Ki Tissa - Face to Face - Likrat Shabbat - 2021

He said, “Oh, let me behold Your Presence!” And He answered, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you the name LORD, and the grace that I grant and the compassion that I show. But,” He said, “you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live.” And the LORD said, “See, there is a place near Me. Station yourself on the rock and, as My Presence passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.”

(8) With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the LORD. How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!”

Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses—whom the LORD singled out, face to face,

(11) The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another. And he would then return to the camp; but his attendant, Joshua son of Nun, a youth, would not stir out of the Tent.

The Lord spoke with Moshe, speech with speech, as one speaks with this fellow...

All the things hereinof spoken is the path of prophecy for all prophets, First and Last, save Moses our Master, the Master of all prophets. And what division is there between the prophecy of Moses and that of all the other prophets? All the other prophets prophesied while in a dream, or in a vision, but Moses our Master prophesied while awake and standing up, as it is said: "And when Moses went into the tent of meeting that He might speak with Him, then he heard the Voice speaking unto him" (Num. 7.89); all other prophets received it through an Angel, they therefore saw what they did see in the form of allegory and riddles,

but Moses our Master did not receive it through an angel, for it is said: "With him do I speak mouth to mouth" (Ibid. 12.8), and it is also said: "and the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face" (Ex. 33.11); and it is further said: "And the similitude of the Lord doth he behold" (Num. 12.8); which is to say that there is no manner of parable, for he sees the matter in its clearness without riddle and without parable, which is as the Torah testifies concerning him: "Even manifestly, and not in dark speeches" (Ibid.); he does not prophesy in dark speech but by sight for he sees the matter in its clearness;

(18) He said, “Oh, let me behold Your Presence!” (19) And He answered, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you the name LORD, and the grace that I grant and the compassion that I show. (20) But,” He said, “you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live.” (21) And the LORD said, “See, there is a place near Me. Station yourself on the rock (22) and, as My Presence passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with My hand until I have passed by. (23) Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.”

(1) ויאמר לא תוכל וגו׳ AND HE SAID, THOU CANST NOT [SEE MY FACE] — and even when I make all My goodness pass before you I shall not allow you to see My face.

...even as it is not within the power of man to attain and find the truth of the Creator, even as it is said: "For man shall not see Me and live" (Ex. 33.20), even so it is not within the power of man to attain and find the knowledge of the Creator. This is even what the prophet said: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord" (Is. 55.8).

(2) Moses prayed to God to grant him knowledge of His attributes, and also pardon for His people; when the latter had been granted, he continued to pray for the knowledge of God's essence in the words, "Show me thy glory" (ib. 18), and then received, 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).

The words "all my goodness" imply that God promised to show him the whole creation, concerning which it has been stated, "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31); when I say "to show him the whole creation," I mean to imply that God promised to make him comprehend the nature of all things, their relation to each other, and the way they are governed by God both in reference to the universe as a whole and to each creature in particular.

This knowledge is referred to when we are told of Moses," he is firmly established in all mine house" (Num. 12:7); that is, "his knowledge of all the creatures in My universe is correct and firmly established"; for false opinions are not firmly established.

Consequently the knowledge of the works of God is the knowledge of His attributes, by which He can be known. The fact that God promised Moses to give him a knowledge of His works, may be inferred from the circumstance that God taught him such attributes as refer exclusively to His works, viz., "merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness," etc., (Exod. 34:6).

It is therefore clear that the ways which Moses wished to know, and which God taught him, are the actions emanating from God. Our Sages call them middot (qualities), and speak of the thirteen middoth of God (Talm. B. Rosh ha-shanah, p. 17b); they used the term also in reference to man; comp. "there are four different middoth (characters) among those who go to the house of learning"; "There are four different middoth (characters) among those who give charity" (Mishnah Abot, 5:13, 14). They do not mean to say that God really possesses middot (qualities), but that He performs actions similar to such of our actions as originate in certain qualities, i.e., in certain psychical dispositions not that God has really such dispositions. Although Moses was shown "all His goodness," i.e., all His works, only the thirteen middot are mentioned, because they include those acts of God which refer to the creation and the government of mankind, and to know these acts was the principal object of the prayer of Moses. This is shown by the conclusion of his prayer, "that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people" (Exod. 33:16), that is to say, the people whom I have to rule by certain acts in the performance of which I must be guided by Thy own acts in governing them.

We have thus shown that "the ways" used in the Bible, and "middot" used in the Mishnah, are identical, denoting the acts emanating from God in reference to the universe.

(29) So Moses came down from Mount Sinai. And as Moses came down from the mountain bearing the two tablets of the Pact, Moses was not aware that the skin of his face was radiant, since he had spoken with Him. (30) Aaron and all the Israelites saw that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant; and they shrank from coming near him. (31) But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the chieftains in the assembly returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. (32) Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he instructed them concerning all that the LORD had imparted to him on Mount Sinai. (33) And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. (34) Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would leave the veil off until he came out; and when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, (35) the Israelites would see how radiant the skin of Moses’ face was. Moses would then put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.