Vision is limiting. Sometimes, with our eyes open, we can see the least of the world around us. When we close our eyes we can really see, perhaps for the first time, what this world is all about.
This week we learn about the Luchos. Then comes the Golden Calf…so the Luchos are smashed. Then we get new Luchos. Isn’t it odd that after this dramatic episode Moshe turns and asks God to see Him? And what is God’s response? “No human can see Me and live.”
Personally, I find the sequence of events to be hinting at vision beyond eyesight.
Close your eyes and go through this chapter again. God gave Moshe not simply two tablets, but the entirety of the Torah, the legacy upon which the world was built and the recipe to its sustainability. Then comes the Golden Calf. We get absorbed in the world, in the physicality of the here and now and we lose sight of the end goal. So the Luchos are smashed, we need to destroy the negative tendencies within so that we can build and grow with the proper intention to live a life permeated with Torah. Then we get new Luchos; a new lease on life, another chance to do things right. Once we have gotten a new chance and a clearer perspective, Moshe asks to see God-show me what the truth is! Show me what the Source looks like! And what does God say? “No human can see Me and live.” Once you have seen with full clarity the “image” of God, there is no longer any reason to be here on this earth. You have reached the ultimate, and so you are taken to the next phase of this extraordinary journey.
It may be presumptuous to say, but could that be why Azi was taken from us? Because he was able to “see” the “face of God” and by reaching such a place, was no longer able to maintain a physical, mundane existence? Maybe…I hope to get there too, someday.