Parshat VaYishlach

Seeing the Face of God

The night before meeting Esav, Yaakov struggles with a man at Nachal Yabbok. As it turns out, the man is a divine being. He gives Yakov a new name: Yisrael. We have discussed why a divine being was fighting Yaakov in the first place and the significance of Yaakov's additional name in a previous Sedra Short (see http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/parshat-vayishlach-wrestling-with.html).

This week, I would like to discus Yaakov's reaction. "Yaakov named the place Peniel (lit. the face of God), for [he said,] "I saw an angel face to face, and my soul was saved" (Bereshit 32:30).

It is clear from this statement that Yaakov expected to die. Seeing divine beings is meant to be beyond the human narrative and so when he saw the angel, Yaakov should not have continued living.

Indeed, Moshe asks God "show me your glory" (Shemot 33:18), God responds that "you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live (ibid 20)."

In fact, the first time that Moshe encountered God, he almost died. Moshe sees a burning bush in the wilderness and is surprised that the bush is not being consumed. He decides to have a better look. "The Lord saw that he had turned to see" and so quickly calls out saying "Do not come close" (Shemot 3:4-5). To be sure, as soon as Moshe realizes that God is within the bush, he "hid his face because he was afraid to look toward God (ibid 6).

Gidon also saw an angel and thought he was going to die. At first, Gidon thought that the angel giving him the mission to save Israel was an ordinary person and so Giodn refused to accept the mission. The angel decides that Gidon needs to understand that his mission is from God and so he reveals himself by performing a supernatural act and then disappearing.

Gidon then realized that he was an angel and said: "Alas, O Lord God! Because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face" (Shoftim 6:22). He assumed he was going to die, so "the Lord said to him, "Peace be to you, fear not, you shall not die (ibid 23)".

Manoach and his wife, Shimshon's parents, also met an angel. Manoach also did not believe that he was an angel until the angel revealed himself.

"Manoach (then) knew that he was an angel of the Lord. Manoach said to his wife, 'We shall surely die, because we have seen God" (ibid 13:22). However, his wife seemed to be more intelligent than him. "But his wife said to him, "If the Lord wanted to kill us, He would not have received from our hand a burnt-offering and a meal-offering, and He would not have shown us all these things; and at this time He would not let us hear (such things) as these (ibid 23)".

While seeing only God himself would lead to death, as happened with Aharon's two sons, Nadav and Avihu (see Shemot 34:10-11 and VaYikra 10:1-2), seeing angels would not lead o death.

Nevertheless, as is clear from the episodes recorded here, people, including Yaakov, were frightened about seeing all divine beings.

Perhaps the Torah is trying to give us a monotheistic message. Only God is truly a Divine Being. Everything else, including angels, is just his tools. They are not worthy of worship.

Last year's Sedra Short on Parshat VaYishlah entitled: "Israel and Shechem – a Varied Relationship" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2007/11/parshat-vayishlach-israel-and-shechem.html

Another Sedra Short on Parshat VaYishlah entitled: Reuven and Bilha" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006/12/parshat-vayishlach-reuven-and-bilha.html

Another Sedra Short on Parshat VaYishlach entitled "Struggling with the Present", appears at: http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2005/12/parshat-vayishlach-wrestling-with.html

Parshat Shemini

Aharon's Four Sons

Aharon had two sets of sons: The older two, Nadav and Avihu; and the younger two, Elazar and Itamar.

Both sets do something wrong in this week's parsha. In the first instance, Nadav and Avihu die and Aharon is silent, in the second, Aharon rersponds to Moshe's rebuke, ans the sons go unpunished.

Let us examine the two cases.

In the first case Nadav and Avihu take coals and incense which: "which He had not commanded them. Fire went out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord" (VaYikra 10: 1-2). Moshe confronts Aharon with a somewhat cryptic statement "and Aharon was silent" (ibid 3).

In the second instance, Moshe had previously warned the priests not make the same mistake as Nadav and Avihu. They were to to be very careful in the service of God, "to distinguish between holy and profane and between unclean and clean" (ibid 10). They were to stick rigidly to the letter of the law so that they would not die, when working in the Mishkan, a very dangerous place. Moshe told them that the "whole house of Israel would mourn" their loss, but that they were not to mourn and to continue with the worship (ibid 6).

Moshe is therefore furious (notice the use of the root קצפ to describe Moshe's anger) when he "investigated concerning the sin offering he goat", i.e. the sin offering of the people, that "it had been burnt" as opposed to being eaten (ibid 16).

Moshe is concerned that as a result of not doing Israel's sins offering properly, the people had not attained atonement for previous sins. With the spirit of God now resting on the Mishkan and residing amongst the people, there was a real danger that the anger of the Lord would burn (notice again the root קצפ in passuk 6) and literally, burn the people as he had burnt Nadav and Avihu.

In this instance however, Aharon is not silent, defending them from Moshe's anger. Aharon explains that he (and his sons) had previously sacrificed his own personal sin offering (the calf – see ibid 9:2 and 8-11) and tragic "events such as these happened to me. Is it then fitting in the eyes of the Lord for me to eat the sin offering today?!" (ibid 10:19).

It is not easy to understand Aharon's defence, but examining it will perhaps help us explain why the first set of sons did wrong and were punished and in the second case the other set did wrong and were not punished?

Suffice it to say that Elazar and Itamar's concern seems to be that of the people, unlike Nadav and Avihu who seem to operated totally on their own initiative. Elazar and Itamar and Aharon seem to be concerned that their sin offering was not accepted, for how then could have Nadav and Avihu died. Their deaths occurred despite the fact that they had just offered their own personal sin offering. How was it therefore possible for them to eat the sin offering of the people and be the vehicle for Israel's forgiveness, when it seems that their own sin offering went unanswered? Surely it was therefore, better for them to burn the whole sin offering. Let God partake of the people sin's offering, for they, Elazar and Itamar, were unworthy.

Last years' Sedra Short on Parshat Shemini, entitled: "How They Died" appears at http://parshablog.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html