Torah Table Talk

"You cannot see me and live"
Moses' Encounter with the Divine

Exodus 33:12 - 34:26

The Torah Portion for the intermediate Sabbath of Passover deals with the aftermath of Golden Calf. Having built and worshipped a golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah, the people of Israel found themselves in a state of limbo. Would God forgive their sin? Would they proceed to the Promised Land? Moses returns to the Mount for a dramatic and mysterious encounter with God in which God tells him, "You cannot see my face, for human may not see me and live."

Why is this section of the Torah the chosen Torah portion not only for Hol HaMoed Pesach but for Hol HaMoed Sukkot? One reason would appear to be that the final part of this passage contains a series of laws including prescriptions for the observance of the festivals. We read, "You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread for in the month of Aviv you went forth from Egypt."

Read today's Torah portion and then consider the following questions:

1.	Read Chapter 33:12 - 23. What did Moses see in his mysterious encounter with God? How do you think this encounter helped answer the questions and doubts he initially expressed to God?

2.	This passage speaks of God in very anthropomorphic terms. How should we respond to such expressions today? Is it wrong to speak of God in human like expressions? Is referring to God as He just as anthropomorphic as saying that God sat on a throne or that God has a long beard? How should we speak about God?

3.	How do we encounter God? Do you believe God speaks to people today or that people can "See" God?

4.	How are the second tablets of the commandments described in chapter 34 different from the ones that are described prior to this? What role does Moses play in preparing the second set of tablets?

5.	Notice that the command to prepare the second tablets is followed by a series of laws. Some scholars have suggested that this is a different version of the Ten Commandments. Some scholars have referred to them as the cultic Decalogue. How is the second set of commandments different from the first? How do you account for these differences?

	Chapter 34 contains the thirteen attributes of God. These verse are central to the Selichot service on Yom Kippur and are repeated dozens of times over the course of the day

6. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

7. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty..

Notice that the attributes end, "by no means clears the guilty" in the Bible but in the prayer, by leaving off the last word it says "He clears the guilty." What motivated the Rabbis to make such a radical change in the Biblical text? What were the Rabbis trying to say about our relationship to the text?

"visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, to the third and to the fourth generation."

7.	Notice that the verses continue in a troubling way. How do you feel about this verse? Why do you think the sages left this part of the verse out of the prayer book? Do you think the sages rejected this idea? If so how could they justify it appearing in the Bible in the first place?

8.	What does it mean to say that God forgives? Do you believe that God forgives? Do you believe that God punishes?

	How to use Torah Table Talk

1.	Read the sheet out loud to one another. Discuss what it has to say.
2.	Focus on the text in the box. It is taken from Biblical, post-biblical and modern Jewish sources. What does it mean? How does it make you feel?
3.	Try to answer the questions following the text.
4.	This is not a test and there are many correct answers and interpretations to each question. Share your ideas with one another. Be open and honest in sharing your ideas.

	All it takes to study Torah is an open heart, a curious mind and a desire to grow a Jewish soul.

	Copyright 2004: Rabbi Mark B Greenspan