Shabbat Pesach

Moshe's Direct Encounter With God

Inspired by a d'var by Lawrence Kushner and David Mamet

At the Seder we tell of the awesome and terrifying might of the direct power of God. God rescued us from Mitzrayim/Egypt "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." God declares that "I myself and not a messenger" will slay the first-born of Mitzrayim. The Haggadah's bald acknowledgement of God's authorship of destruction is unsettling.

The Torah reading for the intermediate days of Passover returns us to a more familiar experience of God. Moshe begs God for the opportunity to see God's glory. God explains that "no human can see Me and live," and offers two compromises.

"All of My Goodness I will cause to pass before you," says God. God will show only God's goodness and not any of the terrifying attributes that humanity could not possibly conceive as goodness.

"After I have passed by," says God, "you will see My back." The Hebrew word for "My back" is achorai, which literally means, "after me." In effect, God says to Moshe, you can see what it's like just after I've been there.

The reading reminds us that in our everyday consciousness, we tend to see the effects of God's actions, from which we infer the presence of God. Even in our prayerful consciousness, we direct our praises and petitions to a God from whom we expect goodness. These notions of the Divine, however, are only compromises we must make in order to retain our sanity for, as God says, "no human can see me and live."

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