Parshat Ki Tisa

No matter how many times you read Tanach, I find that there is always a beautiful way to see a verse in a new light.

In working to make a new covenant between Hashem and the forlorn Jewish nation of former slaves, Moshe asks, "Show me now Your glory" (Shmot 33:18). This question is a megilla in itself to understand. I want to focus on a new understanding of how to solve a minor contradiction in the Torah and learn a powerful lesson.

Hashem responds, "I shall make My goodness pass before you, and I shall call you with the Name Hashem before you; I shall show favor when I choose to show favor, and I shall show mercy when I choose to show mercy." He said, "You will not be able to see My face, for no human can see My face and live" (Shmot 19-20). Some argue that Hashem refused Moshe's request because he hid his face at the burning bush at the first revelation (Shmot 3:6).

We read latter on, "Never again has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moshe, whom Hashem had known face to face" (Dvarim 34:10). Pushing aside many of the traditional commentators who explain this contradiction to a satisfactory degree, I would like to boldly push another understanding of Moshe's request for divine face-time.

You might be familiar with a sensitive aggada that is brought down often in parshat Chukat regarding the death of Aaron the Priest, Moshe's older brother. The pshat of the text states, "Moshe stripped Aaron's garments from him and dressed Elazar his son in them; then Aaron dies there on Mt. Hor, and Moshe and and Elazar descended from the mountain" (Bamidbar 20:28). How did Aaron die? According to the aggada he expired from a kiss by Gd. (It is described as painless as taking a hair from a bowl of milk). When the Torah records Moshe's death it states, "So Moshe, servant of Hashem, died there, in the land of Moab, by the mouth of Hashem" (Dvarim 34:5). Rashi writes simply on the words 'by the mouth', "with a kiss." How else does someone kiss, but by revealing one's lips and face.

One Problem: "Mouth to mouth do I speak to him, in a clear vision and not in riddles, at the image of Hashem does he gaze" (Bamidbar 12:8). After the episode of Miriam and Aaron's verbal concern over Moshe marriage, Hashem rushes to defend Moshe's honor and bestows an incredible degree of closeness to their conversations. Two answers to this hurdle. One, that "peh el peh" could also designate the wide breadth of Moshe's experiences in Gd's house (which is eluded to in the previous verse). I prefer a second solution, that in Bamidbar the language is "mouth to mouth" while our discussion has been about faces. Rav Sadia Goan interprets these words as face to face, but I am respectfully disagree with a greater sage to make this following point.

Our new way to understand Moshe's request on top of Mt. Sinai and Hashem's refusal to acknowledge his intimate relationship with his servant is about timing. In the end of his story, Moshe does merit to see the face of Hashem, but only in his final moments, Often we want to hurry a situation to reap the benefits, skip ahead of a long line to finish a transaction, or jump through preliminary questions to get to the heart of a matter. There are situations where the truth that is sought can only be concluded at the final gathering; but this does not preclude our search for the relationship of TRUTH as the parsha continues, "Three times a year all your males shall appear before "penai" the Lrd Hashem, Gd of Israel" (Shmot 34:24).