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I listened as Mary Ellen Mark meditated on those moments when she captures an eternal moment on film, freeze-frame, that cannot be done as poetically with a digital camera and wished I knew how to take such a photograph just to capture the shine on her face as she spoke of the eternal poetry of her craft.
There is such a moment in the Torah reading for this Shabbat. It seems that the world is crumbling. The Children of Israel, just forty days after Revelation, sinned with the Golden Calf. Moses is desperately advocating for the people before God, and rather than asking for as little as possible, he asks for more. "Show me, please, Your glory!"
God's initial response seems to be a vague rejection: "I shall show favor when I choose to show favor!"
There is a pause in the action as Moses remains silent. God speaks again: "You will not be able to see My face, for no human can see My face and live." Another pause. Moses remains silent. God continues: "I shall place you in a cleft of the rock; I will shield you with My hand until I have passed; I shall remove My hand and you will see My back, but My face may not be seen."
I'm intrigued by Moses' silence during the pauses, but my attention is elsewhere. I always want to capture that moment when Moses, in the cleft of the rock, has God's Hand covering his eyes, and the "Hand" begins to slide away just before Moses sees God's "back."
I picture that moment each time I cover my eyes when reciting the Shema. I slowly pull my hand away, imagining what Moses senses at that second when could not see what he truly wanted to see - God's face. I don't know whether I would have been hypnotized by God's Hand, staring at each line etched deep into the Ancient One's Hand, or whether I would have tried to peek between the Divine Fingers to catch a glimpse of what they were hiding.
I want to freeze-frame that moment and carefully study Moses' face. Was it filled with expectation over what was about to be revealed? Was there a tinge of disappointment over not being able to see what was covered? Would there be fascination on his face as he saw God's Hand? Was he smiling or crying? I want that picture.
Why did the Sages teach us to reflect on that freeze frame on Shabbat Chol HaMoed? They want us to study the festival laws through the lens of Moses' picture at that moment. The pauses. The Hand. The Hand moving away. The Revelation.
We cannot study the festival laws as text. They are meant to be part of an experience. Our experience of the Hand when the Kohen Gadol stood in the Holy of Holies, separated by the empty Sanctuary, hidden by the Curtain. We experienced the Hand when we were being judged in the Heavenly Court without being present at the hearing and sentencing. We wanted to see more. There was a pause between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when we waited for God to reveal more. There was a pause between Yom Kippur and Succot when we waited again, wanting more. The Hand began to move away as we sat in the Succah and looked up at the roof with the empty spaces that invite us to peek between the fingers. We pause again this Shabbat, that magical space between Succot and Simchat Torah, waiting for what is about to be revealed... "Three times a year, when you go up to appear before God."
We are not the only ones waiting to see. God invites us so that He can see us standing before Him in our cleft of the rock, our Succah, expectant, faces filled Moses' wish, "Show me, please, Your glory!"
Shabbat Shalom and Moadim l'Simcha, Rabbi Simcha L. Weinberg President If you are interested in sponsoring our  winning Newsletter, please email info@thefoundationstone.org Go to our Blog  Follow us on Twitter   Become a Fan  | 
