Ki Tisa | “The Skin of Moshe’s Face Sent Forth Beams”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this famous passage, Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Levi defends what the Jewish people do in the Sin of the Golden Calf, arguing that they merely surrender to the need to cling to some tangible element in their service of God, in a period during which all of humanity worships idols. Moshe's "disappearance" for forty days and forty nights is difficult, challenging and unexpected, and the people do not withstand the test. Instead, they regress to the visible, the familiar and the comfortable — in the form of the Golden Calf.

 

Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Levi points out that it is not only Moshe's absence, but rather the lack of any visual sign of God's presence in the camp that brings the people to create an alternate representation, "something visible that would descend on them from God which they could follow, as they followed the pillars of cloud and fire when they departed from Egypt."

 

Against this background, it should be noted that twice over the course of the story of the Sin of the Golden Calf in Parashat Ki Tisa, the Torah describes how Moshe is seen by the people after the sin, and in each of the descriptions there is a different divine mark.[1]

 

The first description appears after the initial response to the sin, which includes killing the worshippers of the Calf and having the survivors remove the ornaments that they had received at Mount Sinai; it mentions their seeing the pillar of cloud that descends and stands at the door of the tent, speaking to Moshe outside the camp (Shemot 33:1-6).

 

The second description appears in the story of Moshe's descent from the mountain with the Second Tablets on Yom Kippur,[2] and it focuses on Moshe's face:

 

 

The Torah addresses the need that led to the Sin of the Golden Calf, showing how the need is fulfilled by way of Moshe's appearance after the sin. The three-time repetition of the term "sent forth beams" and the conclusion of Parashat Ki Tisa with this matter point to its importance and significance for the people.[3]

 

In this shiur, we will focus on the matter of Moshe's facial radiance, in the wake of the words of the Sages in Midrashic literature across the generations.

 

 

At the end of the Jewish people’s fortieth year in the wilderness, in God's command to Moshe to prepare Yehoshua as his successor, it is stated: "And you shall put of your splendor upon him, that all the congregation of the Israelites may hearken" (Bamidbar 27:20). A Tannaitic midrash draws a connection between the splendor mentioned in this verse and the beaming of Moshe's face:

 

 

The root kuf-reish-nun in Tanakh refers to an animal's horn, but it is often employed metaphorically: "And He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of His anointed" (I Shemuel 2:10). It may denote success and overcoming difficulty — or the lack thereof: "The horn of Moav is cut off, and its arm is broken, says the Lord" (Yirmeyahu 48:25).[4] The verse that is brought from Chavakuk not only draws an explicit connection between horns and light, but also describes God's revelation at the Giving of the Torah in context:

 

God comes from Teiman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heaven, and the earth is full of His praise. And a brightness appears as the light; rays has He as His side; and there is the hiding of His power. (Chavakuk 3:3-4).

 

Splendor appears in Tanakh with respect to the heavens: "His splendor covers the heaven."[5] The derasha explains the latter clause of the verse "Rays has He at His side" as relating to the giving of the rays of splendor from God's hand to Moshe. The wording of the derasha, "that rays went out from Moshe's face like the rays that go out from the orb of the sun," relates to the feature shared by both the horns of an animal and the beams of the sun, that they issue forth and go out. The beaming of Moshe's face results from the fact that God grants him an element of His own splendor at the Giving of the Torah.[6] Thus, the entire derasha reflects what is related in Parashat Ki Tisa.

 

According to what has been stated here, the radiance of Moshe's face expresses a sublime Divine dimension which he merits when he ascends on high, to the angelic realm. The Jewish people’s initial reaction to Moshe's face is fear.

 

The Sifrei cites the words of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who sees in their response an expression of their spiritual decline in the wake of the Sin of the Golden Calf:

 

The Jewish people’s spiritual level at the time of the Giving of the Torah is like that of Adam and Chava in the Garden of Eden before they eat of the Tree of Knowledge, when they could stand in the presence of God in a material world. After the sin, even a slight revelation of the Shekhina — in the radiance of Moshe's face — arouses fear.[7]

 

 

Let us examine the words of the Amoraim of Eretz Israel regarding the beaming of Moshe's face:

 

 

Rabbi Yehoshua of Sakhnin, a fourth-generation Amora and aggadic master of Eretz Israel, as well as a disciple of Rabbi Levi, points out a double contrast between Moshe's behavior and that of Nadav and Avihu at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, and between looking upon the Shekhina and the capacity to derive benefit from it.

 

 

In addition, Rabbi Yehoshua expands upon the proportionality that prevails between Moshe's behavior at the Burning Bush and the lofty level that he merits when he ascends on high to receive the Torah. This symmetry finds expression in the Torah's wording in connection with Moshe: “hid his face” — “face to face;” “he was afraid” — “they were afraid to come near to him;” “to look upon God” — “and the similitude of the Lord does he behold.” It may be suggested that the symmetry comes to emphasize the magnitude of Moshe's humility in contrast to the arrogance of Nadav and Avihu.

