God is therefore a distortion. But Heschel read the commandment differently. “No,” he said, “it is precisely because God has an image that idols are forbidden. You are the image of God. But the only medium in which you can shape that image is that of your entire life. To take anything less than a full, living, breathing human being and try to create God’s image out of it—that diminishes the divine and is considered idolatry.” You can’t make God’s image; you can only be God’s image.