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Torah Portion

God Bestows His Mercy
Upon All Mankind

Moses is really told is that we can see
the goodness of God and the after
effects of God's presence, but we can
never know the essence of God. In fact,
we can see the reasons for believing in
God even though we can only see the
reflection of God's work, but never see
God. If we go another step in our
his portion includes one of
search for the Almighty and us the term
the most significant theologi- "to see" in an intellectual instead of a
cal statements anywhere in
visual sense, we are still limited.
our sacred literature.
We can not, in reality, understand
The Torah tells us of a conversation
everything about God. We can only
between Moses and God. The Torah,
understand the philosophical arguments
speaking of Moses, says: 'And he said,
for the existence of God.
show me, I pray Thee, Thy
Much of the classic discus-
glory. And He said, I will
sion about God centered on
make all My goodness pass
what we call negative attrib-
before thee and will proclaim
utes. These include such con-
the name of the Lord before
cepts as God is not a body;
thee; and I will be gracious to
God is not subject to human
whom I will be gracious and
passions.
will show mercy on whom I
As for the verses about the
will show mercy. And he said,
grace and mercy of God,
thou canst not see My face,
RABBI NOAH they are there. However we
for no man shall see me and
can only ask for.them. While
GAMZE
live." (Exodus 33:18-20) .
we
have no guarantee that
Special to
Shortly after, Moses is told:
the
response will be favor-
The Jewish News
'And I will take away My
able, in many cases it is. In
hand and thou shalt see My
spite of our intellectual limi-
back; but My face shall not be seen."
tations, we can rest assured that in
(Exodus 33:23) Rashi, in his commen-
many cases prayer helps. We may be
tary, tells us that: "Moses saw that this
certain that God's mercy is there for us
was a time of good will and (that) his
and that it comes when it is least
words were being accepted and he asked expected. We are unable to see God;
further that (the Lord) show him the
our understanding of him is limited,
appearance of His glory." Rashi also
but He exists and we can always hope
tells us that the Torah. passage 'And I
for His mercy.
will be gracious ... " refers to the time
I am a strong believer in the power
the Lord shall desire to be gracious.
and value of prayer. To add to this and
Rashi further interprets the passage
to indicate the theological significance
'And I will show mercy ..." to mean at
of these verses, I refer to a midrashic
the time the Lord will show mercy
passage that explains the words: "Show
According to Rashi, the divine promise
me, I pray thee, Thy glory" by telling us
is that only at times God will answer
that "Moses desired to know what was
and at times he will not answer. While
the reward awaiting the righteous and
Moses was allowed to see all the good-
why the wicked prosper." The passage
ness of God, he was not allowed to see
then cites biblical verses to show both
the face of God.
the reward of the righteous and the
In trying to understand these verses,
prosperity of the wicked can be called
we should remember that our Bible uses glory.
human terms when speaking of the
The passage tells us that the term
Almighty because the messages are
"face" can also refer to the prosperity of
intended for human beings. Since our
the wicked. The next passage tells us
understanding has its limitations, the
that God told Moses that He would
Torah uses ordinary human speech.
show "both My attribute of dispensing
However, we should keep in mind that
goodness and My attribute of punish-
God does not have a human body.
ment." This chapter concludes by dis-
This part of the Torah should make
cussing the rewards of the righteous in
us aware of our spiritual and intellectual the hereafter and mentions that God's
limitations. In the hymn "Yigdal," we
mercy is sometimes extended even to
read : "Ayn lo d-mus ha-guf Vay-no
those who may not be worthy. While
guf," which means "he has no bodily
the passage does not state "Olom Ha-
form nor is He a body." Thus, what
Ba'' (the world to come), the context
would
seem to mean the hereafter.
Noah Gamze is rabbi of the Isaac
While
we can never fully know how
Agree Downtown Synagogue.

Shabbat Ki Tissa:
Exodus 30:11-34:35;
I Kings 18:1-39.

T

the divine presence works, we can be
certain of the concept of reward (for
good deeds) and punishment (for evil
deeds) is a central principle of our faith.
Since we see many people suffer
poverty, illness and other misfortunes
and we see many wicked people "get
away with it," we realize that the final
judgement is in the hereafter. We
should also remember that God's mercy
can be bestowed upon us when we least
expect. ❑

Casual Service
At Beth El

Temple Beth El will rekindle Shabbat 6
p.m. Friday, March 20, with a service
followed by a 7:15 p.m. dinner. The
service, billed as a "Blessings 'n Blue
Jeans" or "Come As You Are" casual ser-
vice, will be led by the Young People's
Society and will feature the TBE Youth
Choir.
Featured at the dinner following ser-
vices will be songs and activities built
around the theme of Rekindling
Shabbat. The community is invited to
attend.
There is a charge for dinner, and
reservations are necessary. To make
reservations, call the temple, (248) 865-
0600.

Temple Israel
Classes Set

Temple Israel of West Bloomfield will
host an adult education event called
The Academy. This semester's courses
include Jewish meditation, Jews and the
New Testament, Jewish mysticism,
Israel at 50, advanced introduction to
Judaism; also being offered is a just-for-
fun class about games!
Classes will begin on Monday,
March 23, at the temple. To obtain a
complete brochure, call the school
office, (248) 661-5725.

Beit Kodesh
Purim Fun

The Youth Group of Congregation Beit
Kodesh will host the annual Purim car-
nival 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday, March 15,
at the synagogue.
There will be games, prizes, face
painting; lunch will be available for pur-
chase. Tickets may be bought at the
door or in advance.
For information, call Larry of Sally
Stein, (313) 421-5945.