 

Moshe's reward, as it appears in this part of the derasha, finds expression on three planes: the magnitude of his closeness to God, the people's reaction to his elevated level (its being outwardly visible) and his constant devotion. The radiance of his face relates to the second plane: "And when Aharon and all the Israelites saw Moshe, behold, the skin of his face sent forth beams; and they were afraid to come near to him." However, the radiance itself is not a reward, but rather something that brings about his reward. In the first part of the derasha ("Moshe did not look upon the Shekhina…"), the beaming of Moshe's face is an outward sign of his closeness to God: "And it came to pass, when Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moshe's hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moshe knew not that the skin of his face sent forth beams while He talked with him." Here too the derasha does not define his beaming face as a reward, but as a consequence of Moshe's elevated standing.[8]

 

This derasha appears to reflect an approach that sees visual appearance as an expression of inner essence. Thus, the rays of light that issue forth from Moshe's face are a reflection of his being on the mountain forty days and forty nights.[9]

 

This sign of a Divine level among the people is presented in another source from Eretz Israel as one of the hallmarks of the spiritual superiority of the Israelites:

 

 

 

In the Tanchuma literature — Tanchuma (Buber), the printed Tanchuma, the second half of Shemot Rabba and Devarim Rabba — we find two things that are different from the Midrash of Eretz Israel regarding the radiance of Moshe's face.

 

First, in this literature, the beaming of Moshe's face is described as a reward:

 

 

There are three opinions in the Tanchuma: the view of the Sages, the view of Rabbi Berekhya, and the view of Rabbi Yehuda bar Nechemya.[11] The first view relates to what happened at the cleft in the rock, where Moshe merits a unique revelation:

 

 

The Sages seem to connect the radiance of Moshe's face to his dedication to the welfare of the Israelites, for which he merits greater apprehension of God's ways. Rabbi Berekhya connects the source of the radiance of Moshe's face to the Tablets. Rabbi Yehuda Ha-nasi's statement illustrates the special closeness that was created between God and Moshe, and the role of the Tablets as the conduit through which the Divine Torah passes into the hands of Israel.

 

These two opinions in the Tanchuma are explained by the Maggid of Kozhnitz, Rabbi Yisrael Hopstein of Kozhnitz (beginning of the nineteenth century) in his commentary to the Torah, Avodat Yisrael, on Parashat Ki Tisa:

 

 

What this means is that a cave is a term of connection, by way of cleaving to and joining with the Creator… And Rabbi Berekhya said that the tablets were six handbreadths in length… We know that the Torah was given to Moshe… that he was to teach to the Israelites. But the root of the Torah that could not be revealed remained before Him on high, including all the new interpretations to be proposed by distinguished scholars.

 

This is what is referred to as the two handbreadths in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, and two handbreadths in Moshe's hands. All the new interpretations of the Torah proposed by distinguished scholars and the righteous of every generation are drawn by the soul of Moshe that illuminates every righteous person. This is called the two handbreadths in between them, and from there Moshe took the beams of splendor. For through him, all the novel insights into the Torah are revealed to the righteous of every generation.

 

The two handbreadths in the middle, that are held neither by God nor by Moshe, symbolize the novel Torah insights that the Israelites will propose over the generations. The Maggid of Kozhnitz attributes the beams of splendour merited by Moshe to these two handbreadths, explaining the wording of the Midrash, "from there Moshe took the beams of splendor," as referring to these two handbreadths.

 

The third opinion brought in the Midrash, that of Rabbi Yehuda bar Nechemya, relates to the act of writing the Torah, and to the diversion of Moshe's attention while doing so.

 

The Midrash describes Moshe's climactic moments on Mount Sinai: In his understanding of God's ways in the wake of his devotion to the welfare of the Israelites, in his receiving the Tablets from the hands of God in order to pass them on to Israel, and in his act of writing the Torah.

 

The three views describe contact made with Moshe's body: "And I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by;" holding the Tablets "together" with God; and the writing of the Torah, when Moshe's hand not only bears the Torah, but itself creates the written Torah which Israel will be able to study, and even his head becomes a place where he can wipe off the extra ink.

 

Thus, these three opinions relate to Moshe's absolute devotion as a go-between working for the sake of the Israelites, which finds expression in his very body.

 

Over the course of this shiur, we reviewed the appearances of the radiance of Moshe's skin in Midrashic literature across the generations. We began by noting the people's need for Moshe's radiant face, as it follows from the plain sense of the verses, and we conclude the shiur on the same note.

 

 

(Translated by David Strauss)